Sun Ren looked over at the group of men gathering in a circle, probably to discuss their plans. They must have realized that Sun Ren’s group went from being pacifist to killers and they’re not sure what to do about that.

The only thing Sun Ren had to discuss was whether to cull the weak first before hitting the stronger summoners or the other way around. Strategy usually dictated to take out the leader first and the rest would scatter, but she wasn’t sure who the leader was. It could be any of them.

But one thing was certain. Sun Ren had the night on her side. Every strike she’d make would have to be fatal or else she would end up in their clutches. She already heard enough horror stories of what happened to female prisoners of war. Bandits were probably worse.

The first part of her battle was simple. Using the night and rocks to distract the bandits, Sun Ren took out most of the non-summoners. She left a few alive near the end because she was tiring out, but they were not getting up so easily. After a grueling two-hour fight, she had whittled them down to the five summoners and three other bandits. It seemed like some bandits tripped and knocked themselves out.

Fighting at night was dangerous. One of the first lessons Sun Ren learned from her sifu.

Sun Ren sat atop another cluster of trees. This was further away, but much higher. She needed a break.

“You don’t just need a break. You need rest. Anymore, and you will collapse,” Baihu said. “Your sifu would remind you that you can’t do it all yourself. You pushed yourself to exhaustion before with the Wintersweet Sect and now you’re doing it again. Why do you go so far for that Lu girl?”

“This was to prove to myself all the training was worth it,” Sun Ren whispered. “But for Lu Na, I did it because she’s my friend. You should know better than me how precious friends are to me.”

“Mmm, that is true. But it is not worth your life. You’ve done enough. Your friend should be far enough away that these bandits are no longer a threat.”

Sun Ren drank her entire water skin. Her spirit was right. She didn’t have to finish them. She wasn’t here to exterminate bandits, but to escort Lu Na to the labyrinth. Besides, she had little left.

“How much spirit energy do you have left, Baihu?”

“I have at least twenty percent left after splitting myself up,” Baihu said.

That meant either creating another clone or turning herself into a fox pup five times, each lasting a minute. Any more than that, and Baihu would be completely exhausted. That could work. She could easily escape and they wouldn’t even know.

The large tree Sun Ren was on shook. She barely held on from the sudden hit. Peering down, she saw a large ram spirit crashing into the tree over and over.

“Damn, they found me. That’s one of the summoner’s spirits.” Sun Ren hopped off the tree branch and came down as quickly as she could.

The bandits were already rushing toward her. They weren’t as tired as she was, especially after finding her. That must have given them a second wind.

The fear of being caught by them gave Sun Ren one, too.

Sun Ren slipped on the branch as it moved from the ram’s crash. She was falling backwards, off the tree at a height that would injure her. She saw the moon hanging above her.

Sun Ren smiled, held her breath, and clenched her left fist.

In a second, she turned into a small white fox pup. With a flip, she turned herself around and landed on her paws. The reduced weight made the fall effortless.

Sun Ren didn’t wait before she dashed off into the large brush. She could smell the bandits closing in on the tree, but she wasn’t there anymore. Running with all four paws felt like finally being free from everything, all responsibilities, and worries.

“I wouldn’t be so happy,” Baihu said. “There’s at least one summoner spirit coming for you from the west.”

Sun Ren stopped, crouched low, and perked up her ears. She could hear the loud thud of hooves. She took off running again, her tongue hanging out to cool off. She focused on one smell above all the others, the summoner that was coming after her. It smelled like the spirit coming for him, but mixed with human sweat.

There, a little further west.

Sun Ren pounded her little paws with all her might.

The enemy spirit was a moose charging toward her.

Perfect.

Sun Ren stopped seconds away from the spirit. She held her breath and turned back into her human form. She grabbed the earth ward. The timing had to be perfect. With a tug of the ward, it activated when she dropped it to the ground.

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A solid wall of stone rose up right in front of her.

Sun Ren dove away as the spirit smacked right into the wall. It didn’t break, so it must mean the spirit broke. She would not wait around to find out. She unsheathed her waist sword and ran it along the spirit’s flank, cutting it up.

Then she unsheathed her dagger and sunk it into the summoner’s chest as he seized up from his spirit’s damage.

A dark kite flew into Sun Ren’s face. The clawing at her hair told Sun Ren that it was one of the summoner’s spirits. She yanked it off and stabbed it with her dagger. It screeched but she didn’t let go until she stabbed it a few more times before the spirit disappeared.

That summoner should be down, but she had bigger problems. The bandits with torches were now headed in her direction, surrounding her.

Sun Ren held her breath and clenched her left fist, turning back into a white fox pup. She ran toward the stone wall. With her heightened sight, she saw the ward that powered the wall. With her mouth, she clamped down onto it, deactivating it, and sprinted away.

Sun Ren didn’t get far before another spirit tackled her. She almost lost the ward in her mouth, but her powerful fox jaws locked onto it. She couldn’t lose it now.

When Sun Ren got up, she saw a large fox pinning her down by the chest, its teeth bared.

“Don’t move or I will rip you to shreds,” the enemy fox spirit said.

Sun Ren opened her mouth as if to speak, but she dropped the earth ward. It activated again. The stone wall erupted right below her, sending both her and the enemy fox flying.

Sun Ren landed on her paws and sprinted away again. She needed to find cover, but better yet, she smelled the summoner in the air. He was the one that controlled the fox. If she could take him out, then there would only be one last summoner.

The enemy fox spirit howled.

Sun Ren heard its quick footsteps behind her. They were coming in faster than she could reach the summoner. Time for a drastic move. She ran up a nearby tree and climbed to one of the higher branches. The enemy fox followed.

The summoner was right below her.

Sun Ren jumped from the branch and then held her breath, turning her back into a woman. With a bit of luck, she crashed into the summoner at almost full speed. She felt her back land in a bad position. But despite that, she unsheathed a dagger and stabbed the summoner right in the back.

The enemy fox spirit howled and then disappeared.

Sun Ren rolled over, slowly untangling herself from the dead summoner. Tears came to her eyes. She was in a lot of pain and she knew Baihu was already trying to fix her.

It was not enough.

Not long after, the remaining bandits surrounded her, but none of them dared to approach. Sun Ren had a permanent grimace on her face and her waist sword in her hands. It looked like she was bathed in blood despite her black tunic.

“It was just one girl that killed so many of our brothers,” one man said.

Sun Ren gritted her teeth as Baihu was fixing her back and could only watch. She was prepared to take her own life rather than allow these men to take her.

“What do we do boss?” another man asked.

“I’ll handle this. That fall should have injured her badly, or else she’d be running off again.”

A large porcupine waddled toward Sun Ren.

Sun Ren raised her sword at the porcupine. She must have been lucky to not have faced that spirit first. She wouldn’t know how to overcome its quills. As her sifu said, luck is usually more important in a battle than skill. Well, her luck finally ran out, along with her skill.

The porcupine stepped on the sword, pinning it to the ground.

Sun Ren let go, but couldn’t grab any of her remaining daggers. Her body hurt too much.

“Take her. We’ll strip her and then burn her body as an offering to our fallen brothers,” the summoner said.

“But what about…”

“Yes, yes, do what you’d like with her before then.”

The other bandits laughed as they came closer.

It was now or never. Sun Ren reached up for the dagger in her hair. But as she unsheathed it, she heard pounding footsteps. No, they were paws.

“Amituofo, please drop the killing knife and seek penance,” Hen Li’s voice rang out clearly in the night.

All the bandits turned to face the monk. She was saved. There was only one remaining summoner and the rest of the bandits were untrained farmers at best.

“I remember him. That’s the monk we fought earlier,” one bandit said. “We can’t fight him.”

“Then we leave. Unless you think to stop us, monk,” the summoner said.

“Amituofo. Ending this peacefully is the best option,” Hen Li pressed his hands together and bowed.

The bandits left, and Hen Li sat on the floor and recited the heart sutra.

Lu Na’s face hovered over Sun Ren’s, looking like she’d swallowed a sour prune. She had dirt on her face and her hair was a mess. She looked just like when they were being chased by the Wintersweet Sect.

“Sun Ren, are you hurt?” Lu Na asked.

“Yes, it’s my back. I thought I told you to meet up in Qingxizhen. Why did you come back?”

“What do you mean? We never left. When Hen Li wanted to leave, as you said, I convinced him to turn back to help you. We knocked out a few of the bandits. We would have done more if Hen Li didn’t start praying whenever he saw a dead body. I had to leave him as he prayed over four bodies at once.”

“You didn’t leave?” Sun Ren felt moisture on her face. Was she crying again? She wasn’t sure anymore. Twice in one night after so many years.

“I promised myself that I would never leave you to fight by yourself. I might not have your skills, but I have a few tricks I can use. I used Hen Li. He couldn’t let me fight them on my own.”

That’s why some bandits were taken out, despite them knowing the area and having torches.

“You’re safe now. I’ll take care of you.” Lu Na activated one of her earth wards and created a large dome around the three of them. She took out her spirit wand and used a technique to create a window in the dome. “I’ll stand watch until the sun rises.”

Sun Ren smiled and shut her eyes. She chuckled at the thought of this inexperienced Young Miss Lu coming to save her. She was the one with years of training and a powerful secret art passed to her by her sifu, yet she needed the Young Miss Lu to save her. But that was a good feeling to know that she had people that supported her outside of her Sun family and her bodyguards.