Heart Protection (Back from the Brink)

CHAPTER 51

It had been ten years since Yan Hui first greeted Ling Xiao as her shifu.

For a person, ten years is a long time. Yan Hui had forgotten many things that occurred in those ten years. However, Yan Hui didn't dare forget the day she met Ling Xiao.

She remembered it was the beginning of summer. Yan Hui had no mother, and her drunkard of a father spent every day dead drunk in the house. He didn't care a whit what Yan Hui did or where she went.

Back then, Yan Hui thought that life was just muddled through. When the time came, she would be like the older sisters in the village and find someone to marry. Then she'd have a couple kids and raise them. And then she would watch the kids muddle their way through life too.

The Yan Hui back then didn't once think that she would meet someone called Ling Xiao.

He was like a godly presence landing in the middle of her mediocre life.

Ling Xiao had brought Zi Chen with him down the mountain to gain experience. They had chased an evil demon to the village entrance. Yan Hui just happened to be playing with some of the village children at the base of the great tree.

The demon seemed to have been chased to the end of its rope. It immediately snatched up one of the children and on the spot ripped open the child's chest. The demon plucked out the heart and gulped it down. All the other children were stupefied by the sight.

Although the young Yan Hui would frequently see ghosts, she had never experienced such a bloody scene before. She immediately began to wail. One heart wasn't near enough for the demon. It immediately reached out again and snatched up Yan Hui, who was closest to it.

Without hesitation, it cut Yan Hui's chest with its finger. Her blood spilled out and dripped onto the tree's roots.

Yan Hui felt herself dying. That was the first time she had come face to face with death. She saw a black aura start to rise from her own body. Yan Hui was so scared that her face was deathly white. It seemed like her heart had already stopped beating. But right at that moment, frost descended from the sky. Light from the Hoarfrost Technique spilled forth.

Yan Hui watched an icy blade sever the demon's hand, and she fell into a cold embrace.

Cold frost froze the wound on her chest. Then she was passed over into Zi Chen's arms. However Liang Xiao's image had already been cut into her heart like a knife. From then on, no other person's image could enter her heart.

Ling Xiao and that demon started to fight, but the demon didn't fear getting wounded. Within a short period of time, the hand that Ling Xiao cut off regrew.

"Zi Chen, save the children."

"Yes, shifu."

Zi Chen loudly responded and placed Yan Hui off to the side. He warned her: "Run as far as you can. Don't return here." Then he turned and ran to the other children.

Seeing this, the demon moved to stop Zi Chen. Ling Xiao's gaze sharpened, and the sword in his hand started to freeze over, starting from the tip. The blade frosted over in a heavy layer like a severe winter had blown in. With a flourish of the blade, a chilly barrier was erected, and the evil demon was stopped. The demon could only helplessly watch Zi Chen carry one child in his arm and carry another on his back. Zi Chen was taking them far away.

The demon was furious and charged straight at Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao drew a seal with one hand and waved his arm. The demon was hit with a heavy blow; the force sent the demon flying into the enormous tree. The tree shook with the force of the blow, and leaves floated down. The demon slumped onto the ground. It dizzily shook its head.