"What? HE'S STILL ALIVE? How?" Yue asked in surprise, looking up as if trying to imagine how anyone could have survived that fall.

Lan brought his ear close to Tristan's chest, listening to the faint sound of heartbeats.

'The creature’s body must have cushioned the impact' Lan thought.

"LET'S GO. We need to get back to the camp quickly!" Lan said hurriedly.

image [https://i.imgur.com/CJALaUN.png]

After several minutes, Zhou Lan returned to the merchant guild's makeshift camp with Tristan in his arms and Zhou Yue following him.

Yi Jian, who was on watch, was the first to notice them. Seeing Lan’s quick pace and the large object in his arms, Jian asked with concern, "Did something happen?"

"We found an injured boy!" Zhou Lan called out loudly.

Yi Jian approached to examine the situation and thought, ‘A child this far from society? Where did he come from?’

Jian looked at the boy's wounds and thought, 'This is bad. He’s badly hurt, and we don’t have a doctor here.'

Hearing the commotion, another person appeared. It was a man in his mid-twenties, of average height, wearing cheap combat clothes similar to Jian’s. He asked irritably, "What’s all this fuss about?"

"Liao! We found someone injured. Come here and help!" Wang Liao, the other hired martial artist, looked at Tristan. Seeing the terrible state of his body, he shook his head and said, "It’s too late. There’s no way this boy survives. Just let him die in peace."

Jian shot a sharp look at his senior, thinking, 'Lazy useless fool.'

"We need to bandage his wounds to stop the bleeding. Yue, bring me a bucket of clean water. Jian, can you bring me some cloths?" Lan said, irritated by the young men's argument.

"Oh, okay, I'll be right back." Trying to be helpful, Yue ran to the center of the camp and entered one of the wagons to look for what her grandfather had requested.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Right!" Jian also ran to the camp.

With all the noise and confusion, several people approached. The guild’s caravan had 12 people in total, and among those who came closer, two stood out.

One was the leader of the merchant guild, a man in his 40s, dressed elegantly—at least by the standards of the area.

The other was his daughter, a young beauty of 16. Her eyes and hair were dark brown, and her long hair was tied up in a bun. She wore an elegant white and pink ruqun.

Jian, having found the cloths, was returning, running.

The young, petite girl approached Jian and asked curiously, "Jian, what’s going on?"

Jian swallowed nervously and looked at her shyly. "Ah, young mistress Liu Feiyan, Zhao Lan found an injured boy. We’re trying to help him."

Liu Feiyan said, "Poor boy. How did he end up in a place like this?"

"Uh, I don’t know. Old Lan must know."

But Lan was too busy to answer anything. He took the cloths from Jian.

Yue had arrived with the bucket of water. Lan quickly washed Tristan’s wounds, then dried the area and wrapped them with the cloth.

His main injuries were on both arms. But due to the impact, he also had internal bleeding, causing blood to come from his nose and mouth.

After bandaging Tristan's wounds, Lan carried him to a bed and left him there. There was nothing more he could do.

Lan sighed, wiping the sweat from his forehead, breathing heavily with exhaustion.

"Do you think he'll be okay, Grandpa?" Yue asked.

For a moment, Lan wanted to say, "Of course, my dear, he’ll be fine." But thinking of the disappointment she might feel if the boy died, he simply said with regret, "I don’t know."

The leader of the merchant guild approached with his usual dignified posture and asked, "Zhou Lan, can you explain what happened?"

Old Lan adopted a respectful stance and said "Liu Junhan," bowing.

"I was looking for Yue. She had gone off to explore the area as she always does," he said, his tone slightly irritated.

Then he continued, "After I found Yue, we noticed something moving in the darkness. When we went to see what it was, we found that child at the base of a mountain slope. He was near a dead magical beast. I think he must have been captured, and the two of them ended up falling as the creature tried to return to its den."

"This is troubling news. Besides worrying about bandits, we now have to be cautious of magical beasts. If I had known, I would’ve hired more martial artists." Liu Junhan said this with some concern in his voice.

'I need to send someone to retrieve the beast's core!' Liu Junhan thought about how much he could profit from it.

Liu Feiyan approached and looked at Tristan's face with curiosity. His features reminded her of the people who lived closer to the West.

"Maybe he's a foreigner from the Empire of Espar or the Republic of Guilean?" she said.

"I’ve heard even the Empire’s commoners have Gifted blood."

Liao, stifling a laugh, said, "I doubt it. Just look at him. He’s only a halfbreed. Maybe he came from near the border."

Liu Feiyan looked closely at Tristan, noticing he had some similarities to people from the central region.

She sighed and said, "It's a shame. I've always wanted to see the legendary blessing of the Spirit Kings."