LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 21: The truth of his mother's death
The image of his father merged with the demon adding fuel to the flames. He lunged forward and they clashed the fight fierce. The treacherous creature seemed to notice his weaknesses. It tore at his injuries inflicting more pain. Xiang Yu's back screamed, the wounds reopening, but he pushed through. The girl couldn't watch anymore. She covered her ears her head buried in her bent knees.
His blood searing with rage, Xiang Yu gripped the demon's neck his fingers sinking into flesh. His torn body quivered, his demonic blood desperate for a full awakening. It was an insatiable hunger for power grew stronger. He wanted strength and craved it like a starving beast. It was after all in his nature.
His fingernails lengthened and with unimaginable force, he tore into the demon's flesh slowly his flaming eyes staring straight into its eyes. His actions were deliberate, extending the torture. A twisted smile appeared on his lips imagining that face being his father's.
He dug into its flesh looking for the demon core. Blood dripped, mingling with his own as the demon squirmed, its life force pulsing between Xiang Yu's fingers. As he ripped it out the demon let out a shrill cry tearing through the air.
Blood coating his fingers he stared at the demon core, pulsating and malevolent in his palm. He crushed it the gem yielding to his rage. The demon's blood agitatedly danced on his fingers in a gruesome waltz. Xiang Yu absorbed it into his body his eyes more demonic than those of his father.
His eyes snapped shut, and the world shifted. Memories flooded his mind, images that weren't his own. Memories of that night flooded in overwhelmingly. It was as though his demonic self had merged with his human self, forging a new entity.
He suddenly collapsed, the ground rushing up to meet him. The demonic energy from the core pulsed within him, its malevolence seeping into every fibre of his being. Haunting whispers of his mother's voice calling his name echoed in his mind as his vision blurred. He could see her pale and slender hand reaching for him from the depth of the steaming water.
"Mother," he whispered weakly before he lost consciousness. The young girl stared, wide-eyed her body shaking like a leaf. She stared at her saviour and then at the demon corpse lying nearby. It had turned into a dry husk, drained of life. She whimpered softly not daring to be loud. She was too scared to move.
***
Xiang Yu's eyes snapped open his gaze staring at the broken beam. He scanned the room a little confused. He didn't recognise this place. The room had rough walls and he was lying on a straw mat.
His chest rose and fell his breathing quickening. He sat up, wincing at the pull of the scabs on his back. It was then he recalled the wounds on his back that should have been fatal.
His neck and temple were completely healed like nothing had happened. The pain had vanished, replaced by a strange sensation in the side of his neck. He touched his skin but there was only the familiar smoothness. He wanted to take a look at it but there was no bronze mirror in the room.
He slowly got up from the straw mat only for him to sit back down his eyes distant. Memories of the night of his mother's death replayed before him like a haunting film.
Injured, his ten-year-old self had risen from his bed. He grabbed a cloak from the drawer and wore it to conceal his face. That night the brothel was alive with laughter and desire, but he moved through the shadows, unseen. He slipped into the madam's room and opened her medicine box. Ever since he reached the stage of being able to learn things the Madam taught him everything she knew about poisons and medicines thus he knew what to pick in that box.
Afterwards, he followed his mother in the shadows. And when she wasn't looking he slipped the contents of the bottle into the wine jug. He watched her in the darkness as she drank it with no awareness. The paralysis took hold, and she sank into the bath pool, eyes wide with terror. When she noticed his shadow she desperately called out, pleading but he stood there unmoving. The water swallowed her, and he coldly watched her demise.
Xiang Yu's mind fractured, and the line between human and demon blurred. His mother drowned to her death and his demonic self had killed her. It was a primal instinct to protect him. He knew why the choice was made. Survival had no room for sentiment. His mother strangled him with her hands and his demonic self had responded in kind. Xiang Yu clutched his hair tears flowing down his cheeks.
When the door creaked open he hurriedly wiped the tears away before he turned his gaze in the direction.
He met the gaze of the young girl that he saved from the demon. She seemed to still have lingering fears of him but she was trying hard to hide it. Beside her was a middle-aged woman leaning on a cane. He could tell that she was the young girl's mother from appearance. Their faces held gratitude, their eyes wide with awe at how fast he recovered.
"Thank you...," the mother said, her voice trembling. "Young hero."
Xiang Yu's heart clenched. He had been called many things but never a young hero. That was a title reserved for junior cultivators in the righteous sects.
They invited him for lunch and Xiang Yu agreed. They sat on stools outside near the entrance to a dilapidated kitchen and served fish and vegetables. It was a simple meal, yet it tasted so comforting. They didn't treat him like a monster. Instead, they treated him like a guest.
As they ate, the young girl chattered about what happened that night. It turns out that her mother was injured in a fishing accident that also killed her father. While she lay in bed recovering the village evacuated. They hid underneath the floorboards of the village head's house.
The demons approached the house and the mother sacrificed herself to let her daughter live but while she was knocked out cold she was dragged away by a demon and then saved by cultivators. Her daughter remained hiding underneath the floorboards but a higher-ranking demon found her and that was the demon he killed that night.