With her white undergarments stained red, Linhua slowly swam towards the surface and climbed onto the frozen surface of the lake which was still intact. The pain from the axe blow slowly started to kick in, but she endured it. Her mind barely registered the pain as it was filled with shame and uncertainty. She had boasted to her mother and promised that if she got into the fray she could still come out unscathed. Yet she still fell for the feint and got hurt. Mother will be worried again. It seems like all her skills and rationality fly away whenever mother is spectating her fights.

She looked back towards the water beneath the ice sheets. A reddish hue seems to be spreading slowly in the stagnant, chilly water. The eerie and bloody scene on the surface made her want to puke, but she held it in. She cannot show any more weakness before her mother, otherwise, she will worry again and cough up blood, and will never be at ease. She clenched her teeth as she walked towards Shenhua with uneasy steps. Shenhua didn’t move from the spot, but smiled gently and said, “You did pretty well!”. Linhua said meekly, "I- ... still got struck, b- ... but don’t worry it doesn’t hurt much." ‘A strike from a Great General, although he injured, how can it not hurt? Don't think much about it, your opponent was a battle-hardened man who used his killing intent to hoodwink your perception. After all, you have only trained in perception and instinct-based brawling. Once you start training in martial arts properly, you will be able to avert this better. ’ Shenhua said, ‘But I wasn’t worried much, to be honest, after all, I am the one who hurt them, those men could barely exert 10% of their strength against you in their condition. Tho I must say, taking the fight underwater was a pretty good decision. What made you opt that route?’ Linhua grinned and said, ‘Those three men had the burly physique and use direct and powerful strikes to attack. Their moves aren’t very flexible, so I had a hunch that if they lose their footing, they might be at a disadvantage, so I took them underwater with me.’ Shenhua smiled with acknowledgment, her daughter is getting better at analyzing martial artists. When Linhua was 7, she saw her killing Yu spies for the first and was too scared to speak to her for a week. Shenhua felt very helpless at that time, if she wasn’t on the run, if she wasn’t injured by Venom Monarch, her daughter would not have to see such cruelty at her tender age. But was ball has already been set rolling, so delving in past will only bring early death. So Shenhua took great care to explain to Linhua why she chooses to kill. Shenhua believed that there is no inherent good or bad people, only the actions they take and the actions which affect others, sets a label of being good or villainous on people. The Great Yu spies were capable people, but they were here to collect information and if possible to kill Shenhua. If they left with information, they would bring stronger people to deal with Shenhua soon. Shenhua wanted to protect Linhua, so she had to kill those spies and cut off any trail. If those men were crippled and taken with Shenhua, locals might feel something is amiss and might spread the word by rumors. Shenhua had obscured her circumstances from Linhua till she was 7, but after the killing, she explained Linhua about everything and had finally asked her, if those spies come to kill Linhua, what would she do? The little girl of 7 had surprised Shenhua as she declared solemnly that she would kill anyone who tried to kill the people she loved and wanted to protect. It was a kinda comical scene with a cute little girl pursing her lips as she talked about killing, but Shenhua could feel the determination nonetheless. To survive the lawless life on the run, one must fight, and if necessary, one must kill. When Linhua turned 8, she was once invited to go to a Seasonal Merchant Fair with her friends from the local nomad tribes. While returning home, they were ambushed by two bandits. One of Linhua’s friends was injured while trying to escape them. To protect her friends, Linhua had engaged them in combat. But one of the bandit’s stomach was impaled with just one hard strike from Linhua. The other bandit got scared and ran away. The gory scene of blood and intestines flowing out of the dying man’s abdomen had left Linhua unconscious. Linhua had killed snow wolves before but killing a person who could talk and speak like her was unnerving. Later when she got back home, she had vomited 7 times and couldn’t sleep. But Shenhua was fortunately present, and she did her best to ease the discomfort of the girl. Linhua had regained her composure after 2 days and when asked about her decision to kill back then, she had replied that she would at least hurt that person and if circumstances forced her, she would still kill. Tho she weirdly added that she would make the wounds as clean as possible for some reason, Shenhua was kind of relieved that her daughter had got over the trauma of getting blood on her hands. Linhua was a very adaptive child, in face of difficulties she would face a hard time like others, but she would still keep a rational mind and try to adapt herself to face the hurdles head-on. After solving the hurdle she would always grow and etch the experience in herself. Shenhua understood her daughter’s ability to adapt and accept, so she worked hard towards imparting knowledge of life to her daughter and observed her closely so that she doesn’t develop a diabolic nature and starts slaughtering people on a whim. Matters of killing and taking life should also follow some principles, otherwise, the primal bloodlust will dominate the mind and lead people astray. One must kill and attack if absolutely necessary, but one should always respect human life and avoid taking lives if choices allow it. It is the very principles of values that will shape one’s character. 'Well thought my dear LinLin, now quickly circulate some Qi to ease your wound. We have a lot to do.'