The Prince of Travelers

Chapter 071: Old Grandfather of the Forest

"Prince, you must not force yourself," Wang Hongli said worriedly. It was already the third day since they entered the forest. There had been no sign of pursuit from the Tarkans. The problem was, Li An's injuries were getting worse, he even had a severe high fever.

"I can still," Li An replied softly. He walked with a stick in his hand. From his pale face, it was clear that he was desperately enduring the growing pain. His body even trembled without him noticing.

"No, Prince," Wang Hongli shook his head. His hand hurriedly touched Li An's body that was just about to collapse. He looked at the young man's face with pity.  "We need to rest now. After all, those Tarkans probably thought we were dead."

"..."

Li An wanted to refute, but his strength had indeed run out. His body was no longer strong enough to force himself to walk, especially in difficult and unknown terrain. In the end, he complied with Wang Hongli's request to rest.

Actually, Wang Hongli knew a thing or two regarding herbs. He could have concocted medicine for Li An. While still in college, he also studied various sciences about herbs and toxins—yah, although not intensive anyway. If he had the ingredients, he would definitely make medicine for the Eighth Prince as soon as possible.

"We didn't find the herbs you were referring to, Chief," Ma Yuan reported with a face full of regret. Just like the others, he was also injured from the battle the other day, but his injuries were the lightest among them.

“So, yes?” Wang Hongli turned his head briefly at the young swordsman, then turned his face back to Li An, “We must not give up. Keep looking for the herbs while continuing the journey.”

“Ha!” ma Yuan shouted back obediently. However, the call was not as loud as usual. He is in a bad condition now.

“What's the heat getting higher?” a swordsman whose age was not much different from Wang Hongli looked at Li An who was lying limp. It was Jin Mi, one of the warriors who accompanied Li An away from the battle.

“It seems to have improved more than yesterday,” a swordsman of Ma Yuan's age said. It was Sue Fang. In Brigadier Cenangkas, he is famous as a humorous figure. Unfortunately, he could not help comforting the Eighth Prince who was in such pain.

“Where is it improving?” Jin Mi patted the injured shoulder of Sue Fang so the young swordsman exclaimed in protest. “It seems, he won't be able to walk at all. How about we make a stretcher?”

“Good idea,” Wang Hongli directly agree, “We can't let the Grand Prince continue to impose himself.”

Wang Hongli was looking for a suitable tree branch to make the palanquin, while Ma Yuan was looking for roots or anything that could be used as rope. Before the sun climbed up the sky completely, they had finished making the stretcher.

“Do we directly continue our journey east now?” ask Sue Fang who tied the last piece. Seeing Wang Hongli's nod, he immediately carried the palanquin near Li An. “Please excuse me, Prince. We must continue our journey immediately. You must be patient for this suffering for a while.”

Li An whose eyes were closed heard those words, but he had no power to reply to them at all. All he can do is stop. The three arrow wounds stuck on his body felt increasingly severe every second. The fever is getting higher. Inwardly, he thought that this afternoon would probably be his last twilight. If Wang Hongli heard that, the bachelor swordsman would definitely grumble and be very sad.

“Should have been, I didn't let her bond with me until celibacy was so, Li An's inner” was full of regrets. He lay weakly on a stretcher, shouldered by the four faithful warriors who accompanied him. “His age has entered the head of three, right? Was he never interested in marrying a girl?”

The air around is getting colder, a sign that the day is starting to twilight. The aches and pains that Li An suffered were getting worse. However, he could do nothing but endure it. If only he could choose, he would probably choose to die now rather than continue to suffer.

The breeze blew slowly. He brought a cold that came from the mountains. Like a bone prick, the cold aggravated the pain that enveloped Li An.

“Alas once the young man,” continued the old man, “He probably won't be able to get through tonight safely.”

“Do not be presumptuous, Old Man!” Wang Hongli reflexively exclaimed in emotion. If one of his hands did not carry Li An's palanquin, he would have drawn out his sword. In his current state, he did not care even though the grandfather was old and could not possibly fight him at all.

“Hais ..., young people today do not know what is called manners,” the old grandfather walked up to Wang Hongli without fear at all. He even glared at the great warrior as if challenging him to fight, when he was just a hunchback man who could not even walk except with the help of a cane.

“Poor young man,” the hunchbacked old man looked up and repeated his words again. Due to his short body, he could see the bottom of the stretcher. “The wound is already infected. How do you take care of her? Isn't he your precious young master?”

“It ...,” Wang Hongli is speechless. He is not a hard-to-think muscle. His emotions that had overflowing had also managed to control back, “Pardon me, Kisanak. Can you help our young master?”

“Hm?” the old geezer frowned, “Why do you think I can help your young master?”

“You must have lived around here a long time ago, right?” Wang Hingli only guessed. When he heard the old man's words earlier, he thought that maybe the old man was a wise man. “I want to find herbs to make medicine. Perhaps you—”

“You can concoct herbs?” the old man looked at Wang Hongli from top to bottom. The warrior figure did not seem like an herbalist at all. Even so, Wang Hongli replied without hesitation, “I've learned it.”

“How many herbs are you concocting every day?” asked the old man in curiosity.

“Em~” Wang Hongli now looks doubtful, then replied, “I do not concoct herbs every day.”

“Then, how many times in a month?” ask the old man again.

“My job is to escort,” Wang Hongli started to feel “sesak” from those questions, “I very rarely concoct herbs.”

“Hah? Don't you even concoct herbs at least once every season?” the old grandfather looked furious. His face was like an old man who was annoyed at his granddaughter for failing to run errands.

“Actually, I concoct when needed only, so ...,” has not been until Wang Hongli finished his words, a tetiba stick swung to his face. The clash of the canes did not hurt at all, only making Wang Hongli startled.

“With that bad perseverance, you want to concoct herbs? Nah! That doesn't even deserve to be called diligent!” snapped at the old grandpa. He clucked, “Ck, follow me! Let me take the medicine for him. You warriors are not reliable at all in this regard.”

“...”

Wang Hongli could not protest. After all, he had no intention of wasting this opportunity at all. After all, the safety of the Eighth Prince was his top priority. He had to save Li An at all costs.