*Shua

A sound of slashing blade heard in the depth of the forest. a young girl, standing on her one foot on the tip of a small bamboo, leaning diagonally, trying to balance her small body from falling. She held a long sword on her right arm, her black hair covered her calm expression, as she moved, her hair and robe followed. The way the girl swung her sword was like a graceful dance, her foot wouldn't fall from the bamboo, and the other held steady in mid-air. Slashes after slashes, one would think that she would fall, But the way her body lean, sometimes near the ground, and the way she jumped when she changed her stance, showed that the girl has trained for a good amount of time. Because even her ankle could steadily hold the weight of her body.

"Huff...Huff… I don't think this is enough." Said Jia Wan Wan with a smile, while she carefully maintaining her balance.

She jumped toward a big tree and tried to slash the main branch of the tree, into two.

*Shua

*Crack! *Boom!

Her blade broke the tree branch, the tree falls because its branch cannot hold it anymore. Such a strong slash coming from the young girl, even among people who studied cultivation, to easily cut a tree with a sword in a simple slash was simply amazing, especially if the person who did that was still 17 years old. but different for Jia Wan Wan, this kind of feat was still not enough. It was not that she desired perfection, but if one knew one own capability, of course, one would want to strive and put one skill to the limit. And for Jia Wan Wan, this kind of feat, it was not the best that she could muster.

"Hah… This cut still not clean enough, the tree should be cut cleanly into two, not break into two, hah...”Said Jia Wan Wan calmly while looking at the result she has done.

Mornings passed into noon, she looked at the sky and realize that the day already passed the Si hour (that is 10 o'clock in the morning until 12 o'clock). Jia Wan Wan then finished up her morning training and prepared to go into the town. Jia Wan Wan walked to E Mei town to buy the daily necessities. She lived alone so she didn't have to buy many things, just a little bit of rice, a little bit of salt and herbs, she could cook a decent meal that suited her taste. She hunted animals in the forest for meat, gathered fruits in the mountains to eat, and boiled water from the river to drink. The busy Jia Wan Wan walked to the market hugging a numerous scroll of paper with both hands, some of the papers were in small size, some of it was so big that it covered some part of her face. Jia Wan Wan walked toward a small herb shop. She stood in front of the wooden door and saw the herb that was on sale on the stands, she then, with a voice not too loud, called out the owner.

“Excuse me... boss?”

The shop owner, hearing a familiar voice, slowly walked outside from his house toward Jia Wan Wan, the middle-aged man smiled at Jia Wan Wan with anticipation.

“Xiao Wan, come! come!... put your paintings here” Said the shop owner casually as he tapped his herb stand.

“Alright.”

Said Jia Wan Wan to the shop owner while putting her numerous scroll on the herbs stand. She grabbed a big scroll from the stand and gave it to the shop owner.

“Boss, here is the painting of the mountain herbs that you wanted”

“Alright I want to see it”

The Shop Owner opened the scroll and gaze at the painting of numerous mountain herbs. The painting itself was done by a simple black ink, but the detail of the stroke somehow made the painting soothing to see. It was not too crowded, and yet it was not to blank, it was simply, wonderful. Jia Wan Wan looked at the shop owner satisfied expression and asked

“How is it, boss? You liked it?”

“Yes, this painting, although it doesn’t have much colour, it is soothing to see, so simple yet so detailed, good! Now I have a painting that I can put in front of my store for my customer to see... Xiao Wan, are you really not from the Tranquil Inspiration Sect? You are not lying to me right?”

Said the shop owner with a smile, Jia Wan Wan too smiled answering him

“Boss, the Tranquil Inspiration Sect is the master of brushes and canvas. it is told that the paintings that they made capture the beauty of nature itself, each painting can be sold for 100 tael minimum. Whether for mine, this piece of doodles only sold for 50 Tael top, how can my amateur painting be in the same league with Tranquil Fragrance painting?”

The shop owner then said

“Aihh, Xiao Wan, you are too humble! Look at you, you’re still so young and yet you can paint so beautifully! Your look is also elegant and pretty, don’t you know the young girls in this town gets worried that you would steal all the good men here. Independent and smart, not to mention you’re also a cultivator. Aihh, many little girls in this town looks up to you, I can’t blame them, even I told my little daughter to be like you when she gets older”

“Alright, alright, boss, by the way, can I take these herbs with me?”

Answered Jia Wan Wan calmly while browsing at some herbs, it seemed she didn't pay attention to the boss speech about her, she just smiled picking some herbs from the shop stands, the shop owner could only sighed with a smile.

“Sigh...Alright, here’s the money for the painting, Xiao Wan, you’re gonna leave right away?”

“Mnn, I still need to deliver the rest of my paintings”

“Sigh.., if people know you are here, they would surely come to my store and buy herbs only to talk to you. you're like a Goddess in the town you know, Alright, by the way, if you see Xiao Hua, tell her to come home, I want her to learn how to paint”

Jia Wan Wan only laughed a little.

“Alright, goodbye boss”

Said Jia Wan Wan, as she grabbed the rest of her paper scroll.

E Mei town was a small town but filled with numerous traveller. they came to either practice cultivation in the mountain, sight-seeing the natural beauty, or to tasted the local cuisine. on the surface, the town was in a peaceful state. People cared about each other, beggars and the poor were a rare sight to see, and the street was free from trash and garbage. But there were still things that bothered the citizen of E Mei town, that was the influence of Crimson Sky Sect, an underground secret sect that practice cultivation but disregard the JiangHu (Pugilist) rule. They did what they think was right, and for them, to kidnapped, murdered, poisoned, and even ruining someone's life, could be called right. At least for them, might makes right, and that was why the people of E Mei were afraid of them.

As Jia Wan Wan was delivering her painting from one to another, one particular painting came to her mind. It was the painting of a small child and a young man playing together. A few days ago, Jia Wan Wan got an order from a teacher of a small school in E Mei town. He wanted Jia Wan Wan to paint a small child that played together with a young man to show the happy emotion of a student that played with the teacher.

That painting remembered her about the time when she was with Lin Xia. She remembered the happy times that happened, she remembered how she would sometimes paint on his face, how she sometimes cried and asked Lin Xia for comfort; how when she was around 10 years old she made a promise to him that in this lifetime she would protect him, just like he protected her.

Jia Wan Wan looked at the sky and gently smiled, she then spoke with a soft voice to the sky.

"Lin Xia... Just you wait, I will save you, just like you once saved me."

When Jia Wan Wan was 6 years old, she almost got killed by the Crimson Sect. They almost stole her rare pure spiritual essence to help the sect master Lu Guo achieved breakthrough. But thanks to Lin Xia, a traveller who happened to be in the Sect at that time, Jia Wan Wan was saved.

And now, Jia Wan Wan trained to be more powerful so she could save Lin Xia and be with him just like before. She was already in the Greater Spiritual State, just a bit more training and she would achieve The Basic Heavenly State. But unfortunately for Jia Wan Wan who didn't have a spiritual essence anymore, that feat required extreme training and suffering. While ordinary person had to train for 5 years to achieve Basic Heavenly State from Greater Spiritual State, people like Jia Wan Wan needed at least 10 years, and that too, with extreme training and discipline. But to give up was never her character, she used her mind more than her strength, she chose to overcome fate and strive to be more powerful. It was what she chose to do, and it was what she wanted to do.

For 1 year she had trained in the art of swordsmanship. She learned from Lin Xia how to use the sword, and Lin Xia also taught her his own technique, The Sword of Heavenly Destruction, a sword art that could even wreck the heaven itself. So fast and so powerful that no object could withstand its slashes, and no eye can fathom its movement, a legendary technique that had lost in time. but unfortunately, to fully unleashed its full potential, the user required a large sum of Spiritual Qi. Jia Wan Wan, however, had found an alternative way, another technique that she created from The Sword of Heavenly Destruction, even though not as fast, and not as powerful, but it only required a small sum of Spiritual Qi and Stamina. A technique that was perfect for a woman without a spiritual essence, she called it, The Sword of Eternal Soaring Phoenix. with this technique and her own skill, she had calculated that she was able to defeat any people who were below the Basic Heavenly State even if their number outmatched her. She also able to defeat a person who achieved The Converging Heavenly State if he or she was to fight her alone.

Because the Crimson Sect joined the Underground World Alliance, she liked to kidnapped, interrogated and assassinated some of its members to find news about the Underground World Alliance and Lin Xia body. She could infiltrate their bases, or she could disguise herself as Crimson Sect own member. But she wouldn’t choose to do those kinds of thing for long, because Lu Guo, the leader of the sect, a powerful man who achieved The Greater Heavenly State, might recognize her. The sect itself had many members who were in The Converging Heavenly State, and to face all of them at once was none other than suicide. That was why Jia Wan Wan only assassinated and kidnapped the Crimson Sect member, one by one.

Jia Wan Wan walked to a big inn, the name of this inn was Hua Ju, the inn was famous as the number one spot for travellers to sleep in. Not only the inn had nice drinks, they also served the local cuisine and held a theatrical play on some nights. Jia Wan Wan was carrying one last painting for the Inn owner. When she walked inside, she heard a familiar voice

“Umm...I’m sorry but I have to go home now...”

“Aww you don’t have too little girl, come! A company this big brother for a little while hahaha!”

A little girl was trying to release her hand from a big person grip. The little girl seemed distressed and afraid, The big person face was ugly, and he wouldn’t let her go, what made it worse was that he was not alone, he got 2 friends who were sitting casually while drinking. Jia Wan Wan recognized the little girl, she is the herb shop-owner daughter, Xiao Hua.

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Note: In ancient China, The Tang and Song dynasty used a time system called Shi-ke, the day was separate in 12 hours. and the first start at 00:00 AM.

JiangHu: Literally meant "Lakes and Rivers" it was a generalization used in ancient China to distinguish Pugilist from ordinary people, Ex: "He is a person from the JiangHu" but JiangHu itself talked about complicated organizations that had their own Code of Ethics, Rules and Vision. JiangHu people were known by ordinary people, and The JiangHu Organizations Ex: Sects and school, was also known by the Government and Imperial Beaureu. the legal coalition of all JiangHu Sect was called JiangHu Alliance.

Underground World: was the term used to describe a secret organization, unknown to ordinary people, and unknown to the Government and most Imperial Beaureu. The Underground world organizations included the organizations that worked in Human Trafficking, Prostitution, Drugs Market, Etc, they disregard the JiangHu Alliance Code of Ethics and Rules, and on cold war with both the Government and the JiangHu Alliance.