Ye Xiu was considered as a high rank martial artist from the Xinghe Kingdom and to be able to defeat him, the Emperor would reward Wang Yu greatly. He also could preserve his power in military and not let Prince Xiao Jun stifled him easily.
Furiously Wang Yu penetrated Ye Xiu's self defense, he didn't stop until the tip of his sword pierced Senja's left shoulder, cut through Ye Xiu's chest.
Ye Xiu who had been injured even before the battle with Ye Xiu, barely could protect Senja from her crazy father. He backed away to extricate Senja and himself.
Wang Yu didn't wait and moved forward with another strike from his sword while Ye Xiu who had gotten Senja continued to run to the waterfalls. He glanced at the girl in his arms that had closed her eyes and the pool blood on her white dress before he jumped down from the cliff into the current's waterfall below him.
Before Ye Xiu dived into the water, he could hear Wang Yu screamed in frustration.
***
"Brother!" Ye Bai exclaimed with fear when he saw his elder brother walked inside their house with terrifying look. "What happened!? Damn! How can you injured so bad?!"
Ye Xiu staggered toward Ye Bai and shoved a 'bundle' in his arms to him. Ye Bai took it and from the bundle, which was wrapped with Ye Xie's Cloak, a small face peeked.
"Aarggh!" Ye Bai screamed and almost dropped Senja. "What is this brother? You didn't kidnap her right?!" Panic overwhelmed Ye Bai this time. His small eyes dilated in horror.
"Treat her." Was the only thing Ye Xiu said before he strode inside the room to treat his injured chest.
"Hei! Brother! At least tell me who is she!?" Ye Bai ran after his brother, "Ye Xiu!"
***
Inside a small room, many candles were lit up to illuminate its surrounding while on the bed Senja was laying down with bandages around her chest. Her breathing was shallow.
Ye Bai sat on the edge of the bed while staring at his brother who was sitting on the couch across the room.
"Are you sure, you don't need my help?" Ye Bai asked sullenly.
"No need." Ye Xiu was bandaging the wound on his hand. His white hair cascaded over his shoulder and was illuminated by the light from the candle "How is she?"
Ye Bai swift his gazed at Senja, "She needs a doctor and Zhang Li is not here now." Su Zhang Li is Ye Bai's wife and also a doctor.
Ye Xiu's eyebrows furrowed and he approached Senja to check her condition. "She will be fine." He said after a brief of examination.
Ye Bai shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly, "I am not a doctor anyway. How would I know?"
After Ye Xiu finished bandaging all of his wounds, tiredly he sat on the chair while sipping his tea with Ye Bai was keep buzzing him with the same question over and over again.
"Who is she my dear Brother? Who have you fought with?"
"Wang Yu from Black Sword Clan."
Ye Bai pounded his fist to the table. "Damn! Have you gone to the border line this afternoon?"
"No, I went to Mountain Sui."
"You went to the Sword Sect?" Ye Bai's eyes dilated with shock, "Brother! Are you insane? Mountain Sui almost became Azura's territory."
"I know."
Ye Bai threw his hands in the air out of his frustration, "You know, but you still went there." He glanced at his brother exhausted expression. "Was it about Riana again?"
Ye Xiu, who had closed his eyes, opened them when he heard his little brother curiosity and he nodded. "Because of her." He replied firmly.
Ye Bai sighed. Didn't know what he should do towards Ye Xiu. "Can't you just accept the fact that Riana is died? Don't torture yourself."
"How many time I told you, she didn't die…?" Ye Xiu voice sounded very weak and tired.
"She is dead." Ye Bai said firmly, "Although, we couldn't find her body." He added hastily when her brother stared dagger at him.
After Ye Xiu managed to restrain Ye Bai's mouth for sometimes, Ye Xiu Closed his eyes and leaned his back against the couch as the scene of the last day he met Riana at the temple in Mountain Sui Sword Sect rolled back in his mind.
It had been 7 years since the sovereigns of Azura Kingdom had died. In other words, it had been 4 years after Mountain Sui Sword Sect was attacked and destroyed. At that time, Ye Xiu was guarding the temple with Riana and other disciples from Xinghe Kingdom.
The infantry from Azura Kingdom had arrived and settled for the night at the base of the mountain when all the disciples of Mountain Sui Sword Sect from Xinghe kingdom launched a sneak attack on them. That night hundreds of infantrymen who were not aware of the danger that lurked them, died.
The attack was a success, but the thing that they didn't know was, right after the successful sneak attack thousands of cavalry troops that were a joint force between Azura Kingdom and Rockstone Kingdom were forcing them to retreat.
Their joint force armies were outnumbered Xinghe Kingdom's people. They fought while retreating to the temple at the peak of the mountain.
Riana was one of the people who fought on that horrible day. Her fighting skill was only a bit below Prince Xiao Jun's, he was her senior brother after all.
With a brief inspection, Riana immediately knew that the joint force army wasn't led by Xiao Jun, but Xiao Wang Wei. Xiao Jun's cousin brother.
Together, Riana and Xiao Jun were practicing martial arts under Master Ye Xiu, both of them was Ye Xiu favorite disciples, of course Riana was more special to him. Originally, the three of them had a good relationship and get along very well with each other.
Even so, when the Xinghe Kingdom was accused of killing the Emperor and Queen who were none other than Xiao Jun's parents, their relationship turned awkward and it had been a while since Riana talked to her senior brother. From what she heard, Xiao Jun was getting engaged with one of the Ministry Daughter now.
Riana was a bit relief with the fact that their first encounter after sometimes wasn't in this kind of situation. She didn't want to fight Xiao Jun, on the grounds that they didn't have personal grudge between them. It was completely the two Countries issues.
The pursuer from Azura Kingdom and Rockstone Kingdom cavalry troops aggressively killed all the people along the way to the peak of the Mountain Sui. It was bloody night with fear and smell of death mixed in the air. The rain that poured down to the earth added miserable factor for Xinghe's people. Even the sky didn't take their side this night.
In the chaos at the temple and cavalry troops berserk forward their line of defense, Ye Xiu knew there was no way to escaped. Therefore, in one strike of his sword he killed 2 of the Azura's armies. Once his enemies toppled down, he hurriedly looked for Riana only to found out she was laying on the ground with blood was gushing from her left arms.
"Riana!" Ye Xiu crouched down beside his woman and lifted her weak body from the ground. He checked her pulse and her heartbeat when Riana eyes fluttered open.
"What happened with that expression Master Ye?" Riana said sluggishly.
Ignoring Riana taunted words he wrapped her body with his cloak and ran through the rain to go inside the temple. He stopped at one of the hallway corner and put down Riana on the floor carefully. The girl before his eyes look so pale, color from her cherry lips has faded.
Ye Xiu was so anxious and agitated to look her like this, he had been treating Riana like precious thing in his hand since the first time he saw her.
When he decided to despise the untold rule to be with her, he had never seen her in this current state. His hands were trembling as he tried to stop the bleeding.
"I am fine." Riana touched Ye Xiu knitted brows. She couldn't say how much she loves him.
"I will get you out from here." Ye Xiu said firmly more like an oath to himself.
"I know…" Riana nodded weakly.
At that moment, 3 enemies appeared at the other corner of the hallway. Ye Xiu had spotted them first and before one of them could take another steps forward, his head already laid on the ground with blood spurted out from the headless body. With furious Ye Xiu attacked the remaining two.
He knew not too many people remained in from their side and sooner or later more enemies would come, hence he ran back to Riana side and scooped her gently. She grimaced with the motion, her wound was throbbing painfully.
Ye Xiu's eyebrows tensed in stressed as he heard Riana groan. The pain must be unbearable for her.
The clashing sound from the battle outside soon faded away, it looked like Azura's people had claimed their victory over Xinghe. With the wounded Riana in his left hand and his sword in ready position in his other hand, he could careless with other people. Ye Xiu kept running.
He had been running in great difficulty when an arrow shot from above the temple roof and stuck on the ground only an inch from his feet. Ye Xiu stopped abruptly, with all of his senses turned more alert.
There, tens of Archer stood on the temple roof with the tip of their arrows were pointed at him. The gripped on his hilt tighten until the vein on his hands bulge. Ye Xiu desperately covered Riana body with his to protecting her from any harm that would come.
All archers were surrounding Ye Xiu and Riana now, with bow in their hands, their arrows just waiting for signal to be released. From their stance they were professional archer, not like military's archer, this one were more powerful, even the fogging rain didn't falter their aim.
"Is it a goodbye?" Riana whispered to his ear bitterly.
Ye Xiu kissed the girl hair as he replied firmly. "No. It isn't a goodbye until I said so."
Riana didn't answer him, her warm tears trickled down Ye Xiu's neck blended with cold rainy night as he hugged her tightly. "Understand?" He probed.
"Mm." Riana mumbled.
Ye Xiu's eyes swept dangerously to the enemies that surrounded him. It was almost impossible for him to left unscathed, not to mention with Riana who couldn't move by herself. Even so, Ye Xiu insisted on taking Riana out of this damn place.
A loud chuckle was heard under the rainy night. Ye Xiu subconsciously tilted his head to the direction of the sound.
Among the archery on the roof a young man with shinny armor and Military attired was standing haughtily under the rain. His sturdy figure reeked with dominance aura.