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Edited by silentscarlettt a member of the Asian Fantasy Community

RECAP

Jiang woke up with a startling headache; his whole body hurting and aching with pain. His eyelids was heavy and numb, and he tried to make sense of his surroundings but then realized that he was in a carriage.

Jiang tried to clear his thoughts and to think of the reason why he was there, dressed like a noble lady until it all came rushing back, exploding in his head until it hurt even more. Despite his painful headache, his heart was hurt even more at the memories that were rushing inside his mind.

He was in the same carriage that was supposed to take him to the palace to take his sister's place, but he never went to the palace because the carriage instead led him to his death.

The more his past memories flooded in his head, the more he realized what happened to him. He noted that he was alive again, but he had travelled back in time.

He couldn't believe this was happening to him; his past life felt like a dream... like it never happened.

He noticed that it was still daytime and that the ambush happened at night of the second day when he arrived at Yang Province. He was sixteen and young, but he had to go to the Yellow River.

The General's manor was a bit far from the palace. The General's manor was in the Yin Province while the palace was in the central region, mostly known as the capital in the Yang Province. Both Provinces were miles apart and the last life, it took the carriage two days to arrive at the outskirts of the Yang Province. By morning, they would have entered the gates, but Jiang didn't get to have the chance.

"Where are we now?" Jiang asked one of the guards following beside the carriage. They were supposed to protect him, but when the assassins came, they all ran like chickens.

"We are approaching Yue Valley. We will be spending the night there." He said and Jiang sighed a breath of relief.

If they spent the night at Yue Valley, then it was still the first day and he still had a chance to live. But he couldn't trust anyone there and he'd have to escape on his own. He'd have to follow a different route from the one that the assassins planned to block and ambush.

He needed to get to Yang Province at all cost, then, he'd be safe from the assassins at the least. Jiang assumed at the least because he did not know what awaited him beyond the Yang Province gate.

Powers or no powers, Jiang must leave by tonight, because he knew that they wouldn't expect for him to leave. By morning, when they find him missing, he would be long gone and safe. He just prayed that they don't send an Air Elemental Master after him or else he would stand no chance.

Just thinking about his past and the way he died made him shiver. The rusted old ring on his finger that his mother gave him began to shine. All these years, the ring remained well fitted on his last finger. At time, it seemed to him that the ring reshaped itself so that it could continuously fit that particular finger. But he wasn't really able to tell or be sure since he was always skinny.

The rusted ring kept shining its light in the carriage. Jiang was thankful to the heavens that the sun was high in the sky, so outsiders couldn't notice its uniqueness. The ring that has never left his last finger beforehand suddenly flew out on its own. It happened so fast, but the next thing he knew, it was embedded in his forehead.

He wanted to scream but knew he couldn't, so he bit at his bottom lip harshly to the point that blood started dripping down. He felt like his brain was being ripped out from his head and at the same time, he felt like something was being melted into him, just like when a blacksmith melts metal in order to form a weapon.

After the ring melted into his forehead, it flowed into Jiang's bloodstream, and he felt like he could see what was happening in his body.

The melted ring then flowed to her core where the mana was stored. The black, hazy substance that was once covering his core and prevented him from storing mana all those years, despite his vigorous training, seemed to be pushed out by rusted ring which had now begun to take shape again. This time, it was a large space, and in that space, there was a cauldron.

He couldn't look at the space well since he was in so much pain. In fact, he didn't even know when or how he blacked out.

***

"Mistress... Mistress!" Jiang heard one of the servants assigned to him call out repeatedly as he awoke from his deep slumber. "We are at the Yue Valley. The tents have been set, and you can go and relax now." The servant, assigned by Jiang's father, added.

"Thanks... Wait, what? We are at the Yue Valley already?" Jiang asked, not believing what he just heard. "Yes, Mistress." The servant answered innocently.

Jiang wanted to curse at the heavens for doing this to him. The time that he was supposed to use for his plan to escape was used to sleep instead! "Are you okay?" The servant asked worriedly.

"I will be out soon, so you can leave." Jiang replied grudgingly. It wasn't her fault but one couldn't blame him for being in such a bad mood. His life was on the line after all, and he didn't have the time to sleep.

He was wearing his half sister's annoyingly flowing gown that was decorated with heavy jades and jewels. It wasn't easy to wear at all and his neck was aching from the pain of all the overweight items on his head. Even his back was not spared from all the torture. Both his wrists were begging for mercy as well. Only his legs were spared. Jiang knew that if he wore all those items, they would only slow him down while trying to escape from his approaching doom.

Jiang was well aware of the fact that he at some point will have to steal some clothes and change into them, then, when he approached the capital, he could change back to his sister's extravagant clothing. But he had somewhat forgotten that he carried his one and only robe, and this robe was expressly designed for the opposite sex, Jiang was more comfortable when wearing male robes after all that was his true gender but up till when he was to leave the camp he never recalled the fact that he had his male robes, his mind was too occupied with other thoughts so he had to wear those female robes that made him clumsy and trip on almost every occasion.

Tonight, was going to be a long night, Jiang mused and sighed deeply as well. he stepped out of the carriage and prepared to enter his tent for the time being but despite the fact that his body was still in the camp with the guards and maids sent to follow him to the palace, his thoughts where that of a person running into the endless darkness of the forest on foot, determined to change his fate, courageous and ready to face all obstacles he might come across.

Jiang knew he couldn't go far this way, he knew it will be hard for him to escape the elementals that will come to seek for his life but he had no choice but to try, he couldn't just wait around to be murdered, As the cold valley breeze hit him, Jiang discovered something. Something extremely astonishing. Something life-changing. Something that was startling, not to anyone else, but to Jiang himself

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