The Awakening of the Awakener

Part 19

"I thought we were going back to meet up with the others." XiFan questioned, annoyed that they were not going down the mountain but rather up it. "You sent everyone to go to the next city in the mountains. So why are we going in the opposite direction?" He wanted to know what the other was thinking. He thought he at least deserved that much. Having stayed to help Lu Ping fight, having been talked out of murdering the two gang members, why where they not going to the others as they had claimed that they would? What was Lu Ping thinking, and why? These questions just left him annoyed and frustrated when he could not think of the reasons behind the answers to them. It was horribly agitating that he was stuck trying to figure out what he was doing and the other did not seem to have to worry about anything at all. Annoying, very much so. He glanced once more at Lu Ping, lifting his voice to speak again before Lu Ping rounded on him, annoyance in his eyes and expression.

"Shut it," He hissed, before turning back on his heel and stalking further up the area. XiFan sighed heavily. It was clear that no matter how much he bugged Lu Ping, he would not answer his questions, and it was also obvious that Lu Ping was shaken up. He was trying to hide it in anger, but he was scared. Two of the disciples were still following him and Lu Ping diligently, and he just wanted to know where they were going, and why it was that they were not moving to catch up with the others like the initial plan had been to do. He deserved an explaination for that, and he thought that the two following them did as well. It would seem that Lu Ping was not in the sharing mood, however, and despite the reasonable questions was refusing to speak.

Xifan did not know what it was that he had with the Mountain and Sea gang, but it was obviously not good. Then again, who had good interactions with the mountain and sea gang? Even their allies lived on in worry and tense anticipation for the moment that they would have enough of them and kill them off. Later, rather then sooner, merely staving off the inevitable. Whatever it was that they had with Lu Ping, and it was obvious that the two had some sort of connection even if Xifan did not know what it was precisely, it was clear that he had not left on good terms with the gang. It was surprising that he even left at all. From what it sounded, he had escaped, not left. If XiFan did not know better, and at this point XiFan didn't actually know better considering he was questioning everything he ever knew about Lu Ping and Su Tang, he would have said that Lu Ping was saved from the Mountain and Sea gang when he first showed up with Master in the Windtakers.

It was obvious that he had martial power as he had suspected all along, and it would seem he had a great deal of it, though he had not been able to see which powers he acquired, it was obvious that he had mastered at least one to be able to go head to head with even one of the Gang members. He did not go against just one though, he went against both of them. As much as XiFan hated to admit it, Lu Ping did a majority of the fighting and took a majority of the force. The three of them sort of just did the background fighting in an effort to help Lu Ping. They were basically the added force not the majority of the power.

It was definitely a hit to his pride, but he could not argue that Lu Ping had managed to fight well, and whether or not he had lied to them in the beginning, or all throughout the time that he and Su Tang had lived with them was really irrelevant. In the end, it was because of Lu Ping that they had saved the Windtakers from almost assured destruction. Had he not been willing to take a stand, though he was almost entirely sure that it was because of Su Tang not anyone else, the others had managed to still get out safely, and would have an opportunity to survive where they would not otherwise.

He supposed that they definitely owed him. Then again, was it possible that if he had not come to them that the Mountain and Sea gang would not have bothered them? No, that is incredibly unlikely. XiFan thought to himself as he struggled to keep up with Lu Ping, who was setting an absolutely brutal pace. They had not even mention him at all, just the token, which I will bet he had taken from someone because of this exact reason. Xifan finally came to a realization, almost stopping in his tracks for a split second. I seemed to recall that it was the person in black that had grabbed something from the intruder. I guess that was probably the token. It makes sense now. Lu Ping was the person in black. We had dragged him along, thinking him useless but in the end he was the most successful one of all of us. How annoying. Why would he even be trying so hard to hide his martial power? It was not as though he would draw too much attention with it.

Ever more questions and yet no answers to accompany the previous ones. As such they simply piled on more and more, and he found himself getting more frustrated as the time went by.

-

Su Tang waited anxiously at the next city, their final stop, where they had stopped to wait in what was a dim hope that they could be joined by her brother and senior disciple. Yet, almost a whole day had passed, and there was no sighting of them. She had run off, seperating herself from the others, because, it was now, Lu Ping had been taken back. She was almost sure of it, and he had waved goodbye to her with a smile and a hug and she felt herself breaking down at the thought.

Even towards the end he was protecting. Despite all of that, he protected everyone but himself from the misfortune. Now he was stuck in the grasp of the very people he had tried so hard to escape. She could not believe that she had agreed to go. She should have stayed. Now, she felt nothing but sadness, fear, and loneliness. She did not know what to do anymore. She had always intended to follow Lu Ping wherever that he would go, but now he was nowhere where she could follow. She did not even know how they had escaped the mountain. She had been nigh unconcious the entire time. She could not even go and submit herself to them to at least try and find him. She was more useless now then she had ever been, and it was horrible a thing to feel.