Prologue: The Battle of Faith
Swoosh!
A young perched on a brown horse dashed furiously into the forest. Even in broad daylight, she faced an urgent danger of life and death; organized assassination. A long sharp sword rested on her back, beside a messily bandaged wound. Luckily, it wasn't poisoned. Without any knowledge as to where she was going and if returning home was ever possible, she decided to leave the Zhongyuan. Nowhere near was safe enough for her to settle. Perhaps she ought to travel North, to the mountainous, cold, barren lands across 3 provinces. Or maybe, she could leave the empire altogether! There were many tales of outer kingdoms, thousands of li away, filled with ancient tribes and temperate jungles.
Wherever she decides to settle, Rodanthe would figure it out from there. Currently, she needs to make it out of the forest alive.
The pursuers were not even masked, they seemed to be openly proud and certain that they'll kill off their young and lonesome rival. Frankly, they were correct. Rodanthe could not match up against 3 different opponents on her own. Her only hope was an escape.
"One day, someday, I will return and slay all of you cowardly imbeciles!" She said to herself.
The sound of hooves could be heard from behind, they were sure faster than Rodanthe predicted. She anxiously gripped onto her weapon. Maybe, just maybe, if she lightly lept off of her horse and travel through the forest on foot, she can get away unnoticed.
"Don't bother trying to run, you can't outrun us kid!" The attacker cried.
As the words landed, a grey figure slipped out from behind an old willow tree. In one quick swift, the attacker's horse screeched in pain and fell to the ground; never getting up again. The assailant themself was crushed under the immense weight of their animal. The other attackers tried duelling with the masked figure, but they were all instantly injured and had to retreat.
Meanwhile, Rodanthe Yue did not notice anything at all until she had made it out of the forest. As she realized that the attackers suddenly disappeared, the most reasonable explanation was that their horses must've fainted due to weariness and they had lost her trail.
Rodanthe sighed heavily in peace and rode on into the night, never to be seen again.
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Here are some clarifications:
At the time, food was very expensive. 500 eggs could cost a house. A tael of is almost about an ounce of silver, and sycees could be worth any amount of silver or gold.