CHAPTER TEN
SÙ JIÀN SNIFFED AND PULLED AWAY FROM XIANGYI. She wiped away her tears, saying "Sorry" as she did so. Xiangyi just looked at her and nodded before he stood up.
"Eat, little girl. After that, we'll continue our training," he said before leaping to a tree and disappearing into the woods. 'It's in this part that I felt it earlier. Someone was watching us...'
He dropped to the ground, to where the person was hiding but found no one. He couldn't even find a trace of them. But he was sure of it. 'How did they get in with Madam's formation? Why would they even watch us, when from another perspective, we're just kids? Or maybe...'
Xiangyi looked around one last time before going back to the river. 'I was certain it was not Senior. Their qi are completely different. But what do they want?'
When he arrived there, he found Sù Jiàn practicing the basics. He was quite surprised because she got every move right and with grace. It was like she had done this too many times already when in fact it was just the second day. As he looked at her closely, he realized her eyes were closed. He raised an eyebrow at that. 'Don't tell me...'
Sù Jiàn tripped on something and shrieked a bit before falling down face first. Xiangyi cringed and rolled his eyes up. 'Maybe just my imagination...' He snapped his fingers, making her look at him, and said, "You got it wrong again, little girl."
Sù Jiàn pointed at him annoyingly and shouted, "Shut up!" It was enough to make him smile a bit. She was surprised to see him smile, and suspiciously asked, "What's gotten into you? Why are you smiling?"
Xiangyi's small smile dropped, and he coughed before brandishing his thin bamboo stick out of nowhere and hitting her slightly in the head. She frowned up at him and rubbed her head while giving him a dirty look. "Get up and start from the beginning, little girl. Stop lazying around."
Sù Jiàn stood up quickly and brushed a few leaves off her clothes. "I'm not lazying around, Mr. Holmes. And stop calling me little girl; I have a name, you know." Then she thought, 'It made you sound like the big bad wolf, when you're a cunning old fox.'
He crossed his arms and looked at her blankly. "No. Now let's start."
WHEN THEY FINISHED THEIR DINNER, SÙ JIÀN VOLUNTEERED WITH WASHING THE DISHES. When she was gone, Xiangyi took a sip of his tea before voicing out what he found earlier.
"So you felt it, too, Xiangyi?" Shan Gudao asked, crossing his arms. Xiangyi looked at him. "I felt someone watching me earlier while I was practicing. I thought it was only me." He looked at his master and added, "I don't know but it made me worried."
Madam Qin nodded, agreeing with Shan Gudao. "I felt it, too."
Mushan frowned before thinking. He then said, "This person is quite strange, and powerful—for him to watch us all at the same time..."
"They must have been a group. It's quite impossible to do so," Madam Qin said.
Xiangyi thought for a while. 'It's true, though. But when you're a powerful martial artist and have been practicing a technique you perfected, it's possible.' He crossed his arms and then asked, "What should we do, Master?"
Mushan looked at each person with seriousness before saying, "They might be after someone." He paused before adding, "Might be us or..."
They all glanced at the doorway leading to the kitchen and it made them think. Then Mushan sighed, and drank his wine. "Well, I guess that's that. I'm going to sleep."
Madam Qin sighed as she watched her husband walked away. He sound so nonchalant, and acted like it. However, knowing him, he would not get enough sleep tonight.
She looked at both boys and saw them deep in thought. Xiangyi rubbed his forefinger and middle finger with his thumb while staring into space. As she stared at him, he looked so mature, like an adult instead of a fourteen year old. And somehow, it made her worry a bit.
"Tomorrow..." Madam Qin started and it made them look at her. She smiled. "Your annual fight. Do your best, you two."
Shan Gudao smiled warmly. "As we always do, Madam." Then he turned to Xiangyi and smiled again, "Right, Xiangyi?"
Xiangyi blinked. Then he nodded and smiled. Somehow, he forgot about the fight he would have with his senior every year. It made him worry, though. But as he looked at him, his smile was quite different. Shan Gudao looked so happy.
"Let's do our best, Xiangyi."
SÙ JIÀN WASHED THE DISHES WITH HER THOUGHTS ELSEWHERE. She sighed and thought back to her dream last night. Or was it a memory she tried to forget? However, it still kept coming back to haunt her. She didn't want to see it, experience it. And yet...
Tears formed in her eyes and she tried to blink it away. She took a deep breath and made a decision. 'I will not let anyone do that to me again. I want to be strong. I have to be strong—stronger, so I could stand up for myself.'
With a last glance at the bright full moon, she started wiping the clean dishes and thought of a plan. 'I have a feeling, a very bad feeling, that I would not be able to get back home. When that truth really happens, I think I have to accept it—even though it will hurt. However, when that happens, I'm worried about the future. This world...'
She groaned in exasperation and thought, 'Give me a break, will you??!!! Can I just be dead peacefully? Why'd you send me here, whoever you are???!!!'
XIANGYI WENT TO HIS ROOM AND SAT DOWN ON HIS BED. He let out a deep sigh before looking out of the window. He stared at the bright full moon with a frown. He had so much to think about, and what worried him the most was his relationship with Shan Gudao. 'Because every year...'
He sighed once again then lay back on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling with sad eyes. 'I don't want to experience it again. I don't want to see Senior like that. I don't want him to feel that way about me... But...'
He closed his eyes. "Yet here I am," he whispered before his brows furrowed. He sat up quickly and looked out the window. 'This presence...'
Immediately, he grabbed his sword before leaping out of the window and followed that person. "It's the same one as before," he said as he ran.
He found someone wearing a black cloak stopped by the river. He stopped and put his hand on his sword's hilt.
"Good evening, Li Lianhua." The person with the black cloak spoke, and it was a man. Most of his face was covered by shadows even as he looked over his shoulder at Xiangyi.
Xiangyi's grip on his sword tightened and he frowned. "What are you talking about?"
The man chuckled. "No need to deny it, Li Lianhua. You want to know why you are here, right?"
Xiangyi didn't speak, and the man smirked at him.
"Let's just say... Someone wants you to redo everything in your life, along with someone else—which is baggage to everyone around her."
'Her?' Xiangyi straightened and asked, "Do you mean Sù Jiàn?"
The man shrugged before laughing a bit. "Who knows?" Then he slowly started to dissipate in the air and Xiangyi looked shocked.
"Wait—!"
The man chuckled and said, "Good luck with your fight, Li Lianhua..."
His laugh echoed in the night as he completely disappeared, leaving Xiangyi wide eyed and worried.
"What does he mean by that...?"
~~~~~~
Dun dun dun...!
To be continued.
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