Chapter 232: Mountain Reunion

The mountain road had grown strangely quiet. Lieyin noticed it before Kael did.

For the past hour, the only sounds that accompanied them had been the steady rhythm of hooves against packed earth, the occasional rustle of pine branches overheard, and the distant cry of mountain birds.

Now even those sounds seemed to have disappeared. Lieyin pulled gently on the reins, slowing down her horse.

Kael noticed immediately and glanced over his shoulder. "Why are we stopping?"

Lieyin didn’t answer at first. She raised her eyes toward the ridge that was up ahead. Something was wrong, she could feel it deep in her gut.

A thin gray plume rose beyond the trees. It was smoke, and it wasn’t from a cooking fire. It was thick and dark, twisting into the sky in several separate columns.

Kael followed the direction of her gaze, his expression changing instantly. "That wasn’t there before," he said quietly.

"No," Lieyyin replied. She urged her horse forward.

Kael was quick to catch up with her, his eyes fixed on the smoke. "Lieyin, slow down."

She kept her eyes trained ahead. "We’re already close."

Kael struggled with his reigns. "That’s exactly why I’m telling you to slow down."

Lieyin ignored him completely.

They climbed the winding road until the trees began to thin. At the top of the ridge, Lieyin finally pulled her horse to a stop.

Below them stretched the northern mountain road. And the imperial convoy was there. Or at least...what remained of it.

The wagons stood scattered across the road. Several had overturned, their contents spilling onto the dirt. Horses had broken free from their harnesses and were running through the nearby trees. Bodies laid in complete wreckage around it.

Lieyin’s expression hardened. "How many?" she asked.

Kael scanned the road carefully. "Too many."

Lieyin’s eyes moved across the battlefield. At first, she saw only the defeated imperial soldiers. Then she saw the other army.

Hundreds of men in dark armor had surrounded the convoy. More soldiers were emerging from the forest, forming a wide perimeter around the wagons.

Kael’s jaw tightened. "This isn’t robbery. They’re not here for the weapons they’re carrying."

Lieyin said nothing as she counted the soldiers. They were far too many. "What is General Sheng doing here?" The question was directed to no one but her.

Kael looked at her sharply. "You recognize them?"

"His banners."

A black banner marked with a crimson insignia moved in the wind below. Lieyin had seen the symbol when General Sheng had matched against Ashen Fortress.

Kael’s gaze shifted toward the center of the battlefield. "Lieyin." It was more of a warning. The slight tremble in his voice made her look at him.

"Don’t," he said in a voice that sounded suspiciously like a plea.

Lieyin followed his gaze when it drifted away from her. At first she saw nothing, then the darkness moved.

A black tendril slid across the ground between the wagons. Lieyin’s breath caught as she stared at it in absolute horror. She had never seen anything like it.

Another tendril rose behind one of the soldiers. Then another. The shadows moved like living creatures, twisting around the battlefield with a terrible grace.

Lieyin had never seen power like that in person. She’d only heard about it in the stories the merchants carried around as they traveled between cities.

Then her eyes fell on the woman who was at the center of it all—

"Ru Yi," Lieyin whispered.

Kael immediately reached for the reins of her horse. "We need to leave. Now!"

Lieyin didn’t move. She stared down at the battlefield. Ru Yi was no longer in her line of sight but she knew she was among those shadows.

Kael tightened his grip on the reins. "This isn’t what we came for."

Lieyin nodded towards the scene. "The weapons are still there."

"Lets forget the weapons and turn back right now."

"Forget the weapons." Kael was already praying in his head that Ru Yi wouldn’t appear again. "General Sheng’s men will not let it go without a fight."

Lieyin finally looked at him. "What?"

Kael’s expression was the most serious it has ever been. "We don’t know what General Sheng or Ru Yi is planning to do with the weapons. And we don’t know what that shadow will do if this turns into a bigger battle."

Lieyin looked back down.

One one of the shadows suddenly snapped forward and dragged an imperial soldier from his feet. The darkness wrapped around his body, but instead of tearing him apart it held him against the ground.

It made Lieyin flinch.

Since when was Ru Yi capable of controlling shadows? Her core was weak and her meridians shattered.

Lieyin’s eyes narrowed when she saw the shadow withdraw. "She’s not killing them."

Kael remained silent. "Trying is not the same as being unable to."

Lieyin knew that.

The shadows were becoming darker and more restless. Even from the ridge she could sense that something was wrong with them.

They weren’t merely responding to Ru Yi anymore, they were beginning to hunger.

Lieyin felt her fingers tremble lightly. "What happened to her?" she asked quietly. It was like she was looking at a completely different person.

Kael looked at her. "You already know what happened."

"No." Lieyin shook her head. "I’ve seen the shadow before, back when we were in Tiancheng. But this...I don’t know what General Sheng has done to her."

"It has to be the Eclipse relic." Kael’s voice deepened. "Besides, it’s nothing you should concern yourself with. You and your sisters gave her up, remember?"

As if Lieyin could ever forget.

She watched as another group of soldiers rushed toward the wagons. The shadows rose to meet them, and Lieyin watched as they were swept off their feet and thrown across the road.

Then she noticed something. The imperial soldiers weren’t protecting the wagons anymore, they were retreating.

"General Sheng isn’t here for the weapons," Lieyin noted as she watched them. "His soldiers aren’t taking the crates. They’re searching for something..." She tilted her head to the side, "or someone."