Book 2: Chapter 48: Lost


    Yan Lei felt lost. He stood amidst a prairie, with a dirt path tracked with lines of cart wheels leading him on his way. He no longer even knew what the point of his journey was. His brother had asked him to inform Yan Yun of the Elder’s ns. The task was foolish, what could their cousin sister do? She’d intentionally left the sect and had no power or anything to her name, having lost her cultivation just like him, she was in no position to make any changes.


    But if he didn’t follow his brother’s words… he was not certain what Li would do. He’d been growing more and more furious with each passing day. His sole attention and focus on training to be stronger, and on getting revenge. Lei did not intend to find out, and so he’d left.


    But he’d never truly been out alone. His brother had been with him, and servants and guides. Now that he was all by himself, he had been vulnerable, and others had taken advantage.


    He looked down at himself, his clothes were torn, his body bruised. He’d been robbed by bandits that prowled these pathways. They’d beaten him up, taking whatever valuables he had. With no Qi or cultivation, he had no ability to resist. And after his fury and shame had settled down, he’d just felt a faint sense of relief that they’d at least left him his clothes.


    Lei had spent hours on that thought. He could barely recognize himself anymore. With torn clothing, dirt marring his body and the shameful mark of the injuries present on him. Even though his cultivation had been restored to the first realm, he was the very image of a weak mortal.


    He’d considered returning, but the Path back was just as dreadful as the way ahead. What would he even say to his brother anyway? That he got beat up on the way? That he could not even protect himself from some weak bandits anymore? His sect’s guards may not even let him through, confusing him for some beggar child.


    And so he had walked, with his feet aching, the skin scraped raw from the dirt. Until finally, he had reached the ce.


    The vige was… small. A quiet ce with homes scattered around farmnds. A river ran through the vige, with lush forests surrounding it on all sides. It was by every meaning of the word, unremarkable.


    Lei had stared at the ce, wondering if his cousin sister had truly been spending her time here. That she’d chosen this small vige over her sect. Even now, he could not truly understand that. Unlike him, she could still regain her cultivation. She hadn’t been crippled, all she needed to do was return, and yet she’d willingly chosen to not do so. To leave and live here instead, among mortals.


    As Lei moved further, he began to notice the people. Vigers, mortals all, who walked throughout the ce. Everyone seemed to be engaged in some task or another, from carrying baskets of herbs, to buckets of water, stones, to crafters working on some structures, and farmers tending to the fields. There was life in this vige, far more so than he’d expected from a vige that had lost the protection from its sect, this close to winter. He’d thought the ce would be half abandoned by now.


    Confused, he continued to walk further into the vige, when something stumbled into his legs.


    Lei looked down in confusion. A small rabbit with a horn on its forehead looked up at him, blinking its jewel like eyes. A spirit beast, and not a young one either. What was it doing in a vige like this?


    He tried to grab the rabbit but it jumped back rapidly, hopping away. Lei’s gaze followed it, as he noted other spirit beasts simrly walking around the vige. The vigers moved around them as if the existence of the beasts was the most normal thing ever. He noted many beasts helping the vigers with tasks as well, clearly wild beasts at that.


    “Oh Heavens, what happened to you, boy?” a woman eximed, a basket of herbs at her side as she rushed to him. Lei looked on in confusion, pulling his hand back when she tried to grasp it as he simply stared at her.


    “Oh dear, don’t look that afraid. I’m not going to hurt you,” she said.


    Lei normally would’ve felt angry by now, at the way she talked, like he was some weak child that had to be protected, yet, for some reason, he felt no anger within him at her words. She seemed genuine.


    Slowly, he rxed his shoulders, trying to return some semnce of dignity to himself. “I have a message. For Yan Yun.”


    The woman looked at him, before her eyes widened. “You’re here for Yan Yun.”


    Lei felt his anger rise when the woman looked at him uncertainly. He was well aware of how he looked, but the woman’s gaze still roused fury within him nheless.


    “Mei Mei! Could you call Yan Yun? A boy’s here for her,” the woman shouted, and a young girl called back.


    “Now,e with me for now. I don’t know what happened, but you need to get your injuries dressed or they’ll get infected,” the woman said.


    Lei almost sneered that he was above any measly infection, before he remembered that he was not. Not anymore.


    Feeling like a kicked puppy, Lei deted as he followed quietly behind the woman into her home.


    “Take a seat, I’ll get something for those wounds,” she said, before walking inside.


    He sat on the bed. It was a simple home, nothing spectacr. Even the servants in the sect lived in bigger ces. Yet, there was a serenity to it that he couldn’t describe.


    Lei’s eyes wandered around the chamber, as he wondered what was about to happen. His heart would at times pound at the thought of this being an ambush. Perhaps she’d simply ran off to inform the boy that he was here, so that demon would finish what he’d left half done thest time.


    Shivers ran down his spine at the visage of Lu Jie ying in his mind, but Lei breathed out to calm himself down. If he were to be ambushed, he would not be able to resist no matter what. Better to remain calm than to give into the panic.


    Churning in his thoughts with his own unsettled heart, Lei almost jumped when the woman returned, this time holding a small bowl with some kind of paste in it.


    “Yin’er has been teaching me some alchemy and healing things. I don’t know much, but this salve is wonderful. I once cut my finger with a de and with this, it was healed within minutes,” the woman eximed, showing off the salve to Lei.


    He noted it was simply very simple crushed herbs prepared to heal wounds, he’d seen it often enough, but the fact that a mortal could make these still baffled him. How would they get the Qi needed for it?


    The woman gently applied the salve onto Lei’s wounds and he felt the tingling sensation flow over his body. Despite himself, Lei found himself sighing out in relief. He was not unfamiliar with pain, but the constant agony had been eating at his mind. The relief from the salve had been like cool water running over his body, as Lei found himself immediately feeling better.


    “You wanna lie down while Yan Yunes? She’s been meditating or something with some of the kids. Not really sure what, but it may take her some time,” the woman offered.


    Lei wanted to protest, but his body had other thoughts. He’d not slept for a few days now, and he could really use some rest.


    With a small nod, Leiid his head down onto the bed, breathing evenly to make sure he did not fall asleep.


    The woman left a few moments after she’d put all the salve onto his wounds and Lei felt himself sinking into the tingling sensation of the spirit herbs healing his body. His mind settled into darkness, the most quiet and still darkness he’d been in for over a month. No nightmare gued him, no dreams of humiliation, torture.


    Then, with a jerk he rose, rising from his bed as he realized he’d been asleep. With his heart pounding in his chest, he looked around to try and see where he was. Everything was dark around him.


    It took him a moment to realize it was nighttime now. A small sheet rested upon him, and his injuries were now bandaged with a clean cloth. Lei slowly raised the sheet, as he sat up on the bed.


    Just… What was he doing here? What purpose did he even have ining? His chest felt like it would cave in on itself, and Lei rose to his feet, restless to go somewhere, as if to escape this ce.


    Then, a shadow stirred, as a figure walked around the corner, into the chamber, and Lei felt his heart stop still. A face he’d dreamt over and over in his nightmares looked back at him, and gave him a warm smile.


    “Oh hey, you’re finally awake,” Lu Jie said.