Chai Asi had been gone for a long time.
Inside the quiet chamber, Yuan Laoxi sat alone for a long time more. He had been young once too, and he had had many plans for the future. But in the end, plans could never keep pace with change.
He too had aged step by step to this point, yielded step by step until now. Hadn't he?
Until...
"Father!"
His daughter Yuan Xiaoqing's voice rang out from the outer room.
The bewildered, pained old eyes of Yuan Laoxi instantly flared with sharp light. With agility utterly at odds with his physical condition, he shot from the room, darting outside the paper door in a single leap and blocking the demon ghost pattern behind him. His face twisted with almost distorted fury. "Who told you to come here? How many times have I told you? Get back upstairs!"
Yuan Xiaoqing froze in fright.
Only after a stunned pause did she burst into tears and run up the stairs.
Of course she knew this was a forbidden place her old father had repeatedly forbidden her from approaching. But Chai Asi had been gone for so long, and no word had come from her father, so she had worried and come downstairs to take a look.
She had never expected her old father, who could never bear to scold her even once, to fly into such a rage.
Only after his daughter had left did Yuan Laoxi suddenly turn back around, kneeling before the paper door and prostrating himself with his forehead to the floor. Humbly, he said, "Great Night God, please forgive this sinful slave... this sinful slave's daughter did not mean to come here and offend you. I beg you for forgiveness! That young dog demon from earlier is very strong. This