THE NIGHT EMPEROR: 夜安王 【The Night Emperor Book 1】| ✔️

Chapter 48 Unravel

10 years ago, Winter.

Young Xi Chen woke up from hunger. It was already the next morning when his frosted eyelashes quivered open. When he bunkered down at the bottom of the tree in the midst of the snowstorm last night, he thought that was it. That was the end of his life. But the human body was a miracle in itself. His stomach grumbled, acting as a wake-up call to Xi Chen.

He stared out blankly into the snow piled up around him. The morning sun washed the forest in new light. It was as if the events from the day before never happened. The wind whistled and Xi Chen shivered in response. Xi Chen tried to stand up so that he could get rid of the snow from himself but his knees buckled beneath him. He thought that he should look for some food quickly to replenish his energy. Right now, survival was the only thing at his fore mind.

Xi Chen took a wobbly step on the fresh snow. He tried his best not to think about what happened to his grandparents. His red-rimmed eyes were determined and void of any tears as he made steady headway.

It was the dead of winter, and food was scarce in the wild. Xi Chen had walked for miles and had yet to encounter anything that he could eat. Worse, he was lost. It was the first time that he had ventured so far into the forest. When he was thinking about giving up, Xi Chen came upon a disheveled sign at the base of a mountain which would have blended into the brown of the trees if not for the snow framing it. It was a signpost for the Temple of Ninety Nine Blessings. He had heard of this temple, but never thought much about it and only knew that the monks and residents there removed themselves from the common affairs of the country.

He looked up the mountain and could barely see the highest point of the temple. Xi Chen thought that he should just head to the temple. If there's no food, at least he'll be able to get some direction. As he was thinking of hiking up the mountain, he spotted someone descending it.

As the man came close to him, red tinged Xi Chen's vision. The man was obviously a Northerner. As if he was in a trance, Xi Chen kneeled down and autonomously grabbed the dagger that was tucked in his right boot. The dagger was commissioned by his adoptive grandfather for his birthday last year. Even though they were poor, the elderly man made sure that Xi Chen owned a dagger of his own since they lived so close to the forest. It was just a small simple dagger with minimal design that was more functional than decorative. Since the weapon came into his possession a year ago, Xi Chen never had any encounters where he had a use for it and he had thought that he was never going to need it. It was all going to change now.

As the Northerner came closer to Xi Chen's kneeling frame and thought that the young boy had just doubled over, he looked at Xi Chen in concern. "Are you hurt?"

The man's distinct accent was enough to trigger Xi Chen. His cheek twitched as red veins formed on the whites of his now tearing eyes that were trained on the blinding snow in front of him.

Uncontrollable rage clasped its ugly hands around Xi Chen's heart as he pivoted himself up and stabbed the man in his chest before pulling the dagger back out in one movement. The Northerner's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the open wound on his chest and the unrestrained wrath in Xi Chen's eyes. Then, he fell onto his knees while he grabbed onto his open wound, not fully understanding what was happening.

Xi Chen's hand actually slipped a little and nicked his own palm in the process of stabbing the man. It was the first time he had aimed a weapon at someone. But out of pure fate, the stab was true.