Ji Lin stared at the afterimages within the crystals.
They weren't there before!
Cangxuan and Danzhu had sacrificed themselves in a blood ritual. Their physical bodies had long been devoured by Honkai energy, not even a speck of dust remaining.
All that was left were two Honkai crystals, serving as the core of the seal on Chiyou.
But now, their phantoms had appeared within the crystals, as if they had been guided back from a void unattainable by human intellect.
Ji Lin was shaken, her heart surging with emotion.
She hadn't doubted Ye Feng's words when he said Cangxuan and Danzhu would be revived.
But to witness the resurrection of her dearest friends with her own eyes—the feeling was indescribable.
"Master... didn't lie to me. Cangxuan, Danzhu..."
Even Ji Lin, who had been fucked by Ye Feng to the point of fainting multiple times without so much as a change in expression, found her voice choking with emotion now.
The golden Xuanyuan Sword trembled within the deep cavern, its hum like a mournful song.
Another half a day passed. Cangxuan and Danzhu's souls had undoubtedly been revived.
So why hadn't they woken up yet?
A tremor went through Ji Lin's heart as a sudden, ominous premonition struck her.
"Could it be... they've been on Master's side this whole time?"
Ji Lin still had a physical body, and at the very least, she could inhabit the Xuanyuan Sword.
But Cangxuan and Danzhu currently had no vessel to rely on in the real world.
---o---
Indeed, just as Ji Lin feared, Cangxuan and Danzhu awoke in a classroom at St. Freya Academy, within Ye Feng's world.
Danzhu groggily opened her eyes.
"Where am I...?"
Danzhu's seat was the second to last in the row by the window. As she opened her eyes, she could see a blood-red full moon hanging in the cold night sky.
The blood moon looked like a severed head, or perhaps a bleeding eye, gazing down upon the earth in despair.
"Ah—!!"
The hair on Danzhu's arms stood on end. She shot to her feet and looked around.
"This is... a classroom?"
The classroom at night was eerily silent.
The neatly arranged desks and chairs looked like tombstones submerged in the dim, cold space.
Danzhu couldn't help but take a step back, unsure for a moment whether she was dead or alive.
"Am I... what exactly... Sister, Sister, where are you?... Sister?"
Danzhu's shoulders trembled as she called out for her sister.
Her voice echoed in the silent classroom, making it even more terrifying, as if it would attract something unspeakable.
Danzhu clenched her fists, not daring to speak loudly again. She looked at the half-open classroom door and swallowed hard.
"I-I'm not scared!... According to research, a soul can be transferred, but a soul that has dissipated cannot be reassembled, nor can it easily linger in the mortal world... Therefore, ghosts and phantoms and the like are impossible... Hmm? Wait, then what am I...?"
Danzhu's body suddenly shuddered. She remembered.
Her memory stopped at the moment she sacrificed herself in the blood ritual to seal Chiyou.
"Wait, I'm dead..."
Yes, under those circumstances, it was impossible to have survived.
Then this place was...
"The world after death?"
No, please no...
Could it be that ghosts... really existed?
No, wait, I'm a ghost myself now, so... there's nothing to be afraid of, right?
This former researcher from Mobius's laboratory felt her staunch materialism begin to waver.
And it seemed that, more than the fact that she was already dead, she was terrified of encountering other ghosts.
"Sister..."
Since she had come here, her sister must have arrived as well.
Danzhu took a deep breath, steadying herself.
She had to find her sister.
Trembling, Danzhu walked out of the classroom and started down the empty corridor alone.
The corridor was silent and deep, as if it led to an abyss.
Outside the window hung the blood moon. Under its crimson light, the three-story-high trees twisted like phantoms.
Even though Danzhu tried to lighten her steps as much as possible, she could still hear her own footsteps echoing in the silent hallway.
"..."
Danzhu walked alone down the corridor of a school late at night.
She constantly felt that behind her, in the windows beside her, on the ceiling above her, and in every dark corner, pairs of eyes were watching her!
Even though the place was clearly empty, it felt like she was on a bustling street.
Every step she took, the gazes moved with her.
Danzhu endured the skin-crawling sensation of being followed, watched, and scrutinized by an unseen presence, and step-by-step, she arrived at the door of the next classroom.
"...Sister."
As Danzhu reached out to knock, she felt a chill on her back. She quickly glanced behind her. The shadows of the trees swayed in the wind, but there were no figures.
She let out a sigh of relief.
Danzhu turned her head back, and two black holes were pressed right against her face.
They weren't black holes, but a pair of eyes, only they had no eyeballs. The hollow sockets where the eyes should have been were pitch black.
"!!!!"
Danzhu's heart was seized in a vise grip of terror, so frightened that she couldn't even scream.
"Can you see me? Can you see me? Can you see me?"
The two black holes stared fixedly at Danzhu, the creature's mouth muttering chaotic, malevolent words.
Danzhu didn't dare move a muscle. The monster, so close to her, had dishevelled hair and a frighteningly pale face. Those eyes, which had become black holes, were especially horrifying.
"Ahaha, sister, sister... isn't here..."
Danzhu's gaze passed over the humanoid monster, scanning the classroom.
But the monster was relentless. It tilted its head, keeping those two black holes perfectly centered in Danzhu's line of sight.
"Can you see me? Can you see me..."
"...Forget it, I'll go to the next classroom."
Danzhu turned and walked forward.
The humanoid monster also stepped out, following right behind her, constantly asking, "Can you see me?"
"..."
Danzhu forced herself to remain calm, but her body was about to give out.
The humanoid monster matched her step for step, its foul breath hitting her bare back.
Ahhh, why is it following me!
What do I do, what do I do?
Danzhu was both terrified and frantic.
Splash~~
Just then, a basin of cool water was thrown over her, drenching her completely.
The water-soaked silk fabric clung tightly to her white skin, faintly revealing the delicate colour of her flesh beneath.
Just as Danzhu was at a loss, a cool, moist hand grabbed hers.
"Danzhu, it's me."
"Sister!" Danzhu cried out excitedly.
"Shh~~ Quiet."
Cangxuan placed a finger on her younger sister's lips, lowering her voice. "Come with me."
Cangxuan led Danzhu to the infirmary.
"Sister!"
Overcome with fright, Danzhu threw herself into Cangxuan's arms. Only then did she realize that Cangxuan was also
completely soaked.
Cangxuan explained, "One of the rules here is: the monsters cannot see anyone who is completely wet."
"Eh? Is that so? No wonder it didn't follow us just now."
It dawned on Danzhu.
She didn't doubt her sister's words in the slightest.
In the Previous Era, Cangxuan was a brilliant sage with an astonishing ability to observe the changes and flows of all things, and was adept at deducing patterns.
"Then as long as we stay wet, we'll be fine, right?"