Chapter 24: Masked Experts
Wang Xiaoyun was quiet for some time, pondering the question. "I don't know," she said after careful consideration.
"I have no real goal in life. I obviously want to become a great Primordial Beast hunter and bring fame and honor to my family, but other than that I have no wishes."
"Perhaps I was waiting for the knight in shining armor riding the white horse to appear in front of me," she sighed. Just as she had spoken Xue Wei raised an eyebrow and laughed, "do you want me to find a white horse to be eligible for your love?" he asked teasingly but Wang Xiaoyun just snickered, "I would love to see you on a horse, I wonder if you are even able to stay seated on one!"
"I will let you know that horseback riding is not needed," Xue Wei grinned back, the two of them teasing one another, "We are cultivators. We can ride mortal horses, but they are not very fast, as soon as we become Earth Warriors, our speed will outstrip them, but until then a few people will ride horses I guess."
"Also, it is much more impressive to come riding on a Fierce Beast than any mortal horse. Why don't you imagine your hero on some sort of Fierce Beast rather than a white horse?"
Xue Wei was teasing Wang Xiaoyun, and both of them laughed. It did not take long before Wang Xiaoyun also lay back and allowed for the soft green grass in the park to make a comfortable blanket.
Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun smiled at one another. They talked about random things, but neither approached the topic that made them the most worried.
The rest of the day was spent in bliss for the two, they spent a long time on the grass in the park just talking with one another, and the rest of the day was spent strolling the bustling city's busy streets.
"Are you available tomorrow?" Xue Wei asked hesitatingly as they were about to part. It was once again dark, and it was clear that Wang Xiaoyun had to return to the Wayfarers' caravan as soon as possible, but neither of them wished to be away from one another.
Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head and said nothing, her face was flashing beet red, and she bit her lower lip feeling bashful. She knew that he wanted to spend more time with her, but she was also aware that it was not possible for the two of them to be together. She was after all a Wayfarer, and he was not.
Wayfarers married other Wayfarers to ensure that their bloodline was as powerful as possible, and although the Wayfarers seemed few and far between, there were more than million of them. Every ten year all Wayfarers would gather to hold a celebration, and this was the location where most of them would get married.
Watching Xue Wei vanish into the distance, Wang Xiaoyun shook her head, "Still, I cannot stop myself from loving him," she sighed, but the moment she had said that a cackling sound came from just beside her, shocking her deeply and causing her to tremble.
The cackling sound was grandma Meng. "Young one, sometimes tradition is not everything," she said half seriously, half laughing. "Others has left the Wayfarer community before for the sake of marrying normal people."
"But grandma, I am the young miss of this tribe. If I leave, who will take over? Father only have me as a child." she interjected, but she could feel how her voice was weak and her eyes darted away.
She was tempted to give up the life of a Wayfarer and live a casual and carefree life together with Xue Wei, but her family ties had made her torn, and ultimately she knew that she could not let her parents and family down.
Even though she had fallen in love, love was one thing, but responsibility was another. She could not shy away from her duty as the young miss of the Wayfarer caravan, and thus her only option was to give up on love.
"Well, don't worry too much," Grandma Meng smiled, but her smile contained a trace of pity. "Why don't you just look forward till tomorrow and make sure to enjoy yourself as long as it lasts? I am sure that this young man is not stupid, he would never ask you to give up your family for his sake."
Just as Grandma Meng was about to leave another shadow appeared in front of the two women, this time it was the seventeen-year-old boy who had been seen earlier this morning trying to hold back Wang Xiaoyun from going with Xue Wei.
"Finally back?" He asked, his voice cold and his eyes dark with anger. "What does it matter to you?" Wang Xiaoyun asked defiantly while turning around to leave, but the young man caught her by the wrist again and started scolding her.
"I might not be your real brother, but I have seen you grow up. What do you think you are doing, throwing away all honor and good name that we Wayfarers have by running around chasing that guy everywhere?"
"Did you not know, he was considered trash for so long. It is as if the City itself is incapable of getting past the surprise that he is not scum of society, but you, you just throw yourself in his arms, lay down in the park to chat with him and send him long glances as if the world revolved around him."
"This is truly not acceptable. Your father is not here, but if he were he would ground you!"
Hearing the scolding Wang Xiaoyun's face turned paler and paler with each passing word. She started trembling with anger and did everything in her power to drag her arm back, but no matter did it help. The boy in front of her was a real Wayfarer, and one who had his bloodline activated more than a year ago. He was by now an Earth Warrior of the seventh layer, and he was many times stronger than the woman in front of him.
Wang Xiaoyun's face contorted, and she sneered back at him, "you are not my father, and as you said you are not my older brother. Who do you think you are telling me what I can and cannot do?"
Her words were dripping with anger. "Father might have adopted you when your own family died fighting the beasts, but you and I are not siblings. If what I do annoy you then look the other way!"
Having said this, she ripped her hand to herself, turned around and left the young man standing where he was. His eyes were filled with complex and mixed emotions.
"To think that a random young man suddenly is worth more to her than I am," he mumbled to himself, and a slight killing intent flashed in his eyes.
Wang Xiaoyun rushed back to her caravan where she went to sleep, half depressed and half elated. "I know that I cannot stay like this, but just one more day together with him would not be bad."
Thinking like this, Wang Xiaoyun drifted off to sleep. While she was sleeping, Xue Wei was busy training under the moon. He dared not enter the bathtub with his herbal concoction because he knew that it meant that he would be in a trance-like state for an extended period of time, and then he would not be able to accompany Wang Xiaoyun.
Since this was the case, he did just do the ordinary cultivation. He would train his abilities until he ran out of Qi and then he would restore his Qi through cultivating his Azure Dragon Scripture.
The night went by and the morning arrived. Xue Wei once more went to get Wang Xiaoyun, and this time she was waiting for him on the outskirts of the caravan.
The two were in their own worlds, they were smiling and having fun, but they did not realize that more and more people noticed them.
Xue Wei had always stood out. Everyone knew who he was, and seeing him together with this unknown girl people were caught by curiosity. There was a chance that she would become his wife and thus be in the family with the famous Xiao Lei. As a result, people tried to find out who she was and it was not hard to figure out that since this unknown girl had appeared at the same time as the Wayfarers, then she was one of them.
The more skilled ones realized that Wang Xiaoyun was the young miss of the entire Wayfarer caravan and they leaned back, preparing to be entertained. Everyone knew that Wayfarers only married other Wayfarers, so at some point, the older generation would intersect them and their emotions.
At the same time, Xue Wei was not very well liked in the city, and he had even crippled the sons of the He and Jia families, so it was likely that he would be able to create some problems for the Wayfarers as well.
Most people found it entertaining to see what was going to happen, but no one felt sorry for Xue Wei or Wang Xiaoyun.
The third day Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun were out walking together, they found themselves in the central marketplace when suddenly they were surrounded.
Three experts were standing in a triangular formation around them, all wearing masks. Their strength was clearly at the ninth layered Ordinary Warrior rank.
"I would like to see how you flee this time," one of them sneered. "If you try we will take your little miss and play with her instead of you," another grinned while the third just stayed quiet.
Xue Wei had heard them, but he just sneered at them. "You think that you can entice me to fight you from that alone? Who said that I could not take her with me?"
Having said that, Xue Wei grasped Wang Xiaoyun's hand and activated the Forbidden Rush ability. Although he was not as fast as he was when he was on his own, he was still able to flutter away together with Wang Xiaoyun.
A moment later they were a few meters away from the encirclement that they had been in, and they grinned together, turned on their tail and started to run away.
They did not let go of one another's hand, instead, they squeezed their hands tight and ran, continued to run fast and far away without looking back and without caring for where they were running towards.
This happened time and time again the same day. More than twenty experts of the ninth layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank were out looking for them, and every time they were being spotted they would have to run for it.
At the start it was okay. It was even somewhat entertaining, but as it happened time and time again, Xue Wei understood that someone was targeting them.
"They are getting into bigger groups," Xue Wei said as they had just escaped past seven experts at once. This time they had been gathered in an almost perfect circle making it near impossible to escape.
Xue Wei had the support of the Forbidden Rush ability, and if he was alone then it was no problem to escape but dragging Wang Xiaoyun with him required extra focus, time and energy.