[POV: Feng Ping]
The Purple Rope Hall was an organization of assassins created by the ministers in secret for the sole purpose of serving their political interests. Its primary functions were eliminating undesirable variables and coercing certain elements into submission. The organization was relatively young, having operated for barely over a century. For mortals, a century was an almost unfathomable length of time. For the long-lived ministers and cultivators, however, it was hardly impressive.
Still, its results spoke for themselves.
Following the death of King Feng, the ministers had immediately acted upon their schemes, allowing them to seize control of Great Feng almost overnight. The Purple Rope Hall had played a crucial role in that treachery, assassinating key officials simultaneously across the country with astonishing efficiency. The secret behind their success was a mysterious artifact bestowed upon the organization's highest-ranking members.
...
I woke with a dull ache throbbing through my skull as the femur lodged in my head was slowly pushed back out. My vision was blurry at first, but I quickly regained my senses. In my hand was the Ring of Resurrection, a mysterious artifact capable of resurrecting anyone whose cultivation was at the Seventh Tier or below. The ring continued to glow with a faint purple light, pouring streams of life qi into my body and repairing the injuries that should have killed me.
I reached up, grabbed the femur, and tossed it aside.
Blood continued to pour down my forehead, staining my face and dripping from my chin.
As expected of the Sword General.
Even after being weakened to such an extent, he had still managed to fight back and deliver what should have been a killing blow.
I suppressed the anger bubbling within me and focused on circulating my qi properly. The Ring of Resurrection's power was finite. Every resurrection consumed one of its limited uses, and I had just spent one of my extra lives.
Now, I had only one remaining.
An assassin hurried toward me and immediately dropped to one knee.
"Lord Feng Ping, I have grave news. The Sword General has escaped."
My brow furrowed.
"Escaped?" I asked. "How did he manage that? Look at the state he's in. You had him surrounded from every direction. With injuries like those, how could he possibly have broken through your encirclement?"
The assassin lowered his head, hesitant. "The Sword General's injuries were severe, my lord. We were certain he could not possibly escape. However..."
I narrowed my eyes. "However?"
"We believe some kind of mysterious beast intervened."
"A beast?"
The assassin nodded uncertainly. "It suddenly appeared and snatched the Sword General away before we could stop it. We were unable to identify it properly. It appeared to be a four-legged creature, but it also possessed wings and a beak."
I stared at him in silence. A four-legged beast with wings and a beak? The rank and file of the Purple Rope Hall were all assassins at the Fourth Tier, Spirit Mystery. They had been trained from a young age, with most of them recruited from orphanages or taken from the streets. Their harsh upbringing had forged them into individuals with extraordinary willpower and ruthless intensity, making them ideal candidates for the Hall's teachings. Through the education they received, they had learned to fear neither death nor suffering. They were willing to do anything for the organization and would stop at nothing to accomplish their missions. But their training had one glaring limitation. They had been taught to fight people.
The assassins of the Purple Rope Hall were trained exclusively in anti-personnel combat. They knew how to kill cultivators, infiltrate guarded locations, conceal their presence, and exploit weaknesses in human opponents. They had no reason to understand demonic beasts. Frankly, I doubted most of them even knew how to properly deal with one. Still, it was an unexpected development, considering where we were.
This was a dragon's territory, after all. Dragons were notoriously territorial. The mere pressure emanating from a dragon's presence was usually enough to deter other demonic beasts from approaching its territory. Unless the creature that intervened was of roughly the same tier, it was difficult to imagine why a demonic beast would dare interfere. More importantly, the description given by my subordinate was strange enough that I could not confidently conclude that the creature was a demonic beast at all.
The assassin continued his report. "We immediately dispatched our best trackers after them, my lord. Unfortunately, the creature was exceptionally fast. Even with our fastest trackers pursuing it, we eventually lost sight of it. However, we have not completely lost its trail. Our trackers discovered several signs left behind along the route. Based on their findings, the creature appears to be heading further north."
"North, huh?"
That could be troublesome. North was the direction where the rumored dragon was said to reside. The stories about the late king's encounter with a dragon were quite famous back home. Even I had heard them. Most officials dismissed the tale as nothing more than an exaggerated legend, but I knew better. Before joining the Purple Rope Hall, I had been heavily involved in the military and had access to records that were never made available to ordinary officials. I had seen the reports myself.
There really was a dragon living in the north.
Optimistically, the mysterious beast would simply eat the Sword General and save me the trouble.
A more flexible man would have left the matter to fate and concentrated on finding the princess instead. We had already established that the Sword General and the princess had separated somewhere around the lake. From a purely practical standpoint, it would have been more worthwhile to return to where the princess had last been seen and track her from there. Frankly, part of my desire to pursue the Sword General was pride.
I wanted to be the one who killed him.
The idea was not without merit, however. If the Sword General disappeared, the little princess would have no one left to rely on. Without his protection, she would eventually fall into our hands with certainty. I considered the matter for a moment before making my decision.
"I've decided."
I took out a sound transmission talisman and infused it with my qi.
"All units, listen carefully. Spread out and search for the beast in a fan-shaped formation. We have the advantage in numbers, so use it. Do not allow yourselves to become isolated, and more importantly, do not approach the beast recklessly. Maintain a safe distance at all times. Do not engage it unless absolutely necessary. The moment you visually confirm its location, report it to me immediately. I want its position, its direction, and anything unusual you observe. Do not attempt to capture or kill it on your own."
The sound transmission talisman dimmed after the message was delivered.
I weighed the benefits against the risks one final time. In the end, I found hunting that beast to be a worthwhile endeavor. I was already quite close to breaking through my current tier. If the creature possessed a valuable beast core, obtaining it could provide me with a considerable boost. Even if it turned out to be stronger than expected, there was still something to be gained from tracking it.
Besides, I had already used one of the Ring of Resurrection's charges. I had no intention of returning empty-handed after paying such a price. I clenched my fist and looked toward the north. I couldn't disappoint the old general. This was only the beginning for me.
...
..
.
[POV: Sun Jian]
I was sixteen years old when I was named the Sword General.
It was a promotion I had earned by storming an enemy fortress alone. I had leaped from a nearby mountain, landed upon the fortress walls, and forced my way to the gates so our soldiers could break through. It had been reckless. Some might even have called it suicidal.
But I had done it.
Since then, I had ridden into countless battlefields with my sword in hand, cutting down the enemies of my homeland. I had come close to death more times than I cared to admit. Yet somehow, none of those battles had prepared me for what had just happened.
When I finally came back to my senses, I felt a hard, rocky surface beneath me. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. The sunlight immediately stung them, forcing me to raise one hand and shield my face. That was when I noticed the majestic beast sitting nearby.
It was watching me curiously. My body tensed. This was the creature that had snatched me away from the assassins. "Why am I alive?" I asked cautiously. "Are you... not going to eat me?"
As I spoke, I gradually realized something was wrong. Or rather, something was right. The wounds covering my body were healing. The pain that had nearly overwhelmed me was fading at an unnatural rate. Torn flesh was closing, broken bones were mending, and even the wounds that should have taken months to recover from were disappearing as though time itself was being rewound around them. Most importantly, I got my arm back, faintly recalling it being cut.
"Did you do this?" I stared at the beast in bewilderment. "Did you heal me?"
I had assumed some malicious demonic beast had come to carry me away so it could feast upon my corpse. Instead, it had saved my life.
"Silly, of course it was I who healed you," said a voice from above me. "Ungrateful human."
I looked up.
A strange figure was floating overhead, so small that she could probably stand atop my palm. She had long, pointed ears, golden hair, and wings that resembled those of a butterfly. Her dress appeared to be made entirely from leaves. She looked almost like some kind of miniature spirit.
"Also, Gryphon's not going to eat you," she added with a pout. "That would just be rude."
I blinked. Gryphon? So that was the name of the majestic beast.
"It looks like you're awake."
Another voice came from the slope of the mountain.
When I turned my head, I saw a man walking toward us. He wore earthy-colored robes and carried a staff in one hand. He had brown hair and seemingly bored eyes, yet there was something about his appearance that I found difficult to put into words. There was a strange sense of peace within his presence, as though nothing in this world could disturb him. My heart skipped a beat. Where was I? Who was this man? That was when it occurred to me. The reason for coming to this part was to have an audience with a dragon. I remembered the stories back in the military. A dragon was said to live in these mountains, northwest of the Great Feng.
I swallowed.
"Are you... Jin, the Dragon of Goldenreach Mountains?"
The strange man paused. He seemed to seriously consider the question, then he answered. "No."
My heart sank slightly, but I couldn't give up just yet. Whoever he was, he had saved my life. I could understand that much. "Forgive me, but I must go."
Little Feng needed me. I had to find her before Feng Ping did. The thought of asking my benefactor for further assistance crossed my mind, but I couldn't bring myself to do it in good conscience. No matter how powerful a single cultivator was, there was only so much one person could accomplish against the might of an entire state. Well, unless that person was an immortal. I pushed myself upright. My legs immediately gave way. I stumbled forward and tripped over a rock, nearly falling flat on my face.
"Oh, wonderful! Truly magnificent!" The little fairy creature flew down in front of me, her tiny face twisted into an expression of utter disbelief. "First, you get yourself beaten half to death. Then Gryphon has to carry you all the way here because you couldn't even stay alive on your own. My great lord personally heals all those horrible wounds of yours through me, and what do you do? Hmph."
She pointed accusingly at me, her tiny hands on her hips
"You immediately get up and start stomping all over my lord's dignity! And you even tripped over a rock! What are you doing, hurting yourself? Do you have any idea how difficult it was to heal someone as reckless and stupid as you? You should be thanking my great lord! Instead, you're dirtying the ground and making a mess after he generously saved your life!"
"I... Uh... Dirtying the ground?"
"Honestly! You're supposed to be a great general, aren't you? Where is your dignity? Where is your gratitude? Where is your ability to simply sit down and not injure yourself for five minutes?"
"Wait, how do you even know I'm a general?"
"Shut up! Shut up! You have no grace at all!"
I could only endure the barrage of criticism in silence, yet one particular phrase caught my attention. Great lord. That was perhaps an address reserved for someone of considerable position, typically someone who held authority over a government, sect, or powerful organization. Was my mysterious benefactor an important figure? If that was the case, then perhaps my situation was different from what I had initially assumed. I was desperate. There was no time to worry about pride. I immediately dropped to my knees and kowtowed.
"Please, I beg you. Allow my charge to take refuge here."
My forehead struck the rocky ground.
"Her name is Feng Cai. She's only a little girl, and the Country of Feng is after her. I know I have no right to ask this of you after everything you've already done for me, but please... allow her to stay here."
I gritted my teeth. I had gambled everything on the mercy of a stranger. And that stranger could just as easily become my malefactor.
"Dad!" A tiny, familiar voice suddenly called out from behind me.
I froze. I was not her father. The little lass had simply grown fond of calling me that. Slowly, I raised my head. My eyes widened. A familiar little girl was running toward me. Feng Cai was waving the sheathed sword I had left with her. She was alive. More surprising still, she was swinging the sword around with remarkable ease. I stared at the weapon in disbelief for a moment before remembering that I had far more important things to be surprised about.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
Feng Cai ran straight toward me. "I got your sword!" She proudly raised the sheathed blade. "I kept it safe with me! So you shouldn't leave me behind again!"
My chest tightened. I caught the little girl in my arms and pulled her into a tight embrace. I couldn't speak. My heart felt as though it had shattered and mended at the same time.
Ah.
I was so glad she was safe, oh little one.