Chapter 1-15

He was thirsty. Bai Shixuan felt as though he were going mad. He had spent an entire day sitting quietly inside the cave. Naturally, his throat was unbearably dry. The blood of Jiang Zhilong smeared all over his body also made him feel filthy. He wanted nothing more than to go somewhere, drink some water, and wash all the blood from his body. But Jiang Zhilong’s subordinates were undoubtedly still searching for him. Because of that, Bai Shixuan had been unable to leave the cave.

‘Water…….’

He was hungry too. But water was more urgent. A person could endure for some time without food, but without water, they would die within three days. Moreover, Bai Shixuan was only a child. Perhaps he would not even survive three days.

‘I can’t take this anymore. I’ll move carefully.’

He could no longer endure it and felt that he had to go outside and search for water. Just as Bai Shixuan was about to crawl out of the cave—

“He’s definitely not here, right?”

“Maybe he already escaped? His tracks ended yesterday at the place where Young Master was. Either he went down the mountain or he’s hiding somewhere.”

If Bai Shixuan had stepped outside just then, it would truly have been disastrous. They were quite close. They might even discover this cave. If they found the cave and looked inside, they would probably realize he was there. If that happened, everything would be over. They would likely take turns guarding the entrance, and Bai Shixuan would eventually die of dehydration.

‘Damn it. I’m finished.’

Just as he cursed inwardly—

“Hey, there’s a cave over there.”

“You’re right. Should we check it?”

It was over. They had finally discovered the cave. Bai Shixuan could hear their footsteps gradually drawing closer. In the end, he gave up on everything and slumped down onto the ground.

“Would he really be in there?”

“That’s true. No matter how clever that brat is, he’s only eight years old. There’s no way he passed through those wolves, is there?”

The voices of Jiang Zhilong’s subordinates reached Bai Shixuan’s ears again after he had already resigned himself to his fate. Then their footsteps began growing distant once more……. Bai Shixuan, who had given up on everything, collapsed flat onto the ground. He could hardly believe they had simply turned back. He had been incredibly lucky.

‘Haa. I survived.’

It felt as though all the strength suddenly drained from his body. After spending some time staring blankly into space, Bai Shixuan eventually sat up and cautiously poked his head outside. No one was there. There were no wolves either. After confirming that no one was around, Bai Shixuan carefully picked up the sword and crawled outside.

‘Water, water…….’

The fact that wolves lived nearby meant there had to be water somewhere in the area. Bai Shixuan tried to remain as close to the cave as possible while circling around and listening carefully.

‘Should I go a little farther?’

In the end, Bai Shixuan cautiously picked up several stones. Then he dropped one along the path every so often. To make sure he would not lose his way, he walked while leaving stones at regular intervals, and eventually the sound of flowing water reached his ears.

‘I found it!’

As he moved while listening carefully, the sound of running water gradually grew louder. Fortunately, it was not in the direction where he would encounter the wolves. In fact, it lay farther inside the mountain, so he did not have to worry about Jiang Zhilong’s subordinates either. He hurried forward and soon saw a mountain stream flowing through the ravine. He no longer had the patience to wait. Bai Shixuan rushed toward the stream, crouched down, and began drinking.

“Kh.”

His throat hurt because it had been so long since he had drunk anything. He first held the water in his mouth to moisten it, then slowly began swallowing. After carefully taking in water like that for some time, the pain in his throat disappeared, and he felt vitality gradually returning to his body. Once he had quenched his thirst, Bai Shixuan slowly removed his clothes and stepped into the stream. Shivering once in the cold mountain water, he began washing away the dried blood caked all over his body. Then he washed the clothes he had taken off as well. The stream briefly turned red from the blood, but the water carried it away, and the spot around Bai Shixuan soon returned to its original clarity.

‘I’m hungry.’

Since he had no other clothes to wear, Bai Shixuan put the garments he had just washed back on and felt his hunger growing stronger. Since this was a mountain, perhaps there was some fruit nearby. Bai Shixuan picked up Cao Zhenshi’s sword from the ground and began looking around. Soon, several fruits caught his eye.

‘Hardy kiwis!’

He was lucky. There were not only hardy kiwis, but wild grapes as well. Bai Shixuan hurriedly began gathering the fruit. When he could not reach them, he threw stones to knock them down, or climbed the trees himself and picked them.

‘This should be enough.’

Bai Shixuan began moving while carrying the fruit he had gathered. Holding the sword while also cradling an armful of fruit made returning extremely inconvenient.

‘Do I really need to go back to that cave? It might be better to live around here.’

The stream was right nearby, and there was fruit as well. He had originally intended to descend the mountain immediately, but now he was considering staying here a little longer. Jiang Zhilong’s subordinates might be guarding the mountain entrances just as they had done when searching for Cao Zhenshi. This place was fairly deep within the mountain, so it would probably be difficult to find. Besides, he had the martial arts manual Cao Zhenshi had dropped.

In the end, Bai Shixuan began searching the area. If there was a cave nearby, he would live there. Otherwise, he would dig one himself.

Bai Shixuan moved slowly while eating the fruit. He searched here and there for a cave, but none appeared before his eyes. Eventually deciding that he would have to dig one himself, Bai Shixuan approached the slope he had descended earlier. Then, judging the condition of the soil, he began searching for a place soft enough for his weak strength to excavate.

‘Should I do it here?’

The soil was about equally hard everywhere. The surface was easy enough to dig, but the deeper he went, the harder the earth became. After digging for some time, Bai Shixuan realized that he could no longer continue with his bare hands. In the end, he carefully kept excavating the soil using the sword he had placed on the ground and stones lying nearby. Only after digging for roughly two shichen—four hours—did he finally create enough space for himself to crouch inside.

‘I’ll make it wider little by little. That’s enough for today.’

Bai Shixuan propped the sword beside the burrow, sat down on the ground, and opened the martial arts manual Cao Zhenshi had dropped.

‘Come to think of it, I can’t read…….’

Now that he thought about it, he did not know how to read. Bai Shixuan stared intently at the book, but there was not a single character he could understand. He had never had the time or money to learn to read when he was younger. In the end, Bai Shixuan had no choice but to turn the pages while looking only at the illustrations drawn in the manual. After briefly studying all the pictures, Bai Shixuan stood up and took hold of the sword. Then he began assuming the illustrated postures and swinging the sword accordingly.

‘Urgh, this is incredibly hard.’

After swinging the sword for about one ke (15 minutes), Bai Shixuan became exhausted and collapsed onto the ground.