The Demon King is an Idiot [BL]-Chapter 157: Don’t do something stupid
"The child needs a mother," Shen Fang sighed as he spoke, "If you stay with me, you will only face hardships in your life. I do not dare put you in danger because of me. It is better for you to leave with him. Leave with him and make sure to survive. The two of you deserve to have a happy ending even if that means leaving me behind. With time, I’m sure we’ll forget each other. Actually, I feel like I’m already starting to forget the time that I spent with you."
"Shen Fang, I really hate you... I do not ever want to see your face again...!" The woman wiped away her tears and glared at Shen Fang as she shouted, "I despise you the most! You coward! Don’t you ever show up in front of me! Even if I die, I do not give you permission to visit my grave! Shen Fang, I hate you and even as I take my last breath, I’ll keep on hating you!"
Shen Fang softly smiled as he heard this and spoke, "That’s okay with me. It doesn’t matter even if you do hate me. I only want to see the two of you safe."
"Safe?!" The woman scoffed as she harshly replied, "You really think I’m going to raise him on my own? You do as you wish and I’ll do as I wish. If he’s growing up without a father then he is also growing up without a mother."
Shen Fang’s eyebrows slightly creased together and with a small frown, he questioned, "What do you mean."
The woman smirked as she spoke, "You have already made your decision and now it’s my turn. You do not get to decide for me. I’ll do as I wish."
"Don’t do something stupid."
"Even if it’s a stupid decision, there is no need for you to care," The woman gritted out as she turned around and immediately got ready to walk away with the child.
"It’s a warning," The demon king spoke, his voice intimidatingly cold, "Don’t do anything stupid."
The woman smirked but said nothing in response and didn’t seem to be afraid of him at all. She left the demon realm without ever looking back.
The scene once again disappeared and Hua Tianshu was left in the empty darkness.
Hua Tianshu was sure that Jie Fu Lian was not the demon king’s son so that only left one conclusion in his mind: This child was Xue Lan.
Hua Tianshu gulped as he took a few steps forward and looked around in search of another memory.
"I’m sorry..." It was the voice of the woman.
Hua Tianshu immediately turned around but found nothing. This time, it wasn’t a scene from the demon king’s memories but just the voice of the woman that he had loved.
Hua Tianshu tried to follow the voice but could not pinpoint its origin. In the end, he helplessly tried to call out to the woman, "Excuse me... Are you there? Can you hear me?"
It hadn’t even been half an hour since he had entered the demon king’s mind but Hua Tianshu already felt exhausted. He knew he had to find Jie Fu Lian soon, but in this void of nothingness, he could feel nothing but helplessness.
"Immortal Xue Lan is here!" Someone vigorously exclaimed and Hua Tianshu immediately turned around and ran toward the source of the voice.
"It’s really him!" Another whispered with a surprised tone.
The darkness inside the void was dispelled by another memory.
This time, the child from the last memory seemed to have already grown up into an adult.
As rumored, Xue Lan was quite a handsome man. He looked a lot like Jie Fu Lian but did not have the careless charm on his face that Jie Fu Lian always carried. Xue Lan had a soft expression and an elegant demeanor. He was like the first snow of winter. Soft and beautiful, gentle and charming, but cold and relentless.
No matter how harmless of a face he had, one could immediately guess that he was powerful enough to kill even a thousand men without blinking an eye.
"Immortal Xue Lan, we have been looking forward to your arrival. Our Pingyao village is too small and we may not be able to offer you many luxuries, but we’ll make sure to attend to you to the best of our abilities." An old man bowed his head in respect as he greeted Xue Lan.
Xue Lan politely bowed his head and greeted the man back as he spoke, "It is my pleasure to be of help. You do not need to worry about anything. As long as I can get a place to sleep and eat, I’ll be comfortable."
The old man looked to be delighted by this response and enthusiastically spoke, "Actually, we are very lucky. A few days ago, a rogue cultivator came here to help us out. I hope you guys would be able to get along and help each other out."
"A rogue cultivator?" Xue Lan repeated, feeling a little surprised.
The old man nodded his head as he immediately spoke, explaining, "We did not expect him to come, much less, volunteer to help us. He said he was traveling the world and stopped at our village to rest. When he heard about our problem, he decided to help us out for free. He is a really kind-hearted young man."
"I’m looking forward to working with him," Xue Lan smiled as he replied, "I have vaguely heard about the situation here. I would appreciate it if you could explain a bit more about the situation."
The old man enthusiastically nodded his head as he heard this and spoke, "Of course. A few weeks ago, a young lady from our village suddenly went missing and three days later, was found dead in the forest nearby. At first, we suspected that she might have been killed by a wild animal while roaming around, but the same incident happened with another young man from our village. On the young man’s body, there was an odd wound. It looked identical to the one that was found on the girl’s body and it seemed a lot like the mark left by a claw so we suspected it to be a wild demonic beast that was dragging away our villagers and killing them. Since this, that beast has killed many of our villagers and it has started to become a daily occurrence. Nobody has ever seen the beast and even hiding inside our homes is useless against that thing."
"How many people died?"
"About thirteen," The old man replied, without needing to think about it.
"Is it possible for me to examine their bodies?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
The old man didn’t seem to be surprised by the question, instead, it almost looked as if he had expected to hear this question.
"You can. Actually, the other rogue cultivator also asked to take a look at the corpses and that’s why we had to dig up their graves."
"What did the other cultivator find?"
"He didn’t say anything in particular," The old man replied as he thought about it and spoke, "He only laughed a little and said that he would wait for someone else to show up since the culprit was too strong for him to handle alone."
"In that case, the first thing I should do is go ahead and meet that cultivator," Xue Lan sighed as he spoke.
Most rogue cultivators were known for not being that strong. In fact, it was said that they were so weak that no sects were ready to take them in. However, even among rogue cultivators, there were some exceptional talents that had refused to join any sect and liked to roam the world alone.
Xue Lan didn’t know what type of rogue cultivator he was going to meet but he had a feeling that it was going to be the latter type of rare talent that one could only cross paths with if he had luck.
"That would be great!" The old man exclaimed as he replied, "He is already waiting for you."
The old man gestured for Xue Lan to follow him and headed deeper inside the village, passing through the small houses and shops that lined the streets of the village.
As they walked, Xue Lan immediately noticed how empty the village seemed. Most of the houses had their doors closed shut and sealed, and the streets were completely empty with not a single soul in sight.
"Is it always this empty?" Xue Lan curiously asked.
"Not at all," The old man replied and sighed as he explained, "Ever since the incidents started happening, nobody dares to step out of their houses."
"So they stay inside all day?" Xue Lan raised an eyebrow as he questioned.
The old man nodded his head as he confirmed it and spoke, "That’s right. It may not help but it still makes them feel safer."
Xue Lan slightly frowned as he heard this but did not bother saying anything further.
The old man stopped in front of a shabby house that looked nothing better than a horse stable and spoke, "This is where the rogue cultivator is staying."
