Estranged - Chapter 112

Proofread by Snake

Changming pushed open the door, frosty qi assaulted his senses and put out the candles in the room. The dog sneezed because of the cold. It wanted to jump down from the bed and follow Changming, but the latter had already disappeared.

The snowfall was getting heavier, and a thick carpet of snow had already covered the earth. When an ordinary person stepped on it, they would sink in half a foot.

But Changming was not even leaving footprints on the snow.

Muffled noises were coming from the guest house. The guests who could not fall asleep had gathered in the main hall to discuss the news.

In comparison, the yard where Old He and his daughter lived was strangely quiet.

Their guards were staying in the nearby yards, but they were also quiet. Everyone here had probably been sleeping, and did not even hear the shout.

Changming reached Old He’s room.

Just as he raised his hand to knock on the door, the sound of coughing came from inside the room.

Cough, cough. The sound of it was muffled and hoarse.

“Old He,” called Changming.

The person exclaimed: “Sir Jiufang? Why are you here?”

Changming: “Did you hear the shriek just now?”

Old He: “No, I was sleeping too heavily, and only woke up now because of my own coughing. Would you like to come in and sit for a while?”

After saying this, Old He put aside his quilt and got up, and Changming heard him putting on his shoes.

“No need, go back to sleep. I only wanted to ask if you heard it. If everything is fine, I’ll leave. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

Old He asked what had happened. Changming explained it to him in a few words and turned around to leave.

In a short while, the rooms became quiet again, and not a sound could be heard from inside.

Changming left just then, but soon returned.

He chose another route now, and lightly landed on the roof instead of going to the main door. He stood on the ledge, and bent down to lift up a tile. The gap was narrow but not enough to keep the snow from falling inside.

The room was dark, but Changming was able to see the whole scene.

Old He was lying supine on the bed with his cotton-wadded quilt pulled up to his shoulders. He was breathing evenly, and nothing about him seemed abnormal.

Yet on the other side of the room, he saw a vague silhouette that looked like the shadow of the canopy. However, it was much thicker, and was slowly moving.

There was no need to examine it further. Changming’s sword had already clanged in the sea of his consciousness, and was eager to attack.

He pulled out his sword.

Changming recited a sword technique silently, and a ray of golden light flashed before him. The Changming Sword moved forward in the room, and firmly nailed the shadow near Old He down, leaving it no chance to escape. The shadow howled in a low voice, struggling to run away, yet it was all in vain. It gradually weakened.

Changming stretched out his hand and grabbed the shadow. The upper half of it resembled a human, but it did not have a face. It was partially blood-red in color.

It was a nightmare demon.

Even though Changming had lost his memories, the answer came to his mind in a flash. Obviously, this good luck of his came from having great skills.

Changming did not dwell on this point. From Yun Weisi’s brief explanations, he already knew that he used to be a very formidable person.

Since he was formidable, it was not strange that he knew a great deal.

Nightmare demons were not yaos, but rather resembled ghosts.

This type of demon was skilled in searching out weaknesses in the hearts of humans and would put humans to sleep, thus taking control over them. After that, they nibbled away at the person’s souls and grew stronger over time.

Judging by Old He’s appearance, the nightmare demons had not had a chance to get to him before Changming attacked them.

Changming woke Old He up.

Old He had been sleeping deeper than before. When he finally woke up, his entire body was aching. There was an aura of decay around him, as if he had been sleeping for many years..

When he heard someone shout out his name, he struggled to open his eyes, and vaguely saw someone in front of the bed. He trembled subconsciously.

“Help… You, you!”

The person reached out his hand and lightly hit Old He on his forehead with a finger. Old He sobered up immediately, and now clearly saw the figure in front of his eyes.

“Sir Jiufang?!”

“Light a lamp first. It’s inconvenient to talk when it’s dark.”

Full of doubts, Old He put on his robes and lit a lantern with trembling hands.

The warm light of the lantern chased away the frosty atmosphere of the room. Old He finally saw why Changming said it was inconvenient.

Old He’s mouth hung open in astonishment as he looked at the still struggling shadow in Changming’s hands. Old He could not help taking a few steps back.

“That… What is this!”

“A nightmare demon. It takes on a humanoid appearance, and feasts on the hearts of humans. It’s difficult to kill, and it’ll run away as soon as it has a chance,” said Changming. He looked around before pointing at a flower vase, the only thing in this room that could be called a decoration, and said, “Bring it over.”

The flower vase was flawed and crudely-made. No one would typically place well-made decorative items in inns. If a guest stole or substituted it with a fake, nobody would be able to make up for the loss. Old He would not have spared such a vase a single glance on a normal occasion, but now he lifted it with extreme caution to hand it over to Changming.

Changming showed him how to hold it.

“Don’t put it down.”

Before Old He had time to react, Changming walked closer, holding the black shadow.

The vase suddenly became heavier, so Old He almost let go of it. The sudden increase in its weight made Old He lower his hands a bit, but Changming quickly picked it up and sealed the mouth of the vase, blocking the shadow’s escape routes.

Exercising the nightmare demon was not the most urgent task. Instead, Changming had to figure out if the demon had partners.

Old He had not been alone when that scream had been heard, yet there had been no reaction from either his daughter or their guards.. It was very strange.

“Is your daughter in the inner room?” Changming asked.

Old He only returned to his senses now, as if waking up from a dream.

“Right! A-Ling!”

He even forgot to put on his shoes as he rushed to hide behind Changming’s back, staggering on the way.

“Dad?”

It was very cold, so the girl had gone to bed in her clothes. She was sitting on the bed with sleepy eyes, wrapped in a quilt.

At her age, she should not let any stranger see her like this. But since everything had happened too abruptly, Old He had brought Changming along without thinking too much about this matter.

“Are you alright?”

Young He nodded her head, rubbing her eyes.

“What happened to you?”

“Something is happening outside, so I was worried for you,” said Old He, as he made an effort to calm down, “Did you hear anything just a while ago?”

“It seems that someone was screaming, but I couldn’t tell whether it was for real or in my dream. It all felt very vague.”

The girl wanted to get up, but Old He stopped her.

“Just sleep. The sir and I will go outside to check and see what’s going on. If anything happens, give a shout, and we’ll come at once.”

The girl nodded obediently, and added, thoughtfully: “It’s cold, dad, put on more clothes if you’re going out.”

Old He was happy to see her act sensibly, so he patted her head, and turned around to leave with Changming.

However, her last words made Changming halt.

“Sir Jiufang?”

Noticing that Changming had stopped, Old He looked at him.

Changming told Young He: “Repeat your last words.”

The father and daughter pair did not understand him.

The girl looked at her father with fear.

Changming suddenly smiled: “Young Lady He had been spoiled and pampered since childhood. She’s naive and naughty. If something like this happened, she’d only worry whether she’ll be able to go out to play tomorrow. This thoughtless show of consideration is revealing.”

Old He froze: “Revealing? What do you mean?”

Changming stepped towards the girl.

“What are you?”

The girl held the quilt in her hands and shrank back. However one looked at her, she seemed innocent and frightened, as if Changming was threatening her.

Old He also felt that Changming was being a bit rough. Obviously, his daughter was acting as she usually did.

“Sir, why don’t we check outside first? Chen and Shen haven’t reacted, I’m a bit worried…”

As if Changming had not heard him, he quickly stretched out his hand to grab the girl!