Chương 406: Xie Ling

A group of people strolled through a dense forest. A simple carriage stood in the center, pulled ahead by two powerful horses while dozens of men guarded the front and rear. Occasional giggles echoed from within the carriage, causing the two men seated upon the horses to exchange glances and shake their heads with faint smiles. One of the two men was young, in his mid twenties with a slightly tanned skin, while the other one was an old man with gray hair and a three stroke beard which he constantly touched.

The two of them gisted and laughed while the group moved and even when they stopped to deal with some random wild beasts, the two didn't need to move as the creatures would be dealt with by the armed men leading the way. An hour later, the aura of an Imperial realm beast approached, instantly throwing the leading men into disorder as they retreated. Amongst all of them, the strongest were only rank one Imperials, and the beast approaching was at least rank four or five.

"Uncle Du, looks like you'll have to lend a hand." The young man on the horse glanced at the old man with a smile. Uncle Du sighed and nodded.

"I haven't stretched my old bones in a while. I'll deal with it quickly." He leapt off the horse and landed before the group, facing off against the large fox. His aura erupted, shaking the trees with the pressure of a rank eight Imperial.

"Uncle Du? What is it?" A gentle voice echoed from within the carriage, causing the youth to grin.

"Don't worry, Young lady. It's just a random beast. Uncle Du will deal with it instantly." He replied.

"Okay!" The lady's voice sounded. The fox growled and leapt at uncle Du with its claws glimmering, but the old man laughed coldly and sent the beast smashing through several trees with a fist. Cheers instantly erupted from behind as the dozens of men applauded and praised with awe.

"Senior Du is so strong! That beast doesn't stand a chance!"

"Of course! What did you expect? Even the Clan Chief respects him greatly!" As they discussed, uncle Du easily slayed the beast and dug out its spirit root before returning to his horse with a leap.

"Shut up, you all! If you were as diligent in your cultivation as you were in bootlicking, I wouldn't need to be stressing my old bones and the clan wouldn't have fallen to such extent!" He chided, causing the men to fall silent. The old man shook his head before leaning towards the carriage window.

"Ling'er, uncle got a good spirit root. The clan Chief's health should improve a bit with all the herbs we've picked."

"Thank you for your efforts, uncle. I don't know how to ever repay you." The lady's gentle voice filtered through the curtains. The old man instantly laughed.

"Silly girl. Your father and I go back a long time. How could I possibly ask for repayment?"

"Once the clan chief recovers, we'll be able to put up more resistance against the Tie clan." The young man gritted his teeth while uttering this. Everyone's expressions turned a shade darker at the mention of the Tie clan, and no one spoke again for a while. As time passed, they emerged from the forest just as the sun began to sink over the horizon.

A vast land appeared before their eyes, with several outlines of towering mountains far in the distance and a rather shallow river flowing into the forest and further into the distance. Their group moved along the river bank, heading in the opposite direction. The heavy silence didn't dissipate for several minutes until one of the men leading suddenly paused,"What's that?" He exclaimed while pointing a finger at the flowing river.

Everyone followed the direction of his finger and spotted a corpse stuck among some rocks in the river. It was rather close to the river bank, and due to the shallowness of the waters, they could all make out the figure of the corpse clearly.

"It's a corpse. Not a normal scene but not strange either. There's no need to pause. Let's keep moving." The young man glanced at the corpse and looked away, directing the group with a slight frown. The men nodded obediently and continued walking, no longer paying attention to the corpse when the curtains of the carriage were suddenly pulled apart by two fair hands. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Wait!" A gentle voice echoed as a lady lithely jumped out of the carriage, startling everyone.

"Young lady! What're you doing?!" The young man quickly jumped off his horse and rushed after her.

"I'm not going anywhere!" The lady exclaimed as he dipped her snow white feet into the river and walked towards the corpse.

"I just want to take a closer look!" She knelt before the corpse and stared at the white face with a slightly dazed look.

"He's… so handsome…" She muttered lightly. The young man's face darkened as he heard this.

"But…" he was exasperated as he ran after her, catching up just as she knelt down beside the corpse.

"This isn't right, young lady! You are the last hope of our clan right now. We can't let anything happen to you!" The lady giggled as she extended her arm to touch the corpse's face.

"Relax, brother Qin. It's a corpse… it won't bite!" Watching as she touched the corpse, the youth's face twitched.

"Young lady… you can't act so recklessly! This could be a trap for all we know!"

"You're here aren't you? Uncle Du is also here. What can possibly threaten me?" The lady grinned, shaking her head. Two ponytails danced about behind her as she shook her head. Her smile was reminiscent of a blooming flower, causing many of the men watching to fall into a daze. Just as the youth was lost for words, the lady suddenly gasped, drawing her arm back abruptly, as though she was bit by a snake. The young man's expression turned serious as he reached out to hold her while glaring at the corpse.

"What is it?" He asked after aimlessly glaring at the corpse for a few seconds without finding anything strange.

"He's… alive?" The lady muttered in shock.

"What?" The youth and the dozens of guards, even the old man were all startled as they glanced at the corpse.

"You must be mistaken, Young lady." The young man shook his head after taking a closer look. The injuries he could sense in this corpse was enough to kill even a corpse itself. There was no way he could be alive with such injuries. It was safe to say everything in his body was destroyed. The lady shook her head repeatedly.

"No, I am sure of it! There was a heartbeat! It was weak but he's definitely still alive!" She drew the attention of the old man and he leapt off his horse to approach them. Both he and the young man spread their perceptions to the corpse. The injuries became even more clear to them, making it impossible to believe that he could still be alive. Half of these injuries would be enough to kill anyone else.

But seeing the confidence in the lady's eyes, they couldn't help but feel a slither of doubt in their hearts as they perceived his heart. The heart was in a bad state, nearly crushed completely. It was caved in, clearly caused by some unimaginable force. The duo couldn't even imagine what sort of power could deal such damage. Seconds passed, and just as they were about to forget about it, they sensed it. Faint, fleeting and weak to the point of non existence.

Yet it was there, something akin to a weak beat from the nearly destroyed heart as it clinged to life with a desperation and will that left the two stunned.

"This…" the old man was speechless as he stared at the corpse. Everything was dead, including the pulse… except for the heart. The vitality in the heart was extremely faint, yet it refused to be snuffed out. There wasn't another beat till nearly a minute later, and each beat was slightly fainter than the former.

"Young lady, this isn't a heartbeat. It's a twitch! Many corpse experience it, but he can't be any deader than he is! Can you even sense the situation within his body? How can anyone possibly be alive?" The young man shook his head and withdrew his perception.

"Let's go, Young lady. We've wasted enough time here." The lady stared at the corpse with a pitiful expression.

"But… he's still alive! We can't leave him to die here?!" The young man was frustrated as he pulled at his sleeves.

"Young lady, this is the cultivation world! Millions die every day! It doesn't matter! Millions more are born to replace them! Even if he's still alive, we have no idea who he is. We are already in a bad situation as it is. We can't take any risk!" The lady was barely listening to him as a determined expression surfaced on her face.

"I don't care. I'm bringing him along. Unlike you, I'm not heartless enough to let someone die when I can help!"

"You…!" The young man's face was extremely dark as he tried to dissuade her.

"It's alright, let her do as she pleases. Saving a single life won't cause any trouble." The old man gently intervened, causing the lady to smile beautifully while the young swallowed his frustration.

"With those injuries, I doubt anything can save him, considering he is even still alive. He's of no threat. Once she's bored with him, she will naturally dispose of him." The old man casually stated to the youth, causing his frustration to fade away greatly.

"Fine. Let's hurry up. It's getting late! You guys, quit standing around and come bring this corpse along!" The guards rushed over and picked up the corpse, dragging it along as the group resumed their journey. For the next two hours, they headed in a single direction, facing no danger till they arrived at their destination. A hidden village lay ahead, filled with extremely old houses, huts and dilapidated buildings. It looked like a village of mortals that had seen better years.

There were a couple of guards standing before the only entrance into the village, which was between two huge rocks. Upon sighting the approaching group, the guards bowed respectfully, allowing them entry into the village. The group headed directly to the center of the village. Along the way, many people waved at them with respect whenever they passed by. A few minutes later, they arrived at a huge manor located at the very center of the village.

This manor was the most presentable building in the village, and it was guarded by a few peak Spirit realm warriors and rank one Imperials.

"Welcome, Senior Du, Young master Xie Qin and Young Miss Xie Ling!" The guards all bowed as the lady alighted from the carriage.

"Take the corpse to the village doctor's place." Xie Qin waved his hand, unwilling to glance at the corpse any longer.

"The doctor can't heal him! Don't worry. I will do it myself. Also, he is not a corpse! How many times must I tell you that he is alive?" Xie Ling instantly objected. Xie Qin's face turned black as the bottom of a pot as he stared at Xie Ling speechlessly.

"Uncle Du, let's go meet father! He must be anxious to see us!" Xie Ling hopped around, pulling the old man by his sleeves and rushing into the manor. Of course, she didn't forget to beckon the guards to follow with the unconscious youth, causing Xie Qin's face to turn even darker. If there was a color darker than black, that would be his face right now.