Chapter 173 - Brain Hurts

(Netherworld)

Ye Wu, stubborn as ever, huffed and held his nose up and away. He felt the grip tightened and Ye Wu refused to answer. That bitch deserved all of this for belittling him, fighting him, making Pang Xi think it was his fault. He suddenly felt the air shifted and he fell against his back, causing him to gasp.

"Owwww," Ye Wu cried as he turned over rubbing his back.

"My apologies, brother. I pushed too hard."

"Liar! You did it on purpose."

He pouted and saw Wang Li offer an apologetic smile. He refused to accept it, but the silver eyed man helped him up and patted the dirt off his clothes.

"If you tell me how to lift the curse, I will tell you how to win Pang Xi's heart back."

His ears perked and then he looked suspiciously at his king.

"How do I know you are not lying, Ah Li?"

"Have I ever lied to you before?"

'He had a point,' Ye Wu thought with a frown, still eyeing his initiated brother.

"I want her to suffer."

"But you want Pang Xi more."

Wang Li stated and Ye Wu groaned out with a pout. He does want Pang Xi. He had for so many centuries, far longer than Wang Li wanted his wife.

"Nuying is already suffering from memory blocks, Ah Wu. She will never remember her lover or child as she did before."

Ye Wu grinned at the news and his mind went to images of a depressed Nuying, a crying Nuying, a lonely Nuying.

"Wait… did you not say she is living at that pathetic school?" He questioned his king to see a nod, "That meant she is still with her lover and child. Wang Li! She is not suffering!"

"I said she suffers not knowing, brother. I never said she is suffering living."

"Who taught you to talk around circles like this," Ye Wu mumbled and heard the chuckled from the raven-haired man, "Don't you dare say it was me."

"Then I will not say it."

"…"

"…"

"Fine. I will tell you," the demon crossed his arms, "He must pray 2 times to me every day for 69 moons for the curse to be lifted."

"69? Why that number?"

"That is how many moons I suffered at her hands. She forced me to do so at her feet, at her mercy for protection, for meals, for discharge."

Wang Li frowned and pulled the demon into his arms. He could feel the anger shaking through Ye Wu's body and he tried to soothe it away. No matter how many times they spoke of Nuying, the red eyed demon always reminded him of all the pain he had endured at her hands.

When Wang Li met Nuying, he wanted her to suffer for what she had done to Ye Wu, but he could see the guilt wrapped around her like a blanket.

"That had long passed, Ye Wu. If you wish for the last days of your life with Pang Xi, you mustn't think this way."

"I will think how I please."

"Listen to me," Wang Li pulled the demon away to look him in the eyes, "Pang Xi may not be touched by the Heaven's this life, but will still help those in need. Go to him as you are, as how I see you. If he refused, stay no matter if it rained or snow. He will not stand to see you suffer, Ye Wu, I know this is certain."

Wang Li sighed and pulled away to look at the throne.

"He does not have long left, Ah Wu. Time here is different than time on the surface."

"I… I cannot leave for that long. Who will stay here?"

"I will."

"For how long?"

"As long as it took."

Ye Wu stared at Wang Li like he was just jostling with him. The Ghost King was willing to leave his wife for however long he needed to take to be with Pang Xi. This did not seem right.

"Ah Wu. You've sacrificed so much for me, I should return it, don't you think?"

He did not reply and the silver eyed man smiled at him.

"Let me spend one more night with my wife and tell my nephew of the curse. Then I will stay as long as you need."

"You sure Heaven's Chosen will let you?"

"Ah Yue is kind, Ah Wu. He will know you and Pang Xi do not have much time together. He will understand."

"If that is your wish, my king."

Ye Wu murmured still staring at him suspiciously, but Wang Li only smiled back with a nod.

==

(Surface Realm)

Rushing through the crowd, the demon jumped into the water. It swam deep into the lake and Ying Yue floated above it with his students. Lately, more demons were appearing and though many were manageable, some were not.

Like this demon.

It was elusive, cunning, and fast. It had landed blows on his students, on him, and on innocent people.

Catching him was a priority and although the demon jumped into the lake, he was glad it was away from the villagers.

"Be ready," he called out and his students nodded.

Calling forth his spiritual energy, his body was enveloped in golden light. Shooting out a strong beam into the water, there was an illumination that casted shadows and one of them were moving.

"There!" Li Chu called out and readied her arrow, "Keep steady sister."

"Okay," Li Hien nodded as they stood upon her blade.

The blue haired female watched the movement in the water, and she shot her arrow, laced with her energy. It cut cleaned through the water and caught the leg of the demon. A scream could be heard as the water rose in waves.

"Create a barrier," Ying Yue called out as they formed a circle around the demon.

As the golden threads formed creating a dome-like cage, the demon quickly launched up snatching Li Hien into the water. Her blade fell and Li Chu screamed from falling and from her sister being taken. Thankfully, another student caught the blue haired female and they were off trying to catch the demon and the brunette female.

Ying Yue followed but knew his student would not be able to hold her breath for that long. She would die and it would be his fault! He rushed faster, harder, trying to catch up to the demon, but then the movement in the water stopped. The sound of another scream and he turned to see another of his student was dragged into the water, no matter how high they were.

He quickly dropped down into the water and sent energy into his blade. Glowing with light, he sent it to attack the demons, but hesitated. What if he ended up hurting his students? Upset with himself, he tried looking around but saw nothing. His eyes were hurting and his heart was beating quickly. Getting out of the water and back on his blade, he took out his flash bead and tossed it into the air.

He wasn't sure if his brothers were even done on their side fighting off their own demon with their students, but he didn't know what to do. All he knew was that Li Hien had been underwater for over 5 minutes and the student who was just taken had been underwater for 1 minute. The only thing he could do was part the lake.

"Students, move away from the water. Get to the grounds!"

They followed his instruction and Ying Yue was glad. Taking a deep breath, he sent as much of his spiritual energy as he could into the blade on his feet. Once it was done, he bent down to pull the blade from his feet and slash the lake as he fell, but there was a fast movement underwater. The demons hiding underneath were screaming and some were jumping out of the water but was caught by large sharp teeth.

'Another demon?'

Ying Yue went to his students on the ground and stood before them. Losing two students was already hard, but anymore would just break him. The sound stilled and the water calmed. His golden eyes moved around him as he waited for anything to come. It did.

A wet cat dragged something as it walked backwards out of the water. Ying Yue recognized the big cat and called out to it.

"Snow?"

The snow leopard continued to pull, and Ying Yue saw that it was body. Running to it, he helped his pet pull the student the rest of the way out of the water. The child coughed and glanced at him with big round eyes, before crying. Smiling in relief, he held the student and looked at Snow who shook his fur, wetting everyone around him.

"Snow, go find Li Hien. She must still be in the water, but be careful of the demons."

"No need, she is right here."

Golden eyes looked up, along with all the eyes, to see Wang Li holding the brunette, who was staring wide eyed, in his arms. He looked at the female, one who showed incredible kindness to him since his birth. He smiled at her in his arms, shaking slightly, but fine nonetheless.

"You are safe, Ah Hien," Wang Li whispered and the brunette smiled up at him, "I will protect you."

'Safe. Master Li...'

"Thank you."