Rebirth of The Heavenly Demon (Taegyu) - Chapter 3

A few moments after Zhang Hu entered his room, six shadows landed in front of the front gate.

It was Yanhui and the five experts.

The woman looked around her carefully.

“The voice was from around here, right?”

The five nodded, and the group immediately walked towards the door. But as soon as they reached it, they all simultaneously turned, and walked alongside the wall.

After walking around the house once, the six people arrived at the gate again. They stopped. Yanhui looked pretty tired.

“Looks like she moved somewhere else.”

The five experts clicked their tongues in disappointment. It looked like none of them were able to see the house.

Yanhui turned her back to the door to speak.

“She couldn’t have gone far. Let’s look around here.”

The five experts began walking. Right then, one of the men in the group opened his mouth with a curious look on his face.

“Uhm, miss.”

Yanhui stopped to look back.

“What is it?”

The man opened his mouth nervously.

“We looked over here a moment ago, didn’t we?”

“Yes, we did.”

“Wasn’t there a house here before…?”

Yanhui nodded with a surprised look.

“You’re right! There really was. Wasn’t it around here? The house disappeared? It can’t be that the house came to life and moved on its own… In that case!”

Yanhui thought for a moment before looking at the front gate of Zhang Hu’s house. She lowered her voice and spoke up with a very serious tone.

“I think that… the Martial World’s famous 15 Strange Illusions Formation might be installed here.”

The five experts all turned to look at the front gate with Yanhui. After a moment of silence, the group of six all burst out laughing.

“Puhahaha! What a joke!”

“Your sense of humor is wonderful as always!”

“One of the ten great formations, installed here? Bahahahah! Of course! Of course that would be it!”

Yanhui smiled before turning back.

“Let’s get going, now. She couldn’t have gone far.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Yanhui took off with the five.

Inside Zhang Hu’s room in the house, the boy inside muttered to himself as he covered up his ears with his blankets.

“They’re weird…”

* * *

Though the spring already came a while back, the winds still got quite chilly once the sun starts setting.

Zhang Hu stretched his back after a while of plowing the fields.

“Phew.”

He looked up at the red sky as he wiped the sweat off of his head. There was a smile on his face.

But the moment he saw a couple of people walking on the road next to him, his face stiffened. These people all looked quite savage, and each had a weapon on their shoulders.

They were practically advertising that they were martial artists.

“So that kid from the Xiawu Guild is around here?”

“I told you, yeah. Didn’t you hear about the six experts from the Tiger Phantom bandits searching this place like mad?”

“Hah. So what’s up with the girl anyway?”

The other man lowered his voice.

“Apparently she has one of the six treasures in her hands.”

“The six treasures? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I mean, there has to be a reason why the demon church, the alliance, and the Tiger Phantom Bandits are chasing after her.”

“Hoh, makes sense. But when are the experts from the church and the alliance coming here?”

“Dunno man. But it won’t take long. That’s why we need to find her before then.”

“Let’s see… I wonder where she’d be in that case?”

The men noticed Zhang Hu in the fields and immediately approached him.

Zhang Hu turned away, pretending not to notice, and started walking back home.

By that time, however, the men had already reached him.

“Hey kid, let me ask you something.”

Zhang Hu let out a frustrated sigh.

“Go on, then.”

One of the men took out a piece of paper.

“You ever seen a girl like this?”

Zhang Hu took a look at the woman on the paper. She looked incredibly similar to Liyuan.

But he ended up shaking his head.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Did you even look properly?”

The other asked angrily.

“Yes, I did.”

Zhang Hu walked away without saying anything more. One of the men grabbed his shoulder with an annoyed look.

“Hey, kid. Have you no respect? You dare…”

The other quickly tried to diffuse the situation.

“Hey, hey. It’d be strange if a woman like this was noticed by a kid like him of all things. There’s bound to be a lot of people looking for her here. Let’s not start trouble on the first day.”

The man grabbing Zhang Hu’s shoulder let go reluctantly.

“Count yourself lucky, kid! Think of this as your second life and live respectfully from now.”

“I already do.”

Zhang Hu promptly walked away.

“Look, just look at that kid! He’s not even saying goodbye!”, said the man.

“That’s just what kids are like these days. Come, come. Now’s not the time for this. We have a girl to catch.”

Zhang Hu kept walking without looking back even once. Soon enough, houses started appearing on the road he was walking on. After walking for quite a bit longer, he came to a stop in front of a small hill.

He started making a few gestures with one hand in the air.

Whoosh.

A door appeared in front of him after a small gust of air passed by. Zhang Hu opened the door, and another gust took the door away just like that.

Zhang Hu stopped in front of Mrs. Nam’s door. He cleared his throat a few times.

“I’m back, mother.” Zhang Hu spoke cheerily.

Mrs. Nam’s voice came through the doors.

“Oh? You’re back? You must be tired. Come in.”

Zhang Hu stepped inside.

He found his mother sitting on the bed. She looked the same as always. Cheerful and happy. But there was something different about her today.

There was a woman on her lap.

Liyuan.

“You’re back, Zhang Hu? You must be tired.”

The woman waved her hand at him with a bright smile. Zhang Hu’s eyes twitched ever so slightly in response.

* * *

Mrs. Nam smiled as she brushed Liyuan’s cheek softly.

“Little Yuan’s skin is so soft, isn’t it?”

Zhang Hu found himself muttering to himself softly.

“Little Yuan?”

Liyuan grinned.

“Yours is even better than mine, mother. Just how did you take care of yours? Your makeup must be fantastic. I want to use it too.”

“Hohoho, I don’t use any makeup. I just eat well and sleep well is all.”

Liyuan lifted her head in surprise.

“Wow! You were born with it? I’m so jealous!”

“Nothing to be jealous of. After all, it’s my first time seeing someone as pretty as you!”

Liyuan waved her hands in denial.

“You’re just as pretty. Speaking of which, don’t we look kind of alike? People would mistake us as sisters if we went out.”

“Do we? Hohoho. Ah, it’s almost time for dinner, isn’t it? Would you like a pear before we eat?”

“Yes, mom!”

“Right. Wait here.”

Mrs. Nam stepped out with a happy face. As soon as she was out of sight, Zhang Hu’s face turned almost demonic.

Liyuan let out a snort.

“What’s up?”

“You’re not leaving?”

“I am.”

“You said you’d leave this morning.”

“She told me to eat lunch, though, so I had to stay.”

“So did you eat lunch?”

“I did.”

“But I have to eat the pear now.”

“Leave after that, then.”

“What about dinner?”

Zhang Hu’s eyes twitched. Liyuan, on the other hand, was smiling.

The two glared at each other.

“So when are you leaving, then?” Zhang Hu initiated.

“I’ll leave when I want.”

“When’s that?”

“Who knows? What, you planning on throwing me out?”

“If I have to.”

“Try me.”

“If I do?”

Zhang Hu’s voice turned icy. That moment, Liyuan let out a cry.

“Motherrrrrrr!”

The boy twitched in surprise. Clearly something that he didn’t expect.

Mrs. Nam walked in with a surprised face shortly after.

“Did something happen, Liyuan?”

Liyuan’s eyes stayed right on Zhang Hu the entire time.

“You see, Zhang Hu…”

“What did he do?”

“He said I was like a sister to him.”

“Did he?”

Mrs. Nam turned to Zhang Hu for confirmation. The boy could only nod with an awkward smile.

“He told me he’d like me to stay a while.” Liyuan said.

“Did you really?”

Mrs. Nam clearly seemed surprised. She turned to Zhang Hu once again. And again, the boy could only nod with a smile. His eyes, though, clearly held malicious intent directed towards Liyuan.

* * *

“This is strange.”

Yanhui was quite troubled. It was quite strange. Liyuan’s tracks just… disappeared into thin air yesterday.

That itself wasn’t too surprising.

But the marker they placed on her couldn’t be erased at all. That in itself was impossible. Yanhui turned to the experts around her.

“The girl must’ve erased her marker for this to be possible. Do you think that’s really what happened?”

The five immediately shook their head. As far as they knew, there were only two ways for the marker to be erased.

One was for the person to bathe in a special herbal mixture.

But the Tiger Ghost Bandits were the only ones who knew how to create this mixture, so there was no way for this to be true.

The second way was for an expert to use their life force to burn away the marker.

But there were only fifty experts in existance who were skilled enough to perform such a feat.

Not even the leader of Liyuan’s organization could do it.

“What the hell happened?”

Yanhui paced around with a frustrated voice.

“Liyuan, Liyuan. What in the world did you do?”

Han Liyuan.

Just saying the girl’s name made Yanhui’s eyes turn more and more vicious.

“Why do you hate that girl so much, by the way? You two got along well as children…” One of the experts asked.

“I was never friends with her! How could someone like me, the associate leader of the Ghost Tiger Bandits, be friends with a girl from a family of gamblers?” Yanhui snapped back.

The five flinched. Yanhui was clearly furious.

“It’s not because she stole my pet cat after gambling with her! It’s not because she took away my first love either! I just hate the girl! I was never friends with her! Ever! Do you understand!”

The five nodded energetically.

“U-understood.”

Yanhui seemed to have calmed down after that.

“There’s no time. We’ve delayed things for too long. The experts from the Righteous Association and the Five Demon Wheels Church will arrive soon. Let’s search the hill where she disappeared again.”

Yanhui took off towards the hill where Liyuan was last seen saying this.

* * *

“Oh? You won again! You’re very good at this, mom.”

Liyuan let go of a stick in her hands saying this and extended her wrist.

“Three hits, right? Go on.”

Mrs. Nam shook her head with a smile.

“It’s fine. In any case, this card game is pretty fun.”

“Right? Do you want to try again?”

“Sure.”

Liyuan smiled.

“Mother, don’t play this game with anyone other than me though, alright?”

“Why?”

Liyuan paused.

‘What do I say?’

Should she tell the lady a few scary stories to chase her away? Maybe that one story about Mr. Jin, the person who lost all of his riches just playing the card game?

‘I can’t tell her that I was the one who took his money, though?’

Liyuan couldn’t think of a proper response in the end.

“Just because.”

Mrs. Nam tilted her head in confusion. Damn, what’s up with this lady being so innocent and cute?

‘I wish she was my mom.’

Mrs. Nam asked a question.

“Not even with Zhang Hu?”

Liyuan’s eyes drifted off to a corner of the room. She could see the boy glaring at him with his arms crossed.

Liyuan glared back as she opened her mouth.

“But the boy doesn’t know how to play.”

Zhang Hu’s lips parted right then.

“I do.”

Liyuan smirked.

“Ah, so you do!”

So he’s had experience gambling a little with this kiddie friends, eh?

Tsk tsk, this kid…

Mrs. Nam tried to wave the boy over.

“Yeah? Would you like to play in my place, then?”

Zhang Hu tried to shake his head. But then, Liyuan waved her cards towards him with a mocking smile. She mouthed a few words at him.

‘How would you like to lose a few games?’

Zhang Hu’s lips curled upwards into an angry smile.

“I suppose I will.”