Chapter 96
"If she dies of it, well, that’s on you."
"Hahaha."
Caspar’s mouth twisted, both hands clamped over his own mouth and nose.
He didn’t trust himself not to say something he shouldn’t.
Soren wasn’t actually bored enough for any of that, he was saying it to scare the old man, he had his reasons.
The trip was easy going and he was killing time, so he kept at it.
"I forgot to mention, I was born with a kind heart, what I hate most is being called a fiend."
"You just called me one, that’s serious."
"So it gets counted separately, one plus one, two more times."
"I do hope your precious granddaughter can survive an Ancestor Realm physique."
Something went off in Caspar’s chest like a thunderclap, stupefied didn’t cover it.
You ruthless animal! Vicious to the bone!
"Hm? Did you just curse me in your heart?" Soren turned his head, grinning like something with teeth.
"No! Absolutely not!" Caspar denied it flat.
And since he denied it flat, what was Soren supposed to do?
"Whether you did or not is mine to decide, add another."
Caspar fell silent, beast, absolute beast.
"There’s something wrong with the look in your eyes, you’re cursing me again, add another."
"Don’t worry, I’ll use every method I’ve got to keep your granddaughter alive long enough to fill the whole quota before she dies."
Caspar came apart completely.
The secluded mountain village.
Soren and Lysara touched down.
The land here had its own thing going on, a steady breeze running through, the kind of place people came to recover in.
Bamboo covered the mountain foot to peak, streams ran between the stands, and the path underfoot was laid with smooth cyan cobbles.
Birdsong, flowers, all of it, pretty enough to stop a person mid-step.
Soren found Caspar’s place fast, a run-down thatched cottage on the edge of the village.
He stood looking at the thing, which leaked air from all four walls.
A Domain Protector can’t advertise his identity, fine, has to keep his head down, fine, but this shabby?
Soren shook his head and pushed open the gate of the little fenced yard.
Dust sifted off the eaves in a choking cloud and he waved it away in a hurry.
Lysara covered a laugh off to the side.
Master’s quite polite, actually, he even used the door.
In the courtyard, a young woman who looked about teenage lay slack in a bamboo recliner, staring at nothing.
Caspar’s granddaughter, presumably.
Plain clothes, but serene and spotless, skin fair and unmarked as a cloud.
Bedridden or chairbound year-round and still that skin was supple, so tender a hard breath might bruise it.
Caspar’s doing, pills and spiritual fluids to hold her life in place, their effects were gentle, so her skin and frame had kept exceptionally well.
Soren felt the old man’s tension climbing behind him, he put on a beaming smile and kept walking.
The girl in the recliner heard the gate, the blankness left her face and something lit up instead.
She pushed herself up on both hands and looked toward the entrance. "Grand..."
"Hm?"
The rest of the word died, Soren and Lysara had come through first.
Then her eyes went past them and found Caspar, hanging inside a half-transparent sphere of demonic energy, she startled so badly she went straight off the chair.
"Celeste! Are you alright, Celeste?" Caspar shouted from his cage, watching her sprawled on the ground, unable to get up.
So the girl’s name is Celeste.
One hand on the armrest, the other pressed flat to the ground, Celeste fought to haul herself up.
She got nowhere, four tries, five, every one failed.
Soren didn’t bother saying anything, he tapped a finger against the air and a wisp of demonic energy lifted her, floating her toward the cottage.
"Watch him," he told Lysara.
"Yes."
Caspar screamed as Soren carried the bewildered girl inside.
Lysara frowned at him. "Don’t forget what my master said, say something unpleasant and he adds to the count."
"You wouldn’t want Celeste enjoyed a few more times before she dies, would you?"
Caspar’s lips shook, top and bottom, he shut his mouth anyway.
His eyes didn’t change, despair, and fury, and nothing else.
Inside the room, Soren gave a small push and dropped Celeste on the bed.
She landed with a yelp of Aiyou, head spinning, vision swimming.
When her senses came back her big eyes locked onto him, both hands grabbed the collar of her dress and held it shut.
Soren tapped his foot on the floor, demonic energy spread out with him at the center, walling off the room to the corners.
Nobody getting in, she wasn’t getting out.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said.
"My name is Soren."
"I’m the fiend your grandfather told you about."
Soren explained a few things, briefly.
The barrier was up, so Caspar had no idea what was happening in here, and the other party was a little girl, so Soren attempted an expression he believed to be kind and reassuring.
Under three seconds later he heard a patter, like liquid hitting the floor.
She’d been scared into wetting herself.
"Are you afraid of me?"
"Who... who says I am?" Cut from the same cloth as her grandfather, stubborn past all reason.
"I just haven’t relieved myself in a very long time! That’s why, that’s why I couldn’t hold it!"
"I’m not afraid of you at all!"
Not a persuasive performance, less so with tears beading at the corners of her eyes.
"If you’re not afraid of me, explain the tears."
"The wind! The wind blew them out! Sand got in my eyes!"
"Then why are you shaking?"
"Still the wind!"
Soren nodded and walked toward her.
In that short stretch of floor her lips started to tremble, she screwed her eyes shut, refusing to picture what came next.
When his footsteps stopped she made a small confused sound and cracked one eye open, he’d halted a good way off, instead of coming closer he sat down cross-legged in the air and began cultivating.
He was using Ancestor-realm demonic energy to pull out the Dao Lord of the Human Path.
Back when he was an Upper-Tier Demon Emperor, dragging the Beast Path Demonic Form’s conversion degree from zero to fifty had taken two and a half days.
Lower-Tier Demon Ancestor put his demonic energy on another level entirely.