Agarwood Like Crumbs (Immortal Samsara)

Chapter 1: Fish Soup and Coffins

The sunset at the horizon is a fiery red, illuminating the snow, causing it to turn a light shade of red. It's a gorgeous sight to see.

HuMan stumbles on the snow covered ground, leaving a trail of fresh blood. He is a notorious thief in Jiang Yang, but after his last adventure ended up with him falling into a trap, he ended up in such a miserable situation.

From time to time, he would sigh, rip off a piece of fabric from his clothes, bend down, and wrap the cloth around his feet. After being chased for 3 days and 3 nights, his shoes have already been worn out from the thorns and stones on the mountain. HuMan's feet are freezing cold, he's painfully aware that his feet have probably gotten frostbite.

He's both hungry and thirsty as he walked alongside the river. It wouldn't be easy to catch a fish in the river, but for a thief like him who has strong martial art skills, it can't be too difficult. He reached into his pocket, there was only a towel and a couple pieces of silver, but there's nothing that could start a fire.

Since there's nothing to start a fire with, even if HuMan managed to catch a fish, he would have to eat it raw. Normally, he wouldn't make himself suffer like this, but when he's starving and desperate, and there is a glimmer of survival, he would do what needs to be done.

HuMan staggered to the edge of the river, about to wade into the water, when he heard the sound of somebody already in the water. About 20 steps away from him, there was a woman in light green clothes kneeling on the edge of her boat, placing a towel into the river, and then wringing the water out of a towel.

His eyes lit up. He first looked around vigilantly, the ones who were chasing him were already gone. Other than him and this lady, there was nobody here. He slowly approached the lady on the boat. The lady appeared to not have seen him, taking out a robe from her basket and washing it in the river.

The robe that she was washing was a man's robe. HuMan slowly inched forward, trying to see if there was anybody else in the boat. The longer a person is wounded, the more cautious that person is, in case they make another mistake. This applied to HuMan.

HuMan thought of a story he once heard in the JiangHu: there was a young man who once hunted in the wilderness, and there was a gorgeous maid always beside him, carrying a silver cup and a jade cup, so that others will immediately know that he came from a rich family. Immediately, there was a thief following him, a really famous thief, hoping to steal the man's treasure. This theif became famous because of his cunning and cruel manner, never being afraid to murder someone. After a while, the thief was finally found: his corpse lying in a river in the mountain, his eyes wide open, and there were no wounds, other than a small cut between his eyebrows.

Once HuMan remembered the entire story, he felt his body get cold, and was too afraid to get closer to the boat. He suddenly heard a cough coming from the boat, and a man with a weak voice called out, "YanDan, come here."

The lady immediately stood up and entered the boat's cabin. When she went inside the cabin, HuMan could already smell the tempting aroma of delicious food.

He gathered up his courage, and walked towards the boat. Coincidentally, the lady came out of the boat cabin, seeing a dirty and rugged stranger walk towards her. She stammered, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

HuMan forced a smile, "Don't worry, I'm a shopkeeper, but I met some pirates along the way, and they stole all of my stuff. So I ran away, and ended up here." The sentence wasn't the entire truth, but it wasn't entirely all lies either.

YanDan's eyes showed sympathy, and smiled a little, "I thought that you were a bad person at first." She was already really beautiful before, but once she smiled, she became even prettier.