Zhichao Tingfeng acted as stated - gesturing for Cao Xin to take Xiao Fan in his stead, so he could dispose of the additional bandit. Once the weeping woman was held in her shidi's support, the martial master of the Tian Lei sect stooped down to snatch at the sorry brigand like a sack of rice. Throwing his injured opponent over his shoulder, he proceeded towards the road, his feet moving as if drifting lazily but carrying him with shocking, unnatural speed.
Xiao Fan was left, then, with her sifu and her shidi, her gaze drifting back and forth between them. The silence in the air was only cut through by the occasional sound of birdsong, rippling through the midmorning air. The blood she was painted with was beginning to stain Cao Xin's apparel, though she doubted that he held any attachment at all for the wretched garments... Especially given that they were probably stolen in the first place by his previous master.
Finally, Hao Ning broke the still of her own accord, though her words couldn't reach Cao Xin's ears. "Ahh, simei, you're, uh... You're all bloody! I mean, of course you know that, duh, b-but...! Here, let's...! Let's throw you in a bath. Or maybe the nearby spring? Wash it away, and let all that filth be cleansed...!" She seemed a bit nervous to even speak up, but someone had to say something eventually. May as well be the senior in this case - senior of sorts, at least.
Xiao Fan was drawn from her mental fog by her sifu's words, looking to her ponderously for a few moments as she processed what Hao Ning had even said. However, once every cog in her brain was turning again, the revenant nodded rapidly. "Ah, Cao Xin... Err, shidi, take me to the spring over there. The one that the waterfall crashes into. I, ah... I need to clean myself. Don't worry, I don't need to disrobe, just..." She made a gesture with the hand not thrown over her new sect-mate, drawing it back as if bowling before arcing it up. She looked over at him, and he returned her empty-headed stare with a confident smile.
"Just throw you in, shijie? Yeah, I can do that. Oh, by the way, thanks for not killing me earlier. You're... Hahaha, your strength is phenomenal! You're a sight to behold. I'm so excited to have found you, and master Zhichao Tingfeng... it gives me hope for the future. Hope of seeing my father avenged." His smile only grew as did the boldness in his heart, matched one-for-one by youthful vigor. His enthusiasm forced a smile from his new sect-sister's lips, and she let out a soft chuckle.
And just like that, the mood had been lifted. A new flame burnt within Xiao Fan's heart as they took slow, steady steps towards the natural spring. Cao Xin was young, barely a man, but that became him. He was better for it, she thought... His youth and virility were exactly what the four of them needed, she imagined. If this was how he normally was? This bluster, this grinning, this shining beacon of hope despite his own tragedy? Under all the heavens and across the earth, he may have been the final, perfect puzzle-piece to the Tian Lei sect.
Hao Ning accompanied them as they toddled, humming snippets of a song to herself, going to hold Xiao Fan's spare hand as they went. She looked up at her junior sister, cracking one of those too-wide smiles once again, snickering softly to herself as she did. "So-o-o, simei, you like girls, huh? I don't think we've ever spoken of that. Like, I know you mentioned having a wife, but... Well-ll-ll...~ I just think it's very admirable of you to live the life you feel is best for you. Tell me about her some time, once Cao Xin is away. Don't wanna scare him by talking to yourself, do you?"
This drew a wry grin from Xiao Fan, and she found the strength to roll her eyes in feigned exasperation. Of course she couldn't reply vocally - Hao Ning was right about not scaring Cao Xin - but she found herself itching to give the little brat a playful bonk on the head. What a troublesome little waif to have as a sifu... but, at the end of the day, her seniority was still more than enough to earn Xiao Fan's begrudging respect. Not to mention all the help she had been more than happy to provide.
And suddenly, Xiao Fan was up in the air, only a foot or so, but still elevated beyond the norm. She had barely a second to look up at the sky and try and discern what had happened before her body crashed into a pool of cool, fresh water, immersed almost immediately. She felt herself sink down, down towards the bottom of the pond... the buoyancy of a corpse having no bearing on one that was withheld from rot and putrescence.
Her lungs felt no craving for air as she neared the bottom of the pond, eyes refraining from the sting that silt and minerals brought. It was a new experience, as many had been since she died... and there was something more than the novel charm of exoticism in its nature. Once her feet touched the bottom, she stiffened her back only so much that she could stand straight. Once she was steady and upright, she raised a leg to take a step, and was fascinated by the feeling of it all.
It was as if she was weightless, or at least, as if she weighed far less than she ever had. Her motions were slower, sure, but they were more fluid, more graceful... She placed her leg back down, getting into a proper stance, and made a slow, exploratory punch. There was something about the way her arm drifted, straight and true yet at a fraction of the usual speed, that really caught her in its wonder. She had been swimming before, of course, in the rivers and lakes near Er Xin as a child... but this felt different.
She wound back then, once again, and mentally steeled herself as if in a true fight. In her mind's eye, there was someone else there - a combatant, hoping to hurt her, hoping to destroy this new home she had found. She was back in Er Xin, in the ring of bodies with Tang Shun. She could see it as clearly as she sunlight through the water's surface.
He lunged forth, sword pointed to skewer her belly, motions as slow in this reverie as her own punch had been mere moments before. His jian drifted towards her in slow motion, and she responded with nothing but her own instinct - what felt right to do, given what she knew now of martial arts, and her own deathless body. She leaned wide left, putting out a hand to prop herself against the ground, her right leg swinging out with lightning speed (for one beneath the surface of a pond) and slamming her shin into his elbow.
The elbow inverted; the sword was dropped as pain rippled through her opponent's arm, a scream erupting from him, drawn out from the dilation that time underwent here. He backed away, and another Tang Shun stepped forth from the circle of bodies, ready to face her. He drew the same jian, made the same thrust, and... received the same results.
Time and time again, Xiao Fan's memory palace replaced the imagined battle, her body going through the motions. Time after time, her nemesis's elbow was broken and sent to ruin; again and again, a new Tang Shun stepped forth to take his defeated predecessor's place. Xiao Fan kept at it, repeating with increased vigor and accuracy each time, even her speed becoming honed as the motions became familiar. She began to focus more on where his elbow was during the thrust, and even before his strike, she found herself unable to stop from keeping track of his important joints.
It reminded her of the man in Xinmeijin - the one whose knee she had crushed, and sent his leg bowing inverse of itself. The same concept must've been true of all of these joints, right? The elbows... The knees... the shoulders... the hips... And even the ones that didn't seem like they could fully be 'inverted', like the ankles or wrists. Each of them was a weakness, a point of fragility where efficiency dwarfed security. If someone's wrist was crippled, they could barely make a fist, much less hold anything.
In the waking dream, she began to try out her theory. Instead of his elbow, she would swing her body wide and strike out at a knee, or make a palm-blow to his wrist as he came at her. Soon, they stopped making only thrusts, but in that same breath, she adapted to their tactics and punished them time and time again. The circle of Tang Shuns began to dwindle, nearing its inevitable conclusion... and, in time, the final Tang Shun stood before her.
He moved a bit faster, a bit more in line with the reality of her memory. No longer was the dream solely about her own practice - instead, it was about practical application of the motions and theories behind it all. He grinned as he did upon their first and only meeting in the flesh, waggling his brows at her, making a foul gesture with his off-hand. When he began to speak, however, it nearly shocked Xiao Fan out of the palace altogether - yet, with that surprise, came a mote of terrible fury.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
"Oh-ho-ho, Xiao Fannn, what has become of you~? You're no longer the scared little girl from Er Xin, are you? What, are you a killer now? Are you a violent brute, who murders men for fun? Because you like it? Your pathetic Zhang Daiyu, she's so loud... Every night, crying her eyes out, begging to be released... But that just makes us beat her harder, you know? Hah!" His grin became a cocksure, cruel smile, the words spoken only adding kindling to Xiao Fan's rage. He twirled his sword, flourishing it as he waited for a response.
When none came but an incensed grimace, he continued on, the verbal prodding becoming even more vulgar. "Oh, but she's so beautiful, too, when she cries... The way the tears run down her face, outlining her bruises... Maybe I won't even sell her off. Maybe she should be my concubine, hmm? You played at a man's game, taking a wife... Trying to fulfill what she needed of you... But you were never enough, were you? I'll show her what a real man is like. Not a bitch playing at manhood." He sneered at her, running his tongue over his teeth.
That was more than enough. Xiao Fan reached the breaking point, taking a single, measured step forward, both in her mind and in the pond's depths. Her opponent laughed, a deep belly-laugh, laced with abject cruelty and amusement at her distaste for him. She found in herself the clarity to make a single, short response, words pouring forth through grit teeth. "You play the pig too well for this tiger, Tang Shun." And then, without further warning, she made her move.
In her mind, her leg caught ablaze as it moved, so fast as to be nearly imperceptible - in reality, bubbles formed and water boiled as she attained a speed and force which seemed unreal. Tang Shun's eyes widened now, in the blink where he had the time to even consider what he was seeing - and then her shin crashed into his ribcage, slipping beneath his arms through virtue of his inability to react. There was a cacophony that followed, crunches and pops and wet, juicy sounds, like crushing plums to make wine.
Tang Shun spat blood out in a crimson stream, painting the ground with voided innards - what lunch could make it up his throat did, though his essence heavily tainted it. The rest of his organs spilled from his now sundered torso, a ravaged wasteland of bone and flesh and cartilage, the scent of singed meat filling the air with its acrid tang. It was horrible... but, to Xiao Fan, it held a beauty all its own. Tang Shun would never speak again, much less spit the venom he seemed so prone to spewing. The only thing he would be spewing now would be his guts.
He staggered back, sword discarded, brain clinging to life even as he was exsanguinated through brutal wounding. He tried to form words, but ruptured lungs gave no air to speak; he tried to plead, but no noise could come from rent vocal cords. And then, he seemed to realize that he was dead, and his body dropped to the packed dirt of the dream. There he lay, limp and dejected, sightless eyes staring up at a sun that he would never truly witness again.
The dream began to fade, then, and without question. Xiao Fan's heart cooled little by little, her body having grown to extreme heat even beneath the chilling waters of the pond. The water that touched her skin sizzled and bubbled, rising up to the surface as steam; her cheongsam, having been soaked for the entirety of her time here, was now dry to the touch, at least on the inside. Xiao Fan looked down at herself, at the burning-hot flesh which embodied her, and smiled.
This was what martial mastery was all about, wasn't it? To train and master oneself, to surpass the limits of humanity through practice and effort. To become stronger than one would ever imagine possible, because there was a great strength within a person that most allowed to wither and die. Here and now, however... She had chosen to nurture it, to allow it to flourish. That first step down the hill to fight Tang Shun, back in Er Xin? It had been the first step on a long road.
And while she was far from her destination, this was her first true milestone.
It felt good. The fury within her core dissipated into pride and joy, swirling about as two dragons chasing one another's tails. There was a power within her limbs that she could never have dreamt of in a thousand years; yet, through the grace of the heavens, and the tao, she was granted a chance to surpass her mundane life.
With a grin now plastered to her face, she looked up to see where the sun was, beyond the water's surface. She was surprised to see the moon staring down at her, its pale luminance setting the pond's interior alight with an icy glow. That suited her just fine, she supposed, but she couldn't help but wonder what Hao Ning and Cao Xin thought... Cao Xin didn't even know she was dead yet, did he? Shit. That would be a lot of explaining... He probably thought he had killed her or something.
Ugh. A worry for a different time. She began to make her way out of the pond, digging her fingers into the damp muck of the walls to climb up. Thinking of Cao Xin and Hao Ning, she also thought of Zhichao Tingfeng. What would he think of her training, and the results? Would she be able to replicate that kick, that brutal, body-destroying kick, when it came time to show him? She hoped he would approve... or at least, wouldn't be disdainful.
She had been having problems recently, of course, relating to killing people. If she now had a glimpse of a technique - yet to be perfected, of course - that could kill in a single, mighty blow? And do so in the blink of an eye? She shuddered to think of the admonishment she would receive if he disapproved... And she felt her mood fall when considering what Hao Ning's reaction would be, too.
As her head breached the gentle waves, she took in a deep breath and released a deeper sigh. She had been holding her breath that entire time... She didn't need to breathe, sure, but it felt nice to do. Felt natural. There were plenty of vestiges of her humanity which she could not simply throw away, no matter how hard she tried. Clambering up onto the damp grass, she swiveled her head from side to side, searching for signs of life. The great hall was filled with light, and the sound of clinking glasses and laughter.
That was good. A good sign - no, a great sign. If everyone was having fun, then surely Cao Xin and Hao Ning weren't too upset about her being lost to the pond's depths... And Zhichao Tingfeng had returned without any sort of issue, though she never had assumed he would encounter one. The moon's glow felt as warm as the sun's light to her in that moment, and she was glad for it. Glad for everything, really - for her new family, for her new home, for her new body. Despite herself, she was glad that she had died. If only she had died in a way that hadn't offered up Zhang Daiyu as the price...
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, she would speak with Cao Xin, and ask Zhichao Tingfeng about when they could leave to find that bastard. Tomorrow, she would show off what she had learned in the realms of memory, where motion drifted as if through molasses. Tomorrow, she would do everything she could to find Zhang Daiyu, and if not, then she would make herself as ready as she feasibly could be. She would practice more, train harder... Frankly, she may dip beneath the pond again, and try to dredge up what she had just experienced.
But those were all things for tomorrow. Snippets of a joke about a dragon and a pig farmer were carried by tender winds from the great hall to Xiao Fan's ears, and she couldn't help but smile - not at the punchline, but at the joy her new family was sharing. She had since given up on trying to fight with herself about what she thought of them. Hao Ning was surely a younger sister, though in the sect, she was Xiao Fan's senior... Zhichao Tingfeng took the role of older brother... And Cao Xin, for his part, was their new younger brother.
There was peace in that - some kind of serenity, some tranquility, in the realization and acceptance of it. What they had was special, without a doubt, and special in a way that few things ever were. They may have been brought together through pursuit of justice, or martial arts, or vengeance, or what-have-you, but at the end of the day? They were all in it together, supporting one another, looking towards the same goal.
Freedom. Peace. Solace. An end to their own personal strife. That would come, she was sure - for now, Xiao Fan just hoped there was dinner left for her. She was hungry. Again.