The north wind howled angrily, like blades of a slow death, slicing through the warmth of the human world, cutting the frozen snow into silver flakes in the night...
In Shanbao County, Twelve Districts, Silver Creek Square, Inner City, at residence number 9, among those asleep.
"Feng’Er!"
Yan Yu suddenly woke from her dream, her breath gradually calming in the darkness. She snuggled closer into the man’s arms.
Li Yuan said, "Had a nightmare?"
"Hmm... perhaps I saw too much suffering of others during the day and was emotionally moved.
In the past, when we suffered, it was just fear and anxiety;
but now watching others suffer, especially the children, I just can’t feel happy..." Yan Yu said softly.
Li Yuan laughed and said, "Bodhisattvas are compassionate and can’t bear to see all beings suffer; those outside really didn’t call you wrong."
Yan Yu paused, blushed, and replied, "What Bodhisattva? It’s not a Bodhisattva, anyone who’s well-fed and warmly dressed would feel this way, right?"
Li Yuan said, "I wouldn’t."
"I know, my husband wouldn’t because he seeks stability and perfection, my husband is the most cautious.
That’s why following you, Sister Xue and I feel very secure.
These matters, as long as we know them, you don’t need to." Lady Yan muttered, "When I was back in my hometown, the temple had a Bodhisattva, on one side smiling, on the other sternly intimidating.
I asked the abbot, who said that Buddha has compassion and also wrath; Buddha guards the lamp and can also wield a knife."
"And so?" Li Yuan yawned.
"I guard the lamp, you wield the knife," Lady Yan replied.
"Amitabha, Amitabha... I’ve met the Yama Bodhisattva," Li Yuan laughed, "Are you sitting on the lotus today?"
"What sitting on a lotus?" Lady Yan asked curiously.
Li Yuan whispered in her ear, making Lady Yan’s face flush with embarrassment, and she playfully chided, "Naughty guy!"
But with that tease, the unease stirred by the nightmare in Yan Yu faded away. She turned slightly, leaning her hips against her husband, face turned the other way, her almond eyes gazing into the empty darkness, suddenly speaking softly again, "Feng’Er didn’t come to find me today..."
"They left the city yesterday afternoon, heading back to that bandit nest of General Qing Xiang."
"Ah? Oh..." Yan Yu stopped asking. Regardless, Feng’Er made her choice and left with her man. But for some reason, she felt inexplicable unease.
"Is she and Brother Xiong doing alright?"
"Can’t see, do you really think your husband is all-knowing?"
"Oh..."
"Did you truly forgive her?"
"Initially, it was to cooperate with your plan, but when I said the words forgive, I realized I truly forgave her...
Later she told me she’ll never harm me, alive or dead or whatever.
She’s a naive girl; otherwise, she wouldn’t have said such words...
I... hope she does well."
There was a brief silence in the air, then Li Yuan softly said, "Sleep."
"Hmm..."
...
...
In the blink of an eye, two more days passed.
General Qing Xiang’s bandit camp hurriedly dismantled, having chosen their target: Hua Mo County.
Hua Mo County, unlike the "triple power contention" of Shanbao County, here lies the "Dual Faction Alliance."
One faction is a nunnery, named Fuyue Nunnery.
The other is a sword sect only accepting women, named Frost Sword Sect.
The scouts of General Qing Xiang returned three days ago, reporting "a chain disappearance case occurred in Hua Mo County, finally pointing the case towards a carpenter’s house, during which the Sect Leader of Fuyue Nunnery and the Sect Leader of Frost Sword Sect both went missing while investigating the carpenter."
It’s known that the Sect Leader and Frost Sword Sect’s Sect Leader were the first and second strongest in Hua Mo County; their disappearance instantly threw both factions into chaos.
Especially the Frost Sword Sect, the power struggle for the position of Sect Leader led to a split, internal conflict, making it the perfect opportunity.
On the other side, in Tian Nan County, everything remained relatively stable with no disturbances.
Thus, selecting a target to attack became quite simple.
Shanbao County was heavily consumed by internal conflict, though it gained the presence of Blood Saber Ancestor.
Tian Nan County lacked internal strife.
Hua Mo County, despite having its two top experts missing and internal struggles within Frost Sword Sect, didn’t have severe killings among fellow disciples.
The optimal choice, by comparison, was clearly Hua Mo County...
Therefore, General Qing Xiang dismantled the camp, leading his three thousand troops to prepare to attack Hua Mo County.
In the sky...
White Sparrow soared, watching from afar the army descending the mountain but not daring to approach, merely flying high, perceiving the three thousand troops as a "little worm."
Meanwhile, the camp... looked empty, but in reality, it was not.
For there were still abandoned women, many of whom were captured and yet survived the torment.
They huddled together, some with vacant eyes, others with eyes that moved but bodies in squalor, some barely alive, on the brink of freezing to death. They were all exhausted, with no hope left in their hearts... except for one.
Feng’Er still had hope.
She crawled out over the threshold with determination.
Outside, the cold wind cut like knives.
She struggled to stand again, stumbled and staggered a few steps, fell but didn’t feel pain, stood again with indifferent eyes, grabbed a stick as a crutch, then limped outwards.
Her pupils were lifeless but profound.
Hatred, resentment, curses, oppression layered her heart like a thousand-layer cake, one layer upon another, unimaginably thick...
Yet even so, she still had hope.
Everything before her was gray, but at the end of the gray was still a door.
Behind that door, there was light, and Sister Yan’s voice...
Thus, however distant that door was, she was determined to reach it.
She was going to walk towards that glimmer of light.
Once she walked through that door, she intended to stay there forever.