They ran, tripped over some vegetation in the partially blind run.

Zen was leading the way. Even though he was effectively blind in one eye, it was better than Lao who was blind in both her eyes.

“That was a good gambit, Captain!” Zen said as he led the way. “We could never have escaped without your Twin Red and Blue attack thingy.”

“Thank you, Wang Zen!” she said. “Where are we going?”

“South! Near a boulder that Chun and I agreed to regroup at.”

“Sad about Old Man Xiu,” she said. “He does not know where we are going.”

“Actually, he does,” Zen said. “At least I hope he does. I gave him a message before giving him a chance to escape.”

“That was a clever ploy,” she said, mirth in her voice. “Belittling that woman so that she would focus her attention on you, giving the old man time to slip away. I did not know you could be so vexing.”

“Seems a bit of Chun is rubbing off on me, Ma’am.”

“Don’t let him rub off on you too much,” she said.

They eventually reached their destination. There was a small clearing and a rock jutting out into the sky. They collapsed near it and sat down at its base.

“How is your vision doing, Captain?” Zen said.

“Basically gone.” She said, sadly.

“Hopefully, we can find a healer soon to fix both of our eyes.” Zen said. “Now, we’ll just have to wait for Chun and the others.”

“You do not have to wait for long.”

Zen looked out, happy to see Chun, Dandan and Xiu walking towards them. If Zen thought he and Lao looked like a sorry couple, the trio were 10 times worse. They were bruised, bleeding, with sections of their clothes torn.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we barely survived.” Chun said, taking out a flask and drinking deeply from it. “What’s with the Captain?” He sounded smug. “She doesn’t look her regal self.”

“We had a run in with a poison user.” Zen said.

“Ah, so even the mighty can fall, huh Captain?” Chun said, taking another sip of his wine.

“I suggest you watch yourself, Chun.” She said. “I can still discipline your attitude if I feel like it.”

“Please do,” Dandan said, collapsing beside Lao. “He spent all he had on a bluff attack. The way he is now, even Old Man Xiu could defeat him.”

“Wait,” Xiu said, “where is my father?”

Zen frowned. “I don’t know. I gave him message… I tried to tell him where to meet.”

“No, Father.” she looked down and began crying.

“We do not have time to wait,” Lao said, getting to her feet. “We need to leave, or those people will catch up to us.”

“Kind of cold isn’t it?” Chun said.

“If you want to stay here and die, Chun, you are more than welcome to.” She said. “Now, Xiu, where is the nearest dwelling.”

“It’s-It’s my village,” she said, between crying. Chun hugged her, trying to comfort her. “It should be near here.”

“Don’t go without me!”

They all looked towards the familiar voice.

Old Man Xiu was walking towards them.

“Father!” she said, running to him and hugging him.

“You made it, Old Man Xiu.” Zen said.

“Yes, smart, throwing the shild towards me where I can see the note you put on it.’ Head South, look for the Sharp Boulder.’”

“I’m glad you saw it.” Zen said.

“Let’s celebrate later,” Lao said. “We need to move, now!”

Xiu nodded. “My village is towards the east.”

“Then lead the way,” Lao said.

They all left, following Xiu to her village.

“So you let them escape?” Ghou Gin said, looking at Lei and the staff wielder. “That is disappointing.”

“How did your fight go, Ghou Gin?” Lei said.

“I was able to exterminate little Xiu and her protectors.” He said. “Unpleasant as it was, it had to be done.”

“You… did not kill them…”

They heard a strained voice and all looked as the knife thrower stumbled out of the surrounding trees. She was bruised, bleeding and holding her sight.

“What happened to you?” Ghou Gin said. “Did they do this to you? What kind of monsters are they to beat you up this badly?”

“You did this to me!” she said.

“W-What?”

“I was in the vicinity of your Steam exploding technique!” she angrily said.

“Ooh, sorry about that. I’ll treat you to a drink to say sorry.” Ghou Gin said.

“Enough about that,” Lei said, “What do you mean they are alive.”

“Yeah, they could not have survived my attack!” Ghou Gin said.

“They did. I was barely able to survive your attack myself, I was a bit further away. While I was recovering, they popped from the ground. Seems they had used an earth technique to dig deep and escape.”

“My attack carves deep into the ground.”

“They weren’t unharmed.” She said. “They looked like crappy but alive enough to escape. I followed them. They met at some large boulder with their other members. They then spoke about going east, to the map maker’s village.”

“Seems our hunt for the map maker is not over.” Lei said. “We now head east her village and if need be, we will tear it down to kill her.”