The fiery haze stirred up by the Fire Li people's prayers had already alarmed the Four Seas Hall Master, who was pacing back and forth in the Snow-Suitable Hall.
As soon as he noticed something strange outside the window, Xing Yan woke Qiong Tong and Xueyi, who were sleeping soundly in the inner room. Together, they stood in the willow shadows beside the Jadewater Pool outside the Thatched Cottage, quietly watching the southeast.
While Xing Yan gazed thoughtfully at that strange, wavering veil of cloud, he heard a small cry of surprise from Qiong Tong beside him. Then she lowered her voice and said:
"Brother, look! What's that?"
"Hmm?"
Alerted by Qiong Tong, Xing Yan finally noticed a faint, eerie ghost flame speeding toward them from a hillside beneath the haze in the southeast. Its urgent flickering told him something was wrong, and he fixed his eyes on it.
Sure enough, before long, the ghost flame, which seemed to be fleeing pursuit, circled several times at the boundary between the Li Stockade and the mountain hollow before plunging toward them. In the blink of an eye, it was before them. Dark clouds filled the sky, and the night was murky, but Xing Yan could still see clearly: behind that nearly transparent ghost flame, two almost imperceptible shadows followed through the darkness like constables chasing a criminal. From the urgency with which they clung to its heels, those two shadows, one black and one white, were clearly trying to stop the blue-green flame from coming this way.
However, when the blue-green ghost flame reached the three of them, the two ghostly shadows plainly grew afraid. They merely prowled through the pitch-black shadows of the ditches and banks, seemingly unwilling to approach.
How could the young hall master, his heart full of