Her face distorted as she gazed around the surrounding to find all of the guard's bodies lying lifeless. She turned back to Shi Cou and she was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a sharp grip on her neck was felt and when she tried to see who the figure was, a dagger was laid transversally across her neck.
"If you move, you make things easy for me." She whispered, tightening the dagger across her skin and in the process some blood dropped from Rou's neck.
"You must be crazy to think you can kill me. " Rou smirked, grabbing onto Shi Cou's robe swiftly tossing the dagger from her fingers and throwing a kick to her stomach. Shi Cou clutched painfully, falling to the ground weakly. "Who did you think you are? A common maiden I couldn't overpower?"
She launched straight to Shi Cou's level, gripping her hair and then shoved for the dagger on the ground, picked it up and stabbed it right into her chest---precisely her heart.
Shi Cou coughed out dark syrup, heaving heavily with each breath she took. "Yan Rou is stronger than I expected." With a last glance, she disappeared into thin air, her clothing and undergarment left where she was.
Yan Rou shifted from the ground, dusting herself up and watching coldly at the trail of dark thick liquid and her clothing." "That wasn't Shi Cou. Something is wrong."
Her eyes squinted, her head pounding a bit. She clenched sharply, tugging to it. "Did she have me under her spell?"
********
"Have you taken everything you need? The sky doesn't look so good. It's darkening which means the day is ending soon. We have to get Yan Rou." Lady Shu said, wearing her sache and hoping onto her horse. "Chu Main, can I trust you to stay and keep the palace under surveillance until I'm back. The kids, the uninfected, they deserve protection."
"My lady, you think so high of a maiden. I'm nothing but of low birth, what will make them obey me?" Chu Mian lowered her head weakly. It was painful to realize how limited she was to helping Yan Rou.
"Here, have this!" Lu Mo yelled from the other side of the courtyard riding his horse gallantly to he arrived next to Lady Shu. "It is a stone from my lineage. You can use it to make them listen to you. Keep Yaoyao safe. The Yan empire needs a lineage to continue."
Chu Mian caught the stone with both her hands, wiping off her tears. Fear gripped her heart---- never would she have thought that one day she would be asked to lead.
She didn't even know how to lead.
"Look at me, Chu Mian! It is a command! It is something you have to do to repay Yan Rou!" Chu Mian looked up, startled by the sharpness in Lady Shu's tone. Her lips trembled, but the fire in Lady Shu's eyes anchored her.
"You don't need a name of high birth," Lady Shu continued, reins tight in her hands. "You need a spine. And I've seen yours grow over the years."
Chu Mian swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, holding the stone as though it weighed more than gold.
Lu Mo gave a tight nod, then turned his horse. "We ride west. If we delay any longer, we might lose the trail. The winds are shifting."
Lady Shu gave Chu Mian a final glance. "Keep the palace breathing, Chu Mian. When I return, I want to find it whole."
And with that, she tugged her sash tighter, kicked her heels into her steed, and galloped after Lu Mo.
********
"I have seen this sort of dark magic before. When did Shi Cou learn how to do dark magic? Does this means she has possessed mother all these years without my knowledge?" Yan Rou muttered under her breath, pushing through the thick underbrush until she reached an open, barren stretch of land. Her boots sank slightly into the soft soil as she halted, breathing heavily.
The sun had nearly vanished, bleeding out the last of its light into the darkening sky. Her leg throbbed faintly, but her grip on the dagger tightened—she wasn't about to show weakness. Not now.
It was too late to return to the Yan Empire and even if she did, whoever lured her out there would have an easy walkthrough to the empire endangering lives and properties.
Yan Rou exhaled loudly, the approaching footsteps echoing louder. She spun toward the sound. "You shouldn't be messing with me anymore, whoever you are. If you like playing games, I don't. I have the love of my life to save and I don't care if I shed a person or a ghost's blood today."
The figure finally emerged—branches parting to reveal Hao, brushing leaves off his robe and scanning the clearing with alert eyes.
"Madam Yan—what happened here?"
She didn't wait for him to approach fully. In a blink, she was in front of him, yanking him by the collar and twisting his arm behind his back, the blade of her dagger pressed tightly against his neck.
"You have two minutes to explain to me what is going on," she hissed. "Did you bring me out here to keep me going in circles? If I find out you did, I'll feed your tongue to the crows."
Hao blinked, utterly unbothered. Then—he chuckled.
"An incapable person like me wouldn't dare waste Madam Yan's time."
"You're still joking?" Yan Rou scoffed, pressing the dagger harder. A line of red welled at his skin.
"Or haven't Ji Weilan told you already?" Her voice dropped into a growl. "I slit throats better than I slice vegetables."
Hao didn't bother speaking and surrended his arms in the air. Yan Rou squinted at him, scrutinizing him of any weapon left and found none. She let go off his throat and sniffed in.
"Madam Yan, why do you suspect me? I should be the least person you'd suspect. I was the only guard who stayed thick and turns with your husband while he fought battles. Is this how you play?"
"I play by surviving. I don't care, and I don't trust anyone. Tell me why you took me out here."
"It might not sound simple as I will say but it's obvious. With you out of the way and then Shao Shu and Physician Lu searching for you, I can have access to the remaining people in the empire including Yao and your parents. "
"So you lured me out..." Yan Rou picked up the blade pointing it at Hao in anger. "Don't blame me for being ruthless." She surged forward with the blade coursing through Hao's chest. Rather than it hitting him, it passed through him like he was transparent.
The blade fell through and Hao chuckled, picking it up like it was nothing. "Play again, I promise you would win."
"Shi Cou and you are..."
"Don't think too far. You already guessed it. We are not humans, we are just shadows of the already dead people."
His revelation didn't make any sense to Yan Rou. Did it mean that Hao Gon was dead? If he was dead, who was protecting her husband? Her face paled and she faced Hao with another anger.
"You have me trapped here, you should at least let me know what I'm up for."
"Nothing much. Just watching you take your last breath." With that, a heavy blow fell on Yan Rou's back, and she slammed to the ground, her breath knocked clean out of her lungs.
Dust clouded around her as she groaned, trying to push herself up, but a firm foot pressed down on her spine, holding her in place.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Hao's voice was no longer amused—it was guttural, hollow, almost echoing from a different realm.
Yan Rou spat blood to the side, her jaw clenched. "I've fought monsters before. You'll be just another corpse."
"But I'm not a corpse," Hao whispered, leaning down so close she could feel the coldness of his breath on her ear. "I'm the shadow that feasts on the living. The more you struggle, the stronger I become."
She screamed and rolled, using all her strength to twist out from under him. Her fingers found the hilt of her dagger—still warm from the recent kill—and she flung it upward, slicing through Hao's leg.
Or what should have been his leg.
The blade passed through like mist, and Hao let out a cackling laugh. "Still trying to stab a shadow, Madam Yan?"
Yan Rou scrambled to her feet, breathing hard, blood dripping from the cut on her neck, her energy faltering. "If you're just a shadow… then who sent you?"
"Does the name Li Zhenyu sound familiar to you?"
Yan Rou didn't catch up so fast as she struggled intensely to get away from him clutches. She exhaled weakly, kicking profusely at him but didn't go. "What do you want?"
"I want everything you want. Your life, your family---- everything. And I will start by taking Ji Weilan along." Hao whispered into her ears, dragging Rou up from the ground like a lightweight doll. He let go off her and her body came crushing to the ground.
"Bring out Ji Weilan. He's been dying to see his love for days. What a disgusting fool."
From the shadows behind him, two figures emerged—hooded, cloaked in the same dark mist that clung to Hao like a second skin. Between them, they dragged a limp body bound in thick, dark ethereal ropes that shimmered unnaturally under the dying sky.
Ji Weilan.
His head lolled to the side, blood streaming from a deep gash on the left of his temple. His clothes were torn, soaked in sweat and blood, and his once-sharp eyes were glazed with pain.
Hao stepped aside theatrically. "As promised, here's your beloved. Though I must say, he looks… less charming than usual."
The ropes vanished with a flick of Hao's wrist, and Ji Weilan collapsed to the earth with a harsh thud.
"Ji Weilan!" Yan Rou shrieked, scrambling across the dust-blown ground, her knees scraping painfully. She gathered him into her arms, cradling his battered form against her. "Wake up… it's me. It's Rou. I'm here now… please, just open your eyes."
His body was cold. Too cold.
"He is dead Yan Rou, don't waste your time!"