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Therefore, if I don't like something, I won't even glance at it, no matter how good it is. This is also the case with Lin Xiao in my story. Furthermore, his personality includes laziness and a reluctance to easily trust others, so it's not in his nature to rashly acknowledge Tian Niang as his master.

Some people say I'm confused, that I don't need a good master. Actually, there's another reason for this, which I'll mention in Volume Three: Lin Xiao once had a master. Okay, of course, everyone has their own opinions! Here I've just shared my thoughts. Feel free to speak up if you're not satisfied, but please don't make me too upset!

Anyone who hurts a girl is a real jerk! (Hehe... *chuckles*)

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Volume Two: The Demon's Left Eye, Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Moonshadow Clan

Volume Two: The Demon's Left Eye, Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Moonshadow Clan

"Lin...Lin Xiao!" After a long while, it seemed as if my hearing had returned, my body could move, and my headache had disappeared. I struggled to open my eyes and found Li Hai looking at me with a worried expression.

"Li...Li Hai?" I sat up straight in surprise, looked around, and found myself at the entrance of a cave with Li Hai. Ahead of us was a raging storm, yet I felt no wind or rain at all. What was going on? It was as if the wind and rain were completely blocked by a glass wall.

"You're awake?" Li Hai stood up, looking extremely tired, his body still swaying slightly.

"What happened? How did you get down?" I tried to stand up, but I found a strange feeling in my body, full of strength, yet also as if something had been taken away, both light and heavy.

"I was worried because you hadn't responded for a long time, so I estimated the length of the rope I was going to lower you down and jumped down too. But I didn't expect that after only going down a short distance, it was as if I was sucked into this cave by some strange force." Li Hai was panting heavily, clearly exhausted.

"What's wrong with you? Are you very tired?" I looked at him with a puzzled expression. Logically speaking, he was a person who had cultivated and had not experienced any strenuous exercise. How come Li Hai looked like he had run several kilometers?

"We still have to get through this damn barrier, don't we?" Li Hai said, gesturing towards the cave entrance with annoyance.

"Will it be tiring to cross the barrier? I'm fine!" I touched my body and found that I felt perfectly normal and actually quite energetic.

"So you're a freak!" Li Hai leaned against the mountain wall behind him and said, "My cultivation is already pretty good, but I didn't expect that passing through this barrier would be so tiring!"

"Looks like your cultivation isn't enough!" I joked, patting Li Hai on the shoulder.

"Alright, alright!" Li Hai punched me in annoyance and asked, "Shall we think about what to do next?"

"What do we do?" I looked back into the cave, which seemed like a bottomless pit. Since we were already here, there was no going back up. We might as well make the best of it. With a sigh, I said to Li Hai, "We're already here, let's go in and take a look! Maybe we can find Baiyun!"

"Aren't you afraid of that masked man?" Li Hai asked, looking at me.

"What's the use of being afraid?" I asked with a wry smile.

"Yeah, is it even useful?" Li Hai sighed. I sensed a sadness and despair in his tone, as if he had lost all attachment to the world.

"Lin Xiao!" Li Hai suddenly stared intently at me and said, "Do you know why Li Yang doesn't like me?"

"I don't know." I shook my head, wondering why he suddenly brought this up.

“You know what?” Li Hai smiled and said, “I’ve always been much better than him since we were little. As long as I was around, he was always second best. Because of this, he always blamed my mother for having him as well, making him live in my shadow forever. So he always liked to compete with me for everything: the class monitor position in school, the top scorer in exams, the place to represent the school in competitions, even his status at home and his girlfriend… He liked to compete with me for anything he could. Hehe…” Li Hai laughed as he spoke, as if recalling his childhood.

"It's normal for a younger brother to snatch things from his older brother! Even I like to snatch things from my older sister!" I laughed too. In my hazy childhood memories, I seemed to enjoy fighting with my sister for things: delicious cakes, fun toys, and... and the seemingly forgotten warm hugs from my mother and being tossed into the air by my father and then caught firmly in his arms...

“But…but do you know what?” Li Hai paused, then said, “Although he acts like he hates me, I still know that he likes me as his older brother. He takes care of me when I’m sick, he helps me when others bully me, and he cheers me up when I’m unhappy. Actually…actually, he’s always been a good younger brother, he’s just not good at expressing himself.”

Looking at Li Hai's sudden outburst of emotion, I didn't know what to say for a moment. Why did he suddenly want to say these things to me?

"Is it strange that I'm telling you all this?" Li Hai stood up and walked up to me.

"Ah!" I nodded dumbly.

"Hehe, it's nothing really. It's just that Li Yang has a very impulsive personality and tends to offend people. That's why he doesn't have many good friends. I know you two are good friends, so I'll have to trouble you to take good care of him while I'm away!" Li Hai said to me with a smile. Looking at his smile, I suddenly had a bad feeling.

"What the hell!" I shook my head angrily and said, "What do you mean by 'in the future'? And what about Li Yang? If you want to get along with him, then do it yourself. Isn't it irresponsible to ask someone else to take care of your brother?"

"Hehe, yeah!" Li Hai chuckled and shrugged, then walked over and gently patted my shoulder.

"Alright, let's go in and take a look!" I glanced into the depths of the cave. The darkness held a chilling, unsettling feeling, as I wondered what might be lurking within.

Li Hai didn't say anything more, nodded, and took out a Light Talisman from his pocket. The soft white light immediately illuminated the path around them. Although they couldn't see the entire cave, it was much better than groping in the dark. But I don't know if it was just my imagination or what, but I felt like the spreading white light was being swallowed up by something dark.

The deeper we went into the cave, the narrower the once spacious path became. The white light from the Light Talisman still seemed insufficient to illuminate the entire scene; something seemed to be enveloping us. I felt a strange yet familiar fluctuation surging wildly in the darkness. I turned to look at Li Hai; he didn't seem to have recovered from his earlier exhaustion, large drops of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Are you alright?" I stopped in my tracks, worried, and asked.

"Ah, it's alright." Li Hai shook his head and urged me to continue on my way.

I continued walking forward, but there wasn't a sound around me. Even the sound of my and Li Hai's footsteps seemed to have vanished into this strange space. I took a deep breath, but found I couldn't hear my own breathing. It was so quiet, yet I couldn't even hear my own breathing! Was there something wrong with my ears? But I clearly spoke just now, and I could hear Li Hai's reply perfectly clearly! I glanced at Li Hai with a slight panic; he seemed only sweaty and nothing unusual.

"What is this?" Li Hai suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" I turned my head and saw a huge... mask of the dead! Or rather, a white door carved into the shape of a mask of the dead! It was more than two meters tall, and the eerie white face created a strong contrast with the surrounding darkness, so bright that it hurt my eyes.

"It's this stuff again, how annoying!" I rolled my eyes in disgust and asked Li Hai, "What do we do now?"

"Try rotating the mask's left eye!" Li Hai instructed.

"It's too high!" I looked up at my lofty left eye and said, "I can't reach it!"

“This…” Li Hai frowned and said, “What do we do?”

"There must be a way. I doubt the Moonshadow Clan would always bring a ladder to open the door!" I tried touching the mask, hoping to find a mechanism. And sure enough, the door opened automatically! Perhaps it was just my imagination, but a soft laugh came from my ears, which had seemed to be acting strangely just moments before…

The room was completely dark inside; the white light from the Light Talisman couldn't penetrate it at all, as if another barrier had separated the world inside the door.

"Did they go in?" Li Hai asked from behind me.

“Yes.” I nodded and stepped forward without hesitation. As I passed through the door of the dead's masks, a soft buzzing sound rang in my ears, a strange sound that seemed to emanate from within my own body, causing me to involuntarily shiver. A thought seemed to flash through my mind at that moment: this sound was the lament of a soul…

*********

A gentle breeze caressed my face; of course, it would have been better if it weren't for that familiar yet repulsive smell of death in the wind. Looking around, if I hadn't pinched myself repeatedly and it still hurt, I would have thought it was all a dream. Only Li Hai and I were on the boundless grassland. The sun seemed bright, but the red sap dripping from the tips of the green grass was too strange. It seemed the stench I loathed emanated from these strange red substances. Drip, drip, dripped onto the ground, and what was even stranger was how absorbent the soil was. Despite the vast expanse of grass dripping simultaneously, the soil didn't feel damp. The strange red sap was absorbed completely the moment it touched the ground.

"What are these red things?" I tried to catch the red juice, but Li Hai grabbed me.

"Wait a minute!" Li Hai said, taking out a yellow talisman from his pocket. Before he could even catch the red liquid with the talisman, just as it got close to the liquid, the talisman made a soft "poof" sound and quickly turned black. In the blink of an eye, it turned into pieces of black ash and disappeared in the wind before our eyes.

"Such strong resentment! This fluid looks like human blood!" Li Hai said to me.

"Human blood? No way, it's clearly dripping from the grass!" I looked up and around. Countless blades of grass were dripping blood, as if they were crying out to us.

“I’m not quite sure why either, but this should definitely be human blood. Only the blood of someone with strong resentment would make the talisman look like that,” Li Hai replied.

"So where are we now?" I looked up at the sun with some apprehension, and suddenly realized that the sun seemed a bit eerie.

"I don't know, it should be inside the Moonshadow Clan's barrier," Li Hai said after taking a few steps.

"The Moonshadow Clan's barrier? Weren't they wiped out long ago?" I asked, following behind Li Hai.

“People can disappear, but if the barrier still has magic power, it will never disappear.” Li Hai walked quickly ahead, turned back to me and said, “For now, no matter what, let’s try to find Bai Yun and that masked man.”

"Find? How are we supposed to find it? This godforsaken place is a vast grassland, there's no way to hide anyone here!" I complained. This place was indeed a vast grassland, seemingly without end.

"Don't jump to conclusions!" Li Hai patted my shoulder and gestured behind me with his chin. I turned around and almost choked on my own saliva at the sight before me: a huge mountain had appeared on the grassland that was just a moment ago, and it looked strangely familiar.

“This…isn’t this the mountain where we live?” I touched my head. Although the strange dead-mask cliffs and black hanging coffins were gone, I still recognized it.

"Come on, let's go up the mountain and take a look!" Li Hai excitedly pulled me up and ran towards the mountain.

Perhaps because the sun was setting, the further into the mountains we went, the dimmer the light became, creating an unsettling sense of gloom. I touched my exposed skin, which was covered in goosebumps, making me shiver all over. After walking for about half an hour, the sky grew darker and darker, and I began to feel increasingly cold.

"It seems there's no one else around." Li Hai stopped and looked around. The green trees seemed to have turned into a depressing gray-green in the dim light.

"Oh, it seems so...!" I was about to agree when I suddenly heard a rustling sound of trees rubbing against each other behind me.

"Who's there?" Li Hai and I ran towards it at the same time, parting the bushes, only to find... a child!?

"Huh? Who are you?" I stared blankly at the child in front of me. His pale face was filled with fear, and his small, thin body seemed to be trembling incessantly. What puzzled me was not the child's seemingly ancient-style clothing, but his eyes. His right eye was clear and bright, while his left eye seemed to hold immense resentment.

"Don't be afraid, we're not bad people!" Li Hai seemed to want to comfort the child, but it had the opposite effect. The child suddenly turned around and darted into a denser grove of trees.

"Hey! Don't run away!" Li Hai and I shouted at the same time, and our bodies involuntarily followed.

"Don't you find it strange? There are still living people here?" I looked worriedly at Li Hai, who was running around beside me. I had a vague feeling that everything was a trap set up by someone.

“That’s better than nobody coming!” Li Hai replied. “Let’s intercept that kid and get some answers first!”

Nodding helplessly, I quickened my pace. The child didn't seem to be running very fast. In the blink of an eye, Li Hai and I were already behind him, and we were about to catch up with him!

"stop!"

A sudden shout abruptly stopped Li Hai and me. Several burly men slowly emerged from the bushes ahead. The child immediately rushed towards them as if he had seen a savior, crying out, "Daddy!"

Daddy? I froze on the spot, looking at their faces as if they thought we were bad guys bullying a child. It seemed we had misunderstood!

"Who are you two? How dare you bully a child?" The burly man in the lead had already pulled the child into his arms and shouted at us menacingly.

Who are you? This question really stumped me. Actually, I'd like to know who you are. Your strange attire, and what really gives me the creeps are your left eyes. The immense resentment hidden deep within them doesn't seem to be their true intention, but rather an endless malice towards the world.

"Then who are you people?" Li Hai gently pressed his hand on the sword at his waist and asked in return.

"Us?" The men were taken aback for a moment, then the one in the lead puffed out his chest with apparent pride and loudly announced to Li Hai and me, "We are the Moonshadow Clan!"

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Underground Labyrinth

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Underground Labyrinth

Moonshadow Clan? Shouldn't they all be dead by now? I turned to look at Li Hai, who also looked confused and surprised. It seems this barrier really does hide a lot of secrets!

"Tell me, who are you people? You're dressed in such strange clothes!" The leader shouted at us again.

"Ah~~~~" Li Hai glanced at me before slowly saying, "We are tourists who got lost, so we wanted to ask this child for directions, but he ran off without saying a word. That's why we chased after him, not because we wanted to bully him."

"Is that so?" The man looked at us suspiciously, then asked the child, "Aru, is that so?"

Aru seemed timid, and after hesitating for a long time, he slowly nodded.

"You're such a coward, child. If they wanted to ask for directions, why did they run away?" The man patted Aru's head affectionately, then said to us, "I'm sorry, there was a misunderstanding. Since you're lost, why don't you spend the night in our village? I'll have someone take you out of this forest tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay, okay!" Li Hai immediately nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, giving me no chance to speak, and pulled me up to follow behind them.

Sigh! I sighed. Although I felt a bit strange, it was a last resort. After all, going to the village was better than sleeping in the wilderness.

Quietly following behind the villagers, Li Hai seemed to be getting along well with the man in the lead, having already left me far behind. I kept my head down, carefully observing the surrounding scenery, a strange feeling lingering in my heart, as if nothing was real. Especially the way Aru would occasionally glance back at me, sending chills down my spine.

"Oh, where are we!" the leading man suddenly exclaimed excitedly. I looked up and saw a cluster of houses built of gray earth, simple yet exquisitely crafted. Groups of villagers seemed to be busy preparing dinner, the rising smoke creating a warm and cozy atmosphere. But for a fleeting moment, my left eye twitched, and my heart skipped a beat, as if it had missed a beat.

"Aru, you're finally back! Dinner's going to get cold!" A kind-looking middle-aged woman walked towards us with a friendly voice. Although she wasn't particularly beautiful, her gentle smile made us feel very welcome.

"Huh? Kassan, who did you bring back?" The middle-aged woman looked at Li Hai and me with curiosity and asked the man in the lead.

The man named Kassan immediately smiled and replied, "They were two lost people. I thought it was too unsafe for them to spend the night in the mountains, so I brought them back."

"Oh, I see!" The middle-aged woman immediately smiled at us and introduced herself, "Hello, I am Aru's mother and Kasang's wife. My name is Yiqinge."