Beneath the dangling Imposter, the demonic energy swirled with overwhelming intensity. Being this close to the source of a curse felt almost identical to the demon realm. An ordinary person would have collapsed under its weight.
"You're much too late! Your little mouse squealed!" The Imposter cackled.
Little mouse? The words sank in, confirming what he had refused to acknowledge.
Su Biyu. The way she had trembled, her red-rimmed eyes, the way she had flinched at Tian Han's scrutiny.
She had told.
But he still stood by his previous belief. A child usually won't act out to harm others unless manipulated, or coerced.
Tian Han exhaled sharply, his silence heavier than words. He did not move, but Fu Ran could feel the shift in his presence, something sharpening in the air between them.
"I knew not to trust her…" His voice was quiet, but it cut through the thick atmosphere. He was not mocking, or gloating, just angry.
Fu Ran swallowed against the weight pressing in his chest.
Before he could respond, the Imposter lifted the lantern with a clang against the iron rod.
Right before Fu Ran's eyes, the spirit of a woman appeared—just an ordinary deceased citizen of Bei Zangli by the looks of it. Her eyes widened with shock and panic as she realized it was daylight.
More spirits followed. Men, women, children, and the elderly emerged one after another, their numbers growing at an alarming rate.
And there was no time to dwell on what had already been lost. Fu Ran stated bluntly, "Leave it. We have more pressing matters than the distrust of a child."
Spellcasting was normally instantaneous, requiring only a single action to be completed. This time, however, a constant influx of corrupted qi polluted the air, making it impossible to ignore. Any spirit would have felt the difference.
There was no time to react. The woman's face twisted in agony as her fingers tangled into her hair. Her entire body convulsed, and the sounds escaping her throat became almost bestial.
"What? They turn immediately?" Fu Ran gasped.
When the woman looked up again, her eyes were vacant and white, her lips stretching into a snarl. The curiosity she had shown moments ago was gone, leaving only raw hunger in its place. She locked eyes with the two men.
And it wasn't just her. She was only the first to turn, but the others followed her change.
This was bad. Worse than bad.
For a brief moment, Fu Ran's gaze flicked away from the spirits and toward The Imposter. He truly looked like he was enjoying this. And what did he stand to gain? The destruction of two nearby cities? An Xian Yun Peak's reputation being dragged through the mud in the aftermath?
"Tian Han, hold them back. We can't let them spread."
"And you? What are you going to do?" Tian Han followed Fu Ran's gaze before snapping, "No! Shizun, you can't fight him!"
"Why not?"
"Because he—" Tian Han's mouth opened, then snapped shut. "He's powerful. And now he has his sword again."
"Then what? Are you going to fight him?"
Tian Han stiffened. He had no argument against that. His lips pressed together, guilt flashing across his face as he turned back to the fresh wave of evil spirits.
Before he could respond, The Imposter sneered. "Of course he isn't. He's nothing better than a sniveling child." His tone darkened. "The minute you rely on him, he's bound to fail expectations."
Tian Han's expression shifted from guilt to remorse, yet he didn't say a word to defend himself. Normally, he was quick to tease back when an argument played in his favor. Now though, he shut down completely.
Fu Ran clenched his teeth. Without hesitation, he kicked the ground and leaped onto the temple roof.
The Imposter barely spared him a glance before shrugging dismissively. Shi Wei Ji dangled nearby, held up by a single binding around the man's waist.
"Did you really come up here to fight? With that thing?" The Imposter gestured toward the sword in Fu Ran's hand. "It's just a basic hunk of metal. No unique abilities, no special powers."
That much was true, and there was no point in arguing. Even so, Fu Ran still lifted the tip, pointing it at him. "Give me back my sword. And hand over that lantern too."
The Imposter slouched to his knees before standing again, exaggerating the movement as if worn down by the request. "So demanding."
He raised the lantern in his right hand and, with startling speed, slammed it into the segmented roof tiles. The clay shattered with a sharp crack, and the lantern's rod plunged deep into the roof.
With a small movement of his hand, he powered it with a burst of spiritual energy. It glowed a bright purple.
"No, I don't think so." The Imposter's voice was firm as he lazily plucked off his mask and tossed it to the side. "This is the one job I was given, and I intend to see it through."
With that, he pulled Shi Wei Ji from its sheath.
Fu Ran knew that blade inside and out. It had been his partner in battle for so long that every movement, every strike felt like second nature. But against someone who knew it just as well, he had little hope of winning.
Shi Wei Ji had abilities beyond Calamity Recall. It could offer glimpses into the future, subtly adjusting the wielder's movements in real time to evade devastating blows or exploit openings for attack.
There was no doubt. He had almost no chance of victory.
But if he could just reclaim Shi Wei Ji, there might be a chance.
He wouldn't freeze this time. He had grown used to the man before him, and their likeness would no longer hold him in place.
He should have been over that by now.
Fu Ran grimaced.
The Imposter stood tall, flicking his wrist. The tip of the white sword barely skimmed the surface of the clay shingles.
The sounds of Tian Han fighting below urged Fu Ran to lunge. The Imposter met him blade to blade with ease. A strike to the right met with Shi Wei Ji's hardness, an attack from the left resulted in the same.
Damn it.
He struck again, only to be blocked. Every strike met a parry.
Damn it!
There were no openings. He swung again and again, but each attack met The Imposter's blade with effortless precision. The Imposter hadn't even moved his feet, while Fu Ran's breathing became labored.
Fu Ran clenched his teeth. Fighting against Shi Wei Ji… really sucked.
"Giving up already? I'd say that's about what I expected." The Imposter feigned disappointment before he chuckled. "Afterall, why bother? No one expects anything from you."
"Are insults all you're good at?"
The moment Fu Ran sounded like he had regained his composure, the battle changed. The Imposter easily grabbed the front of his robes and swung him around until his feet barely tapped the edge of the temple.
Fu Ran hissed at the height of the drop. It wasn't enough to kill him. However, if he fell, he'd drop into a flurry of corrupted spirits. That... that could kill him.
He might not be good at insults, but he sure knows how to throw people off rooftops. Fu Ran felt a nervous prick as he looked over his shoulder.
"Shizun!" Tian Han's attention snapped away from the battle at hand, and up to the rooftop.
The Imposter clicked his tongue. "So he can care for more than his wretched self."
"What…?" Fu Ran's stomach turned. There was something deeply personal in that loathing. "What is wrong with you? What has Tian Han done to offend you?"
"Every breath he takes is offensive!"
Fu Ran barely had time to react before he was yanked away from the temple's edge. He stumbled, his feet skidding against the segmented tiles. "Tian Han hasn't done anything! You're wrong—he wouldn't!"
The Imposter let out a bitter, hollow laugh. "Wrong? I'm wrong?" His fingers dug in deeper. "You are so damn infuriating. You've learned nothing from your losses, your wrongs and your suffering. You made so many excuses, especially for that man."
He paused, as if he were weighing the odds of how much he should say. "—And you stay like this. Right up until the moment you die by his hands!"
Fu Ran stiffened. The man before him really was akin to an empty shell, like his body was that of Fu Ran's but nothing else remained. The lines between the two of them were blurring through the course of this conversation.
"You think I'll end up like you?" Fu Ran asked, hesitantly.
"What choice do you have? If you think my hatred is unfounded, or useless, then listen. The day you lose everything... that's when you'll see me again. And when that happens, you'll hate just as I do."