Chapter 101 - A Demon

Who would have known that the tables would turn rather very quickly?

Li Feng was almost lifeless as he continued to wait for news about his father's surgery. Mian Bingbing woke up an hour ago and decided to join her son in waiting. Li Yunru had already slept on Li Feng's l.a.p, worry knocking her out.

Chuan Nayi and Ruan Jin were waiting with them as well. For some reason, they didn't feel right to go home.

If this was the old Chuan Nayi, she would have blamed Li Feng already. Then again, she learned to think deeper based on what Ruan Jin told her. That Xie Canrong went after Li Feng because of Ren Ditian. If she wanted to blame Li Feng, she might as well blame Liu Xiaodan.

"Mrs. Li?" A nurse stepped out of the operating theater and quickly sought Mian Bingbing. The mother got up and dragged the nurse out of Li Feng's earshot.

The nurse then spoke, "Mrs. Li, Mr. Li is going to be okay. Even though multiple organs had been ruptured, you got him to the hospital in time. Though, we need to ask…

"When exactly did Mr. Li get stabbed?"

Mian Bingbing checked her shaking hand and then her watch. "Four hours ago. I heard he got into surgery around twenty minutes after he got stabbed. Why?"

The nurse frowned and had a hard time explaining the matter. "Mr. Li's wound seemed to be so fresh when we started the surgery. The rate of infection also didn't fit the time frame. Are you sure he was taken here that late?"

Li Feng had already moved Li Yunru aside and stood next to his mother. "What's going on? Is Daddy okay?"

The nurse explained the same thing to Li Feng, but the male had a different reaction. His eyes quivered, but he couldn't make sense of it. "That's not right..."

"Anyway, I have to go back. Please rest assured."

The mother and son walked back to the bench, and Li Feng placed Li Yunru back on his l.a.p again. Mian Bingbing couldn't think much about what happened. "Why are they saying something illogical? What time frame?"

Li Feng comforted Mian Bingbing by rubbing her back. "Don't worry, Mommy. It's going to be okay."

Ruan Jin then got to his feet. "I guess we should go home now. I'm very sorry for the trouble Ling had caused. She..."

"The Weeper was fed, or else she wouldn't grow so strong. What happened? Did you do something?" Li Feng frowned and asked the master. He knew that the Weeper had gone out of control as an aftereffect of her rough awakening.

"Eh? She was hunting lesser ghosts—"

"Young man, she wouldn't grow that strong if she wasn't fed with live souls." Mian Bingbing didn't want to stress about things she couldn't understand. Since they were talking using her language, she was now taking her frustration out on Ruan Jin. "Did you kill anyone?"

"No!" Ruan Jin gritted his teeth. "Like I said, Ling only fed on lesser spirits!"

"The child..." Chuan Nayi rubbed her arm. "He was there..."

The three then looked at her, and then Ruan Jin was the first to refute her. "Chuan Nayi, I know you hated him, but don't drag him here."

Chuan Nayi shook her head. "No, I know the feeling when he's around me. He was there… that black thing that came out of nowhere… that's definitely him."

Mian Bingbing then turned away. "She's right… that black miasma didn't come from the female spirit. However, it didn't feel the same as the miasma inside Li Feng. Are you positive that it was the child's aura?"

"Let's face it. I'm the only one here that he tried to kill. I know his aura more than anything." Chuan Nayi gave a fleeting smile before it instantly fell as she saw the females racing towards them,

Both were exceptionally exquisite and had prettier visages than Chuan Nayi's. However, the reason why her smile fell was that she knew one of them.

Ren Shanyue hurried to the benches, her guards following behind her alongside the guards of another young mistress. She quickly turned Ruan Jin instead. "You got kidnapped by the same guys targeting Li Feng?"

The other woman looked at Li Feng. "Mr. Li is in surgery?"

Mian Bingbing raised a brow before clearing her throat. "Yes, MY husband is in surgery, but he's doing fine. As for the kidnapping, we already—how did you two know about this?"

"I have my resources, Mrs. Li." "The spirits told me."

"Spirits?" Ruan Jin frowned at them. Ren Shanyue then took a discreet deep breath. "Ruan Jin, Chuan Nayi, this is Qiao Shan, the princess of the Qiao family. We ran into each other earlier, and so we just went together."

"Ruan Jin? Chuan Nayi?" Qiao Shan turned to them and recorded their images very well. One was Liu Xiaodan's best friend while the other was an ex-girlfriend. Though the ex-girlfriend seemed to pose trouble, her awfully weak spiritual power wasn't a threat to Qiao Shan.

Between her and this Chuan Nayi, she figured the child would see that she was more suitable to be the mother.

She then smiled. "Hello, it's nice to meet you."

Ruan Jin had a different assumption about this Qiao Shan, but he didn't think she'd be this gentle-looking. Chuan Nayi only put on a feigned polite smile, not liking this Qiao Shan just as she didn't like Ren Shanyue.

"Huh?" Qiao Shan wasn't trying to do a double-take on Ruan Jin, but she somewhat realized that something was hiding inside him. "Uhm, Big Brother, don't you feel… strange?"

"Are you a shaman, too?" Ruan Jin asked even if he knew. He took a step back, but Ren Shanyue actually stepped forward, blocking most of Ruan Jin's figure from Qiao Shan's view. "Ms. Qiao, please. He might be housing a spirit, but her powers are mini—

"Why did she feel like a greater ghost now?" Ren Shanyue had been undertaking classes to feel things, and she wasn't a born shaman like Qiao Shan. She discovered things slower than Qiao Shan, but she wasn't terrified at all. She was more like amazed at the newfound power.

Ruan Jin retreated again, not letting Ren Shanyue touch him.

"A greater ghost?" Chuan Nayi frowned. "Those things had different levels?"

"Ah, yes." Qiao Shan nodded. "The lowest kinds are the shadows. They get attached to places and sometimes people. They had no inherent power. Next would be the lesser ghosts. They could hurt people but only through scares.

"The real ghosts are those who are capable of hurting humans through their abilities. Most ghosts that needed to be exorcised belong to this level. They kill humans and consume souls. A greater ghost is more powerful and could manifest into the material.

"The last two levels were closely-knit and hard to distinguish in a few glances. The label of 'ghost kings' suggests they have exceptional power and the tendency to rule over a certain palace. One big place could have more than one king, given that they couldn't best one another.

"The final level is what we call demons. They're basically the hardest ones to vanish, and some of them could only be sealed. These spirits are very dangerous and should be sealed once discovered."

Qiao Shan then smiled at her. "No need to make use of these terms though. Only shamans pay attention to them."

Chuan Nayi then looked at Li Feng. "And the child? What level is he?"

Mian Bingbing and Li Feng froze. Qiao Shan was also shocked; this woman knew of the dybbuk?

Ren Shanyue actually didn't know much. She could only rely on what Li Yunru told her about most of these things. However, the silence seemed to be indicative of the answer.

The child… was way worse than any of those levels.

However, Mian Bingbing had taken away his attention as he spoke with her about the specifics. Li Heilong seemed to be in a very bad state, but he would recover fully given time and enough treatment.

…

Li Feng stayed outside the recovery ward while his mother was taking care of his father. He figured his father would kick him out of the ward if he had been given such a scene. It's just that it's a pity that Li Heilong was still unconscious. Two days… if he made it in two days, he would be able to survive.

Qiao Shan stayed there with him… along with Chuan Nayi, Ren Shanyue, and Ruan Jin; Li Yunru was inside the ward, sleeping on the couch.

She then turned to Li Feng. "I came because I received a reading of a demon. When I got to the place, the agents had said that no one was there anymore… and that you were involved in it."

"It's not me really. Though it's my fault that Nayi and Ruan Jin had been caught." He placed a hand on his face before facing the two people. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to trick you two."

"It already happened, Li Feng. Just don't try to be naughty again in the future." Chuan Nayi sighed, ignoring the strange looks the two girls gave her. "Moreover, she seemed to be speaking to you instead. You shouldn't cut off a woman."

"Ay..." Li Feng apologized to Qiao Shan, but the girl only chuckled. "Thank you, Big Sister. Back to my concern then… there was a demon earlier?"

Li Feng scratched his head and glanced at Chuan Nayi. "If the Qiao family had that kind of reading then, it's very plausible that Guangru did come and interfered. Since the Weeper had become his worshiper, then he must be able to channel a few of his power wherever she was."

"The Weeper?" Qiao Shan twitched and then turned to Ruan Jin. "The ghost inside you is called the Weeper?"

"She has a name, and it's Ling."

Qiao Shan's eyes flickered. Weird. Someone was holding onto a ghost… wait, Liu Xiaodan was like this as well.

Ren Shanyue then butted in. "Wait… so the child… is at the demon level?"

Chuan Nayi and Qiao Shan stared at her as if trying to not believe it. Wasn't it said that the demon level was the most terrifying?

"No." Li Feng shook his head. "I wouldn't say that. Guangru seemed to be a lot stronger than that. Based on the hidden records of the Mian family, he's an ancient demon. However, his power had inherently decreased over time, enough for my grandfather to be able to seal him away.

"I don't know how strong Guangru originally was, but there's no guarantee that gobbling up kings would turn him into something way stronger." Li Feng also sighed. "I'm more concerned about Liu Xiaodan about this actually..."

Everyone somewhat held their breaths as they waited for him to finish.

"His bloodline is from a powerful medium. If he ended up taking control of Guangru completely, no one knows how terrible he would be. Mediums exposed to demons had the tendency to lose themselves.

"Now that he lost his lease on living a human life, I can't imagine how fast he will force Guangru to give him more and more power. There are so many kings in Cherry Medical. Eating two or three of them would surely… make him go insane."