Fate Was Unpredictable

Great Li Dynasty, within You Province.

The plains were a muddy mess. The fertile fields had already turned into swamps, and the air was thick with a rotten, moldy stench.

A group of refugees in tattered clothes, their faces yellow and their bodies emaciated, wandered about in twos and threes like lone ghosts and wild spirits, desperately searching for even the tiniest scrap of food to fill their bellies.

These refugees had originally been commoners from Lishan County, hundreds of miles away. Several days ago, a sudden flood had struck Lishan County. Sitting right beside the Cang River, Lishan County had borne the brunt of it, with its fertile fields and houses all submerged.

Tens of thousands of commoners had been left homeless and unable to fill their stomachs. With nowhere else to turn, the survivors had no choice but to head for the nearest Jinling City, hoping to receive relief from the authorities.

Yet misfortune never came singly. After the floods, drought and plague arrived one after another.

Along the way, their procession of fifty or sixty thousand people had dwindled to only a few thousand.

"Hungry!"

"Brother Qi'an! I can't walk anymore!" A little girl with twin-braided hair could no longer hold on and collapsed into the muddy ground with a heavy thud.

The youth named Qi'an hurriedly helped her up.

"Xiao Cao! Are you all right?"

"We'll reach Jinling City soon. There'll be lots of delicious food there! Whatever you do, don't fall asleep, understand?"

Xia Qi'an wiped the muddy water from the little girl's face with his tattered sleeve and spoke anxiously.

As if she had heard the words "food," a glimmer of light returned to Xiao Cao's originally unfocused eyes.

After quite a while, she finally managed to open her eyelids and asked weakly, "R... really?"

"It's true... It's true..."

"There'll be food soon..."

While comforting her, Xia Qi'an carried her onto his back.

In truth, Xia Qi'an was already so hungry that his vision swam, but his body was sturdy, and he had been born with abundant energy.

For now, he could still barely endure the torment of hunger. However, this endurance could not last forever, because his hunger was gradually gnawing away at his mind.

At that moment, Xia Qi'an suddenly sensed several piercing gazes from not far away, fixed firmly on him like thorns pricking his back.

He followed those gazes and saw four or five middle-aged men staring straight at him like starving wolves.

More precisely, their gazes were like several sharp knives, stabbing directly at Xiao Cao on Xia Qi'an's back.

Their expressions were numb, and their hollow eyes made them look like walking corpses. It was chilling, and a cold sensation surged up Xia Qi'an's spine.

As if he had foreseen some horrifying outcome, Xia Qi'an's instinct to survive was awakened in an instant.

A mysterious and powerful force suddenly erupted within him. Carrying Xiao Cao on his back, he turned around without hesitation and fled from the refugees.

Seeing this, the few middle-aged men also slowly left the group and followed behind Xia Qi'an at an unhurried pace.

They knew that Xia Qi'an could not possibly escape very far.

When that time came, Xia Qi'an and Xiao Cao would become meat within easy reach.

No one knew how long he had run. Xia Qi'an's legs felt as if they had been filled with lead, and he truly could not run any farther.

He spotted a dead tree in the muddy ground ahead. As if he had found a lifeline, he dragged his exhausted body over to it, intending to rest for a moment.

However, as soon as Xia Qi'an neared the tree, a pungent, fishy stench rushed into his face.

Looking closely, he saw a middle-aged man in a black official uniform leaning against the tree.

Xia Qi'an was all too familiar with that uniform. It was the standard attire of the Wei Dao Si.

Every member of the Wei Dao Si was a powerful martial artist.

Yet at that moment, the Wei Dao Si martial artist seemed to have suffered a fatal injury.

Something had pierced through his abdomen, and his intestines and dried blood were spread all over the ground.

Judging from the traces around him, he must have struggled and crawled all the way to the foot of this dead tree. Perhaps it was the formidable vitality of a martial artist that had allowed him to retain the faintest breath of life.

When the Wei Dao Si martial artist noticed him, Xia Qi'an immediately did not dare move another step.

"L... little... brother! C... come... here...!" Seeing that the newcomer was a boy of fifteen or sixteen, the Wei Dao Si martial artist forced out the words with all his strength.

Seeing that the martial artist appeared to have no ill intentions and was so severely injured, Xia Qi'an felt pity for him. Carrying Xiao Cao, he cautiously approached. "M... my lord...! Is there anything I can do for you?"

The middle-aged martial artist clenched his teeth and struggled to force a few words from his throat. "I'm Su Mu of the Wei Dao Si... There's a letter inside the clothes on my chest. You m... must deliver it to the... Wei Dao Si in Jinling City. Also, the talisman token on my chest and this blade... must... both be removed and delivered as well... P... please..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the middle-aged martial artist's head lolled to the side, and he breathed his last.

However, Xia Qi'an had no time to concern himself with the martial artist's dying words. At that moment, an intense hunger had already surged into his mind like a tidal wave, leaving him almost incapable of thought.

A terrifying thought began to spread through his mind!

Should he eat the middle-aged martial artist before him?

Though doing so would defy the laws of Heaven, it might allow him and Xiao Cao to survive...

Just as Xia Qi'an was locked in fierce inner struggle, an expressionless middle-aged refugee suddenly appeared not far away.

Unexpectedly, this middle-aged man had secretly followed Xia Qi'an all the way here.

"Hungry! Hungry!"

The middle-aged man drooled as he muttered those two words over and over.

Xia Qi'an keenly sensed that something seemed wrong with the middle-aged refugee's condition.

Then, his eyes involuntarily took on a crimson hue, and the world before him underwent a wondrous transformation.

He could clearly see every acupoint inside the middle-aged man's body. He could even sense a foul aura continuously eroding his mind.

Xia Qi'an's heart tightened, and he hurriedly shielded the unconscious Xiao Cao tightly behind him.

At the same time, he reached out without a change in expression and gripped one of the standard long blades lying beside the Wei Dao Si martial artist.

The middle-aged refugee remained completely unaware. He staggered and swayed as he walked toward Xia Qi'an.

Leaning against the tree trunk, Xia Qi'an held the incomparably sharp long blade tightly in both hands, hiding it behind his back. His palms had even begun to sweat slightly from the overwhelming tension.

He widened his eyes and stared fixedly at the approaching middle-aged refugee not far away. His heartbeat grew more violent, as if it were about to leap out of his throat.

Time passed second by second. Finally, when the middle-aged refugee entered the range of the long blade, Xia Qi'an, who had seemed utterly helpless and weak beyond measure, suddenly erupted with astonishing strength.

He swiftly drew the long blade and thrust it fiercely at the middle-aged refugee's throat with lightning speed!

In an instant, there was only a muffled "pfft." The sharp tip easily pierced through the other man's skin and flesh, plunging deep into his throat.

The middle-aged refugee's face was filled with shock and pain. His mouth hung wide open, yet he could not make a sound.

At the same time, a stream of scalding hot blood shot out like a fountain, splattering across Xia Qi'an's face and dyeing his entire body red.

After a long while, Xiao Cao slowly opened her eyes. The long-missed aroma of cooked meat rushed into her nose, instantly leaving her much more alert.