The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 93

Hanging over the fire under the scorching sun, waking up after an unknown amount of time, Lei could see several soldiers sleeping not far from him.

Feeling a burning sensation from the ropes that squeezed his entire body more than the fire and the sun itself, he raised his head and immediately felt the strongest pain that rolled along his entire backbone. Until the soldiers woke up, despite the pain, he reached out to his feet and, noticing the knot in the rope, tried to pull it off with his teeth. Moving and twitching so that the thick branch on which he was hanging finally broke, he was still able to free one hand. And now it was easier to untie the knot on his legs.

Looking down at the fire which flames barely touched his hair, he reached up again. With his hand on the rope, he now began to pull and chew the knot with his teeth.

Hearing the soldiers sighing and yawning behind him, he knew that they were already awake. But nevertheless, he did not stop trying to free himself.

“I thought you were stronger. And you are the great warrior Lei, turned out to be weaker.. Much weaker than we thought.” said the soldier sipping water from the flask. Approaching him, he looked at his dry lips. “You must be thirsty.” Harshly pouring water on his head, the soldier laughed loudly.

“Stop tormenting him. Maybe he should be released already. Or those beautiful hands can get damaged under the ropes.” Sliding a hand over his cheek, a warrior with a face full of fresh scars brought his face closer and winked.

“Well then.” said the one who had the flask. Taking out a knife, he cut the rope.

Standing on his feet, Lei looked around. Then, having studied each warrior, he came up with a plan in his head. Moistening his chapped lips, he wanted to ask where Longwei was, but refrained from asking. Instead, he took a step to the side to test how weak and how strong he was after being beaten for so long.

“Where do you think you will go? You are so far away from everyone. You cannot escape anywhere. Especially in your state.”

“Where is Longwei?” He nevertheless asked against his will. To which the scarred warrior replied, “He’s probably already dead.”

Knowing that this was not true, knowing that he would not die so easily, Lei said nothing. Holding on to the stone, he moved on. The desire to survive prompted him to move without stopping, even if at any second he was again attacked with blows. Pain in the legs and bleeding small wounds made every movement almost impossible. But he still walked, not knowing where.

“Listen Lei, we mean you no harm. On the contrary, we respect you very much. But with your stubborn actions, we can do nothing but treat you roughly.” said the tall warrior offering him a helping hand.

Without saying anything, Lei stopped and a violent urge to vomit made him bend over.

“We all respect you very much. You are still the same great warrior for us.” Coming closer to him, the tall warrior took his arm and gently but nevertheless forcefully made him sit down on the soft grass. “We will not kill you. Sun certainly wants you dead. But we will let you go. At the right time, when this is over, we will release you. And we will hide it from the Master. You will run far away and no one else will disturb you.”

Without a word, Lei concentrated his attention on the fields in front. Hearing strange sounds somewhere far away, he kept thinking of Longwei and Yun Qi. The questions that swirled in his head kept him from fainting from the strong sunstroke he received while hanging under the hot sun.

“Give him water. It’s hard for me to look at him. And feed him.” ordered the tall warrior. Sitting next to him, he now carefully wiped the blood from his forehead and stretched out his hand to him and said, “By the way, my name is Ning.”

Eagerly drinking the cold water, Lei threw his head back and stared at the clear sky. With the water in his stomach now, he weakened even more. And now he couldn’t even get up, let alone escape or fight.

Looking at the face of Ning, who was sitting next to him chewing a piece of bread, Lei could only see Longwei’s face. A clear face filled with happiness. Looking at Longwei, Lei smiled, forgetting that this was just his imagination.

“Why are you smiling?” Ning asked warily.

Without saying anything, Lei continued to stare into Longwei’s deep eyes, where there were millions of stars.

Stretching out his hand he felt the soft skin of his face, and through the dizziness everything seemed so vague that he grabbed his face with both hands and whispered his name.

Before his eyes, through the memories, since their very first acquaintance, he looked at his gaze, his lips, his expression, which was always full of wisdom.

“What are you doing? Lei?!” Waving his hand off him, Ning anxiously whispered, “Lei?”

“He’s probably out of his mind already.”

“What a pity. He was such a warrior. And in the end, love spoiled him. It is not for nothing that love is considered the warrior’s main enemy. Look what it did to him.” Ning said as he watched Lei still hold Longwei’s invisible face.

“What are we going to do with him now?” asked one of them, grabbing a whip in his hand.

“Wait, what do you want to beat him? When he is in this state?”

“Why not. He brought us a lot of problems. And now he has to pay for everything. Plus, he killed a lot of our guys.”

“He’s out of his mind! Can’t you see?! Leave him. He himself will soon die without you.” protested Ning.

“What are you doing? If the Master heard you now, he would be horrified. Now move away. Let me have some fun.” Approaching Lei, who continued to smile looking ahead, the scarred warrior kicked him and he fell to the ground.

Pulling off the remnants of his shirt, the warrior picked up the whip. “So I am convinced that every greatness comes to an end.”

“Stop!” Catching his hand before he could strike, Ning snatched the whip from his hand. “Can’t you see what condition he is in?”

“And in what state were we while getting here, remember? We barely died on the way. And now I don’t want all our efforts to be in vain.” Raising his bloodthirsty gaze, the scarred warrior grabbed Ning by the throat. Clutching his fingers he asked, “Or are you protecting him?”

“Let’s not turn each other into enemies.” a young warrior with short hair intervened.

“Ning, if you feel sorry for him.”

“It is stupid to beat someone who will die anyway.”

The scarred warrior laughed loudly. “Get out of my way.” he ordered him. But Ning did not budge. “Or what, you fell in love with him?” he asked reproachfully.

Without waiting for things to get even worse, Ning punched him in the face.

“You!”

“Enough!” Rushing to separate the two warriors clutching each other, everyone forgot about Lei and without noticing it began to fight.

“I knew that you always had feelings for him. If only the master knew about it.”

“Shut up!”

“Enough!”

“Right. Enough already.”

Suddenly stopping, everyone simultaneously turned their heads in the direction where Lei was.

Standing confidently on his feet, Lei waved his hand at them and repeated, “Guys don’t fight. The sky is so beautiful, you better look around and allow yourself to be amazed.”

“Grab him!”

Feeling a surge of strength, Lei jumped up and, swinging his leg, hit three soldiers running at him at once.

“So you were pretending!” exclaimed Ning.

“Ning, I will not forget your kindness.” Lei said, and with a few blows of his fists, he had already defeated almost all of them. And at the moment when only Ning remained, he said, “Thank you.”

Knowing that such a person as Ning would not stop him and would not become an obstacle for him, he turned away and ran forward towards the kingdom.

Drawing strength from his memories, he ran as fast as possible. No longer feeling pain all over his body, he ran until he met the next obstacle in the form of a crowd of beasts heading for the whole kingdom.