From a Frozen Memory

The sun had not risen yet, but Sun Yin and Lu Bang were already on the deck. The main deck remained unusable due to sanitary reasons while the upper decks were rarely accessed by the common people. Then again, the other middle two decks were opened to the people since the main deck was closed.

Since they were the guests of honor, the two disciples of the Huayuan Lin sect enjoyed the view from there. The ship was turning to the other side of the mountain range. Most people would be looking at the direction of Haiyang, but Sun Yin turned to the east.

Mountain peaks crowded the view to the island so far that was barely seen in the horizon. It looked dark and filled with dark energy under the shadow of the sun. Bright light traced the triangles, and yet the eerie picture refused to leave.

Lu Bang stroked at his chin. "Is that the place you wanted to see?"

"Yeah. There used to be a harbor at the foot of the mountains, but it seemed it's not there anymore." She leaned against the railing and hummed in melancholy. "They probably run out of business. Not a lot of people travel to that place after all."

"What's behind the mountains?"

"Hushe... the entire region that the Sun family protected. It's also the unholy birthplace of the Bride, and the mass graveyard of her entire sect." Her smile started to break. "I haven't been home for a long time. I wonder if there's still a living creature on that island."

Her memory of the Hushe village was faint after almost a hundred years of being away from it. The village had been against the use of dark energy as a means of power, and so she burned their bodies first before leaving to realize her goal. Ever since then, she had not come back home. Even if she was successful in wiping out the main slaughterers of the Sun sect, she felt like she would never be accepted in their village again.

She was six when she found out that she could be a cultivator like her parents. She knew the basics and tried to use them to form her golden core as fast as she could. Since she was born into the family, she did not have to restart. Most of the time, her classes involved her learning the ways of the Hushe Sun sect along with adults who married into the clan.

Months into her journey, she began realizing the power that her clan was keeping out of reach from every other sect in the world. The Hushe Sun sect was not part of the Society, and so they had no power over them. The most it did before was to visit once a week to take a look at their school.

Never did she think that there was a day that the Society would bare its fangs against them. They had grown too desperate to regain the power hidden within the wooden walls of Hushe. Not one demonic beast was strong enough to ask for the full power of every sect; neither was there a group to terrorize the world.

It was all simply for power. The power to wield the purified dark energy. However, what they all looked at was only the beginning—the least form of the supposed Hushe Path. Beyond the books came the ability to wield dark energy as it is... in a way that it would not drain the owner's life continuously.

Hysteria plagued the ears of the young girl when she was dragged by her older sister to the hidden paths out of the island. She was confused, and yet she kept on running.

"We need to hurry, Yinyin!" The older sister continued to run. She cared too little of the cold wind that kissed the child's thin frame or the exposed bosom from her ripped robes.

Blood trailed down her sister's fingers as the cuts of a sword dyed her inner robes red. The golden hanfu she wore was nothing more than a torn skirt fluttering weakly as they ran.

"Why are we leaving Mother and Father, Big Sister?" Sun Yin spoke softly, unaware of the deaths behind her—hidden in the flames roaring in the night.

"Listen to me, Yinyin. Promise me that you will live. Our family's dreams are inside of you now." The sister smiled at her as she turned to her.

However, her smile distorted as she saw a flying sword speeding towards them. Before she could react, the blade went through her head—through the skull—right before her little sister's eyes.

Instead of fear, Sun Yin was surprised. Her sister collapsed to the ground with her head wrecked open. She took the girl down with her, causing Sun Yin to get grime all over her face. Blood and gray matter pooled under her destroyed face that Sun Yin could not make out anymore.

"Ah, finally." A voice of a man echoed behind them. "I've been missing a lot. I must be a little rusty now."

The sword that went through came back, and it struck right before Sun Yin. From the blurred reflection, she saw a man walking towards her.

The little girl got up from the ground and faced the man. She looked up to see his face, but it was too dark to see it clearly. As if unafraid of her, the man sat on his heels and used his hands to clear the grime off of her face.

"Such a very pretty little girl. What is your name, little one?" The man smiled as if he was innocent.

"Sun Yin. Why did you kill my sister, Big Brother?"

"Because I had to. She's taking you away." He dusted her hair and tried to tame the snagged locks from her short, looped braids. "Now, do you want to come home with Big Brother? I'll treat you well."

The girl only stared at him. It made his smile a little sour.

Another man came behind them. "Master Qiao, did you catch all those who fled?"

"Can't I spare this little girl? She'd be a good doll—"

"You have a lot of dolls already." The other man tucked Sun Yin's sister's body under his arm. "Put her with the others if you don't want to kill her." He flew away.

"I guess I'd have to pass then." Master Qiao picked up the girl and rode his sword back inside the city.

Peering from the broad shoulder of the man, Sun Yin saw the destruction they had caused her village. Every home was burning, and there were a lot of corpses. The disciples that helped their masters gathered the dead and dumped them all in a grave dug in the plaza. Amidst the crowd and tearing smoke, Sun Yin saw her parents among the dead.

The other man threw her sister in the mass grave. A few more dropped a dozen more into the grave. Unlike them, Master Qiao just held on Sun Yin as they both watched the disciples drop bodies into the grave that was slowly becoming a blood pond.

"Watch carefully, Sun Yin. These are the people who ruled the Society," Master Qiao whispered into her ears. "Since you cannot be a doll of mine, it would be better to die without seeing a world ruled by monsters."

The masters and their disciples had gathered around the pond. Master Qiao had to let her go now, making her join the rest of the Hushe Sun sect.

"Only if you were strong enough, you might be able to change that."

Sun Yin only flinched to shake off the memory. She dared not to look at Lu Bang with those eyes she was wearing at the moment. However, she could still feel him standing beside her, perhaps curious about the Hushe village.

Lu Bang pulled back from the railing and looked around the thin crowd in their deck. For some reasons, the captain had joined the other nobles in observing the unveiling view of Haiyang's deep blue waters. As if he could sense their gaze, he turned towards Lu Bang soon enough.

As a form of courtesy, he smiled at him and walked over to check upon them. "Greetings, young master, my lady. Why won't you join us in looking at Haiyang?"

"Hm, we'll do it later." He gestured to the dark island in the distance. "Do you know how to get there? There used to be a harbor facing the sea before. Now that it's not here anymore, do you know how else we could go there?"

"That area fell to the hands of the Reqi Ren sect. There must be ways to get there through Reqi." The captain stroked at his long mustache. "There were stories that a bright light was once seen in those mountains. It stayed for five days and five nights. After that, not even birds go near that area."

"It's strange that I'm always being drawn to Ren Junjie. It would make more sense if it was the Qiaos..." Sun Yin murmured away from the captain's view. However, she knew that Lu Bang heard her. She then smiled at him again. "Thank you so much!"

"Hahah, we're the ones truly indebted to you, Lady Sun!"

The captain had left since one of the crew members called for him. The two were back to gazing at the dark island that was slowly retreating out of view.

Lu Bang hummed. "Do you want to go home once? When this is all over, we could go and see Hushe."

"Only if you were there to receive my third kowtow." She giggled before getting knocked on the head.