The wind was soft as it descended on Yan Mei Ling's face. There was no glaring heat but rather a misted air. She longed to open her eyes but her body seemed opposed to it.

She could feel someone was cradling her lovingly while its unfamiliar yet soothing voice sang to her.

She tried opening her eyes to look at the face of the person who was singing to her but the moment that she opened her eyes, there was no one. All that she could see was the bamboo beams on the ceiling and the trees outside the window of her master's hut. Surprisingly, the only voice that sang to her was nothing but the birds' endless chirping.

Yan Mei Ling began to feel that an unfathomable emptiness was swallowing her being. She sighed wearily and tried to get way from the bed when Yeng came and rushed to her.

"Oh, my lady, please do not move yet!" Yeng, her faithful maidservant said. Her voice was laced with concern.

Yan Mei Ling was confused as to why Yeng seemed overly concern when in fact, she felt wonderful. She looked at her body and gasped when she found several needles on the different parts of her body. What greatly astonished her was the absence of pain in the punctured parts of her skin.

"What are these, Yeng? What are we doing in my master's hut when we are supposed to be in the arena?" Yan Mei Ling asked in confusion. She frowned as if trying to understand her situation. "Has the fight been nothing but a dream?"

"No, my lady," Yeng answered; she went near Yan Mei Ling to serve her with a cup of tea. "The fight is real and you are injured. Here, drink this tea; it will make you feel better."

"No," Yan Mei Ling refused. "You have not answered some of my questions. What are these needles on my body for and what are we doing in my master's hut?"

"Uhm, but, my lady," Yeng tried to protest but when she looked at Yan Mei Ling's determined eyes, she surrendered. "You were unconscious when Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei defeated you at the arena. He was about to unmask you when Master Tang Jiao Quon kicked him, carried you away from the arena and brought you here in the mountain. He also brought me here and taught me about acupuncture - it was a way of piercing specific points in the body to stimulate healing process. I was the one who pierced the needles on your skin."

Yan Mei Ling blankly stared at Yeng for a moment. She released a jaded sigh and asked, "Where is Master Tang Jiao Quon?"

"He is outside, meditating, my lady," Yeng answered while holding the tea for Yan Mei Ling.

"Take these needles off my flesh, Yeng; I already feel better." Yan Mei Ling told Yeng. "I need to talk to Master."

"But, my lady, you need to let the needles seat for a few hours more so that you won't feel sore. Why won't you rest first and drink this tea? I will get the needles after and we can talk to Master Tang Jiao Quon before we go home."

"No, Yeng," Yan Mei Ling sternly shook her head, determined to have her way. "I can't wait for a few more hours. If you won't get these needles off my body, I will."

Yeng looked dejected with worry as she set the tea at the simple low wooden table beside the unadorned bed. "I will take the needles off your body, my lady, but please drink the tea after I'm done."

"Fine, I will drink the tea so hurry and take these needles off my body now."

°°°°°

The afternoon light seemed filtered as it passed through the thick forest trees. The ground was covered in soft grass with several bald patches of forest ground and, the stream looked as serene and eternal as the clear water passing through it.

Amidst, the otherworldly feel of the forest, Yan Mei Ling anxiously approached her Master who was silently meditating on one of the stones in the middle of the stream.

As always had been, his stance was the same: eyes closed, arms in gesture of selfless surrender as if offering oneself to the celestial gods in heaven, the thumb and forefinger touching each other while the remaining fingers in stiff horizontal position. And, just like that of the holy Buddha, he was using his right foot to carry all of his weight while the heel of his left foot was placed upon his front right thigh.

Even until this moment, Yan Mei Ling, still found it hard to imagine how her Master was able to maintain a good level of balance incorporated in such a difficult stance. The strength he had achieved in order to maintain this difficult level of balance was the very thing she had aspired and worked hard for. Indeed, the body was a mysterious shell with unknown great power - a power one would fully yield once the external and internal forces of the body were in harmony.

"Master," Yan Mei Ling called in a soft voice.

Master Tang Jiao Quon opened his eyes and turned his unreadable gaze to Yan Mei Ling. "Yes, young lady?"

"I have failed you," Yan Mei Ling said in a voice filled with remorse as she bowed her head in shame, not willing for her Master to see the very evidence of her shame - her tears; the manifestation of her weakness.

Master Tang Jiao Quon leapt from his stance and landed softly in front of Yan Mei Ling which had amazed her inspite of her tears.

"You did not fail me, young lady," Master Tang Jiao Quon said quietly. "You failed yourself. You have allowed your emotion and your mindless desire to defeat your enemy to obscure your mind."

Yan Mei Ling stared in confusion at her Master with teary eyes. "I thought that I will die in the arena."

"No, you will not," Master Tang Jiao Quon simply said as he slowly walked around the forest ground. "The attack made by your opponent is strong, true enough, but it is not meant to kill you; it is meant to keep you unconscious for a few minutes. He has no intention to kill you; he meant to win without giving fatal injury on your person. His techniques and self-control are truly remarkable: the marks of a skilled warrior."

Yan Mei Ling's heart sank at her Master's words. True, she had failed herself - she had failed the promise she made to herself. And, true, the Jinzhou's skills were indeed legendary just like the dragon warrior. How utterly foolish was it of her to even think that she could defeat him! She had been so foolish that she allowed her emotions to be the cause of her defeat.

"I can sense your frustration but you should not let it overrule you. You must take what happens in the arena as a lesson so that you will not commit the same mistake, young lady."

"But it is not just that, Master," Yan Mei Ling explained. When she realized that her voice was too loud, she humbly whispered, "I'm sorry, I forget to control my emotions once again, Master."

Her master looked at her for a moment. "Is it the same problem that you have before the fight started, young lady?"

"No, master, it is different."

"What is bothering you, young lady?"

Upon hearing her master's question, all the emotions she'd been holding had finally came out through a torrent of tears. She weakly stumbled to the ground as she covered her face with her hands in anguish.

Master Tang Jiao Quon knelt beside his student and asked, "What is bothering you?"

"The war, master; oh, it is threatening to destroy everything I hold dear - everything. And, I don't know what to do."

"A war?" Master Tang Jiao Quon's brow rose in puzzlement. "Why is there a war?"

"The evil tyrant, Lord Hsein Mao Dong, threatens to attack the Empire if the Emperor won't yield his daughter, Princess Li Lei Shuang, my best friend, to him so that she will be his wife. Oh, I love my best friend and, I don't want her to go to someone as cruel and evil as Lord Hsien Mao Dong. What should I do?"

"Lord Hsien Mao Dong," Master Tang Jiao Quon uttered the name as he recalled a memory during his youth.

'Stop it, Hsien Mao Dong! You had hurt Hong Lee-Hwa terribly enough.' Tang Jiao Quon beseeched Lord Hsein Mao Dong, son of a nobleman, as he rushed to Hong Lee-Hwa's unconscious body.

'Hmmp,' snorted indignantly. 'Get away from that weakling, Tang Jiao Quon; I will finish him off.'

'What do you mean finish him off?' Tang Jiao Quon's eyes widened upon realizing what Baron Hsien Mao Dong intended to do. 'Are you mad? This is just a practice duel, Hsien Mao Dong. Can't you see that you already win? There is no sense in killing Hong Lee-Hwa; our master don't tolerate cold-blooded murder and I won't allow you!'

'Oh, really? How heroic of you,' Baron Hsein Mao Dong sarcastically sneered. 'I am tired of following our old master's foolish rules! The world has no place for weak people; all of them should die. And, if you won't get away from Hong Lee-Hwa, I will kill you too, Tang Jiao Quon.'

Baron Hsien Mao Dong unsheathed the sword from his waist and threatened Tang Jiao Quon with its evil gleam.

Sensing that no words would enlighten the dark mind of Baron Hsien Mao Dong, Tang Jiao Quon stood and unsheathed his sword, matching the murderous gleam of Lord Hsien Mao Dong's sword. 'I will not allow you. You have to defeat me first, Hsien Mao Dong.'

A look of contempt filled Baron Hsien Mao Dong making his face looked like an evil demon. 'You are giving me no choice, bastard!'

Tang Jiao Quon closed his eyes tightly at the tragic recollection. He remembered the hatred and frustration he'd seen in Lord Hsien Mao Dong when the latter was defeated.

'I will kill you for this, Tang Jiao Quon! And, I will kill everyone you hold dear and you will come, crawling to me like the pathetic worm you are; begging me to spare your life and, then, I will slice your foolish head off.'

Tang Jiao Quon had ignored everything that the injured and incensed Baron Hsien Mao Dong said, thinking that the latter was merely nursing his injured ego by making threats but he was wrong. The next day, the whole training class were shocked to learn that their Master Ming Liao was poisoned, and he was also called by one of his neighbors to return to his village because his entire family was ruthlessly murdered.

Tang Jiao Quon remembered the inexplicable anguish that he felt - the agony of living each day blaming yourself for the tragedy that had happened to the ones you loved.

He would have took the path of vengeance but unfortunately, Baron Hsien Mao Dong disappeared from his stately house. It would have been fitting to kill all of Hsien Mao Dong's family members as what he did to his family but it wasn't right to kill innocent people just because he'd like to appease his thirst for vengeance. Instead, he joined the Imperial Army when he learned that Baron Hsien Mao Dong had gathered a considerable number of bandits who plundered the unconquered places on the Northern part of Chixian Shenzhou and ultimately established himself as a war overlord.

"I think we should do something to stop whatever Lord Hsien Mao Dong is planning, young lady," Master Tang Jiao Quon seriously said to Yan Mei Ling when the fog of memory disappeared from his thoughts. "He is the kind of man who won't stop unless he gets what he wants. He is evil and, if the Emperor changes his mind and allow Lord Hsien Mao Dong to marry his daughter, the empire will be thrown into chaos."

Yan Mei Ling stopped crying upon hearing his Master's solemn statement. She looked at her Master and, for the first time, she was able to witness the emotional side of her usually aloof master.

"Do you know him, Master?" She asked softly.

Master Tang Jiao Quon stood then looked at the sky as he quietly answered, "More than what you have heard of him."

°°°°°

Jinzhou Lu wang Wei was sitting on the low bamboo bench of the inner courtyard of his house. He had been in deep thoughts ever since his fight with the Ninja boy a few weeks ago.

Who was he? Who was his adult companion?

He stood from bench and, walked back and forth in front of the huge stone altar dedicated to his ancestors. He could smell the sweet scent emanating from the burning incense.

Could there possibly be more ninjas hiding within the Empire? Or were they spies from another country gathering information about the Empire? Were they possible threats to the security of the Empire?

Questions. A lot of questions. But, unfortunately, there were no answers.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei frowned more as he raked his hands to his untied long hair, flowing freely down his shoulders. He could hear the soft rumple of the end of his informal orange silk brocade long robe as he walked in frustration.

Whatever degree of curiosity he'd felt about the ninja boy's real identity was compounded when another took him away. The way they disappeared as if they were nothing but a wisp of smoke still astounded him. No normal human being could possibly be as fast as them or disappear just like that.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei breathed deeply when he realized what his thought seemed to conclude:

Could they possibly be celestial beings sent by the gods to protect Chang'An from its enemies? Just like the legendary Dragon Warrior?

The thought might sound a bit superstitious if not impossible but who could possibly be those two ninjas were? They were obviously superhumans.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei stopped walking when he remembered the ninja boys eyes. Those eyes. . Those curiously familiar eyes. Those eyes - oddly similar to that of the beautiful girl who had captivated his heart.

'What is happening to me? I am becoming a lunatic,' Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said to himself while he kneaded the side of his temples to ease the headache that he'd experienced due to overthinking.

A moment later, a servant came to Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei and said, "My apologies for disturbing you, my lord, but the Emperor's herald is at the West corridor waiting for you. He has an important message from the Emperor."

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei seemed to stareat his servant for a moment, disoriented by his thoughts, then he said, "Show him in to the west corridor study; I'll be there shortly."

The servant bowed to Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei. "Yes, my lord."

°°°°°

Yan Mei Ling was practicing calligraphy at her house inner garden pavillion when she noticed her father and one of the Emperor's herald in serious discussion at the northern corridor's veranda.

"The Son Heaven has requested for your immediate presence along with empire's high officials at the Imperial palace, Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong." The herald said and handed Unit Commander Yan Huang Di a scroll containing a message with the Imperial dragon seal.

"Thank you. I'll be there in haste." The Unit Commander answered.

The herald bowed respectfully before a servant led him to the house's exit.

When the messenger was out of sight, Yan Mei Ling ran to her father and asked, "Father, where are you going?"

The Unit Commander stared at her daughter for a moment before he enveloped her in an affectionate embrace.

Yan Mei Ling was curious as to why her indifferent father seemed acting in an odd way. "What is happening, father?"

The Unit Commander released his daughter from his embrace and tenderly rumpled her hair. "I will go to the palace, daughter."

"Please let me go with you, ba."

The Unit Commander gently shook his head and, in a soft yet firm way, he said, "No, my daughter, you can't go with me this time. Please stay here where it is safe."

"But I need to know if Li Lei Shuang is safe too, baba, please," Mei Ling beseeched her father.

"We will make sure that the princess is safe. There is no need for you to worry. Just stay here and trust me, my daughter."

Yan Mei Ling looked at her father, a bit disappointed at his refusal of her request, but then she understood so she hugged him instead and said, "I will be safe but be safe too, baba."

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