"Why don't you all go and explore the province? There are a lot of exciting sights to see."
Xie Lan gave the Mayor an incredulous look as he spoke to them in the morning. The previous night was extremely weird for Xie Lan, after heading to his room the previous night he decided to cultivate to pass time and also to be alert during the night. Before that Feilong had been accompanying him trash talking the other people in the group for their snobbish attitude towards him and saying that humans always bite the hand that tries to feed them.
The weird part started during the cultivation, as Xie Lan started meditating and transferring Qi through his body, he felt very tired. He initially ignored it and wanted to finish the meditation first, but the tiredness came back in full force and he had no choice but to sleep. While he was sleeping he felt like something was odd, he felt very fretful and frightened. He tried calling Feilong but he could not even move or speak out. The scariest part was when he tried to wake up, but it felt like someone or something was pressing him down on the bed. He could not put the feeling into words but if he could describe it, it was like being buried alive, being locked in a coffin.
When he woke up this morning, he could not remember anything and even felt refreshed and energized, which was a stark contrast to how felt the previous night. If he was not already suspicious of the province, he would have simply ignored what happened at night. Feilong confirmed his suspicions too. "You suddenly blacked out last night, I tried calling out to you, but I could not even reach your spirit. Something is definitely wrong with this place."
Despite the situation being serious, Xie Lan did not skip the opportunity to tease Feilong, "I thought you were an all powerful dragon, how come you couldn't even figure out what's going on here?"
Feilong narrowed his eyes, "little ancestor, I might be an all powerful dragon, but don't forget that I have been locked up for over a thousand years and most of powers are still sealed. Also the yin energy is very strong here, I also detect the presence of a strong malevolent spirit here, not just a demon."
Xie Lan immediately frowned and decided to meet up with the others to know if they experienced the same thing and also to hear from the Mayor and maybe figure out what exactly they were dealing with in this province that could even make Feilong powerless.
But to her surprise, everyone seemed fine, some even saying that they felt energized and strong, some were even praising the dinner they are the previous night. What confused Xie Lan was that the cultivators amongst them that did not necessarily need to eat, were also raving about the food. In fact everyone talked about everything but the mission at hand. And to add to the charade the Mayor himself did not make mention of the mission while addressing them, he even encouraged them to go out and explore the province.
"Why don't you all go and explore the province? There are a lot of exciting sights to see."
The group nodded excitedly, discussing interesting sights to see. Xie Lan looked at the group of brain dead bewitched students in front of him and frowned, from the corner of his eye, he saw the First Prince staring at him, then it suddenly clicked in his mind. He had a wild theory, he figured that maybe the people bewitched by whatever the mayor did, were the people that ate the food from the previous night, and if his theory was right, then asides from him the other clear minded people were the First Prince and Xueying. He stared at the First Prince still reluctant to associate with him but had no other choice but to work together and figure what exactly was going on with him.
While everyone was clamoring about the town, Xie Lan reluctantly walked towards the First Prince who seemed as if he was waiting for him to come. Xie Lan took a deep breath and asked him in a low voice "hey did you notice anything out of the ordinary yesterday night?"
The First Prince replied with a question, "Out of the ordinary in what way?"
Weirdly, the First Prince's voice calmed Xie Lan's nerves in ways he could not understand. "Did you experience tiredness and a weird feeling while you slept?"
The First Prince was silent for a while before speaking, "Yes. What do you suspect?"
Xie Lan looked up at him and in a calm voice told him of her suspicions."So I feel that something is terribly wrong with this town. When we first entered yesterday, the entire town was so quiet, almost like everyone was dead, but it was not even so late. Then there was the look of hesitation in the Mayor's face when we arrived early. Although I might be overthinking it, but the fact that we have be here since yesterday and there is not yet any significant discussion about the demonic activities in the province almost as if we're here for an excursion. And then yesterday night, I felt incredibly tired, I couldn't cultivate and I felt like I was being smothered in my sleep. Also our companions that ate the food yesterday are all acting bewitched today, I feel the only reason we are not as bewitched as they are is because we did not eat that food yesterday night. But then again if we did not eat that food how then could they manipulate our spirit?"
As he finished speaking, Xie Lan was scared that the First Prince would tell him off for overthinking, but to his surprise the First Prince actually nodded and spoke in a somewhat proud voice "You make sense, if we are going along with your theory, then there is someone else that is not bewitched."
Xie Lan followed his stare to Xueying, he nodded in approval to Feilong and said "Y'know anytime the First Prince is not being annoying around me, his is actually very smart." Feilong rolled his eyes but couldn't help but agree with Xie Lan, he was felt a formidable energy around the First Prince. If not from personally verifying that the First Prince had no cultivation he would have suspected that he was already close to being a Nascent soul cultivator. The First Prince's natural aura was just so formidable.
The First Prince and Xie Lan walked up to Xueying with Xie Lan repeating his doubts, after listening to them, Xueying nodded that she had suspected such. Her first reaction was to be grateful that Fusheng did not come along in this dangerous journey.
(Author's Note: (˘･_･˘) But if only she knew that the treasure she was searching for in foreign lands, was actually right next her (-_-;))
Once it was confirmed that it was just the three of them that were not bewitched. They started making plans, Xie Lan started "The reason we are not bewitched is because we did not eat the food served yesterday, that is already confirmed. So what we have to look out for is what exactly influenced our sleep last night. This has to be something that we came in contact with between entering into the town and sleeping last night."
The other two nodded showing that they agreed with Xie Lan, so he continued, "We need to figure out what it is before nightfall, otherwise I fear that if we fall for it's influence again, then we will not be clear headed tomorrow. And we need to also get rid of whatever is controlling this town, although I feel that if we figure out how we were controlled last night, we will be a step away from destroying whatever evil is here."
The three made plans to take advantage of the sightseeing and explore the town and see if they'll find anything out of the ordinary. They decided to head out separately to cover more grounds, although Xie Lan was worried about Xueying going out alone, Feilong reassured him that nothing will happen to Xueying and if anything went wrong that he Feilong would protect her. They agreed to meet in the evening to discuss again.
Xie Lan headed to the market area, while observing the houses along the way. It was very hard to notice that this bustling town was the dead town of last night, no matter how Xie Lan thought about it, it did not make sense. He agreed that sometimes after a busy day, the elders would be tired and would be knocked out immediately their bodies touched the mattress, but then what happened to the children, the babies, the animals were they also too tired that they couldn't even make noise and come to think of it, last night they were also strangely tired. He felt there was a connection here.
Feilong finally came back "There is not even a single fairy around this area. It's almost like they were swallowed." Xie Lan had asked Feilong to patrol the place and ask other spirits in the area if they had any clue about what's going on in the town, but now Feilong came back to announce that there was not a single spirit in the town, which was practically impossible and meant that a strong evil existed in this place. Xie Lan frowned, he did not expect that his first ever mission was going to be this tricky.
As he approached the market, the traders called out to him, some complimenting his face, some his stature, some his skin. All in all they were normal. Xie Lan walked up to a store selling folding fans, and asked "How much is this fan?"
The woman there smiled and answered eagerly, "Shaoye! Welcome to my store. You look really good, that fan would really go well with your aesthetic. It just three gold coins."
Xie Lan flashed her a shy smile and paid for the fan, "Thank you Jie. I want to ask when do you normally close your shop?"
The woman was flattered at being called 'Jie' and answered him honestly "Just after the sun sets."
Xie Lan smiled "Thank you Jie. I will come back again. Byeee".
As he left, he kept discussing with Feilong, "Let's assume everyone closes their shops around the time that the woman said, then it makes no sense that they all fall into deep sleep by the time we arrived yesterday, after all the sun had not set for long before we arrived. Whatever made me fall into a deep sleep yesterday is probably also controlling everyone in this town."
As they were still discussing, Xie Lan perceived a familiar fragrance, he recognized it as the fragrance that was around the Mayor's residence last night and to some extent the entire town. The fragrance was strong, so he decided to follow it. He came to a stop at an incense shop a little further away from the rest of the shops. The shop seemed normal, nothing out of place. The trader was a young woman, who was extremely beautiful, Xie Lan almost walked away upon seeing nothing out of place, thinking he was overthinking.
The young woman on seeing Xie Lan smiled brightly intending to advertise her incense. "Welcome to my incense store, I have good fragrances for your hair and wonderful fragrance for your clothes Young Miss."
Immediately the young lady said that, both Xie Lan and her froze. An eerie silence descended upon the shop, Xie Lan frowned at her in silence. The young lady broke the silence awkwardly "Oh My, Young master, you are so good looking that this young lady called you a young miss. I am so sorry. You know what to prove my regret, why don't you take this free incense. It is actually good for the hair. I am so sorry."
Xie Lan just nodded and walked away with the incense in her hands. After walking a distance away from the shop, she said to Feilong "That incense trader, did not just make a mistake because I looked like a girl right? She saw through your disguise, didn't she?"
Feilong was silent for a while probably due to the shock of having someone see through his spell, "If she really saw through my spell, then it means she is the problem of the town and is very very powerful. And that incense is probably the problem."
Xie Lan was silent before walking back to the woman selling the folding fans. "Jie, I have a question to ask you."
The woman probably still pleased with Xie Lan answered cheerfully "Yes go on."
Xie Lan brought out the incense and showed her, "Do you use this incense at home?"
The woman perceived the fragrance and smiled "You have met Rongrong?"
Xie Lan repeated confused "Rongrong?"
The woman continued "Yes Rongrong is the incense maker. Ever since she came to the province, her incense has helped not only me but the entire town. You know we all get tired after closing our shops, and the children still disturbs us, but with her magical incense, the children no longer disturbs and I don't feel so tired because I now have adequate rest. The incense is as nice as she is. A very beautiful young girl."
Xie Lan caught the key word and asked "She is not from this province?"
The woman shook her head "Yes, she suddenly came her around 2 months ago."
Xie Lan nodded and asked "Do you know her real name?"
The woman shook her head and showed a confused look "I don't seem to know, but does it really matter."
Xie Lan smiled and bade farewell to the woman and left with a determined face.