12 Hunt or be Hunted (2)

With just a few more Grimoire snakes left standing, Ye Chen, who is riddled with deep wounds, was losing blood rapidly. He finally slumped onto the ground and could no longer put on a fight. If one didn't look carefully, one would think his body is now a corpse.

Just as the last few weakened Grimoire snakes were about to approach him, screaming and shouting could be heard from a distance outside of the cave, followed by the sounds of fighting between cultivators and beasts. The sounds of multiple emergency fireworks were also heard.

As the fireworks were loud, it distracted the remaining beasts and they ran out towards the sounds outside the cave.

Thinking that the rescue team was here, he put down his guard and fainted.

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When Mu Lian went back to the cave after getting lost, he noticed Ye Chen was no longer there. From the scene, he realized that he seemed to have left in a hurry, making a mess of the campsite. Having a bad feeling in his gut, he quickly hopped into the forest, looking for Ye Chen.

When Mu Lian found him, he noticed beast corpses were lying all around the cave, blood splattered everywhere and Ye Chen was lying on the floor. He was already bleeding from being mauled by beasts and deep gashes of fang marks were present on his body. Besides an almost dying Ye Chen, there were no other living things near the cave entrance anymore.

As soon as he threw out the emergency fireworks, he immediately rushed beside Ye Chen and started playing his flute. A healing spell is activated and Ye Chen starts reacting positively to the spell. It did not improve his condition, but at least his health stopped declining.

"Mu….Li...an.." Ye Chen let out a soft moan while unconscious, not knowing that Mu Lian was already by his side. Because of the bloodstains in front of the cave and the unusual beast behaviour, Ye Chen had already thought that Mu Lian had perished.

Tears were streaming down Mu Lian's face, although he wanted to hold Ye Chen's hand and coax him, he couldn't. He was so afraid that if he were to stop playing, Ye Chen would not be able to maintain his life. Mu Lian dared not let his emotions cloud his ability to play properly. If a tune was not played properly due to emotions and unstable breathing, the spell would be less effective.

Mu Lian's flute is made out of the highest-grade white jade in Ping Tian Continent. This type of jade is not easily obtained as there are less than five pieces of it in the world. It is lightweight and durable, very suitable for making instruments as it enhances the tunes played. Comparing the effect of the same tune played by his flute and a normal flute, the difference would be more than thirty per cent. This is considered a cheat code in this cultivation method - The better quality your weapons, the stronger your spells are. His flute was designed by his father and crafted by his mother - It was presented to him when he enrolled into TianAn Sect.

In a time like this, Mu Lian was suddenly very grateful for his family's background.

After playing for one hour without stopping, help finally came. There was a delay in the rescue as multiple emergency fireworks were going off at the same time around the same area.

Only when the elders started emergency treatment did Mu Lian stop playing.

Ye Chen, who was still unconscious, frowned and murmured, "I'm ...sorry... mu ..lian." before tears started dripping down the corners of his closed eyes.

"I'm here, I'm here, I have always been here. Open your eyes and look at me, Ye Chen!" Mu Lian weakly said before fainting from exhaustion.

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When Ye Chen was out cold in bed after the incident, Mu Lian and Mu Yang came by every day to visit him. Disciples from other Sects are not allowed to stay over at another Sect's premises, so they came over early in the morning and only left at night.

Mu Lian would play the flute in the day, and Mu Yang would use his wind manipulation techniques to direct more spiritual energy into the air surrounding Ye Chen.

It was close to night time on the third day before Ye Chen finally woke up. He was still lying down and was not able to move at all. Mu Yang was taking care of him at that time so he was the first person Ye Chen saw. Upon seeing Mu Yang, he started crying uncontrollably and he was crying so much that he forgot to breathe.

"Aw...now, now… calm down already… alright?" Mu Yang pats the messy pile of hair, trying to comfort the crying teenager paralyzed with wounds on the bed.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm very very sorry, I couldn't protect Lian-Xiong! I should just die." Ye Chen had a difficult time finishing the sentence in between sobs and even choked on his tears.

"Since when do I need your protection ah? Are you dreaming?" A familiar voice spoke.

Ye Chen shifted his eyeballs to the figure at the corner of the room and blinked a few times making sure he was not seeing things. Without saying a word, tears started falling again.

"MU LIAN!!!...hicc...Mu Lian ahh... hic...hicc. Mu.l...ian." he started choking on his saliva again.

"Do you know how old you are now? Stop crying!" Mu Lian demanded and walked over to the motionless body of the bright-eyed teenager. He covered Ye Chen's eyes with his palm and said, "Sleep."

As soon as Ye Chen's breathing stabilized as a sign of being asleep, Mu Lian took his palm away and pinched in between his own brows. A single tear ran down the corners of his eyes - he was just so happy to hear Ye Chen's voice again.