Blossoms of Love

Chapter 10: Spirit Binds and Wine Bottles

"H-He went back into the kitchen and hasn't come out since!" One of the disciples exclaimed, pointing frantically toward the kitchen door.

One corner of Master Yin's mouth curled upwards, and he swung his fist in the air triumphantly. "Correct! If he has not come out after all of this commotion, we can only assume that the spirit has gone after him."

Sun Liwei stepped forward proudly as if he was about to say something revolutionary. "But surely there is a chef in the kitchen. Wouldn't that deter the spirit?"

Master Yin shook his head and corrected the boy with a question, "If you were an evil spirit trapped in an inn with several Qi bearers, would you target one of them or go into the back room where only one civilian is in your way?"

Before the boy had a chance to answer, the kitchen door came flying across the room towards Master Yin. He nimbly dodged the object, although only just. Without the full power of his Qi, it was impossible to react anywhere near as fast as he would usually be able to.

Not even a millisecond after the door hit the floor, the spirit came hurtling through from the kitchen, lunging itself at the most experienced Qi bearer it could sense in the room. Song Mengyao.

He was fast to evade the attack, although the male host was stronger than the previous one. Upon being dodged the first time, the spirit swung back around and clawed at its opponent. It knew Song Mengyao would be fast and had already planned out its attacks. It was prepared. Nails clawed through the skin of his cheek, leaving behind an animalistic scratch.

"Song Mengyao!" Master Yin called out, drawing his sword to help fight off the creature.

Without his Qi, he was practically useless and only got in Song Mengyao's way. Not to mention, his sword hand was still wounded, but he knew that well. He simply wished to prevent any more harm that could befall the prince. It was he, the wounded master, who took the next hit from the spirit. Hands pushed him with such a force that he too flew across the room much like the door that had come flying towards him before.

The prince could only spare a second to see if Master Yin was alright, thanking only his luck when Yin Jianguo groaned and rolled over onto his side. Then, he jumped to the side, dodging the next attack.

Sun Liwei was inspired as he watched the two of them fight, even if one of them had offered little help besides babbling his mouth. He was afraid but he was Sun Liwei, descendant of the Sun Clan, and he would be damned if he was to allow these two to take all the glory.

In an instant, he was by Song Mengyao's side, fighting in such a way that it forced the spirit to back up. This would have been a good thing, had it not been for the civilians hiding not too far from where he had directed the creature.

There was a wail from one of the farmers as the spirit lunged at him, simply wishing to soil the room with blood. Song Mengyao barely managed to jump between them in time, propelling the possessed body back into the middle of the room. Tables were knocked on their sides as the spirit landed, crashing into them.

"C-Can't you do that Priestess' Palm thing again?"

The boy had good ears to have heard what Master Yin said moments before the prince managed to force the spirit out of the body it was in. Although, despite those good ears, he was lacking in perception. They had already trapped the spirit in the inn. If they forced it out of its host again it would simply enter a new one. No, they did not want that. The only way to deal with it now was to trap it and figure out what provoked the spirit in the first place in order to calm its fury.

"Hand me your headband."

"My headband?"

Song Mengyao sheathed his sword and raised his hands, ready to deflect any attack the spirit threw at him. "Yes, quickly!"