CHAPTER 12: THE FALLEN MAN

Cecilia stood in total darkness and the only source of light beamed on her from above.

“Is anybody here?” she shouted, hoping that someone would hear her.

There was no response and she started to get anxious. Suddenly, more lights appeared from above in front of her, shining down on people. They stood frozen in their place with their heads tilted down, making it hard for Cecilia to see who they are.

“Hello?”

Their heads slowly turned to her and what she saw shocked her. Each and every one of them looked dead-some looked paled white and as for others, their skins were grossly discolored. Their bodies were covered in dried blood and she could smell their rotten flesh, making her stomach churn. They recognized her and started to walk toward her with their glassy eyes glued to her.

“I want my life back…” they said hauntingly.

“Wh…what are you talking about?”

Scared, she stepped backwards, watching the group of coming dead people. Then her back bumped something hard, and she turned around to see that it was another dead person standing there. Frightened, she turned around to run but it was too late. They had surrounded her with no way of escape. Their rotten hands reached for her, trying to grab her and she clapped her hands over the ears, screaming helplessly.

Cecilia woke up screaming and sweating and tried to catch her breath. Realizing that it was only a dream, she sighed in relief. She got out of the bed and rushed into Xing Fu’s bedroom to find him but he wasn’t there. Then she remembered. Xing Fu had left with Physician Wei to go help at the clinic early this morning. Thoughts of her dream and the demon epidemic came to her mind that the place started to feel eerie. She decided to leave the residence to go to the clinic, knowing that she won’t be alone.

---

On the dirt road to Mu Village, Cecilia took her time walking to clear her thoughts. Her dream of dead people and their words haunted her still. They seemed to know her and weren’t happy with her.

“Did I do something to them?” she pondered, feeling confused.

Then she remembered Physician Wei’s conversation about her special qi and Guo Jing’s identity.

“This must be the reason why I dreamt about it then.” She scratched her head, “…But why do they look so familiar?”

She could feel her head pounding again and started to massage her temples from her head. “Damn headaches. I need to stop thinking so much.”

SWOOSH! A strong gust of wind blew at her side followed by clattering hoofs made by galloping horses. They startled her, making her moved out of their way before being trampled. As the horses passed by, she saw two men on them. Her eyes narrowed at these rude horsemen and clenched her fists. There was a rock on the ground so she quickly picked it up. Like a baseball pro, she threw the rock and surprisingly, it hit one of the horses’ butts. It startled the horse, threw its master off from the saddle, and the master landed hard onto the dirt ground.

The other horseman turned his horse around and saw his partner lying on the ground. Then he shifted his attention to Cecilia. Her arms crossed in front with a smirk on her face, and he wondered who this gutsy woman was. He turned his attention back to his fallen partner and rode toward him. He got off his horse and ran to his partner’s side. The fallen man sat on the ground with his legs sprawled, brushing the excessive dirt from his silky robe.

“Young Master, are you alright?”

The fallen man was too upset to say anything. Then he saw the rock that she threw on the ground and picked it up. He got up, but felt a sharped pain from his ankle and fell back to the ground.  

“My ankle.”

His partner helped lift his body up and grabbed a hold of him before he fell again. The fallen man turned his attention to Cecilia and narrowed his eyes at her. Angry, he pulled his arm away from his partner’s grip and limped toward Cecilia.  

“Young Master!”

He ignored his partner. As the fallen man got closer to her, she noticed that he was a fine looking young man, wearing a navy robe. His long black hair was combed back, half tied into a low pony tail. Comparing to beautiful Guo Jing and  Xing Fu’s slender body, this man’s facial and body structures were very masculine-broad shoulders, fine jaw line, and sharp cheek bones that defined his heart shaped face.  

Bravely, she stood her ground and was ready for his confrontation. He stopped a foot away from her and stood there, glaring at her with his cold cinnamon eyes. He wondered who this obnoxious low-life woman was that would have the nerve to hurt him.

He showed the rock that she threw in front of her face and raised his voice, “You got the nerves to throw this at my horse!”

She huffed upsettingly, “You guys almost ran me over so YOU DESERVE IT,” and maliciously glared at him.

Infuriated, the fallen man clenched his fists and started huffing and puffing. “YOU!” He took another step forward but his partner grabbed a hold of his arm.

“Young Master, forget it. Let’s go to the nearest village to get your ankle check.”

The partner turned to her, “Miss…” She glanced at him and he continued, “I apologize on our behalf. We didn’t mean to harm you.”  

She huffed and looked the other way. The fallen man pulled his arm out of his grip again and turned to limp away from them. His partner glanced at Cecilia and shook his head, sighing. He turned around and rushed to catch up with his young master, while she stood cool, smirking at the falling man as he limped.

The fallen man got back to his horse and quickly grabbed his sword from the saddle. He pulled the blade out of its sheath and with his internal qi, he swung his sword at the ground dirt close to her. The ground exploded in multiple places, creating clouds of dirt everywhere around her. It happened so quickly that Cecilia wasn’t ready to prepare herself. The clouded dirt traveled up into her lungs, making her cough. Seconds later, it disappeared and Cecilia was left covered in dirt from head to toe. His partner stood in dismay of what his young master just did.

The fallen man’s right cornered lip curled up. “Ching Chen, NOW we can leave.”

He bowed his head, “Yes.”

The fallen man placed his sword back in its sheath and his partner helped him got up on his horse. Then they rode off, leaving Cecilia stunned and furious. She stared at her clothes and hands in disbelief of how much dirt she was covered in and dusted it off as much as she could. Then she stared at the horizon where the two horsemen began to disappear from her sight.

Clenching her fists and breathing hard, she yelled angrily at the horsemen. “Asshole!” and kicked the dirt on the ground.

---

Mu village was packed with people from all over the kingdoms. She forgot how busy it was from the first time she was there. As she walked through the crowded street mumbling cursed words, people began to stare at her, disgusted by how dirty she looked. Some pinched their noses and distanced themselves from her, thinking that she was a beggar.

Her mind was too focus on being furious by the fallen man that she didn’t pay any attention to crowd’s behaviors. Finally she reached to the gate entrance of the clinic and looked up at the signage. She recognized the characters and easily read it. This made her happy and the image of the fallen man faded away from her memory.

In the front courtyard, injured people lied on the ground everywhere as they patiently waited to be seen by the physicians. All were in horrible state of conditions-some lost their limbs and others have deep scratched and bite wounds on their bodies. As Cecilia made her way through the crowd, moaned cries were all she that heard from these unfortunate souls. It was painful for her to see that her eyes started to weld up with tears. No matter if demons were true or not, something was attacking these people.

Cecilia saw two men treating the injured patients from afar and recognized them to be Xing Fu and Guo Jing. Her face lit up when she saw Xing Fu and ran toward him. Xing Fu was treating a patient’s wound when he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Cecilia smiling down at him. Happy to see her, he got up.

“Xiao Xing, I can’t believe you’re here!” then he saw how dirty she looked and thought about the chicken incident. “Did you try to catch chickens again?”

Offended, she raised her fist halfway. Xing Fu backed away a bit, knowing that she was about to punch him again, but she held back and lowered her fist to control her unknown habit.

She huffed upsettingly, “No!” and folded her arms in front instead.

Relieved that she didn’t punch him, he asked, “Then what happened to you this time?”

Embarrassed of telling him about the incident, she replied, “You do not want to know…”

Guo Jing heard her voice and a quivered of fear overcame him, making him nervous. Distracted by her presence, Guo Jing tied the cloth too tight on the injured patient that he yelped in pain. Cecilia and Xing Fu quickly turned and glanced at Guo Jing to see what happened. Guo Jing apologized to the patient and loosened the knot. Cecilia had a big smile on her face and walked toward Guo Jing, while Xing Fu trailed behind. She knelt down next to Guo Jing and it made him even more nervous that his hands began to tremble. She slightly chuckled by his paranoid behavior.

“Physician Guo, you don’t have to be afraid of me. I will never hurt you.”

Hearing those words made his body less tense and he let out a sigh of relief. While he applied medicine on another patient’s wound, he asked, “Why are you here?”

“I didn’t want to be alone, so I came here.” She glanced at the wounded people and then turned back to Guo Jing. “Can I help?”

“Do you know medicine?”

“No.”

“Then how can you help?”

Xing Fu overheard their conversation and interrupted them. “Physician Guo, another helping hand will be really helpful right now.”

Guo Jing panned the place and saw many people lying on the ground in a verge of death, crying and moaning in pain. His heart ached and tears started to weld up in his eyes. He deeply sighed and nodded.

“Fine. You can start by helping Physician Wei inside then.”

Happy, she thanked him and quickly went inside the clinic to find Physician Wei.

Guo Jing turned to Xing Fu, “I guess I will have to get use to her presence then.”

Xing Fu nudged Guo Jing on the arm and the both of them chuckled. Then they went back to work.

---

Inside the medicine room, Physician Wei pounded different types of herbal medicines in the mortar, while he kept a close watch of the pots on the stone stove. Cecilia entered in and saw the hardworking Physician Wei worked up a sweat. He glanced up and saw her stood there at the doorway.

“How’s your headache?”

“It’s better now.” She saw the different types of herbs on the table. “Guo Jing told me to come and assist you.”

Glad to have another set of hands, he nodded smiling. He turned his head slightly to the side, directing her to the stone stove. On top were five big pots full of hot herbal medicines.

“The medicine should be ready now. Pour it into the bowls and give it to the patients.”

“Ok.”

She went to the stove and grabbed a brewing pot with a cloth. Carefully, she poured the hot medicine into each bowls. The pungent mixed of herbal medicine stung her nose and she slightly turned her head away.

“What is this for?”

He answered while pounding, “It’s to minimize the pain. It’s the same medicine that Xing Fu brewed for you.”

She remembered her first time experiencing the bitter taste and shivered from the thought of it. After all bowls were filled, she picked up the tray and left to tend the patients.

Outside, she handed a bowl to a patient. “Drink this. It will minimize the pain.” The man took it from her and drank it.

While the man drank his medicine, Cecilia stared at the exposed flesh wound on his arm. Three distinct claw marks dug deep into the skin, revealing torn muscle tissues. It was a good thing that the physicians or Xing Fu had stopped the bleeding, otherwise he would have bled to death.

Curious, she asked, “What happen to you?”

The man answered in his weak tone of voice, “A demon attacked me in the forest…”

Demon? Physician Wei’s words of demon epidemic began to haunt her again. She saw a talisman hung from his belt and became confused. Weren’t talismans supposed to protect people from demons? She got up and went to the next person. Same answer from another patient-demon attacked her and she wore a talisman also. This continued throughout the day of nonstop investigation that she became speechless and second thought of her skepticism. Are demons real then?

Suddenly, she heard a woman’s utterly cry and turned to see what the commotion was about. A little girl lied motionless on the crying woman’s lap, rocking the child back and forth in her arms. With a feeling of instinct, she dropped the tray onto the ground, spilling the medicine everywhere and ran toward them.

When she got there, she told the woman to move so she could check the child’s wellbeing. Cecilia placed the girl down onto the ground and placed her index and middle fingers on the girl’s tiny neck to check for a pulse. Nothing. Without hesitant, she tilted the girl’s head back and started to breathe air into her mouth. Then she placed her hands on the girl’s chest and thrust it downward a couple of times. Physician Wei, Guo Jing, and Xing Fu rushed over to the crowd and made their way to the front. They saw Cecilia working hard on blowing air and thrusting on the girl’s chest and stood there in perplexed with the crowd. They had never seen anything like this before and watched.

The girl’s body started to transition into a male’s body right in front of her eyes. Then she heard her own voice echoing from the back of her mind, “Kai…” Frightened by what she was experiencing, she remained calm and continued to focus on the girl. As the slow transition took place, she glanced at the girl’s face and saw the child’s small chin transitioned to a man’s.

The girl coughed and everything that she saw vanished quickly from her sight. Shocked by what she had just experienced, she pulled her hands away from the girl’s chest. The girl coughed some more and cried for her mom. The woman quickly ran to her daughter and hugged her with joyful tears. Physician Wei and Guo Jing rushed to the girl’s side to make sure she was alright while Cecilia slowly got up.

Xing Fu came up to her. “I didn’t know that you can also raise the dead.”

She gave him a strange look and shook her head. “I don’t think it’s like that at all…” Since there was a crowd, she didn’t want to tell Xing Fu of her experience and remained silent.

He nudged her arm and smiled. “Well whatever you did, you’ve brought her back to life and reunited her with her mother again.”

She agreed with him. Whatever she did, she saved the girl’s life but the haunting image of the man still lied in her mind.

Was he the faceless man?

Physician Wei got up and walked toward her with a pleased look on his face.

“Is the girl ok?” she asked him.

He nodded, “She lost a lot of blood from the wound, but she will be fine. I believe that what you just did was something that you’ve learned from your past."

Knowing that it was something she learned was great news, but that didn’t explained what she saw.

He stroked his beard and told Guo Jing, Xing Fu and Cecilia, “We have many patients still waiting for us, so let’s get back to work.”

Throughout the day, she was their assistant. Whatever they needed, she grabbed it for them. When they tended the patients’ injuries, she observed carefully and learned from them. Once was a room full of patients was now an empty space. At the end of the day, they were exhausted but proud of what they had accomplished.

“It’s been a long day. Great work everyone,” commented Physician Wei. Then he turned to Xing Fu and Cecilia, “Thank you for your help. We couldn’t have done it without the both of you.”

“You’re welcome,” said Xing Fu.

Cecilia looked around and saw blood everywhere. It looked as if there had been a massacre that just took place. “This place is a mess; let us help the both of you clean before we leave.”

Guo Jing nodded, “Alright.”

Xing Fu turned to Cecilia and pointed at her with a serious look on his face. “YOU need to be cleaned also.”

She forgot how dirty she was because of the fallen man. Xing Fu brushed the excess dirt off from her hair and dirt fell down to the ground like a landfall. They laughed at her while she stood there with a huge grin on her face.

---

Ching Chen hurried into the clinic with his young master. It took a while for them to get to the clinic. The village was like a maze. There were too many detours and open areas that led to other places. As a visitor to Mu Village, it was wise to ask for directions from a local, but that was not the case for Ching Chen and his young master. His young master was too stubborn and full of pride, that he rather had Ching Chen led the way blindly to their destination.

“We’re finally here,” said Ching Chen relieved. The place was empty so he shouted for service.

“HELLO. WE NEED HELP!”

Guo Jing heard them and came out to see them stood there at the entrance. He saw the injured man stood with one leg while he wrapped his arm around his partner’s shoulder for support. Guo Jing quickly went to help Ching Chen took his young master inside the clinic.

Both of the men helped the young master sat down on a chair. “What happened?” asked Guo Jing. 

Ching Chen explained, “Young Master fell off the horse and sprained his ankle.” He left their encounter with Cecilia out due to not wanting to humiliate his Young Master.

Guo Jing took off the Young Master’s boot and sock carefully, revealing a swollen ankle as big as a plum. Guo Jing softly pressed the area with his fingers.

“OW! THAT HURTS!”                          

Guo Jing sighed and said, “This sprain is severe.” Both glanced at each other in dismay. Guo Jing continued, “You should be glad it is not broken. Wait here while I get the medicine prepare for your injury.”

Guo Jing got up and left while the young master slumped back into the chair. Upset, he slammed his hands on the chair handles. “Damn low life!” and breathed heavily.

---

Cecilia walked toward the clinic with a big bowl of water for her bath. She had been covered with dirt since early afternoon and her skin started get irritated. As she walked past the clinic, she saw two men inside, one was sitting and the other was standing. With their heads faced to the side, they looked familiar, but she didn’t remember where she had met them. The men felt a presence and turned their heads. Surprised, she instantly knew who they were; especially the man sitting down.

She mumbled to herself, “The asshole is here.”

She held in her anger and walked toward the men with her bowl of water. The Young Master glared at her in disbelief to see the low life here and clenched his fists. To loosen the tension between his Young Master and Cecilia, Ching Chen smiled and formally greeted her.

“It’s nice to see you again Miss.”

The Young Master yelled at her, “Low life! Why are you here?!”

She scoffed and gave him an attitude, “And why can’t I?” Then she stared at his swollen ankle and then back at him with a smirk on her face. “I see that you’re here because of your ankle…”

The young master pointed at her and scolded, “IT IS BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU DID THIS!”

She pointed at herself, “Me? How is it my fault? I guess you shouldn’t be riding a horse then if you do not know how to land correctly!” She looked away with her arms folded in front.

Fumed by her words, the Young Master slammed his hands hard on the chair handles again and got up to confront her. He had forgotten about his sprained ankle and felt the sharped pain. He yelped and sat back down with Ching Chen’s help. 

Tired of their bickering, Ching Chen walked up to Cecilia. “Miss, please forgive Young Master. Let’s start over by introducing ourselves properly. My name is Fu Ching Chen…” then he direct his hand toward the young master, “…and this is Young Master Wu Jian. May we know the maiden’s name?”

She glanced at Ching Chen. Comparing to his obnoxious Young Master, he was very respectful and polite. Since he was nice enough to apologize, she decided to tell them her name. “Xiao Xing.”

Wu Jian snickered when he heard her name. “Xiao Xing? You should be called, Dirty Xing!” and laughed.

She had enough of his insults and couldn’t control her anger anymore. SPLASH! She threw the bowl of water at Wu Jian. His eyes widened in horror to see his body drenched in water. Ching Chen blinked a couple of times and could not believe what just happened. He stood there frozen in disbelief. Satisfied, she brushed her hands together with a big grin on her face and left with the empty bowl in her hands.

Furious, Wu Jian pointed at her, “DIRTY LOW LIFE COME BACK HERE!”

She ignored him and continued to walk away until she disappeared from their sight. His eyes blazed with fire as he huffed and puffed. He turned to Ching Chen, “I want you to find out her background! She is going to pay severely for this.”

Ching Chen thought this was very childish of him. There were better things than spending a great amount of time to search for a pitiful woman’s identity. However, he cannot argue with his young master, so he bowed his head.

“Yes.”

Guo Jing came back with the herbal medicine and some cloths.

“Sorry, it took…” He looked up and saw Wu Jian drenched. Stunned, he asked, “What happen to you?”

Ching Chen was about to speak but Wu Jian raised his hand to stop him from saying anything. It was too humiliating for him to lose face if explained that a woman did it. Ching Chen shut his mouth, slightly bowed, and then moved to the side. From the way how Ching Chen behaved obediently toward his hand gesture, Guo Jing became curious of the swollen ankle man’s true identity. He had a sense that this man was more than just a rich noble. He seemed to have more power and authority.

“Gentlemen, I haven’t formally introduced myself. My name is Guo Jing. May I know my guests’ names?”

Wu Jian scoffed upsettingly and turned his head away. Knowing that Wu Jian was in a bad mood already, Ching Chen decided to introduce themselves to him. Guo Jing thought for a second if he had heard of their names before but nothing came to his mind. 

“Mr. Wu, since your clothes are wet, I can give you a set of dry clothes after I this.”

Wu Jian huffed angrily, “Fine.”

Guo Jing kneeled down and started to apply the herbs on his swollen ankle. “Are both of you traveling far?”

Wu Jian and Ching Chen glanced at each other puzzled by his question. “Why do you ask?” asked Ching Chen.

Guo Jing began to wrap his ankle with a cloth. He continued, “Your ankle needs to heal, so I suggest that you stay in Mu Village for the time being.”

Wu Jian led out a big sigh of disappointment and was silent for a bit. Then he asked, “How long will we have to stay?”

“Weeks, months…depending when you’re able to walk.” Guo Jing finished wrapping his ankle.

Stunned, Wu Jian shook his head. “No! I cannot stay long!”

“Sorry, unless you want to be handicap for the rest of your life.”

Ching Chen leaned close to Wu Jian and whispered, “We cannot delay or else…” he paused and forgot that Guo Jing was still in the room. He carefully continued, “Your father will be upset.”

Wu Jian pondered and then he asked Guo Jing, “Do you have a carriage or sedan in this village?”

Guo Jing nodded. “There is a sedan station at the east entrance of the village, but you will have to wait for a couple of days. The last sedan left this morning to a nearby village.”

Wu Jian nodded, “Fine. We will stay until then.”

“Since we have some guest rooms available in the clinic, the both of you can stay. It will be convenient for me to tend your injury anyway.”

Both of them agreed and thanked Guo Jing.

“Let me take the both of you to the guestrooms then.” Guo Jing helped Fu Ching get Wu Jian up on his feet by using their bodies to support Wu Jian’s weight. The three slowly made their way to the guestrooms.

During their walk, Wu Jian was curious about Cecilia and asked Guo Jing, “I saw a woman here; her name is Xiao Xing…”

Guo Jing’s face lit up in surprise that he knew her name. “Are you a friend of hers?”

He scoffed upsettingly and shook his head. “We recently met. Does she live here also?”

Guo Jing laughed. “No. She came here to help us tend our patients this afternoon.”

“I see…” pondered Wu Jian; then he asked, “Where does she live?”

Guo Jing became curious of why he wanted to know so much about Cecilia. He had a bad vibe from Wu Jian and thought about Cecilia’s safety.

He lied, “She was passing by Mu Village and saw that we needed help. Due to so many patients being sought, I did not have the chance to ask her. My apology kind sir for I do not know her residential place.”

“She is still here so take me to her.” Wu Jian demanded.

“Young Master, your health is more important now.” said Ching Chen.

Guo Jing agreed and nodded. “After settling down, I can look for her to see if she is still around.”

Wu Jian nodded. “Fine. I know she is taking a bath right now so you will find her there then.”

He was getting worried for Cecilia and pondered, ”Who is this man that seeks for her?”

Guo Jing faintly smiled, “I will.”