WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 37 Precious

The moment EmoHua vanishes, whatever is holding him up also vanishes, and Wei Ying falls into the cold waters of the lake. The shock of it and whatever is in his system makes his movements sluggish. Luckily, his wings are out upon impact, and he can breathe, but his mind is trying to think about what the Flower Demon said.

Something is urgently knocking on his brain, telling him he has to hurry...

His arms are flailing, and then suddenly, he's pulled up out of the cold waters by two strong arms.

"Wei Ying!" Lan Zhan pulls him into his arms.

Wei Ying is shivering, and he coughs a few times before he's alright to breathe properly.

Without an extra word, Lan Zhan carries him back to their room.

But even here, there is disarray. Xiao Mao is crying pitifully in the children's room, and the door is ajar.

Lan Zhan frowns, and Wei Ying prevents him from setting him down.

A colder feeling of dread spreads over his skin.

Wei Ying suddenly doesn't want to go in there.

He already knows what they're going to find, though not to what extent.

They go inside.

The children, both Li XiWang and Rumi, are no longer in bed fast asleep.

The room is empty, save for Xiao Mao, who has been hurt. There is blood on the sheets and on her paws.

Xiao Mao turns into a little white demon and bows when she sees them enter.

"Where? Where are my children?" Wei Ying howls.

This is pain beyond any imagination.

This is his fault.

He's pushing away at hands that seek to bind him, and he wants to kill that demon now. How dare she touch them?

His thoughts are filled with murderous vengeance.

Wei Ying is shaking with it.

But one voice finds its way to his core.

"Wei Ying!"

Lan Zhan? Why is Lan Zhan in pain?

Wei Ying stills immediately.

He's not shaking now... but Lan Zhan is.

"It's my fault." He says brokenly.

"No!" Wei Ying almost shouts it. His arms come around Lan Zhan, but comforting him is the furthest thing on his mind.

There is too much pain.

Jiang Cheng and XiChen run into the room.

"What happened?" Jiang Cheng asks, frantically looking around. There are other disciples behind them.

"If I may?" Xiao Mao says.

She's still bent in a bow.

Wei Ying doesn't trust himself to speak, so he nods instead.

"After you left, the children were asleep. But maybe ten minutes later, there was a red glow, and the demon appeared. She went to take Rumi, and Li XiWang woke up. They fought and -"

"They fought?" Wei Ying sways, and Lan Zhan catches him.

This time, he does not let go.

"I'm okay, Lan Zhan. Chang'e said I've been poisoned." Wei Ying can't seem to care about that, though.

He ignores their shocked looks of disbelief, even when Lan Zhan takes his wrist to check his pulse.

"Carry on." Wei Ying commands. He's still angry.

Lan Zhan shoots a look at his brother, who immediately leaves to get a healer.

"Li XiWang didn't want to hurt her, so she summoned a bubble, but the demon blew a flower at them, and it covered them in a fine red dust. They passed out. While I was trying to claw her eyes out, DaErduo turned himself into a dust mite and crawled into Li XiWang's robes. He has gone with them." Xiao Mao bowed once more.

Wei Ying knew that only one person could help them now.

"HUI GAI!"

The black demon instantly appeared.

"Pengyou!" He was smiling with his arms open before he realised that something was terribly wrong.

Wei Ying swayed again, his feet not working properly. His thoughts were muddled, and not in order.

"What's wrong with you? And where are the children?" Hui Gai demands. He looks at Lan Zhan for answers.

Wei Ying wants to answer, but now the poison is getting a real grip inside him.

Everything goes black.

*********

XiChen wants to help. He hurries in with the healer, as Lan Zhan shouts Wei Ying’s name and catches him just in time. His tears aren't stopping, and because of that, XiChen's eyes are also overflowing.

There is too much confusion here and not enough answers.

They place Wei Ying on the bed.

The healer opens his wooden chest with an assortment of drawers, which contains different cures for different ailments. Choosing a slim vial with a milky substance, he pours a few drops into Wei Ying's mouth as Lan Zhan lifts his head so he can swallow it down.

Lan Zhan cannot believe this is happening.

In just a few short hours, his entire world has come crashing down.

The worst part of it all is that he was too late.

Too late to save Wei Ying, and too late to save their children.

These are bitter tears that fall from his eyes now.

Hui Gai is holding his tail and standing by their sides, wondering what is going on. He desperately wants to talk to Wei Ying, but that is not possible right now, and his other friend is in no condition to explain what happened here.

He searches in his mind, looking for the children. If he can find them, then that will be part way of making his friends feel better. So he closes his mind and lets his awareness spread out, searching for the two lost children. They could be anywhere.

His anger is a cold thing, but powerful nonetheless. Hui Gai knows he can destroy anything, and anyone who dares think they can mess with his family. There will be no stopping him when he finds the culprit, who thought it was a good idea to involve children in whatever their plans were.

But he is shocked when he can't find any trace of them.

Nothing.

It is as if they have completely vanished.

And before he can say any of that, this room is flooded with a brilliant white light.

A/N

Dear Beautiful Readers,

My Internet is really crappy today and getting this chapter to load has been a nightmare!

Let's hope it improves soon!

Charlie.