The window was open and she looked quite concerned. Every once in a while, her eyes would dart to the window sill, as if expecting someone to be there. Had something happened? He wanted to go down and comfort her but couldn't for various reasons.

With a heavy heart, Liang Fei left, successfully escaping the sect ground and finding himself in a fairly dense forest. Confident in his bodies sense of direction, he strode forward confident he’d reach civilization soon.

About an hour later, Liang Fei leaned against a tree, panting. He had been walking a while didn't seem to have professed all that much. The trees still looked the same. He considered marking the trees but with how dark it was, he doubted it help. His vision was fairly good despite how dim the stars were that night. He wished he’d thought to bring a torch or even a map but he thought that his night vision would enough.

Turns out, it wasn’t.

Sighing, he looked around for some shelter. Going back in the dark was bound to get him even more lost and continuing on without a map was not going to help either. Still, he tried to keep his senses open, fearful of what might be in the woods.

Before he’d left, the sect leader, Zi Shuren had spoken about beasts wandering the woods, While he wasn’t sure where these beast resided, if they lived in woods, there was bound to be a few in this forest as well.

Just as he was thinking about it, he heard a faint but deep hiss erupt from the darkness. Looking around, he couldn’t spot the source but he could tell it was close. Placing a wary hand on his sword’s handle, he rushed forward, away from the sound.

His study on the beasts of the world was not as detailed as he’d like. They rarely appeared before humans and the few that did either were low level or deadly enough to kill any who see them. He’d even heard of one that spit poison mist to blind it’s prey before chasing it to exhaustion. He hoped the creature following him wasn’t that one.

His hands clenched around the sword. He’d read that the swords could be used against them but this sword was currently unusable. It refused to leave it’s sheath and refused to leave his side. So it was basically just dead weight.

A shiver raced through his body, his weight shifting to the left as something crashed into the spot he was standing before. He rolled and his back hit a tree. As he tried to regain his breath, the hissing returned, louder than before. Panicked, Liang Fei rolled to his feet and ran as fast as he could, not risking his life to look behind him.

Later, he’d both curse his luck and thank his stars cause when he tripped over a very obvious in hindsight branch, his life was saved. He fell forward, feeling something rush just over his head as he rolled down a small ravine. Despite his panic, he did his best to keep his head safe. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things but he doubted cultivating qi could protect one from concussions.

When he finally hit a wall, he quickly looked around, searching for the monster chasing him. Surely it would follow him. Yet after a full 2 minutes of silence, nothing came toward him. He didn’t try to look for it any further. Had it wanted to, it could have caught him by now. Either it had lost his scent or lost interest. Either way, he wasn’t going to go back out there.

Shivering a bit, he looked around. His accidental shelter was a shallow cave. It felt slightly damp but possibly from floodings during rainstorms. He’d been lucky it wasn’t raining recently or he might have had a hard time finding something to burn. Just as he was setting up a small campfire, he heard something nearby.

He stopped what he was doing, letting the modest flame grow and fill the small cave with gentle light and warmth. The orange glow illuminated the space, revealing a small mound in the corner a few feet from Liang Fei. Had it not shivered every once in a while, one might think it was a corpse.

Concerned, Liang Fei slowly approached, being careful to not make too much sound. He didn’t want to scare them.

He learned his concern was unwarranted, since the person was asleep, restlessly so. With his back to the flame, Liang Fei couldn’t see who it was. He did feel that he was cold though, so he gently lifted him into his arms and brought him over the the fire. Sitting with the young man's head on his lap, Liang Fei frowned as the light illuminated his face.

It was the adorable boy from before.

While he had yet to learn the youths name, he could never forget cute faces, even boys. This was also the boy who glared at him not once but twice. How could he ever forget such a child. Still, it begged the question:

What was he doing here?

Just as the thought entered his head, the young boy cried out in his sleep, his hands reaching out catching the side of Liang’s Fei’s mouth who was leaning over him. Crying out in pain, Liang Fei took hold of the boys wrist, encasing them in his one hand while his other hand tenderly wiped the blood from his lip.

Why was his nails so sharp!?

Licking the wound, he tasted blood. He flinched in pain but ignored it to reach into his bag for some medicine. He was no alchemist but his basic understanding of medicine definitely helped him in this world. It not like there was a hospital or convenience store he could go to if things got bad.

As he treated his wound, the youth kept crying out, mumbling something under his breath. He hadn’t paid it any mind until he got louder.

Vas’ne… Vas’ne jumi kan…” He cried, struggling to get his hands free. Despite his best efforts, Liang Fei had the stronger body. He might as well be pinned by a mountain. Still, Liang Fei was a bit concerned. His tone was not normal

“Are you hurt?” He asked, not sure if he’d be heard. He somewhat hoped he wasn’t. This young man knew him. He could easily out him for escaping on his own. But he couldn't help but ask. The young man looked to be in pain. “Where does it hurt?”

“Loosu… Vas’ne Loosu.” He mumbled, sounding more out of it than before. But Liang Fei knew it was an answer to his question. He just had no clue what the hell a Loosu was! Moreover, why was this boy speaking another language? Did he now have to learn an entirely new language as well?!

Pushing that aside, he looked over the boys body, trying to figure out where his ‘loosu’ was. From where he sat, there didn’t look to be injured anywhere. His clothes were dirty and torn in places but none had any blood stains so he figured he hadn’t been cut. It was a guess at best but he didn’t want to remove his clothes. Good intentions or not, it’d be hard to explain if he woke up in the middle.

Onto the face. Unlike when they first met, his face was entirely visible to him. Looking him over Liang Fei couldn’t help but send a prayer to those who would fall for such a face in the future. While his face still had some cute child fat rounding his cheeks, Liang Fei would see the disaster he’d grow up into. He’d have women falling at his feet.

Had Liang Mei seen this, she'd probably squeal and shout about how meng he was. If she got really far into her fantasized, she might go so far as to start shipping him with someone. Personally, he'd only heard tale of her shipping from his friend but he knew he had to keep his precious student from what Xue Tian called ‘Teh gay shit’.

The young man whimpered, fighting his grip on his wrist. It was only then that Liang Fei remembered where he was. He’d drifted off and ended up tightening his grip unconsciously.

“Ah! S-sorry.” He reached up to stroke his head but the young man refused to relax. The pain brought tears to his eyes and his arms fought for freedom. Frowning, Liang Fei studied his face once more. If he wasn’t mistaken, the young man’s face was slightly red. As his tears fell, his pure white skin was revealed.

Though he was unsure of many things, he knew something must have gotten in his eyes. From the looks of it, the young man had yet to rub his eyes but the urge was there by how desperately he was trying to get his hands free. Plus with how sharp his nails were, he was bound to cut himself.

Part of him was confused by the fact that this kid had sharp nails when he didn’t before and did wonder why he was even out here but concern for his safety was forefront in his mind.

Carefully, he used his water skin to pour the cool liquid over his eyes. As expected, the substance was slowly washed away but quickly woke the boy up. He cried out, panicking because he couldn’t open his eyes.

“Shh!” Liang Fei said, holding his head still so he could pour more water. The boys flailing didn’t help. While he had managed to wash away most of the stuff, he had to make sure the kid refrained from opening his eyes until he was sure. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

His comforting words didn’t do much. Fear was racing through Xieren as pain and darkness kept him on his toes. Who was this?! An enemy? Even his words felt hollow and insincere. Yet he couldn’t escape, which fueled his panic.

Seeing that his words were doing nothing, Liang Fei felt he had to change tactics.

He recalled one time when his sister had gotten scared of a sudden blackout and screamed in fear. Despite him trying to comfort her, his words never reached her. Even as he held her close, she sobbed in fear. There was only one thing he could think of to bring her back.

Liang Fei brought Xieren close and held him to his chest. Stroking his back, he rocked him back and forth and started to hum. The tune was some song his sister liked as a child that brought her comfort. It wasn’t his type of music but he liked it since Mei liked it.

His thoughts drifted to memories of his former life, not knowing exactly when the boy stopped fighting him and relaxed. Minutes passed and the boy was quickly falling asleep. Liang Fei didn’t notice but continued to hum, not wanting the boy to be scared that he was alone in a dark unknown place.

He, as much as anyone, knew how scary that could be.