No sooner than he closed his eyes, he immediately opened his eyes and jolted up his head to look around. He forcibly made himself excited to pump adrenaline and make him stay awake.
For a second, the sky seemed to have crack and something fell and all the surrounding monsters within a 200 meter radius were no where to be seen. It seems as if they never existed in the first place.
Far ahead, he could spot around five beats whimpering and laying on all fours with her head bowed in their own piss and shit. They were already afraid of Ming Shin's mad rampage earlier. Now something which is incomprehensible has made them devoid of any resistance possible.
Within a few seconds, a lower panicked cry came from deep in the forest which sounded like a signal to retreat. Much forward where the convoy was fighting with the beasts, the have consciously received a signal from deep in the forest.
All the beasts began to recede in a tide swiftly. Nobody could comprehend the sudden situation.
"What happened? Why are they retreating all of a sudden? "Ning Shu panicked.
"Who cares? Now is the time to move ahead quickly with no obstruction" Wu Lao shouted and ordered the coachmen "High speed !!".
Only Ping Lao was thoughtful when he felt dread for a second there but could not point to any source which might have caused it. After seeing the swift beast retreat 'As expected, something must have happened in the forest to make the beasts retreat in a hurry. The earlier dread..is there some expert which saved us?' he no longer cared and returned to the carriage to heal.
The expert in his mind, Ming Shin was currently seeing the retreat of the remaining beats which disappeared in the blink of an eye. He slowly looked up at the sky and murmured "Whoever you are, thank you for saving me. I shall return this favor".
The people in the convoy cheered after hearing the monster beast retreat. These days even though they did not fight outside, but were mentally exhausted and constantly depressed if they would net be picked up as a bait. Now they are all visibly relieved and singing high praises to the three masters as mighty and invincible.
Ming Rui was the only one who closed her eyes since long time ago to hide her pain and burning rage. She noticed that the carriage Tan Li was in behind had been missing for a few days now. She instantly came up to the conclusion that she was used as a bait by the Ye clan like many others who them deemed less useful.
It look a long time to regain her gaze which seemed as detached a separate entity. She clutched her locket and looked towards the east. Still feeling some unrest in heart she only hoped that he loved ones be safe.
"Gwuooohh" Ming Shin pitched a low growl coughing up blood trying to stand up. The heart which seems to have just healed externally relapsed again puncturing a hole in it due to excess blood pumping.
His internal organs were heavily damaged and they have already taken toll beyond what his body can take. He pushed every inch of his will power and moved to where Tan Li was located.
Moving whatever remains of her body shall sunder only more. Hence he moved his hands with difficulty and dug the surrounding soil and covered her body up.
Looking at the high mound, he kneeled in front of the grave and gave thread heads heavily hitting the hard ground which cracked open his forehead. This also calmed down his brain rush and made his thinking sane.
"What can I say? A simple thank you wouldn't suffice all the love I have been showered upon even before I was born. I promise you I shall never wrong your upbringing. I will live up to my principles utmost"
" I bear your burden, but I will not seek death. I shall seek revenge upon the ones who attacked and the ones who abandoned you as a bait" he seemed to have made such determined vow while expressing his gratitude that the sky thundered heavily soon after.
Rain followed soon after washing off the scent of these lands and his ragged clothes. Earlier he observed the retreat of animals to the west, which means whatever is to the east is relatively safe.
His eyes were red and exhausted, his body numb and continuously bleeding while some force and the surplus energy is being catered to healing them. He moved in the eastward direction with his sword to his side and Xiao Lan on his head still clutching his hair tightly as it sleeps.
There is no count of how many times sun had risen and set while occasional rains and heavy winds. His body kept on moving with little to no consciousness. His legs started to bleed and I don't know when they ruptured and completely lost the skin.
His bare flesh was grating against the ground and moving with the only will to live. Around three miles ahead on a treetop, a person was jumping on branches while scouting for any movement or sight.
Ming Shin could somehow perceive something moving fast but with no malicious intent. He fell down with a thud with the last ounce of energy.
After a few minutes, a young man seemed to move in this direction and spotted something lying down and blood foot prints right behind which cover a long distance. Cautiously approaching near, he could vaguely see the silhouette of a small kid exhausted and dried up beyond point.
Rushing quickly, he noticed that Ming Shin had a pulse albeit very light as if were almost dead. He carefully scooped up on his back and turned left and moved swiftly.
" You murderer. How c-could you?" Bai Mei screamed.
"No, listen sister Mei Mei, I did not actually want to do it" Ming Shin explained.
She looked at him with disgust and fear and moved away from him.
"Boy come under my wing. you did nothing wrong. Killing is so fun " Rin Meihun sincerely invited the latter.
When he looked to the right, Ming Rui was looking at him as if looking at a stranger " Are you really my son? N-No, you are a monster. You pushed a sword through my sister's heart" and gave a heart breaking cry.
Ming Jian was consoling her and looked at Ming Shin and faintly said "You did not follow your heart principles and gave in to emotions. You do not possess clear thinking and cannot move ahead in martial arts".
"kakakaka boy, we are the same after all. What righteousness, what principles? You cannot trust anyone except yourself" Ye Guang taunted.
The reverence and awe in Meng Kai is gone and looked at him sadly as if she lost him forever.
Ming Shin was alienated by everyone and he was self depreciating "No matter how many reasons I give to convince myself, it is true that I killed Aunt Li. What a truly despicable bastard I am".
Suddenly he remembered vaguely seeing a set of eyes which seemed to encourage him. 'What? I'm not alone after all'.
"Truly, you are not alone. I am and I have always been with you. It's just that you never saw who was beside you and instead focused on who was opposite to you", a faint voice was heard.
When he turned to his right he found a beautiful woman looking at him with a gentle smile "Aunt Li" he exclaimed.
"What's with all this sad face? Since when did you care for what others think? Don't tell me, it so easy to influence your principles just for the sake of people's opinion" she flicked his forehead.
"No, I shall not be influenced by external opinion but-" he was heavy again.
"But what? what is the first and foremost principle you uphold?" Ming Jian reprimanded.
" I shall never seek to hesitate my way. come many obstacles" the former seriously replied.
"Then, is your way right or wrong?" Tai Xue urged.
Ming Shin contemplated for a while " My path shall not have right and wrong. After all, each person has their own perspective of right and wrong. My only way is to abide by my principles and forge my path ahead with consciousness".
Something seems to be broken and there was only a blinding light ahead of him. Twitching for an instant, a pair of eyes have opened up slowly.
"Ah !! you woke up" a woman's voice was heard.