As morning arrived, Han Suyin returned from the river with a few fish skewered on the tip of her sword. She spotted Yue Rin sprawled on the grass, still asleep.
Han Suyin paused, genuinely amused. After last night's shock, she'd expected Yue Rin to lay awake in despair. Instead, the girl was sleeping so soundly it was almost rude.
She set the fish down, gathered a few dry twigs, and started a fire. As the flames caught, she laid the fish near the heat to roast, the faint scent of river and smoke already rising.
Then she walked over and nudged Yue Rin with her foot.
"Yue Rin."
Yue Rin only rolled over, turning her back, mumbling something incoherent.
Han Suyin's mouth twitched. She grabbed a waterskin that had survived the chaos, uncorked it, and let a single drop fall onto Yue Rin's face.
Yue Rin jolted upright like she'd been struck by lightning.
She blinked hard, wiped her eyes, then reflexively tried to use Cleansing Flow, only for it to feel like she was trying to pour Qi out of an empty bottle. A sharp ache flared through her dantain and snapped the last of the sleep from her mind.
Han Suyin was still standing there with that faint, infuriating smile, not seeming the least apologetic.
"Why did you drop water on me?"
"I tried waking you for a while. You didn't move. Food will be ready soon."
She held out the waterskin before moving back toward the fire. "Drink. You look like you've been dragged out of a grave."
Yue Rin took it, still half-offended, half-relieved. She drank slowly, then lowered it and stared at Han Suyin's back as the other girl flipped the fish.
For a moment, Yue Rin didn't know what to do with herself.
Han Suyin was acting… like they were companions, not strangers who'd randomly just met yesterday.
Clearing her throat, she spoke. "Thank you… for saving me."
Han Suyin didn't turn. "I did it for my own reasons. You don't have to thank me."
Yue Rin didn't let it go. "Still. You went through trouble for me. And even if you didn't say it, I know you injured yourself to help stabilize my body."
The fire crackled.
Han Suyin let out a quiet breath, like a sigh she hadn't meant to show. "Do you know what the worst feeling is, Yue Rin?"
Yue Rin blinked at the sudden question. "Being burned alive?"
A soft, unexpected chuckle came from Han Suyin.
"No, it's helplessness. Being so weak you can only watch, knowing you can't protect anything you care about."
She checked the fish once more. When the skin had browned and the meat flaked, she picked up a flat stone she'd cleaned earlier and laid the fish on it. With a quick motion, she split them open, steam rising from the pale flesh.
"The fish is ready, come eat."
The aroma hit Yue Rin's nose, rich and smoky. She forgot about everything and scooted closer, careful with her movements before grabbing one and eating it.
Between bites, Yue Rin couldn't help asking, "You've been with me all this time. Won't he get angry?"
Han Suyin's answer was immediate. "He doesn't have control over me anymore."
As if also remembering something, she added, "I've already been expelled. So whether he likes it or not, his words don't matter to me now."
Yue Rin almost choked. "Is it because you helped me? I'm really sorry. I… I need to go talk to him-"
She shifted as if to stand, but Han Suyin reached out and pressed her down with one hand on her shoulder.
"Sit."
Yue Rin froze, then sat.
Han Suyin watched her for a moment, gaze unreadable. "Do you want to know why I joined a sect in the first place?"
Yue Rin hesitated. "Because… you could? And it can help you grow stronger?"
Han Suyin's eyes narrowed slightly, thinking Yue Rin wasn't completely hopeless. "The second part."
She took another bite, "Would you like to hear my story?"
Something about her expression made it sound almost mischievous, as if she were offering to tell a tale. Yue Rin didn't question it. She just nodded.
Han Suyin stared into the fire for a long moment.
Then she began.
"I used to live a peaceful life with my parents… until one night."
* * * *
On Aurelian empire's far outskirts, a small village settled into darkness.
Lanterns were being hung. Doors were being barred. People finished their chores and drifted toward warm meals and sleepy children.
Then a stranger walked into the village.
He wore fine robes no farmer could afford. His steps were unhurried, almost lazy.
The villagers exchanged uneasy glances, but travelers weren't unheard of. Sometimes wanderers came seeking a bed, food, or directions.
A man stepped forward with a polite smile. "Welcome to our humble Willow Village, esteemed guest."
The stranger didn't reply. His gaze slid over the village as if he were counting something.
The villager's smile began to strain. He tried again, awkwardly filling the silence with reassurances about their hospitality.
The stranger finally spoke.
"Too noisy."
A single flash of steel.
The villager's head fell, and his body collapsed a heartbeat later.
For a breath, the village didn't understand what it was seeing.
Then the screaming started.
People surged forward in panic and rage, grabbing farming tools, torches, anything they could use as a weapon. At the same time, the village chief stumbled backward, face drained, already turning toward his home.
Cultivator.
He needed to send word, fast.
Before he'd even taken three steps, another sweep of the blade cut down two more villagers. Heads rolled. Blood sprayed across packed earth. Panic shattered what little order remained.
Some villagers fled.
Others, knowing they wouldn't get far, surrounded the stranger, hurling torches and crude weapons with shaking hands while telling their children to run.
The chief sprinted.
On the way, he saw a couple stepping out of their house, alarmed by the screams.
Han Qiming and Lun Ya.
"Qiming! Lun Ya!" the chief shouted, voice breaking. "Take your daughter and run. Now!"
He didn't stop to explain. He didn't have time.
But the moment those names left his mouth, the stranger's head snapped toward them.
A crazed, delighted laugh tore from his throat.
"Found you, Lun Ya!" He hissed, eyes bright with something rotten and he blurred forward.
One moment he was among the villagers. The next, he stood before Han Qiming and Lun Ya, sword lowered like an afterthought.
The couple recognized him.
Lun Ya's face went bloodless.
Han Qiming stepped in front of his wife. "Zhao Ren," His voice shaking with restrained fury. "What do you think you're doing?"
Behind his back, he made a sharp motion, urging Lun Ya toward the house.
Zhao Ren saw it, but didn't care.
He was already here.
He smiled like he was savoring a meal.
"Oh, Qiming. Haven't you guessed? I'm here to claim what I was owed." His gaze slid to Lun Ya. "Heaven finally took pity on me and awakened my talent. I'm stronger than ever now. You won't stop me this time."
He raised his sword.
Han Qiming moved.
He wasn't a cultivator, but he'd practiced martial arts since childhood, and for a few desperate exchanges, steel rang against flesh and Zhao Ren's grin widened in amusement, as if he were enjoying the struggle.
Inside the house, Lun Ya sprinted, heart pounding.
Han Suyin was in the sitting room, small hands moving over her toys, face still innocent enough to trust the world.
Lun Ya scooped her up and hurried to a kitchen cabinet. She shoved her inside, hands trembling.
"Suyin, cover your ears. No matter what happens, don't come out. Do you understand?" she tried forcing her voice steady.
Suyin's eyes were wide, confused, but she nodded.
Lun Ya closed the cabinet.
Her breath came in short, panicked bursts. She yanked open a hidden drawer and pulled out a single pill, dark and bitter-smelling.
She placed it at the back of her tongue.
Footsteps approached.
Lun Ya turned.
Zhao Ren walked into the room, holding Han Qiming's hair in one hand.
Han Qiming's head.
He tossed it at her feet as if it were trash.
Lun Ya's vision swam. Her body went cold.
Zhao Ren stared at her with a gaze so vile it made her skin want to tear off. "Lun Ya, Do you see? Wealth, strength… I have it all now. Even if you ran to another empire, I'd still find you. Come with me."
Lun Ya gagged down bile and said nothing.
That look in her eyes, the same look she'd once given him when she chose Han Qiming over him, lit something violent in Zhao Ren.
He crossed the room in an instant, seized Lun Ya by the hair, and dragged her toward the couch.
"Today, we can finally cement our new marriage."
Lun Ya screamed.
Even with her ears covered, the sound reached the cabinet.
Inside, eight year old Han Suyin froze.
Fear swallowed her promise.
She pushed the cabinet open and stumbled out.
The first thing she saw was her father's head on the floor.
"Daddy…?"
No answer.
Another scream tore from her mother, and Suyin's small body moved on instinct. She ran, sobbing, and threw herself at the stranger with tiny fists.
"Let go of Mommy!"
Zhao Ren's gaze flicked to her.
For a heartbeat, he looked almost stunned.
Then rage twisted his face.
"So you had a child with him!"
His fist moved, punching Han Suyien away before turning to the woman under him.
Pain exploded in Lun Ya's stomach. The world lurched. She chocked on the pill before reflexively swallowing it, and then everything blurred, before she stopped breathing.
Zhao Ren sensed it, but it was too late.
His face contorted.
"No. No, no, no, Lun Ya!"
The room tilted, the edges of his vision going dark with anger and disbelief, and then his gaze locked onto the fallen child.
Possessive.
Unhinged.
He scooped the unconscious Han Suyin up as if she were something precious, voice shaking.
"Lun Ya, you're still here. I found you. I found you… We're going home."
He carried Han Suyin out.
Outside, the village had gone eerily silent. The ground was littered with the dead.
Zhao Ren didn't care. He walked toward the village exit, humming to himself like a man drunk on victory.
An ice petal landed on his nose.
He sneezed, startled, and shivered.
The air around him dropped into a sudden winter chill, as if the season itself had changed its mind.
* * * *
Han Suyin's voice returned, quieter now.
"After I woke up, I wasn't in the village anymore."
She continued staring into the fire. "I'd been brought to a sect called the Mooncrane. They said a master had found me and decided to take me in as her sole disciple."
Yue Rin listened without interrupting. She didn't trust herself to speak.
"They told me my parents died to demons, they said I was lucky to survive."
Her fingers tightened around the fish bone in her hand.
"I didn't believe them. I saw Zhao Ren with my own eyes. I kept insisting it wasn't a demon. It was a human cultivator."
"Bu no one cared what an eight year old child insisted."
"My master eventually admitted the truth to me. She said he was a newly awakened rogue cultivator. She told me that by the time she arrived, he was gone… and then she locked me in an ice cave for half a month for pestering her."
Yue Rin's cursed such a heartless master.
Han Suyin spoke like she was reciting facts, but the firelight caught a tightness around her eyes.
"When I was let out, she gave me two choices, continue to stay as her disciple, or leave."
"And you stayed?"
"I stayed." Han Suyin didn't deny it. "I hated that powerless feeling. I wanted the strength for revenge, and to protect what I cherished."
Her gaze flicked toward Yue Rin.
"And at the time, I was naive. I thought if I left, no one would accept me. Even though I awakened young enough that other sects would've fought over me."
She looked back at the flames.
"My days weren't peaceful in the sect. For some reason, Pei Jinglan, another direct disciple, had set his eyes on me. After that, people avoided me, or schemed against me. They said I didn't deserve to stand near him."
Her voice stayed even, but there was disgust under it. "I told them I didn't care. But they didn't believe me."
"I told Pei Jinglan to leave me alone, but he didn't listen."
"Worse, the next day, my master summoned me and punished me for being rude to a 'senior'. She told me to reflect."
"So I endured it. Until yesterday."
Her eyes lifted, and for the first time since she started speaking, something raw slipped through.
"When I saw you on the ground, weak, with people tearing at you… I was reminded of my mother."
She exhaled once. "That's why I stepped in."
"And when Pei Jinglan held me back, and said he'd have me expelled if I left the tent… that was the moment I realized something." Her voice became a bit colder.
"I had joined a sect to grow powerful and protect others. If that sect only teaches me to lower my head and watch, then it isn't worth staying in."
"Plus, I'm still young, I can join another one."
Han Suyin finished, and silence settled.
Then Yue Rin suddenly leaned forward and hugged her tight.
Han Suyin stiffened like someone had grabbed her sword arm.
"I didn't know, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for making you dig at your old past!"
Tears and messy breath soaked into Han Suyin's shoulder. It was undignified, warm, human, and completely unlike anything Han Suyin knew what to do with.
Her hands hovered for a second, uncertain.
Then she patted Yue Rin's back, stiff at first, then a little more real.
"I think you should worry about yourself first, for someone who isn't a cultivator anymore, you're still loud." Han Suyin said, trying to make it sound like teasing.
But Yue Rin didn't let go.
Han Suyin clicked her tongue, her voice wavering despite her effort. "Stop. You're going to make me cry too."
And when Yue Rin only hugged tighter, Han Suyin's eyes burned.
She blinked hard, staring at the fire like it was suddenly very important to watch.
"Idiot," her voice barely audible. "Really… stop."