Wei Nanxun had never reacted so quickly before. She paused for no more than half a breath before turning and running to the observation deck to look down. She had discovered during her morning stroll that there was a protruding platform next to the back hall that offered a panoramic view of the entire temple.
She stood on tiptoe and looked down, and sure enough, she immediately saw a group of people at the temple gate. They were too far away to clearly see their attire, but she could vaguely make out that they were dressed in black. She hadn’t clearly heard who they were trying to catch, but she distinctly heard the words “search” and “capture.”
Already as skittish as a frightened bird, she had no time to think about whether they were after her. Her first reaction was to run.
Zhi Xia was in the front hall, protected by the abbot and others. Moreover, she hadn’t entered the palace yet, and Pei Yuyan probably hadn’t seen what Zhi Xia looked like, so her chances of escape were greater than hers. What she needed to do was hide and not implicate anyone else.
Before she fled, she glanced back at the Guanyin Hall. If she hadn’t come to worship the Bodhisattva and had been in the main hall together, she would have had no way to escape.
Once she successfully escaped this time, she would definitely come back to gild the Bodhisattva and provide eternal lamps!
Wei Nanxun couldn’t run down the mountain, so she could only follow the mountain path she had taken today, heading upwards. Fortunately, there were no young monks guarding it at the moment, and she crossed the boundary smoothly.
Contrary to how close the courtyard had seemed before, running towards it revealed that it was actually much higher up. Before her were two forks in the road: one was a winding mountain path leading upwards, and the other was a small path covered in weeds, barely visible.
She remembered what the young monk had said earlier, that wild animals occasionally appeared on the mountain. It was already approaching dusk, and the mountain’s daytime and nighttime were like two different worlds.
If wild animals really appeared, she wouldn’t have any ability to defend herself. But the path down the mountain looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time, and where it led was unknown.
Hearing the approaching shouts, she steeled herself, gritted her teeth, and headed down the small path.
Fortunately, Wei Nanxun was wearing cloth clothes and shoes today. Otherwise, the surrounding thorny bushes would have torn her dress to shreds. The soles of her shoes were also thick and non-slip enough. If she had been wearing her usual embroidered shoes, she would have stumbled many times on the gravel.
At first, she could still make out the path, grabbing onto the nearby shrubs as she stepped down.
But as the farmland and temple receded further and further, the scenery before her became completely unfamiliar. The path was covered in weeds, and she could only rely on her intuition to move forward.
The sky was about to turn dark, and the trees on the mountain were dense and towering. Each step she took became more difficult, and she even felt like she was walking in place.
In particular, the temperature on the mountain was much lower than on the ground. Even in the sweltering summer, she could feel a chill.
The wind howled through the trees, accompanied by the cries of some unknown animals, making the environment particularly eerie and terrifying.
Compared to the unknown ahead, even the pursuers behind her didn’t seem so scary anymore.
Where exactly was she?
Her gradually depleted physical strength and the endless mountain forest made her feel increasingly helpless. Just then, she felt something crawl past her feet. The sticky sensation of the creature made her hair stand on end.
No longer caring about direction or reason, she ran blindly downwards, not noticing that there was a steep slope ahead. Stepping on a loose rock, her entire center of gravity shifted, and she fell to the side, rolling straight down.
Where there had been trees just moments ago, this slope was now covered in loose rocks. There was nothing to stop her from rolling down.
It hurt, it hurt so much.
Besides the spinning and the pain, Wei Nanxun felt almost nothing else. She didn’t know how long she rolled until the back of her head hit something, and she completely fainted.
During her loss of consciousness, she seemed to have a dream in which a pair of hands tightly gripped her throat. The force was so great that it felt like she was being strangled instantly. She wanted to breathe, wanted to call for help, but couldn’t make a sound.
A tear slid from the corner of her eye, and the hands suddenly released her. In a daze, she saw bamboo curtains swaying in the wind, and a tall figure sitting behind them.
In the chaos, a gaze turned towards her.
It was him.
Wei Nanxun suddenly opened her eyes. Just waking up made it difficult for her to distinguish between dream and reality, and she didn’t know where she was. But the pain in her body and the hard, cold ground quickly reminded her of what had happened before.
She had fallen down the mountain while trying to escape capture. She remembered that it was about to be night, but now it was already dawn.
And it looked more like early morning. Had she been unconscious all night? Or longer?
It seemed to have rained during the night. The ground and vegetation around her were wet. She must have many wounds on her body. She couldn’t tell where it hurt more, but when she touched them, they all seemed to be superficial injuries. Nothing seemed to be broken or internally damaged. It was a very minor injury to have fallen from such a high place. Truly, the Bodhisattva was protecting her.
She propped herself up with her hands, wanting to get up, but as soon as she reached out, she touched something hard and soft.
Accidentally pressing on the wound in her palm, Wei Nanxun hissed and frowned as she looked over. She saw that there was actually a person lying next to her.
A person!!!
Her eyes widened, and her hair stood on end. She scrambled backward as quickly as she could, the fastest she had ever moved in her life.
After retreating to a safe distance, she realized that the last thing she remembered was the back of her head hitting something. She had been stopped by something, preventing her from continuing to roll down.
Now that she thought about it, she had been lying next to this person for so long while unconscious? The thought made her scalp tingle. She couldn’t stay here for even a moment longer.
But where should she go? Her legs and body were covered in cuts, and even if she wanted to return the way she came, she couldn’t tell which way she had come from.
Wei Nanxun had moved too much just now, and her wounds were pulled, causing her brow to twitch in pain. As she recovered, she observed that the person lying there seemed to be a man. He was very tall and wore a long gown. She didn’t know if he was dead or alive.
At least she could be sure that this person shouldn’t be a threat to her. Otherwise, she would have been harmed long ago while unconscious.
Moreover, from another perspective, if this person hadn’t been lying here to stop her, acting as a meat cushion, how could she have only suffered minor injuries? If she had hit a tree or a rock, she would probably be half dead by now.
In this desolate wilderness where no one could hear her cries, she might as well see if having another person could offer a way out.
If this person was dead, she could see if he had anything useful on him. If he wasn’t dead, he could be an extra helping hand.
Thinking this, Wei Nanxun rubbed the wounds on her feet, propped herself up on a nearby shrub, and mustered her courage to move over, one step at a time.
Getting closer, she saw that the man’s hair was disheveled, obscuring his face. His gown was originally bamboo green, but now it was stained red with blood. His hands, legs, and body were covered in wounds, making her shudder.
She had already started to retreat, but thinking that this was still a life, she had to try, right?
Gritting her teeth, she squatted down with difficulty and pushed aside the tangled hair, revealing a pale, bloodless face.
Wei Nanxun was slightly stunned. She had always thought that Pei Yuyan was already very handsome, a gentle and refined gentleman, but this person was even more handsome than him.
His features were three-dimensional, with distinct angles, like a divine being who had fallen to earth after experiencing tribulation.
Just as she reached out to feel if he was still breathing, his tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.
His eye sockets were deep, and his eyes were dark. Being stared at like this made her heart beat faster and made her feel at a loss.
She heard his hoarse voice, saying deeply, “Did you save me?”
She wanted to say no, but her mouth blurted out faster than her mind could think, “Yes.”
For some reason, her mind flashed to the white-robed Guanyin for a moment. Could it be that the marriage she had just prayed for was already coming true!