The Night Breeze Whispers Your Name

4. Pain and Remorse

"Is there anything you need to report?"

I saw Annoying fidgeting uncomfortably before saying "yes, Shifu. Yesterday night, Hong Huo went out for a while."

"Is that true?" the old guy I asked, looking at me.

"No," I said firmly, itching to teach Annoying a lesson.

"He says no," the old guy I turned back to Annoying who cast me a strange glance.

"My mistake, Shifu," he said softly with apparent disappointment in his tone, making me shocked while Sly kept his silence, probably his fear of me weighed more than his humanity.

"I wouldn't expect you to lie this soon, Lu Mu Ning," the old guy I shook his head in disappointment, "take off your outer robe and kneel, you will receive your punishment."

Annoying didn't argue, he did what he was told and the old guy took out a whip made of chains. Without delay, he swirled the whip and hit Annoying's back with full force, forming a bloody mark. Annoying's hands on his knees clenched, but no sound came out from his tightly shut lips.

Shush!... Shush!... Shush!... Shush!

After the fifth hit, the old guy I lowered his whip and I let out the breath I was holding unwittingly.

"Take it as a warning and don't repeat it... any of you," he said and left the garden.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't take my eyes off Annoying's robe which was torn to rags with blood soaking through it. With slight remorse, I watched him as he rose to his feet with no less difficulty and went back to the room with slow steps.

"It was very evil, very suitable for a half-demon," Noxious clapped his hands as if it was something to be praised upon. Tell me, who was the real demon?

"Get lost before I snap your head off," I warned him in between my teeth and smartly, they rushed to the hall for breakfast.

I followed them, but my appetite was lost. Although I wanted Annoying to see that he wouldn't want to mess with me, the punishment was too severe. As he was visibly feeble, I could only guess how much it hurt.

With guilt tugging in my heart, I swallowed the food even without chewing. When we went back to the garden, Annoying joined us. He looked pale and in pain, but he didn't say anything.

Unfortunate from his side, the day's training was martial arts. The old guy II wanted us to fight a bit to observe our skills before he taught us.

"Who goes first?"

I raised my hand and moved to the centre where there was a huge stone area. Then I pointed at Annoying and said "come here."

Don't get me wrong, I didn't choose him because he was hurt already. Well, it was because he was hurt already, I chose him, but for the opposite reason. As he was hurt because of me, I kind of felt responsible for him. Who could know it better than I did... the pain of unfair beating?

Not aware of my noble thinking, Annoying joined me in the centre. The old guy II gave us matchy wooden sticks and warned us not to be too violent. What a joke!

We bowed to each other before I attacked Annoying. Although I thought it wouldn't take more than a second to handle him, he was actually not that bad. As a characteristic of his clan, he fought defensively. He never attacked me, but also never got hit by me. Even when he was hurt and couldn't raise his arms much, there was a certain level of elegance in his moves.

Still, as my plan was to spare him from the additional pain, I didn't waste my time that much. While pointing my stick towards the right, I rushed to him, but a second before the clash, I swung around, changing my hand which held the stick. Then, I grabbed Annoying's stick in mid air while pointing mine to his delicate throat.

"Very good, Hong Huo," the old guy II commented as I let go of Annoying's arm.

"Congratulations," Annoying bowed slightly before going back to his previous spot while rubbing his wrist where I caught him. As there was no anger in his tone, I wondered if he understood my intention.

After us, Noxious and Sly fought, which determined Sly as the winner. Then I fought with Angry and no need to say who was the winner, right? With that, only Sly and I left. As a characteristic of his clan, Sly had an agile and smooth way of fighting, but it was easy for me to predict his moves after watching him fight with Noxious. After an incense stick of time later, my wooden stick was pressing on his chest, proving me as the ultimate winner.

"Very nice, Hong Huo, you got your first points," the old guy II congratulated me while the others except Annoying grunted.

I wished it was the ending of the training, but no. After the old guy II left the old guy I came and the second training of meditation started. Like the first time, the second time was highly useless for me. I took a nap for a while, at least the weather wasn't that cold. When I woke up, the meditation session was still dragging, so I decided to look around.

All of them really listened to the old guy I's words and kept a right posture with their eyes closed. As any of those three- Angry, Noxious and Sly- didn't attract my attention, my gaze just swept through them until it stuck on Annoying. Even though the weather wasn't that warm, there were sweat beads on his pale forehead and his eyes were shut more tightly than the others'. Now and then, he was flinching as if getting hit by an invisible force.

He must have been hurt so severely...

Indeed, I hated all human beings, but still, causing him pain wasn't my intention. Still, as it was out of question to apologize, I tore my gaze off him and watched the trees until the torture was over.

After the silent dinner, we went back to our room except Annoying. I couldn't help but wonder where he went, but later, seeing the tips of his long brown hair were wet, I guessed he went to the riverside. Without saying anything, he lay on his stomach on his mattress and closed his eyes.

I followed his suit, but couldn't manage to sleep, hearing his laborious breaths next to me. How come the old guy didn't give him any ointment? Maybe I should... No way! I gave myself a mental slap as I noticed what I was thinking and decided to take some fresh air to collect my wild thoughts.

"Please don't go out."

Sighing, I turned around to look at the owner of the familiar voice.

As I didn't reply, he continued "spare me tonight, I don't think I can survive another whip-beating."

My eyebrows knitted together, "why don't you just say you didn't see or hear anything?"

"Because I saw you. I can't lie," he said firmly, making me astonished.

"You are so annoying," I snorted, but couldn't take a step towards the door.

He heaved a sigh, "so? Will you spare me or use the opportunity to eliminate a rival?"

"You made me tired, I have no energy left to wander around," I snapped at him so that he wouldn't think I was soft-hearted. Harshly, I got under my blanket, my back facing him.

My efforts didn't pay off. A few seconds later, I heard him whisper "thank you."

What the hell I got myself into?!