The fox paints the river
Luo An rushed far away on his horse leaving the village far behind him. The moon shone high in the sky, illuminating him through the gaps in the trees. Both him and his horse were tired but there's no way he could rest now that the Shengkai sect was onto him.
He ran the whole night, only stopping when the sun started to rise, setting down next to a river. The horse got down to rest and Luo An laid against it, leaning his head on it's side. Sunlight lingered on top of the water, making the sight beautiful. Luo An turned to looked at it, unable to help admiring the sight.
During the 2 years of his travels, he has seen many places and all of their beauties. From the mountains to the fields, there were not many things that hid from him, yet this river still amazed him. He got up and grabbed his bag that has been hanging on the horse, pulling out a booklet, and a brush. Unlike any other brush, this one had a sharp blade secured to the back of it.
Luo An sat down under a tree, pulling his robes apart and adjusting them to reveal his calf. He grabbed the booklet and opened it before using the sharp side of the brush to leave a small cut on his leg, dipping the other side into it. Looking up at to see the river, he slowly sketched out it's shape on the page. The brush glided on the soft paper, leaving behind a red trail each time. Blood slowly ran down the calf but eventually stopped, forcing Luo An to make another cut to be able to continue painting. This time, the wound was slightly deeper so it lasted longer, but not forever. He made a few more cuts before the painting has been finished but at last, it turned out great. Luo An set the booklet down next to him to let it dry and got up, walking towards the river. The blood on his calf was dry by now and all the wounds stopped bleeding.
He sat down and dipped his leg into the water, letting it clean up the crimson from it. The river was quite cold as it was almost spring but that was exactly what Luo An needed right now. He stood up and undressed himself before getting in. "So refreshing.." he let out a sight.
While painting, he noticed a small rock island in the middle of the current. The river wasn't too deep so he was able to get there without having to swim. He sat on top of it and let his eyes close, water rushing all around him. The sound of it was pleasing to the ears and very calming.
Upon waking up, Qin Yaozu quickly shot to his feet, looking around to try catching a sight of Luo An who was now gone. He wasn't out for too long but even that short amount of time caused him to lose the person he was trying to bring to justice. He examined his surrounding and noticed hoofmarks that seemed to come from the horse Luo An had. Qin Yaozu quickly jumped onto his sword, following them.
His sword was faster than any ordinary horse, but the hoofmarks faded on some parts so it cause quite some trouble. Normally he'd catch up to Luo An way faster but following his path was way harder at night.
Eventually, the sun started to rise and the path became clear, which gave Qin Yaozu an opportunity to finally see everything properly. He flew as fast as he could until he reached the river. The sword went back into the sheet and it's owner hid behind a tree, looking for signs of the fox. After scanning the surrounding for a while, he noticed a horse. In a split second, he got from the tree, behind the horse, examining it to get a clue of where it's owner was. While doing so, something appeared in the corner of his eye. He lifted his head to see Luo An in the middle of the river, sitting on a rock and he was... he was not wearing any clothes!
Qin Yaozu's ears flushed red but he maintained his cool, sneaking closer. Upon getting a better view, he noticed the fresh wounds on Luo An's leg along with many already healed ones all over his body. He completely froze. How could the feared rabid fox have so many founds? There was no known person that defeated him or even got to leave a single scratch. Qin Yaozu got lost in thoughts, keeping his wide open eyes on the man when Luo An noticed him. He was resting until now but his senses were still sharp.
Luo An looked at Qin Yaozu, noticing the look on his face. "Ah, gege already caught up?" he chuckled. "Why are you looking at me like that? Do you like what you see?" Qin Yaozu immediately snapped out of it and shook his head. "You're so shameless!"
"Oh am I now? You're the one who is eyeing me like a hunter, wanting his prey."
Luo An jumped off the rock and got to the shore, grabbing his clothes and getting dressed. "You won't give up easily I see. Honestly I wasn't expecting you to wake up so soon. I thought that you'd sleep at least for a few hours," he sighed. "Maybe you're stronger than you look." Qin Yaozu had his head lowered slightly ever since he has been discovered, refusing to look at the other until he was sure he was fully dressed. "How did you get those scars?" he asked. Luo An raised an eyebrow. "The scars? It's nothing special. Don't you have scars too?"
"Yes, but I've never heard of anyone getting even close to harming you."
"Guess there are things that you don't know," he laughed and made way to his horse. "I better get going. See you later, gege." Qin Yaozu quickly rushed to him. "What makes you think I'll let you go?" Luo An turned to look at him, waving a sword in his hand. "You don't have anything to fight me with. Qin Yaozu quickly reached a hand to his sword to find out that it's not there.
"When did you take it?!"
"You shouldn't have let your guard down."
Qin Yaozu growled and sent a palmstrike towards Luo An, which he dodged, using the sword as a shield. More strikes followed soon after, but like the first one, they were all repelled. Qin Yaozu was at a loss for words. He quickly looked around and grabbed a stick from nearby, striking towards Luo An with it, the attack never reaching it's target, but Qin Yaozu wasn't planning on giving up. He send attacks one after another, getting faster with each move.
Luo An held the sword tightly in his hand, dodging or blocking every single one of the strikes while moving backwards to get to a part with no grass and lots of dirt. Qin Yaozu followed him, not stopping with his attacks, even though not even a single one hit the person. In a quick move, Luo An kicked the stick wielded by Qin Yaozu and send the dirt right into his opponent's face, making him yelp and take a few steps back. Luo An took that opportunity and quickly got to his horse, jumped onto it and galloped away.
When Qin Yaozu finally got the dirt out of his eyes and looked around, Luo An was already gone along with his sword. But there was one thing that the fox didn't take and it was his little booklet.
Luo An laughed the whole way to a nearby village. It took him an hour to get there so he'd have some time before Qin Yaozu caught up to him as he didn't have a sword anymore. After putting a veil on his face, he made his way to a market. He got off of his horse and looked around the stalls, smelling many unique different types of food. Eventually he stopped at a stall that sold candies. Luo An approached it, his jaw almost dropping at all the different sweets. He always had quite the sweet tooth so he couldn't resist and ended up buying a few packets of different types of candy.
While making this purchase, he couldn't help noticing decorations being set up everywhere on the street. "Ay, miss, what are all the decorations for?" he asked the young woman at the stall. "The Spring Festival is coming soon," the woman replied. Luo An gave her a smile. "Is it already? Guess the time is passing by faster than expected!"
At the sunset, Luo An left the village, heading for the capital. Celebrating the Spring Festival in there was a tradition for him by now and it excited him each time. With a sword on his back and sweets in his bag, he rode his horse calmly though the night. The sky was especially beautiful now, not a single cloud obstructing the huge, glowing moon. Luo An laid on the horses back, staring up at the beauty. He reached a hand towards the stars as if he was trying to reach them.
Oh, how much he wishes he actually could..