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...
Before the pair could pull away from each other, a sudden thick fog enveloped them.
Zhijian pulled Xiaoyu behind him protectively, gripping his sword ready while Jinlong stood with his back facing theirs. With bated breaths, the three of them kept their eyes wide open on a cautious lookout for the enemy.
A dark figure was moving in the fog, circling slowly, keeping its distance... And then it started circling around them faster, closing in on them.
A bone-chilling cackle echoed around them. Before they could react, a ghastly, wrinkled face emerged from the fog. A short, old woman dressed in dirty, white clothes charged towards them at an inhuman speed.
It was the Grandma Ghost, the one that was terrorising the villages and had stolen several children from their families.
The demon swiped at Zhijian with her claws, who dodged easily and parried her attacks. When her attention turned towards Jinlong, he let out a small scream and scampered backwards. Fortunately, Zhijian came to his rescue and was intercepted before she could lay a finger on him.
Seeing that Jinlong had tripped and landed on his back, Xiaoyu hurried over to him. But before she could get to him, something grabbed her arm tightly and she turned to look.
A move that she instantly regretted.
Finding herself staring right in the face of the Grandma Ghost, Xiaoyu felt her breath clotted in her throat. With a manic grin, the demon tilted her head curiously, appraising Xiaoyu like she was an aesthetic piece of painting. Behind them, the boys were thrown off guard when more ravens swooped in and attacked them; a dirty trick that the demon had used to keep them busy.
Xiaoyu spotted Zhijian, whose face was stricken with fear when he saw that she was in danger. He tried to fight his way to her but there were far too many ravens.
Tearing her eyes away from them, her attention snapped back to the grisly creature before her, who was licking her lips excitedly with a hungry look in her eyes.
"Hmm, what do we have here? That beauty of yours is exquisite. You smell...delicious too."
Before Xiaoyu could see it coming, she was knocked out cold.
***
Someone was shaking her awake.
Gradually, her eyes fluttered open. Darkness greeted her and she sat up slowly, groaning slightly. Her hand reached up to clutch the side of her throbbing head, recalling that the demon had knocked her out with a single blow.
Where was she?
A small figure loomed above her, a familiar face that she greatly welcomed.
Zhixuan?!
"Princess, princess..." he wailed miserably. His nose was red and there were tears running down his flushed cheeks. Clearly, he was frightened from seeing she was brought in unconscious.
She scooted closer to him and he literally jumped right into her arms, burying his face in her chest. He was a sobbing mess and she patted his back in an attempt to comfort him. At the same time, her eyes scanned his arms and legs for signs of bruises and thankfully, there were none.
However, the boy was still scared out of his wits. His body was quivering uncontrollably and he was starting to hiccup.
"I-I thought you were dead," Zhixuan sobbed, hugging her tighter. "I'm scared, please don't leave me."
For the first time, Xiaoyu hated not being able to speak. It was such an inconvenience. She so terribly wanted to whisper to him words of assurance and wipe away the fear written on his face. But in the end, she could only wrap her arms around him tighter and rubbed his back to soothe him.
Her mind was determined to protect him from the demon. Even if she couldn't use her powers, she would protect him no matter what happened.
Zhixuan continued rambling on, as if he couldn't stand the stifling silence. "When the monster brought us in, she told us that she's collecting twenty children for a feast."
Twenty children?
Her eyes finally roamed around their surroundings and she soon realised that they weren't alone. There were several children in the room too, all of them were sitting quietly with their legs drawn to their chests. They were wearing the same distant and scared expression on their faces.
She couldn't imagine how cold and frightened they were sitting in the dark. The thin layer of dried hay beneath them wasn't enough to keep the children warm and the few oil lamps on the floor were dimly lit.
Exactly how many days were these children kept here?
Zhixuan clutched a fistful of her clothes in his hand. "You were brought in too..." he murmured fearfully." Why does she want you? Is she going to eat us? Are we not going to see our families again? Am I not going to see my Big Brother?"
She pulled away from him to get a good look at his face. The little boy started whimpering but stopped when she flashed him a reassuring smile. Her lips moved as she mouthed a few reassuring words to him.
"Don't worry.
I will bring you to him."
After pressing a quick kiss to his forehead, she stood up with him still cradled in her arms. She crossed the room towards the centre, where earlier on she had noticed a ladder, and reached up to give a push against the trapdoor on the ceiling.
Just like she suspected, it was locked.
With a dejected frown, she cast a quick look around and counted the number of children in the room with her.
Thirteen, fourteen... There were fifteen of them in the room, waiting to be either saved or slaughtered like pigs and be eaten.
And there were five more children left to be collected.
A surge of rage swelled up within her chest. The Grandma Ghost was a greedy creature indeed. How was anybody capable of doing such a despicable deed to innocent children?
For the first time in her life, she was willing to use her powers. Glancing down at the bracelet that Zhijian had put on her to seal away her powers, she gave it a few forceful tugs but it refused to break. She remembered her telekinesis was activated once before in her most distressed state, but when she willed it to happen again now, it didn't work.
However, she wasn't giving up yet, not when these children's lives were at stake. She refused to sit by and let the demon get her ways with them. A plan was slowly forming in her head, one that she wasn't sure if it would work.
But any attempt was better than nothing.
Even if it's the last thing I do, I promise to set you guys free.
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