A Clash of Gods - Chapter 26

Chapter 26 Tough Time
Yang Ning pressed his hands against the ground with his body leaning backwards. He smiled and said, “You don’t remember my name? I seem to have told you. My name is Bunny.”

“Bunny?” The young man sneered and said, “Do you think I’m a fool? This is not your name.”

Yang Ning smiled and said, “Believe it or not. I am a vagrant, so it’s not strange that I don’t have a name. By the way, it seems that your kung fu is not bad. You learned from that old man? What is your name?”

Hearing Yang Ning mentioned the elder in brown robe, the young man immediately got up and said, “Give me this horse first, and I assure you that your help will be returned in ten folds and even one hundred folds in the future.” He continued before Yang Ning could open his mouth, “This horse was originally mine and it was tied outside of the tavern. You looted it in the chaos. Now that you are safe, you should return it to me.”

“I don’t like your words.” Yang Ning also got up. “Loot? Don’t you see that if this horse has been left there, it would have died? I saved it, and I saved your life to some extent. You have no evidence to prove that this horse is yours. Even if it is true, do you think the horse is much precious than your life?”

“All right. I borrow it from you.” The young man seemed to know that there would be no consequence if he continued to argue with Yang Ning, so he simply said, “I will repay you in one hundred fold.”

Yang Ning crossed his arms and smiled, “Everyone can talk big. If you ride my horse away, I’m not sure whether I can see you again. For me, this horse is priceless and I must ride it to do something important. I think you can banish that thought.” Yang Ning persuaded him, “Listen, Buddy…”

“I’m not your buddy.” The young man said angrily.

Yang Ning laughed and said, “Then what should I call you? I can’t call you muddy man, right?” Looking at the young man with mud all over his body, he felt very funny. But he didn’t know that he was just the same.

The young man hesitated for a while before saying, “My name is Xiao Guang!”

“This is certainly not your real name.” Yang Ning said, “But it’s better than nothing. By the way, I advise you not to go back. You have seen the means of this gang of men. Do you think it’s useful to go back? You’ve seen the results of those escorts. Without kung fu, they can’t make a living as escorts. But they are almost wiped out. I can’t imagine what will happen when you go back. You are biting the hook or seeking your own doom.”

The young man thought for a while, and without saying a word, he turned around and walked away. He even gave up the horse.

“Do you really want to go back?” Yang Ning shouted behind him, “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you. You are asking for death if you go back like this. The old man has put his life at risk to let you go. If you go back now, what he has sacrificed will be cast to the wind. Buddy, you don’t look like a fool. I don’t believe that you don’t understand this.”

Xiao Guang suddenly stopped.

In the rainy night, it was cold and bleak, and the wind seemed to die away. But the rain in autumn showed no signs of stopping.

Seeing that Xiao Guang stopped and kept silent, Yang Ning said, “What’s the relationship between you and that person? He takes good care of you. I can see that his kung fu is not bad, so he may not be killed by these men. Without too much concern, he may escape single-handed. But if you get back, I am afraid that you will divert his attention. What’s more, we have gone so far, so the fight there has already come to an end whether he is alive or dead. If he has died or escaped, do you think you can deal with so many people alone?” He pulled the reins and turned around to mount the horse, looking back and saying, “Besides, since he has desperately let you escape, it means that in his heart, your life is much more important than his. If you are dead, I really don’t know how he will feel.”

Xiao Guang didn’t look back and just stood there blankly, letting the wind and rain batter him.

Yang Ning shook his head, thinking that he had taken the man here and couldn’t interfere in the following things anymore. He didn’t want to get involved in the trouble, so he flicked the reins and urged the horse to run. But he still couldn’t help but look back, only to see that Xiao Guang wobbled and suddenly fell forward to the ground.

Yang Ning was hit by a shock. He dismounted from the horse, and ran over. Seeing that Xiao Guang collapsed in the mud motionlessly, he held him and turned him over on his back quickly, frowning and shouting, “Hey, Xiao Guang! Wake up. What’s the matter? Is it that my words are too blunt and provoke you?”

The rain was beating against Xiao Guang’s face. Yang Ning wiped off the mud on Xiao Guang’s face. His face was pale, his teeth clenched, his eyes closed, and his body trembling.

Yang Ning reached out his hand and put it on Xiao Guang’s forehead. He felt that his hand was burnt by his skin and he became startled. Then he realized that the young man had a fever.

This vexed Yang Ning. He planned to go to the capital so that he could catch up with the escort team. He would try his best as long as there was still a glimmer of hope. But now the guy had a fever and his forehead was burning. Obviously, he was seriously ill.

If he left Xiao Guang alone, Xiao Guang would be likely to die here, let alone the gang of mysterious Flying Cicada Ninjas who might catch up anytime.

He had a severe fever and if he continued to be exposed to the rain, he would be doomed to die.

Yang Ning made a forced smile and shook his head bitterly. He held Xiao Guang up before mounting on the horse, and then hugged Xiao Guang from behind. He looked around, only to find that in the rainy night he had lost his orientation in such a vast and vague wilderness.

Yang Ning knew that even if he could not find a doctor, he should seek shelter from the rain as soon as possible. Otherwise, Xiao Guang might die if he continued to run a temperature.

Casting all caution to the winds, he could only go wherever the horse ran.

He felt that Xiao Guang had a poor constitution. The guy could play a little kung fu, so his constitution shouldn’t have been so weak. But he got such a severe fever just after getting wet in the rain.

The horse was running in the rain. Yang Ning had lost his way, so he just let it run by itself. Feeling that Xiao Guang was trembling violently, he couldn’t help praying, “This guy doesn’t look like a bad person. His life shouldn’t be taken by the rain. God bless you. At least don’t let him die before my eyes.”

Not knowing how long it had been, Yang Ning felt that the rain seemed to ease off. Looking up, he found that the horse had run into a bamboo grove unconsciously.

The bamboo grove was very dense, blocking the rain. The fragrance of green bamboos drifted out, refreshing.

However, he couldn’t find shelter from the rain. Xiao Guang had been trembling before, but at this moment he no longer moved. Yang Ning put his hand on Xiao Guang’s forehead and felt very cold, so his heart sank. He doubted that he had died, so he felt his breath. Fortunately, he was still breathing.

When the horse entered the bamboo grove, he urged the horse to slow down. Yang Ning looked around and saw that there was a blanket of mist suspending in the midair of the bamboo grove. The mist was hazy, like cloud and smoke.

After walking for a while, the horse came out of the bamboo grove. Yang Ning looked ahead and became excited. He saw that there was a house not far from him. When he approached it, he found that the house was dilapidated and its walls were collapsed. It turned out to be a deserted small courtyard.

Even so, he finally found a shelter from the rain. Yang Ning got down from the horse and carefully held Xiao Guang to the house. The house had wide eaves, but they were covered with cobwebs. Its door had disappeared long ago, but its entrance was sealed by intricate cobwebs.

Yang Ning looked up to see the broken plaque on the top of the entrance. But it was also covered by thick layers of cobwebs and the light was dim in the night, so he couldn’t see clearly what was written on it.

He first lay down Xiao Guang, and then found a log to clean the cobwebs that blocked the entrance. Then he took Xiao Guang into the room. As soon as he entered the room, a musty smell came to his nose, but at this time he could only ignore it. The room was dim, so he couldn’t see clearly for a while. He groped in the dark to find a place, and then put Xiao Guang down.

He knew that Xiao Guang was wet all over now. If he was like this all the time, his fever would be aggravated. He hesitated for a while, and felt around in the dark to take off Xiao Guang’s clothes, leaving him only a pair of short pants. He thought it would be nice if he had straw for the fire.

The most basic skill of surviving in the wild was to make a fire. Yang Ning had tried to use stones to make a fire before. Although it was time-consuming, it was the only way at present. But if he wanted to make a fire, there must be straw. If there was no dry straw, it would be impossible to make a fire even if there were stones.

He walked around the room with his body bent. It was dark all around, so he couldn’t see clearly. While groping, he found that in this house there seemed to be broken tiles everywhere and a lot of beams in disorder. Maybe he got a break. When he felt around in a corner, Yang Ning found a haystack and became overjoyed. Faintly seeing that a lot of hay was piled here, he beamed with smile.

It took him a lot of time to start a fire after he found the stones. Yang Ning had no time to do other things except for spreading the fire with the hay first. Then he used the icy blade to chop the dry beams and put them up. He made a bonfire in moments, and when he immediately felt warm, he took a long sigh of relief. He looked at Xiao Guang and found that Xiao Guang was curled up on the ground with only a pair of pants, trembling.

Yang Ning saw that there was a lot of hay in the corner of the house, so he quickly made a simple hay bed not far from the bonfire. Then he lay Xiao Guang down on the hay bed, and piled some hay on him to keep him warm. Seeing that Xiao Guang’s skin was tender and delicate and his skin was fair, he thought that this guy was really in the lap of luxury. But he didn’t know who he was.

When he thought that for such a stranger he had lost his precious time and had kept himself fluttering about all the time, he felt he had lost out.

He couldn’t help but think that if this guy woke up, he would charge him for the service. The guy seemed to come from a well-to-do family, so it shouldn’t be a problem to ask for some silver.

Seeing that Xiao Guang was still trembling, he touched his forehead and found that it was burning again. Xiao Guang was hot one minute and cold the next, so he naturally was extremely uncomfortable. It was just that Yang Ning was not a doctor. Even if he was a doctor, he didn’t have any medicine.

He thought that when ordinary people had a fever, it was better to drink more hot water because it could help them bring down the fever. He was reluctant to move now. But the young man was frowning and his face looked pale, apparently very painful. Thinking that since he had been a good person, he’d better not give up halfway, so he could only get up to boil some hot water for Xiao Guang. He wondered how much money he should ask for when he woke up.