"Ouch..."
Lui Xian was awakened by an intense paining on his abdomen. He supported himself on the dirty ground and leaned his back on a tree. His right hand moved downwards, getting closer to his 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 and then rasply murmured, "where am l?" He got no answer instead he heard his voice reverberating with the wallls, seeming as if he was being asked the same.
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 and all he could touch was grass 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 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 cart rushing towards him.
The horses seemed out of control as if they were running away from something. After painstakingly trying to calm them for almost a day, he managed to do so before he checked 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, as he found somewhere comfortable to rest 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. He got out, supporting himself with a stick he had picked up along the road.
"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."
"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.