Chapter 161 - Poisonous Miasma (1)
Li Fei'er still had no idea what kind of ability Shen Minyao had and what she was. Li Fei'er would be lying if she said that she wasn't curious about Shen Minyao, but she wasn't certain that Shen Minyao would disclose the truth.
Shen Minyao was, no doubt, not an ordinary human. From the moment Li Fei'er met her, Shen Minyao was able to face dangerous spirits and demons without showing fear in her visage.
As Li Fei'er watched her swing her sword towards the demons, the shaman could see that her friend was somewhat enjoying it. It baffled her how Shen Minyao could remain calm in front of these dangerous demons.
She had never seen Shen Minyao look any enthusiastic—despite her emotionless face—when slaughtering spirits and demons, nor was she aware that Shen Minyao was proficient in sword-fighting.
"Miss Shen, another wave of demons is coming from above."
Suddenly, Qin Zhi's cold voice made Li Fei'er shiver. She lifted her head in the sky and saw a thick mass of demons approaching them. This was larger than the first two swarms of demons they had seen earlier.
She had never seen such a number of demons gathering in the same place before, and she was briefly reminded by Jiang Chen earlier that the city would be in danger if they decided to invade and live with the humans.
Wait. Just who killed those demons earlier? She and Jiang Chen sensed two powerful demons in the area, and now that they were here, Li Fei'er couldn't find a trace of them.
Just what had happened?
They had seen lightning strikes up above the sky when the demons first arrived, effectively killing them altogether. Li Fei'er had never encountered a demon as powerful as that. She had no doubt that they were no match against that demon.
Li Fei'er summoned another one of her shikigamis, and this time, a huge eagle appeared beside her. It was at least three heads taller than her and was looking at the approaching demons with contempt.
Fear was apparent on Lu Anqi's face, while Jiang Chen was a little uncertain about what he could do next. It was understandable for the fox demons because it wasn't every day that humans got to see such an overwhelming number of demons flocking in the same place.
While Li Fei'er was distracted, Shen Minyao killed the remaining child-eating demons, took their meager demon orbs, and hid them with the intention to devour them later. Now, the only pressing issue that they needed to solve was how to get rid of the incoming demons.
"What do we do now?" Li Fei'er asked once the last child-eating demon fell by Shen Minyao's blade. "We need to do something before the demons decide to settle in the city."
Jiang Chen and Lu Anqi joined the three once he deemed it safe enough for Lu Anqi to stand next to Li Fei'er. He didn't expect to see Shen Minyao here with another demon, but he was more shocked to see demons arriving in the city like this.
This only made his resolve to learn demon exorcism stronger than before. He could not leave this kind of exorcism to Li Fei'er, especially to Shen Minyao. Who knew what this fox demon was thinking and why she was pretending to be 'Shen Minyao' and living among the humans?
Meanwhile, Shen Minyao gave Qin Zhi a knowing look. Because they were forced to suppress their demonic presence, none of them would be able to kill those demons just from the minuscule power left in their bodies.
Then, what should they do? It would have been better if these humans hadn't come and gotten involved in this case, especially now that it was clear that someone was targeting Shen Minyao.
"There's a way, but I don't have enough spiritual powers to trap all the demons."
Qin Zhi's next words took everyone's attention. The three humans found it so out of place to see a businessman like him standing on the school grounds with a weapon in his hand.
"What do you mean, Mr. Qin?" Li Fei'er asked, ignoring how her heartbeat sped up the moment her eyes lay on this man. She couldn't understand this invisible pull between them and wondered if she was the only one who could feel it.
"These are low-level demons. Miss Shen and I could eradicate them, but with their numbers right now, they are quite overwhelming. You are a shaman, are you not?" He asked in return.
Li Fei'er nodded as a response. Did Shen Minyao tell him about her family business?
"Then, you are capable of making a barrier, I assume?" Qin Zhi then glanced at Jiang Chen and Lu Anqi who were practically useless at this moment. These psychics were no match against these demons, after all.
"I see. So you plan to set a barrier and trap all of those demons within the school grounds. Not bad, Mr. Qin," Shen Minyao commented once she realized what her brother's plan was.
"But wouldn't that be dangerous for you and Yaoyao?" Li Fei'er frowned.
They might be low-level demons, but it wouldn't change the fact that they were demons and that they could hurt Shen Minyao and CEO Qin. Li Fei'er forced himself to set aside her confusion and curiosity towards Qin Zhi and Shen Minyao for the meantime.
"It's alright, Miss Li," Qin Zhi reassured her. There was a subtle gentleness in his tone that made Shen Minyao arch a slender brow at him.
So it turned out that whether it was in the past or in the future, Feng Jiu was still a pearl in his hand.
In contrast, Li Fei'er wondered why she was having a weird reaction when facing Qin Zhi like this.
"So long as you would be able to keep up with the barrier, Miss Shen and I would be able to deal with the problem. It's important that we kill every one of them. Please make sure none of you would step inside the barrier, we wouldn't be able to assure your safety if you ended up trapped inside with us."
Li Fei'er glanced at Shen Minyao's way as if she was seeking the latter's opinion. If Shen Minyao said 'no' and did not trust Qin Zhi's suggestion, then she wouldn't do it.
Shen Minyao nodded with her ever impassive face. She understood that she and Qin Zhi had to rely on physical attacks to kill these demons, without catching the attention of other psychics and exorcists nearby.
However, there were three waves of demonic invasion in this area. There was no doubt that this place would attract people to do paranormal investigations. The glass windows had shattered all at the same time, the playground beyond recognition as if it was demolished by some unknown entity.
What's more, the fact that children had fallen sick and that the doctors failed to diagnose what made them ill would be suspicious and eerie for humans.
"It's alright, Classmate Li," Shen Minyao told her. "Please keep the barrier up as long as you can or until Mr. Qin and I were done with them."
She lifted her blade, and it shone under the moonlight. However, with the demon horde fast approaching, the collective shadow cast over them, hiding the moon from their eyes.
Li Fei'er pondered if there was no other way. Of course, there was, but the two fox demons weren't willing to disclose their identities yet, especially Shen Minyao who was still being hunted by Li Fei'er's family.
"It's almost time. Hurry," Qin Zhi told Li Fei'er, wanting her to leave and stay in a safe place with her friends, while he and Shen Minyao dealt with these demons.
"Mr. Jiang, Lu Anqi, I will be troubling you to set these talismans around the perimeter." Li Fei'er pulled a handful of talismans for the two to collect… before giving Shen Minyao one last look. "We'll be waiting for you at the front gates."
Shen Minyao nodded and watched as the three humans moved all at once and scattered the talismans just so Li Fei'er could set up the barrier. Once done, Jiang Chen and Lu Anqi met with Li Fei'er at the front gates. The shaman then waited for the demons to move closer down to the earth before she erected the barriers, forbidding them to escape.
"Ah, she ignored you, dear brother." She chuckled once the three were out of sight. "If I was born a male, do you think Feng Jiu would have fallen for me instead of you?"
How could she let this chance to annoy her brother slip by? Of course, she was aware of the subtle change in Li Fei'er's expression whenever she looked at Qin Zhi earlier.
"You are speaking such nonsense again.." Qin Zhi scowled and turned his back on her, slashing a couple of demons that attacked him from midair, earning a grin from Shen Minyao.