Chapter 3 - On the Move

"Xiu-Shixiong, are we lost?" Yang Hu finally asked through gritted teeth. The strange gleam in his eyes once brimming with life had long disappeared. They had been walking around for a while now and after the fourth wrong turn, Yang Hu began to question the other.

It would have been fine to keep walking in circles, but-He glanced down at the wounds on his hands, frowning at the new skin beginning to cover his wounds. He clenched his hands, grinding his teeth as he did so.

"I-um, no, no." Zhang Xiu missed the dark look in the others' eyes, too focused on looking left and right. His eyes were spinning and his head was starting to hurt. He wanted nothing more than to lie down and take a nap, but he had to get to his destination, he had to help the poor Yang Hu. Zhang Xiu let out a small whine and bit his lip in order not to cry.

'Why do all the buildings have to look the same?' He internally cried. He doesn't know how long they had been walking, but the sun that used to be just reaching above his head was now descending. He frowned even more as he glanced around once more. He had been so confident at first, relying on his short memory of the building to guide them, but he didn't account for all the buildings to look the same.

Why did they look the same!

Mu-Shidi had shown him only two places, it should have been easy to find the place he had originally left, but he was wrong. He stopped walking and silently cried.

"I-" Zhang Xiu glanced down at Yang Hu with a flushed face and teary eyes, "I-I don't know where I'm at." He finally admitted.

Yang Hu looked up at him with a complicated look in his eyes. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, before he gave a small smile. "It's okay. We can go to my room. I have some healing supplies there."

Zhang Xiu's eyes light up, "Really!"

Yang Hu nodded and gently guided Zhang Xiu to a bunch of buildings off to the side that had a few disciples training with wooden swords around them.

Zhang Xiu smiled, how lucky he was to have someone kind like Yang Hu around.'

Zhang Xiu was so focused on the back of Yang Hu that he missed the way the disciples stopped training and glanced at them as they walked by.

—

"Where is he!" Zhang Wei yelled as he searched his didi's room. Clothing had been ripped from the wardrobe and decorated the floor, the bed had been moved in fear that his didi would be hiding underneath it. The room once decorated with the utmost care, now looked like it had been through a war.

"Sect Leader, remain calm. I am sure they are just out walking around." Elder Han Taio tried to reason. Though deep inside he was also beginning to worry. He stepped over piles of silk robes, trying his best not to step on anything and made his way over to the Sect Leaders side.

"How can you be so sure?" Zhang Wei dropped the blanket in his hands. His eyes slightly crazed as he gazed worryingly at Han Taio.

Han Taio flinched at the growing coldness in the others' eyes. He took a deep breath, "I-"

"Sect Leader!" A young voice, all too familiar, called out. The Elders sighed in relief as the face of disciple Chen Mu came into view. Han Taio's sigh of relief was cut short at the worried eyes Chen Mu was showing.

Gu Mei also noticed the worried behavior of the disciple and stepped in front of Chen Mu, hiding him from the Sect Leaders view. While Han Taio stepped in front of the Sect Leader blocking his view even more.

"Disciple Chen Mu, where have you been? We were worried that you took Xiu-shidi to the forbidden forest." Gu Mei spoke calmly and with reason, but her eyes narrowed as the disciples' face paled even further at her words.

"Apologizes Elder Mei, Sect Leader." He bowed deeply, his forehead touching the floor as he spoke, "I had been showing Xiu-Shixiong the disciples rooms when another disciple requested help. I-I told him to stay there, but when I came back…he wasn't there." His head shot up, sweat dripping down his face, "I swear I was only gone for a moment!"

"Where did you leave him?" The Sect Leader pushed Han Taio and Guo Mei out of the way, his face contorting into one of anger as he stared down at the cowering disciple.

"On the cobblestone path on the way to a small hidden clearing." He paused, his eyes darting to the elders around him. "I-I found this broken broom there." He pulled out a broken broom, pieces of blood still littering it. "I-I don't know if this is his blood." He said quietly.

Zhang Wei's face went dark. His hands clenched into fist as he roared, "Find him! Find him right now!"

Everyone in the room and in the surrounding area squeaked in fear as a heavy aura enveloped the Sect.

—

On the other side of the Sect, Zhang Xiu began to wonder if he was still on the Sect. The once beautiful buildings surrounded by flowers and trees were now gone. The buildings were an ugly brown, covered in dust with cracks and holes in them. The surrounding trees were still the same green, but they seemed darker than the other trees. There were no flowers, but the grass overgrowing was slowly creeping up on the surrounding buildings walls.

Zhang Xiu pursed his lips the further Yang Hu took him. There weren't many disciples running around, instead only a few disciples carrying bins of water or a worn out book or two. His eyes would make contact with them every now and then and he would nod his head in a simple greeting, mimicking what Mu-shidi had shown him, but instead of the friendly greetings from before he would only receive harsh glares.

They walked until they reached a small building in the back that was flush against the forest trees. Once they entered, Yang Hu brought him to a small secluded room in the back. Only then did Zhang Xiu realize that this building was a run down disciples quarters.

Yang Hu walked into the room and over to the covered window. He went to move the cloth, but paused half way and instead turned to a candle sitting on an old broken desk. He took an old worn out stack of talismans and brought one to his lips, whispering into the paper before placing it on the candle. Almost immediately the paper burned and the candle lit.

He froze as he glanced at his hands. The wounds now practically healed. The only thing left that gave away he was injured was the outline of new skin on certain parts of his hands. His eyes cast behind him, catching Zhang Xiu who was staring intently at the crumbling door and floorboards.

With a dark smile his nails dug into his skin, opening the wounds once more.

Zhang Xiu hadn't witnessed the other actions. Instead his eyes were focused on his new surroundings. He couldn't place what exactly was wrong, but he knew that something about this place was off.

The other places he had been were all clean and decorated with bright colors. The floors didn't make noises when he walked and the doors didn't fall to the ground when touched. He glanced at the small dirty room.

He placed a hand over his chest. His heart squeezed and he felt stuffy as if he were under a bunch of blankets that were suffocating him rather than bringing him warmth.

His eyebrows furrowed, 'What was this feeling?'

"Um, we should…" Zhang Xiu glanced around the room, frowning even more. The place he had seen did not look like this at all. It had strange jars and papers of all different kinds inside, but he didn't see anything that resembled those in this room, but then again this was Yang Hu's room.

He flinched. Frowned and lowered his head. 'This was Yang Hu's room.' He thought dejectedly. Compared to the beautiful room he had awakened in, could this even be considered a room?

The stuffiness in his heart grew.

"Here it is." Yang Hu pulled out some cloth rolled up into a tight ball.

Zhang Xiu smiled, but the moment he caught sight of the blood dripping from Yang Hu's hand, he gasped and ran over. Grabbing the rolled up cloth from Yang Hu's hand, he carefully opened Yang Hu's hands and frowned once more.

The blood that had seemed to have slowed down was now flowing down his hands like before. 'He must have aggravated the wounds when picking up the cloth.' Zhang Xiu thought.

"Okay, first we need to, um, we need to…" He pursed his lips, his eyes brows furrowing as he looked at the rolled up cloth then back at the bloodied hands. He did this a couple more times before Yang Hu let out a small laugh, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Don't worry, this lowly one knows what to do. First we need to wash the wounds."

"Wash the wounds." Zhang Xiu repeated with a focused look. "Ah! You need to put water on your hands!"

Yang Hu smiled.

—

After searching the surrounding area for his Didi, disciple Chen Mu had been forced by the Sect Leader to show him the last place his Didi had been.

"Are you telling me that you couldn't even do this simple task?" Zhang Wei seethed as he crushed the broom in his hands with his qi, turning it into dust.

Disciple Chen Mu began to shake as he bowed over and over again, fear overtaking him. "This lowly one apologizes! This lowly one didn't mean to! I didn't think he would wander off! This lowly one apologizes!" His head hit the ground over and over again as blood began to drip from the freshly made wound on his forehead.

"Apologizes Sect Leader! Mu-shixiong wouldn't have left him alone if it wasn't for this lowly one! Please punish me instead!" The disciple from before was also bowing with his head touching the ground. He had heard that his shixiong had gotten in trouble for helping him and came to the scene to help him out of this sticky situation. He just didn't expect that the situation would be this bad.

Zhang Wei didn't even bother glancing at the other disciple. He was too focused on gazing at the small pool of blood on the ground. Elder Han Taio and Wu Delun were quick to start analyzing the blood.

Elder Guo Mei and Guo Bai stood to the side, conversing with one another without speaking. Eventually Guo Bai sighed and stepped towards the Sect Leader, gaining his attention.

"The likelihood that Xiu-Shidi's blood had been spilt is close to none. There is nothing to fear. More likely, something must have caught his eye and he wandered off. Why don't I lead a small search to find him." Guo Bai wasn't usually the one to make an effort to help others, but with the growing pressure from her dear sister and the ominous look on the Sect Leaders face, she was willing to make an exception. Especially if she could get out of this ridiculous situation.

The Sect Leader eyed her for a while before nodding and waving his hand, turning back to focus on the blood on the ground.

Guo bai didn't waste any time and immediately took her leave, but not before casting a pitiful look towards Elder Taio and her sister.

Han Taio sighed, "Well, thankfully this isn't his blood."

Zhang Wei sighed out in relief, but it did little to ease his worries. His didi was still missing.

"Then whose blood is it?" Elder Guo Mei asked. She was standing to the side, gesturing for the other two disciples to take their leave while they still could. They bowed graciously to her and escaped unnoticed by the Sect Leader.

Han Taio paused and glanced over at Wu Delun.

Wu Delun scoffed and walked forward, "I only fought him a couple of times, but his qi was unique just like his brothers."

Zhang Wei paled, his hands clenching until his nails dug into his palms, "You don't mean…"

Wu Delun nodded, "I fear that your dear brother has already met the monster."