Prologue
Rain.
‘Where’s the rain? The stormy sky?’
The woman’s brows furrowed before reverting back to match her impassive expression. It even pained her so. Frowning.
Rain.
Thunderclouds.
‘Ironic.’
Irony.
That word resounded through her mind as she gazed up at the clear, blue sky. The sun blazed high above her broken form.
It is indeed an irony.
She had read in books, and even heard in tales of years past, that whenever tragedy occurred, a torrent of rain will descend, often accompanied by the barrage of lightning and thunder. Clearly, they lied. The books. Those drunk merchants. All the events of the world.
All a lie.
It didn’t rain when Wu Ji died, as he succumbed to the injuries inflicted upon his person.
“Please.” Tears fell as she begged him to open his eyes. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me.”
It didn’t rain when Jiu Ye followed soon after. His death came as a surprise, oddly cleaned up with nary a whisper or hear-say.
Droplets of tears stained the letter that was brought to her.
It didn’t rain when they stole the life of her daughter. She wasn’t even given the chance to see her before it happened.
Emotionless eyes stared at the pile of rocks that served as the gravestone of her child.
No.
It didn’t rain.
Instead, the sun had brightly shone far unto the horizon as each of those tragic events occurred.
All of them were liars.
It didn’t rain.
And now, here she lay, dying.
She remembered what happened. She remembered the injustice and humiliation that they put her through.
Irony.
That word resounded through her mind again, as she never let her eyes stray from the sight of the majestic sun. Even as her body was carried by the flow of the river. Even as her body sank just beneath the surface of the water.
The sight of the sun distorted as the image of it was marred by the water. But no, she didn’t dare take her sight off it.
Darkness consumed her.
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Chapter 1: Setting the Stage
“Thief!”
A loud voice disrupted the peaceful scenery. All attention was diverted towards the ongoing scuffle.
The thief, accompanied by a giant silver wolf, attempted to retreat.
“Are you sure you can run faster than my arrow?”
The thief halted in her tracks, with the silver wolf growling protectively by her side.
Yes, even with the cloth covering the face of the intruder, and dressed in what looks like worn-down tribal garments, he could still deduce that this so-called ‘thief’ was in fact a member of the fairer sex.
Jing Yen was berating the thief, most likely about daring to cross them even if they had the Desert Wolves insignia out in the open. But he tuned them out, as he continued to observe the woman in front of him.
The wolf suddenly moved in front of the mysterious woman. Automatically, he pointed his crossbow towards the wolf.
“It has nothing to do with him.” The woman intervenes, her calm voice muffled as she spoke through her veil. “I was the one who wanted to steal from you.”
He had a stare down with the woman, briefly wondering how calm she was. Those vacant eyes stared back at him, not once breaking their gaze. After a moment or so, he put down his crossbow and slightly tilted his head in wonderment.
“Miss, what do you intend to steal?” He broke the silence first, seeing that the woman insisted on staying silent.
“A woman’s clothing.” Was the cool reply.
Disbelief ran through the rest of his entourage. Muttering broke out, lightly threatening the woman to tell the truth.
He ignored them.
“Second brother.” He called out, focused on this woman. “Give the dress from the top box to her.”
“Jiu Ye!”
“Listen to Jiu Ye.” Jing Yen, another subordinate, intervened.
Once the clothes was handed to the woman, an odd expression crossed her face. It was so brief, that had Jiu Ye not been intently focusing on the woman, he would’ve missed it.
“You’re really giving it to me?”
“As a group of men, we shouldn’t have any female clothing. Fortunately, as we were passing through our travels, this set of female clothing was given to me. I hope you’ll like it.”
As he was saying this, for the first time since the start of their encounter, the woman broke her gaze from him to examine the cloths on her hands. Gently, she caressed the cloth, tracing some intricate designs.
It surprised him.
The moment the woman looked away from him. He suddenly felt a burst of yearning. Selfish as it may sound, he didn’t want the woman to look away.
“What is your name?” He asked, hoping that the woman would dare meet his gaze again.
“My name is not important.” The woman coolly replied, expressionless from her voice to the gaze within her eyes. “Thank you.”
Swiftly, she turned and began to traverse away. The silver wolf faithfully followed by her side.
“Miss!” He called out, as he tightly gripped his wheel chair. For some reason, a conflicted feeling arose within his chest as she began to walk away from him. “I don’t know if I should say this, but… keeping in the company of wolves isn’t suited for you. You should be with people.”
The woman stopped, and tilted her head until he could see the side of her face, but she didn’t turn back. Instead, she nodded, before she walked away.
Longing.
He was perplexed. But yes, Longing was the word best described to what he felt as he watched her walk away from him.
…
A loud howl broke the fight.
Everyone was stunned into silence as they looked for the source of the sound.
After the initial howl, a series of howls started in different directions. The bandits started back, some even dropped their weapons as they were scared to submission.
A pack of wolves descended from the steep domes of sands, before stopping several steps away from the people. They began to growl threateningly at them.
“Retreat!”
The bandits scurried away, fearing for their lives.
He looked past the tense forms of countless wolves, and what he saw made him momentarily forget to breathe.
Standing atop of a sand dune was a maiden elegantly garbed in an azure Luo Lan outfit. Years into the future, he would remember clearly, not the mundane events of this day, but simply the sight of her, silently gazing back at him.
With a long howl from the maiden, the wolves surrounding them dispersed, retreating back to where they came from.
The maiden, with a huge silver wolf by her side, turned back and disappeared on the other side of the sand dune.
Anxiety burned at his chest.
He urged his horse to a quick gallop, ignoring the calls of his men.
“Wait!” He called out, stopping a few feet away from the duo.
The maiden stopped on her tracks, her back to him. Her utter stillness made her delicate form more pronounced.
A few moments later, as his entourage arrived at his side, she slowly turned towards him.
Li Chen looked at him for directions. He just tilted his head towards the maiden.
The old man nodded at him, before setting off.
“Thank you, Lady.” Smiled Li Chen, bowing to show his gratitude. “You helped us escape from those bandits.” The maiden just nodded at him. At this, Li Chen seemed to be at a loss.
He decided to help the old man a bit. It didn’t hurt that he also wanted to purposefully meet this woman too.
“Lady, we’re from Chang An.” He addressed her, not once taking his eyes away from her. Like a predator hunting down a prey. “May I ask where you are from?”
The woman observed him for a while before replying in an impassive tone.
“I am a Han, if that’s what you’re asking.”
He smirked at her. She just averted her gaze from him.
‘A Han wearing a Luo Lan outfit. Insteresting.’ He thought.
“Lady, we cannot thank you enough for helping us.” Li Chen interrupted, sensing the atmosphere. His Young Master wasn’t always the most polite individual. Normally, he wouldn’t interfere, but since the lady saved them earlier, he might as well diffuse the situation. “Judging from your clothing, we cannot thank you with something common. Fortunately, we have a pair of emerald earrings. Please, accepts this.”
The maiden slightly pushed the offered box towards the old man.
“There’s no need.” Came her soft reply, her face still covered by the veil that came with the outfit. “I have no use for that.”
As the maiden made to turn away, he unconsciously almost reached out towards her.
“Wait, lady, can we ask for some directions?” Li Chen interrupted. “We seem to have lost our way.”
The maiden looked at them for a moment before replying.
“Fine, follow me.” She said, turning around and walking onwards. The large wolf accompanying her at the side. “I’ll get you out of here.”
As the entourage moved on, he stayed rooted at the spot for a moment. He curiously examined his hand, which unconsciously moved on its own a while ago. He directed his gaze at the woman again. Curiosity burned him.
He needed to know her.
With an intense look, he followed behind her.
…
As they rested from their travels, Li Chen began to regal the lady of their ‘Spice Business’, imploring the lady to guide them to Yue Ya Quan. He stayed a distance away, merely observing their interactions for now.
From their time together, he kept on watching her. The maiden distanced herself from the rest of them, only briefly answering in short responses if the need arose. He could understand that, probably, in the maiden’s point of view, they were strangers, add to the fact that they’re all men and she’s a lone woman. Well, a lone woman with a fiercely protective silver wolf at her side.
He glanced at the wolf. The wolf had never, not even for a second, strayed far from the woman. Occasionally, its sharp eyes wandered over the group, somehow threatening them not to do anything suspicious. He suddenly felt a sense of respect for the wolf. Judging from the protective stance the beast made by her side, the maiden was very important to this creature.
His thoughts drifted back to the maiden. Yes, she distanced herself, even her every gesture and words spoken was tinged by a hint of coldness. Every time he would like to look at her straight into the eyes, she would glance away, averting her gaze from him. But when their eyes do meet, blank eyes would stare back at him, as emotionless as a rock.
Currently, Li Chen began introducing the members of the entourage to her.
“This is Wang, this is Tu, and this is…” Li Chen trailed off, as he didn’t know what to call the Young Master, seeing as they were undercover.
At that particular moment, as the maiden stared back and, this time, bravely held his gaze with those inexpressive eyes, he decided to take a gamble.
“I’m Wu Ji.” He told her, intensely looking for any sign of reaction that he desperately wanted her to have. “Wei Wu Ji.”
And there it was. The flash of surprise.
It only lasted for a second, before it was buried, and her blank gaze stared back.
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But no matter how brief it was, a burst of elation imploded within him. He couldn’t help but smirk mischievously at her. Call him shallow, but it felt like a small victory to him, to have those beautiful eyes show even a hint of expression.
All around him, his men were even more surprised. Nonetheless, he ignored them to stare at this beauty in front of him. Yes, even with the outfit that covered most of her form, even with the veil covering her delicate face, he knew a great beauty when he saw one. At their short time together, he couldn’t help but be entranced by this maiden.
Women were troublesome creatures to him. He didn’t pay attention to them, but they surely paid enough attention to him. Women had always tried to get close to him, some of them were even considered great beauties in their own right. However, they never interested him in the least. Thus, they were promptly rebuffed whenever one showed even the slightest interest in him. That was why it was safe to say that no other woman had made him feel this way. Made him feel so interested in such a way that he dared risk their cover.
And judging from the flash of surprise that passed her gaze, she knew who he was. Or at least, the Great Wei name.
Who wouldn’t?
Especially, if she was indeed a Han.
Old man Li Chen was the first to recover from the shock.
“Lady, what do we call you?” Li Chen asked her.
She was silent for a moment as she appraised him, before turning back to Li Chen.
“Call me whatever you want.” She replied, before turning back to her spot in the tree, gently petting the wolf sitting by her side. “But Lady sounds nice, no one has ever called me that before.”
Looking unsure for a moment, Li Chen just tilted his head before acquiescing, smiling as he retreated. Clearly, the lady wanted to be left alone.
…
As they got ready to depart for another day’s journey, he saw Li Chen intently approaching the maiden with a horse in hand. The maiden was still a few yards away from them. Looks like she was saying goodbyes with her wolf at the moment as her back was to them.
In a sudden flash of ingenious idea, well, to him it was ingenious. He stood in the way of the old man and the horse that he’s leading.
“Ah, Young Master.” Li Chen bowed.
“Yes, this horse is perfect, let it carry the other baggage.” He instructed the old man. “That way we would surely gain speed and be able to get to our destination faster.”
“But…” Li Chen looked unsure, as he stared at the horse, before staring at the lady, who still sat beside her wolf, gently stroking his fur.
“If it’s about the lady, I would let her ride with me.” He stated nonchalantly.
Li Chen stared at him in shock, jaw dropping slightly.
He walked away before the old man could argue. He caught sight of the returning maiden and couldn’t help but let out an amused smirk.
As soon as the lady saw his smirk, she stopped in her tracks and frowned slightly, a hint of suspicion passing by her. That only caused him to widen his smirk.
She narrowed his eyes at him, silently asking what he had done now.
He just turned back and re-arranged the saddle on his horse, tightly securing the straps. He heard the maiden ask for a horse, saying that she knew how to ride one. On the other hand, as he expected, Li Chen explained that they were short one horse as the spare horse was burdened by the baggage for faster travel time.
He got unto his horse before he extended a hand towards the maiden.
“Well, I could let you ride with me.” Never once losing his smirk, as he extended a hand for her. “Come on, judging from the position of the sun, we should depart soon if we don’t want to waste a good day’s travel.”
The maiden’s eyes narrowed slightly, suspicion clearly written in them. Her gaze drifted from his face, his outstretched hand, and towards the spare horse. She sighed, before placing her delicate hand on his rough, calloused one.
With a great heave, he swiftly lifted the maiden, until she was seated directly in front of him.
Stunned silence descended the group, aside from the soft gasp that escaped the maiden’s lips, no other sound was made.
It was clear to all that he was staking his claim. As primitive as it may sound.
He slipped his hands on either side of the maiden’s waist to grab the rains, and promptly kicked the horse to a running start, forcing the lady to lean back on his chest from the sudden take off.
He smiled as he heard the lady huff indignantly.
“So, this is how the Chang An people treat their savior.” The maiden coolly stated.
“Better than letting our savior fall from the horse.” He countered back, tightening his arms, slightly forcing the lady to be flushed against his chest. But not enough to the point of embarrassing the lady. He was, after all, a descendent of the Wei.
“Weather’s great.” He lightly whispered, his hot breath near the lady’s ear, causing her to shudder against him slightly.
This attraction, as he guessed, was mutual.
With a smile, he urged the horse into a gallop, leading the group into the desert, heading towards Yue Ya Quan.
…
“Thank you for leading us.” Li Chen smiled at the young lady, bowing slightly. “You’ve been such a great help. We would’ve still been lost in the desert if it wasn’t for you.”
The lady just nodded at him, accepting his gratitude in silence.
“As a show of our gratitude, we would like to give the young lady a small token of our appreciation.” Li Chen reached over to hand her a bag of money. “Please take it. Otherwise, we’ll feel bad.” He added, as he saw that the lady had started to refuse.
The lady just looked at the old man for a moment, before taking the bag of money.
“Thank you.” She said, before nodding again, and turned around to leave.
He reached out and grabbed her hand. The lady looked at him coldly.
“Chang An is not like the desert.” He said, squeezing her hand gently, before letting go. “Be careful.”
She observed him, as he in turn observed her. He wanted to memorize every detail of her features, to ingrain it in his mind. They would surely meet again, he was sure of that, but he knew not on the When, as well as on the How. So, till then, he would treasure this image of her.
The lady gave him a slight bow, before she continued on her way, never once turning back.
Still, he remained there, rooted at the spot, watching as she walked away from him. Staring into the distance as her form slowly lessened until she was completely out of sight.
....
The people couldn’t help but stare at the woman standing before the dancing house. There was something about her that made them wonder. An enigma.
As they passed by, whether man or woman, old or young. Their attention was caught first by the flamboyant color of crimson, as it moved along with the wind, delicately pronouncing the woman’s form. But as they stared for a moment longer, the tasteful dress of the woman was but secondary to her presence itself. A kind of aura surrounded her.
As it was, the woman just continued to stare at the sign of the dancing house. Either unaware, or just didn’t care, about the attention that she’s been given.
After all, wasn’t she here for that reason?
“Luo… Yu… Fang…”
Yes.
She looked above to check the position of the sun.
Anytime now.
As she had anticipated, a worker had begun to sweep the front of the dancing house.
Her heart began to thump loudly against her chest. Cold sweat ran down through the back of her neck. Her hands began to tremble ever so slightly.
This was it.
The beginning.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She couldn’t make even the slightest mistake. She couldn’t fail.
No.
She definitely will not fail.
Just then, she heard the door open, and subsequently smelt the ever-so familiar powerful perfume that adorned the woman. Even with her eyes closed, she saw the mannerisms of that seductive woman. Her head slightly tilted upward, eyes criticizing the clothes and accessories of other women, no doubt not up to par with her standards.
She let a small smile slip past her lips at that.
Even after all those years that they’ve been together, that woman never really changed.
She strengthened her resolve, then opened her eyes.
Hong Gu.
Still beautiful as always.
Just then, Hong Gu caught sight of her.
A predatory look suddenly descended upon the older woman’s face.
‘The beginning.’
Was her last thought before she buried all the insecurities, the anxieties, all of her fears deep within her. They have no place in her life right now. Nor will they ever be again.
Not if she wanted to succeed.
Nothing can stop her.
Not even herself.
She straightened her form and took a step forward towards her future.
....
All of the people inside the dancing house hushed as they saw the woman dressed in red. They couldn't help but be fascinated by the mere presence of said woman. The graceful way that she walked. The hidden beauty that was evident to all, even if her face was half-hidden by a crimson veil. Even the way she talked had inveterate the fact that she had the potential to be a singer.
“It is not often that I find myself recruiting a willing employee.” Hong Gu stated, the current Furen of Luo Yu Fang.
“I am in search for work.” The woman replied. “I have the talent, so why not use it?”
The older woman appraised her. Seeming to like what she saw in the young talent every passing second as her devious smile only grew wider.
“You’re not from here, are you?”
“No.”
“You speak our language very well. No accents.” The older woman observed. Before smiling at her.
“You may call me Hong Gu.”
“I’m Yu” she bowed. “Jin Yu.”
“Jin Yu.” Stated Hong Gu. “What an attractive name. It suits you well.”
.......
A/N: I know, I know, this chapter is like the first episode of Da Mo Yao, but like the title stated: 'Setting the Stage'. Some events needed to be the same. Without Xiao Yu / Jin Yu intervening with her wolves to rescue Wu Ji, well, some people from Wu Ji's side would've definitely died. Jin Yu also needed to meet Jiu Ye since she needed that dress. Nevertheless, from this point on, this story will begin to deviate from the original story. Sometimes, the characters will be OOC, but not too much. I myself do not want too OOC characters.
And as you have noticed, I'm using the TV VERSION of Da Mo Yao. I did not read the Novel version completely, I only watched the TV version completely.
So, Huo Qu Bing's name will be Wei Wu Ji (TV version).
BUT, Brother Wolf is a Silver Wolf, not the TV version black wolf-like dog. This is one of the few things that I will retain from the Novel version.
Again, as for those who didn't read or watch Da Mo Yao / Ballad of the Desert, don't worry, you won't be lost while reading this. I'll gradually introduce the characters that we will encounter.