Wei Ying adopted by HuaLian

Chapter (42): Four weeks in the forest

"Haa..."

Wei Ying let out a sigh. Even though he practiced martial arts and he had much more stamina than normal humans, it was not easy for a fourteen-year-old to climb three mountains back and forth in just a day. Wei Ying was also carrying a basket over his back. It was not that heavy, but it was filled with precious medicinal herbs and rice bags which he had bought for his fathers. He had to be careful to not spill them.

A piece of white moving cloth tugged at him as if telling him to cheer up. Wei Ying smiled and continued to walk forward.

It had already been three weeks since the incident at Puqi Shrine. Wei Ying was awake then, so he clearly saw how Xie Lian was hurt protecting him and Hua Cheng, and he also saw how terrifying Hua Cheng could be when Xie Lian was hurt. Everything that happened that day was too shocking; a crowd of cultivators and monks came attacking his family, then his house, Puqi Shrine, which collapsed. His Baba even got hurt from protecting him. After that his A-die raged and went on a killing spree. Then a moment later, he realized the three of them had been teleported to a cave somewhere. Both Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were passed out. Only Wei Ying was awake. He knew that his A-die must have used all his power he had left to send them to safety.

"A-die...? Baba...?"

Xie Lian was breathing heavily with a bloody back. His brows were furrowed as well, and it seemed like he had a fever. Hua Cheng, on the other hand, was fully unconscious. He didn't move a muscle, and he didn't even breathe at all. Wei Ying panicked, checking his A-die's breathing, who was in the body of a five or six-year-old child. But then he remembered that Hua Cheng was a ghost and how they did not need to breathe. However, that didn't soothe his nerves in the slightest.

Wei Ying swallowed down the urge to cry. However, he still couldn't stop the big drops of tears that fell down on their own, burning his cheeks and making his eyes sting. Ruoye slid over to him and wrapped around his arm. The white cloth seemed to be weeping too, seeing its master in such a sorry state. However, it seemed like it was also hugging Wei Ying to comfort him. Wei Ying sniffled, wiped away his tears and quickly got up to work. He knew it wasn't time to be crying. His Baba and A-die had done their best to protect him, and now it was his turn. He swore he would protect his parents.

Wei Ying patted Ruoye like his Baba would usually do and looked around the cave. It was pretty dark but the ventilation was good and there was some light coming in from above. The cave was hidden behind vines and it was somewhere in a forest. Wei Ying cautiously peeked outside the cave, only coming out when he was sure that no one was around. He told Ruoye to stay and watch Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, but it followed, wrapping tightly around Wei Ying's wrist, stubbornly insisting on not letting Wei Ying go alone. Wei Ying couldn't retaliate so he came out with Ruoye.

It was starting to get dark. Thankfully, the sun was still peeking out of the clouds and lit his surroundings enough for him to navigate safely. Wei Ying walked around and was able to find a small stream about fifteen minutes away from the cave. Perking up, he quickly made a bamboo tube for carrying water from the tall bamboo trees nearby. It was done quickly and cleanly with Ruoye's help.

Wei Ying took the water from the stream back to the cave. Then he took out a clean robe from his qiankun pouch and tore it apart, using it to clean Xie Lian's wounds. Before, Wei Ying would whine at Xie Lian for filling his qiankun pouch with so many things but now, he was grateful. It was better to go about over-prepared than under-prepared. Though proving useful, there was only a set of robes, some silver teals, some talismans, a few bottles of medicine and a firework. He now wanted to beat his past self for not being sufficiently prepared.

Wei Ying then carefully cut the rest of the robes with Suibian into thin strips like Ruoye, and used them to bandage Xie Lian's wounds. Just this time around, he had already used up two of his bottles of medicine and only three were left. It was clearly not enough- he had to find more. He thought of going around more the next day in hopes of finding a village or so in order to buy some.