[ Weicheng's POV ]
I woke to the sudden sting of sunlight flooding my tent. Someone had aggressively yanked back the canvas curtains. I groaned, burying my face in my thin blanket.
"Aren't you supposed to be at the training grounds today, Master Granny?" I mumbled, keeping my eyes squeezed shut.
Only one person in the entire camp had the sheer audacity to barge into my tent this early. I called him Master Granny when I wanted to tease him, but he was my grandfather, my guardian, and my master all wrapped into one.
"I am," I heard him reply as he settled into the wooden chair by my cot. "But I granted everyone a day of rest today."
My eyes snapped open. I sat up instantly, darting my gaze to him.
He had aged remarkably well in the twelve years since he first took me in. He was already clad in his rugged hunting gear. My instincts flared. "What happened?"
His crooked teeth, long silver mustache, and snow-white hair had always been my favorite sight. He was the one who advised me, though more often than not, he was scolding me.
"Nothing, silly kid," he chuckled. He stood up, and as I scrambled to follow suit, he suddenly flipped his heavy battle sword through the air, catching the hilt and offering it to me. I tilted my head, confused.
"Let's hunt today," he said, a warm smile breaking through his weathered face.
My lips practically split from how hard I grinned. Master Cui always loved spending his rare free time hunting with us. Sometimes the whole academy joined, but usually, it was just a tight circle: him, me, Laohu, and Mu Lin.
"What a unruly young lady," he teased, turning to leave the tent.
The moment he was out of sight, I dashed across the camp to the Taq family's cottage, banging on the doorframe. "Laohu!!! Mu Lin!!!"
Aunt Mei pulled back the entry cloth, greeting me with a warm morning smile. I just grinned back. Behind her, the two of them shuffled out, looking thoroughly annoyed.
"Do not disturb our rest day," Laohu groaned in a thick, sleepy voice.
I smirked.
Slowly, I hoisted Master Cui's distinct battle sword over my shoulder. Their faces lit up instantly. They knew exactly what that sword meant. Before Aunt Mei could even utter a warning, her children scrambled back inside, dragged their weapons out, and planted breathless kisses on her cheeks, shouting "I love you!" as if they were marching off to their final days.
We found Master Cui waiting by the entrance of the command pavilion, his loyal right-hand, Teacher Pu, standing rigidly beside him. Master Cui was pushing seventy, but his body and endurance could easily shame any imperial guard. He was our Tribe Leader, and the finest master in the lands.
He always drilled the same philosophy into us: "The pride of our tribe is not measured by our physical strength, but by how deeply we commit to who we are."
We all bowed deeply as we approached the command pavilion. His quarters were always cozy, packed with rows of ancestral swords and tracking gear. On his wall hung the massive headgear of a beast he claimed to have slain twenty years ago, and his shoulders were draped in the heavy fur cape of a grizzly bear he killed two winters back.
"Weicheng, step inside," he commanded, gesturing for Laohu and Mu Lin to gather the tracking packs.
I stepped into the warm pavilion alone.
"Weicheng," he murmured, turning around. A bright smile spread across my face as he gestured for me to come closer. I knew I was his favorite child in the camp. He constantly grumbled about my unorthodox stances, but he never let me do anything that would genuinely bring me harm.
"Tonight marks your eighteenth birthday," he said softly, looking down at me. "Is there anything you desire?"
I shook my head slowly. "Nothing. I just want you to stay alive for as long as you possibly can."
He nodded, a gentle, melancholy smile touching his lips. To the outside world, Master Cui could be cruel and vigorous on a battlefield, but his students knew the depth of his warm heart better than anyone.
"Are you finished reading the chronicle of Arghon?"
My eyes widened in shock. How did he know?
As if reading the panic on my face, he chuckled. "I saw the leather binding in your tent when I woke you up earlier."
I nodded slowly, swallowing hard.
"The records are accurate," Master Cui said, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper. "The King of the Northern Kingdom of Arghon originally came from our tribe. During his time here, he was the most decent, brilliant student I ever taught. He was born a Feng, a child of Weiyou. But after he married into the northern throne, an incident shattered our world, and he severed his alliance with us."
Though many pages had been deliberately expunged from the text, the brutal reality seemed obvious to me. "He's a traitor."
"No," Master Cui corrected firmly. "He is not. He did it to protect the realm. He needed to abandon our tribe to solidify the Queen's power and halt the raging wars between the two empires. He sacrificed us to save everyone else."
"Of course he didn't," I countered, bitter anger rising in my chest. "He did it to save his own skin. How can you trust—"
"Everything is packed! Let's move!" Laohu's booming voice cut us off from outside the pavilion.
Master Cui and I shared a long look before heading out. The entire village gathered at the gates, waving us off with cheers. By midday, we had reached the dense, upper ridges of the mountain range.
Master Cui and Laohu moved with an ecstatic, tireless pace, cutting ahead into the thickets. Mu Lin, however, lagged behind, her eyes glued to the forest floor. She was a healer at heart, spending all her free time studying herbalism and medicinal roots.
"What are you hunting for?" I asked her, realizing Master Cui and Hu had drifted out of sight. Curiously, Master had brought five tribal officials with us today, including Teacher Pu, which was an unusually heavy escort for a simple hunt.
"Ginseng," Lin replied, brushing past some ferns. "A few of the elders have developed harsh coughs, and winter is fast approaching."
Suddenly, a massive, deafening CRASH shattered the mountain silence.
Our heads whipped around. My eyes darted from the high peak down to the foot of the mountain, miles away. A thick, violent column of black smoke and roaring fire was erupting from the eastern entrance of our village.
Panic seized me. I spun around, frantically searching for my master. He emerged from the trees alongside Teacher Pu and Laohu, his expression grim. Down at the distant gates, I could faintly see a foreign military banner unfurling.
"What is happening?" I breathed, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Master Granny, we have to go back right now!" I started taking panicked steps down the trail, my eyes locked on the burning valley below.
"Are you willing to protect your people, even if it costs you your life?" Master Cui's voice was terrifyingly calm, his eyes boring into mine.
"Yes!" I nodded without a shred of hesitation.
A proud smile touched his lips. "I knew you would. It is written in your very blood," he whispered, placing a heavy hand on my arm, his thumb pressing over the pulse in my wrist.
I didn't understand what he meant, but I yanked at his sleeve. "Then let's go home and save them!"
Instead, he stood frozen, rooted to the mountain path like an ancient stone.
"No," he said softly. "I will go alone."
"No!" the three of us screamed in unison.
He forcefully pried my hands off his arm and began walking down the mountain trail, leaving us behind. I surged forward to chase him, but Teacher Pu suddenly grabbed Laohu, while the other tribal officials slammed their arms around Lin and me, locking us in a suffocating hold.
"Escape the territory immediately!" Master Cui shouted over his shoulder, not pausing his stride. "The empire only wants my head. They only need my surrender to satisfy their decree. Do not get entangled with the tribe ever again! Pu, you know your orders!"
"Master!" I screamed. I kicked wildly against the official holding me. I was still clutching Master Cui's heavy battle sword. In a burst of absolute adrenaline, I violently drove my elbow into my captor's ribs, wrenched myself free, and drew the cold steel blade, pointing it directly at the official's throat.
I sprinted down the path, grabbing Master Cui's arm, pulling him back. He stopped, turning to look at me with profound pride. Behind us, Laohu had managed to break away, his hand bleeding from a knife scrape as he threw himself to his knees, begging our master. Mu Lin was struggling fiercely, but the officials had already gagged her, turning her frantic protests into muffled, desperate whimpers.
"Master, they will slaughter you!" Laohu wept, his hands gripping the dirt. "The empire has posted execution notices everywhere for you!"
My breath caught in my throat. No.
"I know," Master Cui replied softly, looking down at Hu, then back at me. "But if my tribe is annihilated while I cower in the mountains, I am no leader. The people need me. That is what a true leader does."
"No! We need you too!" I cried, my knees buckling as I collapsed to the ground, weeping at his feet.
Master Cui knelt in the dirt in front of us. He offered a small, tragic smile and reached into his inner robe, pulling out a heavy iron chain. He pressed it firmly into my trembling palm. I stared at it, my brow furrowing in confusion.
Before I could question him, Teacher Pu rushed forward on Master's orders. Exhausted and outnumbered, I watched helplessly as the officials pinned Laohu and Mu Lin, binding them securely with heavy ropes to keep them from running into the ambush. Then, Teacher Pu took the iron chain from my hand and quickly bound my wrists together, anchoring the other end to his own belt. Master gave me one last, heartbreaking look.
"Being with you for these past twelve years... it made me the happiest man alive, Cheng," he whispered.
"If you're going down there, please, just take me with you," I begged, the tears blinding me.
"I cannot let you die," he said, breaking into a harsh cough. He tapped the heavy iron medallion resting on the chain against my palm. "This necklace... it was around your neck the day I found you freezing in the snow twelve years ago."
"Why do I—"
"Uncover your true identity, Cheng," he interrupted, his voice fiercely commanding. "Only then will you find a way to survive this world. I am so proud of the woman you have become. I can leave this earth today with no regrets."
"No, please, Master Granny—"
His final words to me cut through the mountain air: "You must stay alive. No matter what horrors you face. Stay alive."
Three agonizing hours passed after Master Cui disappeared down into the smoke. I wept and pleaded until my voice was entirely shredded, begging Teacher Pu to just let us see the camp.
Finally, ensuring the imperial army had fully secured the valley, Teacher Pu led our restrained, gagged trio down through a hidden, rocky overlook that gave us a clear view of the village square.
The sight before us was absolute hell.
The golden dragon and white tiger banners of the Arghon military fluttered ruthlessly in the wind. The tribe's defensive soldiers and Master's officials lay slaughtered in the dirt. My heart violently stopped as I looked toward the burning huts—entire families, including the Taq clan, lay lifeless. The surviving children had been lined up in brutal rows, heavy slave chains clanking against their small ankles. Traveling merchants hovered near the imperial lines, greedily checking the children over.
Then, a collective gasp rippled through the valley as soldiers dragged Master Cui into the center of the square.
His magnificent silver hair was matted with dirt and blood. His beast-skin headgear was gone. My lungs emptied of air, and a sickening horror coiled in my gut as I forced my eyes to look at his face.
He was blindfolded with a thick white cloth. And the cloth was heavily saturated in dark, leaking blood. They had gouged out his eyes.
Beside me, Mu Lin and Laohu let out muffled, choked whimpers, trembling violently at the sight of our once-invincible master reduced to this. Teacher Pu's hands shook violently against our restraints, his eyes burning with a helpless, agonizing rage.
The heavy, ominous roll of imperial war drums echoed through the canyons as twilight began to fall, lit by the harsh orange glow of military torches.
"Master," I mouthed beneath my gag.
As if he could hear my silent, broken whisper across the distance, Master Cui's head turned slightly from side to side.
A high-ranking commandant stepped out from the main tribal pavilion, a sinister, arrogant smile stretching across his face.
"Yun," Teacher Pu hissed under his breath. The officials beside him instantly recognized the man: Grand General Li of the Empire, a ruthless commander explicitly serving the Northern Kingdom.
The drumroll abruptly ceased, leaving the valley dead silent. The General unfurled a heavy golden scroll, his booming voice echoing off the surrounding mountain faces.
"The Weiyou Tribe has committed grievous acts of treason against the crown for over a decade. The Empire has been mercifully lenient, but following a exhaustive investigation, we hereby decree your crimes: treason, corruption, illicit alliances with foreign empires, and direct threats to the security of the Northern Kingdom. The verdict has been ruled."
I clenched my fists so hard my fingernails tore into my palms, the warm sensation of my own blood pooling in my hands. The heavy iron chains scraped brutally against the raw skin of my wrists as I thrashed silently against Teacher Pu's hold.
"The Imperial Crown commands the immediate execution of the leader of the Weiyou rebels. Feng Cui shall be beheaded on this eleventh month of the year 824 AD!"
A collective wail rose from the surviving captives in the square. I screamed into my gag, my throat burning, fighting with everything I had to break free. I need to save him. Please, gods, please.
Then, the tent flaps parted once more, and a figure emerged into the torchlight, carrying a gleaming, unsheathed ceremonial sword.
"Is that...?" I thrashed against my gag, my eyes wide. Teacher Pu gave a slow, devastating nod, confirming my unspoken horror.
An imperial herald shouted into the twilight: "Presenting Her Majesty, the Queen of North Arghon, Yun Ni Xiua!"
She looked ethereal, entirely detached from the slaughter around her. She wore a pristine, flowing white gown paired with a heavy fur cape, her fingers wrapped around the hilt of the executioner's blade. Her expression was serene. Her eyes were as cold as the northern ice.
She walked gracefully up to the kneeling master. "Master Cui. It has been a long time since we last crossed paths. A pity it shall be our last."
Master Cui spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm directly onto the hem of her white gown. Instantly, a soldier violently yanked his silver hair back, forcing his throat exposed. The three of us thrashed against our restraints up on the ridge, the ropes digging deep into our skin.
Queen Ni Xiua merely chuckled, a low, twisted sound of pure enjoyment. "You remain so terribly proud. Tell me, old man, now that your eyes have been carved from your skull, can you still claim to see everything?"
Master Cui wrenched his head from the soldier's grip. Even bound in heavy chains, unable to stand, he sat with the absolute dignity of a king. He suddenly threw his head back and laughed—a booming, manic sound that taunted the Queen to her face.
"Your stolen throne will not last much longer, woman!" Master Cui roared, his voice shaking the square. "You have sat in high places for far too long on a foundation of lies. The debt is due. It is time for you to pay for everything you have done!"
The Queen's serene smile instantly twisted into a hideous, enraged grimace.
Without a single word, she hoisted the heavy sword and brought it down with absolute, merciless force, slashing Master Cui's head from his shoulders.
My breath caught in my throat. The world completely stopped.
I watched his head roll into the dirt, the dark blood pooling under the torchlight. The valley erupted into a chorus of screaming, but a deafening, high-pitched ringing filled my ears, drowning out every single sound.
The light left my eyes, my knees buckled, and I collapsed into the dirt, slipping into absolute darkness.