Hua Shu

"No one will die on my watch! Now leave, bandits, before I show you my wrath!"

As those words rang out, everyone turned their heads towards the trail, where a young woman stood on her white horse, bow drawn.

After an awkward pause during which the bandits looked at each other, Yin Jian began laughing uproariously, as though he did not take her seriously at all.

"Another one came to die, huh, whatever, I'll kill you too!"

And with those arrogant words, he began running towards the young woman, with his sword placed in front of his face, ready to slash any arrow that may come its way.

Li Zhu, who was still in the mud, hastily stood up, ready to assist the young woman in defeating Yin Jian. What he saw before his eyes, though, left him dumbfounded.

The moment Yin Jian started charging towards her, the young woman had already knocked three arrows in her bow. As she released her attack, crimson flames erupted, carrying each of the three arrows onto the same path, while not burning either wood or feathers.

The three arrows somehow all reached the Yin Jian's chest simultaneously. As the fiery attack came into contact with him, the flames surrounding the arrows spread out, covering his whole body. As fast as it they had come, the flames dissipated, and with them Yin Jian, who was now nowhere to be seen, his ashes probably carried away by the wind.

'Damn, she is powerful! Not only is she a high leveled qi gathering realm expert, but she also has that bow, which is a spirit weapon.'

Spirit weapons were made by strong cultivator blacksmiths who infused their heavenly energy while forging. These weapons were extremely powerful, as they contained heavenly energy which could be released during battle, without being exhausted.

That said, these weapons were way too rare, since they required a blacksmith to infuse all of their energy into them, causing anything from a few days of recovery to a crippled cultivation for the blacksmith.

Because of this, most blacksmiths would not be willing to make a spirit weapon, regardless of the compensation.

"You there, are you okay?", seeing the man in front of her spacing off, Hua Shu got worried, thinking he was suffering trauma from the near death experience.

Interrupted from his thoughts, Li Zhu distantly replied, "Oh... yes"

"Ookay... whatever you say, mister, so what's your name? And why are you traveling on this trail alone, when it is common knowledge that bandits hang out around here?"

'She wants to know my name... time to practice what I rehearsed earlier' Thought Li Zhu, with a proud and confident look on his face.

"Uhm, I'm Li Zhu, son of a wealthy merchant, though my family's wealth has been declining, so my father decided to send me to the Flaming Saber sect, to become an influential figure. My mother is in a coma so I am trying to become powerful enough to save her." As though he was reading from a script, Li Zhu shortly explained the backstory he had come up with.

A bit overwhelmed, Hua Shu replied, "Ok, I definitely did not need all that information, but coincidentally, I am also headed to the Flaming Saber Sect. Although I don't really know you, I feel like you would be unsafe if you encounter any other bandits, so do you want to go with me?"

Though he almost died today, Li Zhu was still confident in his capabilities to defend himself, especially now that he was more careful.

That said, the more the merrier, at least when it came to traveling, and knowing more people would make keeping his real identity a secret much easier, meaning he benefited either way.

"Sure, why not? It will be fun, though I need to warn you, I'm quite talkative!"

As though he just realized something, Li Zhu asked, "Wait, but how are we going to travel, if I don't have a horse?"

"Ahh, that's the fun part of scaring off bandits... you get their stuff! lets go over the hill, I bet they left so quickly they forgot to bring a few horses" Said Hua Shu with a mischievous smile.

And sure enough, over the hill, there were a few bags of tools, as well as a few horses, which probably belonged to Yin Jian and his brother.

"Well that's convenient... I guess i'm ready then!"

And with that, it was decided.

_____

Li Zhu and Hua Shu rode their horses on the muddy dirt road, as they approached the Flaming Saber Sect and the city it was in, Flaming Saber city. Li Zhu had learned a lot about Hua Shu throughout the journey, such as her status as a member of the Hua clan.

According to his memories, the Hua clan was a prominent force in the Crouching Tiger kingdom, as it was only second to the royal family, and not far behind it. Although the clan had a weaker foundation than the royal family overall, they had a spirit blacksmith, which had singlehandedly given the Hua clan the power to contest anyone in Crouching Tiger kingdom, including the royals.

That being said, the sects were independent forces that could not care less about the clans in the kingdom or their status, resulting in all the Hua clan members having to partake in the recruitment trials like everyone else.

As the duo got closer to the sect, an imposing skyline of buildings came into sight. Above all, were sky high towers, all connected to a massive stone wall, which gave them the feeling of having survived the passage of time.

Seeing this sight, Hua Shu had her mouth agape in awe, while Li Zhu simply smiled, since he had seen many impressive cities during his time as crown prince, including the famed imperial city of the Heavenly Dragon Empire, where he used to reside.

Galloping towards the massive gate, a few stationed guards walked up to them, yelling "Halt! The fee of entry to the city is ten silver coins... pay up and you can carry on."

Seeing this, Li Zhu frowned, as he was still broke, so he could not afford entry. Bracing himself, he awkwardly turned around towards Hua Shu, with a hopeful expression on his face, while trying to invoke pity in the young woman.

Seeing him like this, Hua Shu giggled, before reassuring him, "Don't worry, I can help a future sect member enter the city."

Li Zhu relaxed, as he suddenly felt very grateful towards this young woman he had just met.

"That won't be needed young miss, you and anyone traveling with you can enter without paying" As Li Zhu was feeling grateful, a middle aged guard, seemingly the leader of the other two, appeared, saying these words in a polite manner.

Hua Shu, who preferred fairness, though, quickly replied "That won't be necessary, sir. I can pay the twenty coins"

"Whatever young miss prefers" the guard leader, having settled this business, bowed, before returning to his post, as hastily as he had come.

After that short interaction, Hua Shu paid the coins, before her and Li Zhu continued towards the city.

'Interesting, she might be hiding something about her status, otherwise a simple Hua clan member would not be treated as such' thought Li Zhu, who was now quite curios about her identity.

After entering the city, the duo left their horses in a stable, before heading towards the center of the city, to find a place to stay before the Sect Examination, which would be held a week later.

As Li Zhu did not have any money, Hua Shu had kindly offered to pay for his stay at an inn, which was why they were heading the same way.

On their way, they took many detours, as Hua Shu tried to explored all the shops set up on the street, which were endless.

The main Street, which led straight to the Flaming Saber Sect, was bustling with activity, as locals and tourists alike went to buy daily necessities.

Other than them, there were also many young cultivators, hoping to be accepted into the Flaming Saber Sect, who were mostly interested in weapons and spirit artifacts, though the majority of them could only admire the treasures from afar, as they costed a fortune.

"What's that, Li Zhu? Oh wait, that seems even more interesting" Acting like a kid in a candy store, Hua Shu tried to see everything there was, and often bought the treasures she took a liking to, surprising even Li Zhu with her wealth.

As the more experienced of the two, Li Zhu became somewhat of a tour guide for Hua Shu, which he found quite miserable. That said, he felt indebted towards Hua Shu, which was why be played along and shared all his knowledge of these foreign items with her.

As the crown prince he had read many books and explored many cities, basically turning him into a living encyclopedia, which was very useful in this case.

After a few hours of this, Hua Shu finally decided to stop, as the exhausted Li Zhu thanked the gods, for finally ending his misery.

Having already passed a few inns on their exploration, the two returned to the closest one, as they bought two rooms, which were coincidentally adjacent to each other.

Not thinking much of this, Li Zhu jumped into his bed, ready to cultivate after his day full of adventures. Although he would not sleep, cultivating replenished heavenly energy, meaning it was as effective, if not more effective than sleep when it came to resting.

_____

Eyes closed, Li Zhu sat in a lotus position on his bed, having already cultivated for a few hours. He was now in a stage of half-sleep, with his body resting while his consciousness stayed alert.

"crack"

Suddenly, Li Zhu heard a strange sound, which immediately broke him out of his cultivation state.

'What was that? It seemed like glass breaking? Oh... not good, that can only mean one thing... someone broke into Hua Shu's room!"