Because It's You

2.11 || The Prodigal Young Master

Marquis Yang and Yang Liyuan accompanied Yang Wenbao for his journey towards Cloud Peak Temple. Apparently, the Imperial Family also sent the most outstanding of their imperial children to the temple as well. After Yang Wenbao received the temple monks' blessing, akin to the heaven's blessing itself, he could choose which imperial children he would want to be teaching to.

Yang Wenbao had no doubt that Zhou Yequan would be amongst them. One would wonder why a blind Prince would be included in the list of 'outstanding imperial children', but from the rumors, the Seventh Prince was as capable as everyone else. It was just the Emperor doted on him too much that Zhou Yequan did not have many chances to be in public.

Two days into their journey, the Yang's entourage met trouble. The path ahead led to the mountain area where Cloud Peak Temple was located. The rest of the journey would be through some rougher scapes, thus the Marquis had brought along a dozen soldiers. Normally, this would be more than enough as the path should have been as idyllic and safe as could be.

None of the Yangs brought a carriage. Marquis Yang and his two sons rode their horses and expected to just make camp whenever would be needed. It was not yet a few hours when the dirt path turned to one covered with grass and tall weed, signifying that they were going to leave general civilization area. That was when Yang Wenbao halted his horse and lifted his hand, curling his fingers into a fist to notify all the soldiers to stop. Yang Liyuan was about to ask him what the matter was, when he finally also noticed something peculiar.

Marquis Yang also looked around and immediately took notice as well. Around them was just an expansive field dotted with lush and green trees also grew, lush and green contrasting with the browns. Further down the path, the trees would become denser, though the path was still wide enough for a horse drawn carriage to pass through.

Yet, no one could hear the sound of birds, or even crickets and insects that should be abundant in the heat of summer.

YangWenbao's face turned grim as he noticed a ripple of the wheat grass in thedistance. Any other day, this could be attributed to some random wind. 

However the day had been dry and the air somewhat stuffy for days, without any cool respite of wind or rain.

He nocked an arrow and immediately released it, his strong bow gave a slight buzzing sound as the arrow flew off the string. Then he immediately released three more arrows in succession towards various directions. Yang Liyuan, who by now had also noticed the movements amidst the tall grass, also did the same. Around them, the soldiers wielded their swords and spears, ready to protect their lords.

Yelping sounds reverberated around them, but it was mixed with a guttural growl of something inhuman.

Soon, they could see a few dozens of wolf-like animals emerging from the grass. Some of them must have been killed by Yang Wenbao and Yang Liyuan's arrows, yet there were still some managing to get closer despite having a couple of arrows sticking out their bodies. The arrows were Yang Liyuan's, judging from the color of the feather at the end of them.

"Daemons... ." This was his first time seeing not just one, but a pack of mutated wolves. Yet, from the size of the animals and their blood red eyes, Yang Wenbao immediately knew that they were indeed Daemons. He clicked his tongue, knowing all his idle days for more than the past year would end soon.

In fact, Yang Wenbao knew that all the arrows he had released had not missed their targets, even instantly killed the wolves. But this was not because Yang Liyuan's skill was inferior to his. It was because Yang Wenbao had imbued his arrows with Lei's power that still resided in him. Having assimilated this borrowed power with his soul and trained with them every night and day had granted him absolute mastery to execute tricks like this.