Chapter 12: Lost Godhood

Xuan Yi has been pacing back and forth since they arrived, only stopping once in a while to gaze into a distance outside.

It was already evening and Lin He was nowhere in sight since last night. The Lan Sect duo had stumbled upon a small village instead of a ghost city that the inn's boss had mentioned. It was probably just another lie of his.

Luckily for them, the villagers gladly took them in after seeing how they needed a temporary place to rest up.

"What does godhood mean? Have you thought about this?" Xiao Long asked as he sat on an empty carton, shaking his leg lazily. "I think immortality sounds really enticing. I wonder if Shifu became a god because of this reason." He continued, his eyes flickering towards Xuan Yi.

Xiao Long rose from his seat and looked in the direction where she was staring at, "What are you looking at?"

"Lin He." Xuan Yi answered briefly before she turned back to pacing around again. "Is he alright? Does he know where we are? What if he ends up searching for the ghost city?" She asked as she stared at Xiao Long worriedly.

Xiao Long went back to his seat before letting out a sigh, "Shifu will be fine. Stop worrying and eat your food that the kind villagers had provided us with!"

Although he looked like he had confidence in Lin He's well-being, Xiao Long was very worried about his Shifu's prolonged absence. Perhaps as much as Xuan Yi does. Lin He had instructed him to take Xuan Yi away the night before, just in case the wolves were after him. He promised to meet them once the sun rises but he hadn't reached yet. This small village was set in an obvious spot, just at the end of the forests they were at last night.

If Lin He was… alive, he would have followed the path that he had asked them to take and reached here. But he's a god so he wouldn't have died so easily, right?

Xuan Yi sneered at him. "You still have the mood to eat when your Shifu has not returned as promised?"

"Of course! I have all the faith and trust in him." Xiao Long said as he picked up a green pear and rubbed it against his sleeves to clean them. "He also has all the faith and trust in me to bring you out of the mess safely. Clearly, he favours those who have the brains."

She rolled her eyes at him and clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Listen, I've only been failing my theory exams. I've always passed my practicals with flying colours."

"Hmm, okay. Then explain why you were such a mess last night dealing with the wolf demons?" Xiao Long questioned, taking a forceful bite out of his pear as if he was taunting her to admit that she wasn't as strong as she thought.

Feeling irritated by his subtle critics, she ignored him and headed outside the gates.

She stood there with her arms crossed as she looked around, hoping to see the slightest sight of him.

It felt unsettling that he was taking so long to reunite with them and she knew exactly what he was trying to do last night.

To not pull them into his own troubles.

It was obvious that the wolf demons were after him. Those demons usually hunt when there was a full moon, the period when their powers would be the greatest.

But last night there was only a new moon and they were out hunting. The only possible reason why would be because they also heard about Lin He's situation and came for his life.

"You know, there's something weird about those demons." Xuan Yi said as she turned to Xiao Long who had come to sit by her sidel.

Xiao Long took a bite out of the pear in his hand as he looked at her curiously. "What is it?"

"That day, when you asked Lin He about his special ability in the mortal realm, what did he say?"

Xiao Long thought for a while, trying to recall his Shifu's answer to his hundreds of questions. "Hmm… oh, he said that he's holding a mortal body now with his divine powers sealed away as part of his punishment. But even so, he can heal extremely fast! His body is immortal and he wouldn't die. Even if demons or humans attacked his vital parts and killed his mortal body, he would just fade away and return to Heaven."

Xuan Yi recalled the way the Vine Demon had spoken to him and how the wolf demons were out here hunting him down as well. The way they were doing things was as if they were determined to kill Lin He.

It was like they could get rid of him for good.

"Don't you feel something's out of place?" She said, a frown etched on her forehead. "The demons… they are acting like Lin He would die."

Xiao Long let out a loud snort at her words, discrediting her words. "As if a god would die that easily." He said before returning back into the village.

"Youngsters! Youngsters! Come over here!" A loud voice called out, breaking her train of thoughts.

Xuan Yi looked over and noticed an old man with a lantern in his hand, his other arm was holding onto another person as he struggled to walk. She squinted her eyes at the familiar silhouette of the tall figure as she jogged towards them, thinking that someone from the village got injured. The flames of the lantern shone on the clothing of the mysterious person, shining parts of his robes and face.

It was Lin He!

Xuan Yi quickly ran over to the old man, her heart was racing at the sight of her missing companion. When she got close enough, she could see his blood-stained robes and his pale face.

He was in terrible shape.

Lin He forced a smile at her before his body limped, almost crashing onto the ground. Xuan Yi quickly pulled his arm over her shoulders, supporting his body as she yelled, "Xiao Long! Get your ass over here right now!"

=

Lin He has been passed out for two whole days.

The Lan Sect pair decided it was best if they took turns to take care of him after seeing how badly injured he was.

Xiao Long had left to rest in his room while Xuan Yi took over to take care of the passed out god with her limited medicinal knowledge. Thankfully, Lin He's wounds were healing well and his fever had mostly subsided.

"Young lady, has the young man woken up?" The old man, who helped to carry Lin He a few days back, asked.

Xuan Yi shook her head with a small smile, "Not yet."

The old man was out collecting firewoods when he encountered Lin He sitting in the woods, weak and lost. The old man noticed how Lin He was holding a sword and remembered that the Lan Sect duo said they were waiting for a Slayer friend.

"Are you, perhaps, travelling with two Slayers? A young man and a young lady." He questioned as he helped Lin He up from the ground.

Lin He smiled weakly, "Yes, they are my friends. Please, bring me to them if you know where they are."

That was how the old man's short trip out in the afternoon stretched into the evening because of an extra human to carry home.

It was about two hours before sunrise and Xuan Yi woke up early to brew some medicinal soup for Lin He. She was planning to grab more herbs from the hill nearby to change his bandages after she was done feeding him the medicine.

She held the warm bowl of medicine in her hands as she slowly pushed open the wooden door, making sure to not spill the content in the bowl. She had spent the whole of yesterday's morning picking up these herbs and drying them under the sun so that she could make this precious bowl of concoction.

Xuan Yi turned around after using her feet to close the door, only to see an empty bed where Lin He was supposed to be lying on. She placed the bowl down and looked around the room anxiously, wondering where the heavily injured man had gone. He was still unconscious a few hours ago when she came to check on him before she went to bed. Could it be that some demon snuck in and took him away?

Then, the door slowly swung open and a tall male figure walked in slowly.

The moment he noticed Xuan Yi's presence, he broke into a smile. "Oh, it's Xuan Yi."

Xuan Yi looked at his loosely tied robes around his waist, revealing his bandages on his toned body. For some reason, her heart ached for him, seeing the state that he was in.

Even with an immortal body, the injuries he had sustained made him no different from a mortal like her.

"Where have you been?" She asked softly as she helped him back to bed. "You shouldn't be walking around like this. Your wounds might open again."

"Ah… I needed to use the loo. I guess I've been sleeping for a while? My bladder felt like it was going to burst when I woke up." He answered with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.

His eyes landed on the bowl of soup she had picked up again and looked at her, "You know how to brew medicinal soup?"

"I was a physician trainee before I became a Slayer," She said before blowing gently on the soup to cool it down. "Okay, drink up so that you'll heal faster."

Lin He smiled at her before gulping down the whole concoction in one go, wincing at the bitterness spreading across his tongue after he was done. Xuan Yi took out a sugar cube that a child had given her this morning and popped it into his mouth, feeling glad that he was looking better from the way he was reacting.

"So, what happened out there?" She couldn't help but ask out of curiosity. "Did you fend off the demon wolves yourself?"

"Oh," Lin He paused, sucking on the candy in his mouth. "I met an old friend of mine. She helped me get rid of them before I got clawed to death." He laughed, trying to brush it off like it was nothing but his smile quickly faded after seeing how Xuan Yi was frowning.

"Is it funny to you? You looked like you almost died! I thought you had a special body. Is your body broken or something? How is this called healing fast?" Xuan Yi snapped at him, her brows knitting deeper with each question.

"About that…" Lin He paused and smiled awkwardly. "I think it's because I've lost my godhood."