Chapter 393: Reunion, Old Friend, Demon Coming (asking for monthly ticket)
"Little...year?"
Lin Xingshi froze in place. Unconsciously, the lion shadows around him slowly faded away.
But behind her, a fiery red flickered in the night. It was a braid. Ever since leaving Lijing ten years ago, she had braided her hair every day, to remember the boy who had done it.
Meanwhile, the stake demons had retrieved the stakes they had placed on the mountain. The surroundings suddenly became much emptier. White Wolf and Nian Beast Lord were now slumped in the pit.
The Nian Beast Lord narrowed his eyes and looked at the giant figure protecting him. Wisps of purple-red flames were floating in the air, like enchanting flowers sweeping across the wilderness. The breeze blowing from the seashore carried a thick smell of blood.
The little Nian beast lowered its head and panted, and the bright light of the full moon shone on the giant purple-red lion.
Visibly, its body slowly shrinks to a miniature length of more than one meter - this is its favorite form, free and easy, with light and graceful movements;
Even when a fight is necessary, it prefers to use this form rather than being a big-brained, brainless guy like Yagubaru.
After a moment, the little Nian beast raised its head to face the moonlight and breathed a sigh of relief with lingering fear.
Then it lowered its head and took a look at the Nian Beast King inside the deep pit. After confirming that the other party still had a breath left, it secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness I made it," the little Nian Beast sighed, looking up, "My reputation was almost permanently reset to zero."
"Why are you here..."
The Nian Beast Lord opened half of his eye and looked at it, then opened his mouth and made a hoarse sound from his throat.
"What are you doing? I'm here to save you."
After saying that, the little Nian Beast suddenly scratched his head with his claws and muttered softly, "Why does this sentence sound so familiar? Why are all my fathers useless?"
"Go away... You are no match for them. Leave Haifan Mountain... Continue to live your life. Go wherever you like... But don't come back."
The Nian Beast Lord spoke weakly and hoarsely. He glared at the little Nian Beast, his voice like firewood crackling in the fire, his throat crackling with every word.
"I'm not leaving!" said the little Nian Beast. "Old man, just stand there and watch me perform. Don't talk too much."
After saying that, the little Nian Beast dug the ground with its claws and threw a piece of sand on the face of the Nian Beast Lord. "But it is true that I came too late, otherwise you wouldn't have been beaten so badly."
In fact, in Ji Minghuan’s original plan, the little Nian beast should have appeared earlier.
But he had been busy controlling Xia Pingzhou's perspective and had no time to pay attention to the situation here - this was all due to the excessive pressure that Gu Qiye brought to him.
As a disaster-level mutant, Gu Qiye's strength is absolutely at the top of the world. Even Gu Zhuoan and Su Wei can hardly reach his level.
If it were any other opponent, it would not be worth it for Ji Minghuan to abandon the other machines and focus on one person.
Not to mention that if Xia Pingzhou is not careful, he might be killed instantly by this terrifying lightning man, not to mention that Ayase Origami is still by his side, so he dare not be distracted at that time, otherwise not only will a machine with great development potential be scrapped on the spot, but the eldest lady may also die on the spot.
As a result, the two of them only fought back and forth for a short while before the battlefield turned into such a disastrous situation. This was something Ji Minghuan had not expected.
But he thought about it carefully and realized that there was nothing he could do about it. If demons really had the ability to compete with exorcists, then they would not have been forced to live in seclusion in the mountains by humans from the beginning.
Not to mention, Lin Xingshi leads a generation of unprecedentedly powerful Lake Hunters, which is openly the strongest organization of mankind.
The Nian Beast Lord is already old and no longer as strong as he used to be. He also has a lot of wounds on his body. Without the help of the White Crow Brigade, Ji Minghuan finds it hard to imagine how he can lead the demons on Haifan Mountain to fight against Lake Hunter.
But unfortunately... Hu Lie was actually prepared for this - they specially sent people from the Gu family to watch over the brigade and prevent them from getting involved in this battle between humans and demons.
Judging from the results, Hu Lie's move was very successful.
Ji Minghuan didn't think that with Lin Xingshi's personality, she would ask others to risk their lives to help her. She was a proud and independent person and would never ask such a thing, so this trick was most likely from Zhuge Hui - Lin Xingshi was the captain, but Zhuge Hui was the real brains of Hu Lie.
Therefore, due to various factors, the situation was out of Ji Minghuan's control for the first time.
At this moment, he controlled the little Nian beast and slowly turned his head to look. In the wilderness outside the city wall, he could see the charred corpse of the Green Snake Demon and the Rainbow Horse Demon nailed to the ground with its head hanging down.
The death of the Aries Demon was even more tragic - his body was torn apart. Not to mention the Chicken Demon, there was not even a shadow of this guy. I'm afraid he had been crushed into pieces by Zhou Jiuya.
At this moment, the only ones still fighting were the Totoro Demon, the Mad Bull Demon, and the Monkey Demon; the Rat Demon was nowhere to be seen, but the Little Nian Beast had sharp hearing and could hear its footsteps, which were secretly approaching this side.
"It's still too late..." the little Nian beast murmured softly.
Even though the mountains and fields outside the city wall were shrouded in waves of deafening sounds, in Lin Xingshi's eyes, the world seemed silent at this moment. The fur of the little Nian beast rippled in the sea breeze, and wild flames danced on its head.
The shadow before her was exactly the same as the phantom in her memory.
That summer, in the living room of that old apartment building, there were many times when Lin Xingshi arrogantly asked Xiaonian to transform into the Nian beast.
Then I sat on the sofa, holding the little lion, rubbing its fur while watching TV. The fan blew slowly, and the snow-white curtains fluttered up and down.
Sometimes, when she got tired of reading comic books, she would turn Xiaonian into a little lion and sleep on its fur. Whenever she woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, Lin Xingshi would hug it tightly and bury her face in its warm fur.
Ten years have passed, she has grown up a lot, but the little Nian beast is still the same as she remembered.
Lin Xingshi came back to her senses from her memories and looked up at the Little Nian Beast. She was once again certain. She couldn't believe such a coincidence existed in the world. This had to be Little Nian.
“…It’s you.”
In the noisy silence, she opened her mouth slightly, but no sound came out. She just stared at it blankly, waiting for the little Nian beast to look at her.
But it never did so, just scanning the battlefield around it with the corner of its eyes.
It was not until a long time later that the little Nian beast finally turned around and met her eyes.
Lin Xingshi was stunned for a long time, then tentatively spoke:
"...Xiao Nian?"
"Who else do you think it is? The Nian Beast is almost extinct. Apart from my father, is there another devil like me in the world?" At this point, the little Nian Beast sighed.
"It's you..." Lin Xingshi was silent for a while, then he opened his mouth and murmured.
She lowered her head slightly, then raised it again and looked at the little Nian beast. At this moment, a clear smile suddenly appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Long time no see, Lin Xingshi." The little Nian beast also curled the corners of his mouth at her.
Lin Xingshi was stunned: "Do you still remember this name?"
"Well, this is the name I gave you. Even though it's just a homophonic name, it's not simple for a super illiterate like me." The little Nian Beast was inexplicably proud.
"I really like this name." Lin Xingshi said softly, "I thought you had forgotten it."
"Speaking of forgetting..." The little Nian Beast was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You're the one who's doing well. Didn't you tell me before that you'd come find me, and yet you completely forgot? All these years have passed, and I haven't even seen you."
"I went to look for you," Lin Xingshi said quickly, repeating himself, "I did look for you!"
As she spoke, she frowned slightly, and a trace of panic flashed across her pretty and beautiful face.
"I don't believe it!" The little Nian beast snorted coldly, turned his face away from her, and closed his eyes.
"I really went looking for you, many times...many times."
"real?"
The little Nian beast tilted its head, opened one eye and looked at her secretly.
Lin Xingshi nodded and said softly, "I went to Lijing to look for you. Whenever I had a vacation and wanted to forget everything, I would take a boat to Lijing and visit the apartment building we lived in... I went there many times and eventually bought the apartment building."
"No way? You actually bought that damn place?" Little Nian Beast was shocked. "It's so noisy and chaotic around here. I can hear horns honking in the morning. In the summer, the refrigerator keeps losing power. Our popsicles have melted so many times."
It pinched its claws, digging them deep into the ground, and said angrily, "Lin Xingshi, you big idiot, you might as well buy a big villa. If you do that, I will definitely come back overnight after hearing it."
"How can I afford to buy a big villa?"
"So you actually bought that apartment building?"
"Well, I went back once a month back then, and every time I would write your name on the calendar in the living room, telling you to come find me if you saw it." Lin Xingshi smiled, "But later, you never came back, so I stopped waiting."
"But it was you who told me to run away. You told me to run as far away as possible and never come back, otherwise you would hate me for the rest of your life." The little Nian beast pouted, "I don't want you to hate me, so where can you find me in Lijing?"
"That's true..." Lin Xingshi was silent for a moment, then said self-deprecatingly, "I was too weak back then and couldn't protect you, so I could only let you run away..."
She paused, then suddenly looked away, "But... you're back."
"Yeah, I'm back."
The little Nian beast looked into her eyes.
Lin Xingshi was silent for a while again.
She lowered her eyes and whispered to herself, "When you should come back, I can't find you; when you shouldn't come back, you come back again..."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Actually... I really hoped you wouldn't show up, but you still showed up. The world is so cruel."
"Why are you so sad? You're so powerful now. You've become the world's number one exorcist. You can kill your family members with a single slap. You don't have to dress up as a boy anymore." The little Nian Beast said calmly, "Although I heard others say that you still like to dress up as a boy. I really don't understand what you're thinking."
Lin Xingshi was stunned.
"I'm just used to it," she said. "Besides... I'm not dressed as a boy today." She raised her hand to wipe across her long, fiery red eyebrows and raised the corners of her mouth. "I thought you'd come back."
She still remembered when she was a child, curled up in the bathtub with red eyes, complaining to the little Nian beast that she didn't like being raised as a boy by her family.
At that time, the little Nian Beast told her, "In front of me, you can always be a girl." Thinking of this, a trace of trance flashed across Lin Xingshi's face.
"Okay, let's not talk about boys and girls for now..." As he said that, the little Nian Beast pointed his claws at the Nian Beast King in the pit and continued unhappily:
"Come on! How come after ten years of not seeing you, I come here and see you beating my dad half to death! I was so moved that I almost cried when I saw you, but I was so angry that I held back my tears!"
Lin Xingshi was stunned.
She shook her head and explained, "The Grand Lord wants to invade Haifan City. If it continues to stay in the mountains, I won't do this to it... I am a human being and cannot watch others suffer. Sorry, I also have my own opinions."
"That's true, actually. I've already told my father that he's no match for you." The little Nian Beast tilted its head. "But he wouldn't listen. All demons are like that. It's because we only have our own desires in our eyes that we were born as demons..."
Having said this, it paused, then suddenly lowered its voice coldly: "So, what are you thinking now... Are you going to kill my father in front of me? Just like you did just now?"
Lin Xingshi was startled, then slowly raised his head and looked into the cold eyes of the little Nian beast.
At that moment, a man in a Mao suit and slicked-back hair suddenly descended from the city wall, stirring up a cloud of dust. With his hands in his pockets, he approached with an expressionless face, a compass emitting a rainbow light hovering above his head.
The little Nian beast turned its head and looked at Zhou Jiuya silently.
Zhou Jiuya's opponent was the weakest. He dealt with the Divine Chicken Demon and the Gluttony Demon in an instant. The Rat Demon, seeing the situation was bad, immediately fled. He couldn't find it, so he simply gave up and asked Lin Xingshi for help.
"The other two are so slow." Zhou Jiuya said as he walked over, "Aren't you finished fighting here too, Old Lion?"
He turned his head and looked not far away. At this moment, Zhuge Hui was still dealing with the "Monkey Demon" in the Zodiac Team.
There was nothing that could be done about it: this monkey was extremely agile in the mountains, taking advantage of the terrain, and was not as easy to subdue as other demons.
Although Zhuge Hui could block the monkey's explosive fruit, he couldn't catch it. He couldn't just topple an entire mountain, so he could only play a game of catching fruit with the monkey demon. The monkey demon threw the fruit, and Zhuge Hui would wave his folding fan to block it, and this cycle continued.
On Zhong Wujiu's side, he was busy dealing with the Mad Bull Demon and the Totoro Demon. The individual combat power of these two demons was tied for first in the Zodiac Team. At this moment, they were in a furious state and were not so easy to kill.
Even without the Aries demons, their bodies still have strong regenerative abilities and thick skin.
If you want to kill them, you can only crush them into air in an instant. If two top-level demons join forces, even Zhong Wujiu will need to find a perfect opportunity.
"Lao Hui and Wu Jiu are in trouble too... A few small fry can actually make them waste so much time."
Zhou Jiuya said this with disdain, snorted, and looked away from them.
He put his hand on Lin Xingshi's shoulder, tilted his head, and looked at the little Nian beast expressionlessly.
The little lion was silently digging his father out of the deep pit, just like digging a grave; sometimes he would splash sand on the prince's face, just like a puppy burying his own shit. His movements were extremely casual and reluctant, which made Zhou Jiuya silent for a moment.
"Old lion, what is this?" He looked at it for a long time but couldn't figure out what the little Nian beast was.
"He is..." Lin Xingshi was silent for a moment, "the son of the Nian beast."
Zhou Jiuya asked, "Wow, why haven't I seen such a small Nian beast before? Is it a deformed species?"
"You freak, can you even speak?" The little Nian Beast glared at him. "Listen up, I don't care if I'm bigger or smaller than you, I'll beat you up."
Zhou Jiuya frowned and said, "Then let's try it."
As soon as he finished speaking, a huge bronze pillar fell from the sky. The little Nian beast reacted quickly and retreated rapidly. The bronze pillar was deeply embedded in the ground. Cracks suddenly appeared, and a huge pit appeared, and sand and stones sank inward.
"It was a close call. I almost got smashed into Nian sauce." Xiaonian Beast said.
"It seems this thing is no small fry. Since it's the son of the Nian Beast, let's get rid of it along with the Nian Beast Lord," Zhou Jiuya said expressionlessly. "We should eliminate the root of the problem. It's a good opportunity to clean up all this garbage hidden in the mountains tonight so we don't have to smell its stench in the city."
"Old Crow..."
After a while, Lin Xingshi suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"What do you want to say?"
Zhou Jiuya turned his head and looked at Lin Xingshi.
"Don't make any move yet." Lin Xingshi said in a low voice.
"Are you kidding? Since they've come to Haifan City to cause trouble, they should know the price. If they lose, they'll die." Zhou Jiuya lowered his face and said coldly, "If we let them go like this, there will definitely be a next time."
He paused. "What are you thinking about? Have you forgotten that the Great Lord killed your parents? The Lin Xingshi I know is not such an indecisive person."
Lin Xingshi's eyes widened slightly. She remained silent, lowered her head, and stretched out her hand to block him.
"Old crow, don't be anxious, let me talk to it again." she said.
"What is there to talk about?" Zhou Jiuya asked coldly.
Out of consideration for Lin Xingshi's face, he took a deep breath and did not take action immediately.
He said, "Lin Xingshi, let me tell you this: I can wait, but I absolutely will not let them escape. If they show any signs of escaping, even if you try to stop me, I will crush them into dust. Do you understand?"
Lin Xingshi frowned his fiery red eyebrows and remained silent.
After a while, the little Nian beast slowly dug the Nian beast king out of the soil, then happily crawled over and carried the white wolf out.
It put the two together and then dusted off its paws.
At this moment, the Rat Demon suddenly appeared. It scurried out from behind a rocky mountain, squinting its eyes and stroking its trembling beard with its hand, saying:
"Little bastard, why are you here?"
"You're still alive, mouse." The little Nian Beast raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were dead."
The Rat Demon said, "Didn't I tell children not to get involved in this kind of thing?!"
"What are you talking about?" Little Nian Beast shrugged, "If I hadn't come, my father would have died."
"Hey...you, you." The Rat Demon trembled and hid behind the little Nian Beast. He glanced at Zhou Jiuya with a cold expression from a distance and couldn't help shivering.
It said in a low voice, "Let me make this clear... Old Chicken, and that glutton from the Seven Deadly Sins are both dead. That Lake Hunter is very strong. Even the Great Lord and White Greedy Wolf couldn't defeat Lin Xingshi, let alone you."
"Let them be strong if they want. Why should I be afraid of them?" The little Nian beast tilted its head.
It raised its paw and patted the Rat Demon's shoulder. "Rat, take Bai Tanlang and Dajun away. Isn't your ability to shrink other creatures? Turn them into a ball and hold it in your hand. Then go back to Lingxin Lake and let the Lotus Leaf Demon heal their injuries."
As he spoke, the Little Nian Beast glanced at the scene in the distance again: "The Mad Bull, Totoro, and Monkey are still fighting. I will buy them some time to retreat."
"Are you crazy?! You want to fight two people alone?" The Rat Demon widened his eyes.
"I can't fight two of them alone, but I can still delay them," said the little Nian beast.
It paused and said, "Leave this to me. Let's go quickly. I'll buy you time to take the prince away."
"You're crazy! You idiot!" the Rat Demon shouted hurriedly, "I've seen Zhou Jiuya, and you're no match for them! There's no time to lose, run with me!"
"You can't run away. You know their strength. We can only leave one of us... Trust me, don't look back. Take the prince and get as far away from here as possible. Do you understand?"
The Rat Demon was silent for a while, gritted his teeth, and said, "Okay then." After that, it reached out and touched the Nian Beast Lord and the White Greedy Wolf, shrinking their bodies into a ball and holding it in its hand, then turned around and ran away.
At this moment, a huge bronze pillar suddenly fell down and hit the head of the Rat Demon.
"Old Crow!" Lin Xingshi growled, a flash of flames in his pupils.
But Zhou Jiuya had no expression on his face and didn't even turn his head to look at her.
At this time, the little Nian beast suddenly turned around, touched the ground with a pair of hind legs, and immediately rushed forward with all its strength, turning into a pillar of purple-red flames and shooting out, knocking over the pillar that was falling like a rainstorm, and buying a chance for the Rat Demon to escape.
[Magic Flame Attack: The Little Nian Beast charges forward with all its might, transforming itself into an unstoppable stream of flames that attacks the enemy.]
Then, the little Nian Beast spun and landed on the ground. It turned its head and gave Zhou Jiuya and Lin Xingshi a cold look before speaking:
"The devil is coming."
As the words fell, a purple and red system prompt panel opened before its eyes.
[Demon Arrival (Branch End)—The Little Nian Beast enters its "Demon Arrival" form, going completely berserk for 10 seconds. Its entire body is covered in purple-red demonic flames, and its physical strength is greatly increased. The price it pays is a temporary loss of sanity.]
The next moment, the little Nian beast's pupils were covered with a deep red like purgatory, and its body was suddenly shrouded in a blazing purple-red flame.
Surrounded by flames, it slowly raised its head and looked at Lin Xingshi and Zhou Jiuya with a ferocious expression.
(End of this chapter)
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