Unknown how long he kept his eyes closed, Qin Yan could hear the Blue Lady calling him.

“Child, you must wake up! Be careful…”

Her warning was too late. An iron grip fixed on Qin Yan’s neck.

It ripped him off the coffin and hurtled him across the room, then his body felt an impact as he smashed into a wall. Not recovered from the extended sleep, Qin Yan could only slide to the ground and hold his head, rousing his demonic Qi. He forced himself up as he heard footsteps close in.

A tall man clad in white mourning clothes was closing in on him, a long hooked spear in his grasp. His facial features were distorted in rage.

“Vile beast,” the gravity of the man’s voice almost pinned Qin Yan in place, “dare to enter this place!”

He rushed at Qin Yan, thrusting out his spear.

Qin Yan intended to dodge, but his feet were like lead, head still foggy. And then there was a tearing noise. Something on his abdomen that soon pierced through completely, creating a gaping hole under his ribs. The thrust was so powerful it cracked the wall behind Qin Yan and pinned him there like a butterfly in a display.

Without much reaction, Qin Yan gripped onto the spear shaft only to find that it was burning with blue fire. He was forced to retract his hand, and could only watch as a dark green liquid flowed from his stomach down the length of the spear, dripping onto the floor.

Interesting, so his blood is green…

It was the first time Qin Yan’s body couldn’t regenerate like usual and also the first time a presence powerful as Wangzi approached and attacked with such ease. He could tell from the spiritual energy flowing through the man’s veins that he was not a demonic cultivator like the rest here, but of the righteous path.

The man stepped towards Qin Yan, his hand clenching into the shape of a claw as though he wanted to rip out his heart.

The light orbs floated in front of Qin Yan and the Blue Lady cried, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry…I didn’t know my brother would visit today! He cannot hear what I say…um, and is very sensitive about visitors.”

Qin Yan asked the man, “Why did you attack me?”

The man didn't expect that Qin Yan could form words. His expression darkened to an even greater hatred, veins bulging along his neck.

“I can go straight through your stomach but you don’t flinch, so I know you’re that demon. You may have acted without restraint until now, but you’ve made a grave mistake coming here and desecrating her grave. Is eating your fill not enough, or is it that you have no respect for anything in this world?!”

Qin Yan felt his fingers twitch in annoyance. 'Sensitive'? This guy has full-blown anger issues! He was literally just sleeping here, nothing else. He swore that he'd never lived in such a hostile place before in his life. Is this what it was like to live in Somalia, North Korea, the Congo, constant, imminent danger? You have to sleep with one eye open...

Flatly, Qin Yan said, “She said I could rest here.”

“DON’T SPEW LIES!”

The very mention of his sister seemed to have enraged this man to the point of madness. He stepped over with a flame lit in his hand and every intent to burn Qin Yan to ashes, then turn him to petrified wood¹The process starts by taking wood and soaking it in a bath of acid for about a day. Next, it gets soaked in a tub filled with a silica solution. Once air-dried, bake the wood in argon gas at temperatures of up to 1,400 centigrade for 2 hours..

Although a tiny voice thought that, perhaps, he should just let him do so, Qin Yan said,

“You can destroy this body, but it won’t really kill me, and it was Wangzi who gave the order that I can do as I please. Between the two of us you’re the one who’ll be ripped to tiny pieces. Then who will care for your sister’s grave?”

The man ‘tsked’ and the glare on his hand died slightly, but he grabbed the end of his spear and twisted it around in Qin Yan’s flesh. Qin Yan coughed out a mouthful of green blood, all the while feeling a strange sense that there was something missing on his body—as in the stomach and a few intestines. It was getting quite airy down there, but he really couldn't feel anything besides the sensation that 'an object was obstructing his stomach'.

The man suddenly said, “How do you what Lord Wangzi would do? If he knew you were here…”

“I don’t know. Isn’t the point exactly that nobody can know?” Qin Yan was pretty sure it was half the demon in him talking, because he was rarely this fluent with words. “He’s gone mad. If he’d rip you to pieces for disobeying orders, rip me to pieces for trespassing, or just kill us both because he felt like it, any of these are possible.”

“…” It was silent for a few moments.

Schlickk—

The spear was pulled from Qin Yan’s stomach. He sunk to the floor, the surroundings so cold that he couldn’t muster the will the stand. Although a small part of him wanted to kill this man, the Blue Lady kept whispering,

“Please don’t fight with my brother. He’s all I have left…I’m sorry.”

The man paced back two steps. His white clothes had a splatter of green on it that was quickly burned off with a blue spark. 

“Indeed, Lord Wangzi has lost all his sense of rationality," he said, then his hand was suddenly blazing again. “Right, he’s insane! And you’re just as crazy! SO AM I! Go ahead and whine to Lord Wangzi like a spineless dog. I’LL FUCKING RIP OUT THAT TONGUE!”

Qin Yan was about to return the favor, spring up and rip him to shreds. 

“WAIT! Sorry sorry sorry!” said the Blue Lady, “My brother’s only a little upset. I know how you can make him stop, just repeat this one phrase and hold out an open hand…”

Qin Yan nearly balked as he heard what she told him to do, but in the end he was a little grateful towards Blue Lady. So as fate would have it, while the man with a sister complex thrust out his palm to kill Qin Yan, Qin Yan also put out an open palm and said cutely,

“Gege, look! I caught you a firefly. Hehe~”

Qin Yan felt like he lost a small portion of his pride as a man, but the man froze mid-attack. Above Qin Yan’s palm hovered a single orb of light which, funnily enough, was trembling in fear of accidentally brushing again Qin Yan’s hand and being dispersed, but nevertheless mustered its courage and stayed.

The man’s hand shuddered when he saw the orb so willfully acting as a firefly.

“How…how do you know that?! Who told you? Those words...no one should know them except-”

“She told me.”

“She really…?”

The light orbs floated about, dancing up and down, flying in front of the man then back to the coffin, and finally the resentment in his brow lessened to some degree. Now he only appeared miffed as he stuffed his spear into a leather sling on his back.

He looked extremely sad. “Why is it you that she speaks to?”

“Hehe,” giggled the Blue Lady, “my poor brother, he’s jealous. It can’t be helped that your sensory abilities are better than his…but I’m sorry, child. Sorry you got hurt. It's a good thing that brother didn't forget the happiest times I spent with him, catching fireflies!”

A hundred glowing lights flew about the man and sent his long white sleeves flying. He seemed gentler now, like a ghost among the frost covered walls. Qin Yan was lying on the floor, feeling rather exhausted. His stomach did have a gaping hole, after all, and the cold made him so sleepy…

He felt that he was being dragged along by the collar…

“In light of my sister’s wishes, I'll let you off this once.”

…

When Qin Yan opened his eyes, the air temperature was warmer, and he saw that he’d been thrown into the Blue Lady’s garden like a discarded bag of trash. The moon was glowing above his head as he rolled up to stand. 

Although he met a person who clearly has an obsession with his sister and got a hole in his stomach, in truth he felt a lot calmer than he did before. The Blue Lady was nice to talk to, like going to a counselor's session. The counselor doesn't actually tell you anything helpful, but you get the chance to complain and vent on open ears and that in itself is a boon. 

Seeing as it'd been quite a while since he last saw Song Heqing, he should probably go visit! 

Amarathia

Qin Yan, you really shouldn't sleep in strange places you know nothing about? Even though I don't give the Blue Lady and her brother names, they will definitely reappear in the future. Also, the first arc is more than half way done, so plot and action is soon going to rev up further...