Since she had found herself in the Shattered Star Continent, An Fei had many fears hidden deeply within her heart. Some were benign while others were more grave and unsettling, but one fear triumphed over all, even her dread of a possible reunion with the monstrous entity called “family.”
That was… a language barrier that rendered her completely incapable of understanding the other person’s speech.
After all, to interact in the most basic fashion conceived possible, there was a required common language. If she could not understand the language shared by many others, it wasn’t difficult for the young girl to envision her countless predicaments.
However, what was more terrifying than not knowing a specific language, was knowing a language whose words and syllabus shared common tendencies in tonalities but were completely different in meaning.
“______, ______?”
The youth standing before An Fei and Wen Jiu frowned as he witnessed the two “guests” before him display uncomprehending expressions.
With a faint unease and curiosity brewing within his heart, the youth with the metal staff patted his heart to bolster his confidence, before attempting to speak for a second time.
“___, _____?”
The young girl was mired over the numerous, misleading interpretations of the pronounced sounds, but Wen Jiu had noticed a common difference.
The handsome man tapped the center of his brows in an appreciative and annoyed sigh, before stepping forward to reply.
“Bei Tang? Southern Regions?”
“…you understand what he is saying?”
“Yes!” the youth energetically bobbed his head towards the handsome male’s cautious reply.
“I come from the Chang Jin Prefecture. My name is Sima Ji-Hu, and you are…?”
An Fei raised her head to face a smiling expression on Wen Jiu’s countenance, a horrifying sensation crawling across the surface of her skin.
Helpless, the young girl could find no will to attempt to interject into the conversation, allowing the handsome bachelor to seize his dream.
“We are just a married couple from… Great Yan. Surnamed Wen, Xue and Jiu –“
Caw!
The little raven abruptly cut across the handsome man’s speech with an angered cry, prompting the latter’s eye to madly twitch with panic. At the same time, An Fei sat with her legs crossed, her glare boring a sinister hole into Wen Jiu’s back.
She didn’t like what was happening!
If the little raven was reacting so strongly, the situation was going downhill!
“Esteemed Young Master Wen, care to tell me what is going on?”
The young girl carefully intoned, her fingers tapping the pommel of the taijijian in a smooth, slow movement. The gentle caress of a soft and delicate finger sliding across an equally smooth, metallic surface caused the handsome man’s heart to quiver with a deep-rooted fear.
“Y-young miss, nothing too serious, nothing to serious,” Wen Jiu assured with a steady yet trembling voice.
“We’re rooted in the middle of Bei Tang’s territories, and I’m just attempting to find more information.”
He had seen what happened to Yang Jian when the practice sword suddenly burst into flames! Fortunately, the mysterious Sima Ji-Hu of Bei Tang interjected to save the handsome man from his plight.
“Excuse me, but how did you get into the Chunwoo Battlegrounds?” the youth gestured towards the ravaged jungle around them.
“This is the Violet Jade Pavilion’s sacred training spots, after all. If any trouble arises from this, then I’ll have to face punishment.”
“Please do not worry; we are not trespassing onto your sect’s training territory,” Wen Jiu stepped forwards to pat the youth on his shoulder.
“We just ran into an accident while my wife was attempting to repair a damaged transference array. We just didn’t expect to be flung all the way into Bei Tang.”
The reply was quick and well-mannered, yet the atmosphere soured within seconds the words left the handsome man’s lips. Both Wen Jiu and An Fei tensed in preparation, but the youth seemed to take no mind of the anomaly.
“A transference array that can catapult someone halfway across an empire – that had to have been built by one of the ancient sages of the past!”
Sima Ji-Hu gasped as he realized the importance of Wen Jiu’s words. The youth’s gaze was tinged with admiration and respect as he stared deeply towards the young girl, prompting An Fei to experience another round of uneasy goosebumps.
“Your wife must be truly amazing of she can repair such an advanced array. I’m assuming that the two of you are looking for a way out of this jungle?”
“Yes, preferably towards Great Yan’s territory, if possible,” Wen Jiu quickly interceded with a brilliant smile.
When he noticed the youth rushing into the depths of the jungle while waving towards them with his hand, the handsome man’s heart felt a trace of relief.
“Young Miss, let us depart!”
“…Xiao Hei?”
An Fei ignored the flattering countenance of Wen Jiu, instead staring at the little raven for a long moment. The young girl’s eyes gently followed the crimson eyes’ direction towards the unfathomable depths of the jungle, her heart pulsing with uncertainty after witnessing nothing strange.
“Xiao Hei? Something wrong?”
Caw!
The little raven return to perch onto the young girl’s shoulder, its piercing cry echoing throughout the seemingly empty and tranquil jungle.
An Fei’s brows twitched at the uncanny reply, though she remained silent as she slung the leather bag over her shoulders to follow the expectant Wen Jiu.
To their satisfaction, Sima Ji-Hu was an honest youth, even if he seemed ordinary and his appearance was slightly suspicious. Within an hour’s worth of trekking through the uneven paths of the Chunwoo Battlegrounds, the young girl could already spot flat plains.
She really hated the appearance of an endless stretch of grass and plants, but it was certainly better to be around familiar environments compared to frolicking around in a mysterious jungle.
Not only that, she wasn’t considerably happy regarding how Wen Jiu had blabbered on a plethora of topics she had little clue about with the youth during the entire ordeal.
If she ever found out that the handsome bachelor had been bragging about the astounding prowess of his nonexistent spouse, her expression was to be a famous sight all across the Shattered Star Continent.
“If you head west for a few days, there will be a small village named Brightstone Village,” Sima Ji-Hu earnestly bade the two farewell.
“Then, I will return to my practice. Hopefully, we may meet in the future!”
Wen Jiu happily smiled back to the youth as he and An Fei exited the jungle, watching the metal staff disappear into the dense foliage.
However, the instant Sima Ji-Hu had vanished from sight, the handsome man’s countenance was expressionless as stone.
“Young Miss, we may be in dire trouble.”
“You only mention that now?” An Fei snorted to the handsome man’s ignorant expression, turning away to face the large stretch of land.
“Young Master Wen has some important priorities to handle, given how energetic the youth seemed after your… endearing conversation. Not only that, why do you even know what language that youth was speaking?”
Wen Jiu rubbed his nose with a rueful smile, thanking the heavens in his heart that the young girl before him did not know Bei Tang’s language. Nonetheless, the handsome man patted his chest in assurance.
“Everyone within the Hundred Clan Coalition learns the primary languages of Great Yong, Great Yan, and Bei Tang since childhood. Where does the Young Miss come from? However, the issue is not that, but the fact that we are deeply stranded within Bei Tang’s territory, and in a Battleground at that.”
“Bei Tang… what do you mean by a Battleground? Why do you say we are in dire trouble?”
“A Battleground refers to the special training grounds employed by the Violet Jade Pavilion in training their disciples to an insane strength and combat prowess. The intensity of the training and the brutality accompanied with it can even be considered diabolical, though their gains certainly equal such pain and torment.”
“As for why the two of you are in dire trouble… it is because Great Yong and Bei Tang have been irreconcilable enemies since their formation!”
It was neither Wen Jiu nor An Fei who spoke the last sentence, but a raspy, elderly voice.
As dark shadows flickered across the bright and clear sky, the young girl noticed several men dressed in deep violet robes arise from the depths of the dense grass, the wicked gleam of their weapons flashing onto her body.
From their timely appearance and their attire, Wen Jiu assumed that the newcomers were of the overseers of the Violet Jade Pavilion tasked with the boring task of watching youths like Sima Ji-Hu. However, neither he nor the overseers had expected that the young girl had opened her mouth in the next moment, a single word leaving her lips.
“[F*ck off]!”
