“Keep your eyes on the ridge lines,” Susu whispered, more to herself than her disciples. Scouts usually positioned themselves with clear sight lines to the road while remaining hidden from below.

She’d chosen three promising vantage points to investigate, spots where the natural terrain provided both coverage and escape routes.

As she moved quickly through the forest, Li’er clung to her back, her arms wrapped around her mother’s neck. The conical hat occasionally brushed against low-hanging branches protecting her from scrapes.

Wei Zhen and Liu Fang followed, trying their best to keep up with Susu. They had recently entered the Mind Awakening Realm and had recently begun their training in qinggong.

Their purple robes were darkened by the forest’s shadows, but the way their clothes flapped in the wind made them very wary.

Wei Long tried to keep up, but as he was barely seven years old, all he could do was run through the forest. Susu’s misgivings about the boy were warranted, he did not want anyone to see Li’er, as she was an Axsumite.

A flash of movement caught her Susu’s eye. A branch swaying against the wind. Susu raised her hand, signalling her disciples to freeze. “Master,” Wei Zhen breathed, barely audible, “three o’clock, near the split trunk.”

Susu nodded.

Someone disturbed the branches recently, the leaves didn’t look settled like they had settled naturally. She gestured to Wei Long, telling him to circle wide to the right while she took the left flank.

The sound wooden wheels crashing carried on the wind, catching everyone’s attention. “That’s not Master Quan signal.” Liu Fang whispered urgently.

“He’s still in the city preparing,” Wei Zhen added.

Susu's jaw tightened as An actual caravan was here. “Change of plans,” She hissed. “Wei Zhen, Liu Fang…circle back toward the road. If they’re attacking from where we hypothesised...you should be able to get the high ground from the eastern ridge. Don’t engage unless absolutely necessary.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Wei Long,” She said, turning to him. “See if you can find me their escape routes before they retreat, if you can’t hide yourself and see where they retreat to, alright?”

He nodded once and melted into the undergrowth.

Shouting blossomed through the canyon, followed by distinctive twang of bowstrings. Susu flew through the trees using her qinggong.

Li’er kept her head down and pressed her head against her mother’s shoulder.

They reached the canyon’s edge and saw the three-carriage caravan revealed itself. They caravans were caught in the narrowest part of the pass.

Figures in black clothing swarmed the caravan, like flies to a carcass, their faces were covered with dark cloth and with lightning speed, they took down the merchant’s guards.

The bodies dropped to the awkwardly on the rocky ground. “Sixteen,” Li’er whispered into her mother ears, “Four has bows.”

A smile appeared on Susu’s face unwittingly. “Thank you dear, now keep your eyes clothes. I don’t want you to see this.”

She didn’t answer, and that was something she preferred. Seconds felt like hours, as she stood there, waiting for her disciples to get into position.

The bandits broke into the wagons, leaving the merchants alive, but that wouldn’t be for long, as they had injuries from the poison-coated weapons.

Susu unfurled her whip with her left, then hooked her right behind her, securing Li’er. The girl shifted her weight automatically, distributing it to allow Susu maximum mobility.

“Remember,” Susu whispered, “Eyes closed when I move fast.”

She felt Li’er nod against her shoulder, then launched herself from the ridge. As she floated in the sky for awhile, she rolled her left shoulder and cracked her whip.

Two bandits looked up at the last moment, but it was too late. The whip hit the first bandit in the chest, exploding his chest. He sagged the grown, eyes dazed in confusion. The other bandit pivoted and kicked off the ground, but Susu had lurched her arm back, wrapping Scourge around him.

The man looked at Susu with fear in his eyes, and that’s all she needed. These men had been poisoning merchants and stealing their goods as their own. If given a chance, they would kill her too.

Susu opened the meridian points within her Core Dantian leading to her hands then swirled Qi into them. She channelled her Qi into Scourge and flared it intensely.

She yanked her left hand back and the bandit appeared in front of Susu in an instant. She released Scourge for a second, striking him in the neck.

A loud crack echoed, and the bandit’s body went limp…falling to the ground. “MARTIAL ARTS ALLIANCE…ITS THE MARTIAL ARTS ALLIANCE,” someone shouted.

The bandits scattered like startled birds, their attack dissolving into solemnity. Susu landed on the ground with a boom and sifted through the caravan like a water, Scourge, deflecting and killing bandits on sight.

Three more bandits fell before the others could properly react. Then, an arrow whistled past her ear, reminding her that Li’er was with her. Susu spun, using a bandit as a shield against his own companion’s shot.

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Purple robes moved on the ridge in the corner of her eyes, positioning themselves to attack the bowman. As she withdrew from the battle, she realised something was off. The bandits weren’t fighting desperately, they were probing, testing. Then they fell back without much effort. Damn it…they’re more organised that I’d hoped.

“They’re not using tunnels!” Wei Long shouted.

Susu’s blood ran cold in an instant as she understood what was happening. They’d expected something like this. They expected that someone would be coming for their neck. They baited us! “Quan,” she huffed in frustration.

“Wei Zhen! Liu Fang!” she shouted. “DO NOT ENGAGE…THEY’RE ANTICIPATED THE ATTACK.”

A loud scream followed and the twang of a bowstring blossomed through the night, “MASTER! LIU FANG HAS BEEN HIT.”

No…I can’t help…I have Li’er!

She turned to scanned the area, realising that the bandits had melted into the forest. They may try to flank us!

Susu kicked off the ground and soared through the air, she kicked off a few trees and landed on the ridge of the canyon and sprinted across.

Wei Zhen was holding up Liu Fang who looked pale, too pale. Susu kicked off releasing Zhao Li and performed an instantaneous step. She cracked Scourge six times, hitting each archer in the throat, chest and stomach. They flailed, as if they were kicked off a mountain.

“MASTER!” Wei Zhen shouted, voice strained in a panic. ”His breathing... it’s getting worse!”

“JUST RUN.” Susu snapped, performing another instantaneous step. She caught Zhao Li before she could touch the ground and led her disciples back down the canyon ridge.

Once she had reached a decent distance, she cleared the way to the treeline, Scourge still crackling with Qi.

“Thank you, Lady.” A merchant tried to say, but Susu cut him off.

“Save it! We have to get out of here, put your men to use, help my disciple.”

Two servants volunteered to help Liu Fang, which was a blessing. Wei Zhen was free to fight without recourse. Susu looked at at Liu Fang, seeing him hung over the with the stub of one of the poisoned arrow arrows, made her stomach churned. I’ve failed them, He muttered, I’ve failed to protect them on their mission!

“We need to move," Susu commanded, “Wei Zhen, take point. Merchants in the middle. I’ll guard our rear." She shifted Li’er slightly on her back, feeling her rapid heartbeat. “Everyone, move quickly but quietly. They may try to flank us.”

The group moved through the forest like a wounded animal, fear making them clumsy. Liu Fang’s laboured breathing seemed to echo off every tree, and Susu's nerves sang with tension. Every shadow could hide an archer, every rustle of leaves could be another ambush.

“M-master Susu,” Liu Fang managed between gasps, “I failed... I’m sorry...”

“Save your strength,” she snapped, though her heart ached. “…and stop trying to cleanse the poison from your body with your Qi. The poison moves through your body easier when Qi is involved, that’s why you’re so weak.”

“Yes master.”

They reached a small clearing where two massive trees had fallen across each other, creating a natural shelter. Susu gestured for the group to stop. “We’ll rest here. Wei Zhen, check the perimeter. Merchants, stay low and quiet.”

They laid Liu Fang against one of the fallen trunks. His skin had taken on a sickly grey tinge, and his meridians were visible beneath his skin – dark lines spreading from the wound like spider webs.

“The symptoms are progressing faster than the other victims,” one of the merchants whispered.

Susu knelt beside her disciple, checking his pulse. The rhythm was erratic, his qi pathways constricting just as Hong Quan had described. Without an antidote.

“The bandits,” she muttered. “They must carry the cure. They wouldn’t risk their own weapons otherwise.” She stood, decision made. “I need to go back—“

“I'll go.”

Everyone turned to Wei Long. The boy stood at the edge of the group, his ragged clothes making him seem even smaller.

“No…You’re just a child,” Wei Zhen protested.

“I’m small. Quick. They won't see me.” Wei Long said, meeting Susu’s eyes.

“No, we will wait for Quan to arrive before we move.”

“We can’t wait, Brother Fang needs a cure.”

Susu ground her teeth in frustration. She knew what the boy said was true. It hurt her to say it, but this Wei Long should more poise than she could ever admit at his age. He must’ve had a hard life…to be so calm in such a situation.

Susu continued to study him, looking him up and down, but each time their eyes met, she saw something. A certainty, capability that belied his age.

“The dead bandits might have antidote on them…I can search the bodies before they’re retrieved.”

“It’s too dangerous—“ Susu grunted.

“More dangerous than letting brother Fang die?” Long asked, then turned to Zhao Li. “You’re unable to leave her alone Master Susu…let me go. I know you won’t feel comfortable with brother Zhen going, he can help you defend this bigger group with ease. Trust me this once. I can get the antidote. It’s like stealing candy from a baby.”

Susu hissed and turned away, ashamed of how RIGHT, this child is. “Check the bodies only,” she ordered. “If you the bandits are there…retreat at once, forget about the antidote…Master Quan is coming, we don’t need you to be a hero.”

Wei Long nodded once, then turned and disappeared into the forest before anyone could protest further.

Wei Long

Wei Long made his way through the forest, quickly and quietly. He wasn’t used to the forest like the city, but it was all the same. The difference between the two, the noise. The forest was filled with the sounds of crickets and various other animals.

It was far soothing than to hear vendors and patrons curse each other, when a bargain couldn’t be struck. The air here, tasted clean and felt clean. It made him smile more than he ever wanted to admit…but he had no time for that. He had to reach the caravan before the bandits retrieved their dead.

Wei Long reached the ambush site and kept low as he approached. The first body lay where it had fallen, the man’s chest crushed by Master Susu’s whip. Wei Long worked his hands, patting and searching through the dead man’s clothes.

Nothing.

He moved to the second corpse, this one had a broken neck. As he searched, a sound made him freeze – voices, approaching from the north. He pressed himself flat against the ground, and slowed his breath, just like anytime he disappeared into a back alley hoping to avoid his pursuers.

“...nine dead. Shit. Who did this? This is a massacre! Lung’s neck is broken,”

“Lung’s dead?

“Yeah…”

“He was Divination Realm!”

“Doesn’t matter now.”

As Wei Long lay on the ground, heart pounding against the grass beneath him, he kept praying that these men wouldn’t expand their search…if they did. He would be found. He needed to retreat, but he had no where to.

“Where‘s Chen’s body?”

“Check the bushes. And hurry up. We need to be in position before—“

A twig snapped beneath Wei Long’s hand. He cursed knowing it was too late. “WHAT WAS THAT?!”

Wei Long burst from his hiding spot, running full tilt toward the trees. An arrow hissed past his ear, far too close. “Its a kid! Get him!”

Wei Long ran like he’d never run before, calling upon every trick he'd learned surviving on the streets. But these weren't city guards or angry merchants. These were killers, trained hunters.

He curled around a tree, then kicked off, hoping to give himself an advantage. He looked back, and no one was there. Relief washed over him, he turned his head. “You’re fast for a child.” A man clothed in black said.

He skidded across the gas, he pivoted his left foot and stepped to his right. The moment he kicked off the ground. He flailed and felt his knee buckle a subtle thud followed and he scraped his foot against a rock. “What…what happened?” He cried out.

A calloused hand grabbed him by the shoulder, lifting him up in the air. Wei Long kicked the man in the side, a jolt of pain shot up his leg, then he shrieked from the pain. “A fighter aren’t you. little spy…”

The last thing Wei Long saw was the setting sun through the branches above, and his last thought was of the dying boy waiting for medicine that would never come.

Then everything went black.