SOL Chapter 17

Mother Demon (Middle)

Li Shan knew he had hit a nerve, sighed inwardly, and lowered his eyes to avoid his touch, “Let me be alone for a while.”

Li Huai Su tucked the quilt around him, pretending nothing had happened, and put on a show of peace, “Then I’ll come see you later.”

Childbirth had almost exhausted all of Li Shan’s strength. Not long after Li Huai Su left, he fell into a deep sleep.

While drowsing, he heard a banging sound coming from outside the window by the bed, as if something was gently knocking on the outside of the window.

Li Shan opened his eyes and silently stared at the tightly closed window. The sound of tapping on the window hadn’t stopped.

If it were Tian Chang or someone else, they could just open the window directly. Li Shan was silent for a few seconds, then propped himself up and sat up, his palm against the frame of the window, slowly pushing it open.

Almost the instant the window was pushed open, a bloody tentacle reached in through the crack. The tentacle seemed to be clutching something, and when it reached in, it poked Li Shan’s shoulder with no regard for how hard it was hitting.

Li Shan was stunned for a moment, then saw that the tentacle was tightly clutching a peach blossom branch. The bright peach blossoms, because they were separated from the branch, had shriveled up from lack of water, no longer the vibrant spring scene they had been on the branch.

The tentacle stubbornly held the flower branch and offered it to Li Shan. Although it didn’t speak, Li Shan strangely understood its meaning from its actions—

It wanted to give him this flower.

Li Shan reached out and took the flower branch. The tentacle immediately rejoiced at the sight, waving incessantly in front of Li Shan.

He hesitated, then raised his hand, his fingertip touching the tentacle. The tentacle immediately wrapped itself around Li Shan’s fingertip in excitement.

As if connected by telepathy, countless memories that didn’t belong to him appeared in his mind, almost making Li Shan dizzy.

When he came to his senses, that mass of bloody flesh had already crawled in through the half-open window.

It was a horrifying-looking monster, its internal organs exposed, its flesh connected, the muscle fibers clearly visible as it crawled and writhed.

Even Li Shan, who was used to seeing demons, couldn’t help but feel his stomach churn.

But since he already had the other’s memories, he had to accept the fact that—

This was the deformed fetus he had borne for Tian Chang that day.

The little monster seemed to be overjoyed that its mother had accepted its flower and was willing to touch it. It kept wriggling in front of Li Shan, trying to express its affection and love for its mother in this way.

Li Shan felt extremely disgusted. The memories that had just entered his brain were crushing his nerves. He almost couldn’t control his emotions, burying his head between his arms, his mind only churning with the same sentence—get away.

The next moment, he heard the sound of flesh hitting the bed board with a solid thud. Li Shan blankly raised his head and saw that the little thing was suddenly wriggling towards the window, as if it had received some kind of command.

It was as if, as if it could hear his thoughts.

Li Shan was startled by his strange thought. Seeing that the little monster was about to escape through the window, he didn’t know what kind of psychology he had, but he silently gave it a second command, “Stop.”

Almost in the next second, the little thing hung on the window without moving.

Li Shan held his forehead in a headache, almost blankly looking at the scene in front of him. He gave the command again, this time “Dance,” and it was successful again.

The disgusting thing immediately wriggled around in a chaotic manner, its eyeballs twitching wildly. So it had been dancing for him just now.

Li Shan suddenly felt that he was too malicious. He could read the little monster’s memories, so he could naturally see that it only quietly rolled around in the small courtyard behind the Thousand Seeking Pagoda all day, picking flowers and chasing butterflies.

Facing such an extremely innocent and unaware little thing, the malice in his heart was like a clear mirror, reflecting him as a hateful person.

Li Shan suddenly lost all his spirit, avoiding the patches of eyes embedded in the little monster’s flesh and blood, hanging his head and not wanting to look at it anymore.

But the little thing seemed to sense that Li Shan’s resistance to it had weakened, and immediately shamelessly rubbed up to him.

It rubbed against Li Shan’s forearm, then climbed onto Li Shan’s thigh with all its limbs. Finally, as if sensing something, it happily burrowed into Li Shan’s front.

The originally barren chest was now full of milk due to another pregnancy. This little thing, which had never seen its mother since it was born, was like a swallow returning to its nest, finding its shelter, its dream returning to its soul.

Its mouthparts were dozens of rows of sharp teeth, enough to tear half the flesh off any prey.

Hiding in its mother’s arms, it was like a newborn baby, retracting its sharp teeth and only using its soft flesh to scrape and greedily suck the milk.

The feeling was extremely strange. Li Shan originally wanted to take it off, but in the end, he didn’t move, but raised his hand and pinned the peach blossom branch that the little monster had given him to the curtains by the bed.

After all, it was so quiet, just warmly buried in his chest, pillowed in his arms.

An uninvited guest arrived again. Perhaps it was because father and son were connected at heart. Tian Chang could have clearly walked through the door, but he also climbed in through the window.

Li Shan frowned and looked at him. Tian Chang sat directly by Li Shan’s bed and took the initiative to explain to him, “I’m imitating Zhang Sheng climbing the wall in the storybook. What do you think?”

Li Shan opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but finally turned away and ignored Tian Chang.

“My good A-Shan, I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have treated you like that before. I was just worried and confused. I will definitely change in the future.” Tian Chang leaned over in a sticky manner, and the words he said were also sticky.

Li Shan couldn’t help but feel a chill. Tian Chang was originally a demon wearing human skin but without human nature. There must be a demon pointing him behind the scenes to say these words.

Tian Chang imitated so well that Li Shan could almost imagine the lazy and joking expression on Shi En’s face when he taught Tian Chang to say these words.

Seeing that Li Shan didn’t speak, Tian Chang used his fingers to comb Li Shan’s dark, messy hair draped over the bedding, and continued, “A-Shan’s hometown is in Yangzhou, right?”

Hearing this, Li Shan finally gave Tian Chang a look. Seeing that Li Shan finally had a reaction, Tian Chang immediately continued like he was offering a treasure, “In a few days, when we have conquered Yangzhou, I’ll take you home to see it, okay?”

Li Shan felt his teeth tremble slightly—did Tian Chang even know what he was talking about?

Most demons are bloodthirsty and brutal, and many of them are cannibals. If it were an ordinary human war, the people in the city might still be able to save their lives after the city was captured, but if it were replaced by demons, I’m afraid that only one in ten of the people in the city would survive.

Tian Chang continued, “I heard that your mother’s grave is also in Yangzhou. Let’s repair it together when the time comes.”

Listening to Tian Chang’s tone, it seemed that he sincerely thought this was a plan that could please him. When that time came, I’m afraid that what needed to be repaired was more than just his mother’s grave.

Li Shan looked at Tian Chang coldly, and finally couldn’t help but pull the corners of his mouth into a mocking smile. Just then, he suddenly felt the warm thing in his arms stir.

In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through Li Shan’s mind.

Li Shan didn’t often smile in front of Tian Chang, and most of the time he just remained silent. Tian Chang naturally couldn’t tell the meaning of this smile, and only thought that his words had made Li Shan happy. He moved closer to Li Shan in a somewhat intimate manner, closed his eyes, as if he wanted to kiss him.

When his fingertips reached into his clothes, he suddenly touched a warm thing.

Tian Chang couldn’t help but frown, sat up straight, and pulled the little monster out of Li Shan’s arms, shaking the little monster in the air with one hand.

The little monster suddenly left its mother’s arms and was thrown around by Tian Chang like a toy, flattened and rounded. It immediately cried out unhappily, as if protesting against Tian Chang.

Tian Chang naturally didn’t take it seriously, put it on the floor, and casually said to the little monster, “Go, go, go away, don’t disturb your mother’s rest.”

Hearing this, the little monster became even more dissatisfied, raising dozens of tentacles and waving them wildly. Tian Chang thought its appearance was very interesting, and deliberately teased it, flicking it with a focused finger. The little monster immediately rolled out two circles on its back.

Tian Chang turned back to Li Shan and said, “Look at her like this, isn’t it fun?”

Li Shan silently looked at him for a few seconds, then suddenly stretched out his white fingertips and gently pressed them against Tian Chang’s chest.

Tian Chang seemed a little surprised by Li Shan’s behavior, reached out and covered the back of his hand, holding his hand, “What are you looking for?”

Li Shan just said softly, “Heartbeat.”

Tian Chang seemed to suddenly understand, guiding Li Shan and pressing his hand to his heart, “It’s here.”

Li Shan felt the throbbing and vibrating sensation from his fingertips, that heartbeat that seemed no different from a human’s resonated with his own. Tian Chang suddenly approached, the sound beside his ear like a thunder drum.

Tian Chang intimately rubbed against Li Shan’s face, the action somewhat similar to that of the little monster just now.

“Lovers in the human world often say they wish to have one heart and never be apart until they grow old. The heart is originally an organ that doesn’t produce emotions, but you humans always like to use the heart to prove love. It’s really strange.”

Li Shan heard Tian Chang’s lengthy and verbose pedantry, and was temporarily a little tired, only saying vaguely, “Perhaps it’s because people really die without a heart.”

Tian Chang didn’t understand, and didn’t take these words to heart, his hand not very honest.

Today’s Li Shan was unusually well-behaved and unusually easy to talk to, and could even chat with him calmly.

After all, he would only need to be a beautiful porcelain vase in the palace in the future. Being so considerate would make people like him even more.

However, in a flash of lightning, Tian Chang felt a strange force attack him from behind.

Even though he reacted quickly, he couldn’t stop this extremely fast sneak attack. What’s more, there was no one else in this small house besides the unarmed Li Shan, and he was not prepared at all.

He only had time to release Li Shan and raise his arm to meet the blow. He felt as if his entire left shoulder had been twisted around, and the pain that almost tore him in half instantly struck.

The little monster that had been rolling around on the ground now suddenly burst into a huge mass of flesh, as if it wanted to devour Tian Chang completely. It’s just that its volume was not enough, barely wrapping around half of Tian Chang’s body, and rows of newly grown but extremely sharp teeth instantly pierced his flesh.

Li Shan watched coldly, but there was no joy in his heart for the successful sneak attack.

His guess was not wrong. This little monster had inherited both Tian Chang’s and his own abilities at the same time, and was almost an existence that could destroy the world.

It’s just that the growth of the Heavenly Demon clan is extremely long, and their weak intelligence in childhood makes it impossible for them to use these powers well. But when it was controlled by him, it was almost enough to compete with Tian Chang.

Li Shan slowly sat up from the bed and tidied up his appearance, looking down to tidy up the clothes that had just been torn apart by Tian Chang, and tied a knot at his waist.

Then he stretched out his hand to comb his hair, so that he would at least not look too embarrassed.

Tian Chang immediately noticed the abnormality.

This little monster’s temper and personality were extremely similar to Li Shan’s. It was extremely docile and quiet, always hiding in the corner of the palace without moving. Sometimes Tian Chang would even forget that he had such a child. He would only tease it twice when he saw it, making the little monster wish he could force Tian Chang away.

He slowly turned his head to look at Li Shan, but saw that Li Shan was still quietly looking at him as usual. He didn’t say a word in the face of the bloody and terrifying scene in front of him, as if he had expected it.

In those usually waveless golden pupils, a flame was now burning, making his eyes look particularly bright, like a gray clay doll suddenly coming to life.

Tian Chang met his gaze, and only felt as if he had returned to that afternoon when he secretly sneaked into the Sword Washing Ceremony of the Cui Wei Sword Pavilion and peeked at the golden pupils of fate.

It is really that a broken sword has an inch of sharpness, and a broken mirror has a piece of brightness.

Li Shan didn’t usually dress himself up. Tian Chang watched him carefully braid his hair, and actually understood his thoughts at this moment.

Tian Chang had read many history books from the human world, and knew that humans often seek a decent death, dressing and grooming themselves before they die.

Li Shan at this moment, probably already planned to die together with him.

Nice try!

Tian Chang pulled the corners of his mouth and laughed happily, stretching out his other hand to pinch the little monster’s vital point, the twisting of bones and flesh suddenly making a tooth-aching sound. The juice mixed with red and black flowed down Tian Chang’s arm, winding all the way into his wide robe and sleeves.

The little monster immediately made a shrill scream that didn’t sound like a human’s, coupled with the sound of bones twisting and flesh peeling, which seemed unusually terrifying in the quiet small house.

It was still stubbornly following the “mother’s” orders, tightly wrapping around half of Tian Chang’s body, and Tian Chang couldn’t forcibly peel it away from himself for a while.

Tian Chang looked at Li Shan with a smile instead of anger, “I used to think that the blood relationship of the demon clan was weak, but I didn’t know that you were more cruel than me, and could even use your own child.”

Li Shan “empathized” with the little monster, knowing how painful it was at this moment. Although Tian Chang’s attack couldn’t cause substantial damage to him, the pain that exceeded the load still oppressed his nerves, and nosebleeds slowly dripped on the bedding.

He explained very calmly, “It was originally a monster that you forced me to give birth to. It is right for me to hate you and hate it.”