"Is that so?"
I stood up and looked at him. Then at his wife, her eyes moving toward Yue Lian's sleeping form. She hurriedly stepped toward Yue Lian's sleeping mat, her free hand reaching out.
But in the same instant spiritual essence flooded through me and I was no longer where I had been standing. In a fraction of a second I was right beside her, before the reach of her arm had fully extended. A long blade already resting against her elbow.
SLASH
The arm separated!
She stood there for one long moment, the lantern still in her remaining hand while she stared at the wound.
"Huh?"
Not even giving her time to realise then scream I stepped forward and drew the blade cleanly across her throat.
THUD
The lantern slipped from her hand as she fell. I caught it before it touched the floor, setting it down carefully on a small table.
"Don't you shout," I said quietly, looking at the two men. "You'll wake up my little sister."
The merchant and his father had gone still as they looked at the dead body on the floor, then at me. The color had drained completely from their faces.
"You... you're a cultivator. You lied. You lied to us, you said—"
"What bullshit are you even talking about right now?" Saying this I appeared in front of the old man.
"Heeekh." He made a sound that was not a word and not quite a scream. His legs gave out and he collapsed onto the floor, his pants darkening at the front.
I looked down at him for a moment.
"What?" I said."Already."
I pushed the blade through his chest, his eyes opened wide, both staring at me before the life in them began to fade.
Pulling the blade back quickly while keeping my gaze on the merchant as he stumbled against the wall.
The knife had slipped from his hand at some point, though he didn't seem to notice.
His face, deathly pale, body shivering and sweating as if he had been thrown into icy water and then dragged into the scorching heat.
I walked slowly towards him.
"WAIT, wait, wait.." He stammered."We can talk…. It was not my idea, my father, yes and that woman it was their's… I helped YOU."
"Yes, I remember something."
A glint of hope flashed in the merchant's eyes.
"Didnt you talk about, family must come first before everything." I said, keeping my voice low. "That's admirable, isn't it. Everything for the people you love." I stopped in front of him.
"But… once a man decides his family matters more than anyone else's… he shouldn't complain when someone else makes the same choice,... haaaah and that's the problem with loving."
He didn't reply nor did I wait for it.
I drove the blade into his throat, blood gushing from his mouth as he choked. He tried to grab my neck in a last attempt at resistance, but I twisted the blade which was still in his throat.
"Aaaakhhh." His eyes rolled back before he went still.
Dead…
The room was quiet again. Yue Lian hadn't woken up. Perhaps the drug had been too effective. I looked at her for a moment, then turned and walked toward the door that led to the next room, pushing it open.
But stopping right there."What the…" I was speechless.
The whole room was decorated. The bed had been prepared with care. Flower petals were scattered across the mattress in a deliberate arrangement. A lamp burned low on the side table. Folded cloth lay neatly on the chair beside it.
I was stunned, staring at it for a long moment.
(They were really this serious.) Moving past the wardrobe near the wall already knowing from the start someone was here hiding— the shallow uneven breathing, the suppressed sound of someone working very hard to make no sound at all.
I looked over at the wardrobe and the space beneath it; where a pair of small hands gripping at the floor and a pair of wet eyes stared expectantly up at me, his body tense with the effort of trying so hard not to be seen, both hands pressed tightly over his mouth to silence all sound from him and the tears coursing noiselessly down his face.
Back in the room, Yue Lian was sleeping peacefully, her breathing slow, her face serene like she belonged somewhere gentle, like heaven.
However, around her the room was completely opposite. Blood stained the floor and bodies lay where they had fallen.
BAM…...BAM.
The sound came through the wall from somewhere else in the house.
I walked back through the door, stopping at the edge of Yue Lian's sleeping mat looking down at her.
(Did I make a mistake bringing her with me?)
The thought was brief and practical, examined from one angle and then another.
"No."
I left the room with Yue Lian in my arms, carrying her carefully.
The village was quiet and dark when I came out of the house, the path between the buildings empty.
"It's cold tonight…..Looks like it'll snow in the next few days."
I paused briefly. "Now the horse seller… I have to hurry. Time is already running out."
....
The door of the horse seller's house creaked shut behind me. And no other sound came from inside anymore.
I crossed the small yard toward where I had tied my horse.
As soon as I took the reins, the horse flinched a bit but soon calmed after I mounted with Yue Lian. Adjusting her weight so she was secure before turning toward the road leading out of the village.
The path extended straight before us through the darkness, the stars shining above and caring nothing for what happened below.
I nudged the horse forward, and we left the village at a steady pace.
Bai Village was far from here, according to the merchant.
Besides, he had also told me the background of this village—which was actually a tribe that migrated a hundred years ago from the Southern desert Region (a completely different continent with harsh deserts) to the Western Forest Region (the place where we live).
At that time I started understanding the world better.
It was divided into six regions:
Southern Deserts.
Western Forests.
Northern Snowlands.
Eastern Oceania.
Central Plains.
And the Barren Lands.
In the first five regions, humans and beasts held dominion. And the demons, however, primarily resided in the Barren Lands, though some lived in hiding across the other regions as well.
I had asked the merchant about the demons and why they lived in the Barren Lands. The merchant explained that ages ago, a war had been fought which humans had won. The demons that they had defeated were exiled to the Barren Lands.
The Barren Lands was an unlivable wasteland where even the soil was useless. No sunlight passed to the area so it was always in the dark, even the sky has a different colour of midnight blue with clouds tinged with pale violet.
Afterwards, he mentioned about the demons who had human-like characteristics. Some of the demons had animal faces and weird heads while their skin was also in unusual colour. Some were as tall as a house while others dwarfed, similar to small children.
But was it true or not, I couldn't careless..