As we head back to our dorm on the mountain, Qiao and Zhiqiang chat animatedly about Lisu. Qiao, who is hard to please and has hated pretty much every girl he’s ever met, gets the happiest expression on his face I’ve ever seen. I don’t say much of anything, because I’m too busy stewing over the fact I’ve somehow landed myself in a plot concerning a Mary Sue. And Lisu’s powers are just so obviously Mary Sue that I wonder, yet again, if I’ve landed into a light novel someone wrote. Everyone adores her for no reason, she can fix everything, and she’s pretty. This can’t possibly happen in the real world, not even a world with fantasy creatures, right? I don’t know if Lisu was always a Mary Sue, as I’d never really talked to her much during the brief time we’d met. But now that she is, I find myself considering running far, far away from here. The entire time we were at Lisu’s house, I was silently gagging. 

“Hu, isn’t Ma Lisu so awesome?” Zhiqiang gushes, interrupting me from my thoughts.

“You know what else is awesome? You not talking about Lisu anymore,” I reply, annoyed. “Seriously, we’ve known her for like what? An hour?”

“You can’t say such mean things about Lisu! She’s so benevolent; remember when she helped her brothers piece the pots back together?” Zhiqiang retorts angrily. It looks like he’s affected by the Mary Sue Syndrome, in which a character will only talk about the Mary Sue even when she’s not in the room. I can only hope this will fade in time.

We reach the dormitory, which is really a small cave with three mattresses spread out on the floor. A small fire pit lies at the side of the room, and a table containing three bowls and cups sits beside it. Each mattress has a small slot in the side of the cave containing our possessions. It’s not the most comfortable, but it’s a small price to pay to be training with one of the most talented cultivators in the Jun Dynasty. 

“How did you meet Lisu?” Zhiqiang asks from behind me. 

“We met on the same day I lost my mother,” I explain. “She was with me when the mercenaries attacked.”

“Speaking of mercenaries, what even happened that day? All I know is you came here to train away from the Emperor’s men in order to avenge your mother,” Zhiqiang asks curiously.

Usually this is a touchy subject for me, but I’d rather talk about that than Lisu.

“Fine, I’ll tell you,” I sigh. “It began when me, Long, and Lisu went out to a garden near the riverbed…”

—--

The mercenaries burst out of nowhere. They were all wearing masks that hid their faces. The masks looked like European opera masks: long, gaudy, colorful feathers sprouting out from a mask embroidered with western-style patterns. The mask only covered half of their face, but their mouths were covered by face masks and their hair was obscured by long dark hoods that looked almost like hoodies. Overall, they looked like a bunch of Halloween party-goers during Covid, which was odd to me as we were in Ancient China. 

“Which one of you is Lin Hu?” one of them growled in stilted Chinese. 

I raised my hand. “That’s me. What do you want?”

“You’re coming with us. Kill the other two,” he barked toward his subordinates.

Lisu and Long started crying as the mercenaries advanced towards them. I put myself in front of them, even though I was starting to have flashbacks from the last time someone with a mask attacked me. Hopefully these people didn’t send me into another alternate dimension. 

“You’ll have to get through me first before you hurt them!” I said courageously, even though my legs were shaking.

“Ha, you think you, a kid, can defeat us? We’re mercenaries that get hired by some of the best gangs in the entire Westlands,” the mercenary said. The Westlands consisted of Anglia and other countries that seemed to be this world’s version of Europe. Which was strange, since we were in the middle of the alternate dimension’s China right now. Why would they come all the way here? But there was no time to ponder that. The mercenaries were closing in. 

“What’s behind you?” I replied. The mercenaries looked behind them, which was enough time for me to grab Lisu and Long, and run. I couldn’t believe that trick actually worked. 

“Chase them!” the mercenaries ran after us. We ran as fast as we could, but they had longer legs and more stamina. They were catching up to us. Suddenly, another figure burst out of the bushes, running towards us. 

“Mother!” Long cried. “Some scary people are chasing us!”

Mother’s face paled as she looked at the mercenaries, seeming to recognize them. “I should have known. We should have never trusted him.”

“Trusted whom?” I asked, but she had already turned to face the mercenaries.

“Hu, take care of Long. Even though you are younger, you are much more mature than him,” she told me, settling into a fighting stance. “Make sure Yan grows up to be a proper young lady, too.”

“What are you saying?” I asked hysterically. “You’ll get out of this alive!”

Mother shook her head. “Take these two and run.”

The mercenaries were upon us now. Mother started fighting them. I’d never seen her use her wugong before; she’d been a cultivator, like Father, before marrying him, but had stopped using it as much afterwards. She was extremely graceful, spinning through the air, dodging the mercenaries’ attacks. Long started running towards her, but I pulled him back and started to run back towards the house. As we ran, I looked behind me and saw that Mother had defeated almost all of the mercenaries. I breathed a sigh of relief, until I saw Mother’s eyes widen. She looked down and saw the tip of a blade protruding from her stomach. 

“Mother!” Long cried, but I held him back. Mother stumbled a bit, looking behind her as if she couldn’t believe what had happened. Why? She mouthed, her face looking betrayed. Then she coughed up a burst of blood and fell down. That was when I saw the person behind her, her murderer. His face was downturned, giving me no clear view of his face, but the color of his robes was unmistakable. It was one of the emperor’s men. His movements were cold, calculating, as he stabbed the knife into her one more time to ensure she was dead. A mercenary walked up to him and clapped him on the back. What did that mean? Was the emperor somehow in kahoots with these people who wanted to kill us? Then the mercenary saw us again, and his eyes narrowed as he began to run after us. 

“Run,” I said, dragging Long and Lisu. Both of them resisted; Lisu was too shocked and Long too angry.

“We have to avenge our mother!” he exclaimed.

“Mother gave up her life for us! We need to go back to the house,” I insisted, pulling him. The mercenary was almost upon us now. Before we could react, he shot a white streak of something at Long. I acted instinctively. Pushing Long aside, I took the bolt myself. It felt like my forehead was burning up. Lisu rushed towards me, when another purple bolt hit her. She fell to the ground, shaking. Long stood there, unsure of what to do. I gritted my teeth and looked up, which sent another explosion of pain through my head. Picking myself off the ground, I saw that the house was about a hundred meters away; close enough for us to make it. Dragging Lisu, who was unconscious, and Long, I ran as fast as I could to the door. Father ran out of the door as he heard us approaching. 

“Hu, why are you bleeding?” he asked, before seeing the mercenary, who had crept up behind Lon. Quickly, Father flung a knife he was carrying in his robes at the mercenary, who collapsed on the ground, dead. 

“What happened? Where’s your mother?” Father asked, walking over to the mercenary. He crouched beside the mercenary, examining him.

Long trembled. “Mother is-she’s-she’s dead.”

“Someone working for the emperor stabbed her,” I said hollowly. 

“Someone working for the emperor?” Father repeated blanky. “Someone stabbed her?”

He fell onto the ground, crying out for his wife. It was the first time in my life that I’d seen Father display such a strong display of emotion. I couldn’t do anything, since I was starting to pass out from whatever magic had hit me. Servants rushed out of the house, along with the Emperor and Lisu’s father.

“Lin Jian! What happened?” the Emperor asked with concern. 

Father looked up angrily. From the mercenary’s pockets, he drew a seal emblazoned with the Emperor’s signature. “Why did you try to kill my wife and my kids?”

The Emperor looked genuinely shocked. “What? Someone must have stolen that.”

“The only one who has this is you and your closest advisors. Someone must have done this. They gave the seal to the mercenaries so they could get through the walls of this city without the guards checking them for weapons.”

“None of my advisors mean any harm to you,” the Emperor said peaceably. “I’m sorry about the loss of your wife, but-”

Father cut him off. “You dare lie about this?”

The Emperor was shocked at Father. “What? How dare you talk back to me?”

Father stood up. “Since you refuse to admit to this, I’m leaving your service. I resign from my position as the Emperor’s Sword.”

“Lin Jian, you can’t just-”

“Yes I can. My wife was killed; either by you or one of your closest advisors. I can’t live in a place like this anymore. Long, Hu, pack your things. We’re leaving this place tomorrow.”

Father turned and walked back into the house, ignoring everyone. Medics swarmed around Lisu and me, bringing us back to the house for treatment. But before I left, I caught a glimpse of the mercenary’s face, which had been unmasked. It wasn’t of someone from the Jun Dynasty. It was Anglian.