Phoenix Rise: XieRong

The Bai family left the shop soon after XieRong and FeiHong had promised ChuHua to come play with her in the capital, with the exception of the first young lord who stayed behind.

"First young lord Bai," XieRong addressed, picking up a dagger,"why isn’t this shop called the ’Bai Weapon Shop’?" XieRong asked, trying another dagger.

"Because this is my mother’s dowry. My father refused to let the Bai family have it as the shop is close to mother’s heart."

XieRong felt a little jealous of ChuHua who had a father who loved both, ChuHua and her mother dearly, but it soon subsided when she thought of her own little family: The old master, Hui Nuo, Hui Zhen, FeiHong and now even her paternal grandfather.

"FeiHong, have you decided which one you want?" XieRong asked.

She had already selected a light, curved, sharp dagger with a wooden hilt for herself.

"Jie, I want this black one," FeiHong said, giving her choice of dagger for XieRong to see.

XieRong felt the dagger in her hands. It wasn’t too heavy. Then she looked at her sister who was just one head shorter.

"This is a nice choice, FeiHong, but not for someone of your stature."

XieRong handed the dagger back to her sister.

The first young lord became interested.

"Why do you think this dagger is not suited to her?"

"FeiHong is one head shorter than me, her arms are shorter than mine too. If she is in danger, then her attack areas for grown men will be concentrated mostly at their legs and abdominal region. It’s best if she chooses a double edged small dagger, because with her current strength she should focus on escaping and tiring her enemies. If she can then she should try bleeding her enemies out by leaving a number of shallow injuries."

Young master Bai was impressed. Even he, a person who has been studying weapons, wouldn’t be able to explain as simply as this girl before him had, and she was three years younger than him.

"What about you, why did you choose your dagger."

"With my current abilities, even my priority is to defend myself first, but I can trap and use other things to hinder my enemies. So, I’ll mostly be using the dagger to go for the heart."

XieRong’s mother had taught her to how to think about how she could use a weapon to harm her enemy. She remembered her mother’s words when she had given XieRong her first dagger, ’XieRong, you may not know how to use a weapon, but you can always know how you are going to harm your enemy with it. Remember, a person’s strength lies not in the knowledge of how to use a weapon, but knowing best how to protect oneself with it.’

The first young lord Bai was thrilled that he would be travelling with such an interesting person. He would not be short of entertainment if she were around.

XieRong quickly purchased the weapons and followed after the young lord.

"Bai Shen, why did you make this prince wait for so long?" A boy said from atop his spiritual beast.

XieRong quickly removed her spatial ring and told FeiHong to put it in hers. Was this just a coincidence?

"And who are they? Why aren’t they greeting this prince?"

XieRong looked at the boy wearing a purple coat with designs stitched from golden thread.

He hadn’t been so haughty when she had been pulling him by the collar the other day.

’Interesting,’ XieRong thought.

XieRong looked at Bai Shen for help, who whispered, "He is the eighth prince, blood brother of the crown prince. He is famous for being spoilt and arrogant."

XieRong smiled. So her mother wasn’t the only one who had disguised her with a fake identity and reputation.

"BaiHua greets ninth prince."

"FeiHong greets ninth prince."

The eighth prince was stunned when both of the girls greeted him sincerely curtseying and bending their knees properly. Usually people greeted him just for formality because of his arrogant behaviour.

"Hmph, rise."

XieRong stood straight and met the boys eyes. He startled. How could there be such similarity between two people? He tried to school his expression like his brother had taught him.

"Bai Shen, you’re late!"

"No, young prince, you were a quarter Shi Chen early. The hour of the monkey just began."

"And this prince doesn’t care. Let’s leave now."

Young lord Bai sighed as he ordered the group to start walking. This was going to be a long journey.

When night arrived, the party set up camp in the plains.

XieRong and FeiHong huddled close by the fire as a strong wind blew past.

"FeiHong, Jie has somewhere she wants to take you tonight. Do you trust Jie?"

FeiHong nodded her head.

"Then close your eyes and keep your mind free of thoughts," XieRong said, taking her sister’s hand in hers and willing both of them into her spatial ring.

The space inside the ring was as neat as ever.

"Grandfather, we’ve come!"

XieRong looked around for her grandfather holding FeiHong’s hand.

"So you have," he said, fading in slowly.

"This granddaughter greets grandfather," she greeted, politely.

"No need for formalities between us," he said, waving his hand about.

"So, this is FeiHong," he said looking over FeiHong.

"FeiHong greets grandfather," FeiHong said looking at the old man in puzzlement.

"Jie, why is grandfather..."

"Alive? He isn’t. This is just a part of his spirit which he had trapped here."

"Come, let’s sit children. We have a lot to talk about."

XieRong told FeiHong and her grandfather everything from how she’d met the crown prince until how she had helped him.

"I see you take after your mother," grandfather said, at last.

"Your mother was one of the most intelligent woman I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in my life time. She possessed wisdom beyond her years. Sadly, she perished in the hands of my family."

XieRong patted her sister’s head who had been listening with rapt attention.

"XieRong, why don’t you go look around? Grandfather wants to talk to FeiHong alone."

XieRong left the table to explore more of the space thinking her grandfather wanted some time to bond with FeiHong.

The shelves in the space were arranged from newest to oldest. She had already explored the newer parts with grandfather so she went to start with the oldest.

She found many books on cultivation techniques which she moved to the newer section. XieRong moved anything that could be of use to her to the newer section while moving things she wouldn’t require for a while to the older one.

XieRong had just started reading a book when she felt a presence approach her body in the actual world.

"FeiHong, we need to leave!" she shouted urgently as she willed her consciousness back.

XieRong opened her eyes and got up.

"Eighth prince, it isn’t polite to sneak around when people are sleeping," she whispered, drawing her dagger close.

"You," he said,"who are you? Why do you look so similar to the girl who came a week ago?" He had his short sword pointed at XieRong.

"Hm, I’ll answer your question if you answer mine first. Did your brother send you here to keep an eye on me?"

"I asked first."

The air between the two turned tense.

"We’ll talk tomorrow, young prince. You should know better than anyone that there are always ears hunting for secrets in the dark. Go to sleep," XieRong said, moving the sword away with the back of her hand.

"This isn’t over," The prince warned, going back to his tent to sleep.