Chapter 95 - Demons, Dragons, Gods?

Before the demon hunter could say anything else, Hong Bao leaped to her feet and pointed at the other side of the road. "There, that's him!"

The man whirled around and his gaze locked onto the people leaving the teahouse: Mister Zhong, Madam Zhong, Zhong Jing Yi and … Qiang Wei. The dragon had hidden his presence to mortal eyes but unfortunately, the demon hunter wasn't a normal human. He wasn't able to clearly see Qiang Wei, but he could still perceive that someone was there.

"I see." His expression became even graver. This young lady and her darling probably have gotten into some fight between demons. That 'goddess of love' is most likely some fox spirit and the one over there … I can't identify his exact origin at the moment, but he should be a pretty high ranking demon if that is the case.

"So, can you help me?" Hong Bao's eyes shone. Yes! Finally! She had nearly saved Shun Tao now!

"Mn. Give me some ti—"

"Then let's go!" Hong Bao grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet, running after the Zhongs and Qiang Wei.

"Heh!" The demon hunter pulled at her hand to make her stop, but Hong Bao lost her balance and crashed into him. The man caught her and closed his eyes. What was it with this woman?

"Ah! Oh, no! Come on, we have to hurry! What if we lose them? I don't know where they are staying!" She started pulling him along again and this time, he just followed her.

Whatever. We'll see how it goes. Even if it's a high-level demon, I should be able to kill it. Just that … He looked at Hong Bao. I can't have her in the vicinity if a fight breaks loose. She's just a normal person. How could she be able to take it?

The two of them followed the Zhongs to Zhong Gang's house and stopped a few hundred meters down the road. "So that's where he lives!" Hong Bao fixated on the door.

This was the right place, she had the right weapon in her hands and had identified the right target. The only thing she had to do was to get inside somehow and do it. She turned around and looked at the demon hunter expectantly but the man was eying the house. He was pondering whether the demon he had seen was the only one inside. He couldn't sense anything from this distance but thinking about it now, he also hadn't felt anything from that demon when he was right opposite him on the other side of the road. This was worrying.

Hong Bao waited for a while but finally lost her patience. She turned around and made her way over to the door. So … how to get inside? She tried pushing the door open but of course, it was closed. So, this wasn't possible.

She looked around and went over to the wall next to the door. There were rather deep joints between the bricks. Maybe she could use those to climb inside? She tried grabbing them and securing her foot in one of them but she fell down as soon as she put the second foot up.

Hong Bao sat on her butt and pouted. It couldn't be that she would fail at the last juncture, could it?!

The demon hunter looked over and lifted his brows. "What are you trying to do?"

Hong Bao turned around and looked at him, depressed. "I can't get inside."

The demon hunter put a hand to his brow and sighed. "What are you hurrying for? There's a demon inside! You can't just rush inside blindly!"

"What demon? Isn't he a god?"

The man just shook his head. It would lead to nothing trying to explain the truth to her. Of course, the man never would have thought that Hong Bao understood the situation very well and that she wasn't any more human than the supposed demon Qiang Wei. Well, maybe she was, considering that Hong Bao had once been a mortal before she was raised to the status of a deity and that Qiang Wei was born as a dragon.

"You don't need to worry about that. Just let me finish him off."

"Are you sure? No, wait, that's not right! Why do you even want to finish him off? The goddess of love said that it would be enough to injure him a little with that dagger."

The demon hunter smiled and patted her head. "She's the goddess of love. She's probably just too kind to say the truth. It's better to kill him, believe me." Of course, that wasn't what he really thought. He was sure Hong Bao had met with a vicious demoness that wanted to use her to harm somebody she couldn't win against herself. Mn, the young lady was truly lucky to have met him!

"Oh."

"Don't worry. I'll do it."

Hong Bao nodded and extended the weapon.

The demon hunter's smile went awry. "I don't need that. I have my own weapons."

"Oh. Then …" Hong Bao hesitated a bit. "Then when will you go? Shun Tao …"

Right. There was still her darling that might die if he didn't do something soon. The demon hunter sighed, looked at the house next to them and procured a rope with a hook at its end from his spatial bracelet. Of course, he didn't need it. It was just as to not scare the young woman next to him. "Then I'll go inside now. Don't worry. I'll kill the demon and save your darling."

"Mn!" Hong Bao nodded, though she wasn't really convinced. She was grateful that he wanted to help but she didn't have high expectations for someone who couldn't tell a god from a demon. Not that Hong Bao had ever seen a demon and knew if there was a difference or not.

The demon hunter threw the rope, securing the hook at the top of the wall, and started climbing up. A little further than half of the way up, he stopped. It somehow seemed like someone was tugging at the rope?

He looked down and his eyes went wide. "Little lady", he began with an expression as if he wanted to cry, "What's with that? Why are you climbing up, too?"

"I'm helping you, of course!" Hong Bao climbed even faster until she was right below him. "What are you waiting for? Can't you hold on? How about I climb up first and help you up after that?"

The demon hunter had nothing to retort. He just shook his head and climbed on top of the wall. Forget it. There's nothing to be done. I'll just have to keep an eye on her, lest she runs into trouble.

Thank the heavens he was already prepared for trouble because Hong Bao was like a magnet for such things. After climbing down the wall on the other side, she walked straight up to the rooms, where the Zhong family stayed, alarming Qiang Wei.

The dragon made his way over from where the Zhongs were eating dinner at this moment. His gaze went from Hong Bao to the man slowly following her and he frowned. "Hong Bao, did you know someone was following you?"

Hong Bao looked at him innocently. "I just came because of the crown prince."

"Uh, yeah, he's inside. I'll take you there in a bit." Qiang Wei hadn't been there when she talked to Qiu Ling, so of course, he didn't suspect her in any way. Considering the way she had behaved in the teahouse, he just thought she had been negligent and somehow attracted a strange person.

He turned to the demon hunter that was clearly eying him warily. He was quite surprised that the man was actually able to see him, but that made him even more suspicious of him. "I believe you have no business here, so please leave."

The demon hunter snorted. "Don't waste your breath, demon! I, Liu Cheng, will make sure you won't be harming any human from this day forth!" He took out a sword and charged at Qiang Wei without wasting another word. The edge of the blade glinted in the last sunlight of the day.

Hong Bao looked at the two men, pursed her lips and went deeper into the house. Now, where was the crown prince? She didn't have much time.

Qiang Wei grimaced. Why was this happening to him? He had just been told to deliver some wine, damn it! He wanted to go back to guard the real body of the crown prince. At least that task had some prestige to it, considering how much their king valued the crown prince.

But now here he was, attacked by some strange guy and being accused of being a demon. Qiang Wei sighed. "Looks like I'll have to educate this fool. Dragons aren't demons. We're way more handsome than them!"