DEMON EMPEROR

CHAPTER 5 : LING TONG

The Golden Pagoda Inn was quite modest, a two-story building offering twenty rooms for rent. Wong An reserved a room on the second floor and ordered several dishes to be eaten in their quarters.

“Bel’er, you’re still growing, eat plenty,” Wong An said, serving some vegetables and fish and giving them to Ba Bel.

For the past few days, Wong An had only been able to give Ba Bel dried bread, so this time, he instructed Ba Bel to enjoy the savory dishes.

“Thank you, Master,” Ba Bel respectfully acknowledged Wong An when the vegetables and fish were given to him.

Wong An marveled at Ba Bel's ability to use chopsticks at the age of five. Usually, only children from noble families were proficient with chopsticks at Ba Bel’s age. Neither spoke a word during the meal, as it was one of the etiquettes Wong An had taught Ba Bel: never to speak while eating.

Every nightfall, Wong An would begin to cough lightly. Ba Bel watched Wong An with concern, but his Master claimed he was fine, even though Ba Bel knew full well that Wong An’s condition was very serious. Due to internal injuries sustained from sparring practice in his youth, Wong An suffered from wounds that were difficult to heal.

Ba Bel clearly remembered Wong An’s continuously deteriorating condition; ten years from now, Wong An would no longer be able to rise from his bed and would eventually pass away two years after that.

“This time, I won’t let Master Wong suffer the same fate.” Ba Bel resolved in his heart that with the knowledge he possessed from his previous life, it wouldn’t be impossible to cure Wong An’s condition.

After dinner, Wong An sat cross-legged on the bed to perform breathing exercises, while Ba Bel asked for permission to go exploring. Wong An was accustomed to seeing his disciple sleep only a few hours each day; although Ba Bel was only five years old, he claimed it had been a habit of his for a long time.

Earlier, when Ba Bel saw that the Golden Pagoda Inn was not crowded with visitors, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the incident which would cause the Golden Pagoda Inn to become ruins might not happen tonight. That was why Ba Bel could eat heartily with his master.

However, after dinner, Ba Bel’s uneasiness grew. Although it was already dark, it was still early in the night, and the possibility of something happening remained high. Therefore, Ba Bel went down to the ground floor to observe the situation.

The ground floor of the Golden Pagoda Inn looked like a tavern, with several tables and chairs for patrons to enjoy their meals. Ba Bel then noticed that one of the previously empty tables was now occupied by a man who appeared to be in his thirties, with red hair and openly carrying a sword on his back.

The red-haired man was not alone; he was cradling a baby who was crying very loudly and intensely.

“Do you have any milk?” the red-haired man asked the waiter, his face filled with worry as he looked at the baby he was carrying.

A waiter intended to shoo the red-haired man away, but after noticing the man’s fierce demeanor and realizing he was likely a warrior, the waiter didn’t dare to do so.

Ba Bel walked closer to the red-haired man, climbing onto one of the chairs near him. The red-haired man looked puzzled by Ba Bel’s behavior.

“Little one, what are you doing?” the man’s voice softened; despite his rough appearance, he was quite gentle with children.

Ba Bel didn’t answer him but instead began making funny faces at the baby the red-haired man was holding. Seeing Ba Bel’s comical gestures, the baby slowly stopped crying and even began to laugh.

“Good little sibling,” Ba Bel gently stroked the baby’s head. It was then that he realized the baby’s body temperature was very low.

The red-haired man was unsure how to react but thanked Ba Bel nonetheless. He felt that Ba Bel was an intelligent child.

“Uncle, this little sibling is cold; he needs not just a warm drink but also thicker clothes,” Ba Bel explained before looking at the waiter beside him. “Isn’t there anyone working at this inn who is a nursing mother? Please help by giving this little one some milk.”

The waiter was surprised by Ba Bel’s question but quickly realized that one of the inn’s staff could indeed nurse the baby. Soon, the said waitress arrived and had no objection to breastfeeding the baby the red-haired man was carrying.

“Thank you,” the red-haired man said, giving several coins to the waitress who had nursed the baby. Ba Bel knew the amount was not small for an inn's server.

“Clever child, thank you for helping Uncle.” The man then looked at Ba Bel, admiration evident in his eyes. “What’s your name, little one?”

“Uncle, my name is Ba Bel.”

The red-haired man gently patted Ba Bel’s shoulder. “That’s a good name. My name is…”

“Ling Tong! We’ve come for your head!”

Before the red-haired man could finish speaking, someone kicked open the inn’s door and shouted loudly. The expression on the red-haired man, called Ling Tong, turned to fury.

“Ling Tong, you think you can escape after killing a high-ranking member of the Black Centipede Group?!”

A group of people entered the inn, nearly twenty strong, each carrying weapons such as swords, broadswords, and spears. All of them unleashed a potent killing intent directed at the red-haired man named Ling Tong.

The inn staff became terrified, while Ba Bel remained calm. Ling Tong noticed Ba Bel’s composure and was quite impressed.

“Ling Tong? Why does that name sound familiar!” Ba Bel thought upon hearing the people entering the inn call the red-haired man Ling Tong. He felt he had heard it before but couldn’t recall where.

One thing Ba Bel understood was that the incident at this inn in his first life was connected to this Ling Tong. What kept Ba Bel calm was his assessment that the dozens of people who had entered the inn did not possess high-level martial arts skill and were no match for his Master, Wong An.

“My previous worries were unfounded,” Ba Bel thought to himself, shaking his head.

“Bel’er, could Uncle ask for your help?”

The waitress who had previously nursed the baby Ling Tong was carrying had fled, handing the tiny infant back to Ling Tong. Ba Bel understood that the help Ling Tong was referring to was to look after the little baby.

Ba Bel immediately cradled the small baby in his tiny arms before moving away from what was about to become a battlefield.

The smile on Ling Tong’s face vanished, and he unleashed a powerful killing intent from his body, making it difficult for anyone who felt it to breathe.