The pure white Portuguese-style villa was designed to look like a place for relaxation, where you go to have a good time. But against the ashy backdrop that resembled a warzone, it looked comical. Although, the older residents of hell did not look amused in the slightest. They walked on tiptoes outside the building, keeping their head low and their feet fast.
When one of the ghosts made eye contact with the demon guarding the villa, he yelped and sprinted away at top speed. The demon laughed at such display and found Blazebeast parking his carriage to the side.
Finally! some good entertainment!
He stepped aside and opened the grand gates, looking uncharacteristically jovial.
Zhang Xiyu wondered whether acting cute is one of the torture techniques they learn at orientation.
"Who's this lucky fellow, Blazy?"
Blazy proudly showed off his game. "Had to work day and night to find a guy like this? Little Zhang is truly one of a kind."
Zhang Xiyu pushed his giant hands away in disgust. In doing so, he tripped and fell in front of the guard. Blazebeast really wanted to take his words back. The guard lightly kicked him up from his position. He opened his mouth to ridicule the duo but stopped when he saw the evident embarrassment on Zhang Xiyu's face. The guard sighed, "Have some composure, the two of you. You will be in the presence of our dear highness, Princess Aika. Any disrespect towards her highness would be a direct offence towards the Sixth Prince."
The two of them nodded to appease the guard and followed him inside.
Zhang Xiyu walked behind and observed his surroundings. While he is sure that this is a trap, he will not go down without a fight. He slowly puts away the foot-length dirk under his robes. He managed to pinch this off the guard's huge waist when he 'slipped' a while ago.
The guard signalled his subordinates to open the gate. The duo walked inside the opulent hall. Large ornate windows decorated by floral motifs and gold carvings made the entire room glow. Intricate paintings hung from the wall to the ceiling, which shone under the majestic chandeliers. One huge painting was placed in the centre of the wall in which a beautiful woman posed with pink Juliet roses. Underneath the painting, around ten people stood in a semicircle, as if waiting for someone.
Zhang Xiyu walked further inside. He wondered why they were all dressed so provocatively. All men and women adorned the finest silk in the flimsiest way possible. Zhang Xiyu understands that people have different ways of carrying themselves and would normally not care about things like clothing. But the situation here was different.
Shouldn't they be confident in their bodies? Then why do they all grasp at their clothes, trying to desperately pull it up?
Their small movements were not absent from his eyes.
When they eventually turned around to meet the newcomer, their delicate faces turned imperceptibly hostile.
Zhang Xiyu was puzzled, what is this all about?
The gazes were pulled away at the sound of a door opening. A maid walked out from the house. She held a notepad and looked at Blazebeast.
"Why are you here?"
"I got madam a gift."
Zhang Xiyu did not care to feel offended but instead observed the reactions of the rest of them. While the maid conversed with the beast, the remaining people fidgeted, with their spines straight and their neck down.
They are afraid of the maid?
The maid assessed Zhang Xiyu from head to toe, the same way Blazebeast did when they first met, and walked past him. The woman walked closer to the crowd. After looking around for a while she dashed towards the corner of the room. When she came back, she carried an unconscious woman with one arm. The maid then pointed her pen towards a quivering man.
"You! Follow me!"
The man reluctantly walked behind her and the door closed again.
Blazebeast yawned and patted Zhang Xiyu on his back.
"All the best then. I'll be waiting in another room-", he pointed towards the exit.
"-will pick you up later. Bye!"
And just like that Blazebeast was gone. That's one less pair of eyes on him. Zhang Xiyu looked at the door the maid had entered through.
He decided he needed a tour of the house.
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He needed to find another exit out of this place, if it even had one. While coming inside he did notice a backyard of sorts. He sneaked through the dim-lit hallways with silent footsteps. Zhang Xiyu made a mental map but so far, his intuition only led him to dead ends. He suspected that maybe he was running around in circles. The unique motifs and different paintings went against that hypothesis.
There was just one thing common between these hallways, they were jam packed with such portraits. Almost all of them starred the same woman, the one in that entry hall. She posed in various questionable positions, although the smile and stare were constant. When it wasn't her, it was a man. Zhang Xiyu thought that despite the expensive suits he wore, the man still had greed in his eyes.
Many portraits depicted the passionate lust between the woman and that man.
Zhang Xiyu erased its memory to keep his sanity.
After long hours of exploring, Zhang Xiyu could no longer hide in the alcoves and was exposed to a small room. The room had nothing in it except for a cubic showcase in the middle.
The showcase was a glass box and radiated an intense blue glow. Zhang Xiyu felt entranced suddenly. His feet drew closer to the glowing fragment, he could feel its aura seeping into his translucent body, each cell bursting with vitality. He didn't think being a ghost was any different than being alive before. But now that his skin gradually turned back alive, he couldn't help but revel in it.
Pick me.... Pick me...…
Something whispered in his ears. He couldn't take the distance between him and the fragment anymore.
I must consume it. It belongs to me.
"What are you doing, boy?" a small bell tinkled behind him.
Zhang Xiyu wanted to ignore the woman behind him but another force pulled him towards her. His head was forcibly turned over.
'So, it is her. Princess Aika.' He thought.
Abruptly, the repulsive force increased on his body. It was different from the kind and beautiful nature of the fragment. This force was full of malice. It wanted to push him down to his knees, but Zhang Xiyu resisted it. While it felt unbearable at the beginning, he was soon getting used to it. In a few moments, he casually brushed off the woman's coercion and turned back to the fragment with a new hunger.
Aika's stiff face showed panic as she ran towards him. She leaped on him and grabbed his shoulder. The scene immediately changed; they were no longer in that mysterious room.
This teleportation snapped Zhang Xiyu back to reality. He looked around in confusion. It seemed to him that he was in a large bedroom. On the cozy bed lay an unmoving body, its eyes wide open and lifeless.
He recognized that man. Wasn't he one of the people he saw at the entry?
Strange contraptions lay scattered around the floor. A red leather whip, various collars and handcuffs, metal chains, weirdly shaped sticks? What the hell is going on?
A thin hand slithered down his chest. Aika tightly embraced him from behind.
"How did you get yourself in such a position, boy? I cannot imagine what could have happened to you if I wasn't there." She grabbed his abdomen and tilted her head seductively.
Zhang Xiyu ignored the soft breast that pressed against his back and tried to push her away.
Her seemingly weak arms had crazy strength within them. "Where do you think you are going? Aren't you, my gift? "
She turned him around and pressed him to the bed. Zhang Xiyu panicked and looked behind him to find that the man's body was gone. Its existence was akin to an illusion.
When he looked back at the woman, he found that she was now buck naked, her soft long hair flowing down her chest like ink. Her appearance was alluring enough to move gods, but Zhang Xiyu only became more aware of the dirk's existence.
Contrary to Aika's expectations, a different sort of sword stood at her appearance.
Zhang Xiyu let her push him to the bed. At his compliance, she became more excited. She thought, now that this ghost had accidentally absorbed the stone's aura, his skin became far more delectable than any other ghosts she has had. Aika looked at the man under her. His looks were top tier too. She leaned down and kissed him passionately. She must reward Blazebeast heftily this time.
Zhang Xiyu had no time to build any mutual feelings of arousal because with every kiss, this demon seemed to suck out a piece of his soul. He had to get out of here before this monster sucked his soul into death.
Aika put her claws to use and stripped him off at a rapid speed. When she was about to pull off the final garment, Zhang Xiyu pulled his hand up in defence. Aika looked at him questionably.
In response Zhang Xiyu simply blushed under her gaze and covered his face with one hand.
".... this is… this is my first time…" he muttered shyly.
Aika was filled with delight. A virgin! And look at his shy countenance! How adorable! We must go twenty rounds! No! thirty!
She cupped his face and leaned down towards his neck.
"Don't worry baby. This older sister will guide you through everything." She licked his jaw.
"Older sister?" Zhang Xiyu caressed her back.
"Hmm."
"Aren't you too old to be my sister? I am afraid even my mother would fall young when compared to you."
"Huh?"
Red blood spurted out and drenched the bedsheets. Aika slowly looked down at her chest. A Scottish dirk was jammed between her pale breasts. She thought it was no big deal and moved to pull the blade out of her heart, when she pulled at it, the blade grew veins that travelled through her chest, keeping it intact. She fell down screaming as the countless veins pierced her nerves.
"The- guar- guardian blade..." she choked on her own blood.
"Ho- How- did you-…?"
Zhang Xiyu put his clothes back on and pulled out two more swords from Aika's closet. He thought now that he was already here, why not raid what is left of the woman?
He shrugged and rifled through the drawers and filled a backpack with weird artefacts. One had no time to nitpick, just grab all you can.
Aika only had a sparse number of servants and guards positioned near her room. She did not like their intrusive nature, which was probably there at her husband's order, and had them all stay away.
Now that she was twitching in her own blood, she gravely regretted her decision. Though she knew she would not die, she was dead already, but restoring her body would take centuries. Aika needed to heal immediately!
While Zhang Xiyu ran towards the exit, Aika had already notified her husband of this using her remaining soul power which was bound with him.
Liu Lei, who was enjoying his time, surrounded by beauties in the liquor pool, frowned at the telepathic message.
"What's wrong, sixth prince?" a female demon showed concern.
Liu Lei walked out of the pool, "Some youngling managed to stab my wife." He sneered.
Has it been too long since he showed his true colours? Liu Lei cracked his knuckles.
His body flashed almost at the speed of light, he now stood under the familiar white villa.
Today, hell will know what happens when you dare to offend this prince.
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