The Water Sprite

The Return

19,995 Years Ago

"Mo Yuan! " a voice called from above him, one he recognized but it seemed to sound as if it were coming from far away.

"Mo Yuan, open your eyes!" Zhe Yan said a little more firmly as Die Feng and Chang Shan entered his chamber with the medicine he had sent them to make.

Opening his eyes slowly, it took sometime for his sight to come back to him, but as his chamber on Kunlun Mountain came back to him, a strange and very vivid dream began to drift away as Zhe Yans concerned face came into view.

"Good  Mo Yuan.  You had me worried."  He said as he reached for the goblet of medicine.  Then sitting down on the side of the bed, he looked him over as Die Feng helped him to sit up.

Grimacing at the pain in his head and back, Mo Yuan also looked himself over.  "What happened?" he asked, he felt as if he had been struck by lightening.

"Before any talking, you are going to drink this first." he replied as he handed him the frothy liquid which smelled as if something had died in it.

Keeping a straight face seeing as his Disciples were there with him, he said nothing as he took the goblet and drank it down quickly.  The bitterness was so foul that the urge to gag had him lying back down very quickly.

Taking several deep breaths, the sweat pouring off his forehead, had Chang Shan immediately moving forward with a damp cloth knowing he was going to need it.  Having made the medicine himself, he knew the affects would be instant, but waving him away, Zhe Yan ordered both boys from the chamber.

Waiting until they had left he raised a privacy barrier, before once again looking him over with a sharp eye.  "You've been out cold for three hours, do you remember what happened?" he asked watching his face closely.

"Three hours.." he whispered softly.  Thinking hard, he honestly couldn't remember anything other than a strange feeling he had been somewhere for a very very long time.

Seeing the confusion on his face and the way he was trying to work out why he was in bed feeling sore and ill, Zhe Yans worried frown only increased the confusion.

"I don't remember anything Zhe Yan, but..." he trailed off as he tried to recollect the dream before Zhe Yan woke him.

"But what?  You were found at the base of the Mountain unconscious.  No one saw or heard a thing, and if Die Feng hadn't returned from the Celestial Palace you would still be there." he said growing more worried by the second.

Panicking, Die Feng had raced him back up the Mountain and then sending Zi Lan to fetch him seeing as Mo Yuan tended to prefer his expertise for his own health rather than the Celestials Medicine King, Zhe Yan had wasted no time.  He had literally scared his sixteenth Disciple to death with the speed he had flown them both to get there.

On arrival Zhe Yan had automatically examined the wound on the side of his head.  It was raw, bloody and seeping clear fluid along with blood, which instantly had him emptying vast amounts of energy into it, before applying a balm he had Chang Shan make the moment he arrived.  Yet no matter what he did, nothing seemed to help. The wound continued to seep and he was losing too much blood.

But after two hours had passed, he had sat and literally watched the wound slowly heal itself.  Though thinking it was Mo Yuans own cultivation and immense energy that was healing himself,  he just continued to keep an eye on it.

But what had surprised him the most, was deep jagged claw marks on his back.  What kind of animal could attack their worlds most powerful man and leave him in this state, he wondered to himself.  But having also tried to heal those, he also watched them heal themselves, though he would carry the scars forever.