The sun was still up yet there was no trace of any light. The cool breeze of western air had been evident in the thick forest. Small and tiny animals, each went to their own space and afraid to get wet. Strong droplets of water flowed incessantly on the treetops, flowing from the leaves downhill.
There was no sound, one could only hear the dropping of water.
Si Cu Yi had been running nonstop. This body of hers was limited and incapable to go along with her level of cultivation. Clad in a situation where she was stuck in the middle and only stopping under a prime tree, climb the slippery trunk and stood on one of its branches.
It's raining hard.
Her clothes drench, bringing more weight to herself. Her wet hair slid down to her face going on its way.
The robe she had been wearing had turn like an old rag dirty from the muddy soil.
Her breath was even louder than the rustling rain, on the eerie and dark night she stood vigilant of her surroundings. A cultivator dressed in a robe with golden seam and design with migrating birds were running after her. In doubt, she was facing an uncertain familiarity.
Out of nowhere, a sudden fact of realization struck her. She had just found that she's in a terrestrial rainforest. The place where the river meets the fall.
This place was familiar to her. Fresh from her mind, this area was where she drew her last breath. Looking around from different points, there are no changes at all. It's still exactly the same. The position of the trees, the deep river, and the tall fall.
It was also raining at that time.
She was running.
Though no recollection why?
The cultivator chasing after her appear two trees away from her post. His face was obscured with some unknown particle.
So, without turning she leaped on another branch of the slippery trunk.
*snap
Su Ci Yi was caught up on that branch that had just broken. Falling hard on the dirty muddled soil.
That cultivator unsheathed the scabbard of his sword. Perform a familiar heaven's seal over the edge and released it. Su Ci Yi was even more flabbergasted, the familiar technique the man used conveys thousands of litter thoughts on her mind.
Suffocating and wild.
The sword rushed in.
Su Ci Yi stepped back.
The jingling sword would have been pierced through her but she instantly summoned her soaring eagle immortal sword. This was her beloved and trusted aid back then. Unsheathing and swinging it out. Its raw beauty can be seen with its gleaming edges, breathtaking and captivating.
Releasing her qi and embedding her seal technique, the sword danced and vibrated on the air rushing boldly along with the incoming sword towards her.
The two went on par.
The man didn't hold himself back, also came rushing straight forward to her, his hands in a straight-up slicing position. Su Ci Yi knew that lethality, therefore, equipped her defensive hand with her qi. The two collide having the same impact of their own attack. Along with their collision, the two swords that had been sparing on midair, also attack each other bringing a sound akin to a high pitch crystal breaking.
Su Ci Yi covered her ears from the distraction and summon her sword, but the man was so fast that he raced her from getting her sword first and attacking her without mercy. Su Ci Yi flew while being dragged on the ground. Thorns and bruises came into contact on her skin as the man smash her on a tree trunk.
His smash was imbued with his tenth fold strength and if Su Ci Yi didn't coat herself with her internal qi, she would have been minced into a paste. Even coated in spiritual energy, she still grumbled in pain. Her qi only reduced the impact, leaving a small residue of the injury.
Being smash on a tree was not something trivial. Her head bleeds from the throw and her wounds on her body came throbbing.
Holding her breath, and slowly standing up leaning on the tree, she saw the man coming towards her again!
"What the heck!"
The man's move was slick and abrupt so before she could summon her sword, she felt an enormous pain from her stomach. Kick by the man, she winced in pain and thrown into the ground. Now her appearance was a mess.
Looking like a beggar begging for money on the streets. Hers was the worst.
Su Ci Yi didn't hesitate to drop her little things towards him. She should have done it from the beginning. But this movement of hers was useless. The man easily dodged her blades and abruptly stood in front of her. Lifting his neck with his own hand with much force.
Su Ci Yi gasped for air.
Her feet dangling on the ground and aimlessly tried to find something to push. But only the air was below.
Sh*t!
Will she gonna die now?
***
The heavens seemed to notice her suffering.
A few moments, she felt that some blood spurt into her chest. When she looked down, the man in front was impaled by a thick arrowhead on his body. Su Ci Yi could even see the metal weapon down on her sight and the gush of blood came flowing down.
The man look at her in surprise. As if he didn't expect this turn of events.
From afar, two assassins with tightly fitted black clothes on which one was holding a bow directed to her. She thought that the next arrow would landed to her, but to her dismay, it was all directed to the man in front of her. While struggling to break free from his hand, the man flopped down and his grip begun to loosen.
Su Ci Yi saw the white light that had been obscuring the man's face, intrigue she didn't leave until all his face can be clearly seen.
However, just like being strike by her own thunder on the spot, Su Ci Yi's heartbeat begun to erratically beat. Her hands trembled as it made its way to his pale white face. The familiar sense she had felt earlier was not wrong. Why has she not saw it coming!
This…
This…
This… can't be happening!
"B-brother Lu Feng…!" Su Ci Yi's voice was trembling. Her tears begun to pass on her face. Her shrill cry echoed within the deepest part of the forest.
He was killed!.
Just like that!
He should have killed her earlier! If she knew...if she knew... Why does she need to run away?
If only she knew it was him…
Her Senior Brother...
Shaking, Su Ci Yi took the body near her and embraced it within her arms. Thinking that the warmth on her body could sustain the coldness within him. She stayed like that for a while. Never breaking from the corpse.
"Give us the bead now. Our you will turn into like that person."
Su Ci Yi didn't lift his head nor peek who was seeking. But the tone of a voice was deep that could only belong to a man.
Su Ci Yi didn't care. If they want to kill her then kill her!
She had been dead once…?
Like a puzzle being solved, the scenario in front of her crumble. Like it was part of an illusion, all of it disappeared within her touch.
Everything.
Including the cold corpse of his Senior Brother.
"S-Senior brotherrrrr!" That was Su Ci Yi last cry until she woke up.
The familiar white garments of her. The fluffy soft bed. The same casement window. And the same room. Su Ci Yi was wrapped in sweat all over when she woke up.
"What's the matter?" A man's deep voice coated in alluring tone whispered in her ears.