Morning came to the city of Yemen. Exhausted soldiers were scavenging the littered battlefield full of corpses for better weapons and armour. The enemies Han provisions and supplies were of high quality than theirs and they could use all the help they could get. Other soldiers though were having their wounds healed. Mitsuko and her soldiers proved their worth to the citizens and soldiers of the bandit queen as they expressed their gratitude towards them for aiding with the defence of the city. In the main hall however Mitsuko and her officers minus Gyuki who was in the middle of being adored by many people including children who were playing around as they climbed him. His victory over the frightful amalgamation earned the trust of the people of Yemen. Standing in the throne room was Lu Zheng, Gai Shu on both sides of the throne along with Zheng Jiang sitting on it, however her breathing was noticeably heavier as she clutched to her stomach.

'My lady is it wise for you to return to your duties so soon? I mean our daughter-'

'I may be a mother now but I still have my duties to my people. I can't afford to wait for long. Now. Status report.' Zheng Jiang interrupted Gai Shu and looked towards Lu Zheng who bowed while keeping her face concealed behind a fan.

'My lady, salvaging operations are underway. We managed to scavenge quite a lot of supplies from our enemies to outfit our soldiers. Fortunately thanks to our defensible position and our allies we managed many soldiers were able to be spared and live to fight another day. I've had scouts deployed to keep an eye on the enemy in case they try another assault. I also believe our allies had managed to capture one of the enemy's special forces.' Lu Zheng explained as she turned her gaze towards Mitsuko's crew before Pang Tong cleared his throat.

'Hehe, indeed we have my lady. We put him away from the capital until further notice. Our intention is to get as much information as we can before we dispose of him. Executing someone like that one and sending the remains back is sure to cause a small amount of demoralisation considering his value and the threat he pertained towards lady Mitsuko of course.'

'And what kind of information are you planning to obtain?'

'Defence levels, structure of the army, their goals and objectives that kind of thing. After all the more knowledge we have the better we can prepare and act. I don't believe this will take too long however. The enemy itself must feel demoralised due to their overwhelming numbers essentially meaning nothing when our giant behemoth overcame theirs. They know we can go after them whenever we want. Once they spread the news of the defeat, it will be like an infection. Though I would recommend we regain our composure first before we move out as soon as possible. We cannot allow the infection to be treated which they will do, I recommend once our troops have recovered, we move out at once. Momentum is on our side after all.' Pang Tong advised.

'That is an easy thing for you to say strategist, but you are not the one in charge of people's lives.' The bandit queen replied. Lu Zheng turned her head towards her sworn sister.

'My lady?'

'That is to say we need to wait until we see what information becomes available, I trust lady Mitsuko your strategist will share all the information he would gather.' Mitsuko nodded.

'Of course. We'll let you know as soon as the information is extracted.'

'Good…glad to hear it. We'll reconvene once you get the information' Zheng Jiang dismissed Mitsuko and her officers as she and hers made their way deeper into the palace. Mitsuko and her officers retreated from the main hall and exited the palace.

'Heh well that seemed to go well. Though don't you think she looked a bit tired.' Pang Tong asked when they were away from the palace.

'She did recently just give birth. You should cut her some slack.' Mitsuko advised defending the queen, she could only imagine what giving birth felt like. Sounded painful to her. Pang Tong chuckled.

'Perhaps, perhaps. In any event we should still be vigilant for any more infiltrators. We really should prepare our forces to move out once they have been fully rested as soon as possible, if not at least vigilant.'

'Do you think the queen will uphold her end of the bargain?' LingQi asked.

'What makes you say that?' Mitsuko questioned.

'Well as you said the queen has just recently given birth so her body will take more time to recover. It's unlikely she wouldn't want to assault the capital herself given the situation.'

'Quite, she seemed to be prideful, she may want to delay it for one reason or another while trying to appear strong when in reality she's just not ready.' Diamondback suggested. Mitsuko thought about this carefully. The more she thought about it the more the bandit queen did seem a bit off during that council. However, the more she thought about it the more she chalked it up to her being exhausted after giving birth.

Deeper in the palace Zheng Jiang mad her way to her child's room who was sleeping while wrapped in a pure white blanket. She picked her up and held her close as she sat down on a chair.

'How is she?' She heard someone familiar whisper. Zheng Jiang turned to the doorway to see Lu Zheng as she let herself in.

'She's fine. After crying so long I was starting to wonder if she would ever rest.'

'Reminds me of someone I knew quite a while back. Oh man she would just never sleep and keep on working despite being told by other people to not.' Lu Zheng smirked at the memory while Zheng Jiang chuckled at it.

'Hey At least I let you all sleep.'

'Oh really? Do you want me to bring up the time when you heard something so you woke us up as you thought we were being spied on when in fact it was a just a deer?' They both laughed at the memory.

'Hey, we needed to be prepared, better to be prepared for nothing than not.' The small laughter died as Zheng Jiang's smile turned into a frown as she looked at her sleeping daughter.

'You know lady Mitsuko and her strategist is right. We need to be on the offensive and soon. Zhang Yan knows where we are now, it'll only be a matter of time before he assaults us again and next time, we may not have the serpent to assist us.' Lu Zheng

'I know that don't worry. Once we get the information extracted from our prisoner we can attack.' Zheng Jiang responded avoiding looking at her sworn sister.

'Will you though? I know that look of reluctance now. If it's your daughter you're worried about you must know delaying the attack will only endanger her further. You know everyone will protect her with their lives. Or we can take her with us if you want if you're concerned over her safety.'

'Even if we do get on the offensive, they'll have the advantage of numbers and a defensible position. If we go there soon I fear we won't be able to succeed.' Lu Zheng leant in closer as Zheng Jiang was still avoiding her gaze. Focusing it on her sleeping daughter.

'Look…I miss her as well but she's gone. She has been gone for a while. She would not want you to keep on going like this.' Zheng Jiang had a furious look in her eyes as she glared at Lu Zheng.

'Don't you dare try and pull that on me.'

'Am I wrong though? We both know you're playing passive to avoid any confrontation. The Zheng Jiang I knew would go on the offense as soon as she was able to.' Zheng Jiang put her daughter down and motioned Lu zheng to follow her outside of the room. Still avoiding her gaze. Though as they left, Zheng Jiang immediately glared at Lu Zheng and raised her voice as she shut the door to her daughter's room.

'I'm trying to keep our people alive! You act like that's a crime.' She released her frustration onto Lu Zheng who didn't expect it to come out like once but regained her composure.

'You know deep down the best way to do that would be for us to go on the offensive and at least try. What happened to the bandit queen that led us to take this city in the first place? What happened to her drive?'

'She died a long time ago you happy!?' Zheng Jiang shouted at her, taking Lu Zheng aback. Zheng Jiang had a look of regret in her eyes as she took a step back.

'She…died alongside Gai Li where she belonged. Only Zheng Jiang remains now. The leader that wants her people to live.' She glanced down to the ground. Lu Zheng took a step closer.

'No, she isn't. She's still there, I know she is. Ever since I told you about the serpent entering our land and her intentions, I saw the bandit queen in there after so long. I know she's still there. The bandit queen that was going and still can lead to the Tai Dominion to destroy the Han. Its not too late to change your mind, I know she's getting through to you, otherwise why would you bother forming an alliance with her.' Lu Zheng stated. Confident in her reasoning, she keeps seeing glimpses of the old Zheng Jiang when Mitsuko arrived. She just needs to take that final step she thought to herself.

'I didn't think they were actually going to be successful. I thought it would take them a longer time. I thought she would've left us after that and we could go on like normal. I didn't anticipate any of this happening.' Zheng Jiang replied defensively.

'C'mon, you know that's a lie, you know deep down you're glad she came here and is doing her damndest to get you back out there doing what you did best. What are you afraid of?' Lu Zheng asked. Zheng Jiang couldn't answer, she kept her head down and avoided her gaze. She stayed silent as she started to open the door with her left hand. Before she walked inside, she glanced at Lu Zheng.

'Failure to protect the people I care about again.' She whispered before she went back inside. As the door shut behind her Lu Zheng sighed heavily as she leant against the wall next to the door and knocked her head softly on it. Lu Zheng felt so frustrated with everything. She didn't say anything over the last year or so as to not cause conflict, it was the last thing Zheng Jiang needed. Or so she thought. She knew how much Zheng Jiang cared Gai Li but surely, she must know she can't keep being passive if anyone wants any hope of victory right? She just couldn't understand it. As she was alone with her thoughts, she heard something in the room. But unsure what. She opened it very carefully as to not disturb Zheng Jiang or her daughter. As she peeked through the small gap as she opened it, she saw Zheng Jiang next to the child as she slept…sobbing. She never saw the bandit queen like this before, even before when the odds seemed impossible and people were lost before. She dared not enter, despite her desire to comfort her she knew she could not. She wasn't gai Li. She closed the door quietly as to not alert her. She hated not being able to help her sworn sister. It broke her but she thought she would just make things worse. She turned around to see Gai Shu approaching her.

'Great, just what's needed.' Lu Zheng sarcastically thought to herself. Gai Shu approached her and greeted her.

'How is she? Is she ok?' Gai Shu asked with concern present in his voice. Lu Zheng rolled her eyes and started to walk past him.

'What do you think?' She sighed before she walked off. Gai Shu looked back at her, wondering what her problem was before he also heard the quiet sobbing on the other side of the door. He immediately shifted his attention. He quietly opened the door and looked at Zheng Jiang. It broke him to see his wife like this.

'Why…why did it have to be his child?' She quietly sobbed to herself. Gai Shu was speechless. He could only watch as his wife cried all alone. He knew Zheng Jiang didn't look upon him with any favour considering he abandoned them but he wasn't that bad enough to have this much regret…right? He took a quick glanced at his daughter and formed a quick smile before he immediately frowned again as his gaze returned to the bandit queen. He steps away from the door and sighs, tears threatening to form in his eyes as he walked away. He knew the queen wouldn't want his presence around, especially now.

That night Pang Tong left the city and ventured into the forest. He walked further into the forest till he was quite far away from the city itself. He eventually stopped in front of his destination. Grus was hanging up with shadow chains tied to a shadow pillar with bright red markings decorated around it. The chains are attached to hooks that are attached to Grus' forearms while his legs are chained to the pillar itself. His torso is leaning forward but is stopped from falling thanks to the chains. On top of the pillar which stands no taller than the trees in the forest. He approached Grus and chuckled as his eyes turned bright red.

'So, have you considered a change of heart mystic?' Pang Tong questioned. Grus just breathed heavily as if he was exhausted, golden blood dripped won his forearms onto the ground while trickles of it drips down the sides of his mouth. He raises his head to look Pang Tong in his eyes.

'I will never tell you anything! You might as well kill me!' He challenged. Pang Tong chuckled as he clicked his fingers, forcing the chains to pull, stretching the limbs further as he screamed loudly. Pang Tong clicked his fingers again after a minute which immediately ceased the screams. Grus heavily pants.

'Now c'mon there's no need for that type of behaviour. All I want to know is just your name. No harm in that is there? Surely you would prefer to be called your name rather than just "mystic" right?' Pang Tong sinisterly chuckled.

'Get purged abomination!' Pang Tong found this amusing as he paced back and forth slowly.

'Well, that's just rude isn't it? Here I am trying to have a conversation and you say that to me? Though I know what your objective is. Goad me and her enough for us to kill you so you don't give us anything. However.' Pang Tong immediately went in front of his face with his red demonic eyes and cupped his face which has turned into Da Ji's claws made of shadow.

'Although, that isn't an option for you! Do you know how long it's been since I heard one of you scream!? How can I listen to that gorgeous melody if I were to slay you right here, right now!?' Da Ji grinned behind the veil demonically, frightening Grus before promptly retreating away from him.

'She speaks the truth you know. The more you resist the more fun she gets to have. Surely you don't want her to give her satisfaction, would you?' Pang Tong questioned before his right eye was bright red again and was inches away from Grus' face.

'He's right. Otherwise, I may do something like this.' Grus could feel the demonic grin behind Pang Tongs veil as the shadow hand is revealed. The tip of the index claw slowly pierces the flesh of the mystic who screamed in agony as he felt an unbearable pain. Especially as she slowly dragged the claw down his torso perfectly down. It was like a cold sword that pierced his flesh. It was so cold and yet so agonising he couldn't believe the immense pian that was inflicted. It was unlike anything he ever experienced. His screams delighted Da Ji immensely before she stepped back and shook her head.

'So…can I now ask your name?' Grus panted heavily, tears falling down his cheeks.

'Grus…my name is Grus.' Pang Tong demonically chuckled at this.

'Ahh a pleasure to make your acquaintance Grus, my name is Pang Tong. I'm sure we can get along just fine. In order for us to be considered friends, there needs to be some trust. So please tell us everything you know about you mystics, after all sharing is caring.' Grus didn't have enough strength to raise his head at him. Though after panting he uttered a word he would regret.

'N-never.' Pang Tong shook his head.

'Oh and here I thought we made some progress with you. Oh well, looks like you've given Da Ji what she wanted…hehe how generous of you.' Pang Tong stated as he clicked his fingers. The chains pulled him up forcefully, tugging along with the flesh that was hooked to them. As the head was in physical contact with the pillar, instead of the cold air rushing through his wounds, his entire body started to become warm. A nice change. This pleasant warmth was quickly replaced though as the heat was increased dramatically. His entire body felt like he was on fire. His body first glowed teal around his torso before it was replaced with black. When it did, it felt like his body felt like it was engulfed in flames. He shrieked loudly and begged for mercy. Da Ji however with both red demonic eyes active on Pang Tong body simply watched and was delighted with the melody she has not heard for so long. They were too far from the city for anyone to hear, the residents of the city slept well that night.