Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 789 – Meeting at the Mountain of the Blind

The young officer walked to the fallen body of the man.

The man’s face was covered in blood, but the officer could still tell that he was very young.

The officer smelled a very light and indescribable scent, and could not help but frown. He squatted at the man’s side and began to examine his injuries. He discovered that the man was covered all over in wounds, and his right arm was broken into ten-some segments.

At the sight of these heavy injuries, his frown deepened. He looked up and saw that two clear trails had been drawn through the rocks and frost grass of the cliff face. It was easy to conclude that this pair had dropped down from high up.

The young officer knew that higher up on the cliff was a road that had once been used by an army to reach the bustling towns and cities on the eastern side of Mount Han. Though it had been abandoned for many years, it was still traversable, with bandits or smugglers occasionally risking the journey. Could this person have fallen down from there? After falling from such high elevation, it was no wonder that he had suffered such severe injuries. That he had not died on the spot could already be considered quite lucky.

Taking the clear water and tools from his subordinate, the young officer began to clean and treat the unconscious young man’s wounds, ensuring that the situation would not worsen for the moment. After finishing this, he stood up, washed his hands, and walked over to the small girl.

He once more squatted down and then said to the girl, “Hello.”

The girl did not reply. She hugged her knees, her dull gaze resting on the injured young man. Her complexion was pale and she seemed extremely delicate.

The young officer put a hand in front of her eyes and snapped his fingers, after which he asked, “What sort of people are you two?”

The girl shifted backwards as if afraid.

The officer saw the hint of terror flickering in her eyes and could not help but think of that pitiful pair of eyes many years ago in that Unicorn cave.

“We’ve asked many questions, but this little girl never once responded. If she’s not mute, then she’s probably deaf.”

The subordinate thought, then added, “Of course, she could also be scared out of her wits.”

“If you knew that she might be scared, why did you keep asking questions?”

The young officer crossly rebuked as he rose and made his way back to the camp.

At this moment, a rather feeble yet clear voice rose from behind him.

“Hungry.”

The young officer turned around.

The girl was vacantly staring at him.

“I want to eat meat.”

The young officer was stupefied for a few moments, and then smiled, his fingers once more snapping in the chilly mountain winds.

“It’s fine as long as you can speak and know how to ask for things.”

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In the north, autumn and winter were not very different. The horse farm at Sloping Cliff, located deep in the mountains, was relatively warm, but after a night of being buffeted by the winds of the north, it chilled. Fortunately, the kangs in the camp had long since been heated, so no soldiers were frozen to death. On the contrary, quite a few of them were scalded.

“They’re all so dumb, it’s no wonder they were forced here to raise horses.”

The young officer gave his subordinates a good scolding before driving them out, after which he turned to a corner of his room.

The kang came to an end there, so it was extremely cold, especially the part of the wall facing north, where the bricks were no different from blocks of ice.

And yet the girl insisted on remaining there. Perhaps it was because the injured young man was on the kang, or maybe it was because that place was closest to the stove. The pot on the stove was cooking meat, which gurgled and bubbled in the stew.

Her hands gripped a bowl and chopsticks. Her eyes were extremely focused on the stewing meat, making her seem even more dull-witted.

“Since you know to be afraid of getting burned, it seems that you’re not truly an imbecile.”

The officer shook his head at her, then walked to the edge of the kang and sat down.

As time passed, the girl somewhat loosened her guard, but the injured young man remained unconscious.

He began to flip through the man’s belongings, hoping to find a few clues, but he left empty-handed.

The young man had not been carrying any money, travel documents, a household registry, or even a scrap of paper. His clothes were made of the most ordinary of materials, and he wasn’t carrying any accessories that might offer any useful information, only wearing a string of stone pearls on his wrist.

Those stone pearls seemed rather crude, with nothing special about them.

Upon recalling the scent he had smelled by the cliff, the young officer lowered his head to the man’s neck and took in a deep whiff. Although he was not sure whether this was the scent he had smelled earlier, he was now very sure that the smell of many herbs was coming from the injured man’s body.

He had smelled at least seventeen different herbs on him.

“So you’re a pharmacist. No wonder you were in such a hurry and took such a risk.”

He looked at the young man and sighed, “Dying for wealth, I suppose you really did find the proper place.”

The fires of war had blazed without end for two years, and even with the provinces and the south working together to provide assistance, many resources were still in short supply on the frontlines, especially medicinal ingredients. It was no secret that all the army headquarters were lacking in medicine. To those pharmacists that had not received permits from the Imperial Court, as long as they could bring medicinal ingredients to the frontlines, they could quickly sell them off for massive profit. As for the hazards they might encounter and the strict punishments of the court, such things did not even exist in their minds.

An aide brought in hot water and said to him, “Sir, let us handle this.”

The young officer began to agree, but upon seeing the girl sitting at the base of the wall, he shook his head.

The girl gripped her bowl and chopsticks, her sluggish eyes full of coldness, or perhaps numbness. Only when looking upon the meat in the pot would they thaw somewhat. She looked just like a small beast that had been subjected to countless tortures, stirring the sympathy of others.

“It’s still better to let me do it. Since I’ve saved him, I should also make sure he lives.”

When the young officer made this decision, he had no idea that this imbecilic girl who easily made him recall matters of the past was the little Princess of the Demon race, let alone that the unconscious young man was connected to him.

He only felt that the girl looked rather pitiful. At the same time, though the injured young man had been unconscious the entire time, his eyes closed, he inexplicably gave a very calm and clean feeling. In short, he was rather pleasing to the eye.

Just like this, the young man and girl that had fallen from the mountains remained in the horse farm at Sloping Cliff, gaining the attentive care of the officers and soldiers there.

The young officer devoted the most energy, as cooking meat and treating illness had always been important matters of state.

After several days, the young man finally awoke from his coma.

He did not immediately open his eyes, but used five breaths of time to calm his mind. He then performed Meditative Introspection to confirm the state of his injuries.

Only after confirming the severity of his injuries did he finally open his eyes.

The first thing to be reflected in his eyes was the young officer.

He thought to himself, although this person has a full beard, he doesn’t look like some devil or fiend, but actually rather pleasing to the eye.

It was only after a very long time that Zhexiu, Tang Thirty-Six, Gou Hanshi, and Guan Feibai learned of the circumstances at that time.

Both the people of the Orthodox Academy and the people of the Mount Li Sword Sect fell silent for a very long time, all thinking, were the two of you blind?