When Ai reached the underground hall, it was very quiet. She had a bad feeling about it. The hall looked untouched, so it was unlikely that someone had broken in. Still she couldn't shake the bad feeling that was raising in her as she was approaching the room where her master was resting.
"Master?" She asked anxiously but there was no reply. She accelerated her steps, opened the door and was greeted with an empty room. Clearly, her master was still injured when she left and was in no state to travel. As there were no traces of fight, the only right conclusion was that her Master had decided to leave the hall. We could see hurried traces on the ground, so her Master must have left quite urgently. Who could have forced her master's hand to show himself? There were no letters, no notes, Ai could only assume that her Master had either no time to leave on or didn't want her to get involved. Ai left her Master room and went to hers to ponder about her next steps.
When she entered her room, the first thing she noticed was the very old book left on her pillow. It was clearly not hers. The book looked like a relic and was so old, Ai feared a single touch would disintegrate it. Still the title was clearly visible and quite...domineering : "Earth and Sky Nirvana shattering martial art".
'Master must have left this for me to practice in his absence.' Ai thought. In normal circumstances, she would have been ecstatic but her enthusiasm was dampened by the mystery of her master missing.
Ai preciously covered the book with a handkerchief and placed in her hidden pocket. She would read it some time later. She was now more concerned about the recent events. Figured out it was probably time for her masculine alter ego to emerge.
At the Fierce Thunderbolt Brotherhood's hangout
It was already bnight and the sky was as dark as ink. The masked man pushed the door of the secret hangout place and immediately noticed the abnormality in the air. There was a sweet perfume lingering that he could not recognise. On his guard, the masked man prepared himself to attack.
"Father, you are finally back!"
At the sound of the familiar voice, the masked man was relieved. With the a flick of his fingers, the room lighted up. Ling Fu was clearly startled from seeing her father. The joy of seeing her father made her miss the heavy internal injuries he had sustained. At a quick glance, her father looked well. So she smiled broadly as she approached him.
The masked man took some time to look at his precious adopted daughter and sighed.
"Ling, did we have guests? What happened while I was away?" He said sternly.
"Father, big brothers may have encountered some troubles!"
"Tell me quickly!"
Ling Fu told her father everything that happened since he left for his session of deep cultivation. How her big brothers met a new youngster and became very close. How that youth disappeared a week ago and they ended up kidnapping the daughter of the Scarlet Aurora's sect. Now the big brothers were still scouring the city in search of their newly friend.
It was quite unexpected from her band of brothers to trust a stranger so wholeheartedly. Ling Fu was also quite intrigued and really wanted to meet the young man.
"They have released the Clan Leader's daughter... they should be fine. I have met that chap when she was younger, a bit naive but definitely not the type of to hold grudges. If she said she will not retaliate, we can trust her word for now." The masked man finally said after pondering for awhile.
"Your big brothers have grown up now, they also need to learn to handle what troubles come their way. As their Master, I can't always be helping them, beside how long can I live?"
"Father, you will last long enough to see my children get married! You will live forever!" Ling Fu interjected quickly. She refused to accept that her adopted would one day leave her!
The earliest memory of Ling Fu was of the freezing cold, the empty stomach growling and hurting and the intense feeling of despair. During the last barbarian attack, her village had been burnt to the ground. Her parents had hidden her in the cold room underneath the kitchen's floor right before the attack. The trap to the cold room was in a corner and was hidden from view by a large vat that was used to store water. It was quite difficult to distinguish the entrance unless one knew exactly the access. That's how she managed to survive the gruesome attack. In the cold room, she heard noises of hacking, slashing, screams of pain and anger and then silence. She had spent days in that cold room surviving on what food and water was left before deciding to head out, afraid some barbarians were still there. She knew her parents had died. Still no matter how prepared she were, she was not ready to witness it. The first scene that greeted her out when she came out, was the burnt bodies of her parents.
The barbarians had stolen all the food, killed all that opposed them and burnt down the village. She was the last person left. Still an infant, she had broken down in tears over her lost family and stayed prostrated for...she didn't know how long.
She only knew she was on the verge of giving up already when she heard horse noises. Someone was passing by. She gathered the last of her energy and crawled on the road in front the galloping horse. She remembered thinking that she would finally joined her parents as the startled horse was about to stomped her to death. But the gods had other plans, the good Samaritan had managed to control the horse to avoid her and she thus survived.
When she woke up again, feeling weak and feverish, she was in a warm bed in an unfamiliar environment. A Masked Man was looking over her worriedly while wringing a cold compress. He then put the compress on her forehead.
"Don't talk or move, you are still sick and weak. Just sleep!" The man was talking to her kindly.
She just lightly nodded before falling asleep again.
The masked man nursed her back to health and she promised herself she would spent her life repaying this debt. After a few months, he adopted as a his daughter and she had followed him ever since. Her Father never confided in her but she knew he had a heavy knot in his heart. Sometimes she would catch him looking at her with sad eyes, but she knew he wasn't looking at her but someone else through her. She didn't mind. She just hoped she would be able to be of use to her father and repay her debt.
After discussing again for awhile, they both went to rest. They never thought the next day would be so rich in events. Maybe if they had known they would have prepared themselves better.