Thirteenth Son was still a growing boy. After supper, drowsiness swept over him, and his eyelids kept fighting to close. He carried his bedding around looking for somewhere to sleep. The inn had too few rooms, so the two martial brothers laid their bedding on a pile of straw in the woodshed. With walls on all four sides and a roof that did not leak, it was far better than sleeping in the open. The little novice monk soon drifted off.
With a belly full of noodle soup, Thirteenth Son woke in the middle of the night to relieve himself. Cold, pale moonlight spilled through the window lattice into the woodshed. Someone was sitting in meditation on the woodpile. Perhaps because the flame of his life was growing dimmer by the day, even his shadow seemed terribly faint.
Thirteenth Son rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Wei Xun had a thin quilt wrapped around his waist, his hands forming a seal as he practiced with his eyes closed in the True Warrior Sitting Posture. Knowing he had little time left, he still trained through the night. The position of Eldest Senior Brother of the Setting Sun Courtyard truly was not one an ordinary man could hold.
Thirteenth Son could not help urging him, "Senior Brother, if you feel awful, lie down and rest. Stop staying up all night."
"Leave me alone! Before we reach Youzhou, I must attain the realm of the greatest under heaven."
Wei Xun kept his eyes closed and answered his junior brother offhandedly. Feeling blood begin to trickle inside his nose again, he picked up the sodden Neck Scarf beside him and wiped it away.
He did not know what had been added to that bowl of ginseng soup. It had left him in a wretched state,