Her legs moved back at forth at a quick pace. Sweat trickled down her face. Her feet and arms were bleeding from the cuts of the twigs all around her but she didn’t stop. Her dirty white locks flew in the wind. She saw a huge tree and ran behind it. She slid down the tree, the sharp bark cutting through her robes right into the back of her skin. Her chest heaved up and down. Her murky blood eyes stared to the side waiting.

“Don’t come… don’t come… I beg of you, please don’t come!” she pleaded. Her whole body trembled. Just as she said that, her body went flying from the impact of something heavy hitting the tree. “Ack!” blood spewed out from her mouth as she landed on the ground. She grimaced as she felt a piece of wood pierce into into her skin. Remembering the situation, she turned around to feel a cold hard blade prick at her neck. Her eyes traveled up the iron sword, up an arm with armor, up a broad shoulder, up a neck, and they landed on the man’s deep blue eyes. Salty droplets began to form a river down her face as she stared at his face.

“You… you are dirty. You should die, because you are one of them!” the man raised his arm up and swung the sword down. Instinctively she moved back, avoiding the sharp blade. She wasn’t fast enough as she felt a sharp pain on her leg. She let out a yelp before pushing herself off the ground. She tried to move as fast as she could but the limp in her leg prevented her from doing what she wanted. She felt the collar of her robe get pulled as she was thrown backwards. Her back slammed into a tree and hot red liquid spewed out her mouth. She grabbed at her heart, feeling it being torn apart that very second.

Crunch! Crunch! She could hear his every footstep as he made his way to her. She was heavily breathing, breathing for life. Every inch of her muscle ached. She felt the cold blade of the sword on her chin. She looked up, right into his eyes again. The hollowness inside of her grew larger.

“Tell me you dirty beast. Tell me, where is Lang Hei Kong?” the man hissed. Her chin trembled. She didn’t know what to say. She had missed him so much, and yet there he was standing in front of her with a blade to her throat.

“Qi… Long…it’s me.” she breathed out, desperate for him to understand. The man slashed the blade across her face. She didn’t even make a sound as she felt the hot drip down her face.

“Tell me!” the man yelled. She wept harder. She didn’t know what to do.

“It’s me! I’m Li Hu Die! I’m your wife!” she cried out like a lost child. The man’s fury only grew as he kicked the side of her head. She hit the ground, another trail of liquid running down her forehead.

“Stop speaking nonsense and tell me!” he roared. She laid there frozen, tired from everything. She wanted everything to end. She couldn’t handle the pain anymore. ‘Where… where did it all go wrong?’ she thought to herself. ‘When… when did it become like this?’

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4 Months Ago

The sun was high in the air enjoying a refreshing new day. It lit upon the world and smiled, but suddenly flinched when it saw two fast shadows leaping throughout the mountains. The shadows would tap the world just a bit before flying through the air and reaching another part of the world. One of them would leave half a footprint, while the other left none at all.

In a siheyuan located in a small village, there was a wife and a husband strolling through their small garden. The wife giggled as the husband suddenly wrapped his arms around her body. She tried to fight him off but he just held on tighter. He turned his head to the side and put his fingertips on her chin. He turned her head to the side. He looked into her eyes, and the smile disappeared from her face. She closed her eyes and the man inched closer to her lips. Just as their lips were about to touch, they suddenly heard a victorious yell from behind them.

“Woohoo!” a girl’s voice cried out. The couple turned around, taken by surprised. There, standing in the middle of the garden was a white haired, dark skinned teenage looking girl. “I won! Hong Hu, you owe me a favor!” she laughed. Just as she said that, an old man leapt into the garden next to her.

“You are lucky I am old, if I was only twenty years younger I would have got here in half the time it took you to get here.” the old man let out a sigh. The girl only let out another hearty laugh.

“Well whatever the problem is, you made a deal, so you have to fulfill it.” she said. The old man only let out a sigh.

“Yea, yea. I know.” he cupped his forehead with his hand. The wife’s face brightened up as she saw who the two was and she ran out of her husband’s arms.

“Father-in-law! Yu Lin!” she called out with a wide smile on her face. The girl turned around and smiled as she saw the wife running towards her.

“Aunt Ju Hua!” she waved towards her. Within seconds Ju Hua wrapped her arms around Yu Lin’s body.

“You are so big now!” Ju Hua said as she squeezed Yu Lin tightly. Yu Lin let out a small yelp before giggling.

“Of course, I’ve grown.” Yu Lin patted Ju Hua’s back. Ju Hua pulled herself back and observed the young girl before her. The young girl had already started to grow curves, and her body was already slowly forming into that of a young lady’s. When she left she was at least three heads shorter than Ju Hua, but now she was only one head shorter.

“I knew that dark elves and trolls grew faster than humans, but I didn’t know they grew this fast! You are only seven but you already look like you are already 13!” Ju Hua exclaimed. Yu Lin only let out a small laugh.

“Welcome back father,” the husband said as he bowed, “we didn’t expect you guys would return so soon and could not prepare anything to welcome you two.”

“That’s alright Sen Feng. To be honest, I didn’t expect to come back within three years either.” Chief Chu said back. Sen Feng nodded his head as he stood up. He then turned to look at Yu Lin with a glare in his eyes. He walked up to her and punch her on top of her head.

“Sen Feng!” both Chief Chu and Ju Hua said at the same time.

“Ah!” Yu Lin let out yelp before glaring at him. “What’s your problem idiot? I just got here and the first thing you do is hit me?!”

“Hoho, that’s what a rude kid like you deserve! How dare you call an elder by their first name?!” Sen Feng yelled. Yu Lin looked around before clearing her throat.

“What are you talking about? I said master, right master?” she quickly glanced at Chief Chu. Chief Chu quickly nodded his head in agreement.

“Of course, don’t go hitting people just because you misheard Sen Feng.” Chief Chu said.

“What?! She clearl-”

“Sen Feng, are you telling me that just because I’m old I have bad hearing?” Chief Chu glared at him. Sen Feng back away and put on a hesitant.

“No. My father is still healthy. If you heard her say master, then she must’ve said master.” Sen Feng let out a nervous laugh. ‘Serves you right.’ Yu Lin thought as she made a face at him.

“Oh, that’s right,” she turned her attention back to Ju Hua, “where are my parents?” she asked. Ju Hua froze for a second before smiling.

“After you left with father-in-law, they returned to their old home. I think they may be home right now if you want to go see them.”

“Alright, well then I’m going to leave first. See you guys later!” Yu Lin cheerfully said before leaping away.

“Come back with your parents to join us for dinner!” Chief Chu yelled to her. She looked back and nodded in response. As the three of them got smaller, she could see Sen Feng whisper something into Chief Chu’s ear. She didn’t pay much attention as she was too excited to see her parents.

In the courtyard of that siheyuan was three children. Two of them, a boy and a girl, were sitting down watching one of them train. The one training had his eyes closed as they were practicing sword formations in the courtyard. The blue silky headband he wore seemed to shine underneath the sunlight. Just then he felt a pressure onto the courtyard and opened his eyes, irritated.

“What did I say about disturbing me while I tra…” his voice faded as he saw the white haired girl leaping away from him.

“Hey He Lan, Leng Zhuang, and Mei Rong!” Yu Lin smiled before flying back into the sky. The two sitting immediately stood up. “I’ll be back later!” she yelled as she was in the sky.

“Yu Lin…” the ends of He Lan’s mouth curled up as his cheeks grew a light shade of red.

Yu Lin reached halfway up the hill of her house and she decided to walk the rest of the way up. Her white locks were secured in a ponytail that danced to the side, following the wind’s lead. Her once short chubby limbs, were now longer and slender as she moved each step closer to her home. When she got to the top, she saw another woman who looked almost exactly like her. That woman furiously shook a robe, feeling the small droplets of water spraying everywhere before hanging the robe over the clothesline. Yu Lin smiled, yet droplets of salt trickled down her face. She continued walking as the woman did not seem to notice her presence. When she was only a few footsteps away from her she swallowed hard.

“Mother.” she said. The woman paused, before turning around. When their eyes met, Yu Lin felt this surge of happiness overcame her body. “I’m back.” she smiled. The woman’s eyes begin to swell up with tears as she ran to Yu Lin with her arms wide open.

“Ahh!” she cried out as she tightly wrapped her arms around Yu Lin. Yu Lin laughed as she wrapped her arms around the woman too. Just then, she heard loud heavy footsteps from the house.

“What is it? What’s wrong Yo Mei?!” a short chubby troll yelled as he appeared at the doorstep. She turned her head to see him, and when they met eyes, he froze right where he was at. She laughed.

“Father. I’m back.” she said as a happy tear streamed down her dark cheek. The troll’s eyes grew wet as he also ran up to her and wrapped his arms around the both of them.

“Yu Lin! My daughter!” her father cried out as she squeezed the both of them. Yu Lin let out a yelp.

“If you two hug me this hard, I might break.” she croaked out. Her parents didn’t care as they continued to hug her.

-

Everyone sat around the dinner table, for the first time in what seemed like forever. The table was filled with a variety of foods, and even contained Yu Lin’s favorite soup. She smiled in glee as she savor each sip of the rich broth.

“I wasn’t expecting you two to come back so soon.” Yo Mei said.

“It was all because of Yu Lin’s hard work,” Chief Chu said, “because she reached Iron rank sooner than I expected we were able to get back so soon.” the rest of the table stopped eating except for Yu Lin and Chief Chu.

“Iron rank?! She’s already the same rank as us?” Leng Zhuang exclaimed. Chief Chu just nodded.

“Doesn’t that mean she can take the school entrance exam with us to go to an academy?” He Lan coolly asked. Chief Chu raised his eyebrows.

“That’s right, the three of you guys are ten now and right now it’s spring… so in four months when summer comes you guys are already going to take the entrance exam.”

“That’s right. So what do you think grandpa, do you think she can take it with us?”

“Hmm… I will have to talk with the man in charge first, but I do think it may be possible since she’s already reached the rest of the requirements for it.” Chief Chu said.

“No, no, no,” Yu Lin blurted out, “I don’t want to go to school. I will be fine just staying here until I’m older.” Yu Lin firmly said.

“No! If possible, you should go to school right away.” Chief Chu said back. Yu Lin looked up and slightly glared at him.

“What are you talking about? I already know everything, why would I need to go to school?” she said.

“Oho! Du Yu Lin, are you going to keep being disrespectful to Chief Chu? Stop it right now! Apologize!” Chou yelled at his daughter. Yu Lin looked at her father and then finally remembered where they were. She looked back at Chief Chu to see him have a triumphant look in his eyes. She slightly clenched her fist and put on a fake smile.

“I’m sorry. If you say that I should go, then I should go grandpa.” she said as she set down her chopsticks. “Anyways, I’m done eating now so please, excuse me.” she bowed.

“Then, I’m coming too.” He Lan set his chopsticks.

“Me too.” Mei Rong set hers down.

“M-me too.” Leng Zhuang quickly set his down. He Lan went up to Yu Lin and grabbed her hand before pulling her out of the dining hall.

“Oi, what are you doing?” Yu Lin asked.

“Let’s go spar. I want to see how much stronger you have got. If you are not strong enough by the time the man comes, then you won’t be able to go to school with us!” He Lan said.

“Ahh… alright.” Yu Lin said. She looked at He Lan and let out a small laugh. She found it funny how he was one head shorter than her, and yet he was the one pulling her to spar.

“What is it?” he asked.

“N-nothing.” she quickly said as the two continued to walk to the training ground. Mei Rong who followed behind looked unhappily at the two, while Leng Zhuang looked at Mei Rong with a sad expression.

-

The sparring did not last long as Yu Lin did not go easy on He Lan. They fought for five rounds, and she won all five rounds. Mei Rong and Leng Zhuang only watched, speechless at the results. He Lan lied on the ground panting as Yu Lin looked down at him and smirked.

“So what do you think? Do you think I will be able to pass the test?” she asked, teasing him. He Lan only glared at her. She let out a laugh before walking away.

“Yah! Where… are… you… going?!” He Lan yelled through each pant.

“I’m thirsty. I will come back after I get something to drink.” Yu Lin said as she walked towards the dining hall as she had a feeling the elders weren’t done eating yet. When she got near there and heard them talking she knew she was right. She peered inside to only see Sen Feng and Chief Chu there. She was about to walk in when she suddenly heard what they were talking about.

“What? A dead villager’s body has been found on the outskirts of town?” Chief Chu asked. Yu Lin hid behind the door as she listened on to them.

“Yes father. It just started a month ago, yet three bodies were already found. It was horrific as parts of the body was found to be bitten off, as if it was eaten by a beast. Some of the villagers believed that it might’ve been… Mr. Du. But I know that’s not true because during the night before the attack Mr. Du had come here to help fixed one of the buildings.” Sen Feng said.

“And?”

“And… someone’s been spreading false rumors about Mr and Mrs. Du here. The villagers who weren’t scared of them before, are now slowly becoming hostile. The two of them had been getting attacked. I invited these two to come back and stay with me… but they’ve been saying that they don’t want to bring me trouble. I also have a feeling about who the person spreading the rumor is… but you know about his influence here. Ever since you left, he’s been getting more and more out of control.”

“Of course I know who he is… that person has always been like that since that incident…” Chief Chu sighed. “Anyways, we need to solve this case quickly before anything bad happens.”

“Yes, father.” Sen Feng said back. Yu Lin quietly retreated back to the training ground. She bit her lips as she had a feeling she knew who they were talking.

“Lu Tou Ling,” she muttered, “what are you up to?”