Waiting For You (A Wangxian FF)

39) The horror

"You are indeed very hard to catch, chief cultivator Jin GuangYao..." As the man in red murmured, the people gathered in the courtyard felt the heavy killing aura that seeped out of him as if it wanted to squeeze them out of their lives.

"May I ask who this gentleman is? And for what purpose are you looking for me?" Jin GuangYao smiled, pretending like he didn't feel that heavy aura.

"Me? Oh, I thought when you dared to kidnap my son, you already knew about us two. After all...we are the ones who brought him to life." Hua Cheng smirked seeing the look of understanding cross the disgusting man's foxy face.

"Xuè Yǔ Tàn Huā! I apologize for not recognizing you earlier." He smiled and bowed before looking at the other unfamiliar face, "And this must be Tài Zǐ Diànxià..."

"He isn't. This is Tiāndì and the boy you captured is Tài Zǐ Diànxià in case you didn't realize that already." Hua Cheng snapped, seeing how his husband didn't want to speak with that despicable man.

"A-Huan... Did you-"

"I was deceived by Jin GuangYao and lost my spiritual power. I'm sorry for worrying you, Xīngān*..." Lan Xichen apologized, gazing at his worried husband.

"A-Huan!" Jiang Cheng grumbled with a red face but hurried into his husband's welcoming embrace, not bothering to care about the people around them.

"Where is A-Ying?" Seeing their interaction, Lan WangJi inquired coldly. He also wanted- needed to have his lover in his embrace like his brother.

"He is-" Before he could say anything, a horrified shout rang from the inside of the temple, alerting everyone present.

"A-NIANG!!"

"A-Yuan!" Xie Lian's face paled as he recognized the owner of that voice.

"Go inside. I'll deal with this." Seeing his husband's growing distress, Hua Cheng urged him to go inside with Lan WangJi before facing the foxy man in front with a sinister scowl adorning his face.

"Let's begin the party. Shall we?" With that, all hell broke loose upon everyone who had a part in kidnapping and hurting his son. And that moment, friends and foes alike understood what a devastation level ghost king could do with a single flick of his finger.

He squeezed every sin Jin GuangYao committed right out of his mouth with many witnesses to the confessions. He even managed to dig out Jin GuangYao's most trusted minions, Su She and Xue Yang, who were busy dealing with Nie Minjue's head at that time to get their own confessions before torturing them to death in the cruelest ways possible.

It was no sight to withstand when Hua Cheng allowed his ghosts to assault the two men until they bled nonstop and their privates were ruined to nothingness while few other ghosts kept busying themselves in smashing Xue Yang's bones and tearing his limbs a little by little.

Compared to what he saw during empathy upon them, what they did to his treasured son, Hua Cheng felt like what his ghosts did to them was really unsatisfactory. But since he has all the eternity to satisfy his hatred, he just let it be.

"Drag them down to my special prison. Make sure to restrain them well. If they escape, I'll have your heads!" He ordered Yin Yu, who just arrived there upon his summoning before storming into the temple with Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng at his tail.

**

-- Inside the temple,
Few moments ago...

The moment Jin GuangYao's attention was diverted from them Hua Xuanyu hurried towards the blood array, already figuring out what he had to do. However, when he tried to hold his sliced palm over the drawings, Hua Shizui grabbed it in fear.

"What are you doing?!" He hissed worriedly, even though he had an idea about what his brother is up to.

"Breaking the array."

"But we don't know what that would do to mother..." Shizui whispered, worriedly glancing at the man in the middle.

"I won't let anything harm him." Xuanyu promised as he freed his palm from his brother and held it upon the bloody drawings, successfully ruining the array.

However, the moment he reached their mother's side and helped his brother to cut the spiritual chains with his sword, everything started to go downhill.

The moment Hua Ying was released from the chains, his body started to glow while emitting a thick cloud of resentment energy. It was as if the two energies that had been sealed away for a quite some time all poured out in their full glory to serve their master but instead of healing him, it all gathered around his belly; going in, out and swirling around like their main concern is to heal and protect the belly.

"What's going on?" Xuanyu asked, confused about what's happening.

"...I think a-niang is forcing his powers to protect our brother or sister over his own self." Shizui frowned when the realization dawned upon him and soon started to give spiritual energy to his mother. But to his utter dismay, Hua Ying's body didn't accept the offer as his own powers forced Shizui's body away.

"No!" He protested, trying to reach Hua Ying's unconscious body again, only to be pushed back once more. This time, Hua Ying's powers made sure that Shizui or Xuanyu couldn't pass through as it engulfed Hua Ying's body in a powerful barrier.

"No! A-niang!! Stop this!!!" Shizui begged helplessly and Xuanyu sat glued to the floor, unable to understand the situation.

"A-niang..."

"Didi...what's- what's going on with mother?"

"He is going to drain both spiritual and resentful energy if he keeps going like this! He is forcing our siblings to heal and grow faster because his body can't hold on for them to be born naturally."

"Wha-" Before Xuanyu could finish his question, a blinding light and powerful force knocked his breath out of his lungs and when it was gone, he saw his mother's already unconscious body become much limper than before as new blood started to tickle down from all his senses. And his belly, which was supposed to look nothing more than a small baby bump, now looked like he was at least four to five months down his pregnancy.

"M-mother..." Shizui's voice trembled as he struggled back to his mother's side but then he realized that the horror wasn't over.

When he reached to feel his mother's pulse, the dreading reality of the whole fiasco his him hard as a horrified cry left through his trembling lips,

"A-NIANG!!" Then he collapsed beside his mother, unconscious, leaving Xuanyu in an extremely confused and worried state. And that was exactly what Xie Lian and Lan WangJi walked into.

"A-Yu! What's going on here?!" The moment his eyes fell on the scene in front of him, Xie Lian kneeled beside his son and grandsons, inquiring about the situation from his confused grandson who failed to process a single sound for a long while. Lan WangJi just stood there, feeling guilty for not being able to protect his beloved once again.

"We are going. Tell San Lang that I took A-Ying back to the heavenly realm." Xie Lian hurriedly informed Lan WangJi before grabbing his son and grandsons before vanishing into thin air.

***

*Xīngān [心肝] - Darling/ someone you cannot live without