When Jiang Cheng woke up, he felt like he was laying in a bed. For several seconds, he believed that what he had just seen was just a terrible nightmare and he felt a wave of relief wash over him. Yes, it had been too terrible to be true for sure. It would not happen that the Qishan Wen sect would attack Lotus Pier and that his parents were fighting them on their own while his brother had cowardly run away.
The relief was short lived however. The next moment, as his senses were slowly coming to him, he realized that he was certainly not in his own bed. It smelled different, the air as well, there was no lotus flower aroma around, nor any sound of gentle waves breaking on the piers. This was not his home. This was not Lotus Pier.
He immediately shot up and started looking all around the unfamiliar room he was in. From the layout, he could tell that he was most probably in an inn. He became alerted at once, awaiting an attack at any moment. This time, it did not take him too long to notice that there was someone else in the room with him.
He found the so thought intruder quickly and gave out a sigh of relief, his muscles finally relaxing again. It was no enemy at all, it was just his sister, peacefully sleeping in the second bed, aside for her, there was no one else in the room.
Everything came back to Jiang Cheng, crashing on him as a heavy weight. The last thing he remembered was arguing with Wei Wuxian still on the boat. From the looks of it and from the headache which was stubbornly torturing him, he had been knocked out. Then they must have landed at some point and took refuge in this inn.
Since he could not see his brother anywhere, he immediately assumed that that coward had really run off, trying to save his own skin.
Jiang Cheng took a deep breath, trying to stay calm and think reasonably for a while. It made some kind of twisted sense than Wei Wuxian had left them. He had been whipped by their mother as a punishment for causing all of this mess, and he was probably fearing that the Wens would continue to come after him, they still did not get his arm they had requested. If it had been him, then perhaps he would have done the same?
A red hot anger clouded his mind once again, just like that time in the boat. No! Never. Even if he had found himself in the same situation, he would not have abandoned his family. He would have gone back and fought. He knew that if they all came together, they would be more than capable of driving the Wens away and prevailing in protecting their own and their home.
A glimmer of hope sprouted in his chest. Although he did not know how long he had been unconscious, perhaps it was still not too late to go back and join his forces with his parents. Perhaps there was still time to correct everything that Wei Wuxian had broken. Jiang Cheng sighed internally, it was just like always, his brother did not think about his actions and he was left to deal with his mess and the cleaning up.
Testing how his body was faring, he slowly got up and went to his sister's bed. He looked at her and observed her for a while. A fleeting thought passed in his mind, he wanted to wake her up and bring her with him, back to their home, to reunite their family once again. But he immediately brushed it away, he could not do that, Jiang Yanli was not a fighter, she would be too terrified of the battle and she would also be in danger. No, better leave her here and come back for her once Lotus Pier had been reclaimed.
He smiled a bit to himself and leaned forward to gently kiss her forehead in a silent goodbye. Not a farewell, they would see each other soon, he would make sure of it. It was something he had never done before but enjoyed immensely when his sister had done it, thinking he was long asleep. It was sweet and it was love, although it had only been Jiang Yanli to give out kisses in the dead of the night, not his parents.
He quietly left the inn's room and went down the stairs. His head was still killing him but he could feel his golden core already taking care of that. He did not encounter anyone on his way out and he was glad, that meant that no one was after them just yet, he must not have slept all that long, there was still hope.
He hurried outside of the door and then looked around, trying to pinpoint in which direction he should head next, which way would lead him home. When he took the first step outside, his food landed in a small puddle of water. The ground was all wet as if it had been raining heavily just now. His heart sagged a bit, he did not remember any rain, he must have been unconscious for longer than he had initially thought.
He took a deep breath to abate his rising panic. It did not have to mean anything. It could have just been a really strong but short storm. There could still be time to fix everything. He looked around again, more frantically this time.
He immediately saw a small pier not too far from where he was standing. However, there were no boats anywhere in sight. It would have been so much easier to just sail a boat downstream back to Lotus Pier, it would have been so much faster too. But there were no boats so he would just have to run all the way back. He still did not know where exactly he was and how far they had gotten from their home, he would however not hesitate, he would run as long as it would be needed.
He went closer to the river and then started running alongside it, in the direction where Lotus Pier must be. At first, he was sprinting, wanting to get back as soon as possible, but he gradually slowed down and settle at a slower, but more steady pace. If he was to tire himself before the battle, what use would he be to help his parents protect Lotus Pier and the Yunmeng Jiang sect?
Hehad no sword on him, his own was still held in Qishan after the indoctrination.It mattered little however, he could feel a comforting weight of Zidian on hisfinger. He reached down and caressed the cold metal of the ring, his mother'sspiritual weapon. He had never held it before, never used a whip in his life,however, he was confident that he would quickly get the hang of it. He had to,for his parents, for Lotus Pier, for the Yunmeng Jiang sect.