Author's Note: BEWARE, it's a pretty long chapter... Enjoy! :D By the way, sorry for the wait as I had finals this week however school is out now so I may be able to write more! :) 

The smell of metallic blood entered Yu Lin’s nose first and her stomach dropped, however, she showed no signs of disturbance as she peered around the room. She froze as she saw two huge gourds, the size of a child, sitting up straight in front of her. One of them was completely red with only the top of the gourd still empty by the wooden color still there, and it had a sorrowful and vengeful aura surrounding it. The other one seemed to be made completely out of glass, and there were thousands balls of white light flying around in it. Some of the light would hit the glass if it was trying to escape, however it made no impact to the gourd.

“W… why?” A hoarse voice groaned out from somewhere. Yu Lin looked up and behind the gourds she could see a sickly looking young man strapped to a stone pillar. The young man was struggling to breathe and when he did, his protruding rib cage could be clearly seen. On the ground next to him laid the bodies of the two people who had came in with him earlier. Yu Lin bit down on her trembling bottom lip as her blood boiled beneath her skin. Her face grew hot and her nails dug into her palms as she watched the dark witch walk up to the young man.

“Why, what?” The dark witch asked softly as she wrapped her fingers on the man’s chin, digging her thumb into his skin. The young man let out a small cry. “I asked you, why, what?” The dark witch repeated herself with a smile on her face. The man looked at her, his eyes shaking.

“Why… are you… doing this… Yun Hua?” Tears ran down the young man’s sickly pale face. Yun Hua pulled her thumb out and the old man winced at the sudden movement. She wiped the tears away from his face and then leaned in, next to his ear.

“Do not speak my name, with that dirty of yours. Do you understand?” She hissed quietly.

“We… thought you… were our savior… we thought… you would help us… why?” The young man wept. Yu Lin breathed heavily as she tried to calm the flame growing in her. She knew that she could do nothing to help that man, however her uselessness only added fuel to her fire.

“Savior? Hahaha!” Yun Hua’s gleeful laugh echoed throughout the room. “Savoir?! Are you serious? Me? You? Hahaha! You stupid humans! People kept disappearing from your village but you never even suspected me? Haha! You only deserve to die for you stupidity!” Yun Hua mocked him.

“Yun Hu-” Before the man could finish, Yun Hua slammed her palm on his chest, and dug her nails into his ribcage. The man screamed from the excruciating pain, and Yu Lin’s body shook from anger as she watched the scene before her.

“You have live long enough, it’s time for you to go join your fellow villagers.” Yun Hua smiled, ecstasy running across her face as she placed her palm on the man’s abdomen. A second later, the man screamed even louder, as his eyes rolled back and his body stiffened. Yu Lin covered her mouth as a trail of tear ran down her cheek. The man’s limbs began shaking uncontrollably, his voice still crying out as Yun Hua laughed at his sufferings. All the balls of light inside the glass gourd suddenly started flying around furiously, smashing themselves at the direction that Yun Hua was standing at.

A moment afterwards, the man’s head drooped down, hanging from his neck, and his body stopped moving. He was dead. Yun Hua grinned as she slowly pulled her hand away, a trail of white light following it, along with blood dripping from her nails. The trail of white light then gathered itself into a ball that hovered above Yun Hua’s hand. Yun Hua walked up to the glasslike gourd and she slowly placed the hand with the ball of white light, on the gourd. The ball of light suddenly disappeared before reappearing inside the gourd.

Yu Lin quickly wiped her tears away as she glared at Yun Hua, however her eyes were hidden by her white locks of hair. ‘This woman… this woman… does she have no sympathy?’ She screamed inside of her head. Yun Hua turned around and when she sensed the aura Yu Lin was giving off, she smiled.

“You, what’s your name little girl?” She asked. Yu Lin didn’t say anything as she continued glaring at her. Yun Hua raised an eyebrow before glaring back. “I said, what is your name.” She asked again. Yu Lin’s chest went up and down slowly however she answered her.

“Yang Yang Rou… my name is Yang Yang Rou…” Yu Lin said through clench teeth.

“Yang Yang Rou? Really? Is that really your name?”

“I have no reason now, do I?” Yu Lin tried to quell her anger as blood seeped out of her palms.

“Are you angry?” Yun Hua cocked her head to one side.

“Are you… going to kill me just like how you killed that man?” Yu Lin tried to ask in a stern voice, however her voice shook instead, revealing the slight fear she had in her. Yun Hua looked at Yu Lin shocked, before letting out a laugh.

“What are you saying? Why would I kill you? I have no needs for a dark elf’s soul, and if I were going to do kill you like I did with that man I would’ve starved you.” Yun Hua combed her short white hair back with her fingers, revealing a small scar on the top of her forehead.

“Starved me?”

“Of course. Souls are easier to take out, if the vessel itself has less flesh. Did you think my two trolls were just feeding you two just for the fun of it?” Yu Lin looked at the bodies on the ground, and indeed all of them looked, no were malnourished. “Besides,” Yun Hua continued, “didn’t I say I was going to show you what dark elves should be?’ A sinister smiled showed on Yun Hua’s face.

“Are you saying, that female dark elves should do this kind of thing to humans?!” Yu Lin couldn’t contained her anger as she raised her voice. Yun Hua squinted her eyes at Yu Lin before bending down to her eye level. Yu Lin quickly shut her eyes and turned her head remembering Liang Guang Ming’s word. ‘Do not let her see your eyes.’ The words echoed in her head. Yun Hua just put her mouth right next to Yu Lin’s ear.

“If necessary, then of course, we must do it.” She whispered, her breath prickling Yu Lin’s neck.

“Why?”

“Humans are nothing more than just ingredients to us dark witches, for our alchemy.” Yun Hua said as she backed away from Yu Lin. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Alchemy... are you saying that all female dark elves should become witches?!” Yu Lin turned back to glare at Yun Hua.

“O-o-of course. What other use for living do we have?” Yun Hua was slightly shocked at how Yu Lin knew about witches, however she figured that Yu Lin had probably heard it from her mother. “Everyone lives to overpower others. Those who seem kind are only pretending so that other people will look up to them. In the end, all they will do is betray the people who trust them.” Yun Hua had a dark look in her eyes as she stroked the scar on her forehead. “Besides, I think my master would gladly take you in.” Yu Lin’s eyes widened when she heard this as she thought the dark witch was acting alone. “My master is very fond of talented people, that’s why I was chosen as a follower.”

“And if I were to refuse?” Yu Lin blurted out. “If I were to refuse the fate that you think we should have, what are you going to do?” Yun Hua looked down at Yu Lin with a murderous aura.

“If you refuse, then I will have no use for you. When I have no more use for you, then you will die. However, I did bring your friend along didn’t I? Maybe he should suffer for you to listen...Do you understand?” Yun Hua hissed. The hair on Yu Lin’ neck stood stiff however she showed no signs of fear on her face as she kept a straight expression. Yun Hua smiled when she saw Yu Lin go silent and stroked her head. “Don’t worry, I like you. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a young elf be able to use magic. If you listen to elder sister, then you will live a good life. You and your friend are very important to me.” Yu Lin didn’t say anything as she felt Yun Hua’s nails slightly scratching her head as she only stared at the two gourds in front of her.

‘If the clear gourd is for human souls, then the other must be for troll blood.’ She thought. Every couple seconds or so the gourds would quickly light up with dark engravings, and at first Yu Lin thought she was just seeing things however when she noticed she wasn’t, she started to count the seconds. ‘It comes in intervals of 7 seconds.’ She squinted her eyes and focused them on the engravings. It didn’t take her long to noticed that the engravings were actually inscriptions on the gourds, and from the looks of it they were seal inscriptions. Along with the inscriptions though, there were also numbers on the gourds that showed up. On the glass one it showed the number 9,999 and on the red stained wooden one it showed 998.

Yu Lin did not know much about inscriptions and what the numbers meant however she did see some basic inscriptions in her previous life, and she learned that certain inscriptions followed certain patterns. Yun Hua looked down at the quiet girl and cocked her head when she saw the girl’s attention directed towards the gourds. She raised an eyebrow. ‘This girl… she will be good for me… and master... ‘ Yun Hua smirked as she placed her hands on Yu Lin’s shoulders and turned Yu Lin’s body around.

“Now then, you’ve seen enough. I still have things to take care of. Go back and take care of your friend now.” Yun Hua pushed Yu Lin out of the room. Yu Lin walked passed the curtain and she paused as she stared at what she thought was the exit of the cave, absorbing everything she can. She squinted her eyes to see a red ball sitting on a rock, however other than that there seemed to be no exit and no indication of the it being blocked by a rock. Yun Hua pushed her forward once more, and Yu Lin kept walking to avoid suspicion.

Yu Lin sat in the cage deliberating what to do after the dark witch left the cave. She casted a glance towards He Lan who was still knocked out cold on the ground, softly breathing, as she bit on her fingernails when the room suddenly started to illuminate with light again. She quickly stood up from where she was sitting and walked to the edge of the cage.

“I thought you were going to be gone for a week again!” Yu Lin exclaimed as the light dimmed on and off.

“Aha… don’t worry… I have enough strength to come back,” Sheng Huo quickly said, “anyways, what happened when she took you with her?” He asked. The glee disappeared from Yu Lin’s face, as the face of the young man flashed across her eyes.

“That woma- no, that monster… I watched as she took out the soul of a man in front of me… she was happy… and she wants for me to do the same.” Yu Lin said through clench teeth. Sheng Huo was shocked at what Yu Lin said, but what shocked him even more was that Yu Lin did not seem to be traumatized by what she saw. If other children had witnessed what she witnessed, they would probably be so scared they would wet themselves, and yet Yu Lin was standing there just fueled by anger.

“Little girl, calm down. People think better when they are calm, we still need to find a way out of here.” Sheng Huo said. Yu Lin relaxed her jaw as she took a deep breath. She knew that what Sheng Huo said was right, and she closed her eyes as she tried to come up with a plan. The two gourds appeared in her head and she furrowed her brows, trying to think of what she saw with them. ‘The two gourds… contain her first and second cup… but it she done collecting them? Does she still need more? If I only I knew more about inscriptions… what did those numbers mea- numbers. 9,999 and 998.’ Yu Lin opened her eyes as she realized what those numbers meant.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“She’s almost done.” Yu Lin suddenly blurted out.

“What? What is almost done?” Sheng Huo’s voice rang out.

“The recipe, she’s almost done collecting all the ingredients.”

“How do you know?”

“When I went inside the room with her, she had two gourds. Every 7 seconds or so, an inscription and number would light up on them. I saw her put a man’s orb in a clear one that read 9,999 and the other gourd read 998.”

“Is that so… then, what are we going to do?”

“By talking to her, I don’t think she wants me dead. When she performs the alchemy for the pill, she will have to sacrifice herself along with it. When that time comes, we can escape.”

“How do you know she is going to sacrifice herself to create the pill?”

“Because in the writings, that is the last cup. The creator, has to die. In the past people have tried doing this, and they will absorb all the ingredients into their body. Although they have failed because many died, people theorized that if done correctly, the body of the creator will still die. ”

“Well just because people theorized that, doesn’t mean it is that. Also in the original one it never said the creator has to die it just said that he creator had to sacrifice themselves.” Sheng Huo didn’t want there to be any mistakes in the plan. “Besides, if she really does die after creating it, then why does she need you two here?” Yu Lin furrowed her brows as she thought about what Sheng Huo said.

“Then… she needs us? But… what would she need us for? We are just two kids that she randomly found.”

“Are you guys part of the ingredients?”

“No. It doesn’t say so in the boo-” Yu Lin stopped as she remembered what Guang Ming said. ‘... that witch is millions of years old…’

“Hey, little girl, why did you stop?” Sheng Huo called out however Yu Lin didn’t answer as she was deep in thoughts. She felt as if she was close to figuring something out. “Hey! Hey! Don’t ignore me like this little girl! Back in the day, anyone who heard my name, Chang Sheng Huo would shak-”

“Just shut up for a second!” Yu Lin got annoyed at Chang Sheng Huo’s pestering. “It’s not like you’re the real Chang Sheng Huo.”

“What? Yah! How many times do I have to tell you? I am the only Chang Sheng Huo!”

“Stop lying! The Chang Sheng Huo in tales is said to have be-”Yu Lin paused as she realized what she had missed. She thought about what had happened to stories overtime, and how they are changed. ‘If this person is the real Chang Sheng Huo, and his tales have changed overtime, doesn’t that mean that recipes can be changed overtime too?’ Yu Lin gasped and she felt her body go cold. ‘I need to get myself and He Lan out of here as soon as possible.’ She thought as she stared down at He Lan. ‘I do not know what is going to be happen to us, but whatever it is, I do not want to know.’

“What? The Chang Sheng Huo in tales is said to be what?”

“You, do you know how to exit the cave?” Yu Lin ignored the Sheng Huo’s question.

“What?”

“Near the entrance of this place, there is a red ball. I think that’s what lets them enter and exit.”

“A red ball… that makes more sense now.”

“What makes sense?”

“You see, every time they left I kept feeling chi energy being released however I never knew why until now. I do not know about this time, but back in my days we used to have these balls call Yunxu stones that guarded treasures. Only ones with specific chi energy can enter and exit the place where the Yunxu stones were guarding.”

“Specific chi energy?”

“Yes, such as a specific person, or people with one type of energy. Human kingdoms used to use these to make sure that elfs and trolls didn’t enter their cities. The only thing that I am unsure of now is whether the dark witch made the Yunxu stone to only accept her and the two trolls energy, or if it is a generalization of a group with this certain type of chi energy.”

“I don’t think she made it specific with just the trolls and herself.” Yu Lin said with certainty.

“Why?” Sheng Huo was shocked.

“Because, what if she made a mistake when she performs the alchemy for the pill? Or what if she’s making it for someone else? She would have to be able to let them in one way or another to collect the pill.”

“That does seem plausible, but how are we going to get out even if we know this?”

“Don’t you know? I am an elf. We have the same type of chi energy.”

“You’re an elf? But…” Sheng Huo thought about how he felt her chi energy earlier, however decided to keep silent about it.

“But what?”

“Nothing. Anyways, how are we going to get out? Even if we know what that Yunxu stone is, you two are still stuck in the cage, and it's going to take a while before you guys can give the Kijin wood enough chi energy for it to burst.” Sheng Huo asked. Yu Lin thought for a while before smiling.

“Knowing what we know, escaping may be easier than we think.” Yu Lin smiled. ‘And that person is getting closer and closer by the hour.’ A dark grey skinned, blue eyed woman’s face flashed through Yu Lin’s head.

“What?”

“We will escape on the day that she makes the pill.”

“What?! Are you crazy? We don’t even know when she is going to make the pill.”

“It will be soon, looking at her numbers, it will soon and it will be the only time her guard is down because she believes that we are just two helpless kids. Attack when she least expects it if we want to escape.” Sheng Huo was in disbelief that he even actually let a kid try to plan something out. ‘She’s just a little kid, she doesn’t know too much yet. I got to step up. Damnit if only I had a body!’ He thought.

“No, we have to try something else. How abo-”

“You haven’t heard the plan yet, and you are already disregarding it? Don’t you trust me? If you don’t trust me, then I don’t have to trust you either.” Yu Lin sternly said as she squinted her eyes towards his direction. . Sheng Huo was stuck, and didn’t know what to do. ‘This little kid…’

“I understand… what is your plan.” Sheng Huo gave up. Yu Lin smiled.

“Listen carefully, you are going to play a big part in this.”

“What? Me?”

“Yes. First...” Yu Lin had a glint in her eyes as she began to explain the plan to Sheng Huo.

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Yo Mei covered her mouth as she saw the sight of the villagers before her. People in the village were coughing up blood, and many of them were malnourished.

“What happened here?” Yo Mei asked under her dark hood that was covering her hair and face as the group continued walking through the center of the village.

“That woman… that woman did this.” Tian Kong through clenched teeth.

“Did this? How?” Chief Chu asked with Sen Feng walking behind him.

“About five months ago, all the people in our village were still in good health, however one day a plague suddenly started to spread among the people. We didn’t know how it came upon us, however our people started to die one by one. People from other villages stopped trading with us, and merchants stopped coming in fear that they will get the plague, however we found something strange going on.”

“Strange?”

“Yes. One day there was a group of merchant that were attacked by bandits. We offer them shelter and they stayed despite their fears of getting the plague because they had nothing left. The weird part was, the merchants that stayed never caught the plague. They were surrounded by all of us however they were completely fine. It was as if the plague only affected the natives of this village and no one else.”

“What? Is that even possible?” Sen Feng exclaimed as he couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“I’m not sure… but it was happening to this village. When we found this fact out we hired many healers from other villages to help find the cure however all of them had no clue… until that woman came.”

“What happened?” Yo Mei asked as tried to keep her face low so that she would not alarm anyone.

“At first we were all alarmed due to the fact that she is a dark elf and we had never seen a dark elf before, however she started healing some of the villagers. She wouldn’t tell us the method, however some selected individuals would be taken by her, and when they came back, they would have been rid of the plague. She told us that she knew how to heal us, however she said that the method she used was a secret method told to her by her master, and her master told her to tell no one so she could not tell us the method. We had no choice but to trust her as she was our only hope. At first all the villagers she took came back, however later on some of them didn’t. When we asked her about it she only told us that the ones that didn’t come back were lost causes. Not in our imagination… not in our thoughts would we have believed that she was killing each of them off…” Tears came to Tian Kong’s eyes however he quickly wiped them away.

“I’m… sorry…” Yo Mei said as her face showed a pained expression.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault Lady Yo Mei,” Tian Kong said, “it is that woman’s fault, and I as the Chief’s son of this village will get revenge for my people.” Tian Kong balled his fists.

“Do you know where she takes the villagers?” Chief Chu asked. Tian Kong shook his head.

“I’m sorry to say I am not sure about that as we travelled during the night blindfolded.” Tian Kong answered. “She told us it was necessary for the method she was using to cure the people, but I know someone who will know where it is.” Tian Kong stopped in front of a run down house, and the three of them stopped behind him.

“This is?”

“Our only hope.” Tian Kong said as he knocked on the door. A moment passed before the door creaked open and a young girl’s face could be seen.

“How may I help you?” The young girl asked as her eyes laid straight ahead, unfocused on anything.

“Su Mei.” Tian Kong gently called out. The girl’s face brighten as she heard Tian Kong’s voice.

“Elder brother Tian Kong!” The little girl exclaimed however her bright expression slowly turned blank, before it turned to a sad one.

“Elder brother needs your help, Su Mei. I ne-”

“I understand… it is my fate to help you, and help you I shall.” The little girl opened the door and stepped outside.

“Thank yo-” Tian Kong stopped talking as she watched Su Mei walk up to Yo Mei.

“I will help you Lady Du.” Su Mei said.Yo Mei raised her eyebrows before bending down so that she was eye leveled with the girl.

“How do know who I am?” Yo Mei gently asked the girl. The girl raised her hand and placed it on Yo Mei’s forehead.

“My lady, you have a hard road ahead of you but don’t worry. Light will once again prevail against the dark, and it will all start with your daughter, Du Yu Lin.” The girl smiled gently at Yo Mei. Yo Mei’s eyes widened as she heard the words that the girl spoke.

“How do you kn-” Yo Mei suddenly stopped as she held out her hand to catch the girl as the girl’s eyes suddenly fluttered closed as she fell backwards.