The Undead Village Arc 3

The screeching uncomfortable sound of knives against knives, the appearing and disappearing moonlight; along which the two warriors danced in a fiery battle of overcoming one another. Yet only one of them meant offense whilst the other stuck to defense.

Huo XiaoLi was the one on defense, to begin with, this woman had never been on defense in all eighteen years of her life. Her battle skills were top notch, her knife skills were even better. She could have killed this man any second if she'd wanted and she would have if it were a normal situation.

The guang prince sparred with her, he was also known for being too good of a warrior and appreciated for his polite mannerisms, he was loved and idealized. Though the only thing was that he did not fight with his spiritual powers, which made it easier for Huo XiaoLi to defend. It seemed like the demon wasn't in full control of the prince's body and besides the previous stab wound made him somewhat weak but not too weak.

Yet, him not using the famous lightning techniques known to be the forte of Guang family showed that he hadn't completely given in and that it was hard for the possessing demon to handle him either way.

"Guang Yun! Do not disgrace yourself!" Huo XiaoLi jumped back after an intense clash of her knives against his sword.

The possessed prince went into a fit of laughter "And here I thought you would kill anyone who is possessed! Without batting an eye!" The demon found it amusing and who wouldn't? This woman who barely cared about anyone's life caring about a young prince.

She hesitated and that made the demon feel upperhanded even if it couldn't completely control the guang prince's powers or consciousness.

It launched at her and she only crossed her knives before her to defend but a disturbance made her jump back and she retreated yet couldn't leave the room otherwise there'd be too much space for the demon to escape with the prince's body.

"No, Xiao Yi, you cannot come out, you might hurt him" She mumbled to herself making the demon somewhat perplexed, though she was actually talking to her brother who was trying to push his way out but she wasn't letting him, all out of fear that he might hurt the prince.

"Who are you talking to? Pay attention to me!" The demon came at her kicking her hard onto the chest which she was late to turn and defend herself from, so she crashed back into the wooden wall of the room falling back into the darkness of the other room.

The demon stood chuckling " What non sense! I had too many expectations while this is getting boring" it laughed.

Though there was no response from the darkness, the wooden wall which she fell through appeared like a black hole that she'd disappeared into and it even made the demon a bit curious. So it walked over crushing the splinters of wood under its feet and crossed the wall entering the other room where the woman was no where to be seen.

The laughter disappeared and the demon became vary, it held the sword in front of the prince's body, walking defensively. It was almost funny that a demon felt somewhat uncomfortable of the looming darkness within the room.

Until it felt a creeping feeling above it and slowly lifted it's head only to be terrified by the gleaming red eyes staring at it from the wall. It went frantic and tried to swing the sword and attack without seeing. Only to have its wrist held tightly.

As the moonlight slowly crept in the dark room, it illuminated the figure of a tall man with sharp yet handsome features holding the wrist of the guang prince whose sword slipped through his grip due to the tightness of the guy's grip.

"Jie, Didn't I tell you to trust me?"

He mumbled and a wide grin appeared upon his face, terrifying the demon before him.

HuoYi had awakened.

The demon flung the other hand at HuoYi, who grabbed that wrist too, quite tightly. The demon couldn't break through the grip, it struggled like a child trying to get it's hands free.

He found it even more amusing, the struggle of the helpless demon made the grin on his face grow wider until all of his teeth were almost visible.

He let its wrists free giving it a chance to attack once again, the frantic demon appeared terrified to care about any weapons and lurched at him without thinking, to which the grinning HuoYi grabbed it by the neck and slammed it against the wall. The prince's toes were barely touching the wooden floor.

Huo Yi had a tight grip which made the prince open his mouth to gasp for air, Huo Yi saw the opening and forced his fingers into the guy's mouth. The deeper they went the harder the struggle until Huo Yi pulled out a clump of darkness from deep within his throat clasped in between his index and middle finger. He pulled it out ruthlessly from the prince's body who then dropped to the ground, his stab wound had opened from all the careless movements whilst Huo Yi crushed the clump of darkness within his fist.

He then turned to see the unconscious prince and sighed.

"Twice you owe me"

He mumbled and lifted the prince up with an arm around his shoulder and helped him back in the room laying him on the sheets.

His figure started to shrink and eventually Huo XiaoLi awakened. The moment she appeared she immediately started tending to the torn wound. She used her spiritual powers to tend to it as well as used a thread and needle that she went and collected from the innkeeper to stitch the wound for the time being.

She had stayed up the whole night monitoring the progress of the prince, changing the wet rags on his forehead and making sure he was warm enough.

Though by morning Huo Yi had replaced his sister, the moment she dozed out slightly whilst the birds were chirping, he slipped out and took over. He covered his eyes the first thing after appearing.

The prince appeared quite stable now thanks to her careful monitoring all night, otherwise it could've cost him his life. When he opened his eyes he was in alot of pain. HuoYi barely helped him up without him groaning.

"You need to return, you can't survive here" Huo Yi said.

Guang Yun did not have the energy to argue and remained quiet.

"Today I will travel with you and take you back to the Guang palace. The funeral has been carried out, you'll be safe there" Huo Yi had the horses prepared outside, he was only packing.

"What about the villagers..." Guang Yun spoke in a low feeble voice.

"It's okay, leave it to the elders" Huo Yi helped him stand on his feet giving him the support of his shoulder.

The two men walked out of the inn after paying off what they owed.

Huo Yi helped the man to sit on the horse before he sat on his own horse.

"Will you be okay...travelling without seeing?" Guang Yun seemed more worried about the other man rather than himself.

"Worry about yourself" Huo Yi responded before pulling the leash.

The two travelled through the village non stop till the evening that day until they reached the forest. It was around then that Guang Yun's body gave in and he almost fell off the horse losing consciousness; if it weren't for Huo Yi who was close enough, he really would've fallen.

They decided to take a break near the lake and sat down. Huo Yi collected some fruits and wild berries that were around in order to eat. He gave most of it to Guang Yun though, so he could replenish his energy.

"Yi ge.. I'm sorry" Guang Yun said after he finished and briefly laid upon the grass.

"For?" Huo Yi counter questioned.

"For dragging you down like this, I know you would have been fine on your own" Guang Yun really did feel apologetic, it probably would have been easier for Huo Yi if only he wasn't there, he wasn't wrong on this one.

Huo Yi didn't respond, he barely thought any obligatory rejection was necessary, it was the truth after all.

"Alright let's set out before it gets dark" Huo Yi suggested but Guang Yun couldn't even keep his eyes open, let alone ride a horse.

He was feverish as well.

It couldn't be helped, there was no way Huo Yi would stay in the forest overnight while having someone to protect.

He made Guang Yun sit on the horse somehow. The man was only half conscious anyway, he had no idea what he was doing.

Huo Yi climbed on the same horse while tying the leash of his own horse with Guang Yun's horse so that they'd both move at the same time.

He took the leash while letting Guang Yun rest against his chest.

The horses set off, eventually into the darkness. Huo Yi was set on reaching the Guang palace, he did so without taking rest and arrived way after midnight when the whole palace was asleep.

Way past midnight, there was a disturbance that made Guang Zhen leave his chambers and come out only to see the guards helping Huo Yi carry in his wounded younger brother. Guang Zhen wasn't one of those who wouldn't give you the chance to explain before coming to conclusions.

Therefore he helped in carrying his brother in. The royal examiners had to be awakened to come and tend to the young prince. It took them a while to get him stable, the wound had been infected and the prince was running a high fever.

Guang Zhen sat in the garden outside with Huo Yi. He had the man explain what had happened. Even though Huo Yi was a man of few words, Guang Zhen understood the situation of the village nevertheless.

Though it still remained unclear how Huo Yi exorcised a possession since Huo Yi only explained partially when it came to himself. He was only general about his descriptions and avoided things that included him. Guang Zhen didn't ask any further, he wasn't the kind to forcefully pry.

"I see, it seems like the matter is huge and it is well within the vicinity of Guang Empire" Guang Zhen stated "It is only natural that we deal with it"

Huo Yi didn't argue, it wasn't a matter of ego or credits, so he let it be.

"There must be a medium through which the demons enter the bodies of people and drain their spiritual energy, find the medium and destroy it" Huo Yi advised.

"Your Highness seems to know alot about demonic possessions" Guang Zhen said with a smile.

Huo Yi only stood up in response and made a slight bow before leaving the first Guang Prince to himself.

"What do you think?" Guang Zhen murmured to which a man stepped forward from the darkness.

"He's hiding alot of things" The man responded.

"Say Mei feng, why are you always following me all the time, are you a stalker?" Guang Zhen said with his usual soft and smiling expression which almost pissed off Prince Qi Shuanfeng.

"I'm not! I was just..!" He had nothing to say but get even more angry at the fact that he couldn't think up anything to answer that with.

"The prince should rest for the night and leave the big matters to me" Guang Zhen still had that pure expression that annoyed Shuanfeng the most.

"Take me too..." Shuanfeng made a sudden declaration once Guang Zhen was turning to leave.

"Oh?" Guang Zhen stopped and turned to look at the prince with a smiling expression.

"I mean, I want to accompany you to the village too... I'm curious about this undead village as well.. Besides there's still a few days before the meeting of the representatives" Shuanfeng stated.

"What right do I have to refuse your highness?" Guang Zhen said and stepped closer in and sat on one of his knees, clasping his hands together "However I do worry about your safety..."

"I'm not a kid Ah Zhen" Shuanfeng spoke a bit informally.

"Of course, you're ripe, you're well at the age of your peak point and this is why it worries me" Guang Zhen stood back up and flung open a golden fan infront of him.

"I'm not as emotional as I was in childhood! I won't be irrational!" Shuanfeng immediately defended himself as if he already knew that his temper was in question. Afterall the two had known each other since childhood.

Guang Zhen became silent for a bit, his face was half hidden behind the golden fan. He seemed to be in deep thought which made Shuanfeng somewhat impatient.

After a while Guang Zhen sighed giving in to the persuasion of this desperate looking guy infront of him.

Though would a day go by if Guang Zhen would take Shuanfeng in a serious conversation?

"I'll let you if you call me Zhen Ge"

"Do you have a death wish?"