Shouted Wen Fengli, having finally found her data in the book.

Meigui ——October 4th, 93——??? unknown——Lan Caolu.

Nevermind the trauma of recalling that embarrassing name she was once given! Her hometown is unknown, and the person who left her there in the first place was the very same man who took her away from there and set her up on this journey.

But how could this be? Why didn’t he tell her? Was his mind already so declined that he forgot, or did he withhold that information from her on purpose? If only he told her, she wouldn’t even go to that orphanage in the first place, and Annu wouldn’t be…

…wounded, but apparently, he was going to be fine…eventually. The camp medic, bribed by no meager sum of money, agreed to treat him ahead of the queue. After receiving acupuncture treatment and with the help of some suspicious herbs, the sheepboy regained consciousness a while ago, and they had a little chat about whatever transpired in the orphanage.

Fengli scolded him for getting involved, which almost got both of them killed. Why didn’t he leave when she told him to !?

He, on the other hand, pointed out how reckless her decision to explore such a place without the help of a cultivator was in the first place. Not at all pensive about anything, and taking quite an uncharacteristically militant approach, he ranted about every little reckless thing she did so far with an unseen level of ferocity that left the wolfgirl speechless; for now, she decided to leave him be.

Fengli knew that between the two of them, Annu was the one who got hurt much worse. Yet still…there was no doubt in her mind that her decisions were correct, and she was not going to turn back on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity fate presented her. Unlike humans, the qi of yaren scattered after death- they did not form a soul, nor was there any second life or afterlife awaiting them.

Thus, they only have one shot at fulfilling their dreams and ambitions, and her goal was power itself.

She rolled back the baggy sleeve of her robe and looked at the scar adorning her forearm. The mark of Kiyi. And yesterday, she was a finger length away from having her face blown off by her own explosion. However, all that were risks she was willing to take in order to fulfill her ambition- to obtain power, and power and then even more power. The fire that was burning within her heart for as long as she remembered was not quenched- on the contrary, unlike back in Chenfei, she now had a certain method of growing stronger, and all she had to do is to march steadily in that direction.

But there was no need for Annu to bear the burden of her ambitions. Unlike Fengli, he was just a fairly average 12-year-old yaren boy. She thought it would be pretty great to travel with a friend, but considering how dangerous the journey got now, this had to stop now. He couldn’t cultivate, he couldn’t fight, objectively speaking, all he was good for was carrying provisions.

As cold as it seemed, she decided to ditch him. That is both for his and her own good. But she didn’t inform him about her intentions just yet, seeing how agitated he was just a moment ago. She decided to wait until his wounds heal some more and his mental state stabilizes enough, then she would send him off back to Chenfei….or wherever else he wanted to go.

That’s right, a caravan! He wanted to be a traveling merchant once, right? Annu wasn’t like 2 years ago now, he grew both in size and experience, and she was sure a passing caravan would love to hire him. And just in case it didn’t, she’d leave all the paper money Lan Caolu left her to him- she didn’t need it if she was going to venture further south.

…She was dead set on keeping the donkey, though.

Having settled the annoying matter of what to do with sheepboy in her mind, and satisfied with the plan she hatched, she pushed the annoying issue aside and turned her thought back to the contents of yearbook.

Given how things are now, she had no choice but to…

1. …either go back to Chenfei and ask the old man himself about the meaning of all this…

2. …or explore the southern bamboo forests…

3. …or start asking around the refugee camp.

The first option was not an option at all, traveling from the northeastern mountains took several months, and by all means, it could take even more time now, considering that winter was approaching…and in the end, there was no guarantee that Lan Caolu actually knew anything more than he told her, and she wasted enough time already!

The second option seemed equally if not more time-consuming. The wildlands beyond the cliffs were endless, and unless she happened to bump into a friendly nomadic yaren tribe who would be so kind to infodump her, it could take years to find anything.

The third approach, conducting an investigation within the refugee camp, was risky…but not without merit. These areas were a warzone 10 years ago, and there are probably many people around who’d know a thing or two about the Wen clan. All she had to do is to appear inconspicuous, and not reveal her connection to the infamous family, and she could possibly learn a lot!

With this newfound resolution, she stood up…then the world started spinning around, and she almost fell face down to the ground.

Yaren were durable and could endure a lot more than humans…but even they had their limits. And having overexerted herself over and over again already, Wen Fengli was most certainly way past these limits now.

As frustrating as it was, she decided to nap for a while…and then maybe find something to eat…

Curling under a blanket on a lone patch of grass, shaded by one of the larger tents set up inside the encampment, she fell asleep quickly. Among countless tired, hungry, and hopeless refugees, she was no outlier, and considering a rather worn-out state of her clothing, drew no attention whatsoever.

…….

The outpost was made to house several hundred guardsmen at most, with 100 being its active crew most of the time. It was most certainly not made to house over two thousand refugees, whose numbers were steadily growing every day.

The intensifying yaren raids put the entire border at an edge. The other outposts were in no better shape, so the commanding officer of this fort, Captain Teng, send a messenger with an urgent request for reinforcement further inland. He needed not only soldiers, but also medics, supplies, and provisions; else this entire place would fall apart, not to the enemy attack, but from the inside.

And what arrived instead…were just two dozens black-clad soldiers calling themselves Heiyiwei, and not a single cultivator in sight!

“Commander…” started a white-haired woman who seemed to be the leader of these ‘reinforcements’. Of course, this hair color wasn’t natural- as indicated by the dark shade near her scalp, she was dying them- and judging by the flawless way the dye was applied, she was rather proficient at it. “We don’t have any reinforcement to spare for you. This is classified information, but all the cultivators capable of combat are sent northwards…”

A loud, dull noise echoed through the room as his fist hit the table. In contrast to the smug woman sitting in front of him, he was bald, mildly overweight, middle-aged, and in no mood to humor these excuses.

“For heaven’s sake, woman! We have a major crisis here!”

The heavens didn’t answer, so he continued, undisturbed.

“Putting aside our situation here, there is quite possibly an army of yaren savages at our doorsteps. They are organized, and numerous, and we should expect them to move out against us at any moment now! I’ve never seen anything like it since 10 years ago…what’s worse, they are using the accursed incendiary arrows and flaming lances, the stuff of legends if you ask me, but it has a devastating effect on morale…we already reinforced the wooden walls with wool and bricks, but if these arrows fly over and hit any of the tents, considering the current population congestion…”

His face got red, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Captain Teng was way past his prime and he was painfully aware of it. He stopped his rant, breathing heavily, and seriously panicked over the possibility of getting a heart attack.

This moment of weakness was mercilessly exploited by the other side.

“Captain, your arrogance will be your downfall. I’d like to inform you that Heiyiwei has authority to strip you of your rank, and even arrest you on the spot if we decide your actions are traitorous to the sect…”

Hearing that, the man got even more agitated.

“DID YOU EVEN LISTEN TO ME” his eyes wide shot, he finally lost his calm and was shouting with all his might. Although this conversation was supposed to be classified, all the guards stationed outside probably heard its contents now.

And every single one of them agreed with him, of that he was sure. To begin with, these lands weren’t under Wuyun control until fairly recently, and the locals had no loyalty to the sect- especially considering their utter disregard and abandonment of the border in recent years. Several villages that were attacked by yaren stood abandoned and soaked with resentful energy- their people denied proper burial, were now roaming the land as the dreaded undead and threatening the neighboring settlements.

Yet Wuyun was more concerned with levying more taxes than the well-being of the local civilians. And now the black clouds seemingly usurped all power within the central lands, which only spelled further taxes and restrictions.

In other words, if these new black-clad guards tried to arrest him, they’d find themselves besieged by over 100 soldiers garrisoned here now.

The white-haired woman knew that, so she just patiently endured the old man’s rants, playing the long game, and preparing a lengthy report that she was certain would see him court-martialed at some point in the future. Of that, she would make sure.

“I understand, Captain. Your lack of cooperation will be reported and properly dealt with.” She stood up and turned to leave, before throwing one last remark “My troops will stay here for a couple more days, taking note of anything else that is…unusual…and report that as well. You better hope we won’t find anything suspicious over the course of our investigation.”

“GET OUT GET OUT GE—-”

And so she got out, unceremoniously closing the door of the fort HQ behind her, and seemingly unfazed by his endless shouting.

There was one Heiyiwei guard stationed outside. He was a young man, dispatched as an additional attachment from The City of Stone, where Supreme Leader Bai Zihan was said to currently reside. She made him her escort- not because she needed one, but because she thought his sudden transfer to her unit was suspicious. And thus, she decided to keep an eye on him…just as he was, undoubtedly, keeping an eye on her.

………

Little did the woman know that her suspicions are utterly baseless. The young guardsman was indeed a very unique individual…one might even say that he was special, though it shall be left to readers discretion whether to interpret it as a compliment or an insult~

Yes, that’s right. It’s the nameless guard from Kiyi!

After Mei Rulan left somewhere, he gladly traded his high position in the city for a post somewhere far away. In fact, as far as possible. You see, even though he was stupid, he wasn’t a fool, and he realized that something amiss is brewing in the north.

Now stationed along with captain Xiang Shali’s tent, as the white-haired woman’s full name went, he was cursing his lack of luck over and over again. For who would have thought that his faraway station was the middle of a literal warzone? At least in Kiyi he’d enjoy the pleasures of living in a large city….meanwhile here was….

Nothing! Literally nothing! Ah yes, nice view over the cliffs. Nice enough to drop down and die, maybe.

Oh, how much he’d like to be stationed in, for example, Tianze. The capital of pretty much everything, with countless jade beauties, legal gambling halls(very important) and so many people one could feel enjoy the privilege of anonymity whenever one went!

For you see, after the bloody events in the City of Stone, the guardsman gave up on all his old dreams of becoming a martial hero, and, like some old man, he wished for nothing but a bit of peace and quiet.

But the way things were going, he was all too certain he wouldn’t find any of that here any time soon….

He sighed and followed his leader back to the section of the encampment reserved for Heiyiwei. At least the black uniform looked cool….