The Devil

Xiaoling let the Underworld Totem flow with the wind current. She quickly summoned her zither before the portal to the Underworld opened. She looked at Weisheng. 

"Observe," She ordered, plucking the strings of her guqin. 

Weisheng scooted closer to her when he noticed the otherworldly creatures emerging from the portal. He gulped, and Xiaoling chuckled, hearing his gulps. 

Weisheng unknowingly held onto Xiaoling's arm as she played the zither. He narrowed his eyes to keep himself from looking at the evil spirits, but his curiosity remained. 

The evil spirits slowly walked out of the portal. They looked like people with haggard appearances. Blood flowed out of their eyes, their faces disfigured, and their joints were in all the wrong places. 

"Master!" Weisheng clenched his eyes shut. 

"Don't close your eyes!" Xiaoling frowned, "I asked you to observe!" 

Weisheng opened his eyes with a jolt, hesitantly turning to look at the spirits. He saw the music notes hitting some of them, causing them to disappear. Suddenly, Xiaoling placed her hand flat on the strings. The music stopped, but the evil spirits kept on emerging. 

"Master, why did you stop it?!" Weisheng immediately panicked, scooting behind her to hide. 

"You observed how I did it with a Divine Instrument," Xiaoling said while slowly standing up. She summoned the crusty sword in her hand, "Watch me do it with your sword now. You have to repeat it." She looked back at him. He was frantically shaking his head. 

Xiaoling ignored his plea and approached the evil spirits with the sword in her hands. She stood poised with her sword gleaming in the sunlight. Her feet gracefully moved, letting her twirl and move forward. 

The crusty blade sliced through the spirits with ease. Xiaoling's movement was like a choreographed dance. Her footwork was precise and fluid. Her movements were elegant and graceful. 

Just as the sound of her zither made her enemies crumble, the sword art she displayed flourished with lethal precision. No spirit could walk unscathed out of her flow. 

After finishing off a few spirits, she arrived by Weisheng's side. "Ready?" She asked him, handing the sword to him, "Don't worry, I've got your back!" 

Weisheng hesitantly grabbed the sword from her hand, holding it before him. Xiaoling put her hands under his elbows to support him. She fixed his posture to the best of her abilities. 

"Go!" Xiaoling ordered, "If you got even one spirit down, I'll treat you to a gourmet meal!" 

Weisheng's eyes widened with surprise. He could feel sudden confidence flowing in his veins. Before he knew it, he was swinging his sword at one of the creepy-looking evil spirits. 

The blade almost snapped the spirit's head in half, but Weisheng paused mid-air. His eyes met the eyes of the evil spirit, glaring into his soul with malice. As the sunlight fell into the spirit's eyes, Weisheng saw his reflection in the spirit's pitch-black, reflective eyes. 

His sword dropped, and he gasped, taking steps backward. 

"Weisheng?" Xiaoling called him in concern. She could only see his back. "Pick up your sword!" 

Suddenly, the portal twitched and caught Xiaoling's attention. A devil slowly stepped out of the portal, dressed in a black robe, covering his body from head to toe. His covered face couldn't hide his gleaming red eyes, staring at Xiaoling. 

She quickly knelt and summoned her zither. She didn't think the Cursed Eye would bring trouble this quickly. 

"Weisheng!" Xiaoling called him, "Step back! That's a devil! A mere mortal can't hurt a devil!" 

But Weisheng didn't move from his spot. Xiaoling gulped and started to play her zither. The devil slowly walked toward them. Strangely, he walked past Weisheng. Xiaoling kept playing her zither level-headedly, but the devil closed the distance between them instantly. 

Xiaoling's eyes widened at the devil's capabilities. She kicked her zither up as she stood with it. Her guqin disappeared, and a bamboo fan emerged in her hand. Her zither was inherently a long-ranged weapon. 

Before she could even open her bamboo fan, she felt her body freezing on the spot. She looked at the devil with wide eyes. 

"What are you?!" Xiaoling asked, "Don't you know whose residence this is? Do you think you'll leave unscathed here after playing these little tricks?!" She asked sternly. Under this ruse, she was trying to figure out what spell the devil had used. 

"Ren Xiaoling," The devil said, "Why do you try so hard for something out of your control?" He asked in a sneering tone. 

Xiaoling frowned at him, "What do you mean?" 

The devil slowly laughed, "No one dares suppress His Lordship's curse," He said, "So," He stretched his gloved hand toward her, "Your Internal Energy should disappear, right?" 

Xiaoling's eyes widened as she tried to step away from the devil, but the strange spell kept her from moving. She could tell that the devil wanted to disrupt her Internal Energy to unleash Weisheng's Cursed Eye. It meant that Weisheng receiving the curse was not a coincidence but a planned act. 

She clenched her eyes shut and started to dispel the unknown spell. She murmured multiple scriptures, hoping one would dispel it. 

Suddenly, the devil grunted. Xiaoling opened her eyes to see Weisheng holding the devil's neck in his hand, pulling him up. 

"Y-Your Lordship!" The devil shouted, "I am your ally!" 

Xiaoling's eyes widened as she witnessed Weisheng squeezing the life out of that devil in mere seconds. All the evil spirits around them vanished into thin air and the portal to the Underworld cracked down with just Weisheng's gaze. 

He turned his face around Xiaoling to look at her with his pinkened eyes. She involuntarily gulped and stepped back, realizing she could move now. 

Gasping, she quickly tried to reach for his eyes to suppress the curse, but he grabbed her wrists. 

"Xiao Hua," He called her in a grim voice, "Why?" 

Xiaoling frowned in confusion and tried to pull her hands out of his grip. His grip on her wrists tightened. 

"W-Weisheng!" Xiaoling called him hesitantly, "Open your eyes!"