20 Footsteps of Fever

In the dead of night, everything was quiet in the forest aside from the occasional howls and growls of the wild animals and the calming sound of the flowing lake.

In the military camp, most of the soldiers were resting in their tents while some were keeping guard with the utmost diligence. Li Yan's tent was in the middle of the formation and the closest tents to her were of Old Huo, Fan Weijin, and Yao Wuhan who were her attendants and guards.

Apart from Old Huo who had been tired out due to the constant journey, the other two were awake and keeping guard just in case.

The moon was high above in the sky, shining luminously illuminating the night sky while the fluttering torches brightened the forest grounds in the lake vicinity. This scene of tranquility painted a serene picture.

Inside Li Yan's tent, Shijie was sleeping close to his mother's bosom while she slept peacefully like a baby holding him closer to her.

Suddenly, Shijie's brows twitched and his eyeballs move rapidly below his closed eyelids. His body shook and frightened groans escaped his mouth.

Gradually, the condition worsened as Shijie's head began moving left and right in fright wearing an expression of fear and trepidation as if he was seeing some terrible nightmare.

As Shijie threw his limbs around in resistance, his body started sweating profusely. Li Yan, a warrior in her roots subconsciously sensed movement around her even in deep sleep and jolted awake.

As soon as she woke up, Li Yan began looking around her alertly for danger and soon noticed her son suffering in agony.

Li Yan panicked and quickly held Shijie by his shoulders, shaking him rapidly to wake up. Just as she touched his face to tip off the beads of sweat over his forehead, Li Yan flinched as her eyes widened.

"Goodness, Shijie… Wake up! Shijie, son, come on. You're burning with fever…" Li Yan exclaimed in desperation.

As she slapped his cheeks gently, Shijie suddenly cried out in his sleep and abruptly opened his eyes jolting awake as he jumped into Li Yan's arm while squinting his eyes.

"ANYONE THERE?! QUICKLY!" Li Yan called out loudly as she held Shijie tightly in her arms.

Suddenly hearing the panicked stricken voice of Li Yan, Yao Wuhan, and Fan Weijin looked at each other, startled, and then shot forward heading towards Li Yan's tent.

They soon reached the tent, entered hurriedly, and saw the scene of Li Yan holding Shijie covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Seeing this, they immediately understood the situation.

"My Lady, I will ask for the physician right away." Fan Weijin said as he jumped on his feet like the wind, disappearing in a blink of an eye.

Back in the tent, Yao Wuhan quickly moved, to scramble for clean cloth and cold water.

Soon, the temporary physician arrived in the tent and instructed Shijie to be laid down on the bed and begin the treatment. Yao Wuhan also brought a bowl of water and fetched a cotton cloth. Li Yan took the cloth, drenched it in the bowl, and put it on Shijie's forehead.

The physician checked shijie's nerves, his breathing, and his mouth and seem to have concluded the diagnosis. Without saying a word, he quickly began scrambling a list of herbs on the paper and gave it to Fan Weijin.

Taking the list, Fan Weijin left the tent again in search of the herbs.

Fan Weijin was a competent subordinate of Li Junwei who was quick on his feet and could handle any sort of situation. He quickly commanded an elite squad and took them with him to fetch the herbs.

After gathering all the herbs mentioned in the list, Fan Weijin soon returned. Sensing the abrupt movement in the camp, the soldiers woke up and stirred.

Fan Weijin delivered everything to the physician and a remedy was soon made by crushing and mixing the various herbs.

The physician then rubbed the remedy on Shijie's tongue while constantly trying to keep him cool by using water.

As the tension and anxiety grew, Li Yan could practically feel her heartbeat thumping like war drums. More time passed and Shijie still seemed to be struggling which made Li Yan even more and more aggravated.

Just as she was about to yell out loud in anger, Shijie's chaotic breathing suddenly got normal, his body stopped shivering and he opened his eyes.

"Shijie! Are you feeling well now? Was it a terrible nightmare?" Li Yan asked, hugging Shijie gently in her arms, and feeling that the fever had lessened.

"Mmm… It was terrible." Shijie answered weakly.

"Everything is fine now, all is good." Li Yan said as she caressed Shijie's head tenderly, her voice sounding full of relief.

Along with her, everyone present in the tent was relieved and released the breaths that they had been holding. They could feel that a possible catastrophe was avoided.

At this moment, Shijie, who was on the verge of breaking out into tears suddenly narrowed his eyes looking beyond the tent as his ears twitched.

Out of nowhere, he muttered blankly but with a hint of fear in his voice, "i-i hear many footsteps… Mother… I'm scared… The trees are rustling… mother… Can you hear? Hundreds of footsteps!"

Hearing this sudden statement from Shijie. It was as if the whole world had come to a halt. Everything became silent.