The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 53
“Longwei stay back!”
Lying in the snow, surrounded by blood flowing from the wound, Lei holding on to his sword, which was almost stuck into the long body of the beast, looked at Longwei. His voice sounded so loud that it seemed that all the trees began to shake.
At the sight of the blood Longwei quickly moved forward.
“Stand still!” Lei shouted again.
Lei pushed the beast with both feet and quickly jumped up, swinging his sword, he sharply thrust it into the creature’s chest. With a loud scream, the beast’s eyes shone with red even more. An open mouth with long white fangs released thick steam. Grabbing the blade of the sword that went deeper, the beast chaotically waving its long arms wanted to strike Lei, but he didn’t dare to lose his composure despite the wound, he continued to thrust the sword until the blood gushed out in a fountain. Having reached the very heart, the sword stopped, a crunch of ribs was heard, and the beast, still with its last strength, was able to grab Lei by the neck and thereby plunge all its claws into his flesh.
It was terribly hard to run through a strong blizzard that swept everything in its path.. It seemed to Longwei that he had been running to Lei for ages.
“Lei!” he shouted loudly as he saw him fall to the ground with the beast.
Finally running up to him, Longwei immediately lifted Lei’s head and shouted loudly, “Look at me! Lei!” Feeling a warm stream of blood on his arm, Longwei turned him over and saw that there were serious injuries on Lei’s neck and chest. Fortunately, the arteries were intact.
Pressing the wound on his chest with his hand, Longwei felt Lei’s heart beating weaker and weaker.
“Lei. Lei!”
Trying not to close his eyes, Lei gathered all his strength and said, “Go away! Go away now!”
Feeling all the pain that Lei was experiencing, Longwei threw a quick glance at the beast that was lying on the ground and breathing with its last strength. Still trying to get up, the beast continued to scream until it completely lost its strength.
Holding Lei close to him, Longwei shouted. His cry echoed to every corner of the field. Without noticing it, he cried, cried so hard that the cry merged with the whistling of the wind.
“Lei! Why did you fight this creature?! Why didn’t you ask for help! Lei!”
Gasping for air, beads of sweat beaded on his face. Feeling weak all over his body, Lei nevertheless replied, “I saw it heading right at you. It …” Coughing, Lei squeezed his throat. “I have never had such injuries.” he said quietly, and the next second he lost consciousness.
Holding him in his arms, Longwei shook his body and continued to scream. The blood was flowing out slowly.
“Lei! Look at me!” Hugging him tightly, Longwei thus seemed to want to take all the pain on himself, pressing him closer to him, he shouted right into his ear. “Don’t you dare to die! Lei, don’t you dare to die! I just found you! Don’t be selfish!”
Not noticing the soldiers and all the heads of the clans standing around, Longwei hugged Lei to his chest. Lei’s weakened body slowly began to grow cold. The blood on his hands froze, turning to ice.
“Lei! Wake up! Lei!” Burning Lei’s icy skin with tears, Longwei said through a scream, “I love you Lei! You can’t leave me like this! I love you! I love you!”
But there was no response from Lei. With his head resting on Longwei’s arm, Lei’s face expressed nothing but a paused emotion of alarm.
“I love you. I love you.” Longwei kept repeating quietly until Xing Fu intervened in the monologue.
“Longwei get up!” his cold voice sounded. With a wave of his hand, Xing Fu pushed Longwei aside.
Two soldiers quickly lifted Lei on either side and carried him away. Longwei, unable to stand up, crawled after them, grabbing at someone’s leg, stopping the soldier who was holding Lei, he said, “Don’t you dare to die.”
Crawling on all fours, Longwei was completely covered in Lei’s blood. The soldiers who surrounded him just stood and watched. And no one knew what was worse, a dead beast with an open mouth or Longwei who acted like a madman.
“Don’t you dare to die. Don’t you dare to die.” he continued to repeat until his tear-blurred gaze rested on Sun.
Quickly grabbing him by the throat, Longwei squeezing him and lifted him up. “It’s all your fault! You killed him!” he shouted in his face. Having tightened his grip, Longwei did not hold back his forces that were out of control.
Sun, gasping for air with his mouth, wanted to push him away until Xing Fu struck a strong blow with his sword, thereby wounding Longwei in the arm.
“Stop that!” Xing Fu’s voice sounded loud and intimidating.
Feeling a sharp pain in his hand, Longwei pointed a finger at Xing Fu, with a laughter he said, “Stop! You’re telling me to stop!”
“Don’t force me to use my powers.” threatened him Xing Fu.
Having completely lost his composure, Longwei angrily pointing at Sun and said, “This is all his doing. This beast, he was in his clan. It’s his fault! He wants to train them and then kill all of you. Xing Fu, don’t look at me like that. I am not the enemy. The enemy is right next to you! ”
Grabbing his hand, Baofeng-Xue tried to calm him down and said, “Brother Longwei, stop it.”
But Longwei did not stop. “Xing Fu.” Walking close to him, Longwei said in a serious tone, “There are two things I should have told you a long time ago.” Pointing to Sun, Longwei said loudly so that everyone could hear, “When you sent us to the Second Clan to find out something about Sun’s plans, we heard something. The head of the Second clan, so to speak, keeps one of those beings in his clan. And according to him, he wants to hunt it down and thus use their power to destroy all of you. ” Looking at Sun who was silently standing and covering his broken nose with his hand, Longwei continued, “I, Lei and Baofeng-Xue heard the soldiers feeding this creature and then Sun himself confessed his plans. Why didn’t we tell you right away? This is the second thing I should tell you Xing Fu. To keep our mouth shut, Sun used our love. By threatening Lei and me that he would tell you everything, that we love each other, he thereby forced Lei to become the teacher of his clan. Lei could not refuse. And I could not tell you the whole truth. But now, you know everything.”
Noticing the condemning glances of the soldiers around him, he addressed them with the words, “Why are you looking at me like that?! Yes! I love Lei. And you know what? It’s all your fault! Your rules, your judgments. You all killed Lei! Don’t come near me! ” Waving his sword in front of everyone, Longwei kicked several soldiers who wanted to stop him.
Baofeng-Xue, in spite of the blows, nevertheless grabbed him and forcefully threw him to the ground. Delun and Eagle, holding his hands, looked at Xing Fu and he quietly said, “Take him to the Main House.”
“No! Let go!” Freeing one hand, he hit Delun, but he was not going to give up. Holding him with all their strength, the three of them led him away from everyone.
“I don’t even know what to be more surprised at.” On said, standing close to the beast.
“Lei.”
Streams of blood that turned into ice, a frosty night and the smell of curse, Lei’s voice, two red eyes that never ceased looking around.
“Lei!”
Hearing his own voice somewhere in the bowels of his subconscious, Longwei opened his eyes in horror. The first thing he saw was several candles burning above his head. And the second was Xing Fu.
Jumping to his feet, Longwei froze in place at the sight of him.
Silently looking at each other, without any words, words, some kind of understanding was between them. But Xing Fu broke the silence.
“Throughout my life, I have seen a lot. Although no, I have seen only a few thousand and maybe more beasts. But in my entire life, it was easier for me to understand the nature of these creatures than the nature of man What is human? And why is man always brings surprises? Why does a human always go against their destiny, against everything? I don’t know anything about human. And even if I think that I finally understood a human, then immediately I know that it is not so. Longwei, I always thought that I know you as well as I know your father. I saw your father in you. I saw all his qualities in you. Namely, the qualities of a true leader and warrior. But today, you changed my vision of you.”
Clenching his fists, Longwei had never experienced such violent emotions before, he wanted to blow everything in the room, break down all the walls, scream and fight. But restraining himself through clenched teeth, he said, “I think you should not tell me all this, but Sun.”
“I am telling this for both of you.” said Xing Fu.
Noticing in the far corner of the room Sun sitting on a chair, Longwei wanted to go in his direction but Xing Fu stopped him.
“I do not think that you are in a position to continue to behave so harshly. Longwei, you disappointed me. I did not think that you would betray yourself, all your strength, all your confidence for the sake of some kind of love. I did not expect such baseness from you. Your father would have felt the shame.”
Channeling all his anger into hysterical laughter, Longwei was shaking in shock and pain. “Shame? So what did I do that you consider it a shame?” Having stopped, Longwei took a few steps towards Xing Fu. Looking straight into his eyes, he said, “On the contrary, I know too well the nature of man. I know that a man can smile one day, but the next day he can stab you in the back. I know that a human may seem kind and good, but in the blink of an eye he can show his true self. Xing Fu, I did not expect from you that you have the same opinion as everyone else. I even began to respect you, to perceive you almost like a father. But it turns out that you are like everyone else. You do not have your own mind, you do not have your own opinion. You are just a piece of ice in the middle of the steppe. You are just a ghost who is chasing death in the hope to seem that you are acting bravely. ”
“Longwei shut up.” Baofeng-Xue’s pleading voice was heard. But Longwei ignored him. “You say that I fell so low because I love someone. But how can a person talk about love if he has never experienced it himself. Xing Fu, I’m afraid to upset you, but you are no different from the head of the Second Clan.”
Xing Fu did not say anything. Turning with his back at Longwei, he just nod his head.
Following his order, Ye Ying grabbed Longwei from behind. Squeezing his hands painfully, Ye Ying silently looked at Xing Fu, waiting for further instructions.
Shaking with laughter, Longwei fell to his knees, and tears spilled down his cheeks. “I know what you will do. You will send me and Lei to a battle where we will bring death to each other. But you know what, that won’t change anything.”
Approaching him, Xing Fu with a lifeless look in which it was difficult to say what he was thinking, as if he glanced at him for the last time he asked, “If you know how this will turn out, why did you do this? Why did you betray a soldier’s fate?”
Unable to say anything, Longwei just stared ahead of himself.
“Ye Ying, take him away. And don’t take your eyes off him until Lei regains consciousness.”
“Yes Master.”
Dragging his feet towards the exit, Longwei passing by Sun quietly said, “I hope you’re happy.”
Over the next few days, excited by what had happened, security was strengthened in the First and Third Clans. After everyone found out that Sun was hiding one of the beasts, and after interrogating all the soldiers of the Second Clan who easily told about everything under the threat of death, Xing Fu and On directed all their forces to split the entire Second Clan. While Sun himself tried to look like he wanted to understand the nature of the beast in order to find out where they came from and what their true purpose is.
By sending his soldiers to search the Second Clan, Xing Fu became even more convinced that Sun’s plan was in fact to use the powers of the red-eyed creatures in war. Reading all his notes, and the way he seriously studied every behavior of the beast, Xing Fu for a while forgot about Lei and Longwei. But that was until Lei regained consciousness.
Freed from training, the soldiers of the First Clan were preparing for their first battle, but their minds were busy only about one thing. Expressing deep dislike and hatred for Longwei, half of them blamed him for ruining the great warrior Lei, and waited for the day of his punishment, but the other half, interceding for Longwei, believed that each of the soldiers actually yearned for what was between them.
“I always knew that from this Longwei there would be some problems. I thought that he would kill Xing Fu and thereby want to take the entire First Clan for himself, but it turned out that he was just a nonentity who only knows how to use his body.”
“What did you say?! Repeat it!” Grabbing one of the soldiers by the collar, Baofeng-Xue hit him so hard that he felt a severe pain in his fist. “Say that again …”
“And then what? Do you even know who you are protecting? Someone like Longwei will ruin our entire world. Because of him, Lei lost himself and his confidence, and you think he’s still good? Open your eyes, we’re all here to fight and protect the future, but Longwei is putting us all in danger. ”
Intervening in the conversation, Delun took out his sword from its scabbard and holding it to the soldier’s throat said, “If you think you must defend the future, then go ahead, why are you just talking?”
“You are all no different than Longwei then!”
“If Xing Fu hadn’t been hiding Longwei, I would have called him to fight with me long ago.” someone shouted out.
“Stop it all!” loudly shouted Yue Liang who had just arrived. “Enough! Do you even know that this world will soon lose two of its strongest warriors?”
“And who says this? Son of the head of the clan. Do not interfere in other people’s affairs! Or you will regret!”
Yue Liang grabbed his sword and said, “Longwei did nothing wrong.”
“Noble young man. Shall we bow before you?”
Surrounding him on all sides, the First Clan soldiers watched Yue Liang’s face turn red with a smirk on their faces.
“Those who stand up for Longwei will always look like a laughingstock. Mark my words, someday all of you will stand in the final fight.”
Unable to endure it any longer, Baofeng-Xue took out his sword and struck the first blow which followed by a real fight.
“They seem to start fighting again. Should I stop them?” Ye Ying asked looking out the window.
Xing Fu, watching Lei’s chest rise and fall in heavy breathing, shook his head.
“What a pity that Lei is going to die soon. Master, I wish I hadn’t found Longwei that day. Now, because of him, you will lose the best warrior.” Ye Ying said sadly in his voice. Taking advantage of the stillness and fragility of the moment, Ye Ying allowed himself to express his thoughts. “I always knew that there are feelings in this world, and anyone can fall into a trap, but I never thought that a warrior like Lei …”
Continuing to sit next to Lei Xing Fu, knowing that he hears everything, said, “Lei, why did you do that? Weren’t all the honors that I gave you enough?”
Breathing heavily, and still feeling the aching pain from the wound in his chest, Lei, having received such a wound for the first time in his life, tried his best to get up, but it was all in vain. Opening his eyes, he looked at Xing Fu but immediately looked away. “Feelings have no reason.” he answered shortly.
“Lei, you understand that you’ve ruined your whole life.”
Gathering all his strength, Lei sat up, the hard bed was giving him as much pain as a wound. “Where is he?”
“In the dungeon.”
“Let me see him for the last time. Why are you looking at me like that? You already know about everything, don’t pretend.” Lei said, pushing his hands against the bed.
Xing Fu noticed that the wound was bleeding again, took a clean piece of material and pressed it to his chest. “It pains me to see you in such a state. It is hard for me to accept the fact that you have succumbed to impulses.”
“It shouldn’t be hard for you. This is my business. And only mine. And to be honest master.” Coughing, Lei straightened his back and pulled Xing Fu’s hand away from him. “To be honest, I don’t want to spend the last hours of my life with you. Let me talk to him.”
Throwing a cold look, Xing Fu stepped aside and said, “In battle, you will have time to say what you want to say.”
Leaving Lei alone in a cold room where there was one bed and a stone table, Xing Fu closed the door with a crash.
Sitting on the cold stone floor, not feeling his arms and legs from the dumbness, Longwei, leaning against the wall quietly, almost lifelessly said, “Farewell Lei.”
While Lei, lying on the cold bed, said through chapped lips, as if in response, “Farewell Longwei.”