Chapter 29: The Girl in Purple
Phoenix Village, some time ago.
A young girl, no older than ten, could be seen running through the village streets, her purple dress and black hair adorned with a beautiful flower ornament, fluttering behind her. Her eyes were filled with fear and despair as she looked up to the sky, questioning why this was happening to her.
She had hardly ever known happiness, born into a strict and oppressive family where her fate had been predetermined before she was even born. Her mother had always treated her coldly, never spending time with her and leaving her upbringing to the maids. Her personal maid was the closest thing to a mother figure she had ever had in her life.
The only family member who had ever shown her love and affection was her grandmother. She asked her once before she turned six, why her mother hated her so much. She only remembered that her grandmother listened with a loving smile and replied softly with a single sentence.
"Don't hate your mother, she has her own difficulties too."
At the time, she didn't manage to understand what difficulties someone could have to hate her own daughter.
But it wasn't long after she turned six and inherited the family Martial Soul that she understood it all.
Her grandmother had left a few days before her awakening and never returned.
Actually, only two people in her family could inherit the family Martial Soul, and for her to inherit it, her grandmother had to leave...
She realized that her mother's coldness and distance were not a reflection of her feelings towards her, but rather a manifestation of the pain and burden of the family curse.
The time would come when she would have to give birth to the next generation, and her mother would have to make the same decision her grandmother had made.
This was the cruel fate that the heavens had imposed on her family.
"Young Miss, don't be distracted, they are coming!" snapping her out of her thoughts, the voice of her personal maid rang in her ears with a hint of urgency.
Turning to look back as she ran, the girl saw that the group of brutes that had attacked the Village was chasing her with bloodlust in their eyes, and besides them, she couldn't see any of her guards anywhere.
Knowing that it was possible that all of her guards were dead, the girl in purple turned to look at her personal servant not knowing what to do.
One of the few things that made her happy was coming to this Village every year to admire the landscape of beautiful begonias that bloomed in all their splendor at this time of the year.
Because of the Begonia Brew, this Village usually became very lively, and she would even stop sometimes and watch from a distance the families of villagers happily joining together to prepare this special brew, while the begonias swayed freely through the fields of the Village. Which made her forget for a moment her own cursed fate.
But she did not expect that this time a group of brutes would come to massacre the village, and if it were not for her family's guards, she would have died horribly long ago.
Although she fought alongside them for a while, she was only one person, and the number of people wounded had become too much, so she quickly ran out of soul power, with no other choice, she could only flee together with her personal maid while the guards bided her time.
After all, her family's Guardian Spirit King was several ranks stronger than the other party's, so as long as they didn't capture her, given enough time, she and her guards might still have a way to turn the situation around.
However, nothing had gone as expected, these people were stronger than an ordinary Spirit Master.
"Young Miss, you have to keep running and don't stop for anything in the world. I'll hold them off while you escape," the maid said, her tone stern and determined. However, the concern and care in her eyes betrayed her true emotions.
The girl's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "No, I can't just leave you behind!" she protested, her voice trembling.
The maid's gaze softened, but she remained resolute. "You must, Young Miss," she said. "I will not let them harm you. Go, now!"
Before the girl could say anything else, the maid suddenly darted towards the group chasing them and immediately cast a barrier with one of her Spirit Skills, surprisingly, the maid was a Spirit Grand Master.
The girl knew the defensive power of the barrier and understood that she would not be able to break it. Her personal maid was risking her life to save her, so her hesitation lasted only a short while before she started running towards the forest with a lifeless expression on her face.
As she ran, the girl heard the sounds of swords clashing and Spirit Skills being thrown in the distance. Her heart pounded with fear and worry for her maid.
Moments later, the barrier collapsed with a deafening crash, followed by the final scream of her personal maid. "Young Miss, run away--!" The maid's voice was cut off by the sound of slashing.
The girl stumbled forward, her steps becoming more erratic as her grief and guilt weighed heavily on her heart. She couldn't believe that the one person who had always been there for her was gone. But she knew that she owed her life to her maid's sacrifice.
As she sprinted towards the forest, the image of her personal maid's final moments continued to haunt her. The piercing sound of her last scream echoed in her mind, but she knew she had to keep running and stay focused to survive.
After running for a while longer, she heard a commotion behind her, but she didn't dare look back, sensing that some of her pursuers were still on her trail.
Finally, she reached the edge of the forest and pushed herself to run even faster, her eyes locked on the trees in front of her.
Approaching the outskirts of the Village, she glimpsed a small stretch of the forest a few hundred meters away, if she managed to get through that forest and cross the street, she might be able to lose sight of her pursuers.
Thinking so, the girl endured the pain of the scratches on her body and kept running with all her might.
Whoosh!
!!!!
As she was about to enter the forest, a blood arrow was shot from behind and landed right in one of her legs. The stabbing pain penetrated her brain, causing the girl to take a deep breath and slow down her pace, yet she didn't stop.
However, the toxins in the arrow caused her leg to go numb, eventually causing her to fall to the ground helplessly.
Knowing that she was about to be captured and used as a bargaining chip by the other party, and even tortured in every possible way, the girl took out a small knife from her soul guide and calmly observed it.
"You little bitch, stay where you are!" The voices of both Spirit Grand Masters sounded closer and closer, but she paid no attention to them, and as she held the dagger, she thought about what had become of her life so far.
From a young age, she had been raised to be nothing more than a tool for her family, and she was destined to end up just like her grandmother and all the generations before her.
However, as she lay here, helpless and on the brink of death, she realized that her life had not been as meaningless as she had once thought. Despite her mother's neglect, she had been surrounded by love and care from her personal maid and even a friend at the Academy who had always been there for her
Despite her friend's care and support, the girl foolishly envied her for having a loving grandfather who held power and influence, allowing her to chart her own path in life. This envy clouded her judgment and prevented her from truly valuing their friendship.
"I don't want to die..." Finally, the toxins reached her arms, and the dagger she held near her neck fell to the ground, the girl didn't care, and tried to speak with the last of her remaining strength.
"Keke, so you're finally begging, you little bitch! Don't you know how much damage you've caused us? Don't expect to die a good death!"
Approaching towards the girl, the two Spirit Grand Masters mocked her pleas.
The girl's damned Martial Soul almost had them completely annihilated! If it wasn't for the fact that she ran out of soul power, they would have all been buried long ago.
"My blood arrow won't kill you brat, so stop resisting and be of some use, when we take care of that Spirit King of yours, kekeke, there you will know what hell is". Grabbing her by the neck, one of the Spirit Grand Masters laughed mockingly.
"Please, someone... anyone... help me," the girl's voice quivered as she gasped for breath, her eyes tightly shut in despair. She could feel the toxins from the blood arrow coursing through her veins, weakening her with every passing second.
Despite the looming presence of the two Spirit Grand Masters who had cornered her, she refused to give up hope.
"I won't let you take me down that easily," she said through gritted teeth, trying to muster up the strength to fight back.
"Keke, no one will come to save you-"
Swoosh!
Wanting the girl to feel what despair was like, the Spirit Grand Master began to speak, when suddenly, a wind whistling sound rang out, and then all went silent.
The girl opened her eyes to see that the person holding her had a spear stuck right in his head, entering above one ear and coming out the other side.
The person still had a smirk on his face, until a moment later, a stream of blood began to spurt out of his head, giving him a creepy look.
"Who's there!?" The other Spirit Grand Master finally woke up from the commotion, possessed his Martial Soul, and shouted towards the trees, which was where the whistling had come from, however, he hadn't noticed that a small shadow had appeared on his back.
BOOM!
"AARGH!" Feeling as if a giant rock had impacted its back, the Spirit Grand Master screamed in pain and immediately flew off into the nearby forest, impacting a tree full on, causing it to vomit a large mouthful of blood, his life or death was unknown.
The girl in purple finally broke free from the corpse's grip, and fell to the ground on her buttocks, immediately, tears flooded her eyes, but they were not tears of pain, instead, they were tears of joy, a joy to be alive.
Trying to crawl with the little movement left in her hands, she wanted to get close and thank the little figure for saving her.
The small figure saw her condition and motioned for her to no longer move, then moved toward her.
As she was able to take a closer look at the person who saved her, the girl in purple realized that it appeared to be a boy about her own age, the boy appeared to be very good-looking, however, he was wearing a mask that covered much of his face.
The small figure did not stop to talk to her, instead, he quickly walked over to the corpse, and removed the spear that had been stuck in his skull.
Then, in the girl in purple's eyes, the boy used a mysterious movement and only managed to catch a few blurry afterimages before the boy appeared in the collapsed tree, raising his spear to deliver the final blow to the enemy.
"Agh!" With a piercing sound, the boy's spear buried into the throat of the Spirit Grand Master, who incredibly was still alive, finally ending his miserable existence.
Seeing the tragic death of both Spirit Grand Masters, the girl was not in the least displeased, instead, she felt extremely joyful. If it were up to her, she would seek to give them a thousand equally tragic deaths and even that would not be enough to make her completely satisfied.
Since the moment of adrenaline was over, a sense of sadness that she thought she would never feel again flooded her heart. Her personal maid, the one who had raised her and watched her grow up, had tragically died to save her. She felt guilty for not appreciating her enough and for not being able to save her.
"Ugh-"
Just as she was being filled with sadness, a gagging sound was heard in the distance. This caused the girl to raise her head and turn to look at the boy with surprise and concern on her face, but she could only glimpse the silhouette of the boy vomiting behind a tree.
A few seconds later, the boy came out from behind the tree with slightly staggering steps, but as he walked, he managed to regain his composure. Finally, he approached within 2 meters of her.
"Are you feeling okay?" As she looked at him with teary eyes, the girl asked in a breathy voice.
"Mhm, I'm sorry about what happened just now, it's actually the first time I killed someone and I couldn't resist the nauseating feeling". Said the boy, known as Lu Yuan, with a bit of embarrassment, however, he tried to be sincere to gain the girl's trust.
"I see". The girl nodded in understanding, the first time she had seen a corpse, she spent vomiting for several hours and could not fall asleep for a week.
However, she had been trained since her Martial Soul awakened, so she had seen a lot of injuries and even corpses, so it could be said that in the face of the sea of corpses in the Village, she still managed to keep the breakfast in her stomach.
Instead, she began to analyze what the boy had said, and was quite surprised, the boy hadn't killed anyone so far, which meant that there was a high probability that he had been involved in this by chance, moreover, he had been led in her direction thanks to the shout of her personal maid. All of this made her feel as if the meeting between them was fated, but she immediately denied it inwardly, she no longer wanted to believe in such things as fate.
She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, unable to find the words to express her gratitude, but finally, words came out of her mouth like a whisper.
"Thank you for saving me, I really, really appreciate it". The girl said gratefully as tears once again soaked her cheeks.
She had never appreciated her life as much as she did at this moment.
"It's okay, you've been through a lot, unfortunately, things aren't over yet. You can't walk, can you? I'll have to ask you to stay with me for a while, and on the way, I'll have to ask you some questions". Lu Yuan said while checking the girl's wound.
"Hmm, it's just a temporary paralysis, I'll... I'll be in your care in the meantime". Said the girl softly as she began to regain her soul power, although she was no expert on poisons, she had been trained to recognize them, and she knew that the arrow just now only had a paralysis-inducing toxin.
"Then... sorry for the inconvenience". As he carefully lifted her up and carried her in his arms, Lu Yuan calmly said.
Although Lu Yuan was younger than her, her body had been developing over the past few months and was already comparable to that of a 9-year-old boy, so he had no problem carrying her like this.
As she felt the boy carry her in his arms, the girl's heartbeat increased and embarrassment flooded her heart. No man had ever carried her like this in her life! But in the end, she didn't object, the boy took the trouble to carry her in a position where she felt comfortable during the travel even though he was in a hurry.
"You can recover your soul power as we talk on the way, besides your weak physique, the rapid spread of the toxin in your body is also due to the low soul power in it, so the faster you recover, the faster you will come out of that state". Lu Yuan analyzed.
The girl in purple nodded her head in understanding and pushed away all thoughts in her mind as she concentrated on recovering her soul power.
Along the way, Lu Yuan asked her a few questions from time to time and she summed up everything she knew. He listened carefully to her words, trying to piece together the information he had gathered so far
Knowing that one of the Spirit Kings fighting in the distance was one of the girl's guards and that it was stronger than the other party, made Lu Yuan let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that they didn't need to worry about that side for the time being, this way, they could concentrate on eradicating the group of Spirit Masters that Xu Fei was fighting with.
As they reached a tree that overlooked the battle between Xu Fei and the Spirit Masters, the girl managed to eliminate most of the toxins from her body and was able to stand on her feet. Lu Yuan instructed her to hide behind the tree while he went to assist Xu Fei in the battle.
Without hesitation, the girl complied, watching the fight with concern.
At the moment he saved her, she had not been able to see him clearly, and it was at this moment that she finally realized that the boy who saved her was only a Spirit Master!
Despite being just a Spirit Master, using his mysterious techniques he was able to sneak out and kill two Spirit Grand Masters from the opposing side, completely tilting the battlefield to their own side.
This was amazing!
After Lu Yuan did this and talked to Xu Fei, Lu Yuan returned towards the girl, to which the girl obediently came out of hiding. Xu Fei quickly understood the information Lu Yuan told him, and turned to look at the girl with a look of gratitude.
Suddenly, a roar of anger rang out, which made the girl in purple tightly grab Lu Yuan's clothes.
"Stinky brat, you're looking for death!"
Seeing that the other party had used a forbidden technique while sending a Spirit Elder after them, the girl's eyes became determined. She was not willing to die, but neither did she want to run away again.
Just as she was about to possess her Martial Soul and support Lu Yuan to death, he turned around and covered her with his body, while placing a mask just like his on her face.
"Uncle Xu!" before the girl could react, Lu Yuan shouted at Xu Fei as they both threw a jade bottle that cracked in the air, and immediately, a yellowish dust surrounded the two Dark Spirit Masters.
"Hold your breath as long as you can". Lu Yuan whispered in the girl's ears.