"So what you are saying is that, to leave this place, we just have to wait a month in the village, and then stay outside of the village for a full day?" Baotian asked. "That's it? Are you sure?"
"Yes, honored guest, it is as simple as this" the village chief replied politely, smiling.
"But, we need to leave as soon as possible, the Void Hurricane will reveal its treasure in two and a half weeks" Zi Moyan interrupted. "We can't stay here a full month!"
But the village chief laughed and shook his head:
"Do not worry, honored guests" he continued. "By communicating with many other honored guests before, we came to establish that time doesn't pass here the same as it does outside. An entire decade here is no more than a day here and, once you exit, you will immediately recover the use of your great powers"
"Are you sure?" Baotian asked.
The old man nodded, making Baotian's face lighten up. More than the prospect of still being in time for the void hurricane, it was the insurance that he could recover his cultivation that made him happy. Because of that, he didn't seem to think too much about it.
On the other hand, Zi Moyan, while she was relieved as well, couldn't help but feel like something was strange: why would he talk about a decade if the cultivators can leave after one month? Is he trying to imply that among the previous visitors, there were some that not only stayed after a month passed, but also remained there for over a decade?
Adding this to the strange feeling Baotian said he had the day before, Zi Moyan couldn't help but feel suspicious. Still, along with her comrade, they spent the day with the villager. They weren't asked to work, and everybody was nice to them so, even deprived from their cultivation, they spent a genuinely great moment. In fact, this day was probably among the best ones since they became demonic cultivators. Still at the end of the day, she made sure to write them a reminder, and stick it to the wall. On it, a single sentence was written: "one month, don't forget".
After that, for the next week, they indulged in several activities with the villagers but, eventually, got bored. So at one point, with his experience in the Liu clan's sword technique, Baotian temporarily opened a swordsmanship class for the people of the village, though it was more to give them an occupation than anything else.
Seeing this, not wanting to be left without anything to do either, Zi Moyan opened a dance class. At first, while the villagers seemed excited, her junior brother, him, was pretty doubtful about her competences as a dancer. But, seeing her waltzing graciously above the ground, he felt like he was dreaming. Was this rude, sociopathic senior sister truly capable of such grace? It seemed… unnatural.
"I didn't know you could dance so well, senior sister" he said honestly.
"Yes, I'm sure you thought someone like me would only end up destroying the floor if they tried to dance"
"Ehm… so, may I know how senior sister got to learn such a skill?"
"Trying to change the topic, I see junior brother is brave enough to say things, but not brave enough to assume them"
Baotian was about to apologize but she continued without giving him the time to do so:
"So, to answer your question, before I was given the pawn shop as a cover by my superior in the demonic faction, Bai Zisheng, I needed something to disguise myself among mortals, so I wouldn't be suspected if anything happened. One day, seeing a little group of mortal dancers performing at a tavern, I thought it was pretty nice to see. It also didn't look too hard to do, and so I tried my luck and managed to join their group. I remained with them until I reached the Qi Building stage, and then left, since it would probably be suspicious for mortals to see a 'normal dancer' suddenly look half as young."
"I see. Well, I'm glad you learned performing at tavern rather than in closed ho-"
Baotian's sentence was interrupted by a brutal punch on top of the crown of his head:
"Junior brother, do you think that just because cultivation is restrained here, you're allowed to court death as you want? Since here, the spirit contract is likely negated as well, there's nothing stopping me from stabbing you to death while you're sleeping and then refining your corpse once I'm out, you know?"
"Ouch… yes, this junior brother is truly sorry…"
"Hmpf, better! Now, let me go back to the class"
Baotian could not help but sigh as she went back to her teaching, showing a few dozen kids and several adult women who came how to leap, detailing the movements as much as possible, with patience and, surprisingly, a kind smile.
Initially surprised by such a switch of attitude, he quickly realized he was pretty much the same during his next lesson, excitingly guiding the boys, and the men and few girls that came to his class. He couldn't help but smile a bit:
"Maybe this month… won't be so long, after all"
And his guess proved to be correct as, before they realized, one full month passed:
"It was a pleasure to have you among us, honored guests" the village chief said. "Even though I don't entertain the thought that you will one day come back, I, along with the entire village, truly had a great time thanks to you two"
"Yes, we really had a great time too" Zi Moyan said.
"Yes, and matter of fact… shouldn't we stay a bit longer?" Baotian said.
Zi Moyan turned to him, doubting her own ears. Was he not the one who seemed like he would die if he did not quickly recover the use of his cultivation? What had changed? Did he get replaced by some kind of evil entity?
"Since it's only been one month here, then trusting the village chief, it has only been around twelve minutes outside" he explained. "If that's the case, then Zhenyun, or another righteous cultivator might still be out there, waiting for us. We should wait at least one more hour, just to make sure that they're gone"
"So what you're saying is that you want us to stay six more months here?!"
"I… am not sure myself, senior sister. I'll leave the decision to you"
Both Baotian and the village chief turned toward Zi Moyan. The latter hesitated. She vaguely felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't tell what. After a few minutes thinking about it, she suddenly blinked a few times.
'Uh? What was I thinking about?' she thought.
Then she remembered the current situation. After thinking a bit more, she came to the conclusion that Baotian's answer was the more logical one:
"Fine then, I don't see any problem in staying here a few more months since in the end, it'll only amount to a few dozen minutes" she decided.
The village chief, hearing that, had his eyes brightening:
"Ah, your decision truly makes me happy, and it will probably be the same for the entire village, honored guests!"
Zi Moyan and Zhang Baotian, looking at each other, quickly came to a common decision:
"Please, stop calling us honored guests. That's a way to call people you don't know personally, we have been here long enough to get past that"
"Yes, please just call us Ba Ke and Zi Moyan"
The village chief nodded respectfully:
"Then, from now on, we will call you so, lady Zi, sir Ba"
And so, six more months passed. Sat around a campfire with Zi Moyan and several villagers, Baotian was narrating an horror story from Earth he had adapted for his new audience:
"And then, as the kid opened the closet, he was there. Tall, big, devoid of hair and color, he was smiling hideously" he said with a low voice. "And then, grabbing the kid between his enormous hands, pulling him inside with him- CRACK!"
As he shouted, he violently snapped several tree branches at once, donning a scary face through the fire, startling several villagers.
"The closet was snapped shut, and nobody ever learned what happened to the kid. The end"
The villagers, impressed by his talents of narration, applauded, Zi Moyan did as well, a smile on her face. It was truly… a good moment.
Even then, as they came back to their house, Zi Moyan couldn't help but feel like something wasn't right. Seeing the paper she had hanged above her bed, her body was filled with an unexplainable sense of dread. She hastily ripped it off and, fortunately, the ominous feeling disappeared.
"Ah… there is probably something wrong with this paper"
As she was about to throw into the fireplace, she heard the villagers call her:
"Hey, Moyan! Come fast, Baotian has tried preparing a cake! It looks delicious! If you don't come fast enough, there won't be any of it left!"
Distracted, she let the paper fall off her hands. As she picked it back, ready to throw it into the fireplace again, she hesitated:
"Months… there was something about months"
Looking at the paper, she felt that it might help her remember something about it, but the dread she felt while seeing it stopped her from correctly reading what was written on it. Eventually, she chose to put it under Baotian's bed, leaving fate to decide:
'If he finds it, then knowing Baotian, he might discover the problem with it. Else, then it must means it wasn't important'
Then, completely forgetting about the paper, she went out, following her friend:
"To rush me like this, this annoying junior brother better have made a heavenly cake!" she exclaimed.
She then went on with her life, as an inhabitant of the Purple Sky Village.