The Flower Demon smiled at the children trapped behind her barrier. She tapped her chin, thinking aloud.
"Can't leave you here...but if I take you there, you might cause trouble...I know!" She finished brightly.
Li XiWang watched as EmoHua took her index finger and pierced the iridescent shimmering material and drew it closer to herself, forming a sort of bubbly bag around the kids, and she tied it around the top of a stick.
It looked like an oversized knapsack.
Li XiWang held Rumi so tightly that he wouldn't get jostled, maintaining her own balance precariously as the Flower Demon hoisted the stick over her shoulder and vanished.
************
Wei Ying wasn't sure what to expect when EmoHua turned up.
Lan Zhan was slanted at his side, Bichen already out as his sharp golden gaze stared right in front of them.
It's going to be fine, Lan Zhan assures him through their mental connection.
Wei Ying nods...but he wasn't going to lie to himself; for all his bravado, and big talk, he only had a vague idea of how to attack her.
She was a demon and already proven to be untrustworthy. By taking his children, she had woken the same trepidation he had felt at the fall of Lotus Pier.
All that rage and disbelief, that their home was being destroyed right in front of their eyes, children and adults alike, cut down like dead wood.
And wasn't it ironic that that's where they were once more?
In a flash of light, there she stood hovering in the air right in front of them.
"What have you done to my children?" Wei Ying's voice is dangerously low.
"Relax! They're fine..." she waves a hand as if everything is okay and whatever she did was alright.
Wei Ying tries his mental connection with Li XiWang, asking her if she's okay.
But he gets nothing in return, just a blank look from his little daughter.
However, she's smart, and ever since they first met, her connection to Wei Ying has been so strong, that she understands what he's asking, just from the look in his eyes.
She gives him two thumbs up, points to Rumi and does it again.
Wei Ying gives her one short nod, and concentrates all his energy on the Flower Demon, who is wearing a feisty smirk.
Inside the bubble, DaErduo takes his form but is a miniature version of himself.
"Mistress, I have worked out how to get us out of here!" He says, excitedly.
"How?" Li XiWang is eager to know, and fast.
"We were making the mistake of trying to get through it, right? But all we have to do is loosen the knot and it will automatically open!" He tells her.
Li XiWang realises how right he is, and stretches her hands up to tackle the knot as discreetly as she can, but Rumi stops her, baring his sharp teeth, a knowing look in his fascinating purple eyes.
************
"Give me the JingLing!" EmoHua says, gently swinging the bubble containing the children.
"Release them first." Wei Ying tells her.
There's no compromise in his voice.
"Or I could kill them." She says casually, an evil glint in her eyes.
"Then, there's nothing stopping me from killing you." Wei Ying stares back at her without blinking.
Lan Zhan talks to him through their mental connection.
I'm sending Bichen to cut through the top of the bubble. Hui Gai, catch the children. Wei Ying, finish her.
Yes, Sir. Wei Ying replies, and his eyes go completely red.
************
Rumi tears through the iridescent material holding them prisoner, tied to the stick. Their movement unbalances the Flower Demon, who wasn't prepared for that unexpected move. She drops the stick and the children fall out, caught by two very prepared demons.
I'm taking them somewhere safe, PengYou. Hui Gai says, immediately vanishing.
The Flower Demon, having realised that she no longer has the advantage any more, immediately brings out a garland of lotus flowers, all deadly red and she begins releasing them into the air.
They fly like arrows aiming for targets, cutting through the air with lethal intent.
"Watch out! That's the poison she gave me!" Wei Ying yells, dispatching Suibian towards her.
Bichen follows and the two swords aim for her throat in criss crossing motions.
The sky lights up as blasts of spiritual energy blast towards the Flower Demon, who unleashes a volley of fatal lotus flowers, which fly in all directions. There are too many flowers and no easy way to dispose of them, as EmoHua springs into the air to avoid their blades.
The flowers which spread poison and decay seem neverending, bursting into that deadly red powder upon contact with anything, and the healthy plants below the Flower Demon succumb to this terrible rotting fungus.
The Celestial Warriors have shown themselves and create a cage around her, but Wei Ying remembers that this particular Demon is adept at vanishing and eluding capture.
So he pulls out Chenqing and begins to play.
As the rotten smell of death and decay fills the air, a second reminder of the tragedy to befall this place, Wei Ying recalls a frightening truth that has been forgotten.
Thousands of cultivators and civilians died when Lotus Pier fell at the hands of Wen Chao. All of the bodies recovered later had final rites performed on their souls...but Wei Ying knows.
Better than anyone, he can sense those who were thrown in the deep, still waters of these lakes, the ones who have still yet to find peace.
They are still angry about what happened to them, innocent lives caught up in the dispute between the clans. Under the cold, dark waters of these lakes, the resentment energy is strong.
Wei Ying calls upon the Dead.
************
A/N
Dear friends,
I promised @SweetieZeria two chapters for her birthday, and this is the second one.
Lots of chocolate and good times for everyone. My dragons are saying hello too!
Thanks so much for reading. This book passed 10K yesterday!
Charlie.
BINABASA MO ANG
WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon
RomanceThings have settled down for our favourite couple and they're just getting used to living in the domestic bliss that Wei Ying always dreamed of. However, there is still the question of Jiang Cheng and his mysterious curse, the JingLing that can't re...
