The jagged half-sword struck heavily against the trunk of a thick chestnut tree, and wood chips scattered along the blade’s edge.
The rays of the setting sun slanted through the straight trees, creating golden lines dancing in the gaps of the shadows.
Horn mechanically hacked at the small tree in front of him with his half-sword, the longsword biting into the wood, and all he could hear was the crackling sound of shattering wood fibers.
Behind him, the monastery still stood, and the Holy Image of Miseria hung its head, unwilling to look at Horn’s back.
Horn saw a shadow approaching from behind on the ground.
"How’s Kosse?" Horn asked without lifting his head.
Jia Li stopped in her tracks. "He’s okay. After taking the calming potion, he’s much more stable, but he still can’t say a word, and the two letters we gave him remain unopened."
"Are there any parents among the valley dwellers whose children were deceived by the Green-clothed Flute Player?"
"Of course, the Thousand River Valley People can never escape three things in life: paying taxes, death, and having relatives taken by the Flute Player—just not with their letters."
"Does anyone else know about this besides him?"
"Madlan, Qianqian, and Jeanne know; the other ordinary villagers don’t."
Almost five centimeters of the sword tip snapped off, revealing a grayish-white fracture.
Horn stared blankly, taking two steps back, holding the half-sword sideways, the inscription representing ’Snow in the Clouds’ shimmering in the sunset.
It was a terribly awkward sword, with the blade from Barnett, the scabbard from Knight Danji, and the hilt from Frick.
Without its tip, it had become a broken sword.
This was to be expected, given how Horn often used it to chop trees and dig soil, leaving many nicks on its surface.
"Stop chopping, I brought it."
Horn turned around, and Jia Li was holding a board.
She easily planted the board into the ground.
"Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m placing a tombstone even when I haven’t fulfilled the requirement?"
"This is a tomb for those children who died here."
Horn chuckled lightly, "You’ve gotten a lot smarter than before."
"That was my sister." Jia Li’s shadow merged with the tombstone’s shadow, obscuring her face, "You know, the witch has a mental illness; she’s like another me."
Horn did not respond; he merely stared at the blank tombstone in front of him.
By his usual character, he would have had a bout of literary melancholia and inscribed something like, "Here lie the children of the Thousand River Valley."
But he couldn’t carve it out, not a single word.
"Look, I used to say that I wouldn’t let the children of the Thousand River Valley die on the path paved by Frick and the others.
But now? The children of the Thousand River Valley are precisely dying on that path."
His nostrils flared, and Horn laughed at himself, his laughter drifting in the golden-red glow of the sunset, fading into nothingness.
He erected a tombstone for someone again; this was the third one,
At first, there was only one person, then over a hundred, and now it’s thousands.
In just one short month.
"What kind of cursed place is this!" Horn shouted towards the distant forest, "What kind of cursed world is this!"
"Hasn’t the world always been this way?" Jia Li’s calm voice came from behind Horn, "You’ve always been cynical; I’m just a bit surprised."
"But it doesn’t have to be ." Turning around, Horn looked at that familiar yet unfamiliar face, "Are you interested in telling me your background?"
"All I can say is that within the Ruo’an Faction, I am one of the top leaders."
"If I join your Ruo’an Faction, what position could I buy with those 2,200 gold pounds?"
"Not joining the White Mountain Hermitage anymore? I saw you asking a few days ago."
"I still prefer your more competitive path; trust me, no one in your group can outwork me." Horn said with a smile, touching the tombstone in front of him, "That’s the confidence of an old exam-focused townie!"
"You are a rare Witch Man; even without those 2,000 gold pounds, you’d be given an excellent job, like... having children with different witches."
"Don’t look at me like that; it’s perfectly normal, okay?" Jia Li said calmly, "Aren’t you curious if two witches can consistently give birth to witches?"
"I’d rather not." Horn smiled bitterly and waved his hand, "Consider those 2,000-odd gold pounds a gift for joining the Ruo’an Faction."
"If you’re truly willing to give them to us, I promise, each gold pound will turn into a dagger piercing the heart of the Church."
"That would be best."
The whole monastery was devoid of human figures; those giant spiders came once at noon, only to be dispersed again by Jia Li with her bone flute.
The crumbling tower loomed precariously in the evening wind tinged with the scent of smoke, as the joyful singing of the villagers wafted from afar.
"You want to join the Ruo’an Faction because of this monastery, right? Are you planning to use the Ruo’an Faction’s uprising?"
"Who said that? I’m merely using your faction’s power to fulfill my grand ambition."
"Don’t underestimate my witch abilities." Jia Li spread her legs boldly, "Though, you clearly don’t think so in your heart, right?"
"How do you know? What’s your witch ability?" Horn turned around, "Isn’t your witch ability to transform into an Ice Giant?"
"At least better than when lying side by side, you still can’t reach my ankles."
"Your attacks have become more fierce than before." Horn chuckled lightly, sitting down on a stump next to Jia Li, "So you truly have innate divine power."
"I was born with a body capable of the dual breathing technique, and by adulthood, I reached the ninth stage." Jia Li pinched her own bones, "This was inherited from my mother, who was a physical witch."
"... No, you, are you the witch baby Qianqian talked about?!"
Seeing Horn’s surprised face, Jia Li raised a finger: "A unique case recorded only once in a thousand years, where both mother and daughter are witches."
"So, what’s your witch ability?"
"I’m a mind witch; my true witch ability is to eavesdrop on people’s inner voices." Jia Li raised her head, gazing at the clouds slowly drifting in the sky.
"Remember how my sister used to often ask you how many faces you have? That had nothing to do with the bedtime ghost stories you told." Lowering her head, Jia Li looked Horn directly in the eyes.
"She asked how many faces you have simply because your inner voice is much more complex than others’, as if there are many people talking.
But she couldn’t discern yours because it was too complex, with too many voices, all mixed together."
"How come you can hear it now?"
"Because before, your mind was like a group of people talking to themselves, but now it’s in harmony, like a chorus."
Horn covered his chest: "Isn’t this ability of yours too defiant against nature? You know how everyone thinks."
"Defiant against nature? Are you saying excessive? It’s actually not that bad." Jia Li lowered her head, looking at the rings of the tree stump, "The heart’s voice I eavesdrop on is not truly your inner thoughts.
It’s more like, how can I say, the ripples of your thoughts, and what I have to do is deduce your true inner thoughts through the ripples."
"Alright then, guess what I’m thinking now?"
"Just do what you’re able to do."
"Wrong, I’m thinking about what to eat tonight!"
Jia Li cupped Horn’s face: "If you’re afraid, just do what you can manage to do."
Looking at Jia Li’s childish but earnest face, Horn’s previous smile gradually turned into a bitter smile: "I’ve really been seen through; I’m a bit afraid to stay with you."
"My sister likes you a lot, she told me—
You have a lot of avoidance, abandonment, rationality, betrayal, and cold-bloodedness in your heart, yet you’ve never succeeded in any."
"You understood again." Moving his head away from Jia Li’s hands, Horn turned to look into the distance, "Once I join the Ruo’an Faction, I will take my Holy Gunmen, I will unify the central lands, I want to be the Emperor myself."
Jia Li shook her head slowly: "The Imperial Knights’ plate armor is made of White Crystal Steel, the strength of 1 magic plateau is comparable to 2 magic steel armor, how could your guns pierce it."
"It’s okay, I can research something better."
"Stubborn mule!" Jia Li cursed discontentedly, standing up, as the sunset shone through her body, casting a long shadow on the ground.
The golden wheel of the sunset hid behind the mountains, the wind swayed the windows of the monastery, hitting the walls rhythmically.
Distantly, a toot of a whistle echoed, signaling the sound of returning to camp.
"Alright then." Standing in front of Horn, taking his hand, Jia Li half-knelt on the ground, looking into Horn’s eyes, "Let’s make a pact. I’ll be responsible for avenging those blue-blood orphans, and you will be responsible for bringing them home, how about that?"
"Can you manage that?"
"Within the capabilities of you and me, just barely possible."
"Really? I don’t believe it."
"This is my hometown too." Jia Li pouted discontentedly, "Eventually, it can be done."
"The difference between eventual and now is too big."
"That day will come soon." Jia Li looked up at the distant sunset, "It’s not just the two of us striving for the freedom of the Thousand River Valley."