Out of the frying pan, into the fire

To present a bubble of liquid against two Hell Generals was rather humiliating as everyone could see. The act of it could be compared to cooking a piece of mud against a master chef's five-course meal.

Wei Sha even heard people in the audience snicker and sneer.

"What can it do?" Wei Dai asked, his tone not insulting or even belittling him.

In that instant, Wei Sha realised what Wei Dai's intent was in coming here. His father must have seen this dispute, and though he doesn't favour him, he doesn't want division within his family.

"It can. . ." Wei Sha explained what he would now use as the blanket feature for Lin Siniang. This meant, he would in the foreseeable future use Lin Siniang as an independent entity or as a weapon of his choosing.

As he transformed her into all kinds of forms, Wei Dai appeared to be deep in thought, sometimes humming or nodding. This was a lot better than straight-up dismissing his bonding as waste and his future as insignificant. Thankfully, Wei Dao was calculative to an extreme and socially adept head of a family, not a brute.

"Let me," Wei Dai said as his hand reached for Lin Siniang. "It might have a use."

When Wei Dai grabbed her, Lin Siniang was in the form of a spear.

Wei Sha's working eye watched how Wei Dai spun the glowing spear for a bit before handing it back.

"Though it's a far cry from a Hell General, it isn't useless." Wei Dai gave an assessment which saved face and at the same de-escalated the situation.

"Thank you. Son will try his utmost to create a valuable asset out of his creature for the Wei Family."

Wei Dai nodded to him before turning around. "Now you two," he spoke to Wei Bo and Wei Ba. "Tomorrow, meet me at my study."

""Yes father,"" the duo responded.

"Mother," Still, Wei Sha had no want to stay here a second longer, and so he turned to his mother. "I need to find a doctor," he asked for permission to leave in a roundabout way.

"You do that." Li Li didn't keep him here.

Without further words, he left before Wei Dai would be done with his brothers. He wouldn't let them drag him down for the third time.

On the other hand, the surrounding demons would see his action as a cowardly retreat. Soon there would spread rumours about how he was incompetent.

'I'll show them,' he muttered to himself as he made his way through the crowds of demons leering and looking down at him.

[Don't worry about them, they are nothing] Though he hadn't spoken to Lin Siniang, she did say some reassuring words. [Soon they will all bow to you]

X

Inside the narrow cave leading out of the ceremony, Wei Sha had begun to mutter to Li Li. He hadn't seen anyone else inside the cave, so he felt comfortable to chat.

[Watch out] Or so he thought.

Wei Sha kept on walking as if she didn't warn him. However, his eye started to inspect his surroundings. Yet, as his injured eye was behind an eye-patch, he didn't see his other side all that well.

This factor would now bite him in the ass.

"Follow."

Wei Sha nodded, a dagger's cold edge on his throat persuaded him to agree.

'Damn.' Whoever held onto that blade had sneaked on him through his blind spot.

The blade withdrawing made him ask, "What do you want?"

"Shh." Whoever it was held a tight tongue for a demon, also, he or she had the guts to strike his back with the dagger's pommel.

Next thing he marked were two demonesses walking past him, one of them had a dagger in hand.

'The Kong Family?' From their appearances alone, he could infer the people who wanted something out of him belonged to the Kong Family. 'What do they want from me?'

'But this makes no sense.' His bonded 'creature' was rather worthless and even more so a specialist creature. There was no need to neutralise him or anything.

. . .

'They want me,' he realised they weren't after him because of the bonding. Still, knowing what they wanted didn't help him in any other way than allowing him to think his words.

X

"Sit," the older of the two Kong Family demonesses pushed him into a crude interrogation room where the only furnishing was a wooden chair below an oil lamp.

Wei Sha stabilised himself before answering, "Okay, okay. No need to get physical." Then he took the seat.

'They aren't doing anything?' Wei Sha was a little puzzled by their action of merely standing on each side of the door.

"You aren't afraid of my father?"

Neither of the demonesses moved.

"This will not end well." "The Wei Family will find me." "Last chance." He tried a few times more, yet he achieved nothing. His words flew right by these women.

With no success in this attempt, he decided to wait until whoever had orchestrated his kidnapping arrived. Most likely, this would take a while for the person in question should be attending the Awakening Ceremony.

This in mind, Wei Sha took a nap.

Indeed, it did take an hour or two before Wei Sha waked from his nap.

Steps approached from the door's other side.

His eye stared at the door; it would soon open and tell him everything.

"What?" His eye blinked a couple of times. "Shang Zhen?" The first person to enter the room was Wei Xiaodan's mother?

From seeing the second person, his confusion only increased as he recognised her as well. "Wei Xiaodan?"

The other two people who came with them he didn't know. However, they were people from the Kong Family, that much was clear from the similarities between them and the guards.

"Hi, big brother!" Wei Xiaodan smiled and waved her hand.

Wei Xiaodan's actions seemed genuine to Wei Sha, so he sort of waved back at her, saying, "hi."

"Did he resist?" Shang Zhen asked from the guards.

"No," the older one responded with a humble tone.

Shang Zhen's focus came to him. "I'll keep this quick." She walked around him once before stopping at an arm's length. "We want nothing special, just keep this with you."

"And that is?" Wei Sha pointed at the scorpion Shang Zhen introduced to him. It looked like any nasty critter with a sturdy plate covering its spine, although its pink head and claws made him wonder.

Shang Zhen giggled.

"You don't need to worry about that," one of the Kong Family members who had come with Shang Zhen said. "Be a good boy; do what you are told. Don't cloud your mind with questions."

Wei Sha glanced over her, memorising her sharp facial features, before taking another look at the scorpion.

"O-okay?" His hand extended towards the critter. It wasn't like he had many options here. Shang Zhen was one of the most influential members in the Wei Family he knew of, and her entourage didn't appear weak.

"Bye, big brother!" Wei Xiaodan said goodbyes as she opened the door.

The five others who had come here followed his half-sister.

Shang Zhen, being the last one of them to leave, spoke before shutting the door.

"Like I was going to leave right behind them." How much of a moron did they think he was?

Wei Sha place the scorpion on his palm. "Rise," he summoned Lin Siniang for a closer look. "What's this thing?"

Lin Siniang, in her female form, hovered about the scorpion standing still on Wei Sha's palm. The scorpion was tame, not minding if someone handled it.

"I haven't seen this exact creature before, a newly bred one no doubt. . ." At first, she explained all kinds of insignificant facts about the scorpion.

"Sure sure." She went on for so long that Wei Sha lost patience. "Can you say what it does?"

She halted her movements, turned to him. "Hey, if you are to become someone great, you should listen to every bit of information."

Wei Sha faked to fall asleep. "What?"

"I really shouldn't have toyed with your brains so much."

"Just tell me what it does. I don't care for its life journal." He shrugged his shoulders.

"And you wonder why humans always triumph over any demon invasion," she snapped. "Anyway, this thing is a locator."

"A locator? So this thing somehow sends my location somewhere?"

"Yes," she said. "You see these pink claws it has are bio-engineered or forcefully bred to. . ."

Wei Sha started to feel dizzy.

X

"Au, au, au!" Something hot was poking him.

"For the next person, there will be a hundred and one tests!" Lin Siniang punching at one of his wounds muttered. "I will not bond with another mule ever again!"

"I fell asleep?" Wei Sha sighed as his hand went to check. "I didn't mean to." His hand found sleep crust on his eyes.

"Oh hey, Lin Siniang." Only now did his morning dozy eyes note her existence.

"You know how long you have been napping?"

"No," he said with a long sigh. All he knew was that he had gotten a good rest and that his muscle felt relieved.

Lin Siniang's hand dragged over her face. "This time. This time I'll forgive your. . . insolence."

Wei Sha began to wake up for real. "Insolence?" What had he done now?

"You have. . ." She went for another long tirade, though this time he had the focus to listen to it from beginning to end.

"Do you now see your mistakes?" she ended with a question.

Wei Sha took a moment to think of a response. He couldn't deny all of it, but how could he, a prideful to a fault demon, go and accept everything?

"No."