Yearning Of The Jade

Chapter 7: The Aftermath

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CHAPTER 6

With a smirk of victory, Yan Jian proceeded to resume on his escape, galloping further out of the city. With the fan flying back to its castor, the chief caught the spiraling the blades of the fan with the nick of his fingers. Outraged, his teammates behind him prepared themselves for another chase. However, it was their chief who stopped them.

"Don't bother," The leader said. "Let them."

"We should go after them, Chief."

The leader lowered his black face mask that covered all but his eyes. "No, we'll head back. We expose ourselves too much already. Let's get out of this city for now."

And so, the group of attackers moved back out of the city in the opposite direction, leaving behind the turmoil that they caused.

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CHAPTER 7

Horseback riding was not what I expected. The faster the horse galloped, the looser my grip was on the horse. After Yan Jian ushered me to mount on the horse, it took off immediately and I managed to escape out of the city. We were under attack by unknown enemies.

As I quickly made my escape heading towards the exit, more multiple arrows were being shot through the air behind me. Fortunately, I was far and fast enough and I managed to outrun them unscathed. The outside of Xianyang was surrounded by the dark woods and grass, the same as I remembered. I did not know where my location was nor how to find my way back to the city. As I got deeper and deeper into the windy cold woods, I attempted to take control.

"Stop!" I yelled at the horse as if it could understand me. It didn't hear me and it did not stop.

I then gathered all my courage to straighten my back and took the horse reins by my hands.

"Just like in the movies," I said to myself. I tightened my grip on the reins and pulled it back towards me with all my strength. Instead of the horse coming to a slow and steady stop, the horse let out a high pitched cry and reared its two front legs into the air. This caused me to lose balance, sending me tumbling onto the ground.

"Thanks a lot," I said to the horse, not expecting him to understand that either.

My fall caused me to twist my ankle and form many bruises on my legs and arms. My body hurt like a thousand needles all puncturing deep into my skin. Soon, my hope of walking out of the woods safely and alive deteriorated.

I slowly adjusted my legs and paced myself towards a nearby tree, limping with every step I take. If I were to spend the night in the woods, I would rather have some kind of protection and a tree trunk would have to do the job.

The night was peaceful with the full moon shining brightly onto my skin. Sounds of owls and only owls were present through the leaves. This meant that I have successfully escaped from the black-clothed attackers.

After Yan Jian ushered me onto the horse, I assumed that he would follow right behind me. But he did not. From the looks of it, I was the only living human standing in the woods. I considered going back into the city even with an injured ankle. However, the absence of Yan Jian did not mean that it was safe to return back to the city.

I grabbed my handkerchief that I brought along earlier this day and used it to wrap my ankle. It wasn't bleeding, but it was to prevent any movement of my bones and muscles from dislocating even more. As I was in the middle of wrapping my ankle, I heard a slight crack in the corner.