Chapter 110

Chapter 110

Chapter 110: Song Lang

At this moment, the Cheng residence was eerily similar to the Chang residence that Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan had visited last year.

Under the moonlight, everything was quiet. Even the clouds in the sky seemed no longer to be stirred by the wind.

The swordsman and the blade master ran across the rooftops of one building after another.

During this time, Bai Zhengliu couldn’t help but glance at the streets of Jingzhou City outside the Cheng residence—the same streets he and Brother Mei had walked during the day.

The scene before his eyes made his heart relax slightly.

Still relying on the enhanced vision granted by spiritual energy, Bai Zhengliu could now clearly see the scenery of Jingzhou City.

It was late at night, naturally lacking the hustle and bustle of daytime. But he saw the night watchmen walking the streets, saw a few house windows still lit with candlelight, and saw drunken latecomers staggering home, leaning on nearby trees for support.

—He and Mei Yinghan had not entered a place like the “Chang residence,” “Tan family,” or “Tianshan,” but remained in the ordinary world, in the ordinary Cheng residence.

This thought allowed Bai Zhengliu to exhale a little more freely. But immediately, the scene ahead made him tense again.

Unknowingly, they had arrived at the Cheng family’s house.

Logically, after everything they had witnessed tonight, neither the Cheng couple nor Cheng Yaoniang could possibly feel so sleepy. Yet what greeted their eyes was a pitch-black house.

Bai Zhengliu instinctively looked at Mei Yinghan.

He saw the same grave expression mirrored on Mei Yinghan’s face.

Their eyes met; Mei Yinghan lightly nodded at him, and Bai Zhengliu quickly understood his meaning.

They did not enter the Cheng family’s house through the main door but went to the windows on either side.

The windows were not locked and swayed gently in front of Bai Zhengliu.

He pushed open the window, and at the same time, the Twenty-Eight Generals were already drawn. Any trace of yin energy that lunged at him could be immediately cut down by his beloved blade.

Just as it had been the day he cut through snow on Tianshan.

But there was nothing. The gap in the pushed window grew wider, and the interior scene became increasingly clear. It was still pitch-black, only now bathed in moonlight, yet the details could not escape Bai Zhengliu’s eyes.

He saw all the furnishings in the rooms of Master Cheng and Madam Cheng. His gaze swept over every inch, even noticing Mei Yinghan who had also pushed open another window from the other side… Then, Mei Yinghan moved.

One hand on the windowsill, he nimbly flipped inside the house and walked in a specific direction.Seeing the scene, Bai Zhengliu immediately knew that his lover had discovered something. Thinking back to the hand signal Mei Yinghan made when he flipped into the house, Bai Zhengliu didn’t hesitate and followed him inside.

There was no smell of blood or decay; the place seemed like an ordinary room.

But after turning around a table, a faint realization flickered in Bai Zhengliu’s mind.

Master Cheng and Madam Cheng were lying on the ground. They had clearly been through a struggle—Master Cheng’s forehead had hit something, leaving a patch of bruising. Madam Cheng was slightly better off, but her face was pale, black energy swirling around her forehead, clearly just attacked by yin energy.

Seeing his lover already tending to Master Cheng, Bai Zhengliu half-crouched in front of Madam Cheng, channeling spiritual energy into his palm and brushing it across her face from a distance.

The yin energy was dispersed again.

Master Cheng and Madam Cheng let out pained cries from their throats, suddenly opening their eyes. One shouted, “You demon! Release my daughter, Yaoniang!”

The other simply shouted, “My daughter—”

With these two statements, combined with the fact that Cheng Yaoniang was nowhere in the room, Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan could immediately deduce what had happened.

Sure enough, when they focused their gaze and discerned the identities of the two in the dim moonlight, Madam Cheng’s tears fell instantly, even before Master Cheng could react.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan faced each other silently at the scene.

After letting the Cheng couple leave, they discovered the formation on Cheng Yaoniang’s rooftop and decided to wait inside that house.

The silence on both sides was broken unexpectedly: while Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan were choosing their words, Madam Cheng wiped her tears and spoke first: “We saw that demon!”

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan’s bodies jolted, their eyes fixed directly on Madam Cheng: “Please, speak!”

…

…

The chair on the floor was set upright, and the broken teapot ornaments were gathered into a corner.

The candles were relit, and the faces of Master Cheng and Madam Cheng reflected in the flickering light still looked pale, but there was hope directed at Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan. They spoke earnestly: “It must have been around midnight. Yaoniang said she was tired. We didn’t want her to sleep, but the girl said she was exhausted, so we couldn’t truly prevent her from closing her eyes… In the end, she rested on the bed. We felt no fatigue and stayed by her side.”

The swordsman and the blade master listened and nodded.

The Cheng couple continued: seeing their daughter close her eyes and her breathing gradually shallow, they immediately took out the talisman given by the Tianshan heroes and placed it in Cheng Yaoniang’s lap.

Once the talisman was tucked inside her clothing, they felt some relief and began speaking quietly, discussing things like whether the Tianshan heroes were already confronting the yin evil. They comforted each other, knowing from prior experience that the two heroes’ abilities were far more effective than the temples outside the city.As they spoke, not long after, Master Cheng and Madam Cheng themselves began to feel fatigued.

Naturally, they didn’t dare sleep. They propped each other up—pinching arms, nudging each other—barely staying upright. Yet their eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Even Master Cheng was puzzled; though it was the usual rest hour, after everything that had happened, he should have been fully alert.

Thinking this, he suddenly sensed something amiss. When he looked up, a soft radiance enveloped him…

“It’s that talisman!”

Facing the two “Tianshan heroes”—Bai Zhengliu technically wasn’t, but they had never corrected the Cheng couple—the middle-aged couple’s voices carried a mix of excitement and joy. Yet, almost immediately, that joy turned bitter.

Was the talisman effective? Yes! Within that soft, warm glow, all previous fatigue dissipated. Their minds became clearer than ever, allowing them to perceive the thing separated by the light and their daughter’s body.

It was a sticky black mass, vaguely human in outline.

“Song Lang” had arrived, intending to possess Cheng Yaoniang or enter her dreams, but the talisman blocked him—he could not succeed!

Realizing this, the Cheng couple trembled in both fear and excitement. Master Cheng mustered his courage and shouted at “Song Lang”: “You demon troubling my daughter! We’ve called the experts to subdue you! If you’re smart, you’ll know not to persist and surrender immediately!”

At the same time, Madam Cheng tried to step outside the room, intending to follow the swordsman and blade master’s instructions to summon help.

But “Song Lang” gave her no chance.

Halfway across, Madam Cheng felt a sudden chill on her back. Her entire body trembled as if an icicle had pierced her head. Her limbs stiffened, and she could barely move. Forget stepping forward—just maintaining her stance was a struggle.

Master Cheng noticed his wife’s distress. The earlier exhilaration drained slightly, but he could not watch the demon harm his daughter. He tried to shout—

“Song Lang” blocked Madam Cheng, and naturally could also block Master Cheng.

He felt his throat obstructed, unable to speak. Struggling, attempting to seize “Song Lang,” he quickly lost control of his body just like his wife. Up close, “Song Lang” was no longer a discernible figure but a shadow, more intangible than flowing water.

The incident ended with Madam Cheng collapsing and Master Cheng hitting his head. As for Cheng Yaoniang, the shadow truly could not touch the talisman she held, yet it refused to let its prey go. The couple could not tell what he did; when they regained awareness, their daughter was gone.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan: “……”

They approached the bed and saw fragments of the jade talisman.

Picking them up, they saw the shards had turned black and filthy, dense with yin energy, clearly corrupted.

This discovery brightened the two’s mood, which had been low since leaving Cheng Yaoniang’s room. No matter what, the talisman had indeed worked against “Song Lang.” He had taken Cheng Yaoniang, yet considering the circumstances, it seemed he had obeyed Master Cheng’s threat.

“We’ll go find the young lady.”

The blade master and swordsman decided.“How… how are we supposed to find her?” The Cheng couple heard this and felt both joy and worry. Not to mention Madam Cheng, even looking at Master Cheng, one could see the slight redness in his eyes.

Who would have thought? A family that merely conducted business honestly would be entangled in such supernatural calamities.

He could hardly imagine—if he hadn’t previously formed a good connection with Tianshan, and the two heroes hadn’t arrived at their home now, what would have happened to their daughter? And what would have become of their household?

“There is naturally a way,” Bai Zhengliu said. After speaking, he asked again, “But it requires one item that belongs to the young lady. Is there anything like that here?”

When he said this, he didn’t hold much expectation. Earlier, when the Cheng family had left, they had meticulously checked everything Cheng Yaoniang owned—from clothes and shoes to head ornaments—ensuring not a single old item remained.

Yet unexpectedly, after he asked, Madam Cheng thought for a moment and actually nodded. She still wanted to confirm: “It is indeed Yaoniang’s, but it’s something she used when she was a child. I wonder if it will work?”

Bai Zhengliu recalled the two previous times he had used the methods in Record of Star Plucking to locate the owners of objects, and said, “We can try it first—as long as it’s in your house and confirmed to be hers, that’s enough.”

Madam Cheng immediately nodded: “Of course! I’ve been keeping it for her, but since she’s grown, she no longer uses such little things. Later, it would all go into her dowry, for her own children to use.” Saying this, two clear lines of tears fell.

Before, when planning for a son-in-law, they would do so joyfully. Who could have imagined now? They no longer wished for their daughter to marry into a good family. As long as Yaoniang was safe, healthy, and no longer troubled by evil spirits, as parents, they would be content.

Thinking this, Madam Cheng took a golden safety lock from her jewelry box drawer and handed it to Bai Zhengliu.

Bai Zhengliu inhaled deeply, infused it with spiritual energy, and began silently reciting the incantation.