Jiang would never get to know how lucky he had been to survive alone in Pei Xi forest. In his previous life, all he did was sleep during the entire journey to Yang Province because of boredom and his extreme fatigue. That period was one of those rare instances that he managed to sleep without having nightmares about his mother. Also, Jiang’s sleep was deeper and better during the daytime than at night. That was probably because, in the darkness of the night, he would often be tormented by his nightmares, making sleep elusive. So, Jiang didn't know about the fierce battles that were fought between the guards and the vicious beasts of the forest. At that time, the guards were really angry with him because he slept like a log while they were fighting for their lives. As they believed Jiang to be the Young Mistress of the prestigious General Lei's family that they were hired to guard, and even given the honor to wear the Lei's family body armor, in other to protect her well, they considered themselves to have been chosen as the strongest and from among the best guard group since General Lei personally acknowledged their strength, so nothing anyone had ever said to them in degradation matter anymore, they weren't really expecting Jiang to fight alongside them, but they felt that this young mistress could have shown them a little appreciation for their efforts. It must be said that on the rare occasions when Jiang actually managed to fall into a deep sleep, he could sleep through everything including battles and would be none the wiser about what had happened around him upon waking up.
Jiang’s guards were really lucky since the magical beasts that attacked them weren't very strong. They all survived the ordeal with only minor injuries. When the General assigned guards to escort Jiang, he certainly didn't choose from the best, he had just given them baseless flattery which made their head grow bigger than it should have. It might be that General Lei even hoped for Jiang to be killed in such an encounter with the magical beasts of Pei Xi forest. That way he could avoid having to dirty his hands, then the hired assassins would be extra insurance in case the plan fell through.
Jiang stood up from the bank of the river and removed Ice Jewel, putting it away again in his tattered bag. Jiang always felt uneasy when his bag could be seen and wanted to keep it out of sight where no one could see it unless he wanted them to. He had this strange premonition that if the bag wasn't hidden, bad things might befall him. Jiang couldn't understand why he felt that way. He thought it might be because the bag was the only possession he stubbornly clung to even after the Mistress of the Lei Manor demanded of him to throw it away. There was no way Jiang would let someone from the Manor dictate to him about his precious bag. The bag was personally hand-woven by his mother and he couldn't bear to part with it. it was a precious present.
Jiang was pondering on how to hide the bag when it suddenly disappeared. He was so shocked that he fell on the ground. Before he had time to figure out what happened, a gust of wind laden with sand from the banks of the river blew all over him. Jiang started choking from the sand that filled his mouth. He spat it out and at the same time tried to wipe it off from his face since he couldn't see a damn thing. When he could finally see properly again, Jiang decided to clean the rest of his body and approached the river.
During this short period, Jiang hadn't paid any attention to his surroundings. He closed his eyes, lost in his own world until he heard a deep voice, "Hey you! Have you seen this person?" Jiang was taken aback, he had thought he was the only one here. He looked around trying to locate the speaker. He thought he must have imagined the voice. But when he opened his eyes slightly, a paper poster was shoved in front of his eyes. The poster carried his own image. The only difference was, the image didn't look like his real self. It was an image of how he looked when he left the Manor dressed like young mistress Lei Yue, with Ice Jewel covering half his face, wearing one of her overly flowing garments and his hair elaborately styled with heavy jades and ornaments. Fortunately, he had changed out of those clothes and removed all the ornaments before fleeing.
Jiang’s eyes went wide seeing the poster, shook his head in denial and inadvertently let some of the sand that was left on his hair fall off it, and on his face entering his eyes once more, causing a stinging sensation that hurt like hell, “Ouch! No, I haven’t seen that person.” He exclaimed quickly, his voice changed unconsciously. He shut his eyes again and diligently try to wipe off every last grain of sand remaining on his face and in his eyes.
The man must have felt Jiang was being perfunctory with his response because he heard another voice, a rather frighteningly familiar voice. He was too scared to look up and prove his conjecture. He shivered slightly and had goosebumps all over his body.
"What about this boy then? Have you seen him?" Jiang reluctantly raised his head again and there was another poster with his image, this time without the feminine trappings. Seeing a picture of his ugly face even Jiang cringed. Although other details about his body weren't included in the poster, Jiang was acutely conscious of the hideous black marks on the rest of his body, marks which had drained him of strength every single day of his previous life. His features made him resemble demons from the underworld. As such, Jiang never blamed people for avoiding him because he knew he didn't look like a human. He too, hated himself for being born so ugly and without any talent to cultivate. At least, this time around he had talent, even if he wasn't sure whether it was a low or high-grade talent. So long as he did not trash anymore, he was satisfied. But having said that, he still had a long journey ahead of him to change his fate completely. Jiang knew he must live and continue to strive.
After Jiang successfully removed the sand from his eyes, he could finally see clearly again. He looked up and saw four people in front of him. It surprised him to see four people because he remembers vividly that in his previous life, they had been only three people sent to eliminate him. When he was shown those posters, he already had an idea as to who these people were. So, confirming their identities shouldn’t have been a surprise, yet he almost fainted from fright. He wished he had to continue keeping his face down. Jiang started whimpering in his head, "These four evil men really managed to find me. I am going to die for sure. Though the heavens granted me a second chance, I am still going to die at their hands."
Three of the four people before him were people he could never forget. The familiar voice belonged to the Metal Elemental, the person he suspected might be his elder brother Lei Chow, the Young Master of the Lei Manor. Despite the person using his metal element to form a mask that covered his face, Jiang didn't doubt that he was Lei Chow.
Jiang couldn't concentrate because he was so scared. His head was spinning, making him dizzy and he began to see them in doubles. He told himself that this time he mustn't go down without a fight. Jiang was on the verge of chanting the spell for the Air Elemental's basic flight mode when some thoughts crossed his mind, 'Wait! Why are they asking me about my whereabouts when I am right before their very eyes? What is going on? Does it mean they don't recognise me? But how is that possible?'
Once he started thinking logically, Jiang regained his composure. He broke into a smile but only for an instant, he recalled telling them earlier that he didn’t recognise the first poster. As they didn’t seem to doubt him, maybe all hope wasn’t lost yet.
Jiang didn’t know why he wasn't recognised, but he was going to use it to his advantage. "I am sorry Young Lords. But I haven't seen any of those people in the posters you have shown me." He said nervously while bowing slightly in a disguised show of respect and reverence. He could never respect his previous life murderers, and not now too when they were clearly looking for him to kill once more, however, he knew how most cultivators were proud and like such behaviours from people they considered beneath them, so if this could throw them off, and allow them to let their guard down when round him, he was willing to bow just this once to save his life.
"Useless trash!" The Earth Elemental cursed and Jiang trembled slightly, because he was very sensitive to being called trash all his life. He actually forgot for a moment that he wasn't trash anymore. He could cultivate, and was very different from his former self.
"Pretty lads are always dumb like that; even if he saw them he still wouldn't know." The Fire Elemental laughed wickedly. Jiang was surprised at being referred to as a 'pretty lad' but wasn't going to refute them. After all, if he was to tell them that he had always been ugly and that they lacked eyes, wouldn’t he be just giving himself away?
Jiang sneaked a peek at the Metal Elemental who was staring at him intently, and started to panic again. What if the man, he believed was his brother, recognised the robe he was wearing? Although he lived near the forest far from the Manor and nobody cared to concern themselves with his clothing or the lack thereof, Jiang couldn’t stop himself from thinking that it might give him away. He also thought of the possibility that even if he wasn't recognised they might decide to silence him so that there would be no witnesses to the search for him.
"We are leaving, there is no time to waste, and if he is trash like you said, then he couldn't have gotten far," The fourth man that Jiang didn't know announced.
" However, that can only be possible if he didn't get help from someone, for him to even make it this far, doesn't it strike you as odd?." the earth elemental had uttered, nevertheless, the one person Jiang didn't recognise had already started chanting. A gust of air began to form immediately, expanding and coalescing into a solid cloud beneath their feet until all four of them levitated off the ground. "There is a stage where Air Elementals can solidify air!" Jiang murmured in amazement. "I never knew that. How is that even possible?" At that moment he felt like a whole new world with endless possibilities had opened up for him. He needed to study the different aspects of his Air Element in depth. Considering where he was headed, resources to cultivate shouldn’t be a problem, right?
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