WangXian Forever Book 8

Chapter 87 Activation

The Demon Master smiled menacingly at him.

Hui Gai had a very bad feeling about that.

It only increased when he took out a sinister looking sickle, as big as his hand.

He grabbed Hui Gai's tiny little hand and made a cut in the centre of his palm, even as Hui Gai struggled in futility.

"This was the genius of your mother. She wasn't called the Mistress of magic for nothing..." the Demon Master looked proud. "She drew this array from her own blood, using her last breaths. It needs her blood to activate it again...that's why I needed you."

They both watched as Hui Gai's blood dripped onto the glowing array, but as nothing else changed, Hui Gai realised with dread why his plan to impersonate Rumi was going to fail on a massive level.

His blood wasn't going to do anything at all, because he was not Rumi...and he did not have Qiangda's blood running through his veins.

The excitement on the Demon Master's face began to die, replaced with cold hard fury.

His eyes burned with rage as he turned to Hui Gai.

"WHO ARE YOU?"

************

Wei Ying squinted into the bright light.

"Grandmother?"

His voice was muffled as she threw her arms around him tightly.

"My boy..." She breathed, kissing his forehead.

She grabbed Lan Zhan too and hugged him together with Wei Ying, her face laughing at his obvious distaste at being touched against his will. To add to his dislike, she deliberately ruffled his perfect hair, making his forehead ribbon crooked.

Wei Ying giggled at both them and his hand shot out to straighten it carefully.

The moment his hand touched Lan Zhan’s face, the latter's features completely smoothed away all traces of irritation, instead he reverted to his usual stoic countenance.

"Grandma...be nice." Wei Ying told her playfully, feeling so happy to see her standing right in front of him.

Her relief that they were both fine and in good health was all over her face, although she refrained from saying anything about that.

Wei Ying understood; himself included, his family did not like to reflect on matters of ill health, choosing to gloss over the hardest parts.

"I believe this belongs to you."

Wei Ying looked to his left to find the Soothsayer standing there in just his trousers, bare chested. All he wore around his neck were various necklaces made from different beads, all different sizes and colours. Some of the beads had black characters engraved on them. He wore three matching bracelets too, and his greying hair was plaited close to his scalp, and then hung loosely around his shoulders and his back.

In his hand, he held a black iridescent feather.

As Wei Ying went to take it, he noticed the changing colours as the light hit each vein. It was impossibly soft.

Then the Soothsayer turned and bowed to the figures in white.

"Jiaguwen*." Baoshan Sanren acknowledged briskly. "I should have known you were involved."

"You know each other?" Wei Ying glanced in between both of them. "And who are they?" He rose on tip toes using Lan Zhan’s shoulder for balance, looking past her to the other eleven people behind her.

Baoshan Sanren sniffed disdainfully.

"He's called other names too." She responded, with a tone that suggested they weren't altogether flattering names...

Wei Ying beamed back at her.

"He's alright you know...saved a lot of children ...most of them were yours." He reminded her.

That was when the followers of Suanni had been harvesting golden cores for spiritual energy to activate their artifact in order to summon him.

Baoshan Sanren remained silent.

Wei Ying shrugged and turned the power of his smile onto the Soothsayer.

"Thank you, friend. It was you, who talked to Master Dashi then? You seem to have a lot of these." He winked.

Lan Zhan squeezed his hand in warning.

"Only two...and they are returned to their owner now. I take your leave..." the Soothsayer bowed to everyone and vanished amid gasps.

"Oh...I wonder where he went?" Wei Ying said, looking around.

"To meddle in someone else's affairs, no doubt...." His grandmother snorted.

"So ladylike, grandmother!" Wei Ying giggled.

"As for these people, they are the Celestial Warriors I was telling you about. We work for the Jade Emperor exclusively whenever he summons us...and do you remember me telling you about the Demon Master?" She gave him a sharp look.

Wei Ying nodded.

"You were called away..." He recalled.

"We've been hunting him for a few years now. But he's a wily creature. On more than one occasion he's managed to thwart us by hiding and moving around...but his sudden appearance does not bode well." She explained, her face a mask of worry.

"Well his minion is the Sleeping Sickness Demon." Wei Ying told her. "And when he stole me away...he said that the Demon Master wanted Rumi for some reason...but we don't know why."

Everyone looked at the Demon baby. He looked back, nothing but innocence on his young face.

Wei Ying crouched and held his arms open and Rumi ran to him.

Wei Ying carried him in his arms, kissing his sweet face.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, we won't let the bad man get you. Okay?"

Rumi smiled shyly, hugging him back.

"But we should really go and help Hui Gai now. Kill him and get back to our family." Wei Ying’s eyes flashed scarlet for a second.

It was not missed by Lan Zhan, who shivered unexpectedly.

Over the years, Wei Ying’s ability to harness resentment energy was something he had come to accept, especially because Wei Ying was able to prove that he could circumvent any damage to his body.

Now however, Lan Zhan discovered something else.

He found the Yilling Patriarch extremely hot.

Baoshan Sanren, who had been watching both of them, rolled her eyes.

"Your Demon King called for aid." She said unexpectedly. "He needs us now!"

***********

A/N

Dear Beautiful Readers,

Jiaguwen* means Oracle in Chinese.

Three updates again!

Off to work, hopefully we'll meet again in the evening.

Have a fabulous day everyone!

Charlie.