"Mutually Slaughtering" Cat Sisters

"Hiss~ What the hell, where the fuck am I? Did that damn profiteer sell me a fake map?"

Luo Yan stood on a high slope, shaking that tattered map in the wind until it rattled loudly.

The map was more wrinkled than his face, and a few lines on it looked like they had been drawn with soy sauce, with all four cardinal directions blurred into a complete mess.

He looked left and right, up and down, finally turned the map upside down, and let out another hiss.

"Is what's drawn on here a river or an earthworm?"

He cursed under his breath, "He charged me three Copper Soul Coins, three! This crappy paper would bleed dye even if you used it to wrap fried dough sticks."

He was just about to stuff the map back into his bosom when his movement suddenly paused.

Huh?

There was willpower?

A very faint, very cool little wisp of it drifted over from the forest directly ahead.

He was all too familiar with this feeling; that was emotion.

And it wasn't the kind of floating, surface-level emotion from ordinary people laughing or sighing.

It was a wisp that leaked out from the bone cracks after repression reached its absolute extreme.

"In the middle of nowhere, and there's still emotion sending me willpower?" Luo Yan narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction the wind was coming from.

Ahead was an extremely dense patch of woods, the tree crowns blocking out the light completely, with only a few extremely faint rays slanting down.

He stood high up and could see the treetops moving slightly.

It was spirit power fluctuations, short and crisp, moving left, then right.

"Someone's there."

He raised an eyebrow, rolled the map up haphazardly, and shoved it into his bosom, "Just in time, I'll go ask for directions."

He jumped down from the high slope and headed toward that patch of woods.

The closer he got, the more distinct those spirit power fluctuations became.

There was also the extremely light sound of clothing cutting through the air, with someone moving quickly in a small area.

And that aura was cold—so cold that even the birds in the forest didn't dare to call out.

Luo Yan didn't walk any closer.

He sought out the thickest tree, climbed up it in a few moves, and parted a few branches.

Twenty paces ahead, a few dark figures were surrounding a girl.

That figure was dressed entirely in black, her movements fast and vicious like a cat slipping out of the night.

The few attackers were obviously no match, but there were many of them, and new ones kept replenishing from deeper within the forest.

"Yo, cats catching a person."

Luo Yan's eyes lit up instantly.

He leaned against the tree trunk, his hand already feeling for his bracelet.

A few melon seeds fell into his palm, and he cracked one open with a crisp click.

"Fight slower, I haven't seen enough yet."

He whispered, but his eyes never left that black figure.

Suddenly, that black figure lifted her head sharply and glanced in Luo Yan's direction.

Just that one glance, cold as the back of a knife pressing against the neck.

Luo Yan tutted, spitting a melon seed shell downward: "Well, even people in the play glare at the audience; I'd better finish watching the fight before asking."

When Luo Yan jumped down from the tree, he had already changed his appearance.

The Elation Mask was buckled onto his face, his clothes fluttered gently in the forest breeze, and he was already standing three steps outside the battlefield circle.

"Excuse me."

He spoke, his voice somewhat muffled and filtered by the mask, carrying a smile, "May I ask what territory this is? I'm lost."

Several crisscrossing figures in the arena paused in unison.

The female leader in black was the first to land.

She had a tall figure, cold and stern brows and eyes, a tightly bound black robe, and even her hair was coiled without a single strand out of place.

She swept a glance at Luo Yan, her face showing a measure of extreme impatience at being interrupted.

"Where did some life-ignoring thing crawl from?"

She said coldly, "Scram if you don't want to die."

Luo Yan let out an "oh" and didn't move.

The girl also looked over; a few extremely fine bloody trails had already appeared on her body, yet her breathing remained steady.

That pair of eyes shifted extremely quickly between Luo Yan and the woman, then fell back onto the enemies in front of her.

"Sister, I don't know him."

She said, her voice cold and clear, "Let him leave."

Luo Yan smiled.

"Sister hunting down sister? Sisters slaughtering each other... What kind of dog-blood plot is this?"

He tilted his head, his tone like chatting idly at a dining table, "This play of yours is much more realistic than the bunch in Notting City acting it out, at least nobody's selling melon seeds on the side."

The woman's brow knitted together.

She didn't speak, only giving a sidelong glance to the two black figures beside her.

Without a sound, those two suddenly enveloped Luo Yan from the left and right.

Their spirit power auras were not weak, at least thirty and above.

Yet the moment they took two steps, a very faint gray mist suddenly rose by Luo Yan's feet and spread rapidly.

"Want to fight? That's fine too, but you might lose your lives."

Luo Yan's voice came out from the gray mist, not heavy, even carrying a hint of laziness.

Yet the moment those two rushed into the spreading fog, their footsteps became chaotic.

They didn't see people; they only saw trees.

One tree, two trees, many trees, and all directions had completely changed.

The person who had clearly been on the left just a moment ago now emerged from the front right, or it seemed like the same person crashing up from behind.

"Don't panic!"

Yet it was too late; things were starting to appear in the mist.

First was a Paper Doll.

Its head was flat, its face gray-white, with a patch of red painted on each cheek.

That red wasn't bright in the mist, looking like blood about to dry completely.

It stood behind an old tree, revealing only half a face.

There were no eyes on that half face.

"What the fuck--!"

The two were startled.

One of them felt the back of his neck grow cold; turning his head, he saw a paper face pressed right against him, its mouth curved in a smile.

"Ah--!"

He violently tore the paper doll off, but another one rose up by his feet.

This time even closer.

Close enough to see that the paper doll was still holding a small paper lantern in its hand.

A bit of green fire burned inside the lantern, like something borrowed from a grave mound.

Those two were still entangling with the paper dolls when they suddenly felt the mist beneath their feet moving.

The blades of grass fell to both sides, and the ground emitted an extremely faint rustling sound, like countless scales sliding against the mud.

The air instantly grew damp and fishy, and even the green fires inside the distant paper lanterns lowered in unison.

"What's that sound?" One pursuer turned his head.

He saw nothing; the fog was too thick, but that rustling sound grew closer.

It came from the front, from the left, from behind them, and from behind every single tree simultaneously, as if the entire forest was coiled around by the same large serpent.

"Fall back." The woman seemed to sense something, her expression changing abruptly.

It was too late.

Inside the mist, a Large Serpent slowly reared up.

It was larger than anyone present could have imagined.

Grayish-black scales overlapped one another, casting a very cold, dark sheen.

It didn't make a single sound, save for its forked tongue slowly probing out from between its lips, gray-white and slender.

The two pursuers who had tried to flank Luo Yan saw it first, reaching only to the serpent's belly.

The serpent lowered its head, looking down at them.

"Hiss--"

"Oh, my mother--!"

Someone shouted first, and then everyone moved.

The few pursuers who had just been wearing cold expressions now dropped their swords entirely; some tripped over tree roots, some looked back while running, and another rolled into the fog and never got back up.

The paper dolls chased for a few steps, then stopped.

"Don't you dare run!" The woman snapped harshly.

Yet even her own feet were retreating backward.

"Just what kind of person are you?!" She shouted toward Luo Yan.

Luo Yan stood in the mist, gently shielded behind the large serpent.

He raised his head, smiling very faintly: "Someone asking for directions."

"You..."

"If you don't run now, my good maiden is going to comb your hair for you."

Luo Yan tilted his head.

Within the mist, a flash of red appeared.

Standing right by the tree to the woman's rear left, a red bridal veil fluttered gently, holding an Embroidered Shoe in her arms.

She let out a chuckle.

The woman's face turned livid.

She stamped her foot fiercely, her spirit power transforming into several black blades that struck toward her two nearest subordinates, forcing them to stay and cover the rear.

She herself turned and swept toward the edge of the forest, never looking back.

The girl didn't chase.

She stood in place, watching that extremely fast-vanishing shadow.

The fog slowly dispersed.

The paper dolls collapsed one after another, and the Ghost Bride stopped chasing too, turning around to "look" at Luo Yan before slowly walking back into the mist.

The large serpent coiled up, finally lowering its head to touch Luo Yan's hand with the tip of its nose, as if waiting for praise.

"Good child."

Luo Yan patted it, and the serpent dissolved into a clump of gray mist, scattering into the ground with a swish.

The forest quieted down.

There were only a few crushed fallen leaves and the fragments left behind by those paper dolls, swept up by the wind.

The girl still stood in her original spot; she was injured, yet she refused to sit down.

"Who on earth are you?" She asked, her voice somewhat cold and very light.

Luo Yan removed his mask, revealing that somewhat excessively handsome face.

He smiled, tucked the mask against his waist, and spread his hands toward her, half a handful of uncracked melon seeds resting in his palm.

"My name is Luo Yan."

He said, "Just someone who originally wanted to ask for directions. And you?"

"...Zhu Zhuqing."