Heaven’s Shadow

"They..." The night sky was dark and unilluminated.Even though Yi Xin was not seated far away, her outline appeared blurry. At this moment, her voice was low-spirited and quivered delicately, just as though Lu Chen's words had pierced into the depths of her inner heart. For a moment, she did not what to say.

"Have you met with the pack of Black Jackals by the waterfall?"

Yi Xin's head lowered slowly. Only after a moment did she reply, "Yes. Not long after you left, a large pack of Black Jackals charged forward unexpectedly. There were too many of them, I couldn't even estimate their numbers..."

Suddenly, her breathing hastened, as though the memory caused excruciating pain. With a despondent voice, she continued, "My Senior Uncle and I faced them immediately. Even though we did not need to worry about a posterior ambush with our back faced against the cliff wall, there were simply too many of them. Eventually, we were still unable to cope. Thus, Senior Uncle ordered us to split up and escape, saying that it would be best if any one of us could survive..."

At this point, her voice sounded choked. After a momentary pause, she continued, "Senior He and I charged outward, and halfway through, I turned around to take a look. Senior Uncle, he... he was pushed to the ground by a large group of Black Jackals... In the blink of an eye, blood and flesh started to be ripped out of him. I was terrified. Senior He pulled me along and the both of us ran with all of our might. The final moment I saw of Senior He was when a dozen of Black Jackals pounced onto him. Then, a tree blocked my sight. I could only hear his shouts of agony and the frenzied howling of the wild hounds.

Lying the darkness, Lu Chen remained silent for a moment before asking, "What about you? How did you manage to escape in the end?"

With a blank look on her face, Yi Xin replied, "Just as I was about to be caught by the hounds, I suddenly recalled that my master had presented me a 'Blinding Talisman'. Thus, I climbed onto a tree and used the talisman. As such, the Black Jackals were not able to find me."

Speaking to this point, suddenly, tears streamed down from Yi Xin's eyes, "It's all my fault. If only I... If only I had thought of the talisman earlier, Senior Uncle and Senior wouldn't have died.

Lu Chen listened to her words silently, allowing her to cry unreservedly. Only when her weeps slowly calmed down did he respond impassively, "It isn't your fault. Besides, even if you have used the Blinding Talisman earlier, considering the proximity of the Black Jackal pack and their sharp demonic senses, you three would still not have been able to escape."

Yi Xin's body trembled faintly as she muttered softly, "Is that true?"

"Un." Lu Chen replied. Then, he turned over and said, "It's late, get some sleep. We'll have to travel the whole day tomorrow. If you don't sleep, your body will be unable to manage."

Yi Xin's lips quivered gently. Then, moments later, very slowly, she lied onto the grass by the river bank. Her mind was a mess, and she felt both regret and fear. She had initially thought that she would not be able to fall asleep, but somehow, as she laid quietly on the grass patch, her eyes closed unknowingly and she drifted off into dreamland.

※※※

The rays of the morning sun fell beside the river, shining on the sleeping lady's face. Her skin was still slightly pale and her hair was a mess. A few strands of hair had fallen from her fringe and slipped onto her beautiful nose, and she exuded a very casual and effortless beauty. Her thin but long eyebrows twitched beneath the golden rays and slowly, Yi Xin opened her eyes...

At that very instant, she thought that she was in the warm comfort of her home, with her kind master and amiable sisters by her side. Someone was speaking to her with a bright smile, and just as she was about to reply delightfully, a surge of intense pain permeated her left arm abruptly, jolting her awake from the dream.

"Sssss..."

Yi Xin took in a breath of cold air as she gritted her teeth tightly. The excruciating pain had nearly caused her to yelp.

At the same time, a voice echoed from nearby.

"Be careful, don't twist your fractured arm, or you will be in for suffering."

Hurriedly, Yi Xin's took a few gasps, and she no longer dared to move her left arm casually. Slowly, she sat up straight and around her.

She noticed that Lu Chen had already risen sometime earlier, and he had just emerged from the forest in another direction. He was carrying numerous items in his hands, and it seemed to be a bunch of miscellaneous plants which Yi Xin couldn't recognize. Furthermore, there were a few strange black objects within those plants.

Lu Chen stopped beside Yi Xin, squatted down, and placed the items in his hands by the side. Then, he grabbed and examined Yi Xin's left arm before nodding his head, "I will be applying some medicine on your arm now, it should help with your recovery. However, it will hurt, so bear with it."

Upon hearing the word 'hurt', Yi Xin's heart skipped a beat. She was afraid, but looking at Lu Chen's calm expression, unknowingly, she was unable to reject him. Besides, the man was clearly doing this for her own good. Thus, after a moment of hesitation, she nodded her head slowly.

Lu Chen gently removed the wooden stick that supported her arm before tearing open her sleeves. On her fair and white wrist, at the point of the fracture, a red patch of swelling could already be seen.

Knitting his eyebrows together, Lu Chen lowered his head and began to mash the herbs, along with that bizarre black object.

Yi Xin glanced to take a look beneath his hands and her eyes narrowed suddenly. At this moment, she could clearly observe that those black objects were actually the larvae of some mysterious insect which she couldn't name. Black and plump, they formed a disgusting sight.

Yi Xin was shocked. Instantly, she felt nauseated and nearly threw up, exclaiming in alarm, "These... What are these things? What are you going to use them for?"

"The larvae of the 'Gold-winged Bee'". Lu Xun glanced at her and said impassively, "Stop yelling blindly, this is good stuff. It can boost the recovery rate of your broken arm by the multiples. You are truly fortunate that I was able to find it here."

Yi Xin was astounded. She wanted to retort but swallowed her words back in. She had never seen such disgusting objects in her life and watching Lu Chen smash these larvae together with the herbs, she was still unable to withstand the thought. Immediately, she turned her head around and took a few deep breaths, before she was able to finally calm down slowly.

A short while later, Yi Xin suddenly felt a cold sensation on her arm. Lu Chen applied a layer of sticky paste onto the fractured spot. Throughout, Yi Xin did not dare to look at her wound at all. After yet some moments, she felt Lu Chen wrap the wound up using a cloth before securing her arm once again to the wooden stick.

"Alright." Lu Chen stood up and said to her. "As long as nothing happens, you should be able to recover in seven to eight days. We'll have to set off now."

Gritting her teeth, Yi Xin stood up while enduring the urge to look at her left arm which hung by her side and said, "Where are we going?"

Lu Chen said, "I've no idea. I'll have to ascertain the direction and geographical terrain first."

Yi Xin was surprised, "Aren't you a guide? Shouldn't you be familiar with the regions around Black Armored Mountain?"

Lu Chen glanced at her impatiently as she said, "Of course I am familiar with the regions around Black Armored Mountain. However, even as a guide, I can't simply explore uncharted terrains for no good reason, right? I've never been to this area before."

Yi Xin was at a loss for words. At the same time, she felt that she had said something inconsiderate. If not to save her, he probably wouldn't have to jump into the river yesterday night.

At this point, she felt a burning sensation on her cheeks and she subconsciously turned her head to avert looking at him.

With this sudden turn, Yi Xin unintentionally witnessed a pair of savage eyes glaring at them from behind a bush in the dense forest. The eyes carried a look of brutality, and there was almost no difference from the glare of demonic beasts. Terrified, Yi Xin took a step back abruptly, pointed in that direction, and exclaimed involuntarily, "There's someone over there!"

...