Shen Rong, Shen Tang, and the other two women lay against the chests of Shen San, Shen Tang, and the others, sobbing bitterly as though their souls had been torn from their bodies.
They seemed determined to shed a lifetime's worth of tears, and only stopped after a long while.
"Sister, what exactly happened? How did you end up like this?
"And Sima Jian and the others-didn't they say you had all gone to the Yellow Springs?"
Shen San and the others urgently questioned them, their faces full of bewilderment, as though they had fallen into a sea of clouds and mist.
"Brother, Sima Jian and his men are jackals wearing human skins, a pack of vicious wolves with human faces and beastly hearts!
"We lost over a dozen of our clan brothers and sisters in the battle to wipe out the demon race.
"During the pursuit that followed, Sima Jian used splitting up to pursue them as an excuse. He even said they had plenty of men and would send a dozen or so to protect us.
"So we split into two groups to give chase.
"At first, everything went smoothly enough. Who could have known that Sima Jian harbored such sinister intentions? He had laid an ambush along the route we had to take.
"The dozen men with us also struck without warning, attacking us when our guard was down.
"We were already outnumbered, and suffered devastating casualties in an instant.
"The dozen or so clan members who survived were beside themselves with rage and demanded to know why Sima Jian had done this.
"We had always treated him well. Why would he stab us in the back?
"But Sima Jian had long been plotting against us. He thought having to split every opportunity equally with us