94 Elder Liao Xing's Kiss...

You know that feeling you get when something gets really close to your face as your sleeping? That burning, tingling, sensation along your skin, slipping down your spine, shouting out that there is someone there, invading your personal space.

That feeling is exactly what Nastasia was going through in this exact moment; rousing her from her light sleep. She thought it was Li Yu Rong and thus didn't feel any sense of impending danger as she lazily climbed the layers leading to wakefulness. Yet, in that light haze between wakefulness and dreams, she was beginning to feel annoyed at his close proximity to her face.

As her eyes slid about open and registered the complete stranger mere inches away, as his moss green eyes delved into her own with delight, it took her a moment to react. Her brain was still hazy with sleep, but once it finally clicked, Nastasia jerked back in horror.

She had somehow gotten tightly wrapped in the blanket like a spring roll, with one free arm. Taking that arm and using her two legs, that were bound together in the blanket, she propelled herself backward in an attempt to escape.

"Why are you... no, who are you!?" In her panic, the words came out in English. Her back hit the wooden wall of the cart, killing off her hastily made retreat. As the strange man surmounted the distance she created, Nastasia threw out her free hand defensively. "Stay back!"

"Ho," the man hummed as he took his forefinger and thumb down his bearded chin to the lengthy tip resting above his chest. Despite both his beard and hair, that cascaded down his back, were white, it was difficult to place an age to the man. His face didn't have a single wrinkle but his eyes belied a wisdom that belonged to the elderly.

"Hmm..." he hummed some more, "did you not drink the Drink of Unity when you crossed over? Even if you forego the Soup of Forgetfulness and decide not to reincarnate, remaining a spirit of the Spirit Realm, you shouldn't decline the offered drink. There are so many realms whose dead converge here before moving on to reincarnate." The man tisked his tongue and shook his head at the girl's foolishness.

Then, after a moment of thought, the man's moss green eyes lit up. "Oh, that's right, I have a way to help you with this." Once again his person leaned into Nastasia's personal space. With nowhere to run, she could only dart her eyes about looking for that familiar figure as her mouth opened to call for Li Yu Rong.

Taking advantage of that action, the man swooped in and sealed his lips over hers. Slipping in his tongue to trace over hers as he recited a few words in his mind. Just as he was going to retreat from the girl he was yanked up by the back of his robe and twirled around to face the eyes of hell.

Looking into that lone ruby-red colored eye, the man felt his spine turn to jelly as all courage fled his bones. If he didn't fear what would happen to his person he would have closed his eyes just to avoid having to look at that demonic red gleaming with rage.

"Li Yu Rong, don't!" Paoxiao cried out as he came storming onto the scene from his hiding place in the surrounding area. Though they hadn't really discussed it, he understood that they were using Nastasia as bait to lower his elder's guard. Though he didn't like it, he knew that his elder wouldn't do anything to harm her. So, having that understanding, he found a place to hide and wait, quietly explaining the situation to Lu Se Ying.

Witnessing the shocking actions his elder took froze Paoxiao for a good long while that he only snapped out of it as Li Yu Rong was pulling him up by the back of his robe. His visage twisted into a livid horror.

"Don't! We need Elder Liao Xing to enter Yoyun Village." Paoxiao tried to reason.

The elder, eyes lighting up as if seeing his greatest savior, reached out toward the copper-eyed demon he helped raise from young. Like he expected the other man would be able to keep his courage and spirit him away from the imminent danger he felt chilling a trail down his spine.

Getting no response from Li Yu Rong other than the tightening of his jaw and fist as he struggled to maintain himself from dishing out bodily harm, Paoxiao dashed his eyes to his elder in exasperation.

"I know you lose all dignity in the face of a pretty girl, but did you have to touch that one? You were following us all that while so you had to know that it would be a bad idea." He berated as irritation filled his chest at having to defend this elder he would also like to slap.

Elder Liao Xing snorted in disdain as he affected a stately air while held up by an angry devil, to righteously proclaim. "Talking about me like some sort of untoward pervert when I've only offered my tongue to help the poor girl out! I was only helping her out of the kindness of my own heart!" The man tisked an annoyed note and angrily gripped his silky white beard. "That my own lovingly raised child would dare accuse me so wounds this old man's heart so much that I might die for it."

"Don't be so dramati-" Paoxiao began to say but swallowed hard when his eyes fell on Li Yu Rong's face that is as black as the bottom of a pot. The red-eyed devil's free hand looked as if it itched for violence. "H-Hey, calm down... remember, we need him in order to get into the village, okay?"

Li Yu Rong removed his fiery gaze from the elder to Paoxiao, his lip curled up into a deadly sneer. "If I wasn't being calm I would have ripped his tongue out and fed it to him by now."

Ah, what a chilling thought. Both Paoxiao and the elder felt a cold sweat run from their necks all the way down to the bottom of their backs.

Then it was good Li Yu Rong managed to find some restraint. Without a tongue Elder Liao Xing wouldn't be able to speak the words to release the enchantment barring their way from entering Youyun Village.

That comment stumped him and Paoxiao had to take a moment to figure out how to respond. Should he ask what Li Yu Rong wanted to do with him? That devil was technically his master now, so asking his opinion was the proper way to go. But, considering his ruthlessness, Paoxiao didn't really want to go that route.

He could make his own suggestions but, being that it was his elder, he felt too uncomfortable for it. Besides, any soft idea he came up with would probably be immediately rejected by Li Yu Rong. So, the only route left was to try and blow over the whole ordeal and hope for the best.