Dance of the blades

Chapter 29 An Unexpected Encounter

"Zizhen make sure to take care of the kids. We don't want them wandering while I take care of the long tongue bastard" Jin Ling stated, reaching towards his back to pull out a strange golden contraption.  He pulled the components at its sides, revealing a beautiful golden bow. In one swift move, Jin Ling had grabbed three arrows from his quiver, firing them simultaneously at the demon, causing it to shriek in pain.

Even with three arrows stuck in its qi points, the demon looked unfazed as it crawled towards them, sliding out its tongue to attack. Truly a stubborn beast! Jin Ling clicked his tongue in annoyance, scaling the walls beside him to dodge the demons nimble tongue. Straining on the bowstring mid sprint, Jin Ling released three more arrows, pinning the demon's tongue in place.

As the demon squirmed and thrash around to free itself, Jin Ling took the opportunity and reached for his sword. With a deep breath, Jin Ling fixed his stance letting his blood flow through every fiber of his veins. 

" Thunder breathing first form-"a loud sizzling sound accompanied Jin Ling as he made a mad dash forward, swiftly unsheathing his sword from its sheath. In the blink of an eye the demon was met with Jin Ling's blade piercing the skin of neck. His sword stained red from the demon's blood, leaving behind its headless dissipating body.

"Thunderclap and Flash" the battle was over as Jin Ling sheathed his sword. He was honestly quite disappointed that it had so little time to take down the demon. The effort he had to twist his body to accommodate dodging in the cramp and tight hallway from the demon's tongue gave him a harder challenge than his previous hunts. Oh well, he sighed.

With the demon eliminated, they were able to continue moving forward. Their victory felt brief when the two still terrified children clung onto Ouyang Zizhen's legs, slowing them down by the long run. Jin Ling sighed, finding both his friends and the demon was going to take longer than he had hoped. To his utter misery, when he had opened the next door, the rest of the hallways were infested with demons.

"Are you kidding me!?" Jin Ling screamed in exasperation, alerting the demons of their presence. His luck truly could not get any worse than this.

Lan Sizhui did not how to feel about the situation they had found themselves in. Upon exiting the room that they had found themselves confined in, they did not strolled far to be met with the sight of the demon's victims. He grimaced as Lan Jingyi started to puke the contents of his stomach in one of the nearby rooms. 

Training under Baoshan Sanren, Lan Sizhui had once believed that with time he would get used to the grisly sights associated with becoming a demon slayer. But as time passed, he had begun to realized that he'll never get used to it. He still felt like that young boy from the village, lost and terrified at what to do with the death that surrounded him. 

 At least for better or worst he gained the ability to prevent further carnage. 

Lan Jingyi's sudden loud and excessive grunting had effectively dragged Lan Sizhui back to matter they were facing at hand. After wandering deeper into the corridors, they inadvertently founded themselves lost. As the tanggu drum became louder the further they went, so did the intricate changing of the corridors. 

Both him and Lan Jingyi had lost the last shreds of confidence they had left in finding their way back with how increasingly fast their surroundings were changing. Usually optimistic, Lan Sizhui was finding it rather difficult to keep his smile unstrained when they had yet again stumbled upon another dead end.

"Sizhui is it me or is this the same wall we just passed by a minute ago?" Lan Jingyi asked his friend, groaning in frustration while pointing at the familiarly coloured wall in front of them. Judging by the stained wood and broken breams surrounding it, Lan Sizhui reluctantly concluded that, yes, it was in deed the exact same wall.

"The rooms must have switched positions before we had gotten here. Strange. It's changing a lot faster than before. We should be we're getting closer to the source." Lan Sizhui observed, placing his finger on chin in contemplation. From what Lan Sizhui had noticed, the rooms surrounding did not change in any particular pattern. In fact they change quite erratically, almost as if the one behind it could not control the power they wield over the house. 

"Aaaagh even though we're getting closer to the demon, the rooms are changing too fast for us to find it!" Lan Jingyi groaned, dragging open one of the doors to prove this point. Suddenly, he paused as a shriek came out from the room, followed by wooden blank being thrown at his direction.

"Aiya that scared me for a moment! I thought I was gonna die! " Lan Jingyi clutched his his chest and exclaimed. Curious, Lan Sizhui approached peeked over Lan Jingyi's stiff shoulders to get a look at the culprit behind the wooden blank. To his surprise instead of a monstrous, man sized demon, a thin and frail boy in orange robes was what had met his sight. Judging by the boy's small stature, he should have barely reached his teens, still baring parts of his round chubby baby fat on his face. 

"Hello xiao didi, we're sorry to have frighten you. Jingyi and I mean no harm. If it's alright with you, could I asked a few questions" Lan Sizhui asked the young boy in a gentle tone, kneeling down to appear less intimating to him.

His tactic had seemed to work as the boy's shoulders appeared less tense, the boy letting his guard to stare at Lan Sizhui in silent contemplation. His eyes fiercely scrutinizing both Lan Jingyi and him before slowly nodding his head in response to Lan Sizhui.

Taking it as a sign of agreement of the boys end, Lan Sizhui opened his mouth to ask the boy his question, hoping to confirm his suspicions.

"Do you know a little boy who wears a blue hanfu who walks around with a girl in pigtails?"

As expected, the boy's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing the distinguishable description. His hands gripped tighter around the tanggu drum he was holding, schooling his face to not give away his thrill upon hearing the description. Lan Sizhui noted the indistinguishable parallel of the cravings on the boy's tanggu drum with the demon's. So this was the cause of converting rooms.

"Yes their my siblings! How do you them Gege? Did they sent you to get me? How are they doing right now? A-long and A-lian are not injured right?" the boy bombarded Lan Sizhui with a series of questions, his body shaking from worry for his siblings. As he shifted in seat, Lan Sizhui noticed a faint red covering the hem of his robes. 

As he approached closer to the boy, the strong scent that emanated from the boy's leg became more noticeable. Seeing Lan Sizhui suddenly approaching, the boy hurriedly moved back in response. He stopped when Lan Sizhui had abruptly grabbed his wrist to stop him, lifting up his sleeves to reveal the large gash mark marring his leg.