As Yu Han turned around and rushed away, the veiled woman passed by Longwei in a split second to stop Yu Han. Longwei was in a daze as he turned around, witnessing the woman move with the speed of light.
Yu Han froze in his spot as the woman stood before him once again. She was tall and pale. From a distance, one would think she was just a normal woman as she was dressed in knee-length robes made out of a thin mesh. The nail guards on her fingers and her long hair styled with ornaments only proved her status as someone noble. But the moment Yu Han stared into her eyes, he could tell she wasn't normal.
"Who might you be?" the woman asked playfully as she pushed Yu Han's face with her nail guards, making him look directly into her eyes, "That paranoid Emperor sent his own bodyguard to protect a small kid?" she scoffed, her fingers clenching onto Yu Han's chin such that her pointy nail guards pressed into his skin. He grunted and tried to pull away from her, but her otherworldly gaze meticulously kept him in place.
Longwei frowned and walked closer to the two, "I'm equally surprised that old fox sent you out of all the people. Is he that scared of me and a little kid?!" he taunted her out loud, his voice successfully catching Yu Han's attention.
Hearing an external voice broke Yu Han from her gaze, and he instantly shut his eyes before she could trap him again. The woman frowned and lifted Yu Han from the ground, her nail guards pressing further into his skin.
"Then I'll take care of you first! Liu Longwei!" she shouted before throwing Yu Han toward a tree. He hit his thigh on the tree before falling and grunting in pain.
The woman wasted no time and charged toward Longwei. His sword clashed with her mere nail guards. She didn't think a bigger weapon was necessary to fight him off, hurting his pride and making him go all out. As they shared equally powerful blows, Yu Han struggled to stand from the ground. His eyes suddenly met with Longwei's, who took his time to glance at him even while fighting a deadly opponent. His eyes told the kid to run away, and they were desperate. Yu Han clenched his fists and frowned, slowly shaking his head to show his disapproval.
Things couldn't get any worse than this. Longwei pulled his sword away and kicked the woman in her stomach, causing her to lose her composure for a moment.
Within that split-second's worth of moment, Longwei shouted out loud, "If I don't bring you to Zhongping State in one piece, my family will die!"
Yu Han's eyes widened, and the lady laughed out loud as she stood back up. Before she could turn to Yu Han, Longwei charged at her once again, hoping Yu Han would run away during their fight. He didn't look at Yu Han anymore. He trusted the kid. He believed he would understand and run away.
And Yu Han didn't let the ironclad man down either. He ran away instantly. Although he was bleeding from his jaw and had broken his leg, he still dragged himself to the west endlessly.
As he continued running, the sky slowly turned blue and the sound of Longwei's sword clashing against the woman's nail guards stopped. This whole ordeal was beyond Yu Han. There was so much to process that he suddenly became dizzy just thinking about it. His legs gave up on him as he struggled to sit against a tree, taking deep and heavy breaths.
His eyes inevitably felt heavy, but he tried his best to stay awake. He couldn't let Longwei down. Unfortunately, he passed out the moment he decided he must stay awake.
—
In a warm luxurious room stood a man with long yellow robes. They were so long and luxurious that they covered the ground around the man. His wrinkled hands held a gold stick for support.
Yu Han frowned, yet unable to open his eyes. It seemed like he was dreaming. He couldn't wake up from the dream for some reason even though he knew he had passed out in the middle of nowhere.
This man whom he saw from a third perspective was strange. Yu Han felt like he wasn't in the same room as the man, but could look at him regardless. A strong light would interfere Whenever Yu Han tried to look up at the man's face. It was strange. He felt like he was in control of the dream, yet the dream controlled him.
Suddenly, he felt like someone was shaking him to wake him up causing him to gasp and open his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he clenched them back as a sharp light struck his eyes directly.
The young man before him gasped and quickly set the torch away, "Sorry bro, I didn't realize you woke up," the young man in several layers of clothes uttered. He was wearing so many layers that his face looked small compared to his body. The collars of his coat hid most of his face.
Another young man sat close to Yu Han, putting the torch in a box with several other things such as needles and bandages.
"We saw you passed out and injured, so we patched you up," the other guy uttered elegantly. He was dressed elegantly as well, in long white robes.
Yu Han looked at his leg which was patched up with long rods to support it. His hands moved to touch his jaw which was also bandaged perfectly. The two young men didn't look like a threat, so he sighed deeply.
"Thanks," he struggled to speak, "Did you see anyone else? An armored soldier with a long scar on his face?"
The two young men shared glances before shaking their heads simultaneously. Yu Han sighed and tried to stand up. The two men quickly helped him stand up.
"I'd advise resting for a couple of days. You fractured your leg," the elegant young man urged Yu Han.
Yu Han shook his head, "I need to go to Zhongping State urgently. I can't be late."
The two young men shared glances again, "That's great!" the man with the big coat said, "We were headed toward the Capital as well. You can just join us."
Yu Han was taken aback, "Seriously? You're willing to take a stranger along with you?"
The elegant man smiled, "A stranger or not, you're a patient. As a doctor, I dare not leave an injured patient behind."