The Inheritance
It was midday somewhere in the Central Plains. A lady was riding a mule on a small mountain road. She was about 28 or 29 year old. From a quick glance, her look was ordinary, because her beauty was hidden by her makeup-less and dried skin on her face, her lips had many cracking lines from dry and hot weather. It seemed, she did not take care of herself nor cared about how others looked at her.
The clothes which she wore was old and had many patches and stitches, though, the material which made up of the clothes was high quality silk. Hidden inside the sleeve of her clothes was a sword which was a bit shorter than a normal length of a sword.
As the sun was blazing down, the lady looked up a little and kicked her mule to walk toward a thick tree line on a hill. The mule walked to stop at a broken stone gazebo where the lady dismounted. She pulled her water sack which was hung at the saddle and walked to look at the gazebo. She had a few sips, then she sighed before she turned to look down toward the mountain road where she had been on.
“Brother Yang, Sister Long …” She said in melancholy tone. “Where are you?” Then she had another long sigh before she sat down on a low stone bench. “I have been traveling everywhere … I understand, you want to hide yourselves from the world but why must you hide from this little sister.” She paused and went quiet for a moment.
The mule was walking closer and closer to her as it grazed on lush green grass. She gently rubbed on the frontal part above the nose of the mule a few times, “Mr mule, how many years have we been on the road together?” Then she laughed a little as she rubbed the grey hairs on the mule’s face, “Was it 12 or 13 years?” Then her voice turned sadden “My good friend, you are old … so am I … When I left XiangYang with you that year, I was just 16.”
The mule brayed a whiny sound as it lifted its head up and down a few times.
“We are not far from Mt. Zhongnan …” she said tiredly. “Shall we go to see if Brother Yang and Sister Long might be there …”
The mule brayed again and continued nipping on the lush green grass near the lady.
"Please … " she pleaded with the mule like a little girl. “It’s been over 10 years since we’ve been there.” Then she pulled a map out from the side pocket of the saddle on the mule and started looking at it intensely. “We have been to all corners of the Central Plains … where are you, Brother Yang?”
The mule did not make a sound but kept gazing on the lush green grass, she fold the map and placed it back in the pocket beside the saddle, then she pulled a rice cake out from her bag and started eating it.
____________________
< I just want to eat >
--------------------
\
\
/\ /\
( \\ // )
\ \\ // /
\_\\||||//_/
/ _ _ \/
|(o)(o)|\/
| | \/
\ / \/_____________________
|____| \\ \\
/ \ || \\
\ 0 0 / |/ |\\
\____/ \ V ( / \\
/ \ \ ) \ / \\
/ | \ \_| |___________\ / ""
|| | \ /\ \
|| / \ \ \ \
|| | | | | |
|| | | | | |
||_| |_| |_|
//_/ /_/ /_/
About an hour later, while she was napping on the stone bench, sounds of horse galloping woke her up. She quickly sat up and had a mouth full of water. Then she stood up to stretch her body to look toward the direction of the sounds. She saw a man who dressed in all black was riding fast. As he was passing the hill where she stood, an arrow flew from behind to hit him right at his upper left shoulder very close to his neck. The arrow caused him to fall down from the moving horse.
She was about to run down from the hill to see the man, but, 10 other men who dressed in Song army uniform were riding toward the man who dressed in all black. When they got there, they went right to surround the man on the ground.
“Li Da’Gr …” One of the soldiers who looked to be an officer said. “Where do you think, you are going?” Then he laughed.
“Lin Gong, You traitor, you are not my brother …” The man who was on the ground shouted back angrily. “Wang Jiaozhu sent us to fight with the TarTar, but you and Zhang …” He could finish what to wanted to say, he suddenly coughed out blood.
“Li Da’Gr, General Zhang has ordered me to bring you back.” The officer said like a wolf.
“Traitor! I will never surrender.” The man surname Li shouted angrily, “I am not the only one who know what the traitor Zhang Hongfan wants to do. One of us will let Hero Guo Jing know.” , then he coughed out blood from the arrow which pierced from his left shoulder through to the upper part of his lung.
The officer named Lin Gong laughed, then he turned to order his soldiers, “finish him!”
Right away, the soldiers on horseback fired their arrows at the man on the ground.
Suddenly a shadow flew pass the man, the arrows which were about to hit the man suddenly reversed their direction and went to hit the soldiers. Each fell from their horse and screamed in pain. Some died, some were injured from their own arrows.
The officer named Lin Gong was startled when he saw what was happening, the horse which he was on lifted its two front legs up high until Lin Gong fell down from the horse. When he pushed himself to stand up again, he pulled his saber out, but the man surnamed Li had disappeared from the ground. He turned and looked around, but he could not see where the man surnamed Li went. He knew, the person who helped the man surname Li away must have a very high level of martial art. He kept looking around in fear for a short moment, then he ordered his soldiers to get back on the horse, some were able to, but some just lied quietly on the ground. Then Lin Gong jumped back on his horse before he rode out without looking back.
—— ^｡ꞈ｡^ ——Up on the hill inside the shadow of the trees, the man surnamed Li was rescued by the lady. She sat the man up and leaned his back with a tree trunk. After feeling his pulse, she knew, she could not save him.
“Sir … Sir …” She called him.
“Heroine … I thank you for trying to save me.” The man surname Li said faintly. “I won’t be able to make it. You must warn Hero GuoJing … He is at the city of XiangYang …” Then he coughed out more blood.
"Sir … is Hero GuoJing in any danger? You must tell me … sir … " She asked.
The man nodded, “You must warn Hero Guo Jing, Zhang Hongfan is a traitor, he is helping the Tartar, they plan to destroy the supplies …” He coughed out more blood, " … to destroy the supplies which is to be sent to XiangYang for next winter … " Then he went quiet.
“Sir, Sir … how did you know this?” She kept calling a few more times, but there was no response.
The lady quickly checked his pulse, a moment later, she knew the man had passed away, so she gently laid him down. Right then, she noticed, the man was wearing a necklet, so she pulled it out to look, there was a small amulet attached at the end, the amulet shape was like a flame.
o--o---g---o--o
/ .' \
o '. o
\ /
o o
\ /
o o
\ /
o o
\_/
=
.^.
' 🔥'
'. .'
“The holy flame! The Demonic Cult Symbol!” She exclaimed quietly in wonder, “Why did father know someone from the Demonic Cult? Could it be my grandfather or my mother?”, Then she placed the amulet in her belt pocket.
She quickly buried the man. After that, she stood up and ran to her mule, “Mr Mule, we won’t be going to Mt. Zhongnan just yet, I must rush to XiangYang to warn my father.” Once she finished saying, she pulled a map out from the bag which hung from the saddle. She opened the map on the stone bench and looked at it for a moment, “It will take about two days if I leave now.” She whispered to herself before she folded the map away and mounted on the mule before she rushed out.
—— ^｡ꞈ｡^ ——Close to the evening on the same day, the lady was rushing her old mule to keep running. As she kept riding east, the mountain road which she had been on turned into low flat land. There were chubby green bushes about 2 meter high along both side of the flat road. Slow breeze was blowing from the east side while the old mule was breathing very heavily as its master kept pushing him to run.
As the lady concentrated on riding, suddenly she heard distinct screeching sound of some kind of bird from high up above her. She shouted, "yokkkk " as she pulled the halting rope, thus, the old mule made a sudden stop, however, the lady did not seem to be affected by the sudden change of motion, she sat with her back straight while her eyes were scanning the sky above her like the mule had not made any changes in motion. The distinct screeching sound could still be heard from high up.
While the lady was busy looking up, the mule slowly moved itself forward toward a small stream and started drinking water while its master was still sitting on its back.
Suddenly, the lady exclaimed loudly, “The Divine Eagle!” Her eyes were tracking something up in the sky.
Right at that moment, sound of a large number of arrows flying filled the surrounding. The lady leaped up in lightning speed, her body spun vertically in the air as the arrows passed. The afternoon sun was shining from the western sky, a transparent pale orange orb could be seen surrounding the body of the lady. The internal energy which the lady flexed to protect herself bent the sunlight, hence, it appeared visibly as a pale transparent orb. When the arrows flew to hit the orb, they changed their motions, they skipped and bounced from the energy orb
When the lady landed, her mule was lying down on its side, many arrows had pierced its body, a few went right into its neck. Blood was leaking out fast. The lady quickly ran to bent down beside the mule which was breathing faintly.
"Mr Mule … " The lady cried, “Please don’t leave me … you are my only true friend in these past 10 years.” She pleaded as tear drops were flowing out from her eyes.
The mule brayed one last time before it went quiet. The lady kept rubbing gently on the frontal part of the mule while she kept crying.
In the same time, about 100 soldiers in Song army uniform ran out from the bushes on both side of the road, each had their weapons drawn as they moved to surround the lady and her lifeless mule.
The commander of the soldiers said loudly, “Lady, where did you hide that man surname Li … give him up, you are surrounded.” He was Lin Gong, the Song army officer who chased the man surname Li just a few hours earlier.
The lady stood up, she pointed her index finger at the commander. “It’s you!” She said, her voice was cold and hid with deep anger. “What did my mule do to you? Why do you have to kill him?”
All the soldiers showed fear on their face and stopped moving forward while Lin Gong stepped back.
Right at that moment, the lady waved her arm and hand, the soldiers who stood in the front row felt like they were slapped hard on their face and thrown backward to hit other soldiers who stood behind them.
The lady did not wait, she charged forward toward Lin Gong who tried to hide behind other soldiers, flashes from her sword went into the soldiers’ eyes, each jumped away from the path of the lady.
Lin Gong saw what was coming to him, so he thrust his saber forward. As the saber was in motion straight in front of him, suddenly, he felt the saber became so heavy, much heavier than it used to be. Then the numbness to the hand with he held the saber followed. Right after that, the saber was thrown away from his hand. It flew and went missing into a chubby bush. Then Lin Gong fell to his back side, his head hit the dirt ground hard. When he looked again, the lady’s sword was right at his neck. Her right foot was on his forehead.
All the soldiers stood still in fear or they did not know what to do, they did not come forward to help their commander.
"Miss … Miss … " Lin Gong stuttered in fear, “It’s a capital crime to kill an army officer, the government will send people to hunt you down.”
“Do you think I fear the government?” The lady shouted angrily, “A low life like you likes to hide behind your uniform to do your dirty deed.”
“Miss … The man whom you helped.” Lin Gong said, “He is one of the Demonic Cult disciples. The emperor has ordered all the Demonic Cult disciples be beheaded. You mustn’t help him.”
The lady paused and went into her thought, she had heard a lot about the Demonic Cult in the recent time since the Mongol invasion toward the south side of Chang Jiang[^CJR] intensified. Some said, they were bad people, some said, they were good and anti-Mongol. She was not sure what the truth really was nor she cared to find out.
[^CJR]: Chang Jiang also known as the Yangtze is the longest river in the Central Plains.
That short moment when she went into her thought caused her to have less situation awareness. When she came out from her thought again, she felt cold Yin energy was coming toward the top of her head. Without moving her feet, she twisted her upper body a little, her right arm which the hand held her sword moved in a half circle motion vertically upward, then the sword was thrust straight up. It was lightning fast.
A loud “crank” sound followed, she knew, her sword had collided with something very powerful. She used that short moment to leap back to get away from the path of the cold Yin energy.
When she landed, she saw Lin Gong’s face was smashed by a clawed palm which belong to a person who at that moment floated vertically upside down with the right arm straight with the palm that smashed Lin Gong’s face. The palm and the arm were in dark blue, blood vessels on the arm and palm could clearly be seen.
Lin Gong died in that instance, his skull collapsed from face down with 5 holes wounds clearly be seen. It was not recognizable as a human head anymore. Blood and brain mass splashed out onto the dirt.
The lady was startled to see such a powerful and cruel palm technique. She looked at her sword which was broken.
In the same time, the man sprung himself up to be on his feet using that arm which the palm smashed Lin Gong’s face.
Right then, the lady could see the man clearly, his face and specially his lips were also in dark blue which was the result of blood tubes being pushed to their maximum flow capacity.
The lady exclaimed quietly, “The Nine Yin White Bone Claw! How did it …”
The man did not wait, he darted forward with his claw flexed with intense cold Yin energy.
The lady lifted her broken sword up to block, her right foot step back. When the man was close enough, he suddenly flew upward and somersaulted to be upside down about 60 degree above her. The clawed dark blue palm was aiming at her face.
The lady quickly bent backward to her right to avoid, but the man was lightning fast, he trust his clawed palm toward the lady’s left shoulder.
The lady quickly pulled her internal energy to her left palm and trust it forward to block. Her palm and his claw collided. A loud “thud” sound followed. The lady body was thrown toward to her right and landed on the ground hard. Her palm was numbed and the arm was chilled, she saw blood was leaking from the left palm. The chill from the left palm quickly went to her left arm and continued on to her heart. Her breathing became sluggish. It caused her to be unable to circulate her Qi.
In the same time, the man body was also thrown away from the lady’s palm energy. When he landed on his feet, he was also in pain, the right half of his body felt really hot. His index finger on the palm which collided with the lady’s palm were broken.
“The warm Yang internal energy!” He exclaimed, “Little lady …” the man said with his cracking voice, “Your internal energy is not bad.” Then he darted toward the lady.
The lady tried to get up, but the chill went from her left arm to her chest. Her Qi circulation was blocked, as a result, she was having difficulty breathing.
When the man landed, he was about to use his left clawed palm to hit the lady, but a loud shouted stopped him.
“Baisun! Wait!” Another man who sat on a horse back shouted. “Take her back, she might be one of the Demonic Cult’s disciples! I want to interrogate her.”
Baisun stopped right before he hit the lady who was about to passed out. He turned to look at the man on the horse, “Yes, General Zhang.”
Two soldiers walked to pull to lady who by then had passed out. They put her on a horse drawn cart and rode away.
—— ^｡ꞈ｡^ ——