Chapter 32: Is Today Over?

Chapter 32: Is Today Over?

Ren Chang made his way down the street, cutting a lonesome figure.

Ever since his qi deviation, he had lost hope in warriorhood, and he never started a family.

After work, he bought some groceries and two jars of wine, then made his way back home.

It was a very modest, two-room home with a tiny yard, and it was situated in a rather squalid and destitute area.

The gate of the neighboring yard swung open, and a woman who appeared to be in her forties emerged with a warm smile.

"How was work today?"

"About the same as every other day," Ren Chang replied with a smile.

The woman's name was Kong Xiang, and she was once Ren Chang's romantic partner. However, after the qi deviation incident, Ren Chang was robbed of his future as a warrior, and he didn't feel unworthy of Kong Xiang, so he cut her off for her sake.

Kong Xiang married someone else, but her husband later passed away, so she returned home to live as Ren Chang's next-door neighbor, often helping him out with chores and errands.

The two of them had been living like this for over twenty years, and she picked up Ren Chang's groceries before entering the kitchen to cook as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

As he set the cooked dishes down onto the table, she urged in a gentle voice, "Don't drink so much, it's not good for you."

"I know, I know," Ren Chang replied in a disgruntled manner.

Kong Xiang lowered her gaze to hide the disappointment in her eyes, then sighed, "I'm going back now. Make sure not to stay up too late. You still have to go to work tomorrow morning."

"I know, I know."

In the wake of Kong Xiang's departure, Ren Chang sat at the table with a slightly dejected look on his face.

He was aware of Kong Xiang's feelings, and he was certainly also aware of his own, but he didn't dare to say or do anything.

He was just an old cripple, so what right did he have to want more out of life?

As usual, the room was in pristine condition thanks to Kong Xiang, and he didn't want to mess things up as he always did, so he lit the oil lamp in the room, but carried the table outside.

He then washed his hands before opening a jar of wine, eagerly inhaling its aroma before heaving a blissful sigh.

He sat in silence in the yard, drinking by himself under the moonlight.

He ate and drank in an expressionless manner, seemingly with nothing going through his mind.

This was how he had lived for the past few decades.

He worked, drank, slept, then went back to work, and whenever he was on holiday, he would sleep the days away.

After finishing a jar of wine, Ren Chang heaved a faint sigh, looking up at the moon as he murmured to himself, "There goes another day."

He opened the second jar of wine and was just about to pour some out into a bowl when he suddenly froze.

He had heard something in the night.

It was a strangled moan that was almost inaudible, accompanied by a faint spurting sound, and it had to have come from somewhere within a radius of several hundred feet. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to hear it at all.

As a seasoned warrior, Ren Chang had become very sensitive to certain types of sounds.

The average person wouldn't have thought anything of the sound from just now, even if they had heard it, but Ren Chang could tell that it was a final moan of distress from someone that had just been killed, while the spurting sound was that of blood spraying out of the body, specifically the throat.

A conflicted look appeared on Ren Chang's face as he continued to pour wine into his body, but it was clear that he was fighting a losing battle.

In the end, he heaved a resigned sigh and downed the entire bowl of wine in one go, then scoffed to himself, "Why can't you just mind your own business?"

With that, he sprang out of his yard like an agile old cat.

Traveling in the direction where the sounds had come from, Ren Chang quickly arrived in an abandoned courtyard.

He strode forward on high alert with his heart pounding in his chest, and he couldn't shake the eerie feeling that he was being watched, as if the were a demon scrutinizing him from the shadows.

His intuition was screaming for him to turn back and leave, and the growing scent of blood in the air certainly wasn't helping his nerves, but as an administrator of the Hall of Protectionists he was bound by duty to continue onward.

He quietly peeked in through the window to discover a white-robed young man, his lips stained red with blood.

He raised his head to look at Ren Chang in the same instant that the latter caught sight of him, and he was holding the body of a woman.

Her throat had been slit open, but she was still alive, as evidenced by her spasmodic shudders.

Clearly, the young man was drinking her blood.

He wasn't fazed at all by the sight of Ren Chang, grinning as he offered, "You want a sip as well?"

Ren Chang immediately released his signal flare, then stormed into the room with a furious roar.

***

That night, Fang Che went to the branch helm to wait for potential intruders, but it was proving to be an unfruitful endeavor.

Right at this moment, he saw a flare erupt into the night sky, and it had been launched from somewhere nearby!

He immediately sprang up into the air, and as he rushed through the dark alleys in the night, his appearance slowly altered from that of Starlight back into Fang Che.

He could hear the sounds of a battle taking place not afar away, but by time he arrived on the scene, it was already silent.

He had arrived in an abandoned courtyard, and he immediately rushed into the collapsed building as he released his spirit sense to encompass the surrounding area.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Ren Chang was laying in the rubble, still breathing, but his chest had completely caved in, while his internal organs had also been pulverized.

His saber laid by his side, snapped into two.

Despite his grievous condition, he remained as calm as ever, doing everything in his power to slow his breathing.

If he were to succumb to his instincts and begin gasping for air, then his blood would only be accelerated, sending him to an even earlier grave.

He had key information to pass on, and he was determined to survive until reinforcements arrived.

He laid silently on the ground, taking shallow and even breaths as he looked calmly up at the night sky.

Fang Che rushed to Ren Chang's side, then immediately pressed a hand against his chest, using his spirit power to seal off Ren Chang's body from the neck down.

He could immediately tell that Ren Chang was beyond saving, so he could only do what he could do to minimize Ren Chang's suffering.

Ren Chang looked into Fang Che's eyes as he mustered up what little remained of his strength and said, "Blood Demon Arts... Drink human blood... Under my fingernail... I clawed off a piece of his skin..."

He knew that he was no match for his opponent, so as opposed to attempting to fight, he had pounced on the enemy and clawed off some skin from his arm at the expense of grievous injury.

He knew that this would be enough to have the perpetrator tracked down, and he was incapable of doing anything more than this.

"Alright, is there anything else you want to say?" Fang Che asked in an urgent voice.

Ren Chang mustered up a smile as he asked, "Is... today... over?"

"It is. Another day has gone by," Fang Che replied with a grim nod.

"Good... At least I... didn't die for nothing..." Ren Chang stuttered as a look of joy and relief appeared in his eyes.

Many of the surrounding neighbors had been woken up by the commotion, but none of them dared to come out and see what had happened, with the exception of one woman, who stormed onto the scene as if she were deranged.

"Ren Chang!"

A hint of guilt flashed through Ren Chang's eyes as he watched the woman fall to the ground beside him.

"Ren Chang!" the woman screamed in heartbreak.

All of a sudden, Ren Chang's eyes lit up as if he had arrived at some epiphany, and with his final breath, he promised, "I'll marry you... in the next life!"

Having seen the person that he most wanted to see before passing on, he finally let go, and the final glimmer of life faded from his eyes.

The woman's entire body instantly stiffened, and the light also faded from her eyes, as if she had also died.

Fang Che gently picked up Ren Chang's hand to discover some blood-tinged flesh under his fingernails while simultaneously summoning the Golden Horn Flood Dragon.

The battle had only just concluded, so there were still some residual energy fluctuations in the air. These energy fluctuations were undetectable to humans, but they marked out a clear trail for the Golden Horn Flood Dragon to follow.

More Protectionists arrived on the scene, and someone yelled from afar, "Are there any Protectionists present?"

"Yes! Over here!" Fang Che yelled to indicate his location.

Several figures raced through the night onto the scene.

Fang Che sprang to his feet, and he was just about to set off after the Golden Horn Flood Dragon when he heard a dull thud ring out from behind him.

He turned around with a bewildered expression to find that the woman had plunged Ren Chang's snapped saber into her own heart, following which she collapsed onto his body.

"If you're going to marry me in the next life, then I'd better not be late," she murmured to herself with a blissful smile.

She had been waiting for this promise for half her life, and now that it had finally come, she was certainly not going to let tardiness get in the way of her happiness.

The woman laid on top of Ren Chang's body, and both of them had faint smiles on their faces.

Fang Che felt as his blood had frozen solid in his veins, and he suddenly thought of the parting words that Ren Chang had spoken to him this afternoon.

"Allow me to return your words to you," Fang Che sighed. "A flower is best picked at full bloom. Don't leave any regrets in your next life."

Immediately thereafter, Fang Che sprang out of the courtyard like a whirlwind, howling through the air with vengeful fury.

"Today's not over just yet, Ren Chang. The day will truly be over once I've claimed your killer's head. Don't pass on to the afterlife just yet, I'll send him after you to keep you company!"