Chapter 2 - Gu Mingxia

-Outer perimeter of Caedis Forest, Blazing Sun Empire-

In the darkness shrouding the eerie looking forest, a whipping sound could be heard along with a pleading sound of a girl reverberating through the night.

"You worthless trash! What a waste of my money raising you! It's not enough that you are always sick and now it's proven that you cannot even cultivate. Only when you die can I be satisfied!". Gu Bolin's voice was heard shouting while he was whipping his 3rd daughter, Gu Mingxia without mercy.

"Father, why would you waste more of your money raising her? Outsiders might not know this but I know that she is not even your daughter. Mother told me that she was found outside our house. Tsk! Why did you even pick her up? Look she is so ugly and she cannot even cultivate!" Gu Meifeng said with a mockery smile on her face.

"What?! I am not even father's daughter? Then who's child am I?" Gu Mingxia asked while crying.

'No wonder. No wonder my own so called parents turn blind eye when my siblings torture me everyday. No wonder they hid me all the way back in a dilapidated courtyard. I was thrown there and my food is even worse than the maids'. '

Gu Yang, the only son answered "Who knows? Maybe you are just a bastard's child. You should be thankful that father picked you up. And yet, you are always sick and wasting our money. You are so ugly. Why not you just die?" He then walked to Gu Mingxia and proceeded to strangle her.

At first, Gu Mingxia struggled but how could she fight against the strength of Qi Refiner Level 5? Her body was already in a lot of pain due to whipping just now.

'Well, maybe this is for the best. I don't have to suffer anymore. But I don't want to forgive them! I hope I can take revenge against them but I can't. I hope they will get what they deserve soon'. And with that, Gu Mingxia's body started weakening and she closed her eyes weakly. She did not have the energy to do anything.

Gu Yang then threw her towards the tree. The throw broke several of her bones. "Father, she's not dead yet but she can't even do anything anymore. She will die sooner or later. Let us just leave her here to be eaten by the magical beasts." Gu Yang said happily.

"Yes husband. Leave her here to die. Hahahhahahaa" Gu Bolin's wife, Chen Yi added while looking at her husband.

Gu Bolin then said "Okay. Let's just leave her here and say that our sickly daughter has passed away due to her illness. What a useless kid. I thought I could raise you up and marry you to another family to strengthen my position, unfortunately you are useless! You are not even like your siblings! Maybe it's because you are not my daughter. It's my bad luck." The whole family then left the weak Gu Mingxia behind. Gu Mingxia heard all that was said by them but what could she do?

Suddenly, the sky started pouring heavily and the rain fell on her, wetting her clothes. Gu Mingxia was so weak and finally, she closed her eyes and died full of resentment.

'BOOM!' A lightning strike to where Gu Mingxia was out of nowhere. The wind started stirring strongly along with the heavy rain.

..........

'Ugh why does it hurt so much? Damn, my body is in so much pain. If I am dead, then I am dead. Why do I still have to feel the pain? Ouh wait... Damn this pain must be because I am in the hospital. SO CCOLD!!' Xi Ying Yue cursed in her mind while trying to open her eyes slowly.

'Eh? Why is it so dark? Why am I in a forest? So the plane crashed into a forest? But where are the other passengers?' Xi Ying Yue tried to move her body but it was such an arduous task to do so. She sat up slowly only to fall down the ground again. The ground was wet and she could hear a faint sound coming and closing to her. It sounds so heavy and sounds like horses. Wait horses?!

She felt so weak and she could barely hold on. Xi Ying Yue saw the carriage stopping in front of her.

Du Yi, the deputy general saw Xi Ying Yue and informed the people behind him. "General, Young Master, there's a child in front covered in blood. Would you like your subordinate to go take a look?"

"Go ahead. But be careful. Maybe it is an ambush." Jiang Rong said.

" Father, if they want to ambush us, they would have done it in a deeper perimeter of us the forest. Why would they do it here? Maybe that kid is really injured." Jiang Qiu said to his father.

"That makes sense to but we have to be careful. We have very few people this time in this envoy. We don't want to take any risk. We must protect this map."

"I understand, father"

Du Yi, after getting permission from his general, went to check Xi Ying Yue. He then said "General, this child is still alive but is very weak. It seems like someone whipped her and left her here to die. It rained heavily just now this child has gotten a fever as well. What should we do?"

Jiang Rong then got off his horse to examine the child himself after hearing what his deputy said. When he saw the child, without knowing why, he felt sad and close to her. Her face has a black mark covering a quarter of her face and she looked pitiful. Her clothes were tattered and old, but does not look cheap which indicates she is from a noble family, her hair was thin and she body was thin and malnourished. He then made a prompt decision, scaring his son, deputy and all of his subordinates.

"We will take her with us and treat her. We will be staying here for a bit of time anyway. Du Yi, check her background while we are here. She looks like she is from a noble family. Check thoroughly who she is and why is she here. This area is unreachable by a small kid like her so it must have been someone deliberately sending her here. Report to me by tomorrow. " Jiang Rong then picked Xi Ying Yue up on his horse and moved forward.

Du Yi, after receiving the order immediately assigned a few people to work on the mission.

Jiang Qiu looked at the kid on his father's horse and took a pity on her. 'Who would do this sort of inhumane thing?' he thought to himself.

At the same time, Xi Ying Yue, who had been trying her best to stay awake hearing their conversations, became as confused as ever. 'Why are they on a horse? And what kind clothes are they wearing? Well I could only open my eyes for 10 seconds just now maybe I was wrong. But, who are they calling a child? Me? I am a healthy 23 year old woman and my height is decent. Are the people here so tall that I look like a kid?! But I... am... not a... kid...' Her thoughts stopped there as Xi Ying Yue finally could not hold in her sleepiness and she fainted.