Estranged - Chapter 113

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This attack was both swift and fierce. Old He could not withstand it and screamed due to the fear that his daughter might be injured. He wanted to stop Changming, but he was not fast enough. So he could only watch as Changming grabbed his daughter’s head. His fingers sank into her scalp, as if he wanted to pierce her skull. Changming abruptly withdrew his hand which came away with the young lady’s entire skin and muscles!

Yet her blood did not gush out as Old He had imagined—there was not even a drop of it. A dark-gray fox, sitting on the bed, was revealed after the skin had been ripped away.

The fox’s fur was rather ragged, but its eyes were shining with golden and purple tints, which looked especially odd in the darkness.

Old He even saw the fox curve its mouth strangely, as if in a smile.

He had never seen an animal smile at him. Old He was covered in goosebumps. He only managed to find one word to describe this smile: sinister.

Monster, it’s clearly a monster!

He had traveled north and south and had seen many strange things and marvels. He had even encountered someone whom common people called an immortal and had seen that person demonstrate their skills, but he had never come across any evil spirits.

Old He would have prefered that it stay this way.

The dog that had reached the doors howled quietly, and the fox seemed to have been awakened by this sound. It did not attack Old He or Changming and instead leaped up to the window from the bed!

How could Changming let it escape? His sword flashed past, and the fox wailed, its blood splattering everywhere. The fox decided to sacrifice its tail to escape. It turned around in the air suddenly and, instead of heading for the window, it rushed in the opposite direction, towards Old He!

Or rather, towards the vase in Old He’s arms!

The sudden overwhelming force caught Old He off guard. He stumbled back and fell down together with the vase, and it broke into pieces with a clang. The nightmare demon saw the light again. A black shadow shrouded the air above their heads, and a sneer could be heard. Old He felt ice-cold qi lash at him. In response, he could no longer utter a sound, fell to the floor, and laid there motionlessly.

In a split second, the fox had jumped at Old He.

By the time Old He grasped what had happened, the door had been opened, and the piercing cold wind broke in the room, howling loudly. It seemed that the sky had brightened a bit, so the room was also lit up. Old He got up to his feet somehow, and leaned on the bed for support. His thoughts were clouded.

He saw bloodstains on the floor, as well as the shaggy fox tail.

The dog that had always followed Changming was circling the bed non-stop, but young lady He had disappeared without a trace.

Thinking about his daughter, Old He sobered up a bit. When he saw Changming walk into the room from outside, weary, with his sleeves waving from the wind, Old He rushed over hurriedly.

“Sir, have you seen A-Ling?”

Changming fell silent for a moment and then shook his head.

“The nightmare demon has eaten her souls, and the fox spirit used the opportunity to occupy her body.”

Changming had caused the fox spirit a severe injury just now, stripping it of the stolen body and forcing it to run away. However, He Ling’s souls had already been swallowed up completely. Moreover, Old He had broken the vase, so the nightmare demon had escaped. By the time Changming took action, the evil spirits had already disappeared without a trace.

Old He’s lips trembled. He knew Changming’s answer from the latter’s silence and grave expression. Old He could not believe that in the course of half a night, he and his favorite daughter would be separated by death, and the girl would be gone forever.

He fell down near the bed, touching the black hair and the soft skin that had been stripped off the fox, which were now piling up under the quilt. That was what had been left of He Ling after the spirits had killed her.

Old He was on the verge of collapsing. Had Changming not pressed the acupuncture point on Old He’s neck and transferred some spiritual power to the latter, Old He would have probably lost his mind by now.

“Calm down, think about your family. The innocent He Ling was killed. Don’t you want to take revenge for her?”

The cold voice enveloped Old He’s ears, making him tremble. Old He’s expression was distorted for a while before tears started to flow down his face.

He Ling was not the only daughter in the He household: Old He had four other children. But they had already grown up and were independent. Only He Ling was still young, so she was pampered by everyone. During this business trip, Old He was going to pass through the town where the parents of He Ling’s mother lived. He could not resist his wife and daughter’s pleading, so he took his youngest on the trip. After all, it was supposedly safe, and they were well-protected. He only wanted her to see the world. How could he have guessed they would encounter something like this?

He had run out of tears, and his heart had been completely shattered. He could only keep regretting his past decisions now.

“The evil spirits are on a rampage, and the sun is shrouded by darkness, hence the mishaps in Hongluo Town. The blizzard is raging, so no one can leave even if they want to.”

Changming squeezed the fox tail in his hand. Just when he wanted to go outside with Old He to find his guards, another person walked in.

It was Yun Weisi.

“What happened?” Yun Weisi was covered in snow, and even his words sounded cold.

“A nightmare demon and a fox spirit were here just now. They killed Young Lady He,” Changming sighed.

The dog stared at Yun Weisi for a long time. It wanted to jump down the bed, but the bed turned out to be a bit too tall for the dog. When it landed on the floor, the dog tripped over.

But no one paid any attention to the dog anyway.

Yun Weisi’s eyes swept past the silently crying Old He and stopped at Changming’s hands.

“What are you holding? It’s teeming with demonic qi.”

“It’s the fox spirit’s tail. I wanted to check and see if we could learn its whereabouts with this clue. What about the news on your side?”

“Not so good. I stumbled upon a nightmare demon, but just as I was going to catch it, other people came out to help. I decided to return first to see if everything’s fine here.”

When he saw that Changming was fine, Yun Weisi breathed out with relief. He shook the snow off his clothes.

“Old He, don’t be so broken-hearted. Wait till we catch the fox spirit, and you’ll be able to avenge Young Lady He… Shidi, why are you looking at me like this?”

Changming’s gaze was solemn. He was standing in the shadows, so his expression was difficult to read. That shabby fox tail was slightly swaying with his sleeve.

He resembled an evil spirit even more than the nightmare demon had.

Yun Weisi lightly sighed. He did not understand what was wrong with his words.

But Changming did not move, so Yun Weisi stood still as well, raising his eyebrows. He gave Changming a concerned look.

“Do you know?”

Changming spoke. There was something inexplicable in his manner of speech.

He raised his hand, and the fox tail brushed past Yun Weisi’s leg.

“You don’t have a shadow.”

Yun Weisi’s heart pounded. How could he have left such a crucial clue?

Changming said: “Only evil spirits have no shadows. What kind are you?”

Yun Weisi revealed an innocent look: “Shidi, what are you talking about?”

As he was saying this, in his mind, he was already getting ready to run away. But he noticed that all his paths of retreat had been blocked by heavy shackles at some point, as his opponent had sealed him with spiritual powers by setting a formation that left him with no place to escape to.

Yun Weisi’s expression changed.

Changming had already figured out his real identity. It was not Yun Weisi, but the fox spirit that had adopted Yun Weisi’s appearance. It had returned to take back its tail.

For the fox spirit, its tail was very important. Unfortunately, the spirit was too impatient.

“Yun Weisi” saw that “he” would not be able to fool Changming. So, it screeched, its figure quickly shrinking in the darkness, and it launched itself at Changming!

Despite that, in the next second, the fox spirit fell to the floor right next to Changming, wailing. It rolled on the floor, wrapped in the golden threads of talismans.

“Let me go!” the fox could speak human language. Its voice was hoarse as well as pleading. “Let me go, and I’ll return you He Ling!”

Upon hearing his daughter’s name, Old He raised his head abruptly.

“What did you say? A-Ling is still alive?!”

“She is! Release me, and I’ll let her come back!” the fox spirit’s lips moved with the words, and its intonation was agonized.

Old He grabbed Changming, pleading: “Sir, have you heard what it said? Let it go!”

“It’s trying to deceive you. Fox spirits are adept at bewitching the hearts of humans.”

A new voice answered Old He.

The real Yun Weisi walked into the room.

He snapped his fingers, and a small ice cube hit Old He on his forehead.

The illusions and hopes cast by the fox spirit dissipated without a trace, and Old He came to his senses. He cried, holding the soft human skin in his arms.

The fox spirit glared at Yun Weisi and Changming with fierce hatred. Its body gradually stopped struggling to get out of the golden shackles, and its breath faded away.

When the fox spirit died, the smooth and soft tail in Changming’s hands changed. The hairs became stiff and thorny, and the tail lost its gloss.

The fox spirit had been subdued and killed, but there was more than one of them.

Their cultivation levels were not low. When Yun Weisi had rushed out to chase them, the spirits had sensed his presence. In their battle, Yun Weisi had only managed to kill one of the fox spirits, and the rest of them had escaped, albeit wounded. Taking into account the nightmare demon that had just escaped from here, there were at least four more evil spirits active in Hongluo Town.

Evil spirits were proficient in changing their appearances and left no traces behind—moreover, they could entice people’s minds. An ordinary person could not compete with them at all. There was a high chance that the murders happening in Hongluo Town were their doing.

But they were not the only troublesome matter.

When Changming and Yun Weisi had investigated the foreyard, they had discovered that most of the guards the He family had brought with them had been killed in their sleep. They were calm and unconscious when they passed away, and seemed to not suffer at all while being murdered.

Out of all the people in the He family’s caravan, apart from several stablehands who had been resting outside, only Old He had been lucky enough to survive.

Even though Old He was experienced and knowledgeable, this hit him hard, and he would never recover from it.

Snow and harsh winds were raging outside, and it would have been difficult to find a doctor for him. Fortunately, Yun Weisi had transferred some spiritual power to him, so Old He’s life was out of danger.

Everyone in the guest house was scared out of their wits by what had happened—it was almost as if the sky had been turned upside down.

The rumors about evil spirits claiming humans’ lives quickly spread around. Soon, the origin of the bloodstains on the snow near the gates were discovered. People said that a woman had been killed at night and her head had been chopped off. Her headless body had been dragged down the street, and her head had been hung on the signboard of a medicine shop. The shop assistant who had opened the doors to the shop in the morning and saw it had nearly been scared to the point of losing his mind.

The news about the murders in the guest house quickly reached the town supervisor, and constables were dispatched to remove the bodies and investigate the murder. However, they were only able to offer several empty, superficial words to everyone. Many people were frightened and, ignoring the blizzard, set out, spurring on their horses. But the wheels of their carriages quickly got stuck in the snow and would not move an inch. Thus, they could only turn back.

The guest houses of Hongluo Town were fully occupied. Even if some people did not want to stay there, it was still better than spending the night on the streets.

Since they could not leave, everyone could only settle for staying in their guest house. They were sitting close to each other, warming themselves up and waiting for the next night while gossiping among themselves anxiously.

The sky looked so heavy it seemed like one could squeeze water out of it.

Even though it was the hour when the yang qi was the strongest, the hour of wu, the entire town was enveloped in a dense, impenetrable yin aura which deprived people of any positive emotion.

The hour of wu: 11 a.m. — 1 p.m.

Sun Wuxia could not believe his bad luck.

As soon as he had heard the screaming last night, he had promptly run out, but had missed the nightmare demon. While Yun Weisi was chasing it, Sun Wuxia only hit thin air. After what had happened yesterday between him and the caravan of the He family that had been travelling with Yun Weisi, Sun Wuxia had wanted to recover his lost honor. Yun Weisi and Changming had taken their Nameless Sword, but failed to protect mere commoners. The good name of Daoyou Chi’s sword would only be smeared in their hands.

When Sun Wuxia saw Yun Weisi and Changming swiftly leave the guest house, he chased them immediately. However, the mist had enveloped his surroundings, and the two figures got further and further away from him before disappearing without a trace.

Sun Wuxia frowned, but kept following them. However, he felt as if his feet had turned wooden. He looked down and realized that the snow had turned into viscous blood that had coagulated and stuck to his feet firmly. As a result, he could not take even a single step.

“What kind of monster are you? Come out!” Sun Wuxia shouted, unsheathing his sword.

But as there was no one around, who would answer him?

A white hand reached out to him and patted Sun Wuxia on his shoulder.

Sun Wuxia was taken by surprise by this sudden movement. He abruptly turned his head!

…

Changming and Yun Weisi were standing at the doors of the medicine shop of the town, looking at the signboard where the head had been hung.

The head had already been removed by officials, but the signboard remained. When they raised their heads, they could still distinguish bloodstains on the bamboo pole, as well as a piece of rope.

The shopkeeper and assistant wanted to remove and replace it, but were afraid that the ghosts would be angered and would decide to take revenge. Tortured by their fears, they were caught in an awkward predicament.

After looking at it for a moment, Yun Weisi shook his head.

“Nightmare demons and fox spirits are not to blame here.”

“I’ve talked to Head Constable Xing recently. In the past half a month, excluding the last night, eight people have died. One of them died the same way as the woman who was killed yesterday. They were also beheaded. Two others were skinned, and even their bones haven’t been found yet. As for the other five, their bodies remained intact. They were neither sick nor wounded, but their expressions were distorted by fear, as if they had seen something terrifying before their deaths. These deaths resemble the deaths of the He family’s guards.”

Changming had visited the yamen to inquire about the situation. When the officials learned he was a cultivator, their attitude became quite polite, and the head constable personally came out to keep him company for a while. After getting an understanding of the key points, Changming then left the head constable to meet up with Yun Weisi.

So now, they were standing in front of the shop.

The people were killed in different ways. Either the nightmare demon and the fox spirits were trying to fool them on purpose, or there were other creatures hiding in the shadows and causing trouble in Hongluo Town that Changming and Yun Weisi had yet to learn about.

Accidents were occurring one after another in this small Hongluo Town. Was it because of the town’s proximity to Shangzhou, or for some other reason?

When Yun Weisi looked at the shop’s signboard more carefully, a low, soft sound reached his ears. He quickly looked in the direction of the sound.

Changming had rolled up his sleeve. Three new bloody wounds had appeared on the back of his hand, which had been covered with the sleeve previously.

These wounds had been mere scratches originally and were not deep, but they hurt more and more as time passed. At some point, he noticed that they had been aggravated, and had a faint golden and purple glow, which almost fused with his skin.

Changming frowned.

These scratches were left by the fox spirit in their fight.

“Does it hurt?”

Yun Weisi reached out to touch the back of his hand even before asking the question.

Spiritual energy were poured into the wounds. It was supposed to bring Changming comfort, however, on the contrary, it burned him, so he quickly removed his hand. Changming felt a bit dizzy, and his legs weakened.