CHAPTER 15: SURPRISES

“What are you doing? You know that Wu Jian is still at Guo Chen Clinic right?” Xing Fu whispered to Cecilia as they traveled to Mu Village.

She shrugged her shoulders, “Oh well. I will have to face him then.”

He lifted his brow, “R…Really?”

Cecilia turned to Xing Fu and gave him a serious look. “Why are you so scared of that asshole? Weren’t you the one that said you will risk your life to protect me?”

“I did, but that doesn’t mean to get into more trouble with him.”

Cecilia let out a sigh. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything stupid to jeopardize everyone’s lives.”

Guo Wei and De Ming were ahead of them and heard their conversation. They glanced at each other and shook their heads.

“They are like a bickering old couple,” whispered De Ming.

Guo Wei drank his wine bottle and then responded, “That is why you should not get into a relationship. Women only give you headaches.”

De Ming nodded, “Oh…”

She understood Xing Fu’s concern for her, but Wu Jian was the last person for her to worry about. She had too many things that were more important than to deal with an egotistic asshole. Her main concerned now was Guo Jing due to his hidden true identity. When she saw Guo Wei’s expression after he read the magical letter, she knew something was wrong. Her concerned heighten even more when he wanted to meet with Guo Jing. All she knew was that their identities clashed-one was a demon hunter and the other was an ex demon. Her only main concerned was that Guo Wei may harm a good ex demon like Guo Jing or worse, trapped him into his jaded vase like what he did to the demon beast.

Guo Wei slightly turned his head to see them from the corner of his eyes. “What does Chen Guo Jing do for a living?”

Xing Fu answered, “He’s one of the village physicians.”

Guo Jing paused a bit. “I see…”

Curious she asked, “What do you want from him anyway?”

He stroked his scruffy beard, “Just…something,” and left it like that.

Since Guo Wei didn’t want to share his reason, she would have to force it out from his student, De Ming. At least he should know something. Guo Wei raised this bottle of wine to drink, but there were no more drops left. He put it back on his belt and took out his wine pouch from his shirt pocket. He shook the pouch and heard the sound of liquid. Relieved, he drank it

“Ah…De Ming, we will have to stop by a wine shop after our meeting.”

“Ok.”

“All you do is drink. How can you hunt for demons without a clear mind?” she asked.

Guo Wei burst out laughing, “My body can handle more than you think Miss Xiao. In fact, alcohol is my best friend. I cannot live without it.”

“Don’t get my master wrong, when he’s drunk, his mind is clearer and can defeat demons like nothing.”

Hearing De Ming’s boastful comment was impressive to Xing Fu; but as for Cecilia, she only rolled her eyes and thought it was ridiculous. She never heard alcohol could boost someone’s strength nor have a cleared mind. Usually a person would be drunk and do stupid stuff or be knocked out easily like Xing Fu..

---

They finally reached to Mu Village and De Ming was excited to see a lot of people. This was his and Guo wei's opportunity to get as much clients as they could during their stay. As a wanderer, one had to make a living to survive. For De Ming and Guo Wei, they offered their services of exorcism and fortune telling. The more people in the village, the more money they make. Now due to the demon epidemic, their needed services had tripled and their income had increased.

“Master…”

Guo Wei interrupted him, “I know what you are thinking and the answer is NO.”

“But we’re low in money…”

“We can still survive for another month.”

Bummed, De Ming sighed sadly, “Fine…”

Guo Wei turned to Xing Fu, “Mu Village is a maze. How can visitors expect to find their way around here?”

“That is why they ask the locals. You see, this village was built to confuse enemies if there was ever an attack.”

Guo Wei stroked his beard, “I see…smart…”

As they continued walking, Xing Fu acted like their tour guide. While Xing Fu and Guo Wei walked ahead, Cecilia took the chance to ask De Ming.

She nudged his arm, “Ey, what does your master want with Physician Guo?” she asked.

De Ming shrugged. “I don’t know. This is my first time hearing Chen Guo Jing’s name.”

She thought that was odd. “Shouldn’t masters tell their students everything? Even secrets?”

He gave her a weird look. “Are you crazy? Not EVERTYHING should be shared. I do not want to know what he thinks, dreams, or even…” he whispered to her to only hear, “…does during his private times. That’s an invasion of privacy if you know what I mean…Anyway, why do you ask anyway?”

She looked at the ground, “Oh Uh…it’s nothing important. I’m just curious…”

Since she couldn’t get any information from De Ming, all she could do was to wait and see. They finally reached the gate entrance to Wei Chen Clinic and walked inside. Guo Jing was outside in the front yard watering some flowers when he heard footsteps behind him.

“I’ll be right with you.”

“Physician Guo…”

Guo Jing recognized Xing Fu’s voice and stopped watering the plants. He turned around and saw Xing Fu and Cecilia stood a few feet away from him with two other people.

“Xing Fu…Miss Xiao? Why are the both of you back here again

Then he looked briefly at De Ming and Guo Wei; he immediately noticed the sword that Guo Wei carried.

“Ma Guo Wei?”

Guo Wei nodded with a big smile on his face. Both thrilled to see each other and hugged.
“It’s great to see you!” Guo Wei said happily.

“Old friend, it has been a long time!” He stared at Guo Wei’s scruffy physical appearance. “What happened to you? You look…horrible.”

Guo Wei looked down at himself and then back at Guo Jing.

“Why? You don’t like it?” he laughed jokingly.

Cecilia pointed at both of them with a puzzled face. “Y…you two…are friends?”

Guo Jing nodded. Cecilia let out a short laugh of relief, glad to know Guo Wei wasn’t here to harm Guo Jing after all.

---

In the backyard, Guo Jing and Guo Wei sat down around a stone round table. Guo Jing poured a cup of wine for Guo Wei.

“You have to try this. It’s Mu Village’s best wine.”

Guo Wei picked up the cup of wine and drank it. His face broke into a grin of pure pleasure. He shouted with a boisterous laugh, “This is indeed the best wine! What is it called?”

“Ten thousand years old wine made from Plum Blossom Inn’s winery.”

Guo Wei nodded, “It lives up to its name.”

Guo Jing poured another cup for him.

“It’s been twenty six years that we haven’t seen each other. I’m surprised that you found me.”

“I’ve met Miss Xiao and Mr. Yu along the way and they guided me to your place.”

“It’s fate that you crossed path with them or else there won’t be a reunion then.”

Both men guffawed at the comment and drank their wine.

“So old friend, what brings you here?

Guo Wei shook his head as he exhaled. “I’ve just gotten an urgent news that the Demon Realm Seal has been broken, so I came to seek for your guidance.”

Guo Jing’s smile disappeared.

---

Xing Fu and Cecilia took De Ming out to explore Mu village. During their walk, De Ming stopped by the vending tables to buy small figurines and crafts. He saw a table full of jades and walked toward it amazed.

“WOW! There are so many different types of jades here…”

Seeing De Ming full of enthusiasm, Xing Fu and Cecilia looked at the items on the table also. There was one particular item that caught Cecilia’s attention. It was a heart made out of purest green jade and in the middle, carved an unknown character. She picked it up to get a closer look at the craftsmanship. From the corner of Xing Fu’s eyes, he saw her interested at the item.

“Do you like it?”

She nodded. “I’ve never seen a jade this green before. It’s pretty.” Then she showed him the jaded heart, “What does the character say?”

“It says love.”

She repeated the word as she traced the lines that formed the character.

Xing Fu turned to the owner, “How much is it for this item?”

Cecilia quickly turned to him, surprised of what he was doing.

“Five silver pieces,” said the owner.

Xing Fu grabbed his money pouch from his shirt pocket but Cecilia grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Xing Fu…You do not need to buy me this jade. Save your money for something more important.”

He gazed at her with a warm smile, “You are important.”

She started to blush and couldn’t help but smiled happily by his comment. She let go of his arm and he pulled out the money pouch to pay for the item. After he was done, he turned to her.

“It’s yours now.”

“Thank you.”

De Ming also bought a jade and turned to them, “Are you two ready?”

“Yes,” replied Xing Fu.

They left the vending table and went to another. Throughout the day, De Ming continued his shopping, while Xing Fu and Cecilia enjoyed each other’s presence. Then he did the unexpected. Bravely, he grabbed her hand and held it. Surprised by what he did, she quickly turned and saw his smiling face stared down at her. She felt the tingling feeling of happiness and began to move her fingers to intertwine with his, feeling his soft fingers between hers. His brows lifted in surprise by the unexpected and felt overjoyed to know her feelings toward him. They chuckled, walking and holding hands as a couple.

Close to the end of their day, De Ming had a bag full of items that he had bought and started to have second thoughts.

“I think I’ve gone overboard on my spending…Mast…”

He turned around and they were far behind him. They took their sweet time walking and holding hands. He rolled his eyes and shook his head as he waited for them.

When they finally caught up with him, he stared down at their hands and teased, “Get a room you two.” Both blushed and let go of each other’s hands.

De Ming continued what he was about to say to them. “I think I’ve gone overboard on my spending…Master is going to kill me if he sees all of this stuff.”

Cecilia folded her arms in front and shook her head. “You should have stopped.”

“I can’t help it…” De Ming stared down at his bag full of items, “...These are for my small friends…”

They gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean small friends,” asked Cecilia.

De Ming took out a small woven pouch that had a diamond shaped symbol sewn on it. Cecilia saw the shape and felt like she had seen it before, but couldn’t remember where. Making sure that nobody else was listening to the conversation, De Ming whispered loudly to them.

“Inside are three little fairies that I’ve brought with me. As I being the only student that traveled with master, it gets very lonely. They were my master’s and he gave it to me as a child to keep me company.” He puts it back in his shirt pocket.

“Can you show it to us?” Xing Fu asked.

“No. They are very shy around people and only a few know of its existence…It took them three years just to get comfortable with me…Anyway, they love gifts.”

“You spoiled them too much,” she teased.

Guo Wei had also said that to him numerous of times, but De Ming couldn’t help it. Besides Guo Wei, the fairies were the only family that De Ming has, and they meant dearly to him. He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a wide grin.

“What can I say?”

As they continued to walk back to the clinic, they passed a restaurant. Inside next to the window, the con artist that Xing Fu and Cecilia had encountered was eating with a couple of men; this time, he didn’t have any mustache on. The con artist happened to glanced outside and saw her. Afraid, he immediately turned his head away and covered his face with his hand. The other men looked at him confused.

“What’s wrong?” asked the bearded man.

The con artist directed his eyes to Cecilia’s way for the men to see. “That woman…I sold a talisman to the man next to her. She threatened me that she would find me if the talisman was fake.”

Both men turned and saw Cecilia. They were immediately attracted to her and stared at her up and down at her body.
“That beauty over there?” asked the other man.

The con artist nodded.

The bearded man stroked his bottom beard, “Since this is our last day before we leave to do business elsewhere, let’s have a little fun with her…eh?”

All three had lustful grins and nodded.

---

There was a small performance on De Ming’s side and he was interested to see what it was. He made Xing Fu and Cecilia come with him to see. As they got closer, they saw a man showing off his sword skills for the crowd to watch. His skills were swift as he twisted his sword around with his body. The crowd cheered and clapped their hands for the swordsman. As the three watched, the bearded man from the restaurant shoved in between Xing Fu and Cecilia, pretending to unnoticed them. He cheered along with the crowd, while Xing Fu and Cecilia stared at him upsettingly by his rude intrusion.

“Hey!” she yelled at the bearded man.

The bearded man ignored her and continued to cheer. She and Xing Fu looked at each other and decided not to cause a scene. They went back to watch the performance, then she heard a familiar male voice.

“Talismans for sale!”

She knew instantly who the man was and turned to the side. There stood the con artist, holding talismans up for people to buy. She noticed that this time the man didn’t have a mustache, and her blood started to boil in anger.

Some people stopped by to take a look at his talismans. It made her anxious and worried for the people because their lives were going to be in danger because of him. She wanted to tell Xing Fu; but knowing him, he would stop her from doing anything stupid. She decided to take matters in her own hands and walked toward the con artist. The bearded man turned to see her leave and grinned; their plan worked.

The con artist turned his head and saw Cecilia approached him in a fast walking pace. Frightened to see her, he quickly dropped what he was doing and began to run away from her. She picked up her speed and started to run after him, shouting for him to stop. As she shouted, the bearded man purposely drowned her voice by cheering loudly at the swordsman, so Xing Fu and De Ming couldn’t hear. After she disappeared from their sight, the bearded man stayed a couple of more minutes and then left.

Cecilia chased him through the village, turning corners and out of the alleys to another. The con artist was surprised that she was a fast runner and started to run with all of his energy, panting and sweating.

Not too far in front of them, Ching Chen strolled down the street while four men followed him from behind, carrying a sedan. He was glad that finally today, they were able to leave Mu Village. Since they were already late for their mission, Wu Jian wanted to stop by a couple of shops to buy some apologetic gifts. Then Ching Chen heard a familiar female voice shouting from behind.

“Stop right there!”

He turned and saw the con artist ran passed him followed by Cecilia. His eyes widened in shock to see her again. He turned to the sedan and saw Wu Jian had already peered out from the cloth. His cold piercing eyes narrowed at her as she ran passed them. Ching Chen knew that there was no chance for them to leave Mu Village now since he had seen her. He became frustrated, but remained calmed, not wanting to reveal his impatience with Wu Jian..

“That was the dirty low life.”

Ching Chen couldn’t lie. “Yes, it was her.”

Ching Chen knew what Wu Jian was going to say next, but he asked anyway. “Do you want us to follow her?”

“OF COURSE!”

He tried to find a way for Wu Jian to forget Cecilia. “But your ankle…”

Wu Jian grabbed the crutches inside the sedan. “With these and my Lightness Skill, I can fly with ease. I am not going have my ankle stop me from chasing after her.”

He put the crutches underneath each arm and with his internal qi, he pushed his body off the sedan with full force using the crutches. The four men felt the pressure from their shoulders and dropped the sedan, as Wu Jian flew to the roofs. The village people saw him and were struck in awed as he swiftly flew from one rooftop to another. All Ching Chen could do was sighed at the sight; he had tried his best.

He turned to the four men, “Wait here.” Then he flew up to the roof to follow him.

---

The con artist took a sharp right turn around the corner and disappeared from her. She also took that sharp turn and stopped. It was a dead end and there the con artist was, bending down as he tried to catch his breath.

He pointed at her, “You’re…ve…very…fast…”

She folded her arms in front and smirked. “Perverted bastard, I’ve warned you that I would find you if the talisman was fake.”

Just then, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw two other men stood, holding their large knives, as they blocked the exit. She recognized the bearded man from the crowd and instantly knew that this was a trap. The con artist purposely lured her to a dead end, and she couldn’t believe that she felt for it.

The con artist snickered at her. “You have nowhere to go beautiful.”

She took some steps backwards as they came toward her until her back was against the wall. Her heart began to pound fast, knowing that she was in trouble.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Since my sworn brothers and I are leaving tonight, we’ve decided to enjoy ourselves…” the con artist stared at her body and licked his lips. “…with you…and if you don’t cooperate…” The men showed her their knives to taunt her. He continued, “…we will make sure your pretty face and body be full of scars.”

The con artist got close to her with his knife placed onto her face. By instinct, she grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm back hard. He yelped in pain and turned to his sworn brothers.

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO STANDING THERE FOR! KILL THE BITCH!”

The two men charged toward her with their knives. She kicked the con artist from behind and he ran uncontrollably toward them. They moved out of the way as he fell to the ground and continued charging at her. Their knives swung at her from every direction, but she dodged them with ease to avoid being stabbed. The bearded man thrust the knife forward to stab her but she dodged it in time. She grabbed his wrist and knocked the knife out of his hand. As the knife fell, she quickly grabbed the handle before it hit the ground and stabbed him on his right thigh. He screamed in pain as blood started to seep through; then she pulled the bloody knife out and quickly swung it around to cut deep across the bearded man’s chest. She kicked him and he flew to the ground wounded.

Their knives clanged as it made contact. Every time they tried to stab her, she used the knife to block it as if it was a sword. The other man tried to stab her, but she dodged to the side and stabbed him on the forearm with her knife, making him dropped his knife. The blade protruded out from the other side of his arm and he cried in pain.

The con artist quickly came from behind her and she slightly turned to see him. She pulled out the knife from his forearm and threw it at him. It flew like dagger and struck his upper shoulder with force. He fell down onto the ground and lay on his back. She picked up the other knife and got on top of the con artist’s chest, aiming the point blade down at his face. Struck with horror, he pleaded.

“P…Please don’t kill me…!”

She let out an anguish roar as she forced the knife down at him. He screamed in terror and shut his eyes tightly.

“I’M SORRY!” he cried loudly as tears streamed down his face.

Everything became dark and there was only heavy breathing. He was still alive and slowly peeked with one eye. He saw the blade aimed at him; she had stopped in close range, about a centimeter, from his forehead. He was so scared of her that he peed in his pants. Realizing what she did, she got off of him and sat on the ground. The con artist quickly got up to join his other two wounded brothers. Too scared to continue fighting with her, they limped away out of the exit.

In shock, Cecilia stared down at her trembling hands by the sight of blood. Hot tears streamed down her face and fell onto her bloody hands. She was in disbelief that she almost killed the three men. This wasn’t like her special qi of healing or killing demons, this time it different. She was driven to kill and felt that she had done it many times before from her past. Now, her lost memories terrified her even more than ever.

“Who really am I?”

She buried herself in the comfort of her own arms as she cried.

“Get up dirty low life.”

She stopped crying and instantly knew that the voice was Wu Jian. Her head lifted to see him staring down at her as he shook his head and sighed. Then he stared down at her bloody hands. She knew that he was looking at them and quickly hid it from his sight. He lifted one of his crutches up to the side and pointed at a huge clayed jug against the wall.

“There’s water over there so get yourself clean up.”

Surprised that he didn’t scold or fought her, she slowly got up. At the entrance, Ching Chen finally caught up with Wu Jian and saw them standing. On the ground, he saw the knives and then his eyes shifted to her bloody hands.
 
“What happened?”

She was still in shock and couldn’t speak, so Wu Jian spoke for her.

“Three men tried to assault Miss Xiao, so she defended herself.”

He saw everything?! She wondered how long he had watched her fought those men and turned to stare at him. He saw her facial expression and gave a short huff as he grinned.

“I never knew that you could fight Miss Xiao…”

Ching Chen couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Is that true Miss Xiao?” he asked to be certain.

She nodded as tears fell again and quickly wiped them with her sleeve.