Warring Kingdoms: The Tale of the Jade Phoenix and the Dragon Blade

Chapter 59: Shura Asuro Part 1 (第六惡魔王的故事)

Foggy mists of one cold morning kissed the highlands of QingTing. Above the mountains, a majestic view of Old Jianghu below revealed itself in a palpable way. QingChu LianHua, a girl from the local townsfolk of QingTing, decided to ascend up the mountains early to gather fresh herbs to sell it to the nearby town and earn some money to buy meat. Food was scarce however, the mountains never fail to give them plenty of spices, herbs and tubers to go by for a day.

 The air up the mountain was thin. Townsfolk rarely ascends up during early morning because most of them would freeze their lungs and never return back alive to the town. LianHua never listens to anyone. She climbed up the mountain without even covering her head. Armed with a little sickle and carrying a huge basket on her back, she started picking herbs and mushrooms that she could find along the way. When she had came so far and already have gathered enough tubers, herbs, mushrooms and spices, she stopped at a nearby spring and scooped the water with her hand to drink. 

As she was about to drink up the water from her hand, she noticed a red liquid mixed within the water. She was skeptical at first thinking that it must be her mind playing tricks at her since the air from high up the mountains is thin. Shaking her head and looking back at the water she scooped, the red liquid disappeared. But, her mind was still filled with fear because the townsfolk once tell scary stories about a living corpse appearing within the range of the mountain and dragging unsuspecting victims down the depths of the spring. 

Behind her, the bushes started to shake. The hairs from behind her nape started to stand which made her grab the little sickle in her hand. Shaking, she faced the area where the bushes shook holding the sickle up front. She thought to herself...

'If it's a wild boar, I would be dead right now... If it's a tiger, I would also be dead... If it's that corpse that the people are talking about, I would rather.... Fight to the death!'

She pointed the sickle nearby the shaking bushes and as she was about to strike, a naked man with a body shaped to perfection with long black hair, a pair of wonderful-looking eyes and perfect nose with beautiful lips appeared in front of her. 

"W- Wait! I'm..."

"AAAAAAH! Pervert!" 

LianHua wanted to strike the man but, his wounds caught her attention. The wounds were too great and LianHua wanted to heal the man herself but... There was one severe problem. 

The man wasn't wearing anything. 

"H-How did you end up not wearing anything?"

"I fell off a cliff while bathing."

"Nonsense! How could someone fell off a cliff while bathing?"

"I live up there." 

The man pointed up the fog surrounded mountain. LianHua shook her head and scratched it. 

"The spring is nearby. I could lend you my outer robe in order for you not to freeze to death after you clean your wound." 

"Thank you young miss." 

"Young miss?! Excuse me! I'm 23! Don't call me young miss anymore!"

"Ehheh... Alright." 

The man have difficulty of standing up since the wounds from his arms, legs and chest are very severe. LianHua was worried as she helped the man up. 

'The wounds looked like he came from being tortured rather than falling off a cliff. If this man is a mugger, I would definitely kill him and throw him on that spring.'

Negative thoughts started filling up inside LianHua's mind like a water filling up a bucket. She looked at the man and never noticed anything weird except a lotus tattoo from his back. LianHua then recalled about Emei and how they have tattoos that had similarity with the tattoo from his back.