10. Not A Morning Person

Mist covered the whole village, birds flew away from the trees towards the sky as if they had sensed danger. The sun was yet to rise for it was still early in the morning. The dense forest was weirdly quiet and heavy boots stumped towards the residence of Qiu Yu village.

"Commander, I heard that he's staying with the Feng family." One man from the enemy's side saluted as he reported what he had gathered for the past two days. Bao Lu had been sent to the village to spy around so that they could find the man they had failed to kill during the hunt.

At first they had assumed that he had died somewhere on the hunting grounds. However, after searching thoughroughly for several days and not finding any body they started to doubt it and later found news in their circle.

"All of you get ready. Ten of you attack from the front door and the remaining wait here and keep watch." He ordered as he readied his weapon for a fight.

"Yes sir!" The rest of of them started doing what they were told.

"This time do a good job. You wouldn't want to disappoint our master once again, do you?"

"No no."

Black figures rushed towards the small house that was the worst looking amongst all the houses in the village. They moved so fast so that if you looked you would see nothing but moving air.

Inside the little house Feng Shao was just opening his eyes after spending all night from his desk. The previous night he fell asleep while reading a book about medicine. And his back was aching a lot. He got up with difficult before doing some stretches. He organised the mess on the desk and planned to wash his face and later on go to search for some herbs again. He had used almost all of the batch he had gathered the past two days.

After getting out of the room, he lazily looked at the other side only to see Lui Xian sprawled on the cold floor. The blankets that he had used were long abandoned at some point in time. Feng Shao scowled at this and then he entered the room to fetch some clothes and went on to put his outer garments. He tied his hair and braided it at the sides to make it look neat, and then checked in his Grandpa's room before going outside.

Everything seemed normal and nothing seemed to be out of the norm. He sauntered towards the bamboo trees that were just a yard away from the house and reached for some water that was in a wooden bucket.

His pale white hands soaked in the tauntingly freezing water before cupping his face. It felt cooling and refreshing in the unusual weather. Before he could go about again he saw a reflection of a person dressed in black hanging up in the tree before he jumped down from above. And to say he was shocked and frightened out of his wits is an understatement.

Feng Shao did not get a chance to react because a knife was quickly pressed on his delicate neck. The attacker moved very fast. It was obvious that he was a trained soldier or even an assassin. Feng Shao just didn't know who he had offended.

The assailant kept holding the sharp knife over his throat in the way disabling him from making any sound. He warned him not to act smart. Feng Shao felt his legs becoming weak. His heart thundered loudly and drops of sweat accumulated on his forehead. All he could do was watch more figures rush into the house. It didn't take much time for him to hear some fighting going on.

Lui Xian had just been awakened by the unusual movements. He knew right away that something was wrong.

The first thing he did was to check Old Feng's room. When he saw him sleeping, he settled on throwing him out of the window before he welcomed the unwanted guests who were wrecking havoc unnecessarily.

Nine figures emerged infront of him each holding swords and covering their faces. He had been living peacefully that he forgot he had unfinished business with these people.

"Who are you? Oh I forgot you are all mute I wonder how you communicate with your boss. Do you have to write down what you want to say or give gestures. I can even imagine you...." They didn't wait for him to finish talking.

All of them reacted to his remark as they launched an aggressive attack towards him their souls brimming with killing intent. Their swords were at ready, aimed with so much precision.

Lui Xian hurriedly grabbed his sword, and dodged all the advances of the enemy. He then jumped through the window. He ran to a sparse area and stopped when he was satisfied with the space and less damage they would cause after so much speculation. He waited for them as he hurriedly calculated how he was going to tuckle them.

Three figures approached him from all sides, their swords aimed at his most vital points. Lui Xian could only lift up his feet and body as he floated in the air for some seconds before landing on a roof top. He could see the most part of the village from where he was standing.

He also felt the chilling cold air for he was no morning person. It was a wonder how he got to be by the monarch's side. He didn't have time to worry about it when he had danger in front of him.

"You just disturbed my sleep. You will have to pay for this." He shouted at them as he pointed at them with his sword.

Lui Xian slanted it preparing to finish them off. He looked at all of them with eyes so cold that they could freeze an ocean. He dashed right to them striking with a force that was known to none. His foot work seemed to be very light as his agility put the enemy at a disadvantage. He stabbed a few of them and rendered them useless, as they were unable to fight and protect themselves.

"Stop!" He heard a shout from the bamboo trees. The voice was unfamiliar and somehow full of threat.

He turned his head only to see a knife being pressed on Feng Shao's neck. Little drops of blood could be seen trailing down on his almost colourless pale skin. Leaving a bruise in exchange.

'Oops I forgot about him!' He lamented whilst feeling proud when he didn't see any fear in his eyes. Amongst all the bizzare happening, he was still calm and managed to stop himself from crying and freaking out.

Their eyes met before he moved his own to look at the one who had successfully taken an upper hand out of the blue.

"Hurry drop your sword and let one of my man tie your hands."

Lui Xian did as he was told feeling too aggrieved. He dissed Feng Shao in his heart.

'What a weakling.'

"Do not pull any tricks or he is going to die."