The two men halted once they saw the now very much dead husband. The man who already looked unpleasant, was now turned into a sight that even cockroaches won't approach unless they want to get shunned from the cockroach society for going near such a revolting sight.
The corpse lay sprawled on the ground,his ugly cock was slipping out from his torn trousers, and his stomach was slashed open by long claws. The demon had pulled out the man's intestines and thrown them all around the body.
Normally the demon would consume the flesh,and since human flesh is their most desired type of meat,they won't even leave a drop of blood behind,the body could be rotting for days on end and they would still eat it. However,the corpse was fresh,but nothing was eaten,it's as if the demons had suddenly developed standards.
Ming Hua who normally had no trouble seeing blood and corpses,could not watch the sight for more then a few seconds,he turned his body away and covered his mouth with his gloved hand,his body jerked violently as he tried not to puke.
Xiao ling on the other hand was not merely as revolted,he cautiously approached the corpse,his steps slow and cautious.Once he was close enough,he leaned forward to inspect what had happened and why was the man outside. The husband had a white cloth stuffed into his mouth, and his arms were twisted behind his back,likely tied up. The low ranking demons were not intelligent enough to pull this off,this was a mortal's doing.
Xiao ling felt his heart sink and immediately started looking around for the nameless girl;she was no where in sight,no matter how hard he looked.He started to walk all around but Eventually he gave up, and was about to collapse against the wall,once again he started to feel exhausted.His chest grew heavy and he was tired.
His shoulder had barely even touched the wall when he paused as he felt a presence right obove him, and he quickly snapped his head up.His eyes widened as he took in the sight obove him.
The demon stood on the edge of a house,on one hand it held the girl's head, and the other held her mangled body.It raised her body up high before opening its grotesque mouth,and made a satisfied sound as her blood fell on its toungue . Xiao ling was about to rush over to save her,but stopped as he realized it was truly to late for her now,not even a god could survive this. She had dragged her husband out,and she had for once finally gotten something that she wanted but for that she had to pay a high price. Xiao Ling could not see the girls face,but something told him,she was at peace when she died…
Xiao ling could not move,his legs felt heavy and gave out from under him,causing him to fall to the ground with a loud thud. The streets were overall silent,thus the sound traveled all around him,and reached all ears nearby. The demon froze as it heard the thud from below it,the creature let the last few drops of blood fall on his toungue before lowering the body ,and slowly turned its head towards the immortal. The two stared at each other before the demon loosened it's claws;dropped the body, leapt into the air,its body twisting to make itself appear more bigger and dangerous,letting out a menacing growl as it raced towards him.
Xiao ling did not move,his eyes fell on the head in its grasp,a forced cry escaped his lips ,his body finally regained some control and he staggered backwards. Just as the demon reached him,Ming Hua appeared and sliced the demons upper half clean off.
Its upper half fell fell infront of Xiao ling,withering as it let out a few pitiful cries,the demon looked as if it had been wronged and was trying to cry out its sorrows.
Finally it went still,eyes completely dull and staring up at the man who he was meant to kill.
The man in question crawled forward,he reached his hand forward before hesitating,but eventually took the girls head,he lifted it up and brought it towards himself,he gently wrapped his arms the head,trying to keep the contents from falling out. He did not want to look, and dared not too. After what seemed like an enternity,he bit his toungue and took a deep shakey breath. He lowered his own head ,and he looked at what was left of her face,he saw one of her eyes had been completely ripped out,and her other eye was closed,not strained nor wide open,just closed.Her lips were twisted upward, it looked as if she might just open her mouth and sigh in relief.
Xiao ling swallowed and forced himself to stare at her,he wanted to say something but there was nothing left to say, he wanted to apologize but it was already too late.
Not only had the entire village wronged her,but in her last moments,her last hope had also wronged her?had Xiao ling not himself also taken her back to her husband?done the very thing he wanted to protect her from?
What could anyone do for the girl now other than properly bury her?and hope for her to have a better life when she is reborn?
Finally,Xiao ling,lifted his head, and looked at what was left of her mangled body.It just layed abandoned on the side of the road,a crow had already started to peck at her body.Seeing the bird,Xiao ling picked up a rock and threw it towards the crow,careful to allow the crow to fly off.The rock flew right over the girl.
"Ming Hua! Her body..pick.." Xiao ling paused,his voice was breaking,it honestly hurt quite a lot to speak since it felt like he had swallowed the rock he threw earlier.He finally continued in a much softer tone,"pick her body up,we have to go bury it.."
Ming Hua who had been silently watching the whole time from under a small house
straightened himself up and walked over to her corpse,before kneeling down and tentatively picking her up as if she was a baby.
"Should we return her to her family?.."he asked,although he already knew the answer.
Xiao ling scoffed and held her head tighter,"they were the one who gave her to that miserable husband of his..",as he spoke,he wiped his tears away.
He looked at the demons corpse which was rapidly starting to decay and letting out a rotting smell,foul enough to leave the entire village sick.
He tilted his head before his lips twisted into a smirk,he licked his lips before continuing to speak,"last year,her father fell down the mountain and broke his fat neck, while her brothers watched,they took so long grieving over him that they didn't notice the sun go down.."
Xiao didn't need to finish,everyone knows what happens to mortals who don't find shelter by night,very few have ever survived. The only reason Xiao ling himself survived was because..well he is incredibly lucky,he one way or another always avoided them whether he wanted to or not.
Ming Hua sighed, and shook his head,"should we bury her husba.." before he could even finish the word'husband', Xiao ling shot him such a nasty look that Ming Hua considered writing 'I'm an idiot' on his forehead.
A few incense time later,the two men had climbed the tallest and furtherist mountain from the village.The girl had been buried, and Xiao ling was currently sitting crossed legged on the ground,as he personally carved her a tomb stone.
Ming Hua was leaning against the tree before he finally broke the silence,"you were going to come back for her weren't you?".
Xiao went still,as he kept his eyes on the stone infront of him." I was just too tired to tell her.."
hearing this Ming Hua's eyes softened, and he walked over before placing his hand over his friends shoulder,"then why do you feel so guilty?".
"Because I never told her"
What did it matter what Xiao lings intentions were?the girl never new about them,so in her life,she had been completely abandoned even in her last moments.If she had known,she would not had choosen death,because she would have known her hell is over,but she didn't do she died in that hell.
Xiao ling placed the tomb stone on her grave. Ming Hua raised a eyebrow,"you gave her your own name?"