When Xu Zhijian becomes a full-fledged demon hunter, he is given a talisman to summon his familiar. However, he ends up calling forth the sleeping 'Demoness' and finds himself bound to her without a choice.
Days go by and he begins to discover that...
As much as Xiaoyu was aware of, Leader Xu's niece hated her.
But the way she was staring at her with frightened eyes – like a silent plea for help – Xiaoyu was stumped. What was Liqing doing here? If she had come with Leader Xu, why did she not enter the tavern with him? Why did it seem like she had come in secret and sought her out?
What should Xiaoyu do? To meet or not to meet?
The answer was obvious. From their previous encounters, Liqing was never fond of her. Because of her love for Zhijian, she was driven by jealousy and it blinded her from all rational thoughts, just like how she had slashed herself with a knife and tried to frame Xiaoyu for hurting her.
The memory drove her mad and she moved away from the window, throwing herself on the soft bed. Her eyes stared up the ceiling angrily, telling herself to forget about Liqing. Telling herself to remember that beneath the girl's innocent and beautiful face lay a viciousness that few had seen.
Several minutes passed. She rose from the bed slowly and walked towards the window, only to find that Liqing was still standing in the same spot as earlier. Her eyes were still staring in the direction of Xiaoyu's room, anxious and desperate.
She was waiting. Waiting for her to come out.
Something in the way she looked bothered her – the haunted look in her eyes without a trace of resentment. She wasn't scared, she was terrified of something. And she had come to them – no, to her – for help.
Sometimes, Xiaoyu hated herself for being too kind.
With a defeated sigh, she left her room. Hurrying down the flight of stairs, she searched for Zhijian at the main floor, hoping that she could let him know that his cousin was here and that he should meet her instead. But to her dismay, he was nowhere to be seen. Leader Xu, Dukai, Jinlong or Jiang Yuhan weren't in sight either.
Left without much of a choice, she stepped out of the tavern. Alone.
Five minutes, she decided. She was only giving Liqing that amount of time to explain her appearance. If she attempted to pull any trick, she was going to walk away from her.
Weaving her way through the steady stream of people walking on the street, Xiaoyu made her way towards the girl warily. She closed the distance between them and soon realised that Liqing was looking a lot worse than she had thought. Her face was ashen, there were shadows below her bloodshot eyes and her hair and clothes were dishevelled, as if she had run through a storm. There was even a slight cut across her cheek beneath her left eye, but the blood was almost dried now.
"Help." The first thing that came out of her mouth startled Xiaoyu. "Help me."
Wait, what?
She was stunned. She had expected Liqing to say something mean to her, but not this.
The girl's eyes lowered in guilt and her hands gripped her skirt tightly. "I know that it is shameless of me to ask you for help," she continued on, "but I don't have any other choice. He's gone. When I looked away for a second, he was taken away from me."
Xiaoyu felt a drop in her stomach. She watched as Liqing grew more frantic while talking, her shoulders were shaking and her eyes were wide with terror.
"I-I was supposed to take care of him well," she stammered, her breathing growing more erratic. "I was told not to let him out of my sight. If my uncle knows about this, I'll be thrown out. But if Zhijian finds out, he's going to be mad at me and he won't look at me after this. What am I supposed to do–"
Xiaoyu grabbed her shoulders to steady the petrified girl. Even though a part of her already knew the answer, the rest of her was trying to deny it. The world around them blurred, the air growing thick and heavy till she felt like she couldn't breathe.
Please don't say his name.
Please don't say his name.
Tell me it's someone else and not him.
Liqing let out a choked cry. "Leader Jiang took Zhixuan," she finally told her. "He has been looking for you, but you've been running away from him with Zhijian's help. Hence, Leader Jiang has sent me here to deliver a message to Zhijian; either he gives you up or Zhixuan dies. But I know Zhijian. He is far too kind. He wouldn't let the both of you go, he would find a way to save you guys but time is not adequate, which is why I'm here to beg you instead."
Xiaoyu froze. Her eyes stared off into the distance as her mind struggled to comprehend the situation. For all she knew, this could all be a lie. Liqing might be in cahoots with Leader Jiang and she was putting on an act to lure her into a trap. After all, Xiaoyu had experienced firsthand what it was like to be hated by her.
"Please," Liqing took her hands in hers and begged. "Please save Zhixuan. If anything happens to him, it's going to be my fault and I don't want Zhijian to hate me. I'm sorry for what I did to you before, I know that it was wrong of me. Everything started from me. I shouldn't have framed you for something that you didn't do just because I was jealous. And I was the one who had sent a letter to the Jiang clan about your awakening. I was the one who asked them to take you away. I'm really sorry, Demoness. You've to save Zhijian's brother. He's the only family he has left. Please."
Xiaoyu gave her a cold stare. Taking her hands out of her grasp, she turned and walked away without a word, heading back to the Qingpeng Tavern.
"Demoness! Please!" She heard Liqing's cries of despair behind her. "Listen to me! I'm speaking the truth!"
Instead of listening to her, a plan was already forming in Xiaoyu's head. She was going to look for Zhijian, tell him that she missed Zhixuan and convince him to bring her back to Xu clan to meet the boy. She wasn't going to believe Liqing's words, she was only going to believe what she would see with her own eyes.
But at the entrance of the Qingpeng Tavern, something bad happened.
Zhijian burst out of the place, gripping his sword tightly by his side. His face was dark and livid, his veins standing out on his neck. Seeing how he hurried past her without noticing her presence, it was evident that he was raging. Jinlong soon emerged after him to give chase and it was only when she grabbed his arm did he skid to a stop.
He was usually a bubbly man but now, he looked anything but that. From his fearful expression, she could tell that something had gone terribly wrong.
"Xiaoyu!" he gasped. "We've to go after Zhijian, he's really mad right now. A messenger just arrived and informed us that both Liqing and his brother are missing. We've to find them!"
He turned and chased after his friend, clearly thinking that she would follow. But she didn't. She remained rooted to the ground in terror. Nobody knew that she had just met Liqing or the story she had told her about. Nobody knew she was threatened and that the fate of an innocent child's life lay in her hands.
Now that she finally received confirmation that what the girl had said was true, she was trying to sort out the chaos in her mind. To make her final decision.
No matter how hard she tried to get away from Leader Jiang, he was refusing to let her go. Because of his undying greed, she realised that he would never change. Each time she ran, he would take away the people around her. He would kill her from the inside until she could bear the pain no more and go to him instead. It was what he wanted and he would do it at all costs.
She could see it clearly now. In this world, neither of them could live at the same time. In order for her to live on, there was only one thing left for her to do.
And that was to take him down.
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