Dance of the blades

Chapter 11 Black Puddles

A-jue has never as felt as helpless as now with his fiancee sudden disappearance. He had been right there with her when it happen taking a stroll around the village, but when he turned his back she had vanished as if she was never there. When he tried to explain what happened, his fiancee's father didn't believed, thinking that he was making up excuses.

Sitting on the hard ground with a hand on the bruises he had gotten, A-jue heard the sound of footsteps approaching him from behind. To his surprise a young boy dressed in pale blue robes stood before him enquiring about his fiancee.

"Why should I tell you?" he asked, wondering why the boy was so interested in his missing fiancee.

Lan Sizhui smiled towards the man before explaining that he was here to investigate the case of the missing girls and that knowing where the last victim was seen could give him some clues on where his fiancee could have gone. Hearing the boy's explanation A-jue reluctantly agreed and guided him to the spot where his fiancee disappeared. 

"This is where she vanish, I tried looking around for clues already but maybe your luck will be better than mine" A-jue said as he showed the boy to an alleyway.

"Thank you very much for your help gongzi, I promise to tell you if I can find anything related to your fiancee" Lan Sizhui thanked the young man before searching around the area for clues.

Walking through the alleyway Lan Sizhui could felt strangely uncomfortable, this sense of paranoia had been reappearing whenever a demon was near. While the boy was not an instinctive person, he decided to follow where his gut told him to go. The feeling of discomfort intensified when he and A-jue stumbled near living area of the villagers.

Noticing that night was approaching, Lan Sizhui told A-jue to stay put as he scaled the roofs of the houses to get a better view of his surroundings. 

"Are you sure about this? I'm happy that you're trying to help but the sun is about to set soon so maybe you should rest and continue this in the morning" A-jue said, lifting his hand up to point at the setting sun.

"Thank you for worrying about me but it's most likely that we'll find them during the night so I have keep searching" Lan Sizhui turned to face A-jue, the grip on his sword tighten.

"By them do you mean..." A-jue paused when they heard the scream of a young girl from inside the house behind them.

Acting fast, Lan Sizhui ran towards the house, kicking down the front doors to get to the girl. A-jue who was behind gasped in shock at the sight of a young girl being strangled by large demonic arms, dragging the poor girl into some sort of black liquid and disappearing into the ground. 

'I was too late!' the boy thought but just as he was starting to panic an idea had appeared in his head.

While A-jue was still standing there in shock, Lan Sizhui quickly jumped on the walls surrounding the house to get to the roof top. Up there the boy surveyed the entire neighborhood, before finally spotting the a faint reappearing stain of black liquid. 

Without a second to waste, Lan Sizhui jumped down from the roof, once his feet touched the ground, he put his hand into the black puddle and pulled the girl back up to safety. Checking the girl's pulse ,he then handed the unconscious girl to the newly arrived A-jue.

"Gongzi please carry the girl for me and stay close! The demon might appear to try and get her back!" Lan Sizhui instructed to the confused A-jue before unsheathing his sword, getting ready to face the demon.

Standing in front of A-jue and the girl, Lan Sizhui slowly started the feel shivers all around his body, it slowly intensified each passing second as if whatever was causing it was approaching nearer to Lan Sizhui. It was only when Lan Sizhui could hear the sound of water splashing upwards, did the boy moved.

"Breath of the Flame first form-" Lan Sizhui took a deep breath, rushing forward towards the demon rising from the black puddle with his sword raised, aiming at the demon's neck. Once Lan Sizhui was in front of the demon, the sound of metal colliding with flesh could be heard throughout the silent night.

"Unknowing Fire" facing the demon, Lan Sizhui was surprised to find that instead of his head, it was another's demon arm he had cut off! But it did not seem to be completely new  demon, instead it was most likely a clone of the first demon as they had the same facial features their clothing were different in colour.

 Regaining his composure, Lan Sizhui prepared to slice off the other demon's neck but paused when he heard the sound of water splashes behind him. He quickly dodge the incoming swipe from a third demon! The clone seemed greatly displeased that his surprise attack was discovered.

Lan Sizhui went closer to A-jue and the unconscious girl as the three demons submerged themselves into the black liquid again. The boy cautiously looked around while keeping his eyes sharp for any more sounds of the demons re-emerging.

In the complete silence of the night, the faint but obvious sound of bubbling water could be heard by Lan Sizhui when it approaches A-jue and the unconscious girl. Tightening the hold on his sword Lan Sizhui let ample oxygen entered through his lungs and prepared to strike his foe with a downwards strike to the neck.

"Total concentration breath of the flame third form-" Lan Sizhui tilted his sword downward when the demon's hands appeared through the black puddle, he could feel the slight sensation of heat coming out from his lungs.

"Blooming Flame Undulation" putting all the strength he could gather into his sword, he cut off both of the demon's hands that were reaching for A-jue and the girl. 

The demon clone immediately retreated back into the black liquid, it didn't take long for him to reappear again, a longer distance from Lan Sizhui. The demon grid his teeth in irritation before shouting at Lan Sizhui in anger.

"You bastard! Just give up already!"

"If you keep this up that girl's gonna taste stale by the time I eat her!"

"Look she's already sixteen this year so if I don't eat her soon she'll lose all her flavor and I'll have to find another one!"