Baotian got up, yawned, and went outside. Unsurprisingly, the sky was still the same deep, enchanting purple. He quickly went back in, prepared breakfast, ate his share, left part of it for Zi Moyan and went out again, having decided to take a walk around the village:
"Uncle Ba, it's you!"
As the voice echoed around the place, Baotian felt his lips curving outward:
"Ah, Xue Lan!" he greeted the young woman. "As always, I'm happy to see my best student. Will you go to my class today too?"
"Haha, obviously, uncle, if I don't, then the boys might get too confident! 'Women shouldn't fight' this, 'women should be delicate' that, they should train instead, so they can win at least once against me!"
"Hah, I think you're asking a bit too much from them"
As he saw what an energetic young woman she had become, he felt his heart get warmer. He had known her when she was barely out of her mother's womb and now, she was a beautiful young woman. It was yet another proof that time passed, waiting for no one. Baotian did not want to think about what would come once too much time had passed, so he chose to focus on the present.
He discussed with her for a moment before resuming his walk. He kept interacting with other villagers, dispensing his classes, and enjoying life. For a mortal like him, was there any pleasure greater than this?
'Ah? Strange, what would I precise 'mortal'?'
After all, what would there be other than mortals? There were no immortals in this world, everyone was bound equally under the passage of time. It was precisely because everyone was equal and there was no way to change this.
"Hello, mister Ba!"
"Ah, Ba Ke, could you help me carry this box? It's a bit heavy, and it's fragile so it might break if I end up dropping it"
"Uncle Ba, when you have a bit of time, maybe you could organize another outdoor night, when you count us more scary stories like the ones last time"
Baotian, smiling, did his best to help with everything and, at the end of the day, returned home. There he had the good surprise to see that someone had already prepared dinner, a nice smell reaching his nose.
It was none other than Zi Moyan, who had somehow managed to cook a great beef stew despite her total lack of culinary talents:
"Surprise! I saw you cook so often that at some point, I got the need to try too" she said. "I trained with some friends, and I ended up becoming a pretty decent cook. What do you think of it?"
Baotian took a spoonful of it and, indeed, it was delicious:
"So that's what the saying 'hardwork can move mountains means', huh…"
"I'm sorry junior brother, did you say something?"
"Mm? Oh, yes, I said that the stew was truly delicious, thank you senior sister"
"Mhm, I prefer that. Now finish your share quick, I want to sleep"
Baotian happily obliged and, a few minutes later, there was close to nothing left in his bowl. He got up, went to his bed, and was about to lay down in it when suddenly, a centipede crawled out of his pillow and stood, inches away from his face. Startled, Baotian tried to take a step back but tripped and lost balance, ending sprawled on the floor as the centipede escaped through the window.
"This damned bug…" he swore. "At least, it seems like it didn't wake senior sister up"
He was about to get up, but stopped himself as something catched his eyes under his bed. He pulled it out, and it looked like a dirty piece of paper that had something written in it. At first, he tried to read it but the moment he did, he felt a terrible sensation run through his body, as if ants were crawling under his skin. He almost threw the piece of paper, but refrained from doing so.
This was because when he grabbed this piece of paper in his hand, he felt like he was on the verge of remembering something extremely important. But no matter how much he tried, because of this terrible sensation, he couldn't bring himself to read the piece of paper, so in the end, he decided to just keep the paper on him and decide what to do with it later.
Days continued to pass, without him being able to decide.
One day, after one of his classes, he found himself sitting beside Xue Lan. Discussing with her, having a pleasant time. Seeing her panting, exhausted after training, he handed her a towel to wipe off her sweat:
"Thank you, uncle Ba! You know, you're really a good person" she said.
Hearing this single sentence, Baotian felt like he was on the verge of tears. How much time was it, since someone told this to him? How much time had he wanted to hear these few words coming from someone's mouth, directed at him.
"Thank you, Lan" he said. "Excuse me, I have to leave for a moment"
Rapidly, his steps led him away from the other, at the border of the village. With a few branches, he managed to light up a fire.
"Remembering something? Hah, don't make me laugh. I already know everything I have to, and I have everything I need. Burn away, you cursed objects"
Baotian raised his hand, ready to throw the paper in the flames, but stopped halfway.
"That… what is this sensation in my chest?"
This was not his lunges, nor his heart, so what was it?
"Is it… something in my middle dantian? But what could… is it my… Qi Pieces?"
Yes, he vaguely remembered having something called 'Qi Pieces' in his dantian. But…
"Weren't they blocked… or something like this?"
Yes, it seemed like he wasn't sent a signal directly by the Qi Pieces, but instead, was sent a signal through them, from a very, very far away place:
"Ah… I see now… Hanchen, he reached the late stage Qi Refining!"
At this moment, hearing his mouth pronounce these words, and feeling as if a fog was obscuring their meaning, Baotian finally understood how terrible the situation was. He once again began to try reading the paper and this time, no matter how terrible the sensation was, he gritted his teeth and pushed through, finally succeeding in reading through it:
'One month, don't forget'
"Ahh…"
Baotian clenched his head.
"Argh… ahh… ahh… ah!"
At this moment, the fog that obscured his mind disappeared, and every memory of his that was blocked flooded back into his brain.
"Hanchen, Xiao clan, Liu clan, Zi Moyan, Liu Zhenyun, Zhang Baotian, Zhang Ming, cultivation, demonic path, Void Hurricane! We… we need to leave! As fast as possible!"
It wasn't just about the Void Hurricane anymore. Understanding something crucial, Baotian ran to the village's lake, and looked at his reflection at the surface. It was slight, but the difference from when he had arrived was crystal clear to him: he… had aged!
"Even if the village chief was telling the truth, and time actually doesn't flow the same here as it does outside, we still age at the exact same speed! This entire village, it's a trap!"
Completely panicked, Baotian didn't think twice and ran outside of the village as fast as he could, found a cave, and hid inside it, curling into a ball.
"I only have to stay there, and I can leave. I only have to stay there and I can leave! I- I…"
Less than an hour after running away, Baotian's mind was filled with thoughts of the village. Every good moment he had spent there… every friend he made… every course he gave… could he really abandon all this?
When his mind became clear again, he realized that he had walked back into his house, at the center of the village.
"Ahh…"
Zi Moyan wasn't back yet and so, he was left alone.
"Please…"
Running away from the village didn't work, his mind would automatically be filled with parasite thoughts, and he would return to his home before realizing it.
"Let me go…"
Even if he managed to run away with Zi Moyan, and convince her to attack him, he would only be able to leave alone, effectively abandoning her.
"Please, let me go away from this cursed place…"
Yes, Baotian could figured out what happened to the previous 'honored guests': trapped in the exact same way, it was probably only after all their comrades died of old age that the ones who still had lifespan left awoke from their foggy mind state, thanks to the shock of their clan members' deaths. And as they weren't able to stay out of the village too long, a few of them probably sacrificed themselves, binding their friends outside of the village to help them leave as they themselves were dragged back here.
"Please, let me go! I beg you! I don't want to stay here anymore!"
The reason why they seemed like they lost their mind was likely because their mind was eroded by the cognition shift, after having lived decades and decades in this place with a whole other identity, while almost no time passed in the outside world.
At this rate, that was the fate that awaited Baotian and Zi Moyan.
"Please… I beg you… Whoever you are that trapped us in here… please, let me go"
No reply. There was truly no solution.
"No, in fact, there is one"
It was just that it was so terrible he didn't want to think of it. But now, there was no choice left: they had already aged significantly, so he couldn't wait any longer.
"The inhabitants of the Purple Sky Village… Most of the attachment we have for this place comes from them, and most of the parasiting thoughts come from this attachment. In a sense, the villagers are the village itself, and they are the reason we can't leave easily. And so…"
He took in hand the sword that was laying on his desk, his eyes filled with indescribable emotions, beside the despair that dominated them:
"If I just cut down all villagers, we'll be able to leave"
Walking out of the house, suppressing his feelings, he began the slaughter.