A Letter Written in Blood

Morning always came early to Bluestone Village. Before the sky had fully brightened, A Heng was already up, lighting the fire, heating water, and cooking porridge. Then she poured the medicinal decoction into a coarse porcelain bowl and carefully carried it to her grandfather's bedside.

"Grandpa, it's time for your medicine."

The old man sat up in bed and took the bowl. He looked at the black decoction, then at his granddaughter's little face, red from the cold, and could not help sighing. "Child, this medicine is precious. Grandpa's leg has been like this for decades. It makes no difference whether I drink it or not. Don't waste those drops of spiritual liquid."

"No!" A Heng put on a stern face. "The doctor in the city said you have to take this medicine for a whole month before your leg will get better! The spiritual liquid Brother Xiao gave us is meant for this!"

After returning from the city that day, A Heng had taken the ten drops of spiritual liquid Xiao Yan had given her and brought her grandfather into the city. She found the best doctor in the southern part of the city and had him examine the old leg ailment that had tormented her grandfather for decades. The doctor prescribed a month's worth of medicine, which used up two drops of spiritual liquid. A Heng wrapped the remaining eight drops in layer after layer of clean cloth and hid them in a small earthenware jar under the bed, telling no one. She thought that when Brother Xiao came back to teach her cultivation, she would surely have use for them.

But after that boy in fine clothes carried Brother Xiao away on his back, he never came back. It had been five whole days now. Someone in the village said he was probably dead in the city. When A Heng heard it, she was so angry she refused to speak to that person for the rest of the day. Every day since, she had stood at the village entrance and gazed toward Luo Shen City for a while.

"Brother Xiao was hurt so badly. I wonder if he's gotten better..." she murmured as she cleared away the bowls and chopsticks.

Over the past few days, she had secretly sat on her bed every night, following the few words Xiao Yan had casually said on the mountain road that day. She practiced closing her eyes and trying to "sense" the things around her body. At first she could sense nothing but pitch-black darkness. But on the fourth night, she suddenly felt as though the pile of dried herbs in the corner was giving off a little warm light. It was not the kind of light she could see with her eyes, but a feeling she could not quite describe, as if the herbs were greeting her.

Startled, she opened her eyes. The herbs were still just a pile of herbs, with no light at all. But when she closed her eyes again, the warmth returned. A Heng did not know what it was. She only had a faint feeling that when Brother Xiao said she had talent, perhaps... he had not just been trying to make her happy. When he came back, she would tell him first thing.

Just then, a flurry of chaotic footsteps suddenly sounded in the courtyard outside.

A Heng paused for a moment. The footsteps were heavy, unlike those of the villagers, and there was more than one person. She put down the bowl, walked to the doorway, and lifted the worn curtain to look outside. In an instant, her little face turned deathly pale.

Five people in dark red robes stood in the courtyard. Their leader was tall, with a sinister face and a pair of strangely dark red eyes. He was looking at her with a smile that was not quite a smile. Behind them, the courtyard fence had been kicked down. The few chickens A Heng raised lay in pools of blood, flapping their wings and giving weak, plaintive cries.

"Little girl." Blood Butcher grinned, baring a mouthful of ghastly white teeth. "That fellow called Xiao Yan lives here, doesn't he?"

A Heng trembled all over, her legs so weak she could barely stand. Her fingernails dug deep into her palms, but she still instinctively spread her arms across the doorway, shielding her grandfather inside. She bit her lip, her voice trembling but firm. "He... he isn't here."

"I know he isn't." Blood Butcher walked over at an unhurried pace. "He's hiding in the Luo Shen Residence. With that old bastard Luo Tianshen protecting him, I can't get in."

He stopped in front of A Heng and looked down at the slight girl, his dark red eyes full of mockery. "But it doesn't matter. Now that he's gone in, he'll have to come out eventually. I heard you and your grandfather were the ones who rescued him? I also heard that on the day he came back from the city, he gave you a bottle of spiritual liquid?"

Blood Butcher reached out and lightly patted A Heng's face. His palm was cold and rough, and it carried a strong stench of blood. "Then he must care about you two a great deal, wouldn't he?"

A Heng's eyes reddened at once, but she bit her lip hard, holding back her tears. Nor did she move aside.

"Child!" The old man's frightened shout came from inside, followed by a series of stumbling footsteps. Leaning on his cane, he staggered out and pulled A Heng behind him. His hunched back straightened as he faced Blood Butcher and said in a trembling voice, "You... what are you going to do? She's still a child!"

Blood Butcher glanced at the old man as though looking at an ant. There was not the slightest ripple in his dark red eyes, as if the white-haired old man before him was not worth another word. Then he casually waved a hand.

Bang!

A gust of dark red force struck the old man's frail body, sending him flying. He slammed hard into the stone mill in front of the house and spat out a mouthful of blood. His cane also broke in two.

"Grandpa!!"

A Heng screamed and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him as her tears finally burst through the dam. Blood Butcher watched, the smile on his face growing ever wider. He turned to the people behind him. "Take this old man and the girl away. Bring them to the mountain god temple on Sunset Glow Slope."

"Yes!"

Sunset Glow Slope lay thirty li west of Luo Shen City. At its summit stood a long-abandoned mountain god temple. Half the temple gate had collapsed, and no one knew who had chopped off the head of the god's statue. Only a bare clay figure remained, sitting alone on the offering platform. A Heng's hands and feet were bound with rough hemp rope, and she had been thrown down at the statue's feet. Her grandfather lay beside her, the front of his clothes soaked with blood. His breathing was alternately fast and slow, and his face was a frightening ashen gray.

"Grandpa... Grandpa..." A Heng struggled over to him and pressed her forehead against his shoulder, tears falling one by one.

The old man forced his eyes open and looked at her. His lips trembled as he squeezed out a few words. "Child... don't be afraid..."

At the temple entrance, two members of the Blood God Clan leaned against the doorframe, gnawing on dry rations and chatting idly. Now and then, they glanced inside as though looking at two animals waiting to be slaughtered. A Heng huddled at the statue's feet, gazing at the murky gray sky outside the temple and listening to her grandfather's intermittent gasps, her thoughts in turmoil. She knew whom these people were waiting for. She both hoped Brother Xiao would come and feared he would. Brother Xiao had been so badly hurt that he was out of breath after walking just a few steps. That red-eyed man was so vicious, sending Grandpa flying with a single wave of his hand... If Brother Xiao came, would he, would he also...

"Brother Xiao... don't come..." She buried her face in her knees and wept softly. "Whatever you do, don't come..."

Luo Shen City, the Luo Shen Residence.

At noon, a member of the Luo Shen Guard hurried through the residence gates, carrying a piece of cloth covered in bloodstains. Several crooked lines had been written on it in dark red blood.

"...It was picked up at the inner city gate this morning. They said it was addressed by name to that Mr. Xiao..."

The Luo Shen Guard had jogged all the way, his forehead covered in sweat. He handed the cloth to Elder Luo Cheng, who was keeping watch outside the courtyard. Elder Luo Cheng took one look, and his face darkened sharply. There were only a few short lines on the cloth:

"Bluestone Village, A Heng and her grandfather, are in my hands."

"Within three days, come alone to the mountain god temple on Sunset Glow Slope outside the city."

"If you don't come, or if you bring anyone from the Luo God Clan, you can collect their corpses."

"-Blood Butcher"

Elder Luo Cheng held the cloth, his brow tightly furrowed. He paced back and forth outside the courtyard gate, then finally gritted his teeth and decided not to take it inside. The clan leader had ordered that the young man was in seclusion and was not to be disturbed. Besides, they were only two villagers from the mountains. To disturb someone the clan leader valued and disrupt his seclusion over such a matter would be a colossal problem.

He folded the cloth and tucked it into his sleeve, then turned and quietly instructed the Luo Shen Guard to bury the matter in his gut and never mention it to anyone again. The guard glanced at the tightly closed door of the side room in the courtyard, as if he wanted to speak, but in the end he lowered his head, gave a word of assent, and turned to leave.

Elder Luo Cheng stood outside the courtyard gate, gazing at the pale, sickly sunlight on the horizon as he silently calculated. If the two villagers died after three days, the young man would naturally hate the Blood God Clan once he emerged from seclusion. For the Luo God Clan, that might not be a bad thing. If the young man learned that he had suppressed the news... no, he would never know.

But what he did not know was that the moment he took the cloth, Luo Lan, sitting on the steps just inside the courtyard gate, had already seen those glaring words on it. The boy's face turned pale, inch by inch.

He recognized those two names. That day, unable to put his mind at ease, he had secretly followed Xiao Yan to the city gate and watched from a distance. When Xiao Yan walked over, the slight girl had rushed up to greet him, overjoyed. Xiao Yan had given her a bottle of something, and she had held it as though it were some priceless treasure, her eyes turning red. Later, when he carried Xiao Yan toward the city, the girl had chased after them, crying as she ran and shouting, "Brother Xiao, don't die!" Only when she could run no farther did she collapse onto the mountain road.

He remembered that slight figure at the city gate that day, an empty bamboo basket on her back as she stood on tiptoe and anxiously peered into the city. He also remembered the rare gentleness in Xiao Yan's voice when he spoke to her.

Luo Lan sprang to his feet and rushed into the courtyard. He shoved open the door of the side room, the one he had guarded for five days and nights without ever daring to touch it.

"Xiao Yan!"

Inside the room, the young man sitting cross-legged on the bed slowly opened his eyes.