Pheonix Ascending(PA)

Chapters 6-10

The general had been unconscious when Jun Huang had treated him earlier, so although she’d felt awkward, she’d only blushed slightly. However, she could feel Nan Xun’s gaze trained on her body this time. Jun Huang couldn’t help but stiffen all over, as even her fingers began uncontrollably trembling.

“Why are you trembling?” A breath of suspicion graced Nan Xun’s brows when he saw Jun Huang’s shaking hand.

“Who’s, who’s trembling?!” Jun Huang glared ferociously at Nan Xun to cover up her emotions, but her face still blazed hotly. She admonished herself to focus and repeated Buddha’s names over and over again in her heart, finally managing to calm down.

Nan Xun stared at Jun Huang’s movements with a furrowed brow, feeling something off about them. His eyes happened to flit past to her earlobes, where they widened with sudden shock. “You’re a woman?” He scrambled a half step back and looked at Jun Huang’s obviously pierced ear lobes with stunned surprise.

Jun Huang was also startled by his sudden action and spilled the medicines all over the floor. “I-I’m not—ah!!” She waved her hands frantically, but hadn’t anticipated on Nan Xun suddenly dodging away. His leg caught hers, knocking her off balance. With a startled exclamation, she fell forward, landing straight into Nan Xun’s embrace.

The strong scent of a male assaulted her senses. Jun Huang could feel Nan Xun’s broad chest, and her ears were filled with the strong thud of his heartbeat. She could feel a fire erupt from the backs of her ears and travel swiftly throughout her body, tinging her entire face a rosy red.

Pin drop silence reigned in the cave. Jun Huang was the first to recover her senses as she sprang out of Nan Xun’s embrace. Her eyes darted to and fro as she stammered out an explanation, “I… I didn’t mean to do that. I was j-just…”

Nan Xun actually felt a sudden sense of loss when the warmth in his arms slipped away, but his expression abruptly froze in the next second as he thought of something. “Who are you, and what is your goal?” He suddenly wrapped his hand around Jun Huang’s neck, glaring viciously at her.

Jun Huang had relaxed her guard for a second and had actually ended up being captured again. She glared straight back, squeezing her words out with effort, “Let go, I’m… not… an enemy…”

“Not an enemy? Then why did you disguise yourself as a man to get close to me?” Nan Xun laughed coldly and increased the strength in his hand. “Speak, or die!”

“I… I…” Jun Huang was more mad at herself than anything else. She knew from the beginning that although Nan Xun was injured, he was no ordinary character. How had she let her guard down again?

“Where d’ya think that Nan’s hiding? We searched that entire battlefield but found no trace o’ him.” Sounds of other voices swept in at that moment. The two within the cave froze, and Nan Xun relaxed his grip slightly. Jun Huang took advantage of his momentary lapse to slip out of his grasp and suck in large mouthfuls of sweet air off to the side. Nan Xun’s expression changed, and just as he was about to leap into action, she waved her hand to tell him to hide quietly.

The two hid in the cave, soundlessly listening to the conversation outside.

“Who knows? Master said he wants to see the man if alive, the body if dead. We best hop to it!” The other fellow blustered back. The duo were drawing closer, and it seemed that they would soon find the cave.

“They’re looking for me, you go.” Nan Xun had chosen a stick for his weapon, since there were nothing else suitable nearby. It moved easily in his hand as he stared at the cave entrance, his entire posture on high alert.