Chapter 102: Yata: Hey, I'm really a head - turner!
"The Tree Craves Calm, but the Wind Won't Cease."
"Hey, you blind guy sure use fancy words. Blame it on your bad luck."
The leading man didn't care at first, but when he turned around, he caught a glimpse of the glint of cold light in Ling's hand. A strong sense of crisis instantly enveloped him. "Wait a minute!"
"What...?"
The man watched helplessly as the bright blade light flashed across the necks of his subordinates. The next second, bright red blood splashed into the air, resembling delicate flowers blooming out of thin air under the sunlight's refraction.
Before he could think further, he felt a chill on his neck. As his line of sight rose, Ling's gentle voice reached his ears.
"Although I can tell from your conversation that your identities are very troublesome and I don't want to get involved in trouble, asking me to spare those who want to kill me..."
As the corpses of the group fell to the ground, stirring up a little dust, Ling indifferently shook off the blood on the staff sword. "Sorry, I'm not that good - tempered."
Yata on the tree tilted his head and looked at the fallen corpses. "They're quite weak, aren't they? And master still got involved in trouble, didn't he?"
"Yes, trouble just keeps coming." Ling inserted the staff sword back into its sheath and sighed. "But since I'm involved, I have to handle it cleanly... Yata, I'll have to trouble you."
"Got it."
After hearing the sound of flapping wings, Ling groped for the powder to attract wild beasts and sprinkled it on the corpses of the men. Then he didn't stay any longer. He picked up the scattered luggage and ran in the direction where Yata flew away.
...
Pain.
It really hurts.
Whether it was the skin scratched by branches while running, or the soles of the feet stepping on the jagged rocks, or the lungs that felt like being pricked by needles due to excessive breathing, all kinds of pain intertwined and wrapped around her, making her want to cry out in discomfort.
But she couldn't cry, because if she did, she wouldn't be able to see the way ahead, and she would be caught and killed by those assassins... But she didn't want to die.
She simply couldn't understand why this had happened to her. It was supposed to be Father taking her and Mother home. She just wanted to be with Mother and Father. But why?
Why did those elder brothers and sisters hate her and her mother so much? Father had so many wives. Why did only she and her mother have to be treated like that? Was it because of their humble origins? If so, they could just say it! They would leave. Why did they have to kill them?
"Damn it, that little bastard can really run!"
"Really, Princess Zhenquan, can't you be more considerate and stop struggling?"
"Yeah, we'll do it quickly. You'll feel just as little pain as your mom did."
Listening to those voices full of malice, Zhenquan gritted her teeth and forced her already numb legs to move. That blind warrior just then could have saved her; he could have intervened...
But... she had no reason to ask him to do so.
Yet she didn't want to die, really didn't want to die... So it didn't matter who, really anyone at all, please come and save her.
Although a person's strong will in a [Shun] can stimulate the body's potential, there is always a limit to such stimulation. After running all morning, Zhenquan finally reached her limit. She missed her step, lost her balance, and rolled down the slope.
Zhenquan managed to get up. Looking down at the wounds on her hands smeared with dirt and stones, big tears finally welled up in her eyes. [How tired I am, really so tired... My whole body aches. I don't want to run anymore. Or rather, how could I possibly escape? Just let it be. Let it end like this. If I die, I won't have to suffer anymore...]
"Hey, the princess finally stopped running. From morning till now—" The tall man hacked through the branches and strode towards Zhenquan. "It really gave us a hard time to catch up with you."
"Come on, quit wasting time on this little slut. Kill her quickly and go back to report. [Aniki] still needs to handle that blind guy's body."
Seeing the malicious smile on the man's face, Zhenquan panicked and took a step back. But after several attempts, she sobbed due to the pain in her body. She could only watch in despair as the man raised his long knife.
[Didn't Mom say the gods would protect the world? Am I in this mess because I've been forsaken by the gods?]
But just as the long knife was about to fall, a swift [Black Shadow] darted past the man's arm, splashing a string of blood. The man dropped his long knife in pain.
"Ah—! Damn bird!"
Zhenquan couldn't help but open her eyes wide and track that [Black Shadow]. Was it a god? Did the god hear her prayer and send an envoy to save her?
"Come on, ignore that beast. Kill this little slut first."
Seeing the man approaching her, Zhenquan gritted her teeth, got up, and ran with all her might. But the distance between them was too close. Zhenquan only took a few steps when the man grabbed her hair and pulled her back.
Almost at the moment she was pulled up, the man let out a pain - filled scream. Zhenquan watched as the crow flew off again, each claw clutching something gooey.
[What is that?]
For a moment, Zhenquan even forgot to struggle. She just stared blankly up at the man who was holding her hair. It wasn't until she saw the two bleeding holes on the man's face that she realized what the crow had grabbed with its claws.
Seeing the crow [Nosedive] at them again, Zhenquan couldn't help but let out a small scream and covered her eyes with her hands.
She felt the man's hand that had been gripping her hair suddenly release. The man kept hurling a stream of vulgar insults at the crow, but the next moment, his ranting suddenly stopped. Instead, there came a dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground.
Zhenquan cautiously parted her fingers just a little, trying to see what had happened. But when she saw the person standing behind her, she couldn't help but widen her eyes. "You, how could you be here?"
"Oh... well, I had no other choice. They just had to pick on this poor harmless blind man," Ling shook the blood off his staff sword, wearing a helpless smile on his lips. "I had to step in to protect myself."