Chapter 40 Injury

It glared at me, but I was not afraid. I bowed my body and stared at it; neither of us wanted to back down.

“Are you scared of this?” I looked at it alertly, waving the fan in my hand at it. “Why?”

Of course, the beast was unable to answer. It seemed to become more and more agitated and anxious because of the fan. It kept digging the soil with its claws.

“Good job, Gu Yu! It can’t get closer!” Shi Yitong said, clapping his hands.

Although it was true… I couldn’t move either.

If I moved one step back, the beast would quickly take one step forward. Its eyes, as big as bronze bells, were fixated on me, looking for a chance to attack.

“Step back, Gu Yu!” Su Xiaoyun also anxiously shouted at me.

My heart was beating violently in my chest, and all that stress made it hard for me to keep it together. Following Su Xiaoyun’s advice, I slowly moved backward. However, perhaps because I was too nervous, I didn’t notice an overgrown tree root on the ground.

“Gu Yu!”

Suddenly, I tripped over the damn tree root and fell on the ground, furthermore, I dropped the fan on the ground. The beast immediately roared in excitement and swooped over to me without hesitation.

Damn! This time it’s for real, I’m going to be eaten by that beast.

I closed my eyes, waiting for death. However, at that moment I heard another fierce roar, and then the earth shook slightly. I was terrified and thought it was an earthquake.

Once I was able to see clearly, I found out that the moment the beast Chen rushed over, another white beast dashed towards it. It leaped on top of the beast Chen and brought it down on the ground. The two beasts were in a brawl with each other, making it hard to distinguish them.

At the same time, I seized this opportunity, rolled aside to escape from the beast and ran into the cave.

“Gu Yu!” Su Xiaoyun gave me a big hug. “This is great! Thank god you’re safe!”

Shi Yitong also patted my shoulder to comfort me, but I kept looking around in shock.

“What happened? Where is Zhu Xuan?” Only Su Xiaoyun and Shi Yitong were inside the cave, I couldn’t find Zhu Xuan.

“Urm, well, how should I explain it to you?” Shi Yitong lowered his head, looking a little embarrassed. He then pointed at the two giant beasts that were fighting outside. “I think that… is Zhu Xuan.”

“What?” I was stunned.

At that moment, the two beasts distanced themselves from each other and were cautiously staring at each other from afar. I recognized that the one with the eagle beak was the beast Chen, the other giant beast was white and looked like a Qilin, however, it had a dragon-like horn on its head and a pair of angelic white wings on its back, though it lost some feathers on its wings after being clawed by beast Chen.

I was a little confused. “But, but that is…”

Su Xiaoyun nodded. “If the legend we heard since our childhood is true, then that should be Bai Ze.”

“What on earth is going on here?” I was even more confused.

Before we could further discuss this matter, the two giant beasts roared and began to fight with each other again. However, Bai Ze was obviously not as strong as the beast Chen who had a full stomach. Bai Ze was forced back by the beast Chen and was on the defensive.

Not only that, after a short while, Bai Ze was covered with bloody wounds left by the beast Chen’s claws, while the beast Chen was almost uninjured.

Bai Ze howled while retreating. It was completely suppressed by beast Chen’s attacks.

“This doesn’t look good!” I rushed out of the cave without thinking.

“Oi, Gu Yu! Come back! It’s dangerous!”

Are you kidding me! I, Gu Yu, has experienced so many things, so why should I be afraid of a stupid hawk-beak beast?

“Look here, dumbass!” I shouted as hard as I could.

As I expected, I successfully drew its attention. It reared its ugly hawk-like beak, ready to attack me.

At that moment, I quickly unfolded the fan and the beast Chen suddenly stood there, frozen and unable to move.

“Now!”

As fast as lightning, Bai Ze leaped up, threw itself onto the beast Chen and violently bit its neck while the beast Chen was suppressed by the power of the fan and unable to fight back. Bai Ze then threw the beast Chen up in the air.

The beast Chen fell and crashed into several giant trees. Judging by the sound, its injuries must have been serious. Then, the beast Chen roared as it stood up with difficulty and ran into the forest without hesitation.

I heaved a sigh of relief. Su Xiaoyun and Shi Yitong immediately ran out of the cave. However, Bai Ze, who was badly injured during the fight, could not support his body anymore and fell to the ground.

“Oi! Bai Ze! Are you OK?”

We hurriedly ran over. I stood in front of it and touched its fur.

It was white, soft and warm fur.

“Are you all right?” I asked softly.

Bai Ze’s eyes were half open and it let out a soft cry before its body glowed white.

I was startled and stepped back. In the white light, Bai Ze’s giant body began to change and a young boy appeared.

“Zhu Xuan…” Shi Yitong muttered. “It really is Zhu Xuan. Zhu Xuan is Bai Ze? So our previous guess was wrong?”

Su Xiaoyun shouted, “That’s not important! Look, he is covered in blood! We should send him to a hospital now!”

“But a hospital doesn’t know how to treat a divine beast, does it?” Shi Yitong groaned.

“Then, let’s bring him back to Mr.Xu’s hostel. I saw a first-aid kit behind the counter,” I said decisively. “Come on, Shi Yitong and I will lift his shoulders, and Su Xiaoyun will hold up his legs. Let’s move!”

As I expected, we were extremely lucky. Mr. Xu had a very practical first-aid kit, and Zhu Xuan’s injury was not as scary as it looked, there were no broken bones.

Mr. Xu’s first-aid treatment surprised us. It didn’t take long for him to stop the bleeding and bandage the wounds. However, probably because of excessive blood loss, Zhu Xuan was still unconscious.

“He will be fine,” Mr. Xu said as he stood up from the side of Zhu Xuan’s bed. “Now he just needs to rest, but he should wake up soon. If he wakes up, you can give him some porridge to eat.”

We nodded. “Thank you.”

“However, What did you guys do to make him suffer such grievous injuries?” Xu Yingchen frowned, as he suddenly became sullen. “I told you beforehand to stay clear from any dangerous places, why didn’t you just listen to me? Look at him now, he’s a total mess!”

We looked at each other and listened to his lecture without saying anything.

“…Fine, forget it. Just take care of your friend.” Mr. Xu looked at us and hesitated. In the end, he just waved his hands and left. “I’m going to cook some rice porridge for him.”

After Xu Yingchen left, we sat next to Zhu Xuan’s bed to look after him.

Shi Yitong looked upset. He held his chin with his hands, feeling remorseful.

“Do you think he will be okay?” Shi Yitong said, guilt-ridden. “Will there be any lasting injury or scars?”

“Do you think he’s like you?” Su Xiaoyun rolled her eyes and answered. “He’s the divine beast Bai Ze, small injuries like this won’t affect him at all, okay?”

“But…” Shi Yitong was depressed again. “If only we listened to him from the beginning and didn’t follow him into the forest, he wouldn’t be like this…”

After hearing this, we all stopped talking.

“He is still so nice to me, he even gave me flowers. But now he is so badly injured,” Shi Yitong muttered.

“What’s wrong with you, did you fall for him?” Su Xiaoyun glanced at him.

“Why would you say something like that right now?” Shi Yitong slightly pushed Su Xiaoyun.

At that moment, I noticed that Zhu Xuan’s lips moved a little.

“Stop fighting, he seems to be waking up.”

“Really?” Shi Yitong immediately stepped to the bedside.

Zhu Xuan slowly opened his eyes as his dry lips moved slightly and whispered, “Ye…”

“What?” Shi Yitong immediately leaned over. “What did you say?”

“Ye!” In a sudden, Zhu Xuan sat up from the bed and grabbed Shi Yitong’s collar, which completely startled Shi Yitong.

“Ye, you’re fine!” Zhu Xuan shouted excitedly. “You’re okay, that’s great! You’re okay, I can’t lose you again!”

We were all stunned, especially Shi Yitong, who apparently was even more confused.

“Hey, bro, bro, I think you should rest some more.” Shi Yitong struggled to break away from Zhu Xuan. “And who are you talking about? Who is Ye? I don’t know him at all.”

Zhu Xuan glanced at Shi Yitong and suddenly fell back on the bed, muttering, “No, it won’t work even if you lie to me. I know it’s you, it has to be you.”

Su Xiaoyun and I looked at each other, confused.

“It doesn’t matter if you deny it or pretend that you don’t know me, the jade on your wrist never lies. Even if you changed your name or even your looks, I still can recognize you!”

Zhu Xuan became even more excited and we had to push him back onto the bed.

While Shi Yitong was thunderstruck. “No, but… I really don’t know you.”

“Impossible!” Zhu Xuan shouted, “Why are you still lying to me? Is it because I’m weak? Or maybe because I didn’t save your village? Or because you blame me for saving you? Say it!”

Upon saying that, Zhu Xuan grabbed Shi Yitong’s arm again; I hastily stopped him.

“Zhu Xuan, wait! Calm down!” I grabbed Zhu Xuan’s hand and gently pushed him back. “Ye? Let me ask you, what era was this man called Ye from?”

“What… era?” Zhu Xuan was dumbfounded.

“Yes, what era did he live in? How long have you been separated from him?” I asked.

“I don’t know…” Zhu Xuan muttered. “Maybe around thirty years.”

I took a sigh of relief and shook my head. “Zhu Xuan, the person you’re looking for isn’t Shi Yitong.”