Dance of the blades

Chapter 42 Two Boats On River; Always Stick Together

Arriving upon the other side of the river, the young demon slayers were greeted with the sight of two overturned boat left upon the muddy ground.

"Uh that feels much better!" Lan Jingyi exclaimed, stretching his arms after escaping the boat he had been cramped into the boat with his friends. 

"We're finally out of that thing. Have you guys found any signs of the kids yet?" Jin Ling asked, while approaching Lan Sizhui whom was examining something on the ground.

Noticing his friend's presence near him, Lan Sizhui nodded in reply, pointing at the path that led deeper into the forest. Turning towards the direction he was pointing at, the trail of large footprints embedded to the muddy ground became even more notable under the moon light.

With a gesture from his hands, his friends immediately moved along with him, following Lan Sizhui into the darkness of forest. 

The night was cold as freezing winds blew against their body and parts that were not covered by their thick robes. In a hurry to change as fast as they could, they had not worn the many layers necessary, opting for more lighter wear for better movement. Thus they huddled close together to gain any bit of warmth.

Straining their ears, the four of them tried their hardest to discern the the children's screams to the noises of night. Their feet stop dead silent as their breath hitched from the loud thrashing, seemingly from the bushes in front of them.

Lan Sizhui could swear that if it were not for the cold metal against his skin grounding him, he would have undignifiedly jumped and let out a shriek from the surprise. Advancing  forward, he cautiously reached towards the handle of his sword, preparing for the worst.

However what the young demon slayers didn't expected though was the silhouette of a small child to dash into Lan Sizhui's legs. Shaken by the sudden impact, Lan Sizhui looked down to find a young boy clinging onto his robes with eyes filled tears.

"A-long!?" Lan Sizhui exclaimed, recognizing the boy's steel blue robes under the stains of dirt he must have gotten from running around the forest. The young child was shivering in fear, Lan Sizhui could barely make out a word from the boy's tearful muttering.

Before he could reach a hand out to calm the boy, another small figure emerged from the bushes in front of them, panting from their extensive run.

"Sizhui ge! T-Thank god your here. Dage...h-he.." A-liang called out, tears stemming from her eyes in relief at seeing the four of them.

Placing a hand on the girl's shoulders, Lan Sizhui gently shushed her mumblings, trying to calm her down.

"One word at a time. Take a deep breath" Lan Sizhui instructed the girl in a gentle tone, repeating his words until the girl had finally stopped to calm herself.

"That's it your doing great. Now breath out" Lan Sizhui watched as the tension from the girl's shoulders built up before relaxing back down as she let out a deep breath just as Lan Sizhui had instructed.

When the girl's tears and stuttering had finally subsided, her glassy eyes stared back into Lan Sizhui's silver orbs, a bit of clarity had gained back to her voice.

"A-lian, A-long please tell us what happened? Do you both know where your elder brother is?" gaining a better ground on their emotions, A-long looked to his sister as she took in upon herself to explain.

"When we got home, a demon had broken into our room and took Dage while he was going to bed. We tried to grab onto Dage and pull him out of its hold but it just ignored us and ran to the boats"

"So you followed it all the way here!?" Jin Ling exclaimed, startling the children from his sudden outburst. His brows were pitched together, showing his obvious displeasure at the children's moronic actions.

'Ah so that's why there were two boats on here' Lan Sizhui thought, finally finding the answer to the question that was bothering him.

"Jin Ling there's no need to shout at them like that. They were just worried for their brother and made impulsive choice. There's no need to be so angry" Ouyang Zizhen stated, hoping to quell the flames of anger about to be brewed.

"Zizhen's right young mistress. There's no need to get pissy about it" Lan Jingyi said as well, though it was hard to tell if his intention was to diffuse the situation or ignited it.

'Am I the only sane one here?' Jin Ling grimaced. Then what did they want him to say? Oh your so brave and good, throwing caution into the wind and following a demon in the middle of the night without telling adults and worrying everyone about their well being? Had they forgotten that the children could have put themselves in danger of the demon!

Seeing the shadows on Jin Ling's face getting darker, Lan Sizhui quickly diverted the conversation.

"That was very of reckless of you two. Don't do it ever again, okay? Now tell us where is your brother now" 

"H-He's at the mountain further up ahead. When the demon was stepping out of the boat, its grip was loose so Dage took the chance and ran into a cave to hide from it" A-lian stated, grabbing Lan Sizhui's hand to pull him towards the direction of his brother.

Treading onwards to the center of the gloomy forest, the sight of large mountain towering over the rest of the trees was hard to miss. The threat of the demon appearing suddenly before them had led even the children to tread cautiously, carefully watching their footing as to not make a sound.

"Wait stop" Lan Sizhui whispered as loud as he could, stopping his friends from advancing.

"What's the matter?" Lan Jingyi said, his volume barely considered a whisper as it made Lan Sizhui flitch.  

 Lan Sizhui shushed him with a wave, gesturing to the mountain ahead of them. Turning to get a better look at the direction he was pointing to, a collective gasp escaped from his friends' lips as they had a clear view of what was in front of them.

That must be it! The demon that kidnapped A-hong!