The bald boy was about to talk when he was interrupted by a light beam that broke the sky in two. The red, thick, circular light rolled down to the earth, enveloping Liu and spinning around him. The world changed before them. They were no longer in a place where the sunny heat embraced them, but rather their future grave.

"What are you doing here?" Liu asked them, this time with a thicker voice, puffing flames as soon as he finished.

"We... we just wanted..." the older boy tried to explain himself, but his voice failed him and his whole body shut down in the face of such overwhelming energy. The pressure was so strong that even their legs couldn't move.

"You are in the presence of the God of Fire. Speak before your time runs out," Liu commanded.

"We were waiting for our captain, but he never returned. We went to the village and saw what happened. It was gruesome! We followed the trail of who killed our colleagues and captain! We wanted to take you by surprise. We would earn a good reward and we could feed our family!" the youngest boy said, his hand clutched to his chest. "We are from the Kaji School. We bring destruction, and fear nothing and no one.”

The other two repeated the same sentence. A prayer made in despair. They fed on it. They wouldn't give up without a fight. As had they been taught - fight until the very end. They put the spears back in horizontal position, grasping the base with both hands, their fingers turning purple with the force they made. The sparks in the air clung to their faces. The thin layer of smoke went up their noses and moistened their eyes.

"Thank you for giving your lives to me," the thick voice spoke once again.

The light that connected the earth to the heavens slimmed down until it dissipated. Liu-Ken snapped his fingers. The red chi that coated him exploded in all directions. Aurora and the three soldiers covered their eyes.

When they finally opened them, Liu-Kin's feet hovered over the ground, his eyes laden with blood, and his fists shrouded in flames. A fine scarlet armor emerged from his body, flames working as a shield. He stepped forward and snapped every finger in his hand.

"What's this? What are you?" the bald boy asked him, tears flowing down his burnt cheeks.

Liu-Ken didn't answer immediately. First, he stretched his feet and arms, and then he breathed deeply. His eyes returned to the usual blue, "I called upon the divinity of fire, Kagu, and let him possess me. We're one. He provides me his power and I give him bodies to feed on. This is the punishment of anyone who dares to disturb the natural events of the world. Evil and good go hand in hand. One can't live without the other. Go ahead. Fight for your lives. Be proud of your school and I will give you a hasty and honorable death on the battlefield."

Aurora, for the first time, stood up. Death couldn't be the solution to everything. She didn't want to be part of that. Bardolph had taught her that all lives were equal. No matter what they carried within them, whether it was a life built on others’ bodies or the childish joy of a lifetime of long-lasting passions, people deserved to die of natural causes. Death should embrace the weakened bones and reach out to them. To murderers, death would thrust them away from the gates of heaven, kicking them out if it had to be. Karma rewarded everyone equally when they were reborn.

She still had not taken more than three steps when Liu-Ken stretched out his hand.

"I know you'd prefer if it was different, but I can't let them leave this place," Liu told her. "I can't let the leader of the Kaji School know that we're here, let alone of my presence."

The bald boy laughed. "One of us is already on his way to the main school! In ten days, a legion will devastate this whole place and all the surrounding villages. You won't stand a chance," he said, a macabre smile on his lips.

"I'll have to be quick then. We still have a lot to do before we get out of here. The blood moon will not await for us mere mortals," Liu told them, and set one foot in front of the other, sliding over the stone, lowering himself until he was about Aurora's height. One hand was at chest level and the other above the head, the palm facing down.

"Blood moon?" Aurora asked, never having heard of anything like it.

Truth be told, Bardolph avoided talking to her about anything to do with the world of cultivators. "That world only has pain and deceit," he used to say whenever Aurora asked him to tell a story about one of the wandering Xia, heroes who traveled from village to village, protecting the citizens from the thieves and psychopaths who tortured them. Many of them were men who had practiced martial arts until they reached a wall they could not overcome, while others, those whom Aurora admired, were cultivators who did not agree with the way the schools were ruled. They had their own moral conduct.

"We'll talk about it later. The deity is hungry," Liu-Ken replied.

Despite how frightened the soldiers were, they didn't back down. They thought about their families and how they had to survive to see their women and parents’ smile once more. It was not only that but also the desire to fulfill their school’s motto, which now kept them there. The first one to move forward was the youngest. He pulled his sleeves up before rushing off, the screams drowning the sound of his snotty nose, the tip of the spear pointed at his opponent. Liu moved gracefully, spinning, almost dancing, dodging the attack. He grabbed the boy by the back of his head and tossed him at the other two. The three of them fell, their weapons clattering out of reach. Liu-Ken walked up to the boys, still on the ground, and wished them good luck in their next life. Then he laid back his head, opened his mouth, gargled and, as he moved his head forward, unleashed a fiery torrent of flames all over the boys. Their bodies burned, their agonizing screams muffled by the sound of their blistering skin, peeling off, charring. From afar, it looked like a bonfire shedding light on the dark blanket that soared over the house.