52 Volume 3: Unknown (2/2)
Mei Hua stared at the arrow wedged in her body, stunned, before collapsing from pain and blood loss. Blood continued to pour out of her wound, forming a puddle on the ground, he face growing gradually paler as it did.
The adults panicked at the sight and children burst into tears while Ye, invisible to the adults, was frantically hopping about trying to figure out what had just happened.
”Mommy!”
Lu Shao screamed, running forward to his injured Mother. He'd only taken a few steps when the arrow jerked, it's barbed end viciously hooking into her torn flesh. Something like a thin, barely visible black rope was attached to the arrow's nock and had been pulled taunt. Mei Hua's body began to be pulled away from the group, leaving behind a gruesome bloody trail.
”No!!” Ye ran forward and bit down on the rope, hoping to try and break it. The moment his mouth and hands touched the strange rope, he felt like he'd been set on fire.
The fairy gagged and stumbled, unintentionally letting go in his pain. That rope had been soaked in some kind of poison. If he'd been mortal, he would have died instantly. As it was, his body was paralyzed and he felt energy leak out of him in torrents.
Lu Shao was still chasing after the body of his mother, closer and closer to the edge of Mountain Territory. Seeing the danger, Ye forced his mouth to move despite the pain.
”Nan Lu Shao, get back here!” He ordered, his voice raw and harsh from the poison. The little boy hesitated.
”Come to me, or do you want to worry your Mother further?”
At that, Lu Shao began to cry and ran over to the fairy, who's green coloring was fading, and picked him up.
”Uncle Ye! What do we do? Mommy— Mommmy, she—!”
”Y..your father will c…come.” Ye managed to force out, struggling to keep himself from fainting. Since his mouth had gotten the brunt of the poison, speaking was incredibly painful. Right as he finished talking, the ground began to shake. ”G..go to the M-Musician and h..his peop..le. Pro..tect th…em.”
Lu Shao didn't understand how he was going to protect anyone but did as he was told. Whenever Mother wasn't around, Ye became the default parent. He ran over to Syu and her Grandfather and their servants, all who'd huddled together tightly in terror and wondering if they'd be the next victim. They had no idea what was going on and now there was an earthquake.
Ye knew the Teacher and his Granddaughter hadn't been part of the group who'd attacked Mei Hua. His skills at discerning the hearts of men wasn't as good as Jin or Xuiying, but he could tell when someone meant harm. And whatever was going on, the elderly man and his folk were definitely innocent.
The little boy reached them just in time, for none other than Jin had arrived. He'd come flying in at a low altitude, snapping the tops of trees as he did. The fury emanating from Jin was visible to even a mortal's naked eye. His eyes were radiating a hot gold like the sun and energy was coming off him in suppressing waves. A scorching wind blew before him, as if trying to roast and flatten everything near by in it's fury.
He'd been heading straight towards the Musician and his group and only swerved at the last moment when he'd seen Lu Shao standing among them. The little boy trembled as an invisible power paired with a cold stare hit him. It felt like he'd been slapped in the face, only his physical body had suffered no damage at all. He staggered while holding tightly to Ye, scared of his Old Man for the first time in his life.
The little boy didn't know what had happened, but Ye did. Jin had meant to kill Shen Zhou and the people with him, for no other reason than them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ye had put Lu Shao in his way knowing he wouldn't willingly harm a child of Mei Hua. In response, Jin had given his youngest a spiritual slapping without holding back.
Even if Jin had matured a great deal over the years, he was a sword and would always be a sword. When faced with an intruder who meant real harm to his loved ones, his first response was to slaughter. He would slaughter until the threat stopped moving. He knew nothing else, for there was no Shield to offer an alternative path for dealing with dangers.
Mei Hua's body had been dragged an impressive distance in a very short period of time. When Jin got close to her body, dozens of arrows popped into existent right over his head and rained down on him. He saw the danger but didn't dodge. His body should be immune to such attacks to begin with and if he tried to get out of their way, he wouldn't reach his wife in time. So he willingly took a hit rather than slow down, his finger tips almost touching her as he sped forward.
The arrows buried into his flesh like a hot knife through snow. As with the rope from earlier, the arrows were poisoned. The poison reacted instantly to his flesh: an agonizing burning sensation rippled across his skin, sinking into his muscles to his bones, right through to his soul. The pain was so severe he lost concentration, almost passing out, and slammed face first into the ground leaving a crater.
His body, which resembled a pin cushion, wept blood and for a moment he was paralyzed. When he finally came to himself, his wife was near the edge of his domain. Once she crossed, he couldn't follow.
He roared out in fury and agony, detesting himself for being unable to move. If tearing apart his own body would have gotten him to her quicker, he would have done it. But the pain wasn't just physical, it reached into his spirit too. Since when did humanity gain the ability to create a poison that affected the spirit as well as the body? It had never crossed his mind that they'd gotten that clever, so he'd been careless.
Even with his impossibly strong body, he was still missing his spiritual defenses. Xuiying was his shield and the strategist between the two of them. She knew when to retreat, when to dodge, when to take a hit and how to take it. That had always been her specialty. His job had been exploiting enemy weaknesses, knowing where and when to pierce and attack to create the most damage. Together they were a force to be reckoned with but apart they were fatally flawed.
As his body rotted from the poison, he yanked out the arrows without thought to the further damage he'd do to himself. Whoever was targeting him had been smart and annoyingly precise: they went for all the points on the body that made movement possible, muscles and joints and tendons. They seemed to understand they couldn't break his bones, so they went for softer tissue.
If the arrows weren't bad enough, the poison slowed down his ability to heal himself. So as he was removing arrows he also gathered up the poison in his spirit and body, forcefully expelling it. Black liquid began to bubble up from his stomach, rotting away at his throat and mouth as he vomited it out. It splatted to the ground, sizzling and melting the dirt. This happened again and again, until his body was clean and once again able to heal properly.
No matter how frantically he tried, he wasn't fast enough. Each second meant Mei was further from him.
She was already at the edge.
He wouldn't get there in time.
He raised a blood soaked hand, as if reaching out to her, and a single thin thread shot forward. It was blue and glowed slightly. It seemed to glue itself on to Mei.
Then she was gone, into the lands where men dwelt.