One month ago, a plague had struck the village. They’d responded quickly with the help of the king’s men, quarantining the victims quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, the disease was a harsh one. Under the stringent care of a good doctor, the plague’s many victims had been able to endure. They were still contagious, so no one save the doctor could enter the large dormitory that kept them.
She should be there soon, Bai Ling sent via communication jade. A few minutes passed before a red-robed woman appeared.
I see her, Hong Xin said. It was Mistress Ling, the same she’d seen in the original recording on the jade slip.
Move in as per the plan, Bai Ling instructed.
Hong Xin signaled for Mistress Shan and her assigned guard to follow her as she snuck around the village to the back entrance. She used her water qi to create an optical illusion, allowing her to safely bypass the town’s weak guardsmen.
They approached the quarantine building from the back. Hong Xin held up her hand when she sensed a light resistance with her resplendent force. She placed a small jade plate on the ground next to the invisible barrier and poured resplendent force into it. The runes lit up, activating a null field through which they passed the formation. Then they circled around the building to a barricaded back door.
Stop, Hong Xin said. She leaned closer to the window and peered into a familiar room where Mistress Ling and a pale doctor were busy examining a “patient.” The person in question wept and trembled, and though she couldn’t hear the words exchanged, she saw a smile of delight from Mistress Ling, who took out a small black urn and a wicked black dagger.
Damn it, she thought. She’d wanted to confirm what was happening with her own eyes, and what she saw made her blood boil. Bai Ling, a soul extraction is in progress. I’ll be stopping them.
Wait for my go-ahead, Bai Ling sent back firmly.
Must we really wait? Hong Xin asked. With someone getting their soul sucked out in front of her, she couldn’t just do nothing.
Not everyone is in position yet, Bai Ling sent back. Since they’re tracking moving targets on their way to extraction sites. Even twenty-six simultaneous strikes will result in mishaps. We must complete each one concurrently to minimize the risk of losing targets or having them warn the others.
Tell me the moment they’re ready, Hong Xin sent back, biting her lip hard until it bled.
The person on the bed had just been stabbed in the heart, and their crimson soul was currently being captured by the mistress. After the successful capture of his soul and the death of their prisoner, the mistress exchanged a few words with the supervising “doctor” before proceeding to another bed.
Really? Another one? Please tell me they’re ready. It’s a child this time.
Twenty more seconds, Bai Ling sent. The mistress spoke to the child crying on the bed. She sat beside her and began explaining something like a mother would to her daughter.
Ten seconds.
The child nodded, and the woman took out the urn and the wicked dagger.
Five seconds.
Screw it, I’m going in, Hong Xin said. She pulled back her palm and blasted through the wall. Mistress Shan and the guard, Li Yigen, rushed at the surprised mistress with weapons drawn. Unfortunately, they were too late. The cruel dagger had already pierced the child’s chest. Her ghost was already leaving her body.
“Restrain her!” Hong Xin yelled to her two companions. She formed a hand seal and summoned fire. The pale torturer, who’d been waiting beside the mistress, burst into flames. Four guards rushed into the room, two of them activating devilish transformations. Hong Xin thrust out with a palm of ice that froze them instantly. Then she thrust out with a second palm that reduced their bodies to red snow that fell on the wooden floor.
“She’s escaping!” Li Yigen said.
While Hong Xin had been taking care of the trash, Mistress Ling had managed to wound Mistress Shan and escape her and the accompanying guard.
Hong Xin clenched her fist, and icy runes appeared around the escaping red-robed woman. Mistress Ling snorted and summoned an icy serpent that bit into the runes and shattered them. In turn, Hong Xin summoned a fiery mongoose that bit down on the serpent. Mistress Ling coughed up blood from the backlash.
Meanwhile, Li Yigen had not been idle. As Mistress Shan chanted an incantation and summoned an icy prison around Mistress Ling, the fearless guard rushed toward her with several pairs of qi-binding manacles. They spun around his body as he sought for an opening to place them. The clever mistress would have none of it, however. She batted away two of the manacles with her fan and hit him square in the chest with a freezing palm to his heart. He staggered backward and dropped the other two pairs of manacles.
As Mistress Ling bent down to collect them, a freezing prison appeared around her. She then thrust out both her palms, summoning dozens of icy runes in the process. They collided with the glistening prison and broke through nine-tenths of its bars. She bent back down toward the manacles. It was only then that she realized they’d mysteriously disappeared.
Concerned, Mistress Ling kicked out toward the empty air where an icy platform was materializing. As she pushed off it, she realized a cold metallic cuff had been placed around her right wrist. Determination flashed in her eyes as she summoned a blade of ice on her left arm and hacked down with all her might. The blade shattered against a shield of ice Hong Xin had hastily cast as she grabbed the woman’s remaining free wrist and fastened another manacle around it, completely sealing off her qi flow. She then placed a soul-binding
