4. Arrival At Qiu Yu Village

"Ouch..."

Lui Xian was awakened by an intense paining on his abdomen. He struggled to sit up and then slowly supported himself on the dirty ground and then leaned his back on a tree. His right hand moved downwards, getting closer to the wound which he clutched at with great force. He immediately surveyed his surroundings in the pitch darkness.

He wondered if his eyes were still alright for he could see nothing and he could only feel the chilly wind whispering beside his ears. He felt itchy all over from the mosquito bites that were imprinted on his body.

He extended his hands to reach for something on the ground, only to come in contact with some clay and a hard surface. He spread his palm and started feeling around trying to find some hope. Then he rasply murmured, "where am l?" He got no answer instead he heard his distorted voice reverberating in the night, seeming as if he was being asked the same question.

The lonely man wanted nothing but to be asleep in his quiet quarters.

But his wishes were left unanswered. Instead reality slapped him hard. His bones were aching so much. He had covered a large area and all he could touch was grass, some clay soil and nothing else. He recalled how he fell somewhere in the forest and how much time he took to come out of it. He had ended up collapsing for some hours and now he woke up in the middle of the night.

"I wonder how I offended this person." He once again murmured to himself whilst he tried to get up. It was still so dark around him so he could see nothing. He managed to stand and started to feel his way to who knows where. He had no idea where he was going what he wanted was to get far away from the forest. He knew they were still on his tail.

Lui Xian suddenly thought of the Emperor now realising that he was now very far away from him, it made his heart ache and his wound hurt more. He gave up on thinking if there was any possibility of them meeting again. Fate was truly playing with him.

He then staggered through the prickly forest for almost half the night. He was scratched all over for he couldn't see where he was going or know if anything was in front of him, so the thorny trees partied on his body that was now numb from the pain and from bleeding as well.

His martial arts were really useless when he was this tired. He walked for some time and gradually ended up on a narrow path that seemed to be used quite often. He followed it for a while until he came across a small clearing where he could somewhat make out the nature surrounding him. His eyes had adjusted to the scarce moonlight that illuminated up above in the sky.

Not long after taking some rest, he sensed some movement coming from the other end of the path. a cart emerged while rushing dangerously towards him.

The horses seemed out of control as if they were running away from something. After cautiously getting out of the way, he painstakingly tried to block their way and tried to placate them for almost a whole day, he managed to do so and then he moved to check to see what was inside it.

There wasn't much but a lot of hay and some cabbages. He got onto it and sat at the far end, where there was ample space. He found a comfortable posture to rest with, until he reached his destination. Even though the cart was shaky and noisy Lui Xian managed to fall asleep.

It did not take much time to reach the nearest village. Which was about ten miles away from the forest he had been attacked. It was by five early in the morning when he saw a road post with an arrow indicating where he could find Qiu Yu village.

It was located in a small county which was close to their hunting area. He had heard about it but he had also never showed interest about it even once. So he was new in the area. He looked around at the sloppy houses and clastered stalls, and felt disinterested at first glance. The place was too poor. He didn't like it one bit.

He carefully climbed out of the cart, supporting himself with a stick he had picked up along the road. He didn't have energy, so he had to rely on it some more.

"Mom! Look." A little girl probably five years old stopped playing with her doll as she pointed at him or to say pointed at his stained garments.

"He looks scary." She started wailing as she fled away to hide behind her parents. Other children joined in, and the area was filled with shrills alerting everyone who was closeby.

"Kids get inside." Their parents who were nearby reprimanded their children. They acted as if they were shielding them from being eaten by a frightening beast.

"Who are you? And why are you with Old Feng's cart." One of the villagers who had recognised the two horses asked. He backed away planning to run to his home to grab a fork to defend himself against this intruder.

"Where did you steal it? Poor old man. So did you take his life? Young ones these days. They are not afraid to kill."

Lui Xian was stunned silent after hearing all the accusations that were fired at him. He strayed away from the crowd. Just after a few steps, he felt his feet go very weak. All of a sudden he could see vivid images of the one man he wished to see the most.

He had no energy to hold himself upright so he fell right on the ground alarming everyone behind him.

His eyes closed on their own accord giving in to infinity darkness.

The poor man had last eaten three days ago when he ate with the Prince. But after that, he had been really busy and also those assassins who had wanted him dead also delayed his mealtime and severely injured him. It had been an unfavourable day for him.

One of the men in the crowd moved cautiously to his body wanting to check on his body condition. He sweated profusely before shouting to the people to get help.

"He is injured hurry fetch the doctor."

Lui Xian felt so tired and extremely powerless, he could barely hear the people talking of calling a doctor for him, he finally let go feeling quite relieved but he was very thirsty. He tried calling for someone to get him a drink but it couldn't come out.

All of his tiredness vanished within a second. When some young man ran to the street where he had collapsed on with some bad news.

"The doctor has gone out. I heard he accompanied Grandpa Feng to the nearby village. He will be back late in the evening."

"What?"

"Get him inside my house. I will look after him." One of the women who had been standing idly amongst the crowd offered to help. She walked to his side. It was not her fault that she had been enchanted by the angel who had fallen on her doorstep. She could not pass the chance.