Chapter 51: The Fool

Chapter 51: The Fool

The air was thick, humiliating. Dark in a way that promised rain but delivered only sweat. Yi Jyuhan stood outside the temple’s main door. Beside him, Jim sat on the top step, his blade sheathed at his belt. His bright eyes fixed on the horizon.

Riyoshi perched on the step below, a thin sword across his knees that seemed so delicate, that it looked like a single strong wind would shatter it.

On Yi Jyuhan’s waist, a fan was attached to his belt. Was he planning to fight with a fucking fan?? Aside from that, Yi Jyuhan’s face was tense, his face turned to the sun that was warm enough. The morning cold was nowhere to be felt.

Riyoshi glanced at Yi Jyuhan’s belt. "Is that your weapon?"

"No, it’s a conversation starter."

"Who are you planning to converse with?"

"The enemy. Before I kill them."

Riyoshi stifled a laugh at his words. It was the first expression he’d made in hours.

***

Elsewhere inside the room, the group prepared themselves. Lin fixed her clothing, wearing a black shirt and trousers. A belt was cinched at her waist, holding the blade in its sheath. She tied her silver-streaked hair in a bun, leaving a few strands loose.

Jian Yue prepared himself, lifting the Yan Gu blade. Zhuo took his blade and tucked it into his belt. Mo Fei waited for them. He had changed his clothes already. A casual robe, comfortable enough to fight in. Xin Yi and Hao Yu observed them quietly. They didn’t say anything yet, as if they were waiting for a moment.

Then, Mo Fei took his Glaive and fixed the mask on his shoulder.

Lin dusted off her clothes and looked at the kids and said, "Did you plan what to do about them? They won’t leave you for sure."

Mo Fei groaned in defeat. "I have no clue."

"You are a male mother to them." Lin snorted after saying that. Mo Fei gave her a look that seemed to judge her entire existence.

"You made up that word."

"Forget that. What to do about them?"

Mo Fei heaved a sigh. He would rather not take them to the battlefield; leaving them here was not good either due to how attached they were to him.

Xin Yi blinked and looked down at the floor. "We will stay here." Mo Fei looked at her, confused by her sudden lack of fear.

"What?"

"Because we’ll distract you. We don’t want to be the reason if you lose."

Jian Yue knelt down toward them. The children didn’t fear him this time. He reached his hands toward their heads, ruffling their hair. His lips pressed together, but he forced a smile. "Don’t fear anything that’d make you less human. The warm smiles can make the coldest heart melt."

Hao Yu raised the locket. "I have this good luck charm. We will wait, and let’s eat dinner together."

"Yes... let’s eat dinner together." Jian Yue stood up and walked toward them.

Zhuo glanced at the kids, trying to forge words. "... I will bring something... that you like."

Lin didn’t speak. She just turned with a small smile on her lips and waved with her left hand. Both the kids waved at them before sitting on the floor. Mo Fei had no words, so he didn’t try to force them. He moved silently with one last glance.

***

Outside, Yi Jyuhan was deep in his thoughts, waiting for them to come. Jim acknowledged the silence.

Alisa glanced and said, "That’s not like you to use your mind in overthinking."

Yi Jyuhan blinked and stared at her for a moment. "Let me try to pretend then." A silent sigh escaped his mouth. "We are Ascenders. We have no place in these worlds. We aren’t gods. We aren’t humans either. We are miserable wretches in every possible way, throwing away our lives. I myself have sent people to die. Cultists. Ascenders even friends."

He turned to face them. "I’ve always thought it was necessary. That cause mattered more than a single life."

"Now, I don’t like the sound of it." She said, copying Mo Fei’s tone. "You are not wrong, though. If you had sent me to their places, I’d have gone gladly."

Yi Jyuhan’s lips twitched at her words. He turned again. Just then, the group came out.

Lin clenched the hilt of her sword. "Let’s get going now."

Mo Fei swept his gaze over the stairs, trying to find other people, and then he said, "Are we going to fight without any army-type thing?"

Yi Jyuhan shook his head. "No, Ascenders or cults don’t fight with the army. Royal guards are the fighters of the cult; cultists are caretakers." With that, he gestured with his hand. Alisa and Jim pushed themselves and stood up. Zhuo glanced at Alisa before quickly turning back.

Mo Fei shrugged at Yi Jyuhan’s words. As they began to walk, Mo Fei was a little far from them. "Divine Serpent." He called out. The hiss echoed in his mind.

"Yes, Great Master."

"I’m feeling something, but I can’t quite name it."

"Hiss, Great Master, your soul is vast, so it’s connected to the environment itself." Its voice stopped; Mo Fei waited for it to speak again. "What you are feeling right now must be the call of your future spirit."

Mo Fei’s feet stopped. "What?"

The voice of the serpent remained calm. "Often fate is calculated after actions, but it’s never certain."

"You are useless in short." He continued walking. His hand fixed the Glaive tied to his back.

As they reached the large door of the temple. Yi Jyuhan looked back and bowed his head down, expecting the lady to bless him. Then as soon as they left the temple, the wind shifted from hot to cold; the city’s weather was never constant after all. For decades or centuries.

They left the temple with no other glance, as if they believed looking back would let them see something they didn’t want to.

A few moths followed them before stopping four paces away. Their tiny figures scattered in stardust, then shaped into Xue Lan’s body. He walked, slightly distant from them. His back had gradually healed, but the fatigue remained.

As they walked throughout the city, reaching toward the west entrance of South Cleveland. Just like the gateway before the Forest of Misfortune. It was also glued with talismans, fluttering as the wind passed through it.

***

Later on they reached the edge of the forest, where the trees were thinner than those in the Misfortune. Between these trees, a narrow street forked in two directions. The endless path that reached for a place worse than hell. Even the words whispered about these countries were terrifying enough to break the soul of a person. The path, haunted by the dark smoke that surged from the wind. Yet they entered without expecting a return.

Dread was valid, not certain but valid. In a way that seemed to stretch their breaths.

As they kept walking, the trees thinned, turning the street into a vast pathway. Slowly it emerged into a cosmic path. The trees aligned perfectly, like an intoxicating decoration.

Like... maybe an endless Christmas night. But instead of wishes, it made them the opposite.

Yi Jyuhan scanned the surroundings, then he looked back at the group. "This is where the edge of the first country is. The Immortal Citadel."

The word echoed in their mind. The Immortal Citadel... Immortal, but in what way?

Mo Fei took a small breath and said, "How the fuck are they immortal if they are dead?"

"People are dead, not the city, braindead!" Lin took a long breath.

"The hell? What did I do?"

"I need to research that before answering."

Mo Fei’s eye twitched at her words, "Obnoxious bi–"

Yi Jyuhan coughed. Mo Fei closed his mouth. "You are distracted. You are forgetting my warning." Just as he said that. The wind thickened into a polluted smog. "Do you really want to enjoy being replaced?"

Mo Fei quickly focused on the environment.

Yi Jyuhan narrowed his eyes, and the air continued to thicken more. Zhuo gasped as the wind suddenly stopped moving, then it flowed naturally again. He looked at others; no one else felt that, just he did.

"The air changed for a moment." He whispered to them, breathing shallowly."

"The Immortal Citadel—no one dies who enters there. Not even ascenders. You might have felt the influence of that city." Yi Jyuhan stated, his expression turning solemn. "The city has grown its influence more than before, even when we are at the edge, yet." He murmured.

Then, the nightmare began.

The very next second they took a step forward. The place stretched, the narrow street forked in countless directions. The trees themselves moved away; their roots came out like nerves. Yi Jyuhan stopped in his tracks and shouted. "Do not look at the shadows!"

All of them stopped behind him. Xue Lan didn’t question; he squinted his eyes, looking at the fork. "Hmm... That’s not an illusion, not a deception." A Dreamer knew more about deception, of course.

Lin’s face dropped a sweat, but as soon as it dropped, the sweat turned into smoke. "Tch,"

Jian Yue observed quietly; he didn’t glimpse at shadows. Things were watching them, maliciously, patiently. "Where should we move now..."

Riyoshi opened his legs, boots digging into the ground. Jim, however, got closer to Alisa in a protective manner. Zhuo closed the distance to Mo Fei. Xue Lan remained out.

Then suddenly something shifted. A strong melody passed through the air; everyone heard that flute song differently, yet it was only one. Yi Jyuhan heard a soft cryptic melody, Lin heard a little soft but hard melody, while Jim heard an almost inaudible melody as if telling how oblivious he was. Riyoshi heard a simple, deliberate melody.

But Jian Yue, he heard it entirely differently. A mourning sound as if the song itself was made to cry in his place.

Xue Lan heard the mourning melody too, but it was different. That melody was unusually loud, like a conflict between sweet and noisy.

Mo Fei heard a slightly bittersweet one. Something he couldn’t even understand. All of their gazes turned to see it.

There, on a half-cut tree, was sitting someone. A small, bright light, coming out of the thin trees, dropped onto the figure. Its hands held a brown flute, around one and a half meters long.

It had no eyes; there was nothing, not even holes, but just skin. It had no ears. In their place, two long horns came out of it. They looked like a jester’s cap, the tip slightly falling down. It had a mouth. Yes, it had, but it was stitched. Only opened enough to play the flute, not to speak words. Its skin itself was the color of burnt flesh, but there was no rotting scent.

It held the flute in such an elegant posture that it almost felt like a charming clown.

The moment Yi Jyuhan’s eyes lay on the entity. He froze, his face going pale. His eyes widened, looking at the entity without breathing.

Everyone else quickly took out their weapons, but then...

"Don’t move! Do not fight it!"

Everyone stopped and looked at Yi Jyuhan in disbelief. They stopped breathing; the figure on the stump didn’t move. Its stitched lips continued playing the flute, its horned head swaying gently.

Then he continued.

"No one can fight it. Not even Gods themselves. That facial expression... The way it’s holding the flute." His breath hitched, and his hands trembled. "I have read about it. It is..."

"The Fool."