Red Rose [Never Let You Go, Again Book 3]

18: Clenched Fist, Resisted Feelings

"MEILIEN!" Jiang Cheng shouted.

No, I won't listen to them this time, Meilien determinedly played on. In minutes, a red figure appeared at her side.

"Mistress!"

"Xiangxiang-jiejie!" Meilien sighed with relief as she smiled at her friend.

"Goodness, what's going on here?" Xiao Xiang looked around at the corpses rushing in. "Can't you control them?"

"I'm not a Corpse Caller yet."

"Right, let me handle them!" Xiao Xiang called out as she shot into the fight.

"Shall I bring in a few helpers?"

The Scarlet Seductress gave her a thumbs-up from afar. 

"Mn," Meilien nodded and returned Xinqing to her mouth. She blew out yet another tune from Susu's notes, summoning in hundreds of dark spirits.

Jiang Wanyin gawked and Lan Xichen was horrified. The cultivators and people looked up to see innumerable souls dashing in from the woodland and mountainside surrounding them, working beside the Scarlet Seductress as she snapped away the corpses.

"Wah! I didn't expect my daughter to be this much of an expert!" Jiang Cheng smiled as he flashed Zidian into the distance.

"Wanyin, this isn't good."

"Why not?"

"These corpses must have been aroused by Nie Jiuyue, who must be around..."

"That brat will notice!" Jiang Cheng ran to Meilien's right. Lan Xichen took up the left and both stood to protect her.

"Meilien," Xichen growled as he swung Shuoyue, "let go of Xinqing."

When she didn't listen, Xichen shouted, "MEILIEN!"

"Daddy..." Meilien put Xinqing away with a frown.

"Don't you remember Susu telling about not playing that when out in the open? What if Nie Jiuyue notices you?" Jiang Cheng shouted. Meilien had been told of her origins long ago by Wei Wuxian himself, but she didn't care who her biological parents were. All she did care was she understood the possibility of her biological father wanting her back for her skills.

Meilien's mouth opened slightly in a silent 'Oh'. She hadn't thought that far...

"How is this possible?" Xiao Xiang gasped and panted as she halted for a moment. "We've been fighting for half an hour and they're still coming?"

"The corpse poisoning is increasing again," Lan Qiang called out from behind them.

"Tch, where's Wei Wuxian when you need him?" Jiang Cheng moped.

The people began coughing and choking raucously, the fog from the corpses suffocating them all. Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui ran to cover the people and blocked the fumes with their energy while talking to the people to reassure them.

Suddenly, when the poisonous fumes abruptly increased, the people around started crying out. "Yingxiong Laozu! Yingxiong Laozu, help us!"

Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui exchanged piteous glances. "Sorry, Daddy won't be able to–"

"HA! I was wondering when you'd remember me!"

"DADDY!"

Both sons spun around to look up at the rooftop behind them. "Not much of a terrifying demonic cultivator no less horrible than a monster now, eh?" Cultivators and commoners alike gasped at the sight of a hooded man in black standing atop the roof, robes fluttering in the wind, inky black swirling around him. He raised his hand and pulled the hood back, revealing a pale, grinning face.