Beginning Beyond The Horizon

The star-studded night turned gloomy for some reason. It may be that the whole village already knew what happened to the guests, so no one went out for a walk at night to enjoy the clear sky full of stars. Baishui and Jiāo stood behind a house, staring at Saja's house. They witnessed many people coming and going. A wagon was then pulled to Saja's house. Yul, Abrafo, Michio, and U-ri are dragged into the wagon one by one.

Saja looked at his subordinates and said, "We must not leave traces of these people."

"Are we going to leave them at the usual place?" asked one man.

Saja nodded.

A man ran into the house. He said, "Chief, the other two are not in the hut, nor anywhere."

Saja looked worried. He felt that if the other two escaped from Magior City, the village's secret would be revealed. "Hurry, find them now. No one will get out of here alive tonight," he said frantically, looking at his men. "You know what's going to happen if any of these people get out of here alive."

Baishui looked at Jiāo and asked worriedly, "Where is Hajime? I didn't see Hajime being dragged out..."

Jiāo said, "Maybe he is still inside. He was still inside when I went over to peek."

Baishui looked at Jiāo and said, "Lure them away."

Jiāo's mouth dropped. "Me?" She pointed to herself.

Baishui said, "I said, I want an live bait, and you are that live bait." He looked at Jiāo. "What are you waiting for? All his men are here, so this is the perfect time to save them."

Jiāo shook her head, but she still forcibly came out of her hiding place and walked towards Saja's house.

Jiāo ran towards the house while shouting for help. Saja's men quickly covered the five Tanzaines.

Jiāo shouted, "Chief...chief...my lord and I went to the stream to watch the stars in the stream, but now I can't find him."

Saja said calmly, "Now tell me slowly what happened to your lord."

Jiāo said, "We were there for some time, and my Lord said that he wanted to urinate. I waited for a long time, but he didn't come back. I went out to look for him but couldn't find him. I don't know where he went."

Saja said, "Show us the last place you saw your master."

Jiāo looked around and asked, "Oh, what about the others? Are they supposed to have dinner with you and your family?"

Saja said, "Our dinner party is over and they're off to bed already."

Jiāo said, "Oh...then I won't bother them. This way...my lord and I are over there." She pointed to the distance.

Saja and his men followed Jiāo towards the stream.

Baishui dragged the two horses to the wagon, quickly tied the rope to the wagon and tied them to the saddle. He rushes into Saja's house and finds Hajime lying on the floor.

Baishui rushed to Hajime's side and shook him gently. "Hajime," he said. "Hajime..."

Hajime opened his eyes and murmured, "Yul..."

Baishui sighed, frowned, and said, "You still think about him at times like this." He picked Hajime up and walked towards the front door.

When they were halfway across the stream, Saja turned and stopped one of his men. "Go back and watch over our guests," he said.

The man kicked the stones all the way back, complaining about how unfair it was that everyone had to go with Saja while he was left to guard the bodies of the four men. Just when he was about to arrive at Saja's house, he saw Baishui coming out of Saja's house with Hajime in his arms.

"Hey, put the mage down!" he yelled and ran to Saja's house.

Baishui looked at the young man and murmured, "Mage?" Baishui looked at Hajime, and then back at the young man standing a few feet away. "If you want to live, stay away from us."

The young man held a small ax in his right hand and smiled, "It's like I'm afraid of you."

Baishui looked at the young man coldly, and said, "If you knew my abilities, you wouldn't stand here and threaten me with a toy weapon." As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that his power had been taken away by his father. Now he is no better than any ordinary mortal walking on this earth, but he must continue to maintain a brave heart. He straightened up and walked slowly towards the horse. He put Hajime on the horse, turned around and glanced at the young man again. "You still want to fight me?"

The young man stared at Baishui who also stared at him. When his gaze met Baishui's gaze, he felt that Baishui's gaze pierced his heart somehow. The young man had never been so afraid of a person's gaze. "Leave the mage, and I will let you go," he said pointing his small ax at Baishui.

Baishui said with a smile, "Why don't you just turn a blind eye and live to see another sunrise." He grabbed the reins.

The young man took three steps forward toward Baishui. "Stop!" he shouted at Baishui. Seeing Bai Shui's face suddenly turned to face the young man, the young man backed away in fright.

Baishui said, "How dare you give order me?" Baishui's sweet face suddenly darkened, and lightning began to flicker in the night sky.

The young man took a step back in fright, away from Baishui. He tripped and fell to the ground, looking at Baishui in horror. "You...you...you..." His lips trembled, and he didn't even move them fully when he spoke.

Baishui jumped onto the horse with Hajime sitting in front of him, and he pulled the wagon away from Saja's house, leaving the young man sitting on the ground.

After walking for a while, Jiāo led the group of men circling around the stream and back to the guest huts. Jiāo noticed lightning flashes in the clear night sky.

The people following Jiāo also noticed the flickering lightning. Even the men are talking about how rare it is to have rain when it's not raining season.

Saya asked, "Are you sure that's where you went?"

Jiāo nodded her head.

Saja said, "If this path is correct, then your lord should have returned long ago."

Jiāo weeps innocently, "Chief, what if something happens to my lord? How can I face my master?"

Seeing that Jiāo is just a woman, Saja didn't feel threatened by Jiāo. He said, "You go back to your hut to rest first, and I will call your other friends. With more people, we can better track down your lost lord."

Jiāo smiled and said, "Thank you so much, chief." She walked towards the last hut.

"Chief, are we really leaving her?" one of the men asked.

"She's just a petite woman who isn't a threat," said Saja, looking at his men. "Let's go back and solve our main problems first. Remember that we need that mage. Without the blood of that mage, our people will always be trapped in this valley."

"Understood." The men nodded towards Saja.

Saja said, "You two stay here and guard that woman. Make sure she doesn't leave that hut until we get back."

"Yes, Chief," the two men nodded at Saja.

Saja and his other men rush back to Saja's house.

Jiāo peeks in through the crack of the window and sees that Saja and his men. Jiāo slowly opened the rear window and climbed out. Sitting on the bamboo window, watching the full moon reflected in the stream. She jumped off, as she jumped and slowly transformed from head to toe into a small white dwarf lantern shark. When the white dwarf lantern shark entered the water, there was a small splash, and the two guards looked at the last hut.

"What's that sound?" asked the younger man.

"The fish are enjoying the moon," replied the older man.

When Saya and his men returned to Saja's house, the young man was still sitting on the ground shaking and unable to move. Saya rushed to the young man and asked, "Where are the guests?"

The young man was still trembling and said, "That...that...the man in white took them away..."

Saja asked wildly, "Where is the mage?"

The young man was still trembling, and tremblingly said, "He took away...the mage...with him."

Saja kicked the young man twice. "Why did you allow this to happen?" he yelled frantically.

Two men lifted the young man from the ground. The young man looked at Saja and said in horror, "Chi...chi...chief... that man... he is not human..." he said with trembling lips.

Saja grabbed the young man's collar, gritted his teeth, and asked, "Then who is he?"

The young man said, "The dragon head...he has a dragon head."

The two men Saja stayed behind to watch the two guards running from a distance.

"Chief," they yelled.

"What's wrong?" Saja asked.

One of the men said, "The lady we were guarding disappeared without a trace. We were guarding the front door like you said."

Saja pushed the young man away. "Call everyone, take out our bows and arrows," he said looking at the man standing in front of him. "Whether it's a dragon or a snake, today, we must bring the mage back. We need his blood."

Baishui, who was waiting by the stream, was worried that Jiāo would be too late. He picks up a rock and starts marking his trail so that if he must leave Jiāo behind, Jiāo can find him and the others.

Just as he was about to finish marking his tracks, a white dwarf lantern shark swam up to him.

"Ninth Prince... Ninth Prince... pick me up."

Baishui put down the stone in his hand and looked around.

"Pick me up," called the miniature voice, almost like a whistle. "Under your feet."

Baishui looked down and saw the white dwarf lantern shark swimming around his feet. He quickly snatched the white dwarf lantern shark out of the water.

"What took you so long?" he said, walking back to the two horses and the wagon, holding the white dwarf lantern shark in his right hand.

The white dwarf lantern shark jumped out of Baishui's hand onto the ground, and it was Jiāo that slowly emerged. She shook her head and stood up slowly. "You didn't tell me where we should meet. I was also looking for you while swimming downstream," Jiāo said, walking to another horse, and was about to open her mouth again, but saw many torches rushing towards them. "Ninth Prince, let's go, they are gaining on us." A few arrows flew past them, and she jumped onto her horse. "Hurry!"