After resting a bit at the hut and partaking some food, Ning Yi says “Those people should’ve seen by this point that there is nothing at the old temple.”

“Do you think they will leave the mountain or they will come back around to search for us?” Zhi Wei asks.

“They won’t dare to linger too long around here. What happened at the rest stop should have been discovered by now. With my three thousand royal processions waiting there, no one can sweep this under the rug. Even if it was just for show, the local authorities will have to do something in order to report back to the palace.” Ning Yi replies then adds “Plus according to what those two were saying, they were already planning on getting off the mountain anyway.”

“Then let’s go. Now they’ve ascertained the old temple is empty, they won’t go back to it but they might still send someone back here to get some food.” Zhi Wei says as she helps Ning Yi stands up.

Walking out into the drizzling rain, Zhi Wei puts the rain gear she found on Ning Yi and prepares herself to brace the wet rain. Surprised when Ning Yi drags her under the wide rain cloak, Zhi Wei hesitates for a moment and finally convinced herself that if she got sick then there would be no one to act as Ning Yi’s eyes.

Sharing a cloak as they walk in the rain, their arms and legs constantly touching due to their close proximity which meant the parts of their skin that are exposed are also coming in contact frequently. Both feeling awkward, Ning Yi turns his head to the side seemingly focusing on something far off while Zhi Wei lowers her head, counting her steps one at a time.

The drizzling rain falls around them accompanied by the sound of their footsteps on the muddy floor. In contrast, the world within the rain cloak is so silent that they can even feel each other’s breathing. Whose heart is vibrating so loudly? Perhaps both of them?

Turning their head, they could each see the other person’s alluring profile in this lovely rainy night. Stealing another look, they hardly know how to keep walking straight…

Stumbling or not, time seemed to have flown by since in no time, the old temple appeared in front.

Stopping a long distance away from the old temple, they waited and listened for a long while to make sure those searching for them are really gone.

When only sounds of crickets complaining in the rain reached them, Zhi Wei lets out a sigh of relief as they made their way into the old temple and took off the rain cloak “They’ve checked here already so they will assume we are making our way out of the mountain…”

Before Zhi Wei could finish her sentence, a peal of eerie laughter abruptly sounds!

The second she heard the laughter, Zhi Wei reaches out a hand towards Ning Yi but Ning Yi had already pulled her behind him in lightning speed. Both of them moved fast but were hindered by the rain gears and almost fell in the process.  Zhi Wei pulls out her long sword but there were already ten bright shinning swords pointed at them. The ten swords were perfectly aimed at both of their vitals. One small step forward would mean certain death for them.

Looking up, Zhi Wei laughs “Good looking swords.” as she secretly writes on Ning Yi’s palm: “12 people, all swords. Taoist Bagua position, 3, Li 2, Dui 2, Kan 1, Xun 2, Kun 2.”

Ning Yi frowns and writes back on Zhi Wei’s palm “Don’t be rash, this group might not be the same one as the ones before.”

Zhi Wei agrees with Ning Yi’s assessment. If these people were the same ones they met before then they wouldn’t be wasting time talking right now. Moreover, those people didn’t use swords as their weapon either.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Zhi Wei asks angrily “My brother and I came into the mountain for an outing. We accidentally got injured and ducked into this old temple to avoid the rain. Even if we disturbed you, do you all have to pull out your swords in response?” Zh Wei’s manner was calm as someone who is a member of Jianghu since she had already pulled out her own sword so it is too late for them to pretend to be scared ordinary villagers.

The twelve men all wore grey and green cotton clothes. From their appearance, they obviously all belong to the same sect in Jianghu. One of the men asks coldly “Your rain gears are the kind that is often used by mountain villagers around here. If you were able to find someone to borrow those rain gears then why didn’t you two just stay there to wait out the rain?”

A bit of explanation here: Some of you might be familiar with the term Jianghu. Which is a term that is used fairly often Chinese novel of this genre but there is really no good translation for it in English. Jianghu refers to the environment where martial artists interact and fight each other. The closest translation in meaning is something like when we say “Out in the corporate world…” The corporate world in this instance obviously doesn’t refer to a specific company or location but just a general sense of the environment white collar workers have to live in. So Jiangu is pretty much the same but just one where all the fighters are in. Most of the fighters in Jiangu usually belong to a certain sect, where they would’ve joined since they were young to be trained in martial arts.

Her heart sinks upon hearing the question, Zhi Wei’s mind is racing to come up with a believable answer but Ning Yi is already replying with a smile “That couple we met in the mountain only had one little room and it stank quite a bit. Us two brothers couldn’t handle the smell and would rather find another place.”

The leader of the twelve hesitates as he looks over Zhi Wei and Ning Yi. Their clothing might seem ordinary enough but the leader could tell from Zhi Wei and Ning Yi’s mannerism that they are obviously not from a simple background…which makes their words quite plausible.

Jumping on the leader’s hesitation, Zhi Wei raises her hand to push away the men’s swords as she says with a friendly laugh “We are all part of Jianghu and apparently are lucky enough to run into one another so why resort to swords?”

A hint of derision flashes across the leader’s face as he thought: you two rich boys dare to call yourselves a member of Jianghu when you only learned a bit of novice fighting from the teacher your rich daddy hired?

The leader frowns as he took a closer look at the two’s face that is stained with blood mixed with dirt that Zhi Wei and Ning Yi had purposefully left on themselves. After a moment, the leader abruptly says “You are right. I apologize for offending you. Can I inquire as to how the two of you ended up in this state?”

Who points a sword at someone while trying to chat?! Zhi Wei silently complains but still put on a smile as she replies “We are from the south and came here to visit our relatives. My brother here’s surname is Tian. We heard the mountains in this area is very lovely so we came on an outing. But who could’ve guessed that we ended up getting separated from our group when we accidentally fell down a hill. We have been trying to make our way out of the mountain.” Letting out a sigh, Zhi Wei grabs Ning Yi’s hand “You all probably could tell that my older brother’s eyes…are not too good. He was born with an eye ailment. One of our purpose of coming here was to help him get into a better mood.”

The suspicion on the leader’s face finally faded a bit. The smile on Zhi Wei’s face was calm and composed the whole time but her fingers gripped the sword tightly. Those bright shiny swords are right in front of Ning Yi. One little push forward and no one would be able to save him. Which is why she brought up Ning Yi’s eyes. Up to this point, she is the only one who knows Ning Yi is blind. If these men are also searching for them, then just on the blindness alone would erase their doubts about them.

 

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

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