They Are Archenemies, But They Have A Child - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Other Side of Ze Kingdom

In the evening, through Sister Liu’s meticulous arrangement, the wooden puppet was wrapped in clothes, hidden within the swaddling cloth, and placed in the cradle. From a distance, it was indeed difficult to distinguish whether it was real or fake.

After a discussion, everyone returned to their rooms to wait and see if they could catch the culprit.

“Dong—Dong—Dong Dong—”

The sound of drums being beaten descended from the mountain top. It was now the first watch of the night.

Cloud Qingwu lay on the bed with his eyes closed, carefully listening to the surrounding movements.

Leng Lici sat cross-legged on the chair as usual, meditating with his eyes closed, but the sound of the drum caused a subtle disturbance in his heart. His eyelashes trembled.

He was not a person who fell asleep easily, especially while cultivating.

But for the past two days, he seemed to have slept extraordinarily soundly…

Yesterday, he had only heard the second watch bell…

Thinking this, Leng Lici placed his hand on the blade of the bone sword, quietly waiting for the second watch to arrive.

“Ding-ling—ding-ling-ling—ding—”

The crisp sound of the bell rang out again. Every chime seemed to possess a magical power, inducing a hidden weariness within the body the moment it reached the ears. Sleepiness surged forward.

The instant his consciousness blurred, Leng Lici fiercely dragged his hand holding the blade downwards, and red blood immediately stained the white sword hilt. It looked quite alarming.

The bone sword, which was normally like a dead object, let out a humming sound, greedily sucking the blood dry.

“Delicious, delicious! Give me more!”

Leng Lici’s chaotic consciousness instantly returned to clarity. He got off the bed and patted Cloud Qingwu’s face, receiving the expected lack of reaction.

Just then, a creaking sound of footsteps came from the previously silent courtyard.

Leng Lici quietly returned to the chair and closed his eyes again.

When the footsteps approached, picked up the puppet in the cradle, and then walked away, Leng Lici finally got off the ground and followed out of the room.

The sight before him caused him to frown slightly.

The person carrying the “child” was none other than Sister Liu. Qu Wen and Qu Ping were walking behind her, following her out. All three had their eyes closed, their movements stiff, like marionettes on strings.

Leng Lici stood at the doorway, watching the three leave the small courtyard. After a moment, he stepped up and followed them.

…

Morning.

Cloud Qingwu was roused by the sunlight streaming in. He raised his hand and rubbed his nose bridge hard, trying to drive away the inner irritation.

After a while, he suddenly remembered something, abruptly sat up, and jumped off the bed.

He was the only one in the room.

Familiar voices and the clatter of bowls and chopsticks came from outside.

“Mother, what are we having for breakfast?”

“I fried you some dough sticks. Eat more so you can work well. It’s getting late. I’ll go call Yun Wu.”

With that, Sister Liu’s footsteps approached the room.

Cloud Qingwu lifted the cloth curtain and went out to greet her. He quickly scanned the main hall but still didn’t see Leng Lici.

Where did he go so early?

His gaze fell on the dining table. Only Qu Ping and Qu Wen were there. All three were smiling, as if they had returned to the day before yesterday.

“Sister Liu, have you seen my younger brother?” Cloud Qingwu suppressed the strangeness in his heart, sat down, and asked.

At his words, Sister Liu looked confused: “Younger brother?”

Cloud Qingwu paused in the act of picking up his chopsticks, looked up at everyone, and saw a trace of confusion in all their eyes, as if he had asked a strange question.

“Yes, Leng Ci.”

The three exchanged glances.

Qu Wen spoke: “Brother Yun, you… you’ve been alone all along.”

Cloud Qingwu’s heart skipped a beat, but he remained outwardly calm. He carefully observed the three, seeing no trace of lying in their expressions.

He tentatively asked: “Where is Lin’er? Why isn’t she here?”

“Lin’er? Who is Lin’er?” Qu Wen looked at Cloud Qingwu worriedly, then at his parents.

Cloud Qingwu’s heart sank halfway. He tried a different question: “Brother Qu, are you an only child?”

Qu Wen nodded.

Sister Liu chimed in: “Yes, Qu Wen is our only child, Yun Wu. Should I call a doctor to check on you?”

Cloud Qingwu shook his head, indicating he was fine.

After eating, he returned to the room and carefully reviewed the events of the past two days.

On the first day of Xiao Dao and Qu Lin’s disappearance, there was nothing unusual. So, the critical point of the change should not be the children’s disappearance itself, which was supported by the other missing cases.

Therefore, the key must be that something happened last night, perhaps Leng Lici discovered some clue…

With this thought, Cloud Qingwu had a plan.

He borrowed an embroidery needle from Sister Liu. Tonight, he had to stay awake at all costs to find out the truth.

After dinner, Cloud Qingwu sat cross-legged on the bed, holding the embroidery needle between his fingers, waiting for the night to fully descend.

“Ding-ling—ding-ling-ling—ding—”

The bell of the second watch rang as scheduled. The crisp sound echoed through the mountain forest, like a shower of silencing talismans. The intimate pillow talk before sleep, the children’s bedtime play, all gradually fell silent under this bell sound.

Sssss…

The tiny embroidery needle sharply plunged down as his body bent forward.

Cloud Qingwu’s half-closed eyes snapped open, his chaotic consciousness returning to clarity.

He placed the embroidery needle, which still had a drop of red on the tip, on the table, got off the bed, and quietly walked to the next room. He lifted the cloth curtain and saw the Qu Ping couple sleeping soundly in bed, appearing completely normal.

He sighed in relief and walked out of the courtyard. The moment he stepped out, he instinctively held his breath.

The place that hadn’t had a single trace of demonic energy during the day was now filled with it. The entire city was devoid of human presence.

Cloud Qingwu followed the steps upward. The market, bustling during the day, was now filled with desperate wailing. Taverns, teahouses, and apothecaries were tightly shut. Frantic knocking and banging sounds came from inside the houses that should have been empty.

The night wind blew across the empty stalls by the road. The bells on the stalls tinkled on their own, adding a sense of dead, chilling dread.

The inn’s main door was closed, but the lights inside were bright. Under the lamplight, figures twisted unnaturally. From the arcs of uncontrolled change, one could tell that the entities inside the house were suffering in extreme agony.

The place that opened its doors to welcome guests during the day had transformed into a furnace that devoured everything.

Cloud Qingwu’s brow furrowed. These cries were not from humans, but from demons.

He looked around. The wailing came from all directions, from every wooden pillar, every floorboard, every wisp of air, plaintively narrating their suffering and unwillingness.

The Bai Ze portraits on the doors of every household shook with the tremors, displaying their divine power, firmly occupying their territory.

Cloud Qingwu looked at “himself,” his heart complex.

Ze Kingdom is a giant demon-refining furnace.

Tap.

Tap.

Amidst the desperate wailing, footsteps that were conspicuously rhythmic and mechanical were interspersed. Someone was climbing the steps from bottom to top.

Cloud Qingwu turned around to look down. The owner of the footsteps was a young man wearing a single layer of clothing. Although the man’s eyes were open, his gaze was completely vacant, unusually listless, clearly in an abnormal state.

The man was holding a child about five years old in his arms. Cloud Qingwu recognized the child as the little boy who had shown his homemade lantern to Qu Wen at the market two days ago.

The little boy was lying in the man’s arms with his eyes closed, unconscious.

Cloud Qingwu moved his feet, wanting to step forward and stop them, but saw that not far behind the man, other residents appeared, also holding children.

Cloud Qingwu only hesitated for an instant, then walked a few steps toward the man. He needed further confirmation.

The man’s path was blocked, but he didn’t try to go around, merely marching stiffly in place, as if he was still moving toward his destination.

Cloud Qingwu took the opportunity to place his index finger under the child’s nose, a crease forming on his brow.

The child was not breathing.

He looked at the people who were quickly catching up behind, and finally stepped aside.

The man was unaware of the obstacle, and also had no reaction to its removal, continuing to walk forward on his own accord.

Cloud Qingwu followed closely. He wanted to see exactly which demon was causing trouble here!

The crowd reached the mountain top. The area, which was heavily guarded during the day, was now unguarded, the gate wide open. The people holding children entered the gate one after another without hindrance, walking toward the inside.

Just as Cloud Qingwu thought they would walk straight into the palace, they changed direction, entering a garden area.

It was currently winter, but the flowers in the garden presented a scene of spring. This wasn’t entirely accurate, as there were not only spring peonies blooming but also winter plum blossoms, a collection of the splendor of all four seasons almost simultaneously.

Everything in excess is detrimental. To Cloud Qingwu, this excessive vitality only seemed strange and lacked any beauty.

After passing through the garden, a hidden underground cave revealed itself.

The leading man was the first to descend, followed closely by the others.

Cloud Qingwu stood at the entrance of the cave for a while. The people who had entered started coming out one after another, but their hands were now empty of children. Only after they had returned along the original path did he head toward the depths of the cave.

A long staircase inside the cave led straight down. There was almost no light source in the middle section, making it pitch black. Fortunately, he possessed natural night vision and could vaguely make out the surrounding environment.

At first, it was just ordinary soil, but the deeper he went, the more obvious the signs of cave wall repair became. Someone was clearly maintaining it regularly.

After turning a corner, oil lamps began to appear on the cave walls. The dim yellow light barely dispelled the darkness. Cloud Qingwu’s eyes paused slightly. Under the dim yellow light, the cave walls were divided into irregular blocks by raised black shadows, like ancient scars that had never been treated, ugly and horrifying.

He moved closer and recognized these black shadows as the roots of an unknown tree clinging to the cave walls. The further down he went, the greater the number of roots, making the once relatively flat path uneven.

When the roots on the ground gradually grew as high as the ceiling, Cloud Qingwu’s vision suddenly opened up. A colossal tree, comparable in height to the palace, stood before him. This was not a cave, but the interior of the mountain.

A demon had hollowed out this mountain to build itself a lair.

The light in the lair was dim now, with only scattered lights floating on the tree and in the air providing illumination.

Cloud Qingwu stared intently, his breathing unconsciously quickening, his hands hanging by his sides clenched into fists.

Beneath these lights were layers upon layers of ice crystal coffins!

The coffins, without exception, contained children ranging from 0 to 10 years old.

When the wind blew, a tinkling sound filled the air, like many wind chimes chiming together.