Of ink and Hope

She was tired, hurt and bleeding. Her legs were sore and sluggish from having run for days without rest, the poison coursing through her veins was not helping either. She could feel it trying to eat at her core, sapping at her already meager reserves with each beat of her heart, her mind fogging with every breath she took.

'Damn bastards, not going to let me go that easily, are you? Hehehe... good.' She looks around, feeling her pursuers' presence slowly catching up to her, wary. The thought brought a smile to her scarred face, her numb lips twitching upward before she schooled herself again.

'Now's not the time to bask. There's still ... three of them left? Should be doable if i manage to purge my blood in the next minute.' The woman looks down at herself, her hands bloodied, nails ripped way and cauterised, her left arm hanging in the wind along side her stained black robe.

The once pristine black and red robes of The Blood Demon cult are now ripped in various places, despite the mythical nature of its fabric. Stains of blood and dirt marred what remained of the clothing, stains that were signs of her struggle for freedom. And yet, the red teary eye icon on her torso, served as a reminder, reminder of her former allegiance, one she didn't choose, one she never wanted.

Biting on her molars, she cracked what little repairs her body had made, as a surge a pain radiated through her head, pain that helped her focus. She looked on, brushing her old friend aside as it lanced through her body, helping her remember that she was alive. And being alive meant that she could do something about it, anything. Surrounding her were tall evergreen trees, the high winds of the mountain swaying the old giants. she could hear it, down low, the roaring waters of the Siwang river. Allowing herself take in the gorgeous sight, she breathed out, her mind turning inward.

"Well well well, if it isn't the traitor herself. Did you really think you could act the way you did and not pay the price?" The voice was full of snark and entitlement, one that filled her body with intense disgust.

"traitor? Is that what you are calling me Xurong? truly? hah! Don't make me laugh, you know full well that Elder Meng would be executed on the spot if the Blood demon were to learn of his dealings." Lu Huan struggled to speak, her voice projected with the last dregs of her energy. Increasing the strain on her body and blood vessels as she glared at the large man, his spear firmly planted in the ground as he too glared back.

"What the Blood Demon doesn't know can't anger him." Another man appear from behind a tree, this one was young, younger than her even.

"Silence, you two talk too much, idiots. kill her fast, lest she find another way to run." The third pursuer, and admittedly the sole reason they could track her made himself known. His old weary body coalescing from the shades, his eyes cold and devoid of anything except for his duty.

"So that's it? Elder Meng and a few other weakling are colluding against the Blood demon? Hoping to do what exactly?"

"Quiet wench! Like someone like you would know anything, you’ve never stayed at the bottom of the ladder like the rest of us, this is our only chan-." The second man voice's was abruptly cut off as the flesh around his face bubbled red, soon covering his lips and sealing his mouth shut. Young man keeled over, his hands clawing at his face with despair as his eyes are filled with gut-wrenching fear. But the nauseous looking scab kept itself there growing back and back again, keeping him silent.

"You reap what you sow. I can't believe the likes of him survived this long." The old man spat, pity and frustration in his gaze, Shaking his head, he looks back at his target, his hand closing around his sword's handle.

"We can do it in two ways young Lu, comply and receive a swift death or drag it out and become a cripple for the surrounding bandits to enjoy. Your choice." With poise, he ignore the gruesome show taking place beside him that even Xurong can't drag himself away from.

"C-captain, shouldn't you lift Qingrou curse first?" Xurong, ever the yellow bellied man was pallid at his fellow cult member's fate.

Not even bothering to look, the old captain of the bloodhound sighs:

"Right. The elder would have my skin for not giving our all." And with a snap of his finger, Qingrou breathe again, tears covering his face as he blackout.

"Quite the team you have at your side Captain, but i guess i will take my chances anyways."

"As i hoped you would, please entertain me enough to make this whole chase somewhat worth it." The predatory smile the veteran had found a copy on the prey's face. This alerted him as Xurong threw himself head first into battle, too fast for him to warn.

"DIE!"

His energy fuelled dash got him close enough for his spear to draw a downward arc where the woman stood, not understanding why she smiled as he did so. This angered him as he put even more of his Ki into weapon. Using his whole body, from the sole of his feet on the ground, up through his ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, elbows and out through his wrists. Each ligaments and articulation tensing in a practised manner, adding more and more speed and strength to his blow.

Yet the blade didn't cut the woman, no. it didn't even nick her bruised palm. How she caught his spear with her broken arm, he didn't know, and that confused the spearman, but more than that it angered him.

Lu Huan smiled, the discombobulated look of this pest of a man pleased her.

"Thank you for this generous gift, little Xu. Here, let me give you one in return." she moved, silent, her body gliding across the forest soil like a ghost. Her feet landing on his lower belly in such a harmless way that the following impact surprised everyone.

"GUHHH" The mountain of a man skidded on the dirt like a smooth stone skipping on water.

"Sorry about that old man, I intented to give it to you, but it became rather difficult to keep it a surprise you see?"

"Do you have no honour? You keep refusing to not give us face even when faced with inescapable death? I understand what the young lady saw in you, quite the fierce beast you are, yet one she failed to tame, one that needs to be put down."

"Yet you still talk and parade like the buffoon you serv-!" Lu Huan throws herself to the side, a large crater still crackling with red energy adorning the place she was moments prior.

"There we go." The battle started, as the old man was now upon her, his own blade reared back in a lunge.

'That's too obvious, even for me.' She steps hard on the ground, shattering it and making the experienced fighter loose his footing.

Making use of the advanced footwork she copied from others, she pulled herself away and off center from his direction. The poised and calm mask of the captain cracked, his brows twitching in frustration.

“How do you know the blood wraith soundless hunts?! That technique isn't for the likes of you to have! Not only you dared to kill higher ranking cult members, you don't give face to your elders but you also steal from the cult's most prized techniques!” His face was red, anger starting to get ahold of him.

“Wouldn't you like to know?” Her voices echoes through the woods around them as body dissipate.

“HOW DO YOU HAVE SO MUCH KI LEFT!” The once zealous and self assured man was starting to feel something growing inside of him.

“Do I really, now?” The voice came from everywhere at once, harmonising in an uncaring tone.

Lu Huan was hidden behind one of the many evergreen trees. Her body much lighter than before as the strain of the enduring devil technique was being smoothed out by the flow of ki she allowed through herself.

“There you are. Like a fawn lost in the dark, no use in hiding girl. The blood on your body condemns you, and i will see Elder Meng's order through.” The simple, undecorated sword flew in from the side aimed at her neck to skewer her.

She disappeared again. This time closer and in plain sight, the spear held in a high guard, taking a low stance to help balance the weapon.

Her flesh was ever so slowly mending itself as the pain fed into the converter. She bite down hard, another spike of pain going through her body and mind, as her soul surged with burning energy. Accelerating everything.

‘i have to end this quick, i can barely keep eyes open from the fatigue. ’ Lu Huan forced her left arm once more, her veins, both mundane and otherwise are about to rupture.

Gritting her teeth. She walked to the forward, her steps turning into measured stride, each increasing her velocity as she ran towards the man.

Her opponent has been ready to receive her, seeing the miserable state and despair she was in, but what she has been capable of. The torn limbs and gory mess that were once his underling was a dead giveaway how the woman's will to exist and survive.

'A cornered beast is the deadliest, as even a rat will bite when cornered. But how does she still have access to her Ki with the energy dispelling poison flowing through her body, how is she generating ki?! What kind of mad woman is she to cultivate in the midst of battle!’ he swallows hard, knowing he was outmatched. Even if he has more experience, the sheer brutality backed up by a continual stream of Ki gave her better odds.

Odds he didn't like.

'There's no way around this.' Accepting his fate, he follows after her, his body moving faster than his mind, knowing what he has to do to catch up to her and finish his mission.

“ Are you really going to ignite your core? At your age? I would have expected you to have other priorities.” She stopped by the cliff, trying her best to hide her glee as her plan had worked.

They crossed blades. The tip of her spear parried by his sword, yet her onslaught kept him on the back foot as she controlled the pace and direction of the skirmishes.

“ You know nothing about loyalty brat, and I do not expect a former slave to do so.” He became more erratic, his face growing more flush as she forced him to pay attention to her weapon.

“ Hugging the elder’s thighs until the end, heh? go ahead, i don’t think you’ll be received as well as you think you do, should you survive that is." Her taunt finding purchase in her would be executioner's mind, growing more and more emotive and erratic.

She grinned behind her mask of desperation. Moving to the planned position. She got into her stance, her spear held in a long overhead guard point aimed at his heart, her left arm's nerves in agony as she postured.

“Come if you dare.” she taunts once more, her own body and inner energy coiled tight, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

The old man blurs forward, forcing his way into her range, his myriad blood steps carrying him in front of her as his hands shot forward.

Lu Huan managed to stab him as he got closer, yet he had somehow pushed through, his hands about to wrap around her neck. Seeing the resolute smile of a dead man on her opponent's face as his eyes started glowing, she grinned. Something he only noticed after he had pushed his crystallised core to explode. Unleashing all his hard earned ki out of its shell and into a deadly blast as his body ballooning up with wild surges of power.

“Sorry old man, i never intended to play fair.” she unleashes her strength, sending him flying back with a gust of misty red wind. The older cultivator’s face twists in bewilderment as a radiant flash of light engulfs him, his core exploding in mid-air.

But the blast radius was larger than she had expected as she flew back, before gravity's grasp drag her down the cliff.

Lu Huan woke up much later, her body still as sore and battered as before, yet this time she was also burnt, her brows singed at the edges.

Yet, she is cold. Cold and drenched, feeling something lapping at her body again and again.

'Where am I ?' her brain catches onto the discomfort, her body instinctively spits out water from her lungs as she sits up. Retching out water and blood alike, her aching body trembling as she does so.

'A few ribs broken, a fractured shoulder. What else? frayed Veins in my left arms… i Hope i don’t have to amputate myself in the middle of nowhere.” she drag herself to her feet, wincing in pain.

Yet the pain was welcome. Something that comforted her as much as she despised it. And yet, the trigrams formation grafted on her soul didn't care, absorbing it all the same, transforming it into even more ki for her.

‘Even now it still works as if nothing happened, damn bastards' prototype kept me alive longer than expected, and now it's about to kill me. Hells, this is the worst place to have a Ki deviation. I have to keep in mind not to use my left arm, i don't want my arm to end like Elder Meng's old dog." She started to cool her mind, forming a plan to survive as she powers her limbs with the mystical energy threatening to overflow.

With her Ki now coursing through her, she opened her eyes, her sight clearing up, helping her take in her surroundings.

She had washed up on a riverbank made of gravels, all around stood large grassy hills that the starry night sky illuminated with soft silver hue. She took a moment of pause to admire the view, something about it was making her feel oddly at ease.

Now understanding why her back was hurting despite not having taken any blows there, she gets up, her knees trembling despite her Ki's help.

She groans, tilting her body to the side and flexing her hips muscles, bringing her right leg forward in a clumsy stomp. Then doing the same for her left leg, powering through the fatigue and soreness, ignoring the many scabs and wounds she reopened doing so.

Lumbering on her feet up the hill, the odd feeling in her mind intensified, memories from long ago resurfacing. Then, once at the peak of this strange, sunken hilltop, she found herself overlooking a familiar sight: Home.

Or at least what became of it, the people had rebuilt after the attack, and were thriving once more, or at least the peaceful looking village suggested so.

‘How long has it been? 9 years? that's, that's too longue.' she looked down at herself.

She no longer was the naive 9 years old girl running the hills and fields around, playing around with her neighbours. She doubted someone would even recognise her.

'I better change outfits. Or at least destroy the demonic sect’s emblem. This is the last place where i want to be associated with the demonic faction, in case someone does recognise me.'

The once black and red tunics emblazoned with the mark of the Blood Demon are now nothing more than shredded and defiled rags.

Coating her right hand in a thin film of energy. she cuts away the emblems: a red teary eye. It was no longer something she wished to be part of or even associated with.

Staring at the fallen mark, painful memories resurface, from her time as a slave. To being a testing dummy. To HER, letting that woman control so much of her life.

Pointing a finger a it, she send a spark of energy, lighting the fabric on fire as she sit back down on the edge of the round concave depression.

"What am i going to do with my life now? If i even managed to stay alive, that be a miracle..."

She soon started to shiver, her body getting colder despite the stream of energy she generate.

'I have lost too much blood, and it has been... What? three days? Five? Since the last grain balls and pill stopped working. No wonder. '

She was ready to die, part of her dream accomplished. She had managed to see her home once more, and to see it thriving even.

'The village looks peaceful, the homes are whole and unmarred by fire. The fields look to be ready for harvest as well? I don't even remember my mother's face, or the sound of her voice... Does it matter if I go back? Do I even deserve it?'

Then, a deeply saturated purple light pulled her attention away from her dying mind. A large purple aperture floats in front of her, stars and waves made of light shimmer through as someone walks out of it. The large glowing construct then fizzle out and disappears as the person crouches down and starts sobbing.

"Can't even die in peace, i swear." Lu Huan mutters, her tired voice barely above a whisper as then she clears her throat, scaring the interloper.

"AH! SORRY" they turned around, revealing to Lu Huan who they were.

Their face was different from what she was used to, somehow reminiscent of the northerners. Yet it was their clothing that told her they truly were a foreigner. A large vestment similar to her own taoist garb yet somehow made with a different scope in mind. It was wrapped loosely around her body with a hood, and ample baggy pants that end up wrapped tight around her shins. Both were shimmering between black and purple glimmer.

"Hel-HEAVENS! YOU ARE BLEEDING OUT! are you alright? Please don't die on me. Right! I can help you just don't move." The person, a scaredy woman, started speaking faster than Lu Huan's tired mind could process. And she kept speaking as a large flow of dense and dark mist started leaking from her body.

Lu Huan eyes shot wide open, witnessing something she had only seen done by the Blood Demon. The massive quantities of energy the much smaller woman was producing woke her right up. It was gut-wrenching as she felt such a vivid fear and dread for the first time in a while.

The woman looked to be her age, perhaps a bit younger than her. Yet she exhibited strength and control that are only found in centuries old monsters.

She scrambled to her feet, her mind is still conflicted between fighting or fleeing. That was when she started having sensation back in her left arm, feeling her ribs mending.

" What are you?"