Chapter 19: The Unspoken Truth

Ning and Xiao Na searched far and wide in the kingdom and into the nearby villages but still they haven't found any trace of Luo Na and her friends.

The last village that they had ravaged was the village of Qi.

Ning held to her pipa while Xiao Na dragged the chieftain of the village by his hair and slammed him on the dirt.

"This one is the most feisty of them all." Xiao Na laughed as he pulled out a small dagger from his waist and tried to slice the chieftain's throat but Ning strummed her pipa and Xiao Na remained stiff, unable to move from his current position.

"Hold on. There's no need for violence here dear... Wu QuanYi, Chieftain of the Qi village, nice to meet you, I am Ning Yuen Feng."

The chieftain's eyes widened as he saw Ning's appearance casted by the beam of the moonlight. Her shadow wasn't in human form but in a wolf's form instead.

"Ning- Yuen Feng.... I..." Wu speak softly gently lifting his head to face Ning.

When their eyes met, Wu saw Ning's eyes brimming with sheer hatred and anger. The longer he stared, the more frightful he gets. He felt his soul almost being sucked up by looking at Ning's ruby red eyes.

"I am sorry Ning! Whatever this village has done you or your family wrong, please take it out on me! Leave the village and my family alone...." The chieftain begged with shaking knees and arms while kneeling on the ground.

Xiao Na gets irritated when seeing begging people so he kicked the chieftain with his feet causing him to fall flat on the ground.

"Shut up!" He said squeezing his feet above the chieftain's head.

"I want him to talk dear, please don't interfere." Ning gestured against Xiao Na's cruel action and levitated the man on air by the power of her pipa.

"Do you still remember, how my mother and I suffered after being driven away by the likes of you?" Ning strummed one note from her Pipa and a strong wind pummeled on the chieftain's body causing him to spew blood from his mouth.

Unable to move or even lay flat on the ground and beg, the chieftain weakly said to Ning...

"Please Ning. We were wrong, we all thought the disasters and calamities that we experience were done by you and your family, we were blind from the truth... We had thought you had cursed us!"

Ning just scoffed and pointed a finger to the weak chieftain.

"You are all ignorant! If you see things you can't understand, you hate them, if you see people do things you can't understand, you'll hurt them, it is a cruel world after all right? Cruel world ruled by ignorant people like you!" Ning strum 3 consecutive notes on her pipa and 3 blows landed unto the chief.

"Father, father!" A little child shouted and ran upon her dying father.

Ning suddenly let go of her pipa and the chieftain fell into the ground unconscious. The little girl hugged her father and looked at Ning with eyes full of sadness and at the same time, fury.

Yes, she remembered all of it now. Her mother and father lived here in this very village and at that time the Bouxiao Dokou monster has been resting due to the power of Ning's mother. The monster has been kept away for too long but it's hidden minions had already escaped from the cave after Ning's father died. Since then, the village has been ravaged by monsters, families got killed by unknown epidemics, or struck by flood and famine. Because of this, Ning's mother and her had been stoned and then exiled away from the village.

News spread faster than wildfire and no village ever dared accept them or even offer any scrap of food at them. Soon later, Ning's mother died of sickness and malnutrition. But, before Ning's mother ran out of breath, she gave Ning a book where all of the spells that she needs to know are inscripted there.

As an orphan, Ning spent time looking for scrapheaps of food and singing and dancing in front of the crowd to feed her own stomach.

One day, Ning applied for a performer in a nearby entertainment inn and to her surprise, she got accepted.

She lived alone so she built herself a little home just beyond the forest. Even though she had nothing to eat when she was begging for food, she kept her promise not to sell her mother's favorite dress. A blue robe embroidered by butterflies and flowers in silk.

"Mother, I have been accepted as a performer... Please see me dance and sing for you."

When Ning returned to the inn, it was swarming with costumers. Men in military clothes sat at the chairs. Wearing her mother's favorite clothes and carrying her mother's old pipa, she went on stage and started singing, strumming her Pipa in a clear, gentle melodic tune while her body swayed gently into a perfect tempo with her song.

The blue skies up above and the plum blossoms that we love

Are the things that makes us happy

Even if we are very lonely

The blue butterflies and the blue lake

The colors are very alike

Even though you are not here

Still you are always in my heart

Oh crimson sky and crimson moon

Please grant my wish very soon

This scorched heart this heart of mine

Please take away my pain, divine

Bring who I was yesterday

Tomorrow please take thy pain away

Save this scorched heart, of mine.

After she sang the whole song, the crowd was stunned by how beautiful she can sing and dance and after a while, ended up in a loud cheer and applause.

Ning bowed at them and got off the stage happily. Her song wasn't really meant for them, but for her mother.

She then sat at the empty chairs right across the room and counted the tip that the manager of the inn gave her. As she counted the money, an officer, presumably an army from a nearby kingdom sat beside her.

"Are you alone, miss? Are you looking forward to good times?"

The man smells like liquor and is very intoxicated, wobbling recklessly. Afraid, Ning moved a space apart from the drunken military officer but he insisted and grabbed her hand instead.

"Silly girl! I would give you a hundred crowns if you undress in front of me. Why do you resist so eagerly?" The drunken man moved closer, forcing her into a corner of the inn. He ripped the side of her robe, revealing her white and smooth skin.

She saw her life flashing before her eyes. She never knew that people are this cruel and that she instilled pure hatred and rage into her memory. Her soulful eyes lost it's glow as the man continued to rummage her body.

"It's over, I'm done for."

Just as the man was about to undress her wholly, she heard a loud thump and the drunken officer fell down unconscious on the floor. A shadow of a man moved in and tucked her robe back into place.

"Hurry, let's leave before someone sees us." The gentle voice comforted her bringing her eyes into tears. The mysterious veiled man in a hat took her hand and led her outside the inn into the outskirts of the kingdom.

Reaching into the area lit by a torch, the man revealed his face.

"Don't be afraid. I'm King Fu Xiaoxing and I have been secretly observing the behavior of my newly appointed officers, If I hadn't decided for myself, maybe you would've become a minced meat fed to the hunting dogs for tomorrow."

Ning just bowed into the ground without saying a word.

"Thank you for saving my life your highness."

She got her gratitude boiling all over her body however, the rage that she felt continued to gurgle up beyond her wildest imagination.

"I will accept your gratitude, that is... If you'll be willing to become one of my consorts."

The memory flashed back too quickly and by that, Ning stepped forward to the dying chieftain and with her Pipa, she played a tune that healed his wounds.

After she did that, she didn't bother to look back at the chieftain and asked Xiao Na to leave the village. Gathering the minions of shadows that she cast, one of it revealed the path where Luo Na and her friends made their path.

"How clever, they had used the Collector's forest for us not to find them." She chuckled to herself.

"The blood moon will die out soon, let us rest and conserve your powers." Xiao Na said to her.

Ning agreed and both of them disappeared in a dark cloud.