Quickly, the little disciple’s eyes darted around. Her ears picked up the soft saunter of another person. There was a slight bounce to every step that the entity took. His boots barely touched the red maple leaves that blanketed the forest floor. It was as though he was just drifting his way through in the eternal abyss.

They were slowly approaching the group of naïve, empty-headed children—and not even one of them could see who it was.

But as soon as the girl sensed their overwhelming presence of yin energy—it vanished.

“Ah, but what’s so funny?” At neck-breaking speed, the voice soon danced behind the large bully before zipping over to the other two. “Go on, go on! I want to listen and catch up too!”

Gradually, what sounded like hisses, growls, and twitters blared louder and louder around the children until it was so unbearable that even Mei Ying almost wanted to huddle with the three frozen boys. They were so quiet, she wished to see what sort of expression the cousins had on or at least, know what they were thinking. Then, gradually, the child heard one of the scrawny boys whispered out a prayer of protection to the ancestors.

Aiya! Mei Ying wished that she had not heard him!

Are they going to be eaten or used for demonic cultivation?

The little disciple had never fought against a ghost or demon before. Despite that, the girl closed her eyes, feeling more for the numbers and the heavy miasma gathering around the children.

Oh. What a dense cloud of yin energy indeed! There was much resentment rapidly collecting in the area that they were all unfortunately standing in. While it was alarming that the children had ventured into a yin territory, Mei Ying found the entity’s aura to be rather strange.

Their supernatural companion was rather unbelievably powerful, perhaps—not trying to suppress much of their immeasurable spiritual energy; however, there was no killing intent. It was not like what any of Shifu’s teachings had taught her at all.

More so, there was an opening—

Rather abruptly, the little disciple opened her eyes since someone was shaking her sore shoulder like a doll!

“MEI YING, MEI YING!”

The three tyrants had been sobbing quietly and seemed belatedly regretful of their actions. They had thought that their little cousin was about to faint from fright. If she did, they would have to carry her body, and it would slow them down. Besides, what could they tell their parents or her shifu?

They cried, “W-We’re really sorry! Please help us! P-Please use what your great shifu has taught you!”

Before she could answer, the child was dragged up to her feet, causing the injured ankle to throb in immense pain. Ow! They were incredibly thoughtless in how they were grabbing onto her small arms. There was a ton of excruciating pressure against the tiny limbs. It was enough to leave a few more purple bruises that will get Mei Ying lectured at by Shifu.

Aiya, what can I do? thought the little disciple, feeling sorry for the older children. We are surely done for—because I’m only seven years-old, and I’ve barely started learning how to write magic scripts…

Initially, the trio were extremely cruel to the disciple and belittled her core-building skills, martial arts, and magic. They even went as far as to insult her amazing master as some ‘old hag’!

Now that they have stared at death in the eyes and are so desperate to live, the bullies have no dignity left to think twice about their evil ways. Instead, the mean cousins think that the girl should simply save them because they asked for it?!

All at once, surrounding the child—were several red glowing rocks that floated up into the air. In an instant, the cluster burst into hot vermilion flames. Mei Ying flinched but clamped her mouth shut, not wanting to make a move in case her long, silk-black hair might catch on fire too!

“Oh, didn’t these stupid shits throw rocks at their little cousin?” laughed the playful entity, still flitting through the dark.

“You…saw that?” The small child could not help but blurt out her question.

Thinking back, she did not sense or see anyone by the front entrance of the wild, overcast forest. But then again…this area was far too advanced for her measly core-building skills to inflict anything.

Right away—a tangled sharp song of screams ripped out of the three boys as they shoved the little disciple away in complete terror. It was awfully painful for the girl to be so abused in a day—but at least, they immediately released her poor arms.

“RED OMEN!” The two skinny lackies were pissing on themselves as they both nearly collapsed against a nearby tree. “BROTHER! IT’S RED OMEN!”

Ah? Mei Ying was about to correct them that according to the stories, on the night of her birth—Red Omen was said to be a million times bigger than these small suspended pebbles of fire…but she did not. Instead, the child tilted her head to admire the warm, flickering flames—and the red pair of eyes staring at her from behind the large cousin.

Oh.

“HOLY F*CKING SHIT!” The chubby bully shrieked, the red brilliance from the rocks unveiling his tear-streaked face and ghostly complexion. “IT’S THE RED OMEN! MEI YING HAS SUMMONED THE DEMON KING—"

The round-bellied child was so terrified, he did not even notice that the blazing red eyes by his shoulder. However, he trembled as though feeling the fiery scarlet spiritual energy and immense hatred from the disturbed spirit. He became quiet…and slowly turned his head at the direction of a ghostly laughter.

“D-D-D-De…” With teeth chattering, the boy was trying hard to squeak out his words.

There was remorse in Mei Ying’s chest for she did not want the large boy to die of a heart attack. If he is to die, how would she explain it to Uncle? But she was quite frightened too, her mind becoming scattered again. Where was the opening to their escape again?

“B-Brother…” The little disciple began, slowly.

She would never intentionally summon a demon, but did this one truly manifest due to her heart’s cry for help?

The child continued, “Th-This one would never…!”

“AHHHHHHH!”

In a blink, the boys all sped off, scrambling over one another toward who-knows-where.

“DEMONS! DEMONS! THERE ARE F*CKING DEMONS!” The trio shrieked out, stumbling over one another. “HOLY F*CKING SHIT!”

Twigs snapped, further cursing, and blood-curdling screams echoed into the unseen distance. Red and gold leaves of autumn were trampled on and crushed by their cotton shoes as the children kicked and screamed away. Another chilly draft blew over their hair and past Mei Ying, who was left behind.

The child was trembling all over. Ah, she was surely outranked by everyone in these spooky woods!

“W-Wait…for me.” Wait. “W-Wait, you three!”

One step was all it took for the little disciple to trip over the gnarly roots. She sniffled. Everything hurt. Everything was too dark for her to make out any shapes or anything at all. There was only an endless route of loneliness.

Furthermore, the hefty cloud of yin energy that was often associated with the dead, demons, and ghosts was becoming painful to the child’s small body. It was becoming rather difficult to breathe as her spiritual energy seemed to slowly drain. She felt like a small flower, curling away for winter.

“I-I didn’t do it. I didn’t…s-summon the demon king. I’m not bad luck.” Wait. “I-I don’t have a…c-curse mark.”

How strange… The little girl did not hear the mischievous laughing person anymore.

Then, slowly, a gentle cloud of tiny red orbs of light manifested from the murkiness before her.

Patting her wounded hands around in the dark, Mei Ying used the ruby light source to feel for the soft blades of grass, the rough bark of tree, and then…soft cloth that was blissfully smooth to the touch. The seven-year-old child arched an eyebrow. She grabbed the piece of fabric to pull herself up. Slowly, the girl could not help but piece together the vague details.

Why, in the vast void of twilight, she could not understand how there is an outer…robe in front of her. Where did this person come from?

Maybe it’s a walking corpse—or the body of someone recently deceased!

Startled by her chilling discovery, the little disciple gave out a cry and recoiled her small hand from the stranger’s sleeve—only to fall on her butt again. Quickly, Mei Ying remembered and snatched a glowing yellow talisman from inside her magic pouch, tucked into her sash. It was given to her by Shifu for emergency use… Of course, the stupid child was not able to think clearly enough to take it out until now!

Though she was shaking, the girl held the scroll over her head and closed her eyes shut. Hot tears continued to run down her dirty cheeks. The paper’s magic scripts—or array—was painted with cinnabar and wine. When touched, it is said to either burn the ghost or demon and scare them away.

“Gh-Ghost, demon, whatever you are, don’t hurt me!” she cried out.

But nothing came. Slowly, the disciple opened her eyes.

The cloth went away. It was no longer there.

“I did not come to hurt you.” A gentle, soft voice gradually drifted around the frightened girl. “I only came to help.”

He came to help…me? To the girl, it was too good to be true. Why?

An elegant stream of what seemed to be lustrous red fireflies hovered close to Mei Ying. It was almost as though the cluster of light inspected her injuries, the filthy sky-blue outer robe, and the once-beautiful silver jewelries that she wore around her neck and the bracelets on her tiny wrists. The child was a bit embarrassed, feeling her cheeks flush rather warmly. Even her high ponytail which was neatly combed back by Shifu was ruined. Now, it was a mess of loose baby hairs and disheveled appearance.

“I’m sorry.” whispered the spectral breeze.

Still, the tremors of Mei Ying’s little heart did not stop. She was quiet, thinking of what to do or what to say next.

The tears refused to stop flowing from the corners of her eyes. The little disciple blinked back her waterworks. She sniffled again, pressing her red quavering lips tightly together.

“Who are you?” asked her invisible companion. “They are gone now.”

“Sh-Shifu says…that I cannot give out my name to the dead.” said the child, lowering her gaze. Her hand continued to shake, tightening her grip into the beaming paper. “Th-They can use that to lure children away and eat them for spiritual energy or for their own demonic cultivation medicine.”

“Hahahaha!” While the voice seemed mischievous at first, Mei Ying felt a slight bittersweet tune to it. “How so? It’s not nice to spread rumors just like those mean boys who were with you.”

Mei Ying’s heart started to calm like the long wait for spring and greenery. Without hurrying, she tucked the ghost-repelling talisman back into the magic pouch and sat properly, crossing her legs.

The entity seemed nice… After all, he stopped the bullying and possessed no malicious intent toward her.

With her mucky blue sleeve, the little disciple tried to wipe her wet cheeks.“Shifu says if they find out the children’s true name, they can pretend to be someone familiar and trick their victims by calling out their true names. It can make them follow the voice, thinking it is their friend, their mother, their father…”

Gradually, a rather small twister of blood-red maple leaves spun into the air. It whirled and whirled until at last, a figure of black smoke emerged from the depths of frosty wind and maple leaves. The entity casually seated themselves down.

The child blinked. Over time, it seemed that more clouds of red glittering fireflies gathered around her and the mysterious person, allowing her to see through the forest’s murky setting.

There, sitting in front of her was a slightly older boy with fair marble skin and brilliant crimson eyes. His soft features seemed carefully sculpted for a Heaven Immortal statue, his red lips were painted on by a master, and even the flaring embers in those irises seemed lovely. He donned a night-black outer robe with long, wide sleeves and wore his long hair up in a high ponytail, decorated with a glistening gold hairpin.

Ah, so the outer robe that she found and grabbed onto—was his.

Still, the stranger was not of this world at all despite how incredibly handsome he seemed.

Then, it occurred to Mei Ying that breathing became much easier… She looked around in the dark, wondering where the thick demonic miasma had gone.

“Okay then. What should I call you?” The boy sat, cross-legged, and propped up his white arm onto his knee. He rested his soft chin into his hand and tilted his head at the girl. “It’s rude for me to call my visitor ‘you’ all the time.”

Feeling shy, the little disciple bowed her head and nodded, “The big brother can call this one…Ying Ying.”

“Hahaha! What a strange name!”

A string of burning red rocks floated over to Mei Ying, spinning in the air like a flaming wheel. These were the same stones that scared the bullies near to their graves! Slowly, the cluster fell to the ground, the red flames extinguished by a snap of the boy’s fingers.

A small curve slipped into the girl’s red lips. She no longer felt burdened by sadness; instead, her mood was lifted by a thousand feathers. The child’s dark honey eyes crinkled, becoming crescent-shaped to match her genuine smile.

She soon explained, “My people tell me that ‘Ying’ means ‘luster of gems.’”

“But with your nickname…wouldn’t it mean ‘luster of gems-luster of gems’?”

“It’s double the sparkling, precious gems, ah!” The girl felt it was completely obvious in the value of such treasure. “Ying Ying is an extremely special nickname…”

There was a moment of silence as though the spirit was thinking it over. He lowered his eyes, his long lashes fluttering like butterfly wings. An indiscernible expression swept across his face, drawing the small disciple’s curiosity.

He nodded. “I suppose…since Ying Ying has given it so much thought, this one was wrong to assume otherwise. Again, forgive this one.”

The spirit met her gaze and flashed the girl a heartfelt smile, one that seemed to ease the darkness around them like the silver moonlight. It was soothing to the small child, nostalgic even. To her, it felt as though she once had a hazy dream like this before, and she had just forgotten about it until now.

Have they met before?