Fleeing through the forest as the sun rise further up into the sky, Jae-in knows that she will need to quicken her pace as Xuan Di's men will soon find him by following his trails.

Enduring the pain, she used her remaining strength to exert her qing gong to bring her further away from that red zone. Finally, after on a run for hours, she stop by a resting inn.

It is common to have a resting inn as many long distance travellers will stop for a short stay or a short meal. The main business is a restaurant, yet it has subsidiary business of a Ke Zhan and trading of horses.

Being in full black and such good looking face, she definitely garner some attention from people around her. Drinking the bowl of water for the 5th time, she finally hydrate herself and gain some energy. Feeding on the dishes that she ordered, she finished them quickly as time is ticking.

"Bill paid."

Throwing some coin yuans on the table, she proceed to leave the resting inn, heading towards the agreed destination to meet Yu-ji, riding a horse that she bought, not knowing a bunch of uninvited hooligans follow behind.

"Big brother, are you sure you want to do this to this man? He seems to be quite skilful." One of the follower voice out his concern as they secretly trail behind this full black-dressed young man.

"Are you stupid? Can't you see that he is injured? No matter how skilful he is, he can't fight us off, after all there are 8 of us." The leader of the hooligan arrogantly boasted.

"That's true. Well, we are so lucky aren't we? Seeing the high quality material of his clothes and the big baggage he is carrying, I bet he is some rich young master on a secret trip. We can even steal his stuff and sell it off for money. With his good looking looks, we can even earn extra by selling him off as a male prostitute! HAHAHA! WE WILL BE RICH!"

A sudden smack on his head made him wince in pain.

"Lower your voice! What if he hear us? We will never be rich anymore!"

As Jae-in continue riding on her horse, without any warning, her horse stop and collapse onto the floor abruptly, making her fly forward off the horse and land on the ground. To protect herself, she used her hands to block the impact.

"Well well well, look who we have here?" The leader of the hooligan stroll out after disembarking his horse with his underlings following behind, all carrying a weapon.

Seeing an unknown pin on the horse she was riding, she knew instantly who is the culprit.

"Let's cut the crap, leave your valuables behind. Lao San, go grab some ropes to tie him up."

"Who are you guys? Why are you doing this?" Jae-in weakly questioned while pulling out the sword from her back to defend herself, however she is still weak on the floor.

"Huh? Then you got to blame yourself for flaunting your richness so to allow greedy people like us to target you." The leader of the hooligan laugh at this young innocent master who have not seen the true society.

With Lao San approaching Jae-in, reaching his hands to touch her, with one swift swing, that very hand that almost touch her has been decapitated. Screaming in pain while blood starts to fly everywhere, Jae-in used her strength to stand up.

"You little bastard, how dare you hurt my brother! Everybody! GO!" The leader of the hooligan apparently blew up after seeing his brother being injured.

Before they could even reach Jae-in, a sudden annihilation happen within 5 seconds, leaving only the leader of the hooligan alive.

The sudden appearance of this young lad, dressed in black and golden yellow male attire, with armour on his arm while holding his sword on his side, totally turning the tables around.

Without saying anything, the leader of the hooligan kneel down immediately to beg for forgiveness and hope this murderous young lad will spare his life.

"Hero! Hero! I am wrong! I won't do this again! Please let me go! I promise to turn over a new leaf and live a life of a decent human!" The leader proceed to kowtow his head onto the ground till his forehead bleed.

However, this young lad is not moved by his action, just as he wanted to chop his head off, Jae-in stopped his action.

"Young Hero, please spare his life."

"Hm? Isn't he the one who wanted to kill you?" A playful young male voice said.

As Jae-in's vision is turning blurry due to the inflammation of the wound, she cannot see things clearly in front of her. All she could see is a blurred figure riding a horse, slowly striding up towards her, while the young lad remain close to the leader.

"Killing all 8 of his brothers is enough as a punishment for him to shoulder. Letting him alive and repent on the deaths of his close one will be good for him to live a terrible life." Jae-in reasoned.

"Hm, you said something reasonably." The playful young male nodded.

"Qing Feng, stop and let him live then."

Withdrawing his sword, Qing Feng walk back to his master as he disembark his horse.

"With great thanks to my saviour." Jae-in tried to stay awake while bowing to show gratitude.

But before she could hear him say anything, she blacked out and lost conscious. Luckily, the young master is quick in reflex and caught her in his arms.

As Jae-in's head remain low throughout the attack, with a closer look, the young master look shocked but soon a huge smile plastered on his commonly looking face.

"It seems like we meet again."

*

*

*

The moment Xuan Di open his eyes, he is back in the Long Feng Ke Zhan, no longer in a dirty state, instead lying on the comfortable bed. Turning his head, he saw Eunuch Gao standing at the side.

Witnessing his master being awake, immediately he went to tend to his master's well-being.

"Master Xuan! You are finally awake!"

"Empress Jae-in, where is she?"

"Ma-Master Xuan?"

"Shadow Knights!" Xuan Di shouted.

Immediately, 2 male figures appeared in the room of Xuan Di, kneeling down.

"Master Xuan."

"Where is she?"

"Master Xuan, when we arrived at the cave, we only see you and there is no sight of her Highness."

"Exactly, aren't you suppose to track her down?"

"Master Xuan, as we were worried that you might be poisoned so we focused on your well-being and brought you back here. However, we did dispatch the shadow knight army to hunt for her Highness, please do not worry as we will definitely be able to catch up to her."

"You better pray that you can find her by today, if not your head will not be sitting there comfortably on your neck." Xuan Di threatened with a red eye.

'How dare you say we are of no relationship from now on? And isn't she heading the direction towards Kai Kingdom?'

As Xuan Di recalled the things that Jae-in told him before he knocked out, the room remain quiet and no one dare to move a single bit. With a pregnant silence, Xuan Di's voice echoed the room.

"Retreat your men, you do not need to track her down." Xuan Di calmly instructed.

With confused faces, the shadow knights look up as they are not used to the sudden change of mood.

"I will track her myself. Let's return to the palace now." Xuan Di announced and a manipulative smirk appeared.

*

*

*

Stirring in her dreams, cold sweat dripping down from her forehead as she mumble nonsense in her mouth. Using a clean cloth, the young master patiently dap on her forehead to clear the sweat while sitting at the edge of the bed.

Currently, Qing Feng and his master have decided to stay in the resting inn that they passed by earlier on. Reserving 2 middle-quality room, one room for his master while the other is for this unknown lady who cross-dressed as a male.

As his master is well-knowledge with the arts of medicine, he quickly identify the poison that Jae-in was suffering from and did acupuncture to remove the poison that is flowing through her blood vessels.

This is also the first time he see his master being so kind, patient and gentle to someone.

With an abrupt opening of her eyes, Jae-in stared into the ceiling of an unknown bed.

"You are awake!" A male voice ringing at her side.

As she turn her head, the sight of that common looking male face made her pale once more.

"It's you!"

"Yes it's me! It's a miracle that you remember me! After all, I have a common looking face." The young man said happily.

"You.. you saved me?" Jae-in questioned as she feel uncomfortable.

After all, this is the very man that she exposed her body to and thinking that she will not meet him ever again, yet life prove to her that things will never go according to plan.

"Yes! Don't worry, it's just a helping hand. I have cure your poison and right now you need ample of rest as your wound has been inflamed." The man left the edge of the bed as a sign of him retreating back to his room.

"Thank you... By the way, how do I address you?"

As the young man proceed to the door, he look back at her to reveal his name before he leave.

"Qi Yuan."

Resting well for the night, the next morning, Jae-in woke up and realised that her fever have gone down. Throwing away the black night attire that has been sullied by dried blood, she change into a white-blue outfit, with white sleeve and a combination of blue-black sesh tying round her tiny waist. With her hair being tied up, using a blue cloth, she proceed to tie the baggage on her back and hold the sword in her right hand.

Leaving the room, she head down to the table area that she once sat yesterday. Surprisingly, Qi Yuan and Qing Feng was present, in the midst of having their breakfast.

With her ascending from the stairs, Qi Yuan's vision immediately caught her and see her walking towards their table and took a seat.

"How's your injury?" Qi Yuan questioned.

"It's better now, thank you for last night." Jae-in thanked him once more.

"Like I say, no worries and after all, we are friends aren't we?"

'This is quite abrupt to be claimed as friends with just 2 meetings.' Jae-in thought.

Not answering his question, she deviate the topic by looking at Qing Feng.

"This person is.. ? "

"Ah, I forget to introduce. My personal knight, Qing Feng."

"Good to know you." Qing Feng politely greeted Jae-in as she returned the favor.

______________________________________

[A/N]

From now on, I will input some photos or drawing arts to allow you readers to have a better understanding of the looks and character that I am going for. As the intricate design used for the clothings is too difficult for me to explain and describe in words, I have decided to use this method.

[Qing Feng] - 古風坊

[Jae-in] -古風坊