C9 The Little Girl Chang

The girl was trembling with nerves.

She closed the window with great care.

Tears glistened in her big, watery eyes.

Choking back sobs, she pleaded, "Can you take me with you?"

Ye Kong was momentarily bewildered.

What was happening?

Was this another one of Custer's tricks to test me?

But it didn't quite add up.

The girl, seeing his silence, offered, "I can be your wife, serve as your maid, or even be sold into slavery by you—just please, take me with you."

Her pale cheeks, fragile frame, and the tears clinging to her eyelashes all underscored her vulnerability and charm.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"I'm called Chang."

"Ca Chang, Custer Chang, or some other surname?" Ye Kong was curious; Custer didn't sound like an Eastern name.

The girl shook her head: "No, just Chang. My mother said we don't have surnames."

"No surname? You're not Custer's daughter?"

She hung her head, her voice quivering, "He doesn't deserve that title."

Just then, a baby's cry pierced the night air from outside.

It sounded particularly loud against the still darkness.

Ye Kong stood up, puzzled. "There's a baby here?"

"Yes, my nephew. His mother is my sister; she's 17, and I'll be 15 soon."

"Oh," Ye Kong muttered to himself.

A baby at 17? With whom?

He'd been here so long and yet had failed to notice a baby.

Why was there a baby crying in the wilderness at this late hour?

Gene Castle was shrouded in mystery.

Ye Kong sighed as he gazed at the delicate girl before him.

"I'm struggling to protect myself; I'm afraid I can't help you."

He resolved to leave as soon as he obtained the treasure robe at dawn.

He was determined not to linger in this eerie place.

Hearing his response, the girl's face went ashen.

She bit her lip, seemingly making a resolute decision. "Take me with you, I'll be yours. If you doubt me, I can prove it to you right now."

With that, she began to undo the buttons of her dress.

Ye Kong was taken aback.

This was no laughing matter—a girl not even 15, and she was willing to go this far?

He quickly grabbed the girl's hand, halting her with urgency, "Don't do this. If the lord of the castle misunderstands, I could jump into the Yellow River and still not wash away the suspicion."

"He's tied up with important matters tonight and will return late. You managed to get here, so you must have a way to leave, right?"

The girl's eyes were fixed on Ye Kong, pleading. When he remained unmoved, she clutched at his trousers and sank to her knees. Tears streamed down her face, "Please, will you take me with you?"

Just then, a wolf's howl pierced the silence outside the door. The girl's face drained of color, "He's back. I must go." She hastily pressed a jade pendant into Ye Kong's hand.

Before she could make it out the door, Custer's raspy voice cut through the air, "You little brat, have you been seducing men while I was away?" He was already storming up to the second floor before his sentence even finished.

Sniffing the air, his face twisted in anger, "You wretched girl, you really are here seducing men!" He swung a slap at her, but Ye Kong intercepted it.

"Senior, you've got it all wrong."

"Wrong? Alone with a woman in the dead of night, and you expect me to believe it's a misunderstanding?" Ye Kong's head throbbed with the difficulty of the situation.

Thankfully, an elderly woman approached. She positioned herself protectively in front of the girl and spoke icily, "I sent her to warn the young master not to venture out tonight, no matter what he hears."

Custer's hand flew in a slap toward the woman, "It was you?" Despite the sting on her cheek, she stood her ground, "She had only just arrived when you returned. If you must blame someone, blame me."

Custer lashed out with a kick, "Keep in line, set a good example. Had I not returned early today, who knows what might have happened."

"I understand," the woman replied, unfazed by the assault.

Her expression stoic, she led the girl away. Custer, brandishing a chillingly sharp axe, threatened, "I'll let this slide for the old drunk's sake. But come tomorrow, you're out of Gene Castle. You're not welcome here."

Ye Kong, acknowledging his fault, chose to remain silent.

Pulling out a storage bag with a grave voice, Ye Kong said, "Here's food and wine for you. Give me the treasure garment, and I'll be gone by dawn."

Custer tossed over an odd piece of clothing.

Ye Kong caught it and stashed it in the storage bag.

The door slammed shut with a loud bang.

He spent a sleepless night.

As dawn broke, Ye Kong quickly gathered his things.

Without bidding farewell to anyone, he strode out of the castle.

Then, Chang's voice reached him.

"Please, if there's any way, you must come back and take me with you. I don't have much time left. I'll be fifteen in just half a month."

"You whore, still luring men. I'll beat you to death."

A chorus of pitiful wails followed.

Clearly, Custer was at it again.

Ye Kong shook his head, baffled.

What kind of father would treat his daughter so cruelly?

But that was their family affair, and he had no intention of interfering.

Besides, he couldn't. He had sensed that Custer likely possessed deep cultivation.

He was no match for him.

Might makes right, and if you can't win, better not to meddle and invite trouble upon yourself.

He glanced back at Gene Castle one last time.

Ye Kong walked away, the memory of the girl named Chang etched deeply in his mind.

...

The snow stretched endlessly.

A lone figure sprinted across the barren snowfield, pursued by a horde of ghouls.

Leading them was a Darkling Spectre, draped in a decayed wood cloak and wielding an ice crystal bow.

Arrows of solid ice were shot out in rapid succession.

The figure weaved and dodged, desperately trying to escape.

"Damn it, they're still coming. Will this ever end?"

That figure was Ye Kong.

Soon after leaving the Misty Forest, he had run into the Darkling Spectre.

After a brief skirmish, realizing he was outmatched, he had no choice but to flee, with the Darkling Spectre relentlessly on his heels.

More ghouls were summoned to join the chase along the way.

Now, after half a month, the number of ghouls trailing him had swelled to over five hundred.

"Old drunkard, you unreliable bastard, you're going to get me killed," Ye Kong grumbled as he continued his frantic escape, cursing the old drunkard's guidance.

Guided by the clues left on an old drunkard's scrap of cloth, one should reach Werewolf Valley just a day after emerging from the Misty Forest. But day after day passed...

Half a month had gone by, with the endpoint on the cloth perpetually updated. What infuriated him the most was that it always pointed to Werewolf Valley.

With just three hours left to what was promised as Werewolf Valley, Ye Kong dared not harbor much hope. Disappointment had been his constant companion. Yet, he couldn't suppress the prayer bubbling within him, hoping against hope that this time, it would truly be Werewolf Valley. If not, he feared he might collapse.

The relentless flight from danger had drained him physically and mentally to his limits.

"Whoosh!"

A moment's lapse in concentration, and an arrow of ice grazed his forehead as it whizzed by.

"Damn, can't even get a moment's peace," he spat out, leaving a lingering afterimage where he stood.

He zigzagged, his body shifting directions rapidly as he made his escape.

The Darkling Spectre's eyes emitted a deep blue glow, piercing through his illusions.

The chase was on again, with the ghoul horde howling in pursuit.

Night fell.

Ye Kong, utterly spent, slumped against a boulder, each hand clutching a spirit stone, desperately drawing in energy.

He was so weary that sleep threatened to overtake him at any moment, and the energy he absorbed barely made up for what he expended.

Feeling the weight of exhaustion, he glanced at the cloth in his hand and whispered, "Just one last hour to go... please, let this be it."

In the distance, the Darkling Spectre closed in once more...