Yu Wenjun opened his eyes after a night's heavy sleep and found his daughter clutching his shoulder sleeping while his wife was still tirelessly massaging his feet.
"Wife" he whispered.
"Ah !! Husband, you woke up" she was excited and teary eyed. She carefully approached him and asked how he was feeling.
"I am ok. I just need a month's time to heal from these" he replied and faintly remembered being saved by a young boy.
"That reminds me, do you know the person who saved me?" he asked his wife eagerly.
She replied almost sobbing "Yes, it is Young master Ming Shin from Juuko village. Chief Mu Shen said you were very badly wounded when you were handed over to healing".
"Don't cry now, aren't I going to be fine? More like, we have to thank our benefactor" he sounded determined.
"No need" Ming Shin replied as he stood outside the door.
"Who?" the wife was vigilant and this woke up the little girl Yu Lan.
As the door was opened, she was greeted to the sight of a young man like prince charming in well defined robes standing outside.
Yu Wenjun immediately recognized him "I have seen young master Shin". Immediately his wife was filled with respect and wanted to bow, but was helped by the latter.
"Don't worry about that senior. i have seen you fight bravely even in such dire straits. I can only admire your heroic fight which might have saved many lives" Ming Shin let out a heartfelt appreciation.
Yu Wenjun was embarrassed while his daughter felt very proud of her father's recognition.
"That's right. This big brother, my father is the most powerful" she affirmed.
Ming Shin laughed and nodded at her while Yu Wenjun shut her up with a helpless smile "Lan 'er, do you know that he is my benefactor? He saved me from many beasts which were besieging me"
"Eh?" she was surprised and looked at Ming Shin quickly again.
'What's with that look of me being judged like a green plant in a house' Ming Shin twitched while able to guess her little thoughts.
Suddenly his sight was attracted to the pendant in the girl's hands. Something tells him that it is very powerful and he cannot even imagine the smallness of him in front of it. 'It looks so noble' he thought.
Observing his sight, Yu Wenjun was quick to catch on and requested "Dear benefactor, I do not have anything to repay with this life's graciousness. Please accept the pendant as a little gratitude".
"No father, this is ancestral treasure, how can you give it away?" Yu Lan was very scared and tightly clutched the pendant while looking vigilantly at Ming Shin.
He was helpless and politely denied it "I did not do it for anything in return or some profit. I just could not see a brave warrior losing his life in front of me".
"Listen Lan er, if your father had any misfortune befallen to him earlier, do you think we could keep this pendant?" the mother asked gently
"No" though she was scared, she remembered how the villagers always looked enviously and with some hate that her family had always been strong and prosperous. If something were to happen to father, then these people wouldn't bat an eye and snatch everything.
She was very grateful to Ming Shin, but giving away the ancestral treasure which belongs to her in the future, she was very reluctant. It was also the lucky charm which always protected her family, but how can she give it away now?
As she was struggling, Yu Wenjun touched her little head "Yu Lan, you do not know that recently there were some people investigating about our family from Pitu village. I am sure that we don't have enough power to protect this family treasure. Isn't it better to repay it as gratitude to my savior?" he gently persuaded while reasoning.
She seemed to end her struggle and listened to her father's words. She stretched out her hand with pendant in front of Ming Shin.
'Oii Oii Oii, you remember that I am right here? What do you mean by this treasure being a problem to you and hence use convenient means to repay my grace?' Ming Shin's facial muscles twitched.
"Cough, that..er..young master Shin, please don't mind the previous babbling. Kindly accept the pendant as our since gratitude" Yu Wenjun tried to look as devoted as possible.
' What's with that 'Please don't mind??'. And that serious devoted and sincere look? Snake, you are definitely a snake' the latter was roaring inside.
But despite his thoughts, he could feel that were he to not take this, he might be presented with something else and did not want to deal with much pain. Moreover, his induction was telling him that this pendant be of great use.
He was not hypocritical and accepted it. After thinking about it, he knew that this was a very precious treasure and did not want to leave just like that.
He asked for an empty jade and noted down a skill he developed 'Silent Swift' and gave it to them. He told Yu Wenjun to not pass this technique to anyone outside his own family and destroy this jade immediately after reading it.
He knew that this was a very difficult skill to master. Unless anyone has seen this jade, no one can replicate the exact series of steps for the skill just by observation. So he wasn't all much worried and giving them a more powerful skill would only spell doom to them.
He tried to put the pendant in his robes but secretly store in the spatial pouch. He was surprised to find that it keeps getting rejected. He can only wear the pendant himself and make sure to hide it in his robes.
He previously already bid his farewell to his father and would meet up with Ming Rui at the earliest. He made his way back to where Ye Nai was last seen the previous day on the outskirts of Chen village.
Rin Meihun was flabbergasted the previous night trying to figure out why the monster beasts retreated so soon even without being harmed much. He wanted to use this battle as an excuse, to probe out the variables causing these attacks in periodic frequency.
Also why did he not receive any message for help from Chen and Juuko? He just sent some weapons and armor but was expecting more human help request. At that time, it is easy to infiltrate their village and military and find the root cause.
Something unknown to him has happened which resulted in such an unexpected result. he is missing a crucial variable. What is it? As he was pacing within Hei pavilion, he received news of how a youngster was able to pull off the entire wave with just his might.
And to still think that the little boy in yesterday's defeat to be so strong after few years, he must have had any adventure. Otherwise where can he improve his cultivation in such remote place with no heaven and earth aura.
Seeing Ming Shin come to her position directly, Yue Nai also came out of her hiding and asked "Junior brother, I thought you would come back yesterday. Why did you stay the night with these people?"
"Senior Sister Yue, I'm sorry you had to wait. While I was received by the people, I knew that there was a similar battlefield goin on at another front. So, I have travelled to check it out and rested for some time before coming back now" he lied with a straight face.
Yue Nai could not detect any hurried breathing or avoiding eye contact. She was also not idle all the time. Even she found some trials of monster beasts along another different direction and they too seem to have retreated during night.
So she believed him easily taking it as the truth and nodded. Both of them decided to retreat back to the tribe. The previous three who retreated just a day earlier are now still trailing their way back. Without Ming Shin's exclusive far foresight, the team definitely found the difference.
They had to make sure after repeated attempts that they are on the shortest and right path. On the fifth day, they observed a slight movement behind them. Soon, they could see two silhouettes making their way fast towards them.
Taking a vigilant stance, they could finally see it was Yue Nai and Ju Hai who caught up to them. Ming Shin opened his bag and shared some food with them telling how the villagers were kind to give lot of meat and food to him.
They thanked him and after a short break, they started their journey again. After another ten days, they have finally reached their tribe. They were first spotted by Hei Lan's unit and greeted on their way along.
Soon the elders were gathered in the main hall and Li Kui took the upper seat as Supreme chief while Qing Wutian took a slightly lower seat as the vice chief, ready to hear the details.