Strange

With a bright smile, Xuan Yueji stated, "I believe that the temple will be able to help the little girl."

"Are you sure?" Chi Chi asked worriedly.

"Yes," Xuan Yueji answered with confidence. "If she did not run away in the past, she would have met the people from that temple."

"Hm… Something is weird," Chi Chi muttered, a little confused.

"What's weird?" Xuan Yueji curiously asked.

"I was with you the entire time previously, how come I don't remember the temple?" Chi Chi questioned.

"You don't remember?" Xuan Yueji queried with shocked eyes.

Feeling his head, Chi Chi answered, "I really don't. That's so strange. How come I only remember helping you find food?"

Rubbing his head, Xuan Yueji also repeated, "That's truly strange."

"Who cares about it," Chi Chi ignored. "So, the temple's in the inner layer of the forest?"

"Yes," Xuan Yueji replied. "It's just that this layer of the forest is quite thick. I pray that the little girl's body can handle the coldness."

"Even if she can't, you can," Chi Chi roughly spoke. "Do you even know pain?"

Coughing in embarrassment, Xuan Yueji ignored the sarcastic question and got into a comfortable position.

He then announced, "I'm going to sleep. Little Xian, please don't move from this place."

Closing his eyes, he evened out his breaths and drifted off to dreamland. After a few minutes though, the closed eyes opened and it started to stare at the place with confusion.

Her hands on her head, Bai Shuixian asked out loud, "Where am I now?"

She seemed to remember someone telling her to stay put, but she did not know who. Also, she could not remember who it was that told her to stay put.

Painfully, she got up and started walking around the fire that had yet to die out. She examined the area and knew that it was only her at the site. At the same time, she limped from the pain in her legs.

Complaining, she said, "Seriously, which person hit me? My legs hurt so badly."

She did not know at all that her body had walked at least three hundred li before finally finding a place to build a campfire at and rest. Her hands were also tired from the hard work of harvesting the weeds without damaging the edible and good parts. Of course, there was no one there to tell her.

(A/N: Three hundred li is about a hundred fifty kilometers. For the people who live in the US, this is about fifty miles. I tried my best to make calculations that sounded realistic for someone who has been traveling at a fast speed for about sixteen to eighteen hours, though I do not think it is anymore after rounding the number to the closest hundreds.)

All of a sudden, she felt lonely. The feeling in her, she could remember it. It was the exact same emotions she had felt at the time that she regained consciousness from fainting.

In the previous life, she did not get a chance to interpret or think about all the things that were going on. She had been too emotional and scared about the future. With her mind that did not get any rest, she had brought upon more pain to herself as she imagined the countless negative things that could happen to her.

This time, it was still chaotic, but she knew it was calm. There was this unconscious feeling that she was having that made her at peace and willing to rest her energetic mind.

Having massaged her legs for a little while now, she stood tall to check the area again. When she was about to move out from the unnoticeable circle that Xuan Yueji made, her legs automatically stopped. She did not know why it stopped, but it did.

Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to take a step again. However, no matter how much strength she put in her legs, she did not move.

With a curse and tiny shiver, she said, "Is there a ghost here or something?"

There was no such thing, but as a little girl by herself in a forest, there were bound to be periods where she was going to get scared. Only, the moment she thought it was a ghost, she expelled the thought. How could there be a ghost?

Shaking her head at her idiocy, she looked at the weeds that were laying on the ground next to her previous sleeping form. With a little curiosity, she walked back to the weeds and squatted down to grab the chickweed that was stacked taller than the other piles.

Ripping off a leaf from the chickweed, she put it into her mouth, chewing it. After chewing for about thirty seconds, she spit the weed out.

With a face full of complaint, she hurled, "Which human in this world can eat this?"

She had woken up feeling in pain in her legs and hands, but now she felt so hungry. She seriously wondered how bad it would be if she starved to death here. Then, she stared intently at the chickweed in her hand.

Sighing, she whispered, "How can I die so early on when heaven has given me a second chance?"

Indeed, she hated the gods that gave her another chance at life. However, she was not someone who was incredibly stupid. She believed that since she was not living the same life as previous, she could change her future to a better one now.

When she said 'better' she did not know what she meant. She only knew that it had to be a place full of peace and carried the air of tranquility which could not be found in the capital.

Though struggling, she stuffed the chickweeds into her mouth and started chewing. To her, the taste was not bitter, but it was so bland that she felt it was no different bitter melons. If anyone was close to her, they would know that she hated bitter foods.

After stuffing herself almost full, moved to the opposite that she woke up from and laid down. With fluttering eyes, she tried to maintain alertness, but sleep slowly drowned her. Her fist that was tense from fatigue and soreness released its tight hold on her clothes.

As the moon fell and the sun rose, the burning fire also died.