A repetitive and soft thudding bounced from tree to tree like an echo, grass flattened as hurried feet ran across it. Yin Long couldn’t see their face but he could pick up the faint sound of rushed breathing, of lungs working desperately to provide a chance at life. The last one left. Everyone else had been cut down, and the one fleeing was the last one to live, choosing to flee before they too were killed.

Would they be spared if they ran? Would they get to live if they abandoned their bounty and fled as far as their feet would take them? Li Mei Yen and the others probably wouldn’t be able to catch up to them, they were running quite fast after all. Yin Long… Would the old Yin Long have bothered to chase after them? …No, he probably wouldn’t have. They would have gotten to live.

But the old Yin Long… He was no longer here.

The fleeing person’s leg hit something and they fell forward, blood mixing with the dirt as they hit their head and rolled forward. Their eyes happened to peer back as they rolled so they saw it, purple chains that had appeared out of nowhere and turned a small square of the air into a solid cube. Those very same chains then unfurled and slithered back to their owner, vanishing as they crept up Yin Long’s legs. The law of sealing… this was barely the second time he used it, but what a pitiful thing it was being used for.

The fallen person supported themselves and tried to stand up, their face finally revealed. Ah, it was a woman after all, one that barely looked a handful of years older than him. Amber hair and black eyes, both stained by dirt and fear.

In those eyes too, Yin Long saw his own fractured reflection. Was it just his own mind playing tricks on him or did the surrounding world see him as broken as he saw himself? It was a question he hadn’t thought about before, perhaps he was just too fractured to pay attention to it.

His hand rose and the eyes that reflected his visage turned so dim that he could no longer see himself. Blood ran out from the woman’s ears as she fell forward lifelessly, a few errant drops leaving her lips shortly afterwards. Quick. Precise. Painless. Looking at the urging yet gentle look on Lan Yun’s face, those three words were perhaps the only mercy Yin Long had left to dredge up.

"Yin… You…"

The voice of Li Mei Yen reached him from behind, but he momentarily ignored it as he strode forward, his steps halting in front of the fresh corps. His knees bent and his hand reached out, an all-too familiar hollow smile forming on his face as he vomited his curse, his salvation.

"Ananta Visrama."

The law of Yin poured out and blanketed the woman’s soul, saved her from pain as it painted her soul white with hope. And in turn, it painted Yin Long ever darker, the whirling mass of darkness continuing to grow without end.

The pain and suffering flooded him as he took in the woman, grafted her fear onto himself. And then he saw it, for the first time since he fell down here. He had seen many different kinds of fear and suffering, many kinds of lives. But now he finally saw it. Should he say that he had awaited it? That he had dreaded it? Did he even feel anything about it? His own emotions were so murky that it was hard to tell.

To the woman, Shui Shamu, fear was a ragged man with a stained crimson cloak and a simple sword.

"Yin Long… How are you doing… that?"

Li Mei Yen’s voice reached him again as the pale yellow dust danced around him, brushing against his cheeks as if it wanted to push away the ashen oil that ran down his face. There was a slight tremor in her voice, and judging by the sound of her steps she was wavering between moving closer or keeping her distance. Perhaps… Perhaps she too was becoming afraid.

Yin Long straightened his legs and rose again, it felt like ages to him but in reality it was probably no more than a few seconds, a paltry amount of time really. When he turned to look at Li Mei Yen and her group, there was no one else left in the area. No corpses that cried without tears, no dead that screamed without sound. There was only the living.

But they way they looked at him…

"I don’t know. I simply pray for them."

He wasn’t technically lying, Yin Long had no idea how his law of Yin gave these people rest. It simply took away their pain and suffering, there should still be plenty of desires for the Netherworld to feast on. So he didn’t know, he simply prayed for them so that they could get their rest.

Li Mei Yen studied his face after he answered, observing every crease and wrinkle, as if she could see his true nature in the blood and oil that stained him. Did she see something in his eyes? Did she find an answer in the dirt? Whatever the case, she spat out a long breath after a short while.

"Ha~a, alright, alright. I’d ask if this is something you can do at will, but I believe we’ve reached a point where such a question is pointless. But let me ask a question just to be sure, you are willing to do this… whatever, to everyone who has fallen?"

Yin Long observed his own reflection in her eyes as she spoke. It was twisting and turning, churning like waves so that it never appeared whole. She was thinking. She was looking at him and thinking, planning, calculating. What he could do, what he was willing to do, how it could be used. She feared people, so she knew how and when to use people.

Yin Long’s eyes slid aside for a moment. A bit behind Li Mei Yen’s group, that was where she stood. Amber hair and brown eyes, a curve that couldn’t be called a smile, and a gentle expression that urged him on as she gave a quiet nod of her head.

"Yes. They are suffering, so I will help them. We… Must be better."

The smile on Li Mei Yen’s face grew a bit wider when she heard the answer. Happiness. Expectation. Desire. The first two were a bit uncommon down here, but the last one was all too common. Desire became need, need became obsession, and thus people would end up acting on it.

"I see, I see. The mission we’re on, in truth its about disrupting the normal operations of the Rising Tree Pavilion so that they have a harder time delivering their usual tribute to their overlords. Normally, this entails ambushing Scavengers like these here, but with that ability of yours… We could do so much more. There’s another town a few days walk away from here, the pavilion uses some of the resting stations there as storage rooms for dead bodies that can become fuel. We’ll rush in, ruin everything, and then teleport over to Burning Leaf town to make a clean get-away. Will you help us save the suffering?"

Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Lie. Lie. She weaved the truth and lies like a tapestry as she spoke, dreams and desires spilling out with every word. Like a wolf drooling over a defenceless sheep. Yin Long saw his own reflection twist within her pupils, a thousand shattered pieces sliding about without a home as they formed the image of her dreams.

His gaze slid again, landing on his fear and his desire. But Lan Yun was still trying to smile, the mixture of sorrow and hope seemingly forever etched on her face. As always, she urged him on. To a future where they were better, where he was better. To a future where someone would make a move if they were in trouble. And as always, Yin Long rose.

"Yes, I will help you. They are suffering, so I must help them."

Use me. I have nothing so I can only give my work, so use me. And in turn, let me use you for what you have. The user and the used, let us abuse each other until our pain is one.