Chapter 16- What Every Adventure Needs

Tian had found the body of the sister who had been looking out for Hong Liren. She was surrounded by three long, many legged gu which looked like they were stuck between being a furry caterpillar and a centipede. She hadn’t died with an intact corpse. The woman had been holding a heavy saber, hacking down with it. There were some insect bodies around her with spear wounds. Hong.

Tian sat and puzzled it out. She could have been taken, but by who? Everyone was dead except for him and the two Heavenly Person realm cultivators, neither of whom had the time or interest in kidnapping her. She could have run off, but… Hong was always stupidly aggressive. Charging in when she should have been carefully fighting and watching the people around her. She wouldn’t run. That left being dragged off by a Gu or she hid. Both of which could have happened. But how? And where?

He went back to where he found the sister. The sand was all torn up by the battle, then again when Brother Ku launched whatever the attack was that made all the holes in the desert. If there were tracks, he couldn’t see them. He widened the search area. Nothing. But no signs of something or someone being dragged either, and even with everything, there should be some sign of Hong being carried away.

If she didn’t go on the surface, she must have gone underground. But again, there was nothing but disturbed earth. Trying to figure out where she hid herself seemed impossible. Besides, the battle ended hours ago. Why was she still hidden?

Tian squatted down again and started drawing circles in the sand. The wind pushed around the sand, leaving little ripples across it. A bit like a strong breeze across a pond. Something almost audibly clicked in his memory.

“Thank you Senior Brother Hwang.”

I was going to suggest it, but I’m glad you figured it out on your own. Use that big bit of wagon timber over there. That will make a good thud.

Tian grabbed a piece of a shattered wagon as thick around as his leg and longer than he was tall. He changed over to Counter Jumper and kicked off his shoes. He started banging on the ground, feeling the vibrations. Such as they were, and they weren’t much.

Put your back into it!

Tian banged harder on the ground. There was something hard just a couple of feet down, near where he found that senior sister. He felt a stab of guilt. Hong had mentioned the senior sister’s name, and Tian completely forgot it. He got closer to that hard thing and banged hard. Definitely something hard, just a couple of feet down. Smaller than the tall Hong Liren, though, and the wrong shape. It was kind of egg shaped, but rough and uneven.

His rope dart buried itself into the sand and wrapped around the object. Tian passed the rope around him and started slowly walking backwards, hauling whatever it was out of the ground. It looked like a mass of sand and something organic. Lighter than something that size should have been. He gave it a solid rap with his stick. Hollow. Something inside of it, filling almost all of the interior. He gave the exterior a whack with the stick. The stick was damaged, the object wasn’t. Tian sighed, loudly, and got to using his rope dart like a saw again.

It took quite a bit of cutting, but half an hour later he was looking at Hong Liren.

She wasn’t breathing.

The desert winds blew softly across the sand. It was the only sound on the battlefield. Even Tian’s breathing seemed to have stopped.

Tian stared at Hong Liren. She was the only person he knew that was his age. He didn’t know what their relationship was, beyond brother and sister. And now she was dead. Trapped in an egg of sand. Did one of the gu cocoon her in there to eat later? She was injured, but not severely. Maybe it was poison.

He stared at her for… what felt like an hour. Grandpa held him. Waiting for Tian to be ready to say something. Eventually, Tian reached out to remove her storage ring.

It didn’t come off her finger. He tugged harder. Nothing. But that meant that…

Tian hauled Hong out of the sand coffin and had her flat on the ground inside of a second. He checked her neck for damage or swelling, then opened her mouth to look for any blockage of the airway. Nothing, but the inside of her mouth was a bright orange color, and smelled like mint and black pepper.

He quickly dug into his bag and pulled out his medicine manuals. He had experience playing this game. He found the answer in a few minutes- Breath Sealing Liquid. A half ounce would be enough to send a grown man into a three-day coma where they would appear, to a casual inspection, dead. A week of weakness afterward should be expected. The counteragent would wake the person up, but couldn’t prevent the weakness.

Tian looked to see if he could figure out how to make the counter-agent. He couldn’t. He frowned. Hong would have expected someone to dig her out, right? She wouldn’t have left the sister guarding her with no options. Tian searched her robe. Tucked inside was a rather conspicuous little vial. He gave it a sniff. Bitter herbs and strong alcohol. This was it. He tipped it down Hong’s throat and waited.

He felt his own heart stop while he waited for hers to start. She took a gasping breath and he collapsed on the sand. He could feel some of the hate boiling away from around his heart. Not gone entirely, or even mostly. But a big piece of it was gone. She was alive.

“Troublesome probably-girl!”

She gasped, coughing.

“Very troublesome! AND you never took your medicine! I worked hard finding all those things, and you didn’t even try them. But you still drink weird stuff and hide in eggs. If you won’t let me fix your head, find someone else to do the work!” Tian slowly poured water into her mouth. Just a trickle. Letting her drink slowly and regain at least a little strength.

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“Ancestors forgive me. I’ve died and gone to Hell.” Her voice was weak. “I must be in Hell. I can hear that idiot Tian.”

“Smarter than you. At least when I ate garbage I knew how to find the stuff that wouldn’t make me sick.”

“Only an idiot would eat garbage.”

“No, only someone starving would. I was very smart. I ate garbage and kept myself alive. Which makes me smarter than you. What weird thing did you trap yourself in?”

She had a coughing fit. Tian slowly trickled more water down her throat. “One of Grandmother’s lifesaving measures. A kind of charm, maybe? I had to crush a little figurine.” She tilted her head a little and looked at Tian. “She turned up with them almost as soon as we reached the camp. I think she was embarrassed the Elder gave me talismans and she didn’t. You are crying. Why are you crying?”

“Because you are alive, stupid probably-girl, and I thought you were dead.”

“Oh.” She looked away. “Sister Rou?”

“Her body will not be defiled by animals or the unclean ones.”

“Oh.” Hong sniffed and fought to keep her expression under control.

“Just cry.”

“What?”

“Just cry. Who cares?”

Hong made a choking laugh that sounded like sobbing. “You can’t just cry. Dignity. Reserve. Propriety.”

“Yeah. On the other hand, you are a brain damaged probably-girl, so we can’t expect much. Just cry. I’m crying. You cry too.”

Tears started running down her face as she choked out another laugh. “Am I going to have to get my mother to prove that I am actually a girl?”

“Your mother is a rock thrower and cannot be trusted.”

Hong laughed, but the laughs soon turned into sobs. Tian sat next to her and squeezed her hand. It was a lot. It was too damn much.