The girl in his dream was alive. 

How was this possible? Wasn't the dream simply just a figment of his imagination?

Both of them stared at each other intently, at a loss for words. When he took a step towards her, the girl hesitated and frowned, shuffling backwards in nervousness.

From the dark look in her eyes, he knew what she was thinking about him.

Untrustworthy foe.

Before he could utter a word, she turned and bolted off, leaving him without a choice but to chase after her.

However, he wasn't doing a good job at keeping up. Every few steps he took, his weak legs would stumble and he had to cling to the nearest tree for support.

He had so many questions, but there were no answers. Why was she on this island? She couldn't be the Demoness herself, could she?

But if she indeed was, his sword should have detected her malicious energy. Yet there was no sign of his weapon being triggered.

Zhijian forced himself to press on. As he continued his pursuit by following her tracks, his symptoms were starting to be unbearable for him. It felt like his burning lungs were being squeezed and he was suffocating.

He collapsed under a nearby tree, gasping for air. There was a need to investigate the mysterious girl, but he was too weak to move any step further from his current spot. With a flick of his fingers, he summoned his familiar to chase after her as his final resort.

A whirlwind of his thoughts slowly dulled into numbness. His eyes grew heavy as he struggled to remain conscious.

Stay awake, Zhijian. Don't fall asleep...

Find the others...

But before he knew it, he had lost the battle.

***

Someone nudged Zhijian's shoulder once, before something brushed his icy cold fingers.

Instantaneously, warmth seeped through his hand, moving up his arm and spreading across the rest of his body. Expelling the cold out of his system and pulling him out of the darkness.

When his energy was restored, he finally regained his consciousness.

His eyes fluttered open and he groaned while clutching his head, his mind in a state of confusion. He moved his hands and legs, surprised to find that the strength had returned to his body and he could move freely. Almost as if he had never caught a fever in the first place.

Hm, strange.

Sensing a presence near him, his head snapped to the side with one hand on the hilt of his sword. Instead of seeing anything malicious, all he saw was the girl who had run away earlier standing a few feet away from him. Her innocent, doe-like eyes staring right back at him, but with a hint of caution.

Zhijian reeled back from surprise. Didn't she run away from him earlier?

"You came back?" he said in disbelief. "Why?"

She tilted her head at him, watching him with wordless curiosity. It was difficult to fathom what thoughts were running through her head. Zhijian's desert fox appeared behind her, casually slinking past her before nestling by his thigh.

Zhijian questioned her further. "Who are you running away from? Did you happen to see a group of men?"

He finally received a response. The girl nodded her head once, her wary eyes flickering back in the direction where she came from.

This explained why she was so scared. Seeing a bunch of men walking around while carrying their weapons must be a terrifying experience for a petite girl like her.

Standing up, Zhijian took a step towards her. "Forgive my impertinence, but who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

However, he made a mistake. She retreated a few steps back, keeping a safe distance from him. Clearly frightened that he would lay a finger on her.

He put up both his hands, showing that he wasn't going to do any harm to her. "My apologies, I didn't mean to alarm you. The other men you saw? They are my comrades. We are just here to investigate something–"

He stopped in mid-sentence. They both heard a flurry of footsteps heading in their direction. Shortly later, Dukai and the other guys appeared, slowing to a stop when they saw them.

She tensed with fear, throwing up her guard and taking a few steps away from the group of men.

They were busy observing her from head to toe, trying to figure out where she had come from. With such an innocent demeanour, she didn't look like she would pose any danger to them.

Dukai whistled lightly in awe, his head darting to and fro between the pair. "Zhijian! You're flirting with a pretty girl while we are working hard on the mission? I didn't know you had this in you," he smirked.

Zhijian rolled his eyes. "And whose fault is it? I ran into her while she was running away from you guys."

Standing behind Dukai, Suqing stood rooted to the ground and gaped openly at her beauty. "Wow, she's really pretty," he blurted out without thinking.

Suling, elbowed him in the ribs, shooting him a look of disgust. "Can you close your mouth? You look like a fish."

Standing next to them, Menglong remained quiet but a lazy smirk twisted up the corners of his lips. His eyes raved over the girl like she was a fine specimen.

"Why isn't she saying something?" he mused. "Is she mute?"

Murmurs rose over his speculation. Shushing the rest, Zhijian turned back to the nervous girl. "We're not going to hurt you," he reassured her. "Like I mentioned earlier, we just need to verify something. Tell us, do you belong to the Bai clan?"

All pairs of eyes were fixed on her, waiting for her answer. They were greatly doubting that such a delicate girl would be the Demoness.

But nonetheless, they shouldn't rule out the other possibilities. For all they knew, she could be a descendant of the Bai clan, if there were any miracle survivors from twenty years ago.

The girl watched them with anxious eyes. After hesitating for a few seconds, she eventually gave them a short nod to confirm their suspicion.

"What about the Demoness?" Dukai inquired. "Do you know her? The female who annihilated her own clan as well as the group from Jiang's clan?"

The moment the girl heard the Jiang's clan name, a shadow seemed to flit across her face. Her hands balled into fists and anger flickered into her eyes.

Seeing her reaction, Dukai took the chance to continue on. "Where is she?"

This was the question that everyone was dying to ask. The air was thick with anxiety as every single pair of eyes watched her, waiting for her reply.

But she said nothing, merely looked at them pointedly with raised eyebrows. The longer the silence dragged on, the clearer the answer became.

Suqing gasped in horror. "She's the one, isn't she?"

There were a few sharp intakes of breath as realisation dawned on them. The four Eradicators immediately went on guard, pulling out their swords and pointing it at her.

Even Zhijian was filled with horror and revulsion. He hadn't expected the Demoness to look like that – all meek and vulnerable. What a cruel joke that she had played on him.

To think that he had wasted his time conversing with her!

"Oh look," Menglong scoffed, apparently finding her absurd. "The Demoness is mute."

"Enough said," Dukai silenced them. Pulling out his sword too, he spun around to eye the girl with a determined look. Even though things weren't going according to plan, he was going to continue the mission by seizing her.

"Demoness, you're coming back with us."

A/N: How do you find this so far? Interesting? Too slow?

Nonetheless, I thank you guys for giving this story a chance!