Chapter 16 - No Breaks

Lu Na watched as the peddlers and street merchants were setting up despite the Wintersweet Sect’s warning. As she’s heard from her father more times than she can count, “Even if the sky falls down on us, we have to keep working, keep finding food.”

People walked about the streets in a celebratory mood and no one paid any attention to her. It felt like any other Mid-Autumn Festival. The only difference was that there were very few women on the streets.

Lu Na wanted to go straight to Blossom Scent Parlor, but the smells of the food steered her toward them. She hadn’t thought about how hungry she was as she ate nothing at the Gans before she left with Sun Ren.

She felt remorse in the pit of her stomach. How could she allow Sun Ren to risk herself for her again?

A man was selling large skewers of meat that were grilled over a charcoal pot. The juices were melting off the meat onto the charcoal, making a lovely sizzling sound. Her stomach took over her sadness.

Lu Na bought one from the vendor and took a large bite out of the meat. It was so tender, juicy, and tasted a little sweet. There was no way a mere street vendor was using sugar in their cooking, as it would be too expensive. Yet the taste was exquisite.

“Oh wow, you must be starving. Even I can taste it from inside your spirit realm,” her spirit said.

That’s when it hit her. This was probably the first time she had a proper meal with meat since before all this happened. The meal with the magistrate was poisoned, so she ate little. The meal with the Gans was too poor to be considered any real meat. But this meat, whatever the meat was, tasted so good that Lu Na swore to never take food for granted again.

After five skewers, Lu Na was finally satisfied. She found a tea place and drank a few cups afterwards. As luck would have it, the tea maker knew where Blossom Scent Parlor was. Not that much farther away. She rubbed her own stomach and enjoyed the fullness before she walked toward Blossom Scent Parlor.

Lu Na wondered if they would serve her as she was a woman. Well, that and she was broke and she looked like a peasant. But if she could convince Sun Ren’s brother to help her, she should be fine. She had one of Sun Ren’s daggers, after all. What better proof than that?

The first street she turned down toward the brothel was met with her first string of bad luck. There were a few men sitting around leering at her as she passed.

“Hey girl, do you need help?”

“Yeah, we can help you back in this alley.”

“Why don’t you stop for a minute and chat with us? We’re friendly, we promise.”

And those were the nicer comments they made. Some of them were outright rude and said things that Lu Na never heard in her life.

“This bunch of people are charming, aren’t they?” her spirit said.

“I’ve never heard of such filth in my life.”

“That’s because you’ve lived a very sheltered life. If you came back here dressed the way you dressed, surrounded by your tall and handsome brother, these men would run from you. But look at you now. You look like you live here.”

Lu Na glanced at her clothes and had to agree. She never would have thought that her clothes would change the way people would talk to her. Yet she thought back to how she talked to other people in her own household. She never truly talked to any of her maids. Did she even know the name of them? And she only remembered head servant Cui Yi because of how much she hated the man.

“Come here,” one man said. He reached out for Lu Na’s arm.

Lu Na flinched and pulled back. She sped up her steps.

“You’re going to be selling yourself to the brothels, anyway. Why don’t you give us a little taste first?” another man called out.

Lu Na sprinted away. She didn’t stop until she hit another main street. When she saw no one following her, she hunched over, gasping for air.

There was only one problem. It was too quiet. There were none of the usual people out just a few streets away.

“A rabbit running away so fast, yet still fell into our trap. Isn’t that just lovely?” a man asked. He wore the light blue uniform of the Wintersweet Sect.

“Oh, it is. Little bunny, little bunny, why don’t you come here? I just want to pet you,” a woman said beside the man.

“How did you find me?” Lu Na asked.

The man smiled.

“It wasn’t hard after we put a little bit of our spirit’s energy on you when we summoned our spirits. We’re not much for fighting, but we excel at tracking things down for our sect. And since it seems like you’re so good at running away like a rabbit, we thought why bother chasing you when we can get you to come to us?”

“Now now love, less talk. Let’s just capture her before she rabbits away again.” The woman moved first. Her movements were fluid almost like she was swimming through the air and in seconds, she appeared in front of Lu Na. “If you don’t fight me, this won’t hurt.”

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Lu Na tried to step back, but the man was behind her already. How did they move so fast? Were they using a spirit technique?

It was too late to think about this when the man held her by the arms behind her. Lu Na felt his knee against her leg, forcing her to kneel to the ground as he pinned her arms behind her.

There was no time to react or use any of her wards.

“Can I break the hairpin now?” Lu Na asked.

“No. They’re not about to kill you. You should be fine as long as you don’t struggle. It’s over,” her spirit said.

It’s not over yet. There was still something she still hadn’t tried yet since running away from the Wintersweet Sect. It was a last resort because she never thought she needed to use it when she was surrounded by her brother and Sun Ren.

Lu Na took a deep breath and bent her head back.

“Help! Someone please help me! I’m being kidnapped. I’m being killed. Someone, anyone, please, help!”

Lu Na’s scream was the loudest she’d ever produced in her life. She didn’t stop after that and kept screaming repeatedly. The sudden scream made the man pause while the woman covered her own ears.

“See, I knew we should have brought a gag,” the man said. “But you said she wasn’t a dog and couldn’t bite. Yet she can definitely yell. She’s louder than you at night.”

“Oh shut her up, please. Put something in her mouth,” the woman shouted.

The man found a spare cloth somewhere and shoved it into Lu Na’s mouth. It smelled like old ripened sweat from one beggar earlier. She regretted yelling so loudly now as the taste was mixing in with the smell.

“There, she’s quiet now. Let’s hurry back to the Sect before Senior Wong gets a hold of her and takes all the credit,” the woman said.

“Don’t worry. This time, we’ll take the long way back and avoid the usual paths by Senior Wong.” The man shifted his weight against Lu Na’s back and the pain made Lu Na get up. The bindings were very strong and she couldn’t do anything but follow the man’s directions with every push.

This was it. She was finally caught and there was nothing else she could do now. Her brother was probably dead. They captured Sun Ren earlier. Finally, it was Lu Na’s turn and all the people that helped her along the way were wasted efforts. What were they going to do with her?

“Amituofo,” a man’s voice rang in front of Lu Na. It was a monk in a gray habit of prayer beads hanging on his neck. He had shoulder length gray hair. He held a staff in his left hand while he greeted them with his right raised in front of his chest with a curt bow.

“Get out of our way monk,” the man said.

“By the looks of it, you two are forcing this woman against her will to go with you. May I ask why?”

“That’s none of your business. Get out of our way, or we’ll make you get out of our way. We’re on Wintersweet Sect business. She’s a person we were asked to bring back. Does that satisfy you?”

The monk stepped closer and stooped to stare at Lu Na’s face. He looked like he was concentrating very hard as he stared. She had never seen a monk like him before. The only ones she’s seen were bald and usually frail. The monk that stood before her filled his Buddhist tunic so well that it seemed like he was wearing one or two sizes too small.

“What did she do to force your sect to use such measures against a weak young woman like her?”

“She’s a terrorist. She’s the one that our Elder spoke of earlier with the fireworks. Now let us pass,” the woman said.

Lu Na was confused. As far as she could tell, these two Wintersweet disciples were stronger than the earlier ones that Sun Ren had fought. She doubted that if Sun Ren were to fight these two, she would win. Yet they didn’t push this monk away. The monk didn’t seem strong at all other than his physique.

Lu Na focused her eyes on the monk, using her technique to see spirit energy. It started coming easier now that she realized it was her spirit giving her that sight. What she saw made her gasp.

Not only was the monk surrounded by techniques on his body, the intensity of the spirit energy around him was similar to the large beggar’s dragon. It wasn’t as bright, but the colors coming off the monk looked crisper, more focused. It was also rainbow colored. Lu Na had never seen blue be so blue like that or the red that could look so vibrant that made all the surrounding colors look dull despite the lantern decorations for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

“That’s enough of that.” Her spirit turned off her sight. “Anymore of that and you’re going to go blind. And yes, to answer your silent question, he’s powerful. He’s at least a stage three summoner with enough power to challenge that beggar, Hung Rong.”

Was Lu Na saved or was she going to be another person’s captive? Not that she had much of a choice in this exchange. Even if this monk was an evil, fake monk bent on selling her on the market, there was nothing she or the Wintersweet disciples could do.

“Please, monk, if you simply let us pass, we promise to return with enough alms to open a new Buddhist temple for you,” the man said.

“Or do you want some womanly comforts? We can provide you enough money to enjoy an entire week at any brothel in the next district.”

“Amituofo,” the monk said. “Monks do not seek the joys of flesh or money. We only seek to end the suffering of others and this young woman is suffering a lot.”

Lu Na nodded. Maybe she can be saved if what he said was true. And if he was after any sort of reward, she was sure she could get her father to pay whatever the price was, eventually. He might not appreciate her as much as he used to, but to save her life with a little money would be the least he would do.

“We can’t let her go,” the man said.

“Amituofo, then I must apologize to you two. You see, my name is Hen Li. I don’t have a Buddhist name yet as my sifu has deemed me unready to start on the path yet.”

“Hen Li?” the man said. He froze up behind Lu Na, wrenching his hand against her arms. It hurt like hell as her shoulder moved in an unnatural position. “My love, leave her.”

“What? Why?” the woman asked.

“He’s Hen Li, a monk, and has gray hair. It’s the one our elders told us to avoid if we ever see him.”

The woman cocked her head toward the monk.

“Him? Why? He seems strong, but nothing we two can’t handle.”

“He’s the one that killed our previous sect leader. Drop the girl and run if you don’t want to die.”

“Amituofo. Please let my sins pass.” Hen Li closed his eyes and started muttering.

Lu Na recognized it as the heart sutra. The same one she used to recite in times of stress or boredom. But he was chanting it at a speed that was almost unintelligible. How many times had he chanted that?

The man let Lu Na go and she fell to the ground face first. She closed her eyes and luckily didn’t taste the dirt, but she felt that it probably tasted better than the rag that was still in her mouth.

“What are you two doing?” a woman’s voice called out.

Lu Na managed to twist her head only to see that senior Wintersweet disciple with the metal rooster walking toward them.