After that incident, no one dared to make a move against Xiu Xiang. She finally gained a few weeks of peace and her injuries finally healed. Even the scar on her face was less noticeable. Unfortunately, her peace didn't last long. The moment North Peak heard that Wei Xing was going into seclusion for training and wouldn't be back for a month, the bullying started up again. At first it was small things, like forcing her to do all the woodwork and cleaning. Then came the small groups that would ambush her when she was out chopping wood. Song Yi Yan, who was furious over getting three lashes because of Xiu Xiang, personally appeared before her in her own hut.
"You little slut! I don't know how you managed to seduce Wei Xing enough for him to give me three lashes but I'm going to return them tenfold!" Song Yi Yan had been sent a brand new whip. This one had metal woven into it and was twice as heavy. Xiu Xiang knew that if she didn't try to escape, she would die by her hand.
Most of her strength had returned and she was able to slightly dodge the whip. Inside the small hut, she only had so many places to jump to and each time, Song Yi Yan thrust her whip forward, it would shred a bit of her uniform. She let out a sharp laugh at Xiu Xiang who could only dodge the whip.
"Let's see how long you can avoid my whip," she seethed. She swung her whip harshly and blew a hole in the wall that Xiu Xiang had recently fixed. This was her chance to escape! Xiu Xiang jumped through the hole and raced down the pathways into the bamboo forest.
"Get back here!" Song Yi Yan screamed as she chased after her. Her eyes were red with rage and with most of the disciples at the training grounds, no one would be around to witness this. Xiu Xiang had no idea where she was running to but she kept running with Song Yi Yan close on her tail. As if Song Yi Yan was done having fun chasing her prey, her speed shot up and she instantly caught up with Xiu Xiang. How could she possibly outrun someone who had the luxury of learning straight from Master Feng Mian?
She felt a sharp pain travel up her back and she tumbled to the ground gasping in pain.
"I got you now. If I kill you right here, no one would ever know," Song Yi Yan laughed. Xiu Xiang inched carefully away. The storyline was all out a whack. Song Yi Yan never did anything herself. She usually had others do her dirty work. Could meeting Wei Xing caused the storyline to change? So, she was going to die way earlier than the Demoness?
She really wanted to praise the Demoness for surviving as long as she did.
"Kiss your life goodbye, Xiu Xiang," she cackled. She raised her hand and was about to thrust her whip down when suddenly, a hole opened up from where Xiu Xiang had fallen. She screamed in terror as she fell into pitch darkness.
The sound of water rushing by woke Xiu Xiang up. She looked around and found herself washed ashore. She eyed the river that traveled up the mountain where Tian Ling Sect was. The hole must've been created by the river underneath. She had been washed all the way down here. Her back ached and stung from the wet fabric that stuck to it.
"I didn't die..." she thought while taking in a deep breath.
The sky grew dark and it looked like was going to rain soon. She groaned at her bad luck and started traveling up the mountain. By some stroke of luck, she found a cave and quickly entered to avoid getting stuck out in the rainstorm. Her body felt cold and there wasn't any way to start a fire as she had no talismans on her to start one.
She traveled deeper into the cave and suddenly felt a warm air pressure seeping out. Her natural instinct was to go toward the warmth, and she traveled deeper and deeper until she saw a figure of someone in white sitting in a lotus position. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Wei Xing. Warmth was seeping out from his body because he was on the verge of a breakthrough. Then Xiu Xiang suddenly remembered. This was the part of the story where the Demoness helped Wei Xing in passing. There wasn't much to go by as it wasn't part of the main storyline. While in the middle of a breakthrough, Wei Xing was attacked by a level one demon beast. He couldn't protect himself and anything that touched him while he was in a breakthrough would cause him to enter the recoil of madness. The Demoness who was kind at the time jumped in to protect him and left before he could even open his eyes.
So, the storyline hasn't veered too far off. No matter what she did, was she bound to turn into the demoness in the end? She didn't have long to think because the demon beast had appeared. If it had been any other creature, Xiu Xiang wouldn't have minded but it had to be a snake! It was inching closer and closer to Wei Xing.
"Ah, damn it! Why me?" she thought miserably. Grabbing a rock from the ground, she threw it with as much force as she could. It smacked the snake right on the head angering it. It hissed loudly and turned its attention on her.
Stupid novel couldn't have explained how to kill this thing?
Dishing out a few more rocks, the snake's hiss grew louder. It sprang forward like a coil. It bared its fang ready to sink into Xiu Xiang, but she suddenly had an idea. She gathered a dense amount of energy into her fingertip and waited until the very right second. The snake's mouth was just inches away when Xiu Xiang pointed her fingertip right into its mouth. She released the energy and it exploded inside. The body of the snake burst into chunks of bloody meat that sprayed across the rock formation of the cave. The sight of it wanted to make her hurl.
"Get used to this..." Xiu Xiang told herself and forced her stomach to calm down. She was careful not to slip on the slimy guts as she made her way over to Wei Xing who sat quite still. His spiritual energy was pulsing rapidly. He was about to advance.
She scanned their surroundings for any danger and when she saw nothing of the sort, she smiled at him. He looked quite human compared to the first time she had seen him.
"This is once that I've repaid you. Good luck advancing," she said and headed back to the main entrance of the cave. She didn't notice it but Wei Xing had already opened his eyes to see her bloody back that had disappeared around the corner.
"Was that...?" Wei Xing recognized that back anywhere. It belonged to that silly girl, Xiu Xiang.
What happened to her back? It's all bloody again.
He sighed heavily.
Every time he met that girl, she was always covered in blood. He normally didn't care too much about the people around him, but when he first saw the look in her eyes, he was instantly drawn to her. There was something innocent and pitiful about the way she stared back at him, as if she had seen all the loneliness in the world. She reminded him a lot of himself when he was a little boy. He had been torn away from his family from the war and after spending a year all alone, he finally met Master Lin Hong who brought him back to Tian Ling Sect.
He was just about to get up to go after her when he noticed the bloody pieces of meat sprayed all over the cave walls.
Did she save him from an attack?
Silly girl, he thought. There was no way a beast could have hurt him. The internal energy within him would've blasted it to pieces if it tried to touch him. That girl was already injured, and she still tried to help him? What was she thinking?
The trek back up the mountain was a pain as Xiu Xiang had no sword and didn't know how to fly. She made it to the main gate where she was blocked by guards.
"I'm a disciple from the North Peak, Xiu Xiang," she introduced herself.
"Where is your token pass?" the guard asked.
"Ah?" Xiu Xiang wanted to cry. How was she to know that she would suddenly get washed away from the mountain? If she had known, she'd carry her token pass with her. "Something happened when I was on the mountain. I accidently fell into a hole and got washed down river. I don't have my token pass on me. If you could just send for someone on North Peak, they would vouch for me."
Or she at least hoped someone would. The guards were debating on what to do when a voice spoke from behind her.
"What's going on here?"
That cold and indifferent voice. Xiu Xiang had a hard time swallowing as she turned around to face Wei Xing.
"Young Master!" Both guards shouted at the same time and dropped to their knees. "This person here claims she is a disciple from the North Peak yet doesn't have a token pass on her!"
"It's alright. Let her in," Wei Xing said dully.
The two guards looked nervously at each other and quickly stepped aside. Xiu Xiang watched as he stepped passed her and then through the gate. He then stopped as if something had crossed his mind. With a sharp turn of his head, he dug into his sleeve and tossed a small box at her. She hadn't expected him to toss it at her and wasn't ready. It bounced on her head and then fell into her arms.
"Ow!" She rubbed her aching head and for a split second, she thought she saw a smile crept up on that cold face. Even the guards couldn't hide their shock. They also saw the split-second smile. She was so sure that guy would never know how to smile.
"What is this for?" Xiu Xiang asked feeling confused as she looked down at the box.
He didn't reply. Instead he ordered for one of the guards to escort her back to North Peak.