Demonic Tribulations - Chapter 71 preview (Patreon)

Chapter 71 – Yin Xue

The cries of shock, the screams of consternation and surprise echoed through the city. The quartet had torn through the city at speed, taking only a brief moment to injure, kill and disrupt the guards racing towards the village. Most had turned back, chasing after the flying instrument and crashing into the busy streets while Yin Xue and his people headed directly for the compound.

Part fort, part residence, the building compound was watched over by archers, a few remaining guards and the nobles who rushed out. Without the strongest members of their clan on-hand though, the resistance that many put up was pitiful.

The former villagers were of little use, but Yin Xue flexed his will, throwing dark bolts of energy and sweeping archers off rooftops to crash into the earth below. The farmers utilized the stolen equipment to good effect, rushing through the compound – all but Vriti, the former consort, who was pressed into being Yin Xue’s guide.

That was how he found himself in the inner abode of their clan head. Not present in this room, right now, which was surprising or even the compound. A threat and a request from the other that held no weight. When the servant barged in while Yin Xue pawed through the documents sat on an ornate wooden desk, filled with paper and leather and a beautiful, ornate jade carving of a rearing horse amidst a waterfall. Yin Xue was frowning at the unknown text, whilst Vriti managed to get the servant by the neck and up against the door in a blink of an eye.

“Don’t kill him,” Yin Xue’s voice cracked, as she pressed the knife against the man’s neck.

“Why? Do you know who he is?” Vriti snarled, words slurring.

“At a guess? The residences head servant. Possibly a chief administrator. Maybe both.”

“He was the one who picked me from the line when the guards dragged me here. Had me washed and clothed and gifted…” She trembled, blood leaking from the other’s flesh as the knife dug in.

“And tried to teach you proper manners. Something you have not learnt.” Calm, collected, the servant spoke. A wordless howl as she tried to press her knife closer, only to be flung away by a casual gesture from Yin Xue’s finger. She flew through the air, impacted the other wall and lay there, senseless. “Thank you. But I must insist you stop touching the master’s desk.”

Yin Xue tilted his head as he regarded the older man. Unflappable, it seemed. The question was, was he loyal too? Still, he stopped bothering with the documents he could not read.

“Why not?”

“You might trigger an enchantment that would destroy the contents and table itself. Replacing everything would be… troublesome.”

Interesting. He focused his spiritual senses on the room itself to search for anomalies while talking. “You do not seem particularly bothered by what is happening.”

A loud shout, a scream and the crash of a potted plant punctuated his words.

“You do not seem interested in ransacking the residence either. Or causing further chaos.” A slight twitch of his shoulders. “And the guards will either manage to handle the pair, or not. It is not a matter of my concern.”

“What is your concern?” Yin Xue had no reason to physically ransack the place. He had his spiritual sense, and there were a few places – the armoury, the treasury, a hidden alcove in this room – that he intended to inspect further. The rest of the precious goods in here were mundane items, of no interest to him.

What use did he have with ornate furniture, tapestries or carvings? Beautiful or precious they might be to mortals, they could not aid his own cultivation. His storage rings were limited too, such that he would have to be careful of what he stored.

Food, though, would likely be useful.

“This room. The rahnuma’s belongings and privacy.” His eyes drifted to the dazed demon woman. “The servants, though some might not believe that.”

“Interesting.” Yin Xue looked upwards, noting how many of the women were already in sealed rooms, protected by enchantments. Children too, gathered up and taken by their parents and minders, all hiding away. The other two were just about finishing up their fight, and Yin Xue was curious what they might do. If their bloodlust was so broad that they would ignore decency to sate it. “I’m in search of information. Perhaps you can help me find it.”

“What kind? You understand I am constrained.” A subtle shift of his body, a hand twitched subtly. The movement stilled as soon as it started.

Yin Xue had noticed it, early on, the dense stores of energy around the man’s hand. Rings around the hand, connected to a bracer and chains leading back and forth, but now he wondered if the bracer was instead a shackle. Gently, he probed it, overlaying his own aura over the spots of excited energy through the room. Three of them based in the room. One under the desk, a second under the chairs right across the desk itself and a third around the safe.

“Maps. As many as you have. The general history of the realm, noble houses and the king. Histories, if you have any.”

“We have those.” A nod to the bookcase, one of few that Yin Xue had noticed. Strange that there were so few bookshelves in this area, a contrast to the Middle Kingdom where even the meanest peasant had a few books and a cultivation manual. Here, paper and the printed matter was much rarer.

“Good.” Yin Xue hesitated, added. “A primer on your language.”

He noticed the qwirk of the lips on the servant’s face, stilled before it even crossed the one cun mark. Tiny, near imperceptible but Yin Xue had been playing politics all his life. He noticed it, and did not even need his cultivation advantage to do so.

“On the shelf too. On the lower levels.” A hesitation, before he added. “The language of the visal is not for us to learn. I must protest your taking and studying it, being an outsider.”

The diction was perfect, the tone dry enough to create a dessert.

“Where is your master, anyway?” Yin Xue said, as he tugged on the scrolls and books. They flew through the air, flowing directly into his storage ring. In moments, he had emptied the bookshelf.

“You-!” Woozily, Viriti complained as she pushed herself up. “Traitor.”

Yin Xue saw no reason to justify his actions, not to her. Instead he waited for the servant to answer him.

“He was invited to a feast in the nearby province. He and his people will return. Soon, with the warnings sent out.”

“You sent them?” No accusation in the voice, just calm as he continued to pick at the enchantments. He did not understand the way these enchantments were made, did not understand the language, but the flow of it, that he could grasp. Not enough, perhaps, to pick them apart; not without causing destruction, but destruction was always easier than creation.

“My duty.” Another small twitch of the hand, so minute.

“And that’s what holding you here, instead of running.”

Pounding footsteps from behind, the cautious motion of farmers who had tasted blood for the first time but had not learnt reason. The servant stepped away from the door, but it was too late. They had spotted him and came in, weapons bared. Arrow raised.

“Who is this?” Korcan asked, sword raised.

Behind him, the youngster bounced in. Ignored the servant, went for the desk. He reached for the figurine that Yin Xue had ignored. He scooped it up, before Yin Xue – attention split between the oncoming attack by Korcan, the moving Vriti and picking apart multiple enchantments – could stop him.

A single trigger, for multiple enchantments moved, all at once.

Fire and death and fear unleashed, as energies blew apart.