“Wait, where are you taking apprentice-brother Tie Lang!?” Jia Yan as the old man took Tie Lang before he could react.

“Hush child!” the old man disappeared with Tie Lang before anyone could react.

****

“Senior sister Yaomu Shou, what’s the meaning of this!?” Feng Yu asked, her face red with rage.

She just promised Shen Ling that Tie Lang wouldn’t come into any danger should his specific race be revealed. Yet, the minute… no… the second his specific race was uttered, he was being spirited away to who knows where for who knows what by the same elder that tried to kill Shen Ling!

How could she and the others not be angered by this!?

“Wait junior sister Feng Yu, Shen Ling, Jia Yan, listen, I can explain.”

“You better explain! If anything happens to apprentice-brother Tie Lang, I’ll never forgive you!” Jia Yan was especially enraged by this.

Though Tie Lang and Jai Yan’s personalities were polar opposites, they were best friends. It pained his heart to see his friend so injured, but now that same friend was essentially kidnapped and there was nothing Jia Yan could do about it.

“I’m helping him!” Yaomu Shou said with her hands up.

“W-What do you mean?” Jia Yan asked.

“You said he was a Yu Lang Demon, right?” Yaomu Shou asked once more.

“Yeah!”

She received a collective ‘yeah’ from everyone. She actually liked the fact that they care so deeply for their own and felt a little envious of their connection.

“Alright, so the truth is that the Yu Lang are an ancient race amongst demon-kind that were thought to be extinct. The stories of their combat prowess are legendary. They specialise in fighting enemies that are above their own realm.”

“What does this have to do with you having Tie Lang taken away?” Shen Ling asked.

“Well, it comes down to why they nearly became extinct,” Yaomu Shou explained.

“What happened?” Feng Yu probed.

Yaomu Shou’s expression changed when she was asked to go further. There was a… pain, hidden there, just below the surface.

However, she didn’t hold back and began to explain, “Well… according to the historical texts, there was an ancient war. A great war took place between humans, demons, and other races. Many heroes died back then and countless clans and races were exterminated. Several top powers that served the demon race only barely survived. They made my ancestors promise to protect their lineage and systems, but snakes hidden in the dark took the chance to strike when they were weakened. The historical texts didn’t explain why my ancestors failed to protect their allies. However, to atone for their failure back then. They made an eternal oath to protect the descendants of their fallen allies, and the Yu Lang demons were one of such allies.”

“I see…” Feng Yu descended into rumination upon hearing this.

“Was it wise to take him in based on word of mouth alone?” Jia Yan asked. “I mean, your family, or clan, or whatever it is, seems to have a high status among demons. What if we were just mistaken? We are just kids after all.” he advised.

He was Tie Lang’s best friend, so he wanted to know everything.

Yaomu Shou shook her head though when he brought this up, “You have no idea how honour bound we are to this oath. We can take no chances. Tie Lang will be tested to ascertain his true lineage, but until then he will be given the best medical treatment there is. As of this moment, his life is as far from danger as possible.”

Jia Yan finally sighed in relief upon learning all this.

“Can you tell me how you came to learn that Tie Lang was a Yu Lang Demon?” Yaomu Shou asked.

It still struck everyone odd that Yaomu Shou’s people would make such a drastic move before getting any sort of confirmation. They thought that there must be more details that were being withheld. But the information they got was enough and if it ended with Tie Lang’s safety, then they couldn’t ask for more.

“Well, it was Long Di who told us about it,” Jia Yan said after a while.

Yaomu Shou grew more intrigued hearing this, “Any particular reasons on how he came to this conclusion? I mean the Yu Lan Demons are from an extremely ancient era. Not many people know the name, much less their characteristics.”

“We’re not sure ourselves. He only advised that Tie Lang’s claws looked like crystal for a moment and he used it on a bandit that was going to attack me,” Jai Yan recounted what happened back then.

“Crystal-like huh?” Yaomu Shou went into thinking mode before a creepy grin, not unlike the pandas, spread on her face.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, felt deeply disturbed by it.

Feng Yu couldn’t take it anymore and decided to break the silence.

“Well, I’m glad that Tie Lang’s gonna be alright. By the way, you said that Long Di went to do something. What exactly is he up to?” she asked.

Yaomu Shou’s creepy smile vanished when this question was asked.

“Nothing…”

She looked guilty as hell.

Feng Yu’s eyes narrowed when she noticed this, “Senior sister Yaomu Shou, what are you hiding from us? What is Long Di doing?”

…

“Damn it! I’ll make sure that b***h pays for this! How dare she scar my face like this!?” the woman remarked as she made her way back.

“Milady, my injuries are flaring up!” the youth panicked as he noticed the bleeding that resumed.

She gnashed her teeth in anger when she heard his complaints, “Useless! Here!”

She threw a medicinal pill behind her for him to take. She didn’t even look behind her when she threw it.

Not hearing anything, she grew a bit annoyed.

Turning around, she started to scold him, “Useless trash! Even if you’re injured, you should be grateful and tha-”

The scene she saw before her caused her words to stay stuck in her throat.

There was a human boy, who couldn’t be more than eleven, gripping the throat of the youth from before.

Though the child was handsome, his eyes were devoid of emotion, yet they exuded a coldness that was terrifying as they held a level of malice that was chilling.

Normally, her arrogance allowed her to act unbridled in front of anyone but the person before her struck fear in her and she didn’t know why. It was almost as if every choice that she made in life that led her to this moment was wrong and it was time to pay due.

“W-Who are y-”

“My name is Long Di,” the new arrival announced in an apathetic tone.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself before asking, “What do you want?”

“A bottle of milk, my cat, Wi-Fi, a phoenix and…” Long Di pointed a finger at the youth’s forehead, “for this boy here to be on really bad terms with life. I’d prefer him and breathing to be in malice if you don’t mind.”