“AAHH!” Lin Ning woke up in fear with her breath shaking and her chest trembling again, but worse. ‘Again.’ She had let out a sigh and tried to relax her tense body.

“Young miss?!” Xia Ling saw how frightened Lin Ning was, she had been trying to convince her to rest, and she finally did. Although, it had not even been that long and Lin Ning woke up in fear. “How are you feeling?” Xia Ling was hugging Lin Ning until she calmed down.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened, but I felt afraid.” Lin Ning took some time to calm down from her sudden fear. ‘Why is it happening more often?’ She thought. Hun Cuifen came to check on her, checking her pulse and thinking about what it was telling her.

“You don’t have to apologize. Cuifen, how is the young miss?” Xia Ling asked.

“Hmm, it seems as though there are some signs of stress. Miss Lin, how long have you been struggling to sleep?” Hun Cuifen asked, seeing how pale Lin Ning had been.

“I’ve been struggling to sleep ever since I woke up to have us leave.” Lin Ning had been struggling ever since they had left her home. It was the reason why she refused to sleep at all with the fear of having the same nightmare again.

“I can prescribe some medicine, but it does not mean that it will fully help. This is something that happens with your mentality. You need to be able to overcome it or find a method that can help you cure it.” Hun Cuifen had seen people like this all the time, and it seems as though Lin Ning happened to be one of them.

“Thank you.” Lin Ning leaned back against the carriage; she then thought about how long they had been traveling. ‘It has been three days so far. I hope that my parents are okay.’ Knowing that her parents should be worried sick about her by now. Opening her eyes, she then saw colors of green with those who did not mean any harm, but soon there was red with the sign of danger. “Qin Yun, there is danger nearby. Be aware.”

Qin Yun heard that, whistling a tune alarming the other shadow guards to be on the lookout that there could be people following them. The shadow guards listened to the whistle; they all started to scan around once they heard the tune.

Hearing the sound of an arrow, Lin Ning hugged Xia Ling and Hun Cuifen down as the arrow had missed Hun Cuifen by a hair.

“Get that carriage!!!” Hearing the sound of a man shouting, they knew that this was likely no time to hesitate.

“Qin Yun! Get us out of here!” Qin Yun followed as Lin Ning instructed with the horse pulling the carriage. Hearing the sound of hooves following behind their carriage, Lin Ning knew that this would be a bit of a struggle. Opening her eyes again, there was more coming from their right, which she assumed that there was going to be more than one path to go. “Turn left!!!” Lin Ning shouted with Qin Yun turning left as more unknown men followed them from the right path. He was shocked to see that Lin Ning was about to tell them where they were coming from. Hearing the sounds of sword clashing, Lin Ning figured that the shadow guards were likely fighting with the unknown group of men. Qin Yun had pulled hard onto the horse's reins, knowing that if they did not stop, their lives would be taken by the cliff.

“Young Miss! We have to run on foot! There is a cliff up ahead!” Qin Yun had looked back to see that their men were holding off the other.

Getting out of the carriage, Lin Ning ran in the middle of Xia Ling with Hun Cuifen and Qin Yun following all of them. “Ah!” Lin Ning had fallen with a root that she had tripped over.

“Young Miss! Come on! We are almost there!” Xia Ling was trying to help Lin Ning up. Although, Lin Ning was far too exhausted to get back up. Knowing deep down that she was slowing them all down.

“Qin Yun, you take them all and go to Cao Peizhi.” Lin Ning was facing him, hoping that he would hurry along.

“Young Miss, we can't leave you!” Qin Yun found that this would bring utter chaos if they just left her.

“I won’t leave her! You both go find master!” Xia Ling spouted out that Cao Peizhi was ‘her’ master. They all had ignored it, being too caught up in the moment with everything that had been going on.

“Come on! I hear voices over there!”

Lin Ning opened her eyes once more, seeing that the men were getting closer and closer to them. “Go!” Lin Ning had pushed Qin Yun and Hun Cuifen to go while Xia Ling had assisted Lin Ning. Both had gone separate ways; the group of men had split up into two groups to follow after them.

“Young miss!” Hun Cuifen was crying while running with Qin Yun to see that they had gone separate ways, which would get them all into danger. Qin Yun knew that they needed to hurry along or else they would not escape their fate.

Lin Ning and Xia Ling had gone to another path in the forest they knew would hold danger regardless of wherever they went. Lin Ning was losing breath, and her stamina was rapidly decreasing. Without rest for the past few days, she would be exhausted easier and quicker. “We have to keep going, Young miss!” Xia Ling held onto Lin Ning around the shoulders, knowing that she could die, but if it was for Lin Ning, she was happy. When they could hear the footsteps of the unknown group of men getting closer, both had stepped onto something as they fell without knowing what had just happened.

“Aaaahhhh!!!!” Both screamed as they had fallen into what looked like a deep hole that led to a river that had pushed them into the currents.