Clang! His curved blade sank into the earth.
"This blade was given to me by my father. I killed him with it."
Clang! A sword plunged into the ground.
"This sword was hidden by my mother. I killed her with it."
Clang! A spear followed.
"This spear was forged by my wife. I killed her with it."
Under the blazing sun, his words felt like the flames of hell. Huang Bei Shuang and her group were struck with shock, and a sense of certain doom washed over them.
The leader turned and roared, "Brothers! Where are your parents?"
"Born but not raised!" the bandits shouted in unison.
"Brothers! Where are your wives and children?"
"Gone, fled, or dead!" came the echoing reply.
As the chorus of voices surged, any remaining compassion in the hearts of the bandits vanished, replaced by a fevered, violent energy.
The leader, pleased with the response, pointed at Huang Bei Shuang and her group. "Take what you want! If you want wealth, seize it. If you want a wife, claim her! And if you want neither, kill to your heart’s content!"
"Ooohhh!" The bandits, ecstatic, raised their weapons and charged towards the convoy with fierce, frenzied yells.
As the chaos unfolded, the leader turned back to Huang Bei Shuang, who was watching in despair.
"My name is Ruo Wen. I belong to no tribe. The heavens have no place for me, and the earth holds no ties for me!"
With only minimal resistance, the one hundred or so members of the Ernaqi convoy were brutally slaughtered or captured. Coarse ropes were used to bind their feet together, and they were driven westward, like cattle.
The endless sand dunes and the biting north wind erased their footsteps and the scars on their broken hearts. Heads bowed in exhaustion, none dared to pray to the heavens anymore—there was no mercy to be found. Nor did they offer any prayers to the earth—there was no compassion there either.
At the front of the captive line, Huang Bei Shuang supported Duo Zai as they walked. Ruo Wen led his men forward in grim silence, while some of his subordinates, pleased with their spoils, chattered behind him. Two of them, walking just behind, eagerly discussed their future shares.
"Chief, when we get back, could you give me those two beauties in yellow?" asked a scrawny man with a large scar on his forehead, his eyes gleaming with anticipation as he leered at his prizes.
"Lone Wolf, are you serious? Two at once? Didn’t that girl last year bite your... uh, you know, in half? Can you even still use it?" a bearded brute retorted, clearly unimpressed.
"Shut up, Wild Fox! You always want what I have. Not this time!"
"Ha! Back at the camp, we’ll settle this in the ring, and the winner picks first. These women are all stunning—I can’t wait to fight for them."
"True, true! The ones in yellow and green are real lookers. It’d be a waste to sell them."
"Yeah, who are they supposed to be sent to, needing such a big show?"
"Ah, that old woman said they were headed to Yunpei. Looks like they’re meant for King Zhan."
"Damn, to be a king! The kind of pleasure he must have with women like these... one wouldn’t be enough for me!"
"Hahaha, right? But for now, we’ll just help him out a bit!"
"I heard that King Zhan is an extremely selfish man. No matter the reason, the Ernaqi tribe is done for. Without support from a powerful ruling nation, if disaster strikes, it would be a miracle if fewer than a thousand of them die!"
"Well, that's none of our concern. In this world, whoever suffers misfortune, that's just their fate. Like the chief says, if one lives, another must die—it's the way of things!"
"Exactly!"
Listening to their conversation, Huang Bei Shuang found it laughable. She had known all along that, in the vast sea of people, she was nothing more than a speck of dust. If one lived, another perished—that was fate, a truth even a bandit could understand.
"The best is mine, and you can divide the rest however you like!"
At last, Ruo Wen broke the long silence, speaking in his usual tone. Upon hearing this, Lone Wolf and Wild Fox exchanged glances, their eyes shifting toward Huang Bei Shuang, who was dressed in her red wedding gown.
The best woman, they thought.
There she stood—the most beautiful woman of them all, calm and unshaken, her youth and beauty radiant. She was in front of them, yet she filled them with a sense of dread. While they had pillaged and captured the others, not one of them dared to lay a hand on her. In the end, they only tied her at the front of the captive line, symbolizing their greatest prize. Whoever she was, wherever she came from, no one else had dared point a finger at the chief and question him so boldly, except her.
As Ruo Wen and his men marched farther into the distance with their spoils, none of them noticed the graceful figure standing on the sand dune behind them. Cloaked in black, the figure’s cape fluttered in the wind, making a soft flapping sound.
"Fei Ta, isn’t this quite the coincidence? Isn’t it a bit amusing?"
The voice belonged to Qing Yun. He pulled his cloak halfway over his face to shield himself from the dust and wind, making it hard to see his expression. Only his deep, unreadable eyes remained visible, fixed intently on the retreating bandits.
"Haha!" He let out a low, rumbling laugh before turning and leaping onto his horse. "Let's go! Time to repay her with those ten bags of water!"
Fei Ta reared up, letting out a loud, piercing whinny, its powerful legs kicking into the air before it charged northward at full speed.
Oh, Fei Ta, you, who understand the hearts of men,
Do you know
What you are chasing?
You are chasing a love story for the ages,
You are chasing an ancient vow,
You are chasing a tale of vengeance and passion in a chaotic world!
Heaven knows,
Earth knows,
But you... you do not know...
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