Daiyu could feel herself being pulled underwater. The gentle water enveloping her felt warm and safe. She felt as if she was back in the cradle of her mother’s arms.

“Ah, you Heavenly Demon bastard, how dare you sully our lands?” She opened her eyes and saw a strange scene unfolding in front of her. A man wearing white clothes embroidered with plum blossoms was pointing his sword at Cheon Haoran, who was adorned with the black silk robes of the Heavenly Demon.

“I’m disappointed. You are supposed to be the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, yet you refuse to see the truth right in front of your eyes, Jin Syaoran? None of those atrocities were committed by the Demonic Sect. We never hit the Peng Family or Shaolin Sect.” Haoran spoke with a calm voice that just instigated Jin Syaoran even more.

“How dare you lie again! I trusted you. I believed in you. I was ready to leave that rotten Justice Alliance behind for you! But you still betrayed me?”

“I never betrayed you, my sworn brother. If you truly think I did, then go ahead and slice my head off. I shall not fight my own brother. However, in your honor, I will let you have my life if that soothes your soul.”

Jin Syaoran raised his sword and it began to shake ever so lightly. Plum blossoms began emerging from the sword that was enveloped by beautiful red Qi. One plum blossom turned into hundreds of blossoms, till a tall plum blossom tree was formed. Daiyu was mesmerized by the sight in front of her. She had never seen a sight as beautiful as that before. Even if it was just an illusion created by the sword, the illusion was enough to make her heart tremble.

Suddenly, darkness fell and she could feel someone covering her eyes. Right when she was about to protest, she heard Haoran’s voice whisper in her ears.

“That is not for you to see yet.”

With a gasp, Daiyu finally opened her eyes and a strange ceiling greeted her. She could hear people murmuring around her.

“The ninth Princess… assassins…died.” Daiyu picked up a few words from the conversation but it was enough to make her blood run cold.

She finally remembered everything that had happened before. Daiyu scrambled out of bed and ran out of the chamber.

“Lishu! Lishu! I must see Lishu. She-” Daiyu screamed but the guards had already caught her.

“Princess! Please calm down! The Lord will explain everything to you, so please.” One of them tried to calm her but Daiyu was uncontrollable.

“No! Let me go! I need to.. I need to see her.”

“Princess. Let us head inside and have a chat.” The Heavenly Demon, who had been witnessing everything, calmly gathered Daiyu in his arms and took her back inside the chambers.

“Father… father, what happened to Lishu? And the guards? Where am I?” Daiyu’s voice trembled. She couldn’t remember anything.

“Your nanny… Lishu, she has passed on. I’m sorry, Princess. I couldn’t protect you this time either.” The Heavenly Demon sat down on the bed while holding his daughter in his arms with utmost care.

“She’s dead?” Daiyu spoke with a blank expression. “I… she died protecting me. I couldn’t… I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t…” Tears began to flow down Daiyu’s cheeks and her entire body shook with sobs.

“I’m sorry, my daughter.”

The Heavenly Demon continued to rock the princess in his arms gently while she cried her eyes out. After her tears had run dry, she asked the next most important question.

“And what about those…” She couldn't find the suitable words to describe them.

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“When we came to rescue you, the assassins had already died. Someone had killed them. It was almost as if.. Someone had sucked out their life energy.”

“I see.” Daiyu spoke calmly but her heart was in shambles. The person who she loved the most, the woman who was basically her mother, was dead, and all because of her.

“You must not blame yourself for Lishu’s death. She was someone who was given a second chance at life by Hongnan. Your mother passed away a few months after you were born but Lishu had already sworn her life to protect you. She knew that she would die when she ran towards you but she didn’t want to be alive while you died either. That was the kind of woman she was. She made the decision. So Princess, you must respect her decision as well. Because if you don’t, you might as well be condemning her loyalty and duty.” The Heavenly Demon had no idea how to console his child but he needed to make sure that she remained strong.

When Heavenly Demon and the guards reached the Black Jade Palace, all the guards and the nanny were dead. Daiyu was lying by her nanny’s corpse, her skin oddly glowing in the faint moonlight. Except one, all the other assassins looked emancipated and sucked dry of life. It was as if someone had stolen their life force. There were no other wounds visible on their body, which made it even more odd.

“Yes father.” Daiyu mumbled and her eyes had grown considerably cold. She still blamed herself for her nanny’s death but she was also determined to find the one who was pulling the strings.

‘It must be one of the Lord’s wives.’

Daiyu could already guess that it was either Lady Ah Duo, Lady Meilin or Lady Jia Lin’s doing. The other two wives were much more passive when it came to Daiyu so she didn’t believe they would make a move after all this time.

Daiyu had already decided. Once she fished out the perpetrator, she was going to make them suffer a terrible death. She was going to pay them back for everything they had taken away from her.

After her father left, Daiyu laid down on bed again and wondered where Haoran had gone. He was obviously connected to her but no matter how many times she called him telepathically, no response ever came. She kept staring at the ceiling the entire day, refusing to eat or go outside. Daiyu needed some time to reorganize her thoughts. Although she did not cry anymore, an overwhelming sadness would come in waves and take her breath away when she thought of Lishu. Suddenly, a familiar voice managed to get her out of her head.

“Why are you lounging around looking all glum, huh?” Haoran was standing in front of her with his usual arrogant expression. “Nothing will come out of moping and crying. If you want revenge, you should work tirelessly for it.”

“And where were you when this was happening?” Daiyu was angry. She was angry that he wasn't there when Lishu died in front of her eyes. Maybe something would have changed if he was present.

“You brat. I don’t know if you know this but I’m a fragment of a soul left behind by a dead person. Which means the heavens have put constraints on me so I don’t cause too much trouble, mostly because I am especially strong. Since it takes Qi to teach you, I basically went into hibernation to gather my energy. I was already asleep when you were attacked. I woke up not long ago.”

“Huh? How is that…”

“How should I know? It does take energy to maintain this form to be honest. However, you did well borrowing my powers to beat those bastards up.” Haoran smirked and looked at Daiyu with a proud face.

“Borrow your power?”

“Huh? You don’t know?”

“What are you talking about?”

That was when Haoran realized that Daiyu had no idea about what she had done.

“I’m not sure how you did it, but you used my Demonic Soul Reaping Technique and sucked away the assassins' life force. If you check now, you will see that you have way more Qi than you did before.”

“Is something like that even possible?”

“Who knows? It’s my first time being a wayward spirit.” Haoran snorted and went to sit on a chair below the window.

“So this is the Azure Protection Hall? It looked the same when I was alive. That guy has dispatched a whole army to guard you, did you know? He must really want you alive and kicking.”

The Azure Protection Hall was constructed by the Second Heavenly Demon for his most beloved wife. As the name suggested, it was probably the most secure place in the Cult, with numerous traps and contraptions to subdue any intruders.

“Anyway, do you remember the dream you had? Before you woke up?” Haoran had an unreadable expression on his face.

Daiyu racked her brains and she finally recalled the thing she saw. She saw Haoran and a man facing each other, and beautiful plum blossoms that mesmerized her.

“I remember seeing you and some other man. And I saw the most glorious plum blossom tree. That is all I can remember. Why?” How did he know that she had a dream anyway?

“It wasn’t really a dream. You sly thing. You pried into my memories.” Haoran chuckled mirthlessly and turned his head to stare at her. “I guess I can tell you a bit about it. Do you want to know the truth behind the Orthodox-Demonic War that took place 200 years ago?”