Ch.6 Saving The Villagers

"I apologise but you'll all have to stay in this room for now." The soldier who brought them to their room in one of the inns bowed and left.

Perhaps it was because five thousand soldiers had taken over a small village meant for a thousand, all the other rooms they have walked past had been crammed full of soldiers.

"Finally! I can get this cursed thing off me." Shredding the serious façade along with her armour, she rubbed her sore shoulders and let herself fall onto the bed. Her white, silk robe behind the heavy metal fluttered down beautifully, simple yet with a hint of sophistication. Pure even, she would have been mistaken with, if it wasn’t for the stark contrast created by the deadly, dark blue fan hanging by the sash around her waist.

"Lady! How did you manage to trick them with a fake token?!" Xiao Liu finally got the chance to ask the one thing he had been dying to find out since just now.

"Oh, this?" she carelessly threw the token into his hands. "What makes you think it's fake?"

"It's the real thing?!"

"Thought it looked nice when I killed the Southern Lieutenant in a battle 8 years ago so I brought it back with me."

"Lady… how could you bring back an enemy's token? If this token had been found on you, you'd have been suspected as a spy!"

"'He' would have trusted me." She leaned back against the wall, and it was at times like these that those usually indifferent eyes would allow a hint of warmth to enter. "And that’s enough."

Shen Tian Ping walked towards her with a canton-carved wooden box in his hands and handed it to her. "Master, the thing you've asked me to prepare."

A dandelion-like finger lightly flipped the latch open only to reveal -Xiao Liu has to rub his eyes- tokens. A great deal of tokens. With just a single glance, he has already seen the emblem of all 3 of the other kingdoms. She ignored the flabbergasted boy as she picked up one of the bronze tokens with the emblem of the Southern walls sculptured on it and scrutinized it as carefully as if she were choosing a jade hairpin. "Take this in case someone asks about your identity. It belonged to a Southern Marshall some years ago."

"Lady… stealing the precious tokens of people you’ve killed to keep as collections… do you not get nightmares at night?"

She looked him dead in the eyes, with her eyebrows slightly creased in perplexion as she mused over how the human IQ could go even lower than the moat protecting their city walls. "If I managed to kill them the first time, what makes you think I can’t do it a second time in my dreams, Xiao Liu?"

"Because they don’t have a physical body this time?"

"And do I have a physical body in my dreams?"

"…no."

"Then we’re still fighting on equal terms. Only this time, they’re in my territory."

Slowly getting convinced by this seemingly logical explanation, Xiao Liu turned to the male who was leaning against the wooden pillar and resting his eyes quietly. "Is that how it works, Ping-ge?"

"I don’t know. I’ve never had a nightmare before."

"…oh."

“Enough talking.” The change in their master’s voice made them kneel properly to receive her commands. "Tian Ping, I’m leaving that lump of meat in your hands. Take care of the guards around the supplies as well. Since our enemies were so benevolent enough to gather the supplies in one place for us, we'll be taking that. And Xiao Liu,"

"Yes, Master!" he looked up with eyes shining in excitement. This was his first time finally fighting alongside the legendary God of War so how could he not feel like he was floating on cloud nine? What kind of dangerous mission will his master give?

"visit the village temple and go pray for our success."

"Yes, Mas-…! …Huh? But Master-…! You don’t even believe in Gods anyway!"

And then, her next, equally befuddling words came instead.

"And go steal some oils while you’re at it."

???

~~

The woman in the shadows avoided the moonlight as she strolled through the empty streets and arrived before the prison gates. She hummed a light tune to herself, one hand holding onto the dark blue fan and the other swinging a jar of wine she had gotten from god-knows-where.

Noiseless, her footsteps were, but clear as day were the light hums she could not be bothered to hide in the silent night.

After all, how could a person make an entrance without even some background music accompanying her arrival?

"Who's th-…!" the prison guards saw a flash of white and before realising that a gash has appeared on their necks, they were already as dead as a village after a visiting plague.

Luo Yue flicked the fan in her hand and a splatter of fresh blood instantly dyed a blade of grass with a red smear. She continued humming softly as she walked past the prison doors, the confidence to don a white robe on a night hunt portraying exactly what she thought of this mission that had the Imperial Court fretting about in circles. Merely, an excursion.

The condition inside the prison felt more like a pigsty; the person who designed this place clearly did not imagine that it would one day hold the population of its entire village. The soldiers who were guarding outside the prison cells sat around a small table, playing cards and tearing into the meat in front of them. Unaware of the situation outside or the smell of death approaching them, their crude laughter echoed in the cold prison.

The cry of a child in one of the prison cells broke the mood and one of the soldiers threw a porcelain bowl at the cell, "shut up!"

"Sir, please, my child is just hungry! He hasn't eaten for 3 days. If we could just get a bowl of porridge-...no, even a bun... just a bun will do!" one woman quickly scrambled to the wooden door with a child in her arms as she pleaded.

"Do you think this is an inn?" the soldier who had thrown the bowl walked towards them with a sneer.

"Even an inn would charge a fee for that." One of his comrades laughed from behind.

"Please, she's only a child! If she doesn't get something to eat-...!"

"And what does that have to do with us?" He squatted down in front of the woman in rags and pulled her by her hair. Then, the smirk on his face froze when he heard a low humming sound. He turned towards the prison gates and could just about make up a white figure in the darkness. "What the hell?"

"Who's there?!" Even the rest of his comrades have stood up and drawn their swords.

The humming continued and it was only when Luo Yue stepped into the light did they finally catch her features.

"You're clearly not one of us," the first soldier let go of the woman's hair and make his way towards her with a warped glint in his eyes and a greasy smile on his face. "Say, how did you manage to stay hidden for so long?"

Noticing her presence, countless hands immediately reached out as cries of help sounded in the small prison. Perhaps it was this sight or these pleas or this smell. Whatever it was, it brought back memories she thought had gone stale in the deepest part of her mind. She realised that was clearly not the case when her humming unconsciously stopped dead in its tracks and she had to unclench her tightened fist.

She took a step back and closed her eyes, an irritated frown appearing on that exquisite face as she grew a little frustrated with herself.

'It has been more than a decade. Will you not keep your head straight?'

She took a deep breath and when her eyes fluttered open again, the soldier was already in front of her. "Hey, I'm asking you a question, are you mute?" He licked one end of his mouth as his hand reached towards her.

"I'm not, but unfortunately," Luo Yue stood unmoved and expressionless as she met his eyes. The apathy in them took him by surprise, "you'll be one soon."

"Huh-...?!" He hasn't even fully taken in her words when he felt wetness around his neck. He touched his neck with a trembling hand and only when he saw his hand dyed in red, did he understand that his neck has already been sliced.

Luo Yue took a graceful step aside and let the body fall onto the ground.

"Who are you?!" the three remaining soldiers pointed their swords at her.

"I really, do not like talking to morons." she sighed as she dodged the incoming attacks.

'Were the soldiers in the East always this incapable?' a small doubt emerged in her mind. 'There is something fishy going on here.'

Every slash was easily avoided and by the time they realised that she has walked past them and had already closed the fan in her hand, it was already too late. The next thing they saw, was her legs as they fell to the ground, dead.