HEART PROTECTION: CHAPTER 5

Night, a mountain peak, vegetation all around. An enormously large moon was suspended overhead, lighting up the snow. The space between heaven and earth was like a cage with a spell to make her lie asleep on the ground.

Yan Hui laid on the ground. She felt bone-chilling cold, like it could pierce into her heart.

She watched the snowflakes fall down onto her face. When they touched her skin, they quickly melted into drops of water and one by one rolled off her face.

"Why......"

She heard herself asking, but the strange thing was, she didn't know what she was asking about. She turned her head and saw a hazy figure. Behind that hazy figure was the enormous moon, illuminating from behind. She couldn't see the person's face, but she could clearly tell the person was holding a jian.

Yan Hui's pupils contracted.

The jian swung down!

Yan Hui only knew she felt her heart clench. A sharp pain caused her entire body to tremble. Then......

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

She woke up.

It was pitch black before her eyes. The room had the scent of firewood, a year-round smell for rural villages. Her heart was still beating frantically. Sweat soaked the hair around her temples.

She absent-mindedly covered the area over her heart. It seemed like there was a sharp needle still making her feel pain.

This nightmare was too real. So real, that it seemed like just yesterday she experienced that horrific scene. Snow-covered mountain. An enormous moon. And an indistinct figure. Yan Hui furrowed her brows. This figure, now she recalled, why did it feel so familiar? But after thinking about it, she couldn't match the figure with anyone she knew.

After thinking for a long time, Yan Hui suddenly collected her thoughts. What was she doing, treating a dream so seriously?

Curling her lips, Yan Hui turned around to go back to sleep.

But she forgot, the chickens outside started to crow......and wouldn't stop.

Yan Hui endured it. She clenched the quilt in her fists. This was the third day......She hadn't been sleeping well. Before, she thought she wouldn't be staying in the village for long, but now the current situation has changed. Recovering her inner breath would take a few days. If the chickens couldn't be eliminated......

It would be terrible!

It was early morning, so the sunlit courtyard was still chilly. Grandma Xiao's constantly clucking chickens suddenly fell completely silent.

When Grandma Xiao came out of her room, she smelled something strange, like burning feathers: "A'Fu, A'Fu?" She called. Then A'Fu also came out of a room. He saw Yan Hui in the courtyward, and his steps paused. His expression clearly started to darken.

"What's that smell?" Grandma Xiao asked.

"I slaughtered those chickens." Yan Hui didn't wait for A'Fu to answer. While scooping the chickens out of the pot to pluck the feathers, she continue to carelessly reply: "I'm scalding the chickens to pluck the feathers. Today I'm going to make a huge pot of chicken soup. I learned how from Fatty Zhang. It won't go bad."

"You......you slaughtered the chickens?" Grandma Xiao's voice trembled. "All of them?"

Yan Hui turned to look at the completely empty chicken coop: "Ya, all of them. Originally I just wanted to kill the rooster, but I didn't know that when the rooster crowed, the two old hens would also join in. It's easier to slaughter them all. This pot of chicken soup will last for a long time." Yan Hui said that and licked her lips.

To her surprise, when she finished talking, Grandma Xiao started to cry out: "Oh no! Oh no!"

Yan Hui looked over in shock. At first, she had thought Granny Xiao had fallen, but she didn't expect Granny Xiao to sit on the ground herself. A'Fu, who was standing next to Granny Xiao, hurried to support her.

"Oh good heavens, all slaughtered......"

Yan Hui stared: "What's wrong? This......" Yan Hui didn't understand at all. It was just three chickens......Why was she grieving like that......?

"The old hens were there to lay eggs. What can be done now, what can be done now?!" Tears started to flow from Old Lady Xiao's eyes. She cried broken-heartedly.

Yan Hui looked at the chicken in her hand: "Uh......It's really just two hens.....they can't lay that much. In any case, they were getting old. It's about time to slaughter them......"

Old Lady Xiao cried inconsolably. Yan Hui scratched her head: "Then how about this, all of the chicken meat is for you and your grandson. I'll......drink soup?"

"Be quiet!"

A'Fu severely repreminded her. Yan Hui stared blankly after that shout. Then she immediately frowned: "Why are you yellling?"

A'Fu strode forward. He snatched the chicken from Yan Hui's hand and gave her a cold look. He spoke coldly by her ear: "You don't know anything. Don't speak nonsense."

His attitude provoked Yan Hui into an angry laugh: "You know everything? It's just a couple chickens! What's the fuss?"

A'Fu wasn't looking at her. He turned around and handed the chicken to Grandma Xiao: "Grandmother, don't be grieved."

Yan Hui was off to the side. She felt like a bully of the weak and old, a scoundrel ruining the village fields when all she did was slaughter three loud chickens. She opened her mouth: "It's just three chickens! Just you wait!"

She rolled up her sleeves and left.

When Old Lady Xiao realized Yan Hui was gone, she hurriedly pushed A'Fu: "Go stop her. Go stop her. Bring her back."

A'Fu silently looked at Old Lady Xiao for awhile: "Grandmother, I'll help you back in first."

Yan Hui walked on the path up the mountain. Although Tong Luo Mountain was spiritually barren, there were still a few wild animals. She was going to catch some wild chickens and cram the coop full. That's all there is to it.

On the path up, Yan Hui ran into a few villagers. Everyone's gaze subconsciously stopped on her. When they saw she was going up the mountain however, they didn't try to stop her, and they let her go up herself. That's because all the villagers believed that no one entering from the back of the mountain could get out of the vegetation-overgrown mountain.

Up on the mountain, Yan Hui searched for some time and caught two wild chickens. She held the two chickens in her hand. She was just planning to find the third chicken when the plants by the side started to shake. The Yan Hui who spend her life cultivating to deal with demons immediately went on alert.

She leaned her body, took a step back, and assumed a defensive stance. She stared fixedly at the rustling vegetation. A man wearing coarse clothing walked out.

The man didn't even look at Yan Hui. He walked through the vegetation and continued toward the village. He was limping; walking was difficult.

Yan Hui stared at his back for a long time. Her gaze fell onto his foot, and she immediately frowned.

Tong Luo village wasn't big. The villagers all knew each other. After one night, basically the entire village knew the Xiao Family's A'Fu got married. They also all had a "keep an eye on her" attitude, yet this person......

Yan Hui was deep in thought when she heard another set of footsteps. She raised her head and saw A'Fu slowly walking over.

Yet when he saw Yan Hui holding the chicken, he raised an eyebrow: "You move fast."

"You also found me pretty fast." Yan Hui handed the wild chickens over to A'Fu: "Hold these. I'm going to find three or four more to fill up that shoddy chicken coop."

A'Fu didn't refuse.. He took the chickens from Yan Hui's hand and followed behind her. Yan Hui gazed at the scenery while heedlessly walking on. She reached an area with trampled undergrowth and broken trees. She halted: "That day, we fought pretty viciously here, didn't we?"

A'Fu looked around at the surroundings, avoiding looking at her. Yan Hui also didn't look at him. Her gaze swept over the area. Then she eagerly ran over to a spot: "Oh, my peach wood jian!"

Yan Hui picked it up and did a few practice moves. Then she pointed it at A'Fu: "I have a bad temper and an equally bad personality. And the thing I hate the most is when people lecture me. Aside from my shifu, anyone who lectured me ended up regretting it. You better keep that in mind. This time, I'll let it go and act like I haven't heard anything. If you dare lecture me again, you've been warned that this girl will carry out what she started. I'll use my jian to stab you in the seven inches [1]!

A'Fu coldly snorted: "A pathetic peach wood jian that can only inflict flesh wounds. What's there to fear?"

Yan Hui's eyes instantly darkened. She withdrew her jian and ran her finger over its edge: "Yet I remember you cried out quite painfully back then."

A'Fu no longer paid Yan Hui any attention. He looked off to the side and jerked his chin to alert Yan Hui: "Wild chicken."

Yan Hui also stopped talking to him. She pounced over to catch chickens.

When they caught six wild chickens, the two stopped their efforts and returned home. Only when Grandma Xiao saw that Yan Hui really did return with chickens did her anger finally go away. They ate chicken for dinner. Afterwards, everyone went to their own rooms to sleep.

Tonight Yan Hui laid on the bed with her eyes open, listening to A'Fu's even breathing in the corner. Yan Hui slowly arranged her thoughts.

These two days, Yan Hui always felt a strange conflict about A'Fu. Now she finally realized what was strange about it.

If it was said a snake's spirit attached itself to A'Fu's body, why would a demon, a new one to this, be so familiar with A'Fu's daily life: propelling a raft to a cave by the cliff, going to the fields to hoe, coping with troublesome kids. When she killed the chickens and made Old Lady Xiao upset and mad, why would he comfort her with soft words. This definitely wasn't what a demon, who was seeking refuge and attached itself to a body, would do.

He was already very familiar with these matters. It was almost like he had been using A'Fu's body for several years.

Yan Hui would never forget that day she fought with the snake demon. She pierced his tail and split it into two, earning a face full of blood. Yet today when Yan Hui bluffed by saying "stab you in the seven inches", he didn't react. It was clear he was the same before as he was today. He always followed her words and went past them, beating her at her own game and misleading her.

Yan Hui was already positive A'Fu was not the snake spirit. But what was strange was, since A'Fu was not the snake spirit, then what demon was residing in A'Fu's body? Why would he trick her? What was in the cave he brought her to? What was his objective......

The more Yan Hui thought, the more she felt like this young man was an enigma.

And aside from the young man, there was still the real snake demon. Where did it go, and where was the real hidden heirloom?

Looks like she had to put in more effort to investigate it if she wanted to get the 88 taels of gold reward. For such a small mountain village, there were a lot of mysterious things going on.....

Yan Hui heaved a deep sigh and couldn't help following with another rueful sigh. She just wanted to eat well. Why was that so hard?