The boat was slowly slicing the calm river stream. It was moving forward, passing the series of empty houses on the river banks. On the fore front of the boat stood none other than Abbot Yi Fan. His white robe was swaying in the air as he scanned to the scene before him, hands tightening the prayer bead around his other hand, mouth chanting muttered sutra.

There were people lying on the ground, everywhere. They were dead already, white foam dripping from their mouths. The smell of stench filled the air, too disgusting even to his strong stomach. There were cries heard everywhere, as palanquin after palanquin was carried by some people, followed by the ones who were cryng devastatedly by the death of their precious peple. Yi Fan observed the nearest palanquin. The wind blew and his eyes winced as he saw the hand of the corpse falling accidentally.

It was black like the color of ebony and dry to the point where the bones were visible inside the very wrinkled skin.

Yi Fan could feel anger raising in his body. This was all because of demons. Demons were just unforgiven creatures. They the life force of human just to sustain their filthy life in the world. They killed innocent people just to satisfy their endless need of existence. They took away lives, giving no damn care if they eliminated someone's life in the process.

First was my parents. Second was Abbot Shi Yuan. Last, you took my best friend, Bao Xian away. What do you actually want demon? I hate you, I hate you to the guts that you all cause all of this. You took everything away from me, from all those people who still had the chance to live.

It was boiling now inside him; he was consumed by rage. He passed a house where its inhabitants were crying over a cremated body. Their wailing made him trembling with the urge to fight. This was unbearable anymore. He almost lost control of his emotion.

That was when he saw a young man he seemed to know. Motioning the boat to come closer to him, Yi Fan could see that the man was frantically giving the half unconscious people drinks. Then it hit him. He was the man who gave him a ride with his ferry, the young herballist.

"This disease cannot be cured, young man."

The young man spun his head and looked surprised to see him.

"Master Yi Fan?"

"Jun Mian, right? There is nothing we could do with the herbs. They are victims of demons. Their suffering cannot be cured with mortal medicine. At this point, there are only two options for them. At best, they'll survive and go mad. At worst, they'll die ...."

Jun Mian shook his head and bit his lips.

"You are probably right, but, whille they're alive, I must try my hard to save them."

Yi Fan nodded, touched with the willing of young man before him.

"I myself am trying to get rid of the demons. Now we are together on this mission: to save people. I will give you my blessing to do it. However, you have to take some precautions. Do not go to strange places alone. At time like this, demons could be everywhere and they are waiting for the right time to snatch you."

Jun Mian bowed to him.

"Thank you, Master. I'll remember your advice."

Yi Fan smiled sadly before he nodded at him and  left. He met the other monks that had been roaming around the area, looking for the clues to find the demons. From their determined look, he knew that they had found something. Feeling really boosted, he came to them.

"You found something?"

"Yes, Master."

"What is it, Xiu Min?"

"I believe that this plague is caused by a pack of fox demons."

"Fox demons, huh? How dare they come here and slaughter these innocent people! Prepare the others, Xiu Min. We are to come and finish them now!"

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There is nothing we could do with herbs. They are victims of demons. Their suffering cannot be cured with mortal medicine. At this point, there are only two options for them. At best, they'll survive and go mad. At worst, they'll die ....

The words kept echoing in Jun Mian's mind. His meeting with Abbot Yi Fan today somehow made him feel really bad. It was not the saying from the abbot that his medicine was not effective to cure the weak men. It was the look on his face that somehow showed that he surrendered already. Jun Mian felt really upset when he listened to the abbot. He was disappointed. The abbot should have shown more bravery and perseverance in the term like this. He shouldn't have been desperate, like he could not do anything at all.

He opened the lid of the stone jar he was using to boil the herbs. The hot steam evaporated from it. He swirled it with chopsticks, checking whether the herbs had boiled well. He was a bit happier to see that so far his effort was showing sign of success.

At the window behind him sat Lu Han. He was looking attentively at his husband's move. He knew that Jun Mian was upset. He could see it from the way Jun Mian gritted his teeth and sighed. They might just get married in several days but he could already acknowledge the expression of his husband's. Lu Han hated it when he had to see Jun Mian feeling bad like this.

"Where did this disease come from?" Jun Mian sighed. "They kept atttacking people. So many people are dying. Abbot Yi Fan said that this came from demons and my medicine couldn't save them. I feel pathetically useless now."

Of course it came from demon. The aura that Jun Mian exerted after he returned home was enough to tell that he was just from the place full of demon. Lu Han had protected him that no demon could touch his husband, but still, the aura lingered around him. That fact, together with Jun Mian's murmur about the condition off people he had encounter with, was a solid fact that demons were behind that.

"You should take some rest, Jun-Jun. You have been making medicine for three days already." Lu Han said.

"I can't." Joonmyeon sighed, busily checking all the jar. "I have to find the cure for those people. Lu-Lu, can you give me a hand? Could you check the jars from time to time? The herbs mustn't stick to the bottom of the pot. I want to get some more ingredients to make a new batch of medicine."

Lu Han nodded and took the chopsticks from Jun Mian. He opened the lid of the jar and started mixing the medicine, hearing Jun Mian's murmured words.

"Preserving vital essence .... Concentrating vigor .... Boosting the spirit .... Aside from these fundamentals, the medicine must also strengthen basic functions ...."

Lu Han eyed Jun Mian who was backfacing him. His brows were united. He didn't want to see his husband work this hard. He had not been resting properly since he treated the sick people. He kept making the mixture of herbs to heal them. At this point, Lu Han had to agree with the abbot. The medicine that Jun Mian made would have no effect on the people. The vital force that was taken could not be restored by mere medicine. It could only be healed by transferring vital force to the people.

Glancing at his husband once again, Lu Han let a long breath and closed his eyes. He flowed the energy within his body and concentrated it in his mouth. Once the pearl of the energy was made, he quickly opened the lid and blew his own vital energy to the medicine inside the jar.

The vital energy was glowing before it fused with the medicine. A second later it united completely with the medicine, leaving no sign that it was enchanted.

Lu Han suddenly felt dizzy. He almost tripped but he was able to grip on the wall behind him and lean himself to it. Gasping for air, he tried to balance his own flow of energy. It took a while before he could stop panting and finally breathe normally. Sweat began trickling on his skin. He was thankful that Joonmyeon was really busy with his herbs that he didn't pay attention to his weak being.

Chen was gazing over Lu Han from the top of the rack. Sighing his head, a squeak was out of his mouth, but Lu Han could completely understand him.

"Ahh .... Lover ...."

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Yi Fan was walking down a deserted alley. No one was there. The cold, shivering breeze blew inside the alley, adding more intense, frightening aura that was emitted abundantly in that place. He swayed his hand on the air. Golden dust appeared from his hand and it was flying through the alley. It was roaming for a while, going here and there, before it moved slowly to a wall of an old house. The dust sticked itself to it, made the wall transparent and revealed what was happening inside.

There was several women crouching down on what looked like an unconscious man. They were roaming on top of him, what appeared like white mist steaming out of his body. Slowly but surely, the man's skin vanished, leaving an old, brownish bones on his remaining body. They kept the mist out of the body, satisfiedly in process.

"Darn demon! They keep life force of innocent victim again!"

Anger boiled inside Yi Fan as guilt for not being able to come faster exploded in his heart. Gritting his teeth, he leaped to the front and barged into the building. The doors were thrown away wildly and the sound of it made all the women stopped feasting and gazed at Yi Fan intently. Shock was on their face upon knowing who the intruder was. In a count of a second, they puffed into smoke and turned into several animals, running away from the scene.

"Disciples! They are trying to escape! Catch them!"

All the monks who were roaming around the neighborhood got alert once they heard Yi Fan's scream. They quickly gathered around the source of his voice, trying to create circular blockade to seal the demon's movement. However, these demons were not of the lower level. They were magically agile. Jumping on top of the roof, they started dashing like crazy, quickly lengthening their distance with the mob of monks.

"White fox demons, everyone! Be careful! They are dangerous!"

Xiu Min's warning made the monks more alert than before but it didn't lose their confidence. They flew their energy to their feet, allowing them to run faster than before. Jumping from roof to roof, they followed the track of the demons with all their might.

They kept chasing the demons until they entered the forest zone. Since they were entering the demon's natural habitat, they grew more cautious of their surrounding. All of them took out an instrument that could scare the demon and ward them off to their nest. The sound of the instrument hit continuously trailed the demons along, making them distracted by the painful sound. The monks were getting closer to the demons, ready to ambush them at any time.

The demons quickened their pace They needed to get out of the monks before being caught by those robed men. However, they stopped abruptly when a golden ray shone before them and Abbot Yi Fan appeared from that light. The monks behind them was also able to reach them. The monks formed an octagon pattern, trapping them from all direction.    

"You foul demons! You have crossed three realms, you have harmed people and spread chaos and evil! You have committed unforgivable sins! But Buddha is merciful. By Buddha's mercy, if you choose to repent your mistakes, you will still have the chance to live."

The demons giggled menacingly.

"You wish, old man! We'd rather die than listen to your nonsense!"

They moaned and transformed themselves into white smoke. In an instance, they smoke was flying carefreely and then it hit the bamboo trees that grew around them, transforming themselves into the bamboo trees.

All the monks were fazed by the action. They broke the formation and began scanning the trees. They were all just the same, nothing was different or strange. They were confused, looking at each other helplessly.
         
On the other hand, Yi Fan could totally detect everything. From his eyes, he could see several bamboo trees emitting white smoke intermittently. Also, he could hear faint laughter from the trees. He knew that the demons were fooling them. They were working on their magic to mislead the monks, which were apparently successful at the moment.

"All of you! Beware! The fox demons are casting a charm! ON GUARD!"

"Yes, Master!"

The monks jumped to their original octagon position, but this time they were facing outward with their back surrounding the demons.

"Maximum protection shield!"

They sat down and held their instrument intact on their hands.

"Heaven needs no hearing! Ecstacy needs no sight! Void my sense of self!"

The monks closed their eyes and began meditating, including Yi Fan. They tried to enter the face of self-eradication to create purification energy that could be used to cleanse the demons. However, the demons were not without fight. The log of bamboo trees began to crack and white legs began protruding out of it, sensually circling the bamboo tree. Some faces started to peek as well, beautiful like those belongs to goddesses. When they saw the monks were concentrating and chanting the sutras, they circled their body on the tree and began to dance surrounding it. They moaned, ually alluring with the intention to break the monks' concentration.

The demons started approaching Yi Fan. Still like hell, they touched Yi Fan's body and began dancing around him, using him as the center. They blew scented breath to Yi Fan's nose, trying to seduce him all the way.

"What's up with the sutra? Is it real or are you just making it up?" They were whispering it, giggling and like crazy.

Their action was getting hotter but Yi Fan was just like rock. The only thing that was moving were just his lips as they kept chanting the mantras of purification. One of the demons moved her lips to Yi Fan, intending to kiss him. She grabbed the back of his neck and ed her lips to his ....

"You demons! Show me your true form!"

Golden ray exploded from Yi Fan's body. It ejected all the demons back, throwing them to the ground. They screamed in agony and rage. Standing up, they screeched while fangs and claws appeared on them. They were ready to retaliate, they were ready to kill Yi Fan.

Yi Fan took out the wooden bowl from his bag. He lifted it and faced it to the pack of demons who were dashing toward him. The golden ray from it stopped them in the middle. They screamed painfully as they were forced to transform back into their original form. The foxes were into themselves again and they quickly ran from Yi Fan, but Yi Fan had already jumped in the air and faced the bowl toward them. All the demons were surrounded by golden ray and absorbed into the bowl, screaming their lungs out.

Yi Fan returned to the ground, meeting the monks who bowed to him.

"By Heaven's mercy, Master, we regret our sin. Please, let us go, we beg you."

"Silence! You are demons! Return to six paths of transmigration! Accept your punishment with humility!"

Yi Fan exhaled. He closed his eyes, feeling half relieved that he had done an action to save humankind from great destruction.

"Amitabha."

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July 6, 2014

Finally, I am able to update .... Yokatta ne! Hontou ni draining da, life wa .... Well at least I am passing my holiday with many activities. :D

The story will be more and more intense. A lot of thing will happen, so stay tuned with the stories. As usual, leave some comment. :)

Schandelierre