Demonic Seed 2

Before the dawn broke, Ouyang Xueqing had already waiting for the carriage in the main hall. She was dressed humbly with a simple blue robes without any exquisite accessories on her hair. Her face was covered by a light green mask and she was sipping her tea leisurely.

When the guard announced that the carriage had entered and ready for her, she patted the hem of her robes and skipping outside with a faint smile on her face.

But when she saw who was waiting for her outside, she was stunned frozen. "A—An Zhengnan?!"

There stood the figure of a tall and slender man with a inconspicuous grey robes with his hair flowing wildly down his shoulder. His usual integrity attached to his majestic knight uniform was nowhere to be seen.

He looked like a normal male beast. A handsome and lofty one.

"Why are you here?!" She cried out. Ouyang Xueqing wanted to cry but had no tears. What should she do? She was planning to get Ling Xiaochen ah! After his outburst yesterday, she feared that he would be angry again if she knew her plans.

She didn't do it on purpose, really! This time was a complete coincidence.

She didn't expect to find An Zhengnan to be the guard assigned for her. Well, she knew that An Zhengnan and Ren Yupei was her two protectors, but leaving the two most reliable subordinate outside the Royal Palace wasn't something she imagined her Imperial Father would have done.

An Zhengnan grinned and raised an eyebrow. "What? Can't I be here?"

You can't! Ouyang Xueqing wept inwardly. But she still showed a stiff and awkward smile on her face. Looking at her fidgety figure, An Zhengnan couldn't resist on asking again. "What? I really can't be here?"

Nevertheless, there was a slight displeasure gnawing on his heart. First, she didn't tell him at all about her plans to depart to the Ghost Town. Second, he looked like the last person she was expecting to see. Did she avoid him because he was mad at her?

Ouyang Xueqing grinned sheepishly. "Did Imperial Father told you to escort me?"

He nodded readily. "Yes." He was lying though. After he knew that one of the guard on his team was assigned to escort the Princess to the Ghost Town, he had steadily offered to take the position. He even went as far as begging The Lord for permission.

Finally, The Lord permitted him on the account of giving the best and most secure protection for The Princess. An Zhengnan knew exactly how to make The Lord agree with him. He could just bring up The Princess' safety and it would be done.

There was nothing more important for The Lord than his daughter, after all.

 "Um." Ouyang Xueqing fiddled her fingers and peered up at him nervously. "Are you sure?"

"What?"

She said weakly. "I am going with Xiaochen. But rest assured, this is not my plan to match the two of you at all! I don't even know you will be here!"

An Zhengnan pursed his lips. He hesitated for a moment before nodding. "No problem." It was better to face Ling Xiaochen than let Ouyang Xueqing met Ren Yupei without him.

Ouyang Xueqing certainly didn't expect him to agree readily. Did he somehow change his mind about Ling Xiaochen? Did he finally ready to get to know her more?

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not true." He said, deadpanned. Looking at her sparkling eye full of excitement was enough for him to guess what she was thinking.

He snorted inwardly, his displeasure spiked up at her disappointed look. "What? Do you want me to be with her that much?" He asked sarcastically.

O-oh, he was getting angry. She shook her head hard. "No, it's not that. I just feel like Ling Xiaochen is a good girl. But rest assured," She patted his shoulder. "If you don't like her, I won't force you. But in the future, you must tell me if you fancy a girl, got it?"

He rolled his eyes and harrumphed grumpily. In the end, Ouyang Xueqing didn't even know her fault for An Zhengnan's sour mood and his sulky face along the way.

Seriously, did she say something wrong?

Someone, please enlightened her! Sob sob…

***

It was three days later that they arrived at the outskirt of Ghost Town.

For the past few years, the ghost qi surrounding the town was getting more and more malicious, making the citizens chose to move into the neighboring town for shelter. The town that became sanctuary and station of all knights was called Valley Town.

The town was breathtaking, adorned with rows of trees with reddish brown leaves fluttering gently against the wind was lined along the road, small and simple houses in bright and pastel colors, even Ouyang Xueqing could feel the warmth and peace just by seeing the smile on their faces, or the smell of bread that just came out from the oven permeating through the air. 

Pity that ghost qi loomed on their neighboring town, shadowing them with fear and anxiety like ghost seeking revenge. These days, Valley Town had been in the state of restlessness, which was caused by the sudden expansion of evil spirit and the injury of the knights protecting them.

The head of Imperial Knight decided to create a team and investigate the cause, but it was already two days yet not even a single person had returned. Finally, Ren Yupei volunteered to search for him as well as gathering some information. He was stronger than most beast in the mainland, so he was confident he could make it out alive.

No one knew what had happened inside Ghost Town for the next few days. The knights dispatched by The Emperor had been waiting anxiously while biting their fingers. If Ren Yupei didn't succeed either, then who would?! He had got all, brain brawns and look. He was the most ideal man, even the Princess adored him.

They were ordered to assist Ren Yupei in his investigation, but the man insisted on entering alone. He said that he alone could suffice and told them to stay put and help the citizens in need. They had obeyed all his words since the beginning, but now, they regretted it.

It was not until the night of the tenth day that he returned.

Alone.

He was battered, with huge gash of wounds all over his body. His clean and tidy look was gone, replaced with messy hair and bloodshot eyes. When a knight spotted him, he had almost fallen unconscious. Only with his strong will could he dragged his feet to get out of that town, with blood trailing his steps along the way.

When the knight frantically reached out to support him, he had grabbed the knight's arm tightly with his blood covered knuckles. Before he completely lost consciousness, he whispered weakly. "Dead…they're all dead…Seal the town right now!"

Leaving those words, he had lost all strength and blacked out. They treated his wound meticulously whilst wondering what could have happened inside. What was there to have made the second strongest knight trembling in terror? What did he saw?

Since that day, the Ghost Town was completely sealed with no entry allowed. But Ren Yupei hadn't even regained consciousness even when three days passed by. His wounds was superficial and rapidly healed, but he had a high fever that couldn't subsided no matter what they did.

He kept groaning and tossing around, his forehead soaked in sweat and his eyebrows furrowed deeply as if in great pain. His condition had scared all of them shitless, and they hurried to report back to the Emperor in hope of helping hand.

But the Emperor's response was cold and curt.

"If he can't even take care of this, tell him that he doesn't have to come back anymore!"

They didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Didn't Ren Yupei his most trusted subordinate? Why did The Emperor sounded as if he harbored a deep grudge against him? What had Ren Yupei done?

It was fortunate that Ren Yupei couldn't hear His Lord's response. If he had known it, he would have cried rivers of blood for the injustice.