" Is it that bad ? " Song Lian asked .
Lv Ling closed her and exhaled loudly , making herself look shaken and traumatised , then she slowly nodded.
Yang Changtian's eyes widened and without a word he went inside , Li Cheng and the others following him closely. Yang Changtian entered and looked around, seeing Liu Ying , he wanted to approach her , but Lv Ling rushed in and stood between him and Liu Ying.
" Mr. Yang , must I remind you and all the other gentlemen in here that Ms. Liu is an unmarried young lady , it is considered highly inappropriate for you all to be in her tent let alone get this close to her, so for the sake of her reputation please don't get closer. "
Li Cheng nodded solemnly before trying to pull Yang Changtian away , Yang Changtian was fixed in his spot , looking at Liu Ying who for once looked relaxed and peaceful . They had depended too much on Liu Ying for this mission , while he himself had played a more passive role , despite being the team leader. He had every intention of letting her rest without any disturbances , but when he heard about the scars on her , it was like his body responded automatically and before he knew it he was near Liu Ying's tent.
Moments before ,Yang Changtian and the others were over at the dining area discussing their further course of action.
" We should probably take all the survivors back to Jingxi , we can't just leave them here," Li Chen argued .
" But with the current amount of people we have , our supplies will run out soon , and we don't even have enough horses to make the journey back , " Jin Wei pointed out, " We are only halfway done with our mission here. "
Yang Changtian nodded , " That's right we aren't done with the mission , Mo Ling , where is that woman ? "
Mo Ling who was zoning out quickly snapped back to reality when he heard his name. " Senior Yang , that crazy woman is tied up in the West Hut , unfortunately she collapsed soon after exiting the cave . I asked the people I stationed there to inform us when she wakes up."
Yang Changtian then turned his attention to Song Lian " Our first priority is the safety and sustenance of the people , Song Lian , how much supplies do you have ?"
Song Lian thought for a while , " We are pretty self sufficient , but we left almost everything back at the cave."
Yang Changtian nodded , " Let's send some people back to bring those supplies over soon.As for the issue of escorting the survivors back to Jingxi , I'll write to His highness and inform him of the new developments . I suppose asking for some carriages and some horses would be ideal , most of the ladies here aren't too familiar with riding horses. "
The others nodded in agreement.
Jin Wei and Da Xiong looked at each other before answering , " We'll send a note to our Seniors too. "
" Then it's decided , the horses and carriages will take a while to arrive , so for now we must focus on surviving with the supplies we have," Yang Changtian said standing up.
Li Cheng rushed up to him and pulled him aside for now, " Brother Yang , the messenger birds came back today, " Li Cheng handed a small tube sealed with wax to Yang Changtian. " I also have good news , Baihua said that Senior Sister's spirit lamp felt warmer than usual , while she didnt see it , she thinks that it might've been relit for a short while."
Yang Changtian grabbed Li Cheng's hand tight, " Is that even possible ? "
Li Cheng shook his head , " I don't know , but Baihua says that it's possible . Our Master had told her once before , that it was possible for high grade spirit users to mask their power from surveillance devices , such as spirit lamps."
Yang Changtian exhaled shakingly , the last few days had been filled with apprehension. He had always believed that Hei Jingyou was still alive , but this only cemented that fact further. He looked up to see that Li Cheng's eyes had gotten misty.
Yang Changtian was suddenly reminded of his master's words , ' Trust no one.' kept echoing through his mind.
Li Cheng was getting emotional , apart from his Master , his Senior Sister was the only person he considered 'family' in this world ; they both saved him from the harsh world. He had even questioned his sanity last time , thinking he was having an olfactory illusion when he smelled her familiar scent , back then he had only agreed with Yang Changtian on whim , but today he got the confirmation. Suddenly Yang Changtian grabbed his hand hard , " Brother Li , don't speak of this matter to anyone , I'll explain the whole thing to you later, " Yang Changtian whispered , his grip getting harder.
Li Cheng was confused but ultimately he nodded , agreeing. Yang Changtian must have a valid reason to ask such a thing.
The others moved away slightly to give the two of them space. Song Lian was complaining to Da Xiong about the training he had to undergo back in the army when he spotted Xinyi and Huarong exiting Liu Ying's tent , looking ashen. He found this weird , both of these ladies are extremely outgoing and carefree , not even worrying when they were under attack , but here their faces were ashened with worry.
Song Lian stood up and waved them over, " Sister Xinyi ! Sister Huarong ! Over here. "
Xinyi and Huarong spotted him and they hesitated for a moment before approaching the group.
" Ladies , are you done helping Ms. Liu ? Where is Sister Lv ? "
Hearing Liu Ying's name made their faces darkened further and it didn't go noticed by the others.
Yang Changtian and Li Cheng studied them carefully.
" Ladies, did something happen ? Is Ms. Liu okay ? " Song Lian questioned them.
Huarong finally sighed and found her voice , " That poor thing is okay now , she's just asleep. "
" That what made yo so anxious ? " Song Lian asked scratching his head.
" Oh Brother Song it's horrible , that poor young lady must've suffered so much before , " Xinyi replied sniffling.
Yang Changtian stood up and approached them , " What do you mean ? " he asked them , his tone somewhat rough.
Xinyi cowered behind Huarong , who just patted her on the back , " That Lady in there , every inch of her body is covered by scars. Horrific ones too , I just can't imagine the pain and horror she must've experienced. "
Jin Wei almost dropped to his knees at this , Da Xiong barely managed to hold him up. " What did you just say ? " Jin Wei asked, gulping hard.
Haurong looked at him weirdly before pointing towards Liu Ying's tent. " When we were changing her clothes , her whole abdomen , back , upper arms and thighs , almost her whole body was covered with scars. Most of them looked like stabs and slashes."
Jin Wei collapsed yet again , and this time even Da Xiong couldn't help him as all of them were frozen.
Yang Changtian turned to Jin Wei , " Do you know -"
Jin Wei shook his head before Yang Changtian finished his question , " We didn't know …"
Yang Changtian clenched his hands , trying to calm himself down. Without even thinking he began striding towards Liu Ying's tent. The other quickly followed him.
Then they saw Lv Ling coming out, Song Lian sped up and caught up to her, grabbing her firmly by the shoulders.
Yang Changtian clenched his hands tighter and closed his eyes, breathing deeply to calm his anger .Liu Ying didn't care much for etiquette herself , but since she was an unmarried young lady , it was indeed improper for them to be here. Yang Changtian unclenched his hands after he calmed down , and looked at Lv Ling. " Ms. Lv , I do apologize for this , can we speak outside ? "
Lv Ling thought for a while before finally nodding , since the cat was out of the bag already , she couldn't really hide it much.
Yang Changtian , Li Cheng , Jin Wei and Da Xiong sat down with her . Jin Wei was the first to speak, " Ms. Lv , what happened to Senior ? "
Lv Ling shook her head , " I don't know , I just know that she must've suffered a lot. The scars on her abdomen look like stab wounds , while the ones on her back are slashes . Her arms and legs are also covered with slashes. Depending on the amount of wounds , I would say it's a miracle that she survived."
Jin Wei inhaled sharply , and Da Xiong's hands began to shake ," But that's impossible , from what we know , she never got injured that much when she participated in earlier missions. "
" Then is it possible that she got them before joining the department ? " Li Cheng asked.
Jin Wei shook his head , " But she was from a rich family , and even if she does have scars , it should probably only be burn marks from the fire she survived, back when she was young. There were no signs of human interference in that case so it was simply impossible for her to get injured like this back then , and she was taken in by the Feng family soon after, and that family never mistreated her , the heads of the Liu and Feng families were sworn brothers, Feng Xin wouldn't do anything to her ."
" So in other words , it's impossible for her to get these injuries. She's hiding something , " Li Cheng sighed deeply.
Yang Changtian remained silent the whole time. Why did he react like that when heard about Liu Ying's scars? He's barely known her for a few days , barely enough time to be considered a friend , so why had he reacted so strongly ? Sure , he does consider Liu Ying a friend and great ally , but his feelings towards her were not strong enough to warrant such a reaction.
" We can only ask Senior about them when she wakes up, " Jin Wei stated, and the whole group agreed.
Lv Ling soon excused herself and left .
Li Cheng noticed Yang Changtian's conflicted look , " Brother Yang , did you read His Highness's letter yet ? "
Yang Changtian woke up from his daze at this , suddenly remembering the letter , he pulled it out from his robe and broke the wax seal off , opening the small tube , he pulled out the letter , reading it through , his expression changed subtly.
Li Cheng didn't miss this , " What is it ? "
Yang Changtian shook his head , " It wasn't his people. " Then Yang Changtian remembered something , he quickly asked a disciple to bring Mo Ling over and get the robe that had the footprint from his tent. When Mo Ling arrived , Yang Changtian handed over the footprint to him , " Mo Ling , go and compare this to the Shaman's foot."
Mo Ling nodded and went off , few minutes later he returned shaking his head , " It's too large to be hers, " he informed them.
" So there were more people down there ! " Li Cheng exclaimed .
Yang Changtian nodded , he then asked someone to bring Song Lian over.
" Song Lian , have you seen any suspicious people hanging around the hideout before ? "
Song Lian shook his head , " Not really ,and it's almost impossible for anyone to sneak up on us , our lookout provides us a birds eye view to the whole surrounding. "
" Guess we'll have to interrogate that crazy woman then , " Li Cheng sighed.
Yang Changtian wordlessly turned to stare out towards the setting sun , " We've all had a long day today , so let's all disperse now and we'll discuss this matter tomorrow, Song Lian and Li Cheng , make sure the ladies are settled in. Tomorrow we'll officially begin taking their statements and we'll also send a team to retrieve the supplies from the hideout. "
Yang Changtian returned to his tent and immediately wrote a letter to Prince Jinlong , informing him of their current predicament. Slipping his letter into the small tube , he too sealed it with wax , he went outside and summoned his pigeon , he secured the tube onto the pigeon's leg before setting him off. Returning to his tent , he prepared to sleep but sleep didn't find Yang Changtian easily , keeping his tossing and turning for a good half of the night but once it struck midnight , the exhaustion of the day caught up with him , lulling him to sleep.
Li Cheng was quite surprised to see that he was one of the only people up early , figuring the others might be exhausted because of yesterday , he went outside to have a short stroll , he admired the rising sun for a while , The sunrises over here at the North had a more rugged feel, reminiscent of the people here. After admiring the sunrise , Li Cheng returned to see that almost everyone was awake , everyone except Liu Ying ( understandably ) , Yang Changtian and Mo Ling, Li Cheng wasn't even phased when he didn't see Mo Ling , the brat sleeps without a care in the world , but this time , he decided to let it slide. But the fact that Yang Changtian wasnt up bothered him a bit , for all the years he's known him , Yang Changtian has always woken up early , ' Looks like yesterday's mission took a toll on him,' he thought.
Li Cheng decided to let Yang Changtian rest for a while longer and he headed to the dining area , a delicious scent wafting from the kitchen . Jin Wei and Da Xiong spotted him and waved him over , " Brother Li ! Come and have a bowl , the ladies decided to cook some chicken porridge for us to show their gratitude."
" Chicken porridge ? Give me a bowl ," Li Cheng was ecstatic , the past few days , they were stuck eating stir fried wild vegetables or if they were lucky , they would hunt some rabbits . He immediately wolfed his bowl down , " This is just what I needed , ' he sighed content.
Jin Wei and Da Xiong just nodded in agreement , busy wolfing down their own bowls.
Song Lian approached the group , so Li Cheng turned to him , " Brother Song , please do thank the ladies on my behalf , it's been a while since I've had something so delicious. "
Song Lian chuckled , " I will certainly do that brother Li , they'll be ecstatic to hear that, also if it's not too much trouble the ladies wish to take over the job of cooking , as a way of showing their gratitude. "
Li Cheng nodded , " I'm not against it , but let's ask for Brother Yang's permission first. "
" My permission for what ? " Yang Changtian's voice rang out .
Li Cheng turned to see Yang Changtian coming over , still in his night robes, he looked somewhat pale . " Brother Yang ! You're up, here have something to eat , " Li Cheng waved at a disciple who immediately went to grab a bowl of porridge.
Yang Changtian shook his head , " No thanks, I don't have an appetite and I'm not feeling well. What do you need my permission for ? . "
Li Cheng stood up and rushed over to examine Yang Changtian , he was running a fever. " Nothing serious , some ladies want to take over the job of cooking for us. See their food's nice too."
Yang Changtian nodded , " Yes sure , they can do it . But don't trouble them too much."
Everyone nodded agreeing.
" Wait let me ask Lv Ling to check on you , " Song Lian said turning around to leave .
" Don't bother , I already grabbed some medicine from Ms. Liu's medicine bag, " Yang Changtian waved his hand .
" Brother Song , bring Lv Ling. And you, at least let her check you , " Li Cheng said , his voice commanding.
Yang Changtian stood , staring at him defiantly but Li Cheng didn't back down either , so he finally sighed and agreed , sitting down he chuckled softly , " You sure are Jingyou's Junior Brother."
Li Cheng also chuckled and sat down next to him , " She did raise me for a while and I spent a great deal of time with her , guess her mannerisms rubbed off on me too."
Yang Changtian shook his head , " You're a combination of both Jingyou and Martial Uncle."
" How in the world do I resemble my Master ? " Li Cheng asked confused.
" You never initiated conversation before , but now it's hard to shut you up , you obviously got that outgoing personality from Martial uncle , you only inherited Jingyou's thoughtfulness , ability to think and her scolding. The rest , it's from Martial Uncle, " Yang Changtian replied. " Anyways I must say, you changed so much after you met them."
Li Cheng nodded softly , his eyes were somewhat misty , " I was such a gloomy little kid back then , but now except for my gloomy look, nothing else resembles the old me.."
Yang Changtian chuckled , " I know , I still remember the first time we met , you clenched on to Jingyou's sleeve , while glaring at me."
Li Cheng also laughed, shaking his head . Before he met Master and Senior Sister , his world had always been dark , he suffered so much in his childhood despite being from a prominent family. He was treated worse than a mere pet by that family , but his luck changed when the Master found him . He took him back and handed him over to Senior Sister , who became like a mother to him, despite only being a few years older. Ever since meeting them his life was so much better.
His thoughts were interrupted by Lv Ling's arrival .
She walked over and examined Yang Changtian. " He's right , he's just overworked , some fever medicine and plenty of rest will be sufficient ." Lv Ling opened her bag and pulled out some medicine , but Yang Changtian stopped her .
" Don't brother Dr. Lv , I already took some medicine from Ms.Liu's medicine bag. "
Lv Ling looked at him confused , " How did you know the right medicine ? "
" Senior always sort and label her medicine bottles , " Jin Wei replied. " So that it's easier for us to get some medicine even if she isn't there."
Lv Ling looked impressed , " She's quite a meticulous person. " Ah that's right , I checked up on the patients , Old Jin is recovering fast , he just needs rest now , as for the other three , they're doing fine too. You all managed to control the infection very well , I did have to remove some infected flesh , but he is recovering well now , I must say Ms. Liu's idea to use the honey to slow down the infection was so ingenious. "
Yang Changtian nodded , thanking Lv Ling. He had Lv Ling check on the patients yesterday , and she made the decision to treat them all immediately.
" Now good Sirs , I am off to get some rest ," Lv Ling said standing up .
Li Cheng immediately stood and thanked her again for her hard work. After seeing the patients , she made the decision to get started on treating them almost immediately , and by the looks of it , she was just done with them, she had massive eye bags , reminding the others of a panda.
After Lv Ling left , Yang Changtian also turned to go back to his tent , " Brother Li , take over for now , I already briefed you about our itinerary for today. You have my full permission to do as you see fit . I'll be fine after some rest so don't worry too much about me."
Li Cheng nodded , Yang Changtian also deserved some rest . After Yang Changtian returned to his tent , Li Cheng immediately carried out his instructions. Sending Mo Ling and Kong to get the supplies back.
The newcomers joined the others to clean up the village , for lunch the ladies served them some rice , and since Song Lian caught some rabbits again , they had rabbit meat along with the rice. Yang Changtian was still asleep , but Li Cheng figured that he might get hungry when he woke up , so he saved him a portion and placed it inside his tent. Then Li Cheng turned and went to see how Liu Ying was , he saw Lv Ling exiting the tent.
" Dr. Lv how is she ? "
Lv Ling looked up , seeing who it was , her expression softened , " Mr. Li , Ms. Liu is doing well , she seems much more relaxed now , but she isnt awake yet . If my predictions are right , she'll probably wake up soon."
Li Cheng nodded happily, but he saw Lv Ling's eyebrows scrunching up unnaturally , " Dr. Lv , are you okay ? "
Lv Ling shook her head and waved her hand , " I just feel mildly uncomfortable , maybe it's because I haven't eaten anything yet."
Li Cheng was worried so he immediately ordered someone to escort Lv Ling over to the dining area and give her something to eat.
When they reached the kitchen nothing was left , so Lv Ling quickly made herself some stir fried vegetables.
By afternoon , Mo Ling was back with everything , they had even carried over doors and wood from the hideout.
Li Cheng nodded , " We can use this to renovate the houses , great job Mo Ling. Well I guess everyone is hungry , the ladies made some porridge with the leftover meat from lunch, let's go eat. Everyone thank you for your hard work today."
The whole group cheered , Li Cheng was far more lenient , outgoing and friendlier compared to Yang Changtian and Liu Ying , so they were naturally in a good mood. Just to be clear , they did like Yang Changtian and Liu Ying but one had an overpowering aura while the other had a cold and scary aura , making it hard to be jolly around them.They were also having meat for three whole meals and these ladies sure could cook well.
Lv Ling also joined them , but seeing it was rabbit meat again , she felt somewhat nauseous , so she decided to make herself some stir fried vegetables for herself again , this time she also found some barley in their pantry , so she boiled some up too.
When the whole group was busy eating , Yang Changtian staggered out of his tent , he still felt awful, but his hunger was worse , he spotted some rice with meat near his bed when he woke up , but he didnt feel like eating any meat so he grabbed the bowl and went outside to find something else . Outside he found everyone enjoying their meal , and a delicious scent of meat saturated the air , but Yang Changtian felt quite nauseous , he spotted Li Cheng and others so he walked over to them.
Li Cheng saw him and Kong stood up to make space for him but Yang Changtian just waved at him , " Don't bother I won't stay for long , don't we have anything else to eat ? " he asked Li Cheng.
Li Cheng shook his head, " I'm afraid not Brother Yang , but this porridge is delicious, so try some. "
" I'm sure it is , but I feel nauseous when I see or smell meat," Yang Changtian explained.
Lv Ling noticed his plight and she got him a bowl of boiled barley with some stir fried vegetables , " Mr. Yang , I couldn't eat meat either so I made myself some of this , if you don't mind here have some , she passed the bowl over."
Yang Changtian accepted the bowl profusely, thanking her. He gulped the whole thing down before thanking Lv Ling again , " Thank you again Dr. Lv ."
Lv Ling just nodded before walking off to check up on the patients.
Yang Changtian turned to Li Cheng , " Brother Li , how was today ? "
" You don't have to worry Brother Yang , everything is fine , Mo Ling and Kong went over to the hideout and brought back everything we can use , they even brought back some doors and wood , I'm going to have them install doors to the houses tomorrow , and by the looks of it , we have enough supplies for 2 or 3 weeks. " '
Yang Changtian nodded , " I'm glad everything is going fine , and I do apologise for springing this on to you."
Li Cheng just patted his shoulder , " Don't even mention it Brother Yang ,you just focus on getting better."
Immediately after dinner , Yang Changtian returned to his tent , and he fell asleep again , when he reopened his eyes , it was well into the day. He was feeling much better , so he went outside to wash up. That's strange … the whole village was so desolated , not a single person in sight.
Suddenly he heard rushed footsteps approaching him , he turned around to see Lv Ling running towards him , she skidded into a halt in front of him , " Mr. Yang , we're….. in trouble .." she said, panting hard.
" Calm down Dr. Lv . What do you mean ? " he asked confused but a unsettling feeling settled itself down in his stomach, and it only grew heavier waiting for Lv Ling's explanation.