When Ai woke up, the masked man was running a fever. How troublesome! Though Ai knew first aid very well she wasn't a doctor. Still she stayed calm and collected and did the most she could. Still she knew she would have to go to an apothecary to get additional pills and herbs to cure him completely. Right now, she only had the strict minimum : few pouches with medicine powder.
After 3 days of constant care, the fever finally subsided and the masked man regained consciousness.
"Looks like I made it in the end." He said feebly. He knew the hit he received would normally fatal but at the last moment, he pulled some spiritual power to cover his main organs and thus managed to survive.
Manipulating spiritual energy was a very difficult and rare feature. In this whole continent only a handful were able to and he was probably the only one that had attained such a level of precision.
However, even with such a high level of skill, he still could not avoid being seriously injured. He knew his foundation had been hurt and he would need to cultivate in order to heal.
"I can finally rest without worry!" Ai said weakly. The past 3 days were hard for Ai. If she wasn't changing his bandages, she would wipe the sweat of his body or cook porridge, soups and stew. Just making sure the masked man would not die of dehydration or hunger was eating a large portion of his day. Since he was unconscious, he wouldn't swallow solid food so she had taken a small reed near the pond not far which was empty and used it to slide the liquid food directly in the throat of the masked man. After a few unsuccessful tries, she managed to make him swallow a small bowl of nourishing soup that was mixed in with some medicine.
All that to say, Ai barely slept and ate during those 3 days and looked quite pale and tired with huge dark circles. Now that he was truly out of danger, all she wanted to do is take a bath and go sleep.
"Where am I?"
Ai placed some bowls on the side table near his bed.
"Senior, this junior really needs to rest. Please forgive me for being impolite. I will explain all once I'll be rested."
Ai could barely keep her eyes open now. The masked man was about to be angered by this rude brat but when he glanced to the face of the young man, he realized the youth was truly exhausted. He looked haggard.
"Go, we'll talk after you have some sleep."
Ai left and slept a for another day and night. It was now at the dawn of his 5th day of disappearance.
In Capital City, rumors were going wild again. Some were describing how he had offended some big powers and had been kidnapped or killed. Another said that he was being held captive at the Scarlet Aurora's sect and was about to be married off to the Lord's daughter. Some other said he ran away as the country bumpkin he was.
In a tree camp emplacement, not far from Ai's ancestral hall, 5 youths were in a heated discussion. Among them, 3 young handsome men and 2 beautiful young ladies. Only one problem. One of the girls was tied up and gagged. Her big beautiful eyes pleading to be rescued.
"Senior brother, why did you kidnap her? I already told you she was an airhead and thus unlikely to be involved! Besides she had helped me out when that gross ruffian tried to "feel" me!" The one who had just spoke was the adoptive daughter of their Fierce ThunderBolt Brotherhood's leader. She wasn't part of the brotherhood per say, but as the adoptive daughter's of their leader, she had special privileges.
"Ling Fu, she was the last one to have seen him. You know that as well. If she had cooperated at the beginning, would there be any need to take these measures?" Ming Xia spoke, a bit flustered. He had planned to invite Ai to play the next day but realized she was not there. He didn't worry much but as Ai missed some important events, so on the 2nd day, he started to worry and alerted his sworn brothers
"He had disappeared for 5 days already. The inn owner's had said he paid for a year, all his belongings are still there, so he had not left Capital City...at least not willingly." Yang spoke calmly.
An wrote on a piece a paper : "No servants have seen him leave and nobody in the city has seen since, except for her!"
"That's right, we all know what happened between the 2 and how she pestered our sworn brother and bullied him so much that he humiliated her by leaving her in front of the city guard's office for everyone to see! She has a motive."
"That's wrong!!! He saved me I have no reason to harm him!!! He is my benefactor!!"
After a lot of effort, Mei had managed to ungagged herself finally. The scream startled everyone around the table.
An was deep in reflexion. Somehow, the 3 sworn brothers had grown fond of their newly little brother. Having developed affinities with him, they were naturally concerned about him. Seing him so talented had also awaken the desire to rope him in their secret brotherhood so they got together and decided to investigate his disappearance.
When they approached Mei, she refused to say anything so they kidnapped her for answers. Unfortunately, they got caught by Ling Fu and their plan spoiled.
"It seems the Scarlet Aurora sect is not involved in this. I have sent out few men to monitor them right away but the sect is still behaving as normal. " An deducted. Examining Mei, she didn't seem to have the power to overcome Ai, though she was really strong.
"Release her, I also believe she has nothing to do with Ai's disappearance." An wrote on a piece of paper.