Night fell. The wind carried the stench of scorched earth, and the village was unnaturally quiet.
Lin Yaochen sat alone on the stone steps before a ruined house, the Yao Disc resting in his hands. His thoughts were tangled like knotted vines.
A gentle voice suddenly spoke behind him.
"A Yao Disc? You're a Seeker of Yao, aren't you?"
He turned. It was the young woman who had been tending to the wounded earlier—the one about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a gentle face. Qing Sha. She held a bowl of herbal soup and sat down beside him with a faint smile.
"This helps calm the mind. Drink a little. My name is Qing Sha. And yours?" She offered him the bowl.
"Lin Yaochen."
He slipped the Yao Disc back into his bag, accepted the soup, and thanked her. Then he couldn't help asking,
"Those Yao Raiders… the fighting just now… aren't you afraid?"
"It's your first time seeing something like that, isn't it?" Qing Sha lowered her gaze to the scars on her wrist. Her voice was soft.
"I was afraid—so afraid I was shaking. But once you've been afraid once… you realize you can't afford to be afraid anymore."
Yaochen froze. "What do you mean?"
She was silent for a moment before speaking again.
"I used to be a Wood-Yao Seed."
"Wood-Yao?"
"Yes. I could sense the growth of plants. I could make withered leaves bloom again, make the vines in the fields move to help people harvest fruit…"
She took a slow breath.
"I wasn't from this village. I lived beyond that stretch of forest. There used to be a small, peaceful village there."
Yaochen opened his mouth but found no words.
"We lived simple, quiet lives… until they came." Her voice dropped.
"Just like what you saw today. They took everything—food, harvests, and children who carried Yao Seeds. Even young women…"
Her voice trembled. "And because I had a Yao Seed and could control Yao energy, I was the best kind of prey to them."
Her fingers clenched the fabric on her knees, knuckles turning white.
"They don't need you alive. They only need your Yao energy."
Her tone was eerily flat.
"They have needles made from ground Yao Stone. They stab them straight into your Yao veins and draw the energy out… When it's pulled away, it feels like you're being hollowed out. Even breathing hurts."
Her eyes went empty.
"They stabbed me too. I felt my Yao being ripped out of me… it hurt so much I passed out. When I woke up, the village was nothing but chaos and silence. Bodies everywhere. Others lying in pools of blood, barely alive…"
Her voice wavered.
"My parents… died then."
She said it calmly, as if stating something ordinary.
"I remember throwing myself at them, trying to wake them. But their bodies were already cold. That cold… I will never forget it for as long as I live."
Yaochen's chest tightened. His fists trembled. He wanted to comfort her, but every word felt useless.
Qing Sha lifted her head and looked into the dark distance.
"So I'm not afraid anymore. Because the most terrifying thing… already happened."
After a long silence, Yaochen asked quietly,
"What happened after that? How did you come here?"
She turned to him, slowly pulling herself back from the depths of memory.
"When I dragged myself out of my village, my legs were still shaking. From that day on, I walked alone through the mountains. When I was hungry, I ate wild fruit. When I was thirsty, I drank rainwater. At night I curled up in cracks in rocks or tree hollows, never sleeping too deeply, afraid someone might come…"
She let out a soft breath.
"After about five days, I had no strength left and no idea where I was. I just sat by the roadside, waiting to starve to death."
"Then the patrol from this village found me. They thought I was a lost child and brought me back. I couldn't even speak—just kept shaking."
Her voice softened.
"The village chief's family took me in. Later, everyone here learned what had happened… and they were all kind to me. It was like they quietly accepted this strange child with no Yao left."
Yaochen felt a sting in his chest.
"I saw your Yao Disc just now. I know your identity isn't simple."
Qing Sha looked at him.
"I don't need to know who you are. But I hope you will wipe out those Yao Raiders."
Yaochen met her gaze. In her reddened eyes there were no tears—only a calm, long-suppressed hatred.
"Not for me. Not even for this village. But for all the people like me, who only wanted to live in peace… and had everything taken from them."
Her voice was soft, yet it pierced his heart like a needle.
She said no more. She turned and walked back into the wooden house, her back straight and silent.
Yaochen stood there for a long time, as if nailed to the ground. He looked at his hands—hands that had been pampered all his life, hands that had never held a real weapon, never protected anyone.
He remembered the burning village. The screams. The fallen bodies. Qing Sha's cold words: They don't need you alive. They only need your Yao energy.
His chest felt heavy.
He had wanted to refuse from the very beginning.
This has nothing to do with me.
Once I see my grandfather, I'll go home.
But now he realized that "nothing to do with me" was just an excuse to avoid reality.
The girl hadn't begged him. She only said:
"I don't need to know who you are. I just hope you'll wipe them out."
She didn't even say please—because she knew some things in this world cannot be begged for.
Yaochen looked up at the sky. Low clouds hid the stars. He remembered something his father once said while teaching him how to fight:
"Don't ask whether you can do it. First ask—do you dare to begin?"
"Have you made up your mind?"
Mozi's voice came from behind him. The spirit beast stood there, amber eyes watching him quietly.
Yaochen didn't answer the question. He turned to Mozi instead, his voice rough.
"Teach me, Mozi. I want to train. No matter how slow or how hard… I want to try."
"Are you sure?" Mozi asked. "This path won't be easy."
Yaochen nodded, without hesitation.
"I don't want to just watch people fall anymore while I can't do anything."
Mozi looked at him for a moment, then bared his fangs in a grin.
"Good. Get some rest tonight. Tomorrow we begin the first stage—stabilizing your Yao veins and drawing energy into your body."
Yaochen gave a small, crooked smile.
"I can't go back anyway. When I get stronger, when I finally meet my grandfather… I'll go home and tell my parents I didn't come here for nothing."