《-Prologue-》

Shrouded in darkness. Mountains emitted an eerie, tranquil aura; Not for long, as the silence was disrupted by wails and screams.

In the dense forest, not far enough. A cloaked figure raised its head toward the noise and saw a cloud of smoke coming from the hidden camp. A hint of anxiety and concern rushed through the mind of the figure; not waiting any longer. The figure dashed hastily through the darkness, tiptoeing step by step in every bough, like a ghost.

After the figure had gone what felt like hundreds of miles or so, a faint light appeared, where a chill in the air since the fire had just extinguished. The figure moved even slower in extreme caution. The cloaked figure crouched on top of the limb of an aged tree nearby, which gives a clear view of the camp.

Piles of corpses lay sprawled all over the brigand's camp, severed legs and arms, blood dripping from all corners, intact yet dead bodies badly burn and torn apart.

It was the most ghastly sight to behold, the result hasn't found who did it but it has a lethal force attack that spontaneously kills one's person. Without hesitation, the figure flashed through the side of a man with life almost on the verge of death.

The man coughed out blood from the extreme pain of broken limbs but later, he flinched when a pair of hands hold his shoulder in a soft brush of familiar hands. He could feel the familiar aura came to his side.

"Zhang Meisi.." he softly said, he knew it was her. The deaf girl who had been raised as a bandit and became the strongest thief afterward. She was dressed as a male and treated like one. No one ever knew he was a female except for the man, named Xiu, the elder man of the Feng tribe. Both of them were brought along by fate and stumbled on the bandits together when they were young. She never knew how to talk. It broke him deeply.

"You have to get away here..Hurry.."

The pair of hands trembled, as it clasped to his bloody ones.

Zhang Meisi looked at the man who opened his mouth; she couldn't hear what he was saying. But she knew what it means, he called her name. As much as she wanted to hear his voice, she couldn't hear it. Her eyes glistened with tears, looking at the man mouthed another word,

"Xiao Mei...I failed. I failed to protect your brothers." The man's hands hold the girl's hand tightly. Even though he already knew that she couldn't hear him but he said it anyway. He wanted to say those words before he died.

The girl only stared confusedly at the man who opened his mouth and proceeds to talk, until it finished with his last breath.

Six last words left on his lips. "I love you, my dear granddaughter.." with his eyes open; his pale motionless body remains unmoved, just lying there in cold.