Chapter 50 – Astray Demon Lord’s Son (8)
On a rainy night, the willow branches by the river swayed continuously in the wind and rain. The shops on the surrounding streets had closed early, and the once bustling streets were now shrouded in darkness, with only a faint light shining from a shop at the end of the street.
Outside, the unceasing sound of rain masked all other noises. Zhou Ji stood at the door, casually wiping away the rainwater that splashed onto his face, and looked into the depths of the darkness.
According to the arrangement, he was supposed to wait here for Chen Luosong who had gone to the neighboring town to return. It was already past the agreed time, and there was no sign of the person who should have come back by now.
At first, he thought that perhaps the heavy rain had made the journey back more difficult than usual, causing the delay. There were several paths from the town entrance to here, and he did not know which one the person would take this time. If he left the shop to search for him, he might miss him entirely.
All he could do was wait.
A rumbling sound pierced through the rain, and a flash of light appeared in the distance. A series of sounds and lights burst forth continuously, like thunder striking outside the town.
Without any hesitation, Zhou Ji initially intended to walk directly into the rain, but then he turned back into the shop, went straight to the second floor, and retrieved some spare medicine and commonly used drugs from the cabinet. He wrapped them carefully in waterproof oil paper, leaving no gaps.
With the wrapped medicine in hand, he didn’t go back downstairs. Instead, he jumped out of the second-floor window.
The sound of rain, which had been muffled by the building, suddenly roared in his ears. Something seemed to be churning in his mind, but he couldn’t figure it out and had no energy to ponder it. He quickly ran through the streets.
The direction from which the light had come was the route that the person from the neighboring town had to take to return here.
His footsteps were drowned out by the surrounding noise. Zhou Ji took the shortest time possible to get from the pharmacy to the main road, gasping for breath as he looked around at the desolate surroundings.
There was a scent of blood. Though the rain had washed away much of it, he could still detect it.
Demons were not particularly sensitive to the smell of blood, but ever since he knew that person bled uncontrollably when injured, he had become more attuned to it than anyone else.
His heart sank uncontrollably. Following the direction from which the blood scent came, Zhou Ji slid down a steep slope and saw a shattered carriage at the bottom, along with a pile of bodies.
His gaze swept over the pile of corpses, not missing a single spot. Only when he did not find the familiar figure among them did his nearly held breath finally return to normal.
This wasn’t the only place.
He turned his head, scanning his surroundings, and then began to climb up the slope.
At the edge of the woods on the hillside, the first thing he saw was half a hand lying outside.
The arm’s cut was clean, the hand and fingers were large, and beside it lay a chipped curved knife. He only glanced at it before moving his gaze away.
The scent of blood here was strong, seeping into the soil, scattered among the leaves.
Something appeared at the edge of his vision. He turned to look and saw a white edge sticking out from the leaves.
He reached out, grabbed it, and pulled out a dirty, bloodstained hair tie.
“…”
Raindrops fell from the sky, clinging to the eyelashes of the man half-kneeling on the steep slope, trembling.
As a raindrop fell from his eyelashes, his dark pupils instantly turned into dark red vertical slits.
As the person on the slope put away the hair tie, he swept a leg, grabbing the severed hand and the chipped curved knife as he stood up, then disappeared instantly.
——
A hundred miles away, in an abandoned village.
Several black-clad figures, sitting in spots untouched by rain and tending to their wounds, radiated a sense of relief amidst the silence of surviving a disaster.
They were skilled at hiding. Once they had created some distance, those disciples from the Immortal Sect could no longer catch them.
Though the outcome was different from their initial plan of taking hostages to control the pursuing disciples, the result was still favorable. Luckily, they had encountered that carriage on their escape route.
The carriage was exquisite, with guards around it. The people inside appeared wealthy and influential, perfect for threatening those hypocritical disciples.
The only one with a grim face was the man who had lost half an arm. He tightly bandaged his wound and spat, saying, “If it weren’t for that man, I wouldn’t have lost half my arm.”
He had intended to inflict a few casual injuries to control the situation and then kill the victims once they were safely away. He didn’t expect the opponent to dare catch the blade with bare hands.
“If I had known, I would have killed him directly and taken the other one.”
“Things have already…”
“Crack—”
Before the other person could finish speaking, something flashed before their eyes, followed by the sound of wet wood splintering.
Looking down, he saw the severed hand lying in front of him. The hand had smashed through the wooden board and lodged in the rubble, its fingers twisted at an odd angle.
The people in the dilapidated house stood up instantly, looking toward the figure appearing in the rain.
Their first reaction was that the disciples from the Immortal Sect had caught up with them, but something felt off.
Given the amount of time that had passed, they shouldn’t have been found by anyone, even if this person came alone.
“Boom—”
In reality, they had no time to think. From the moment they saw the figure to the moment they reacted, they hadn’t even managed to draw their weapons before the one-armed man standing by the broken wall vanished.
The dilapidated house collapsed in quick succession, emitting loud crashes. When they next saw him, he was several meters away, pinned against the wall by someone clutching his throat.
Surging demonic energy spread, even the rain was repelled from this space. They finally saw who was attacking.
An ordinary person, or rather a demonic cultivator disguised as an ordinary person. He turned his head, revealing cold, dark red eyes.
Blood-red eyes, a symbol of the royal family of the demonic sect.
—With flesh as a medium, the royal family could find any demonic cultivator they wanted.
The man being held by the throat couldn’t struggle or make any sound. Blood continuously oozed from the large wounds on his body.
Just before he lost consciousness completely, a chipped curved knife pierced through him. The cold, tearing sensation jolted his nearly unconscious mind awake for a moment.
Awake, he perceived his own death.
A massive pressure bore down on them, leaving no energy to ponder why a member of the royal family, supposedly extinct, still existed. They couldn’t move or act; they watched as the one-armed man, knife and all, was driven into the ground, easily buried by the bloodied, sharp debris, and fell silent.
Casually flicking the blood off his hand, Zhou Ji looked at the remaining people and asked, “Where is the person?”
His voice was very calm, so calm that it made their hearts tremble uncontrollably. Though he hadn’t explicitly threatened them, the remaining few inexplicably sensed that if they didn’t answer immediately, they would all die right here.
They could guess who he was asking about. Aside from the ones already dead and the Immortal Sect disciples they didn’t need to worry about, there were only those two ordinary people left. They had a good idea of who he was referring to but didn’t dare to speak it aloud.
They weren’t sure which of the two he was asking about, or if it was both. If it was the one in white, that person was so severely injured that it wouldn’t be surprising if he died right there.
If they spoke, they would surely die today.
They couldn’t avoid answering, yet they couldn’t reveal the truth. One of them quickly decided to stall by asking who exactly the man was looking for.
The dark red eyes turned toward him.
In an instant, joints twisted, and a mist of blood erupted as the person standing there vanished from the ground, leaving bloodstains all over the ruins.
“He was taken away!”
Before those cold eyes could meet his, another person blurted out, “He must have been taken by the Immortal Sect disciples!”
This time, the one who spoke wasn’t turned into a blood mist. The figure not far away walked closer and asked, “Where was he taken?”
The person could only truthfully reply, “I don’t know.”
As soon as he finished answering, his body was wracked with excruciating pain.
The heavy rain fell once more on the abandoned village. The only thing untouched by blood and held steadily in a hand was the packet of medicine.
——
The injured person was too severely wounded, so they had to stop pursuing the demonic cultivators. A few disciples from the Immortal Sect immediately began to take him back.
On the way back, the person who had been half-conscious finally closed his eyes completely.
Once they returned, a physician tended to the extensive wounds. He reached out to check the pulse, his brow furrowing in time with the faint heartbeat.
As his brow furrowed, the hearts of those gathered around also tightened with worry.
That night, blood-soaked sheets were changed again and again. It wasn’t until dawn that the room finally quieted down.
Medicine was changed repeatedly, but the person on the bed still did not wake up.
The heavy rain showed no sign of stopping, continuing from morning till night, making it hard to distinguish between day and night under the gloomy sky.
When Chen Luosong woke up, the first thing he heard was the sound of rain outside the window, followed by the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside the room.
A strange place.
Ignoring the pain from his wounds as he moved, he propped himself up and looked out the window.
The window was half-open for ventilation, and with the light from the room, he could see part of the courtyard outside.
Objectively, it was a very impressive courtyard. While looking outside, he heard a noise from the direction of the room’s door. Turning his head, he saw someone standing there.
It was Qi Ming. He looked alright, apparently uninjured.
Seeing him, Chen Luosong roughly understood where he was.
“…”
Not expecting the person inside to be awake, Qi Ming’s back stiffened for a moment when their eyes met, then he quickly walked forward.
The person sitting on the bed wore thin inner clothes, with white bandages wrapped around the side of his neck, partially concealed by his long hair. He took the outer robe draped over the side and walked to the bed. Bending down, he helped the person put it on, but when he withdrew his hand, his arm tensed too much, causing him to lean slightly and almost brush against the pale neck of the person wearing the robe.
The person on the bed leaned slightly forward, letting his long hair slide down to avoid the touch.
He avoided it so naturally that Qi Ming was momentarily stunned, then somewhat awkwardly asked, “You don’t like being touched?”
The person on the bed responded and said yes.
For a moment, Qi Ming thought of the thin, bitter-smelling embrace and didn’t know what to say. He could only awkwardly apologize, and after the apology, he thanked him.
He was thanking him for what happened the previous night.
The incident happened so suddenly that even the guards at the time didn’t react. If not for this person, he wouldn’t have made it back here.
Chen Luosong said there was no need to thank him.
He wasn’t particularly inclined to help others; his actions were mostly based on his own considerations.
This person was a fragment of the Sword Sovereign’s soul. If he died, the fragment would dissipate, causing the Sword Sovereign’s power to wane. The Great Demon, which could only be sealed by the Sword Sovereign according to the rules, would be unrestrained, leading to a reversal of the established order and the collapse of the world.
He would not allow such a scenario to occur.
“This is the Prince Duan’s residence. There are disciples from the Immortal Sect guarding all around. No… there won’t be any more incidents.”
As Qi Ming spoke, he glanced at the person sitting on the bed. After a quick look, he unconsciously blinked and stuttered slightly.
The outer robe was a watery blue, made of fine satin, embroidered with silver-threaded clouds and flying cranes. The smooth fabric reflected his light-colored pupils, making him appear even more dazzling than usual.
From the first time he met him, he thought that this person might be better suited to brocade and satin rather than ordinary cotton robes.
…He just hadn’t expected it to suit him so well.
Noticing the strange silence from the person beside him, Chen Luosong asked, “What is it?”
Unable to hold back a cough, Qi Ming’s gaze instinctively shifted away as he awkwardly changed the subject, asking, “How did you know someone was coming at that time?”
Though it was an attempt to change the subject, it was a question he had been pondering for a while.
When he jumped out of the carriage, he initially thought it was just a quick reaction. But when he saw the smile on the other’s face as he reached out to catch the blade, he realized that this person had already anticipated the situation.
Chen Luosong lowered his eyes, slowly moving his hand, and said, “I guessed.”
It was more of a gamble than a guess.
When he first saw the figures of those demonic cultivators, the light was behind them, indicating that the scene wasn’t caused by them. More specifically, it looked like those figures were avoiding the light. Based on the earlier noises and the distance of the light, it seemed that those people were being pursued and were about to be caught.
In such a critical moment, no one would bother with pointless actions. Any movement had to have a purpose.
Taking hostages was a very effective method of self-preservation.
Those people went to the trouble of taking hostages, proving that they believed their pursuers would be threatened by the hostages. Considering various factors, it wasn’t hard to guess that those people were the demonic cultivators rumored in the capital, and the ones pursuing them were disciples of the Immortal Sect closely connected to the imperial family and nobility. Only these disciples would be hindered by hostages while having the ability to capture demonic cultivators.
When he caught the blade, there was indeed an element of risk, but the result showed he had gambled correctly.
Risking life for life, gambling is also a form of risk-taking.
—A guess.
Not expecting this answer, Qi Ming stared straight at the person sitting on the bed, seemingly unable to process it.
Chen Luosong wore his habitual faint smile, nodding with a smile to confirm, “A guess.”
