บท 19: The Lost Art
XuanRong stared at the person on the ground. She noticed that the person was not a man but a middle-aged woman. She squatted and tried to reach out to touch the woman's body and inspect her injuries. But before XuanRong's fingers could touch the hem of her clothes, the woman suddenly opened her eyes and grabbed XuanRong's wrist.
XuanRong was startled and subconsciously wanted to fling the woman's hand away from her wrist. Ever since she came back to life after experiencing the traumatic event that night, she developed a negative reaction of physical contact with other people especially with strangers and the opposite sex. Whenever other people touched her, she could not help but feel disgusted as if maggots and worms were crawling inside her body. She could not control herself and her stomach would churn, making her want to puke unceasingly. Even with her personal maids and servants, it took a few days for her to adjust and finally accept their assistance and service.
XuanRong tried to pull her wrist away from the woman's grasp but the woman's grip was very strong, XuanRong could only stay still and let the woman pull her closer while trying to calm herself.
"Who are you?", XuanRong asked.
"D-o not... do not let th-them see t-the.... the...." The woman's weak voice stuttered as she tried to convey the words she wanted to say. The hand that was gripping XuanRong tightened as she struggled to speak. XuanRong noticed that although the woman's eyes were open, there were no luster and glow reflecting inside them. The woman was blind.
XuanRong sighed. She felt sympathy towards the woman who shared the same fate as her.
"K-keep… Keep it hi..hi-hidden.."
The woman slowly moved her other hand inside her robe. Few seconds later, she pulled a necklace with a marble-like pendant hanging on the silver chain. The necklace was very simple and plain. No rubies or any other expensive stones were adorned around the pendant.
The woman's hand was shaking as she tried to 'forcefully' stuff the necklace in XuanRong's palm.
"D-don't… Don't…."
But before the woman could finish the words she wanted to say, she fainted. The hand that was holding the pendant fell on the ground with a small 'thud'. The pendant was now hanging awkwardly on XuanRong's fingers.
XuanRong's countenance darkened and she stood up.
"Carry the woman inside the carriage."
She looked at the pendant on her hand and contemplated a little bit before placing it inside her inner sleeve. No one could read what she was thinking.
When the woman was successfully carried inside her carriage, XuanRong ordered the coachman to continue and drive. The journey had been delayed a couple of times and XuanRong was afraid that it was already too late to prepare once they arrive at the temple. She was also starting to worry for the woman's well-being. She needs to be treated before it was too late.
Sighing, XuanRong resumed undressing the woman. Her wounds were very deep especially the wound at her chest but XuanRong could only apply some blood-clotting medicine to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound securely.
As she was trying to dress the woman with her own clothes, XuanRong noticed the tattoo on the woman's neck at the back of her ear. It was a half-moon with three stars. XuanRong's hand stilled and she unconsciously moved away from the woman.
'She's a survivor of the Yue clan.'
XuanRong's mind suddenly whirred and she thought of the Yue clan's annihilation.
The Yue clan was a small clan living on the border that was between Qian Zou and Jin. Few decades ago, because of a single slip, the whole continent found out that the Yue clan was practicing sorcery which was deeply rebuked by the people who believed that sorcery was evil. Since then, the four emperors decided to have a truce in order to eliminate the Yue clan. Little did the commoners know, that the four emperors had their own agenda and plans for the clan.
The Yue clan was an ancient clan. They were not practicing sorcery like what was written in the history. When XuanRong was looking for any means to help Xu ji An in his battle to the throne, she was able to learn the real reason why the Yue clan was exterminated.
The Art of Gu [1].
The Yue clan was special. They knew the lost art of how to create and raise Gu. Feeding the blood of the one who raised them, the Gu pair would appear docile towards that person and would obey that person's command.
The art of Gu was not as omnipotent as people thought but it could be used for saving people and killing people. In medicine, the Gu art could assist the medical practitioner in curing poisons, but on the other hand, it could also be used in harming human lives.
Thus, the Yue clan's art of Gu was both feared and coveted by the four emperors. Even the martial artist practitioners from Jianghu desired the clan's sacred art after learning that the lost Art of Gu was still being practiced inside the Yue clan.
Since then, the Yue clan was chased wherever they went. Ever since the Art of Gu resurfaced after being lost for centuries, those people who harboured ill intentions tried different means to learn the lost Art, unfortunately, the Clan Head did not agree and was adamant to keep the Art a secret within the clan. Thus, those people could only kidnap the children of the Yue clan to use as their experiment and **** the females and let them bear children to see if the Art was only inherited by blood or not.
Years passed, and the harassment continued until the Yue clan could no longer retaliate and slowly vanished within the continent. Many people thought that the clan died out but the woman in front of XuanRong was the living evidence that the Yue clan did not meet their demise.
XuanRong took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Her hand that was frozen halfway started moving once again. Whether the woman was really from the Yue clan or not, XuanRong did not care. For a person like her who already experienced the worst of the worst, she knew the feeling of being lost in the darkness after falling into the pit of despair, having no one to rely on but yourself.
After XuanRong was done dressing the woman, she sat at the edge of the carriage and fell into deep thought. She estimated that an hour later, YuYing would be able to reach the town's outskirts. Without any delay, she calculated that at most, YuYing and the officers from yamen would arrive at the break of dawn. She just had to make sure that she would be able to survive until dawn.
XuanRong's mind started recalling what happened that night. She was almost at the temple when she was harassed, she was able to escape but she ran away at the opposite direction of the temple and hid somewhere else. Because no one saw her for the entire night, although she was safe, rumours started to spread. In this lifetime, she had to make sure that she would not commit the same mistake. Since she visited the temple earlier than the previous one, XuanRong guessed that it would take time hiring someone to dispose her since the capital was far from Lu Shan. At most, it would be after her arrival at the temple.
"Hoo~ easy."
XuanRong heard the coachman's voice as he tried to stop the horse from running. A second later, the carriage stopped moving and once again, XuanRong heard the coachman spoke.
"Da XiaoJie, we have arrived."
XuanRong's eyes sharpened.
"En."
[PLEASE ADOPT ME \(T^T)/ and DONATE @ paypal.me/sayurihyuuga]
-------
[1]. Poison bugs.
-------
Edited and Proofread by: Prikkrang and Supremetobs
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
SayuriHyuuga
SayuriHyuuga Author's Side Note:
I went to visit my co-worker at St. Peter's few hours ago. Her mom died and I went there to express my condolence. I suddenly realized that Wang So is right, life is really fleeting and it is also short. So, before it's too late, you must live for yourself, be happy and don't forget to express your love towards those people you cared~
night! early update!
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง