Chapter 17: 4 Years

The next day.

Li Hua was sitting on a simple cart, looking at the sunrise and the road. Mostly the road. Her eyes were shining like that of a child who was waiting for a present; her smile was equally bright.

An old man with a white beard dressed in a blue gown was sitting behind the reins, gently caressing furry blue donkey.

He was looking at her at times, shaking his head.

The sun was getting higher, but girl's expression remained the same.

Now the old man seemed like he was trying to say something, but couldn't bring himself to; it lasted for a few minutes more. Finally, the girl sighed.

"I said I wanted to be an older sister. Ha… Now I know how brother Song feels when I'm running away from him. I should stop doing that."

The old man looked at her with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry I haven't told you, madam. The child was spotted going with Ying Zhengs to the forest. They had a lot of luggage with them, but I thought he still could change his mind...

"Really? Sounds suspicious."

"He has always been a strange man; he spoke with Tong Hao and was told about the danger, but looks like he didn't mind at all."

"Hmm…"

The doctor hesitated for a bit, then said:

"He also… taking some other child. A girl with a bandage covering her eyes."

Li Hua's smile stiffened.

"You know Shi Lang… That sounds very bad."

"Yes, madam…"

"Tell brother Song to watch over them, okay?"

"You won't be interfering directly, madam?"

"Nah."

"But why?" Shi Lang seemed confused.

"I would've been annoyed if my older brother bothered me without asking. I mean, I'm annoyed when he does it and I want to be better!"

"Then, we just go?"

"Yeah, forward!"

The old man clasped his hands, the donkey moved forward. The girl started humming and swinging her legs. Her smile and eyes grew a little distant. She seemed to be thinking about something.

At some point, a bleak green light flashed in her pupils. Then she closed her eyes and leaned back.

…

"I think I forgot something."

"What is it now?" Asked a girl with a yellow bandage on her eyes. She sounded annoyed and had all rights to be.

"Something minor. Hey, kid, go to my house and bring the plank lying on the table. Be fast. Here's the key."

Xin sighed. They were already standing at the forest's edge, ready to depart to the Unknown Regions, but Ying Zheng seemed set to prevent them from going any soon.

The boy took the bag off his shoulder and loudly crashed it on the ground as a way to sound his irritation (of both the task and weight), and then run up the hill.

It was almost midday already, and they started gathering early in the morning. Ying Zheng gave the impression that he wanted to take his entire house with him.

Still, once Xin entered the place he still could see many bottles; he tried not to look closely at them.

There were two tables, for food and a special "operation table". The plank was found on the former. Xin knew what it was for. It made him feel somehow complicated.

…

"Why that boy?" Asked the girl standing with her luggage while Ying Zheng was sitting and his relying on a tree.

"High time for asking."

"He agreed, therefore I ask."

"Well, I didn't expect that myself, to be honest. But there were several reasons why him. First, it's quite rare to find a brat on the Second Stage of Qi Gathering, it rises his survivability a little. Second, he was close and I was too lazy to go around searching for someone else. Third, I simply trust children more than adults, and in this kind of relationship I need someone I can trust and be sure he won't cooperate with you."

"I see. But I find unpleasant how you assume that I would try to deceive you."

"Why?"

"Because if you have this opinion of me, you will do the same." The girl sounded calm but snorted at the end.

"True." Ying Zheng shuddered.

"But what else would you expect from the race that enslaved and slaughtered their way around the continent? I'd rather keep my trust in myself."

The girl looked straight at him.

"That was long ago." She said slowly.

"By the same reasoning, I shouldn't trust you because your kind was living in caves not too long ago. But I do, even though you haven't particularly evolved since then."

"Your words sting like a bee, please stop or I will cry. Anyway, let's just say we both can trust the kid, here he is by the way."

"So be it."

Xin gave the key and the plank to Ying Zheng. He, in turn, headed deeper into the forest.

"What is that for?" Asked the girl.

"A tradition." Said Ying Zheng looking around.

"There."

He went to a tree standing out from the rest: white with black stripes amidst countless brown.

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On that tree, there were several other planks in a row with some words engraved on them:

"Gao Jianing, 1 Month, May 29."

"Cao Pi, 2 Weeks, June 3."

Chai Rong and Wang Mu…

There were many of them, just like people departing these days.

Ying Zheng's finger glowed with red and he also started to write something on his plank. After several seconds he stopped and asked:

"Kid, Demon, what're your names?"

"W… Xin." Answered the boy with hesitation in his voice, his mind clouded.

"Mahaswetha."

Xin looked at her, what a strange name. He forgot it already.

"Got it." Said Ying Zheng and carved a bit more. Finally, he took a nail from a little box attached to the tree and attached and nailed the plank with it.

"Ying Zheng, W. Xin, Maha, 4 Years, Year 94"

"…"

"…"

Xin wasn't happy with that "W." but in a way, it was symbolic of how he felt right now about his surname. The dot was more than a thousand words. He looked at the girl, expecting a complaint, but saw her emotionless. Wait, right, she couldn't see.

"I can see." She said as if reading his mind.

"I just expected something like that."

"Now that I think about it, it's surprising." Said Ying Zheng with a thoughtful look.

"What?" She asked.

"You can read."

Xin wondered if it was an insult; the girl did too.

"Don't glare at me like that, you'll burn through the bandage."

"Our script and language are same, mater worthy of wonder. I mean, we could develop our language from the ruins left from you. However, why it preserved so perfectly? Why are there no deviations even after five thousand years of separation? It's… interesting."

The girl slightly tilted her head.

"That's a good question."

"Of course it is, it's mine after all. Anyway, let's go already. We'll have time to speak later."

At last, they departed.

Ying Zheng was going fast, and Xin was trying not to lag. His Qi surged to his legs as he ran forward skillfully avoiding passing trees. He felt like he was flying each time his feet were leaving the ground, but it was quite hard to control the direction because of that. Still, he could keep up, but that was he. Xin looked behind; the girl with a big luggage on her back was standing behind.

Far behind.

"Are you mocking me?" There was displeasure in her unusually quiet voice.

"Forgot you're crippled, sorry." Said Ying Zheng and walked back.

"But with recent development in the forest, we can't be too slow. Okay, how about that."

He lifted Maha and placed her into the bag on his back. Just like Xin suspected, it was half-empty. Only her head was still outside.

"Comfortable?"

"No."

"Good, let's go kid."

He started to run, and Xin ran after him. At first it was easy, he was simply flying through the forest, but with the time Ying Zheng was getting faster and faster.

Wait, no, the boy shook his head. It's him who was getting tired.

His Qi was slowly running out and legs were aching harder and harder.

He was trying not to feel envy toward Maha whose face he was seeing blinking between trees. It will be too humiliating to ask for the same treatment.

Time was going on, several hours passed by.

The forest was growing denser, or was it an illusion? At this point, Xin couldn't be sure about anything. He was constantly wiping sweat from his face, his legs were burning and numb at the same time, and Ying Zheng hasn't looked back even once.

It was a torture and the boy has already regretted several times his decision to go with this two instead of joining sister Li Hua. He also felt sorry that he hadn't apologized to her and Master Shi for rejecting their offer. He tried but he simply couldn't bring himself to face them. His limbs were going weak immediately and all he could do was to walk circles around Azure Lake and their house.

Once he saw them going out, he jumped into the water and waited until he was out of breath before emerging.

So, why exactly he's decided to go with Ying Zheng and Maha? Right now he was blaming his stupidity for that, but back in the morning his reasoning was like that:

No one managed to cure Inner Death yet, so he can't blindly believe that he will be able to do it simply by studying medicine. The only way was to have something that other people who died of it had not. Maybe Demon Empire, no matter what is it, was such a thing. Quite logical motivation, but there was one more thing that's influenced his judgment, he just didn't want to admit it. Several words surfaced in his mind:

"He brought you from a two-years-long expedition to the Unknown Regions and hasn't explained anything else..."

…