Xiao Hua
Seen himself safe, thankfully to the intense training he had undergo over the years, Xiao Hua was beginning to think he had acted too rashly when kissing Hei Xiazi out of their dangerous situation. Now that he was safely on ground and watching Xiazi hang on vines, he felt a bit embarrassed for what he knew was coming and he could not blame it on Xiazi, even if he wanted it too.
"Master Hua, are you waiting to catch me bridal style?" The man with black glasses teased from above, right before he slipped and fell, which make his own body react out of instinct, but for nothing, as Xiazi was as skilled as him when it came to survival, thus he landed safely on the ground right in front of his extended hand.
"You are such a caring gentlemen... I apologize for thinking of you as heartless..." Xiazi laughed.
"Never mind, let's go. We are not exactly safe here either." Xiao Hua said, giving Xiazi his back as he walked ahead.
Behind him, Glasses smiled, finally savoring having the upper hand after been mocked by Master Hua since the start of their journey together. However, as much as he wanted to enjoy his moment of glory, that was indeed not the best place to do it, thus they keep on walking until there was the need to take a rest.
"We need to catch up to San Xing soon, otherwise we will have to hunt to survive, we are running out of food." Xiao Hua pointed, as soon as they had their cold meal.
"That's fine by me. We can have a barbecue..."
"Of what? Snakes? I pass." Xiao Hua said in disgust.
"Hey, who knows, maybe there are some wild chickens out there."
"You wish. We can't be that far from San Xing, we just need to move faster."
"Master Hua, we have not spend our time together dating nor sightseeing, it had been a hard road and we had been close to die a few times already. Let's not push ourselves beyond our limits, I have plans for us once out of here." Xiazi said while Xiao Hua smirked.
"There is not us, Xiazi. One kiss don't make us a couple. It was a favor."
"Favor or not, you were willing."
"I didn't want to owe you nothing."
"You never owed me anything from the start. The parting kiss was just a suggestion, you take it too seriously."
"I am a serious man that keeps his words."
"I agree... which make me wonder, if you had been traveling with someone else, will you had agree to kiss as well?"
"If I were to travel with someone else, a kiss would have not been asked, not even think about it. You are the one who takes jokes too far."
"It was not a joke, I truly like you."
"We are both men and you are a teaser as well."
"A teaser I am, I admit it, but to me, gender doesn't really matter. The question is, what about you?"
"As the head of my family I had no time to delude myself in fantasies." Xiao Hua said.
"I take it back, you are indeed heartless." Xiazi said while sighing. At that Xiao Hua give him his back and was going to move on the road when he spotted a dense white cloud closing in.
"What's that?" Xiao Hua asked as he pointed at the approaching fog. Xiazi looked up to where Hua was pointed and stood up in alarm.
"That's poisonous gas. Run!!!" Xiazi yelled and once again, they engaged on a mad dash through the forest and then into a creek, which was the only open way ahead.
However, running over water was not easy and Xiazi end up helping his cruel Master Hua to prevent him from falling, but as they keep running and the poison spread further, they begin to show signs of poisoning.
Xiazi halted at some point, grabbing his throbbing head with his hand. If they keep on inhaling the gas, there was a huge possibility for them to hallucinate and get separate and lost. So, Xiazi took a rope from his backpack and tied up Xiao Hua with it, even when the other man looked a bit uncomfortable as he passes his hands around his waist.
"Bear with it... it will be worst if we separate and end up in danger with no one else to offer help." Xiazi said as he tied him.
"I know... just let me tie you too." Xiao Hua whisper as he took the other end of the rope and tied up Xiazi, who took the lead, as they keep walking.
A while after, Xiao Hua saw Xiazi stagger in front of him, probably too affected by the gas both of them had been expose to.
"Xiazi! Stop!" He shouted, making the other man stop in his track.
"What?" Xiazi asked a bit confused.
"Look at me. Can you focus on me?" Xiao Hua asked and Xiazi look at him, but he felt dizzy. Thus he stagger again.
"I'm truly not at my best right now..."
"You are already poison... give me your hand."
"I thought you didn't want anything to do with me..."
"I'm not asking for you hand in marriage. I need to bleed your poison out."
"What? Bleeding? I rather not, that hurts..."
"Xiazi, don't be a kid, give your hand now." And so he did, then watched as Xiao Hua took out his knife from his belt.
"Wait no!"
"Don't be a scared cat, I will not cut you deeply."
"You are revenging on me, right?"
"Don't mix things, I'm trying to save your life, or you prefer to die here while poison."
"Aright... just be gentle..."
"How can a cut be done gently? It will be small, okay?" Then Xiazi assented, as Xiao Hua took his hand and make a small cut on his palm. Xiazi try not to moan in pain, but he did, as even if the cut was not deep, nor long, it was still painful.
"Now close you hand on a fist and press it as hard as you can to draw the blood out."
"I..."
"Damn, you are so troublesome." Xiao Hua cursed, taking Xiazi hand and closing into a fist himself, then pressed on it, making it bleed.
"So heartless..."
"It's not heartless when saving a life, just bear with it." Xiao Hua defended himself as he keep the pressure over Xiazi's fist, until enough blood was drained, to keep the poison out. Then, Xiao Hua used his white handkerchief to bandage his palm and stop the bleeding.
"Are you less dizzy now? I didn't draw too much blood, right?" Xiao Hua asked and Xiazi smiled.
"No, you are actually quite dependable. Such a catch... a shame..."
"I see you are fine, let's go."
"Wait, let me scout ahead. If something else happen, you get away."
"As if. The poison gas is still on our backs and to be honest, you are beginning to be as unlucky as Wu Xie. Now I know how Zhang Qiling feels every time Wu Xie is in danger..."
"Hua'er, that sounds like a confession, because we all know Zhang Qiling is devoted to Wu Xie, not to mention head over heels for him."
"I'm not Zhang Qiling, so don't get your hopes up... come on." Xiao Hua said going ahead, but half way he begin to get tired and Xiazi went ahead of him once more and just like he had predicted, another disaster shortly follow in the moment Xiazi suddenly sink inside the previous shallow water.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Hua asked, stopping a short distance away.
"Wu Xie's luck may have rub on me indeed, or you can see me as the hero that takes dangers for you. From here on, I think we are inside a swamp and I'm stuck on it." Xiazi said as he feel himself sink deeper with each breath.
"This can't be a swamp." Xiao Hua objected and Xiazi bow down to reach the bottom of the water, grabbing something that shouldn't be there and show it to Xiao Hua.
"A snake spine?" Xiazi asked.
"Really, this is not a swamp but a snake corpse pit." Xiao Hua said.
"Okay... please get me out of here... be my Qiling by all means." Xiazi whisper as he looked down, sinking a few centimeters further in.
"Hold on into the rope, I will try to pull you out." Xiao Hua offer as he try his beast to pull Xiazi out of his predicament, but failed miserably, only managing to sink Xiazi even further.
"It's no use... at this rate I will be drown in no time."
"Don't say that, just hang on..."
"Master Hua..."
"Shut up! Don't even think about telling me to leave you behind!"
"But Hua'er, the poison gas is spreading again, look at that miasma behind you." And so he did, which make him only more desperate.
"Come on!!"
"Leave me!! Such a miasma will kill you too if you stay here longer!!"
"Don't start been noble now, it doesn't suit you."
"Then I will cut the rope..."
"Don't you dare Hei Yan Jing!!!!" Xiao Hua lost it.
"I'm serious Xie Yu Chen! Better me than you!!!" Xiazi said as he took out his knife.
"Don't! Let me try something else..." Xiao Hua halt him, going away and tying the rope into a nearby tree, then came back for Xiazi.
"What are you doing? Keep on moving..."
"Lean on me, I will pull you out."
"You will sink too."
"Seriously, Wu Xie gives Zhan Qiling less struggles than you."
"They love each other."
"Didn't you say you like me?"
"And you don't, so what's the point?"
"The point is that I rather die than leave you behind! Come on! You will need to tease me a lot more for me to give in!" Xiao Hua pulled with all his strength and finally manage to free Xiazi from the mud that was sinking him and just in time, when the miasma was reaching them.
Xiazi untie himself from the robe and took Xiao Hua's arm to help him walk out of the water, then run as far as they could away from that hellish snake pit, then camp for the night, as Wu Xie and Xiaoge held into on another somewhere else behind.
Wu Xie
When he wake up, it was still dark and Xiaoge was still holding on him, as he was when he fall asleep, although they had changed positions and he was laying on one side, while Xiaoge was hugging his waist. He wasn't sure what wake him up, but as he looked ahead, he immediately noted something was out of place.
Laying on that side, he had a clear view of Ah Ning's body, which was not too far. She was obviously still on her sleeping bag like he left her, but the difference was that her bag was wide open when he had close it before he went to sleep with Xiaoge.
"Wait... what?!!" Wu Xie sat on a rush. Which wake up Xiaoge at his side, instantly.
"Wu Xie!" Xiaoge exclaimed, getting a hold of him again before he could storm out of the bag.
"Ah Ning's sleeping bag is open! I'm sure I close it before. Why is open now?" Wu Xie asked and Xiaoge understood his meaning,
"Wait here." Xiaoge told Wu Xie as he stood to check on Ah Ning's body. Pan Zi, who was also awoken by Wu Xie's yell, came to see what was happening.
"What is it?" He asked Xiage, but Wu Xie had left his sleeping back too.
"Her sleeping bag is open and I'm sure it wasn't like that before." Wu Xie whisper as he illuminate the ground around her, noticing what looked like footprints.
"It seems that something crawled here while we were sleeping." Pan Zi concluded.
"Those are footprints. Someone sneak on us..." Wu Xie said and was about to search when Xiaoge halt him.
"Wait, that thing may still be here." Xiaoge warned him.
"Pangzi! Pangzi, wake up!" Wu Xie yelled, but as the other man said nothing, he turned to wake him up himself, but as he squatted by his side, he notice the mud traces left behind over the fabric of the sleeping bag he was using.
Then a snake slither right over Pangzi's neck, which scare the hell out of Wu Xie, who almost fell backwards, if Xiaoge didn't grab him.
"A snake!!!" Wu Xie yelled, which wake up Pangzi suddenly, hastily making him get out of it in panic.
"What is it? What is it?" Pangzi asked in a rush.
"Tiger keelback." Xiaoge answer calmly.
"Ah, that scared me to death. I'm so glad I didn't overreact, otherwise I would be dead." Pangzi said more to himself than for anyone else, yet, the rest just thought he was lucky the snake was already away from him when he jumped out.
"Then... her sleeping bag was open by the snake?" Pan Zi asked Wu Xie.
"I don't think so... those are human footprints... there is no mistake there." Wu Xie said, then illuminate their surroundings with his flashlight, catching movements behind a bush.
"Who's there?" Then a figure dashed away into the water and Xiaoge rushed behind it, already knowing they had been followed for a while now.
"Xiaoge!" Wu Xie went after them, but was stopped before hitting the water by Pangzi.
"At the speed they are running you won't be able to catch on them." Pangzi said.
"I won't leave Xiaoge on his own!"
"He knows how to protect himself." Pan Zi added.
"He doesn't had his sword anymore!" Wu Xie argue.
"There is more to Xiaoge than his skills with a sword. He is a Master in many arts. He is going to be fine. Let's just wait for him here, so he can find us when he is done." Pan Zi said and Wu Xie steeped back, but when he turned, he found that now Ning's body was missing.
"Where is Ah Ning?" He asked as he looked around but saw nothing.
"Could it be that the snake took her body while we were distracted?" Pangzi asked.
"It could be, but if that is the case, then there is more than one nearby." Pan Zi agree.
"We were away just for a moment. She must still be near, I'm going to find her..."
"Wow, hold on! Are you crazy? Out there must be a lot of snakes, all of them deadly."
"We can't leave Ah Ning in a snake pit!"
"You said so yourself, Tianzhen. It's a snake pit. I know you have your morals... but she is still dead, while we are still living. Will you risk it for her body?" Pangzi asked him seriously.
"That's the fate she chose, I'm sorry." Pan Zi said and Wu Xie calmed down.
That was right, she had chosen that path even if it killed her, but the others were alive and there was Xiaoge too. He could not risk them for selfish reasons. It was time to let her go.
"Alright... let's wait for Xiaoge, then we keep on until we find my uncle." Wu Xie conceded.
"Good boy, now let's make sure this fire keeps burning for the rest of the night and for Xiaoge to come back." Pangzi said and they sat again in wait.
AN: Sorry for the wait, thanks for reading. I hope you like the development of Xiazi and Xiao Hua's relationship. I may skip some things from the drama, since Wu Xie and Xiaoge are in a more intimate relationship, which will make Xiaoge less prone to leave Wu Xie behind, especially when he had been deeply hurt by Ah Ning's death. Until next time, take care.