Wu Chen led Liu Wei out of the field of dry grass, one in front and one behind.
Along the way, the gazes of many refugee commoners lingered on Liu Wei's slender figure.
Their eyes betrayed undisguised desire.
Feeling the undisguised malice, Wu Chen had to stop, shield Liu Wei, and sweep his cold gaze toward these onlookers.
His tattered clothes were covered with dried, crusted blood, and his hands still bore unwashed bloodstains from when he had killed Zhang Sheng with one punch.
Standing there, without any movement, he gave off an aura of murderous intent.
With just one look, those who had stopped felt their skin prickle, and none dared to linger.
Afraid of causing trouble, they quickly lowered their heads and continued on their way, no longer harboring other thoughts.
"These fellows are nearly starving to death, yet they still think about..."
Watching the departing figures, Wu Chen resumed walking, silently complaining in his heart:
"Could it be they're thinking, since they're doomed anyway, they might as well enjoy themselves before dying?"
Wu Chen shook his head and continued forward without a word.
With him escorting in front, naturally no one dared to harass Liu Wei.
When he safely delivered Liu Wei to Liu Linshan, the older man had already collapsed to the ground unconscious, his fate unknown.
"Father, Father... wake up..."
Liu Wei stumbled forward, supporting Liu Linshan.
Seeing his waxen face showing no response, her voice immediately turned sorrowful, as if about to weep blood.
Wu Chen, with his martial cultivation, had perception far beyond ordinary people and could see that Liu Linshan still had faint breathing—a thread of life remained.
But he could only shake his head helplessly.
With Liu Linshan's abdominal wound, he might have been saved if taken to a medical hall in normal times, but this was the refugee trail where food was scarce.
When people couldn't even eat their fill, how could they treat wounds?
Wu Chen stepped forward, placing the steel sabers that had belonged to Zhang Sheng and Zhao Shi before the two, leaving them for self-defense.
He also took the looted barley cakes and water pouches, divided them in half, and left one portion for the father and daughter.
As for the small porcelain bottles containing medicinal powders and ointments, they were of no use to him, so he left them all.
With this, Wu Chen had done what he needed to do.
He turned to leave.
He had taken their martial skill, saved their daughter.
They now owed each other nothing.
As for escorting the father and daughter onward...
Looking at the road ahead, distorted under the scorching sun, Wu Chen could only smile bitterly.
The path ahead was vague and uncertain; his own survival was still an unknown.
How could he possibly protect the lives of others?
Behind him came the sound of Liu Wei's sobbing calls:
"Father, Father, wake up..."
Liu Wei did not just sit idly by. While calling out, she efficiently loosened the blood-soaked bandages around Liu Linshan's abdomen, grabbed one of the porcelain bottles from the ground, and prepared to apply the medicinal powder.
Perhaps Liu Wei's continuous calls actually had an effect, as the barely breathing Liu Linshan opened his eyes.
Seeing that the voice calling was indeed his daughter, not an illusion, his cloudy eyes regained some light.
"Wei Wei!"
He was visibly excited, immediately realizing that it was the young man who had asked him for martial skills earlier who had successfully rescued his daughter.
Liu Linshan's gaze shifted from his daughter to search for something else.
Finally, his eyes locked onto a figure about ten meters away, gradually walking into the distance.
Looking at the departing figure, his expression showed a hint of panic.
"Wei Wei, take these dry rations, take everything here, quick!"
Liu Linshan used all his strength to push away his daughter who was applying medicine, pointing at Wu Chen's receding back:
"Go, quickly follow that young man!"
He knew clearly that he had little chance of survival, and that food and medicine left with him would be wasted.
The road ahead held countless dangers; even with weapons, it would be difficult to protect his daughter.
Only by following Wu Chen would his daughter have hope of survival.
"I won't go."
Liu Wei shook her head, not moving a step.
Nor did she glance even once at the departing figure.
She simply took the small porcelain bottle and silently applied medicine to Liu Linshan.
"You! You!"
Liu Linshan was furious, yet helpless.
But when his gaze fell on the two disciples' sabers Wu Chen had left them, he seemed to remember something.
From what he could tell, this young man seemed quite interested in martial arts, even if it was just a common footwork technique!
"Then..."
Liu Linshan thought of the saber manual passed down from his ancestors, kept close to his chest, not readily shown to others.
Seeing the figure growing more distant, he knew he couldn't hesitate any longer. Enduring the severe pain in his abdomen, he called out loudly toward the departing figure:
"Young man, I have another martial skill here. If you can escort my daughter for a while..."
Whoosh!
As his words fell, a gust of wind rose, stirring up dust!
Liu Linshan instinctively turned his head to avoid getting sand in his eyes.
When he looked back, the familiar face of the young man was standing before him.
"Sss!"
Whether from the pain of his wound tearing open from shouting, or for some other reason, Liu Linshan drew in a sharp breath at the sight of Wu Chen.
He remembered that when he first met this young man, the youth's stance hadn't been so steady!
Just the speed with which he had returned from several zhang away was probably three times faster than his own Spirit Snake Steps, which he had practiced for five or six years and still regularly trained in stance work!
It was truly,
Terrifying!
"I trouble you, young sir..."
Liu Linshan wasn't a fool. Seeing the other return, he naturally knew Wu Chen had agreed to the matter. He immediately let out a long breath, feeling much more at ease.
But before he could finish speaking, he was loudly interrupted by Liu Wei:
"Father, if you don't go, I won't go anywhere either."
Liu Wei was incredibly stubborn, shrinking backward.
Fearing that the man who had just saved her would accept her father's condition and force her to leave.
She was now clutching a saber that had appeared in her arms, her hand already on the hilt, looking determined not to be taken against her will.
"You!" Liu Linshan pointed at his daughter, his finger trembling with anger, his temper flaring, nearly causing him to faint again.
Knowing his current physical condition wouldn't allow him to overrule his daughter, he could only look pleadingly at Wu Chen, hoping he would take Liu Wei away.
Liu Wei remained silent, clutching the saber, just glaring at Wu Chen.
Wu Chen looked at the girl in exasperation.
When your two senior brothers abducted you earlier, I didn't see you resisting with a saber.
Now that I'm escorting you to safety, you dare point a blade at me?
Is it because I'm a good person?
Do good people deserve to have swords pointed at them?
Seeing the father and daughter at an impasse, Wu Chen had no better solution.
As for taking the martial skill by force, killing them and leaving?
He hadn't even considered it, let alone being capable of such an act.
Therefore, he could only be the one to compromise.
"Hurry and treat your father's wound."
Wu Chen pointed at the wound on Liu Linshan's abdomen and said calmly:
"Otherwise he really won't make it."
At these words, Liu Wei's heart leapt with joy, knowing Wu Chen had agreed to take her father along too. She quickly said:
"Thank you!"
Wu Chen made no response, saying nothing.
He thought that as long as he could obtain the martial skill, he would visibly grow stronger.
And if he was strong enough, bringing one person or two people didn't seem to make much difference.
He stood to the side, silently watching Liu Wei carefully treat Liu Linshan's wound.
With Wu Chen standing guard nearby, Liu Wei finally had the opportunity to gather a few small bundles that had scattered around earlier, and could properly tend to her father's abdominal wound.
Inside the palm-sized bundle were a finger-width small knife, needles and thread, and other small items.
Liu Wei first used the small knife to carefully cut away the blackened, foul-smelling flesh around Liu Linshan's wound.
This was an extremely painful process.
Liu Linshan didn't make a sound.
Not because he was tough or resolute, but because he had fainted from the pain at the first cut.
Liu Wei carefully removed the sliced rotten flesh, then proceeded to suture the wound and apply medicinal powder.
Her movements weren't clumsy, suggesting she had some medical knowledge.
During this time, Wu Chen observed the terrible wound on Liu Linshan's abdomen and noticed something unusual.
Even though he wasn't skilled with a blade, he keenly perceived that Liu Linshan's wound was not caused by a sword or saber.
The jagged edges of the wound and the blackened, putrid flesh looked more like it had been punctured by some implement, then violently torn open.
"How did you get this wound?"
"It doesn't look like something your two disciples would do."
Once Liu Wei had properly tended to Liu Linshan's wound and fed him a medicinal pill, Liu Linshan had just regained consciousness when Wu Chen asked about the origin of his abdominal injury.