Chapter Four

Hai has turned her attention to the Water Dragon. She is now desperate to rise to the same level of footing as me. But no matter how hard she tries, she will never share the same sort of bloodline as I. Her father is not my father. My father's blood is what makes me different, is what makes me higher than the simple-minded humans. How Hai wishes that her father was my father. Our mother was infatuated with him. After he returned to the Underworld she went mad. She saw him in me. She began to think I was him. Oh how pitiful the last Empress had become. I was forced to kill her with my own hands before she became so obsessed with her own son.

And now Hai is following our mother's footsteps. Would I have to kill her too before this goes too far? Kin does not mind the idea for if Hai was gone, then he could become Emperor. They should be lucky I am not interested in that power for I could take it from them so easily. But I do not want to, not yet. This is much too entertaining. Father was right. Humans are such a greedy and miserable existence, a huge source of amusement for Demonic games and pranks that leave the humans screaming and wailing in despair and terror.


Sun Li stood in front of the grave of the previous Master of the school. The rain had stopped and weak light from the setting sun was straining through the clouds. Dawn Star and Yin Tian had been gone for a while now but despite their incredible skill, he still worried.

He gazed down at the grave with sad and silent eyes. "I wish I could have had your life," he whispered. "With no Imperial bloodline of the like. No matter how much I try to forget, I cannot. Some men can bury their pasts behind them but I . . . Yin Tian, she –" His hands suddenly balled into fists and he thumped it against the closest tree, briefly overwhelmed by anger and lingering horror before it faded back into the darkness of his Spirit. "She will always be a reminder, always forcing me to remember. What would you do, Master Tong, if you were in my position?"

Sun Li sighed and placed a flower on the grave. There were two other flowers here, beginning to lose their life as they had been placed a couple of days ago. Nevertheless, Sun Li smiled faintly. Yin Tian and Dawn Star would have placed them there. They always had done so every seven days since they could start understanding the concept of caring for others, which was around when they were both five. They would come to place a flower each on Master Tong's grave to thank them for this school which was their home.

He took a step back, clapped three times and bowed, sending a silent prayer of thanks himself. This school was also his home. It was so different to his hectic and political life back in the Imperial City. Here it was calm and quiet. He could rest.

Gao however ruined that. He took pleasure in rebelling against Master Li. It irritated Master Li to no end. The man was so cocky, so arrogant, just like his pirate father. But unlike his father, Gao had no reputation, he was weak, living off his father's back, wealth and fame.

Gao the Greater was an impressive man, truly showing Master Li the greed that people were capable of. He had dealt with him before in the past. Gao the Lesser was still a babe at the time. How quickly they grew.

But Master Li did not. The Lotus Assassin at the beach made that quite clear. His excuse was simply staying fit and looking after the body. No one seemed suspicious and if they were then they did not show it. All the villagers liked him.

His heart beat unsteadily and he placed a hand over his chest, frowning. Something ill was being blown on the wind. The Lotus Assassin reminded him that his sense of safety was false. He never thought he would be found. But the Lotus Assassin was now dead. There were no survivors to report back to Empress Hai. The only one who knew of his identity was Yin Tian, and she was someone who would take her secrets to the grave.

: . . . Master Li . . .!

He looked up, feeling strange, slurred fright split his heart. Sun Li glanced about but there was no one nearby to have called him. He frowned and took a few more steps back. It sounded like Yin Tian. However . . . she should not be back yet, and the call was in his mind.

It was something he could still not understand. The two had a mental connection of sorts. Sun Li was aware of it but she was not. The fright in his heart was not his. It was hers.

A scream yanked his attention down the hill towards the school. It was a scream of terror, before it was then cut off abruptly. His chest tightened. Something did not feel right at all.

He dashed into the school using his Focus which to him, turned his world grey and slow, when to the observer, he moved thrice as fast for time in fact sped up for him. He skidded to a stop in the school and looked ahead of him in mortified horror.

Lotus Assassins. They were here, in Two Rivers. They began to set fire to the buildings and the students fought as hard as they could for survival. In the sky, their air rumbled with the roar of airships and towards the village, explosions of fire boomed, making the ground shake and pillars of cloying smoke puffed into the air.

"No," he whispered. How? How did they find him?

Furious and terrified, he jumped into the battle and took down a dozen of Lotus Assassins within seconds, giving some of his students a chance to step back.

"Kia Min!" He shouted.

"Yes, Master Li!"

"Go to the village and save as many lives as you can. Do not come back. You must lead them to safety!"

Kia Min's eyes widened and she gazed at her Master, eyes filling with tears and she nodded. "Yes Master Li. I will save as many as I can!"

She dashed off through the hidden and secluded paths, carrying her staff firmly in her hands and Sun Li watched her go with a sinking and sorrowful heart. He had to hope she would succeed but, he knew in his heart he would not see his skilled student again.

With Kia Min, the cowardly fled, but most of them stayed. They trembled with fear, yet their expressions were set in stubborn determination. He wanted them all to flee.

"Go!" He ordered them. "They are not enemies you can handle!"

"Just this once, we will disobey you, Master Li," Jing Wu said firmly. "We cannot abandon the school you have worked so hard for. We cannot abandon this home. We have to hold out long enough for Yin Tian and Dawn Star to arrive!"

Sun Li ground his teeth together. The students rallied behind Jing Wu when Yin Tian was not around. He was the second role model. Before Sun Li could get a chance to repeat his command, the Lotus Assassins pounced with deadly speed and ferocity, scattering the students so Sun Li could not protect them in one bulk.

Inside, he was screaming.

"Not even you can save all of these people by yourself, Prince Sun Li."

Sun Li stiffened and he felt his heart sink. He turned around at the woman's deep voice. Behind him, a woman stood, clad in the Assassin's robes of the highest position. Her black hair was lined with white and grey, tied back into a bun. A white mask hid her face, but Sun Li knew exactly who she was. She had been the one only second in power to himself within the Lotus Assassins.

"Grand Inquisitor Jia . . . how did you find me?"

"Gao the Lesser informed his father who then informed me," she said. The school burned around them, the air beating with heat. The students cried and grunted as they fought. But they were inexperienced compared to the trained killers of the Lotus Assassins. One by one, they fell.

Sun Li's jaw clenched. It was Gao? Again? His hate and anger for the young man peaked. When did he hear?

He must have followed us when I told Yin Tian, he thought in terrible dismay. He had been too careless.

"You hid well, Your Highness," she praised. "But you have been found now."

Sun Li straightened, his eyes and expression falling back into the cold demeanour he thought he had left behind. He resurrected a part of the man he once was.

"You cannot imprison me, Jia," he said back to her, his voice like ice.

"I know," she agreed. "But Death's Hand can." She looked past him and Sun Li turned. There was no Death's Hand twenty years ago. This figure had appeared after the massacre at Dirge. He had heard rumours though, of a figure clad in armour as black as the night sky, of a figure with no mercy and unstoppable combat abilities, of a figure who was said to be Death's right hand – the Will of the Empress.

Behind him, there was such a figure, even though he was the same height as Sun Li, Death's Hand appeared to loom and tower over him. The evil and power that wafted from this . . . this monstrosity was so heavy and cloying that Sun Li himself was struggling to keep his concentration.

But it was something else that stunned him. Death's Hand wore armour as black as the voids, wearing a full black mask and helmet that covered his face and head, his eyes and mouth hidden in black shadow. It was the armour that represented one so terrifying and so evil, so powerful that no mortal could stop him.

It was once Sun Li's armour. Armour that he had discarded as he fled Dirge and his insane, now Divine, sister. Now, someone was bound to that armour, body and Spirit – a fate worse than death itself.

"Kin," Sun Li gasped.

What happened after he fled Dirge?

Death's Hand reached out and instantly Sun Li swiped his arm up, a line of fire swooping at the motion. The big gloved hand caught his wrist with crushing strength and Sun Li's eyes widened in dismay. His fire spluttered, his power over the destructive element was sealed and he stared at Death's Hand in horror. What –?

Agony split his skull and he brought in a sharp breath. Nightmares and memories tore their way through the darkness where he had tried to bury them. Blood. So much blood. Screaming, wailing, howling, weeping.

He saw Empress Hai.

"I bestow some of my Godly power to you, my Will. Use it to seal Li's power. He cannot fight against a God, even if he is the son of the Greatest Demon in the Underworld. Use this power and bring Li to me!"

Sun Li's eyes began to darken as his conscious slipped away from him like water through his fingers.

"Curse you . . ." he hissed.

His last thought before he fell into darkness was how grateful he was that Yin Tian and Dawn Star were not here.


The three of them landed the Flyer in silence, descending through the sea of thick, black smoke onto the beach.

"The village," Dawn Star whimpered, covering her mouth with her hands, leaving Yin Tian and Zu to land the Flyer. Yin Tian shared her dismay and impending dread with silence.

"We will need to cover our mouths and noses," Zu advised. The three of them were still trembling and sweating from the stress of the flight as they ripped pieces off their clothing and wrapped it around their mouths and noses against the acrid reek of smoke.

Zu opened the door and jumped out, followed by Yin Tian and Dawn Star who leapt nimbly down. The air beat with heat. Yin Tian glanced around her, feeling her heart sink at the dead bodies of the villagers trying to escape littered across the sands. Everything was red and silent, save for the crackle of flames. There was no screaming like Yin Tian was expecting.

She and Dawn Star shared a dreadful glance. Were they too late?

"Do not expect any survivors," Zu warned them. "The banners on the Flyers and air ships were the Lotus Assassins. They leave none alive to tell the tale."

Yin Tian's jaw clenched and she dashed on ahead. Zu had to be lying. There had to be survivors! Master Li was so strong. He had to have been able to stop it. There was also Smiling Mountain and Master Gujin, and Jing Wu and Kia Min! The four of them would have been able to do something!

They ran up to the entrance. There was the sound of fighting on the other side and they burst through. Kia Min jabbed to death what looked like two pirates from Gao the Greater. Behind her were a group of cowering villagers, burnt and silent in fear, so much so that they could not even weep.

"Kia Min!" Yin Tian shouted. The girl looked up, grief as well as relief flooding across her expression.

"Yin Tian!" She cried. "The school! Master Li sent me to save as many villagers as I can."

Yin Tian nodded, Kia Min's grief was sweeping through into her. But tears were already beginning to sting Yin Tian's eyes. She took out her pouch of silver and handed it to her.

"Flee this place. Two Rivers is no more."

Kia Min wiped the fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. They knew they would never see each other again.

"Good bye, Yin Tian, Dawn Star. I hope we find each other again soon in the future," she said, her voice thick with tears but she smiled. Yin Tian's heart felt like it was being squeezed and she hugged her friend briefly before letting go.

"Be careful."

Kia Min nodded and led the villagers out. They passed a familiar figure on the floor who Dawn Star stared at in despair. Master Gujin lay on the floor, his big belly agape as if someone had plunged their hand in and ripped out his organs. His eyes were still open.

"Monsters," Dawn Star whispered.

"Quickly," Zu hurried and Yin Tian looked away, squeezing her eyes shut before opening them again. Master Gujin was not the only one who was dead. Other villagers lay dead. Limbs scattered the courtyards, blood pooled down the stairs like some kind of waterfall. Rubble had tumbled down over many of the villagers from collapsed building, crushing them beneath as fire consumed them.

Yin Tian pulled dawn Star away and they hurried through the smoke to the school, leaping over fallen timbers and trees and kicking rubble and tiles out of their way. Yin Tian's dread only increased further. There were no sounds of anyone. More dead bodies lay across their path and Yin Tian began to feel sick, pressing the cloth to her nose and mouth.

They ran in through the front gates of the school. The buildings cracked as the fire ate through them. Students were strewn across the grounds, dead with their limbs twisted at hideous angles.

"Why?" Yin Tian's voice was barely audible. Dawn Star darted in between the students and so did Yin Tian, praying with all her heart to find one of them still alive.

"It is useless," Zu said grimly. "This is the work of the Lotus Assassins. I recognise this style of massacre. There will be no one left. The student in the village with the villagers is extremely lucky to still be alive."

Yin Tian ignored him. "Master Li! Jing Wu!" She yelled, bordering on crying as the horror and panic was sinking in to her heart. Smiling Mountain was dead and behind him were some of the younger or newer students, in the same state as he. The air stank of blood and burnt flesh. Death hung heavily above them all.

Master Li did not answer her call. His house was nothing but collapsed timber, charred black by fire. The pain and terror that clutched her heart was agonising. Where was her Master? She knew where her friends were. They were all dead around her!

The back of her neck prickled with the feeling of a gaze and she turned around. Her eyes landed on a student on the other side of the arena. He lay on the floor, barely moving but his exhausted eyes were awake.

"Jing Wu!" Yin Tian gasped, snapping Dawn Star's attention to her. They hurried to his side.

"What happened?" Dawn Star asked him despairingly while Yin Tian hovered her palms over his body. There were no visible signs of injury but blood was tricking down from the corners of his mouth. His breathing was shallow and laboured with pain. With her Chi, Yin Tian felt what was wrong with him and she lowered her hands to her lap in despair. He was dying of severe internal bleeding.

"They came without warning," Jing Wu croaked. "Wearing armour of black, red and gold. Their skin was so pale. They were so silent, killing so swiftly. There was a woman who led them, wearing a mask of white. She obeyed only one other, a man in the blackest armour I have ever seen, so black it was like the voids. The man in black did something to Master Li , sent him unconscious. They . . . they took him."

Yin Tian struggled to keep her tears at bay.

"Rest now," Dawn Star murmured soothingly. "They are all gone. Kia Min managed to get some of the villagers out."

Jin Wu smiled weakly in mild relief before he coughed once. More blood trickled from his mouth and his expression distorted into one of agony.

"Yin Tian . . . I am sorry . . . I failed . . ."

Yin Tian forced herself to smile, a tear fell down her cheek and she took his cold hand in hers. "It is alright, Jing Wu. I will avenge everyone who died here. I will save Master Li."

Jing Wu smiled again, a tear of his own escaping his control. "I can now rest, knowing you will avenge us all . . . save Master Li . . ."

His chest rose one last time, and his dying breath sighed out, filled with the burden and guilt he had passed onto Yin Tian to carry.

Dawn Star closed his eyes and stood, sniffing and Yin Tian followed. "I guess Master Li really is the Glorious Strategist," Dawn Star said, her voice thick.

"This is the first time his strategy has failed," Zu murmured. "It has been impeccable for so long but Gao the Lesser betrayed him."

"You knew Master Li's identity?" Yin Tian asked flatly, bringing her heavy eyes up to Zu's.

He sighed grimly. "I once served him, over twenty years ago. I was a Lotus Assassin."

Twenty years ago. Yin Tian recalled Master Li's words. He had been a very different person twenty years ago. A man of pure evil. Some of that darkness still existed – it was something Yin Tian had never wanted to acknowledge – until the bandit attack on the beach.

"Hence why you knew it was the Lotus Assassins who attacked," Dawn Star realised quietly.

Zu nodded. "That student was strong to have survived for as long as he did. The two figures he spoke of are Grand Inquisitor Jia and Death's Hand. Death's Hand is a figure that has risen only within the last twenty years. He was not our leader in the past, but I have heard the rumours surrounding him. Of course both of them would be here to retrieve Sun Li. Jia would have recognised him instantly."

"Because he does not age," Yin Tian said softly. Zu shot her a surprised look, surprised that she knew. She just shrugged. "Of course I would notice. I have been with him for twenty years, ever since he saved me from the massacre of Dirge."

Both of them gasped.

Of course, Yin Tian realised. Dawn Star does not know yet.

"You are a Spirit Monk?" Zu asked in disbelief. "That is not possible. There were no survivors. They all died."

"Were you there?" Yin Tian's voice was tight. Did Zu assist in the destruction of her homeland?

His expression hardened. "No. I was at the capital dealing with another crisis."

"Was that what master Li wanted to talk to you about?" Dawn Star asked her quietly.

Yin Tian nodded. "I will explain in more detail later. For now, we should leave this place. Two Rivers is gone."

"Where to?" Zu shot the question out.

"The Imperial City," Yin Tian hissed under her breath, feeling her blood boil with freezing rage and grief at the tragedy of what had happened today.

"Pursuing the Lotus Assassins is suicide," Zu stated plainly as Yin Tian took the lead, back through the burning village to the Flyer on the beach.

"I am not pursing the Lotus Assassins," Yin Tian muttered, her voice tight. "I am pursuing Master Li and Death's Hand. I will avenge the people of Two Rivers!"

Zu grabbed her arm. "You are a fool if you think you can stand a chance against Death's Hand."

Yin Tian looked at him with a level, icy stare. "I will worry about that later. First I just want to reach the Imperial City. There is no harm with doing that. Once we arrive, then I will think of a plan."

Zu returned her level gaze, but Yin Tian would not back down. This man's eyes were dark and deep, filled with secrets and mysteries. But he would not frighten her. In the end, he let go of her arm.

"You will not go alone," Dawn Star said softly, touching Yin Tian's shoulder comfortingly. "I will follow you. I will share the vengeance you search for."

Zu exhaled slowly. "Very well. I too, will go with you. Prince Sun Li has changed considerably from the man I once knew. Living as an outlaw in the marshes is fruitless. I will watch and see how you go about your quest, Spirit Monk."