Soon enough, the water could not protect him anymore. Lu Bang had to climb up and avoid the Cinder Army from noticing him. He ran across the walls serving as the sea wall of the harbor. He found Sun Yin back inside the city and getting chased by the corpses. Unlike earlier, she was not making use of her talismans.
"Shit, she must have run out!" Lu Bang hissed to himself as he tried to reach her spot through jumping along the roofs of the houses and buildings. "Woman!"
"I have a name!" Sun Yin yelled back as she heard Lu Bang's voice. She leaped up from a crate to reach a post light and used her momentum to propel herself to the roof.
She knew Lu Bang would be there, but she did not know Lu Bang would not catch her. She ended up falling on top of him, sending both of them against the roof. It was a loud thud, but it was mostly Lu Bang's back. Sun Yin ended up sitting on his chest with her skirt covering his head.
A soft groan came from the girl who had a hard fall. She looked around for her 'friend.' "Lu Bang?"
One of his arms got pinned by her leg, but one made it out fine. He just raised his hand and tried to grab what he could. It was Sun Yin's shoulder, and he tugged on her sleeve with force. As a fabric made fifty years ago, it ripped at his pull. They were both alarmed by the sound, making him stop and just leave a hole to expose her arm and a part of her inner robe.
Her hands grabbed the hem of her skirt and pulled it up to uncover the man's face. The girl twitched. "Oh, there you are—"
"Get off, you!" Lu Bang could only hiss at her.
Sun Yin got off of him sideways and helped him up, ignoring the tear he made. She dusted his shoulders and straightened his sleeves. "There, there. Good as new." Before she could drop her arms, Lu Bang grabbed her wrist.
He continued to glare at her. "When you said the Cinder Army is here to kill Lin Kun, how certain are you?"
"Enough to go see it for myself." Sun Yin smiled at him.
"And why would the Bride of Corpses want to kill my brother?" Lu Bang changed his form of address towards Lin Kun. Perhaps he was forcing her to speak up more.
Sun Yin, however, only shrugged. "Honestly, I don't have anything to do with this." She caught Lu Bang twitch, but she only gazed at the direction of the temple whose towers could be seen from where they were. "Then again, someone scooped my Cinder Army out of my hands. I just want to know why. Depending on that answer shall I decide whether to annihilate them or not."
"I don't… your Cinder Army?" His breathing hitched. "What are you saying?"
"I think you're lying to your brother, Lu Bang." Sun Yin brought her gaze back to him. "I heard you tell your brother you have met the Bride of Corpses. How come you're conflicted right now?"
Silence ate Lu Bang. He wanted words to flow out to reason with her. However, that would mean that he accepted the fact that the woman standing before him was indeed the most brutal of all cultivators during the reign of the First Society, the woman who brought all men down to their knees through her exquisite beauty and deathly techniques, the only human capable of raising an army of corpses filled with sharp claws and teeth… the Bride of Corpses.
Lu Bang stared at her before shaking his head and closing his eyes. "I… met her during a siege against the Huayuan Lin sect. I was eight… and hidden under the rubbles of the temple. She wore a blood red hanfu and a bird mask." He opened his eyes and glared at the woman. "How am I supposed to recognize her?" His glare grew fiercer. "How am I supposed to recognize you?"
Sun Yin twitched and hummed. "Blood red hanfu and a bird mask… it must have been during the final phase." She only shrugged. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. What matters now is how we could get to where your brother—"
"No, you're not stepping anywhere near Lin Kun." Lu Bang grabbed her wrist tighter. "I might be powerless, but I will stop you."
"Come on now, young man. I didn't come here to fight you or your brother." She tried to shake off his grip. "Besides, what if I was telling the truth? What if I wasn't the one who wants your brother dead?" She smiled at him again. "The best way to protect him is to get close and monitor him personally."
"You have no reason to protect Lin Kun. Why would you go to where he is? To watch him die?"
"Your trust in him seemed to be less than I thought." Sun Yin hummed as she found the situation dragging on for too long. "How about I kiss you if I keep your brother alive?"
"Why would I want to be kissed by the Bride of Corpses?!"
"Because I'm an alluring maiden! I can make you forget your name!"
"I'd probably die if I sleep with you!"
"…Oh my, you want to sleep with me?" Sun Yin covered half of her face with her sleeve, turning away as if a shy princess.
"I don't have time for this." Lu Bang ended up letting her go. He looked below the roof and saw a few corpses walking around as if looking for them. "They're waiting for us to take the roads." He lifted his gaze and saw that the roofs could not take them close enough to the walls of the temple. "We would have to go down soon. Any plans?"
Sun Yin giggled behind her sleeve on her face. She dropped her arms and gestured to a straight path to the plaza. "We would have to confuse my children. Let's set off an exploding tag in the central plaza so we could sneak past them. You can go to the temple, but I'm heading to the northern gates."
"As if you know how to get there." Lu Bang sighed. "Why would you go to the northern gates?"
"Because your brother is an honorable man. He would probably fight in the front."
"You're not wrong, but"—he glared at her face—"promise me that you won't hurt my brother. If you want to bet your pride as the Bride of Corpses, then don't let him get hurt under your watch."
The woman sneered at him. "If I didn't, what are you going to do?"
"Nothing. Impostors are not worth my time."
"Sun Yin." She heard him hum in curiosity. "My name is Sun Yin. Don't call me 'woman' among other names I do not permit you to call me." She pulled out a talisman from her undamaged sleeve. "I only have one explosive talisman. Let's make it count."
Lu Bang had no idea why he would side with a history villainess, but he had no choice if he wanted to reach his brother. The two went with the plan, leaping from one roof to another until they reached the plaza. Sun Yin threw the explosive talisman towards the central fountain and had it explode so hard the entire Huayuan could hear it. The corpses raged towards the plaza, and the two continued to the gates.
The northern gates were uglier than the southern exit. There were bodies of both undead corpses and cultivators on the ground, but the ratio was definitely tragic. Blood puddles were almost everywhere, and it was hard to say that they were winning.
Sun Yin and Lu Bang hid behind the stone statue to assess the situation. The Huayuan Lin sect was doing a good job in handling the Cinder Army for more than an hour unlike what most sects would think of them. Or themselves, in fact. The Bride of Corpses did have records of breezing through temples and wiping them out in less than an hour. However, that success never meant they would survive.
Lin Kun was in the farthest north from everyone else. He was wielding a sword to cut down his enemies, on top of commanding two flying swords to dance around and kill the corpses. Lu Bang's eyes widened as he recognized that flying sword with a greenish glow as well as the one with a faint yellowish glare. When a brother yelled for help, Lin Kun would throw and command the sword in his hand, letting it join the other two in making a shield for him to rescue the fallen brother.
The coreless man's hands gripped and clawed at the stone statue. He ground his teeth in rage and fury—thinking that all he could do was to watch from afar.
Sun Yin noticed his actions and his resentment. She looked at the sword with a yellow glare before performing a series of hand seals. She then whispered into her fingers.
"Show me a skinning dance… Buyue!"