Demon In A Painting

Chapter 7 - Lifen

There was no response.

Undaunted, Kai tried again.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Demon? Please come out. I need to talk with you."

Nothing.

Kai peered at the painting. There was still smoke coming out of the chimney and the front door was a dull red. She was awake and inside the cottage. Therefore, there was only one conclusion. The demon was ignoring him.

"Demon, unlike the other mortals, ignoring me will do you no good. I can force you out."

Knock! Knock!

"You've got ten minutes!"

He waited for fifteen minutes, giving her an extra five just to be on the safe side. Since she was a female demon, it was only polite to give her warning before he extracted her forcefully from scroll. Who knew what she was up to in there.

"O'kay, times up. Come out now or I'll summon you."

The curtains fluttered but that was all.

Kai clenched his jaw and exhaled. He really would have preferred it if she had emerged on her own. This was not a good start for a civil discussion.

Forcing her out may antagonize her but he had no choice. He wanted to ask her a few questions her before reaching the village tomorrow. If it was not 'her' then it would be the usual visit to check up on the villagers' well-being. If it was indeed Senior Lin's demon then he would need to get her side of the story for further investigation 'on site'. At least this time he was one step closer to reaching his goal. He had a potential candidate. Hopefully it was her.

He, Kai, would be the one to conclude the Sect's longest active case. Right now he was at a dead end having gone through Senior Lin's report countless times and speaking to the villagers. The people there were not much help as at all. They only repeated the same thing, oftentimes with outrageous embellishments. Now, he had a chance for new information which would surely help him.

The demon hunter concentrated directing his inner force to do his will. Muttering the full incantation with proper intonations and hand gestures, he 'found' the demon's core essence and pulled it out.

A cloud of sparkly purple dust materialized from the tiny house to float out the painting. The steady stream coalesce in a spot in front of Kai. It solidified into a human shape.

"Aaiiiiieeee!! So rude!" exclaimed a dulcet female voice.

Kai was taken aback. This was not what he had expected. A sultry sexy demon trying to lure him, yes. Or maybe an angry and vengeful demon who wanted to intimidate him into releasing her. Perhaps even a scared being who was subdued or wary of him. But this, this irritated messy flour covered woman complete with tousled hair, splattered apron and rolling pin was not what he had in mind. She placed her hands on her hips glaring at him.

"Now see what you made me do. My dough is ruined!"

"You're cooking?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "No, I'm practicing my embroidery ..." she replied sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, but I did give you a warning."

"Pffttt! Some warning. I can hear you but you can't even hear me if I shout back," she grumbled. "I can't stop whatever I'm doing just to pander to entitled humans, you know. So inconsiderate!"

Huh? This demon seemed to be really annoyed and fed-up with humans. He wondered what she had experienced to make her that way. Him interrupting her in the middle of her cooking did not help much either.