Both human and yaren sides thought they lost the battle and withdrew.

Captain Teng and Heiyiwei inspector Xiang Shali both survived the fighting and putting their differences aside, cooperated in leading the remaining refugees as far away from the abandoned outpost as possible.

The reason for that was twofold. Firstly, they thought the yaren army will come in pursuit soon. Secondly, considering how many people died there, and not having an exorcist at hand, the place was soon to become a liar of risen corpses.

Nobody knew what the black tornado that erupted in the middle of the battle was, but considering the sheer losses it inflicted on everyone involved, the humans decided that just like the fire lances, it must be some new secret weapon of beastmen. A detailed report was composed and copied many times over, then send to every major town controlled by the Wuyun sect, warning of the impending disaster.

In a similar vein, the yaren soldiers thought the tornado was a work of a human cultivator who, unbeknownst to them, was hiding within the camp and revealed himself once his side started losing. Many of the recruits of Black Sun Empire didn’t participate in Jianding war, and it was their first time seeing something resembling the dreaded cultivator powers in action, and thus they were overcome with fear.

Knowing that forcing them to attack again in this situation would be asking for mutiny, Rongfeng, who was now the commander of the surviving forces, ordered a retreat. As soon as the yaren forces packed up their things and moved a sufficient distance away from the entry to the shaft, timber braces supporting a significant length of the tunnel were chopped down. This alone wasn’t enough to collapse it immediately, so a large amount of black powder was detonated to help it.

“Close your ears, this is going to be quite loud” advised Xiani, and put cotton inside her human ears, then covered the insides of her rabbit ears with her hands.

Heifeng nodded and put her palms to the sides of her head.

“No, that’s not where you have ears”

Heifeng tilted her head and tried to say something, but just as before, no sound left her mouth. Although her eyes were now hidden under black quartz glasses, it was obvious from her body language that she had no idea what seemed to be amiss.

Xiani sighed and manually directed the girl’s hands up, where the wolf ears were. She seemed genuinely surprised by that fact, which only made Xiani sigh even louder.

Hells eternal, this person forgot even that! This did not bode well….

And shortly after she thought that, with a defeating boom, the ground and rock caved in…. cutting off their route back. The only way to leave the underground labyrinth now was forward- rejoining the main highway and leaving through one of the sub shafts located elsewhere.

Since the Remnant had no idea she already recovered the amulet, Xiani decided to stick to the main Black Sun forces for a while, and take her time to work on Heifeng. The goal was to make the girl regain her memories, learn why she had a soul, and if it could be utilized to any advantage.

If not…then she’d just bring her to the Spire, where the greedy leaders, impatient to start creating demonic cultivators again, shall instantly disconnect her from the amulet…and discard the ghoul shortly afterwards.

Or perhaps, overtaken by scientific curiosity, they’d take their time and cut her apart, eager to study a rare case of undead yaren, and learn the secret to her unlife in the process. That’s what Xiani would have done if she was the leader.

However, she was just a lowly operative, and now fate granted her once in a lifetime opportunity to change that fate, an opportunity she didn’t want to squander.

…….

The invention of the printing press wasn’t widespread among nomadic yaren tribes, and instead of paper, they wrote on hand-made linen parchments. However, they had one advantage over humans- instead of writing with ink, they utilized graphite mined from the meteorite fields far in the southern wastelands beyond the bamboo jungles.

This made the writing process much faster…as long as there was anything available to write on. Xiani sometimes pondered what a great future could humans and yaren achieve if they put aside their differences and combined their inventions….alas, this wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

After all, she, the operative of Remnant knew the best, that the only thing that mattered in life is power. The pursuit of power, the accumulation of power, and the destruction of others who possess power. All the test subjects of the late Wen clan had been indoctrinated into that philosophy from the earliest age, and carried it into adulthood, even long after their masters were gone.

And thus, the civilized settled people of the middle kingdom, and the nomads of the south, would never put aside their differences…as long as the possibility of annihilating the other side and the possibility of enforcing their power upon the vanquished was within their perceived reach.

Of this, she had no doubt.

Xiani made her way back to the Garlizard-drawn cart, where her wolf-eared protege was anxiously waiting for her. Seeing the bunny return, she smiled and waved at her.

It seemed that the girl developed some kind of affection towards her. That tingled Xiani’s ego in a very pleasant manner, alas, she wasn’t one to let it affect her judgment or actions in any discernible manner.

Here’s to hoping Heifeng didn’t forget how to read or write as well….

Xiani put the pencils and the parchments on a small table inside, and asked her if she knew what this is.

The wolfgirl nodded enthusiastically and quickly scribbled her answer.

[Yes, I am familiar with this. I am so happy we can talk now~~]

“Do you remember anything about yourself?”

She made a difficult facial expression, grabbed the sides of her head, and shook it. That explained.

“Do you know what are undead, yaren, cultivators….” Xiani asked her about all kinds of terminology and ideas that are commonly known and understood by people of this age. Heifeng answered all these questions correctly, and it seemed her knowledge is up to date with present day and age.

However…

“Do you know you’re undead?”

Once again, a difficult expression. She shook her head vigorously, and hastily scribbled the answer.

[I don’t believe it]

Xiani sighed and did a fire test again. This time, the wolfgirl seemed much more lucid than before, and she watched with astonishment painted on her face as the fire caused blisters on her skin…which she couldn’t feel….and they closed on their own shortly afterwards.

Having no counterargument now, she reluctantly agreed that she was, indeed, a ghoul.

[But how did this happen?]

“That’s what I would like to know. You were fighting a human cultivator when I arrived, and you lost. Also…” Xiani took out the heart amulet “it seems you are a demonic cultivator in your own right, as evidenced by your tethering to this amulet, your red eyes, and your control over resentful energy…”

[Resentful energy? Red eyes?]

So she didn’t know the details of her own power? This posed a question if she can still do it…but since she was able to perceive resentful energy, and her eyes were still red, the possibility of that still existed.

Perhaps she merely needed a small reminder…

“The amulet in question is an artificial cultivation help, which allows people who can’t forge the cultivation foundation and golden core out of qi to do it…using impurity within them as a crucible for that. If you transport yourself into your inner world, you should be able to see black stars and black sun within you. That means you are a literal demonic cultivator - in the original sense of the word, the one who cultivates as impure spirits such as demons do - and a sworn enemy of heavens which do not tolerate any sort of impurity.”

Heifeng looked utterly shocked by this revelation. She took off her quartz glasses, meant to conceal her demonic red eyes, and looked at Xiani with an expression of a beaten puppy.

[…Does that mean I can’t go to heaven?]

“That’s right, as soon as I disconnect you from this amulet, your soul will go straight to hell” or dissolve, or maybe nothing would happen. Frankly speaking, Xiani wasn’t quite sure herself what exactly would occur, but if she led the girl to believe she is dependent on her goodwill, only good things could possibly come out of that. “The question is, why do you have a soul in the first place. Yaren aren’t supposed to have that. Even demonic cultivators among them scatter into tiny pieces of qi upon death.”

The girl’s answer was somewhat expected.

[I am not sure if I am a yaren…]

That, frankly speaking, wasn’t in the realm of impossibility. Xiani herself wasn’t a yaren either, despite having rather prominent bunny ears.

However, no matter how she looked at Heifeng, she was a bona fide wolfgirl.

“And what leads you to believe you aren’t such?”

[Just a hunch….]

Xiani sighed. A hunch, huh.

……..

What Xiani misunderstood, perhaps to her own detriment, was that Heifeng wasn’t exactly an amnesiac. While it was true that most of her memories were shrouded by fog, she did remember quite a lot of things.

Faces, voices, events, objects, locations….

The problem was that most of these only made sense in isolation, but didn’t add up when put together.

Her memories were mutually contradicting, and thus she decided not to pay them any mind.

However, the idea that she should be a human, and most certainly shouldn’t be a yaren or undead, was firmly lodged within her identity. Yet, all the facts contradicted it- she didn’t have the sense of touch, she had animal ears and tail, and her wounds healed immediately.

Facts and logic didn’t care about her feelings.

More importantly, deep within her heart, there was a certain longing…..for the life energy of living beings.

Even now, when she focused, she could temporarily become blind to the physical reality surrounding her and instead perceive the world as a cosmos of multi-hued stars that burned within the hearts of every living creature.

While the yaren around them had but tiny sparks within them, Xiani was blazing like a sun itself. Just being near her made Heifeng feel…

…hungry?

…aroused?

….excited?

….anticipating?

She craved to dig in the bunny’s flesh and consume her life energy.

She desired it on a subconscious level, yet at the same time, she knew it would be morally wrong and repulsive.

Xiani was the first person she met in this new unlife of hers, her savior…she took her out of that dark battlefield, and taught her so many things about the world and herself, asking for nothing in return….

So in return for that kindness, Heifeng resolved herself to never give in to this evil within herself. No matter how painful or difficult it would get….