"The symptoms of Qi Deviation can vary depending on the individual, but the most common symptoms are bleeding from the mouth and eyes."

She had been thinking about that phrase all day. I mean, sure, it was from a well-renowned book on Qi Deviation, and lots of other books tend to say the same thing.

But surely she would know if she had just Qi Deviated!

It was just old blood from a previous injury. That was it, nothing more to add.

There was absolutely no point in dwelling on it.

Besides, she was alive, so. Even if it was Qi Deviation, she had survived it, so there was no need to think about it any longer.

So what, she spat blood. Big deal! People spit blood all the time in dramas anyway!

It wasn't the first time she had broken, and it wouldn't be the last. But she would pick up the pieces and persevere.

'I just hope that the next time I break, I'll still be able to pick up the pieces and glue them back together. So that way I can still be with you.' She thought as she came towards Ling'an village.

She knew the place quite well as it was just outside YueYang. It was a small village of about fifty or so little houses scattered along the riverbank.

Most of the people living there came from the western regions, and some even from as far as Mongolia. Most of them were Oirats, so it was a pretty tight knit community.

She had done business with the villagers a few times in the past.

They were all extremely welcoming and accepting of the way she looked. One of the ladies even tried to arrange a marriage with her eldest son.

But that fell through.

Obviously.

The village made most of its money from fishing and its unique and exotic dishes. The fried beef pockets and milk tea were to die for. They also specialised in things like textiles and cattle rearing.

But right now, it was the complete opposite of what it usually was.

The streets were deserted like a football stadium hours after the first kick-off of the season. There were only traces of what once was a bustling atmosphere.

As she stalked the empty houses and stalls, it reminded her of how petrol stations feel at three am. Like it was some alternate reality where time is warped and nothing is what it seems.

Just beyond here was home.

It sounded easy enough.

But, she would have to find a way to get across the river.

"No matter how awesome I am, I can't walk on water." She sighed.

"... At least not yet."

She had one of two options, find a way to cross the river here.

Or risk crossing the ZhuZi bridge, which connects YueYang with the other side of the river.Both were risky. But she needed to get home. Right now, it didn't matter how she got there.

She had even considered swimming across.

But this part of the river was at least a mile and a half in width. And was known for being deep with unpredictable currents.

To make matters worse, all the boats were gone as well.

It seemed like her only choice was ZhuZi Bridge.

But that was twelve miles upriver, and it was almost night.

And as self-destructive as TaiFeng was, she wasn't about to travel at night in a war zone.

Looking around, she gently opened the door of one of the houses.

It was a rather quaint little abode, with lots of different decorations around the house in Western Region style.

Parting the beaded curtain, she took in the interior.

It was the perfect mix of Han and Mongol culture.

There were Han-style pillars, but statues depicting Daichi Tengri, a god of war, and Ögedei Khan, the current Khan of Mongolia. There was a Han-style hearth, but Mongol baskets and carpets.

Sitting down on the fur mats, she let her fingers glide across the dust-covered table.

Nobody had been here for a long time. They had most likely packed up long before Wen's forces invaded YueYang. They were smart.

Choosing to huddle up in a corner facing the door, she pulled the soft furs over herself and curled up into a little ball.

The sky was already dusty blue, the kind of blue when there are so many clouds it's hard to see the sky at all.

'In the morning I'll cross the bridge. I just hope nobody's there.'

Waking up at the crack of dawn, to frozen morning few and subtle bird song. TaiFeng further curled up in a ball, in an attempt to keep the frost out for just a few more minutes.

Wiping the sleep from her puffy, tired eyes, she stretched out her arms, letting the fur blankets fall off her figure.

She could feel pain all throughout her body, but she had got used to it.

"Wow." She said, struggling to get up.

"Being alive is... uncomfortable."

Getting up, she made sure to neatly fold the fur blankets and put them back where she found them. Stepping back into the living room, she turned towards the shrine of Daichi Tengri.

Kneeling on the prayer mat, she gracefully kowtowed three times.

Taking the matches, she lit three sticks of incense and prayed. Clasping her hands tightly, she wished from the bottom of her heart.

'It seems like my god has long forsaken me, so I'm turning to you in my time of need. I won't ask you to spare my life. I don't need that. As long as the people I care about are unharmed, I'll leave with no regrets. Please give me your blessing to win this war.'

Bowing a final time, she stared deeply at the statue. She slowly got up and walked out of the small house, leaving it as though she was never there. But she stopped at the door, her eyes going towards a corner.

"I think I'll borrow that."

On and on she walked by the riverbank, the smell of catkins and water Lilies got stronger with each passing step.

The water flowed gracefully down the fragrant river, carrying all sorts of smells and fish.

If it wasn't for this god-damn war, she would be preparing for the winter solstice with everyone.

They would have a big party like they did when they had finished renovating the sect.

TaiFeng remembered it like it was yesterday.

They hung red lanterns, lit firecrackers, handed out red envelopes to the youngest disciples, and started a bonfire. Gao Song and Gao Liang played rock paper scissors for hours, while YiZhang brought homemade rice wine from his parent's house to share with everyone. ChenHe accompanied TaiFeng with his own zither as they played songs well into the night.

Oh, how she missed life before the war.

Back then, she would teach disciples her swordsmanship style and have fun in the town and shove her face with the endless amounts of seafood dishes.

They had lots of things like braised fish, ginger soy fish, steamed crabs with mushrooms, deep-fried lobster, fish dumplings, and steamed fish soup. Shrimp balls and tofu, lobster soup with rice noodles, fried crayfish with noodles, river snail soup, grilled octopus with bamboo shoots, fried crab meat with bitter gourd, and lobster bao buns. Steamed fish pancakes, crayfish spring rolls, prawn crackers, spicy crab wontons, wine-soaked crabs, malt sugar crayfish, crab fried rice, sweet and sour octopus, lobster wontons, shredded crab with soybeans. Shrimp with honey glazed walnuts, fish fried rice, spicy river snails, crab hot pot, lobster stir-fry, crab meat with lotus roots, braised octopus with peach wine, octopus stir-fry with osmanthus, shrimp with chilli oil, baked octopus with pak choi.......

There was a lot of seafood in YueYang.

By the time she had finished daydreaming about her disciples and all the things she was going to eat, she could already see the stone path that lead to ZhuZì Bridge. However, there was one problem.

The path was surrounded by an extremely dense and thick bamboo, hence the name.

Great if you're travelling incognito and don't want to be seen, but bad if you are in a war and could get ambushed by enemy forces at any moment.

Sighing in annoyance, TaiFeng put a hand on her hip and just angrily stared at the path.

'I hate war.'

Now crouching down in a stance, she took a deep breath... And ran like hell.

"I'm a runner! I'm a track star!" She huffed and puffed as she moved as one big blur through the bamboo.

Although, it was a bit of a wasted effort considering that nobody was there.

Now a sweating mess, TaiFeng was frantically looking around for someone to fight.

"... Well... that was a waste of effort." She sighed.

Honing in on her surroundings, she could hear the subtle sound of fighting coming from across the bridge.

Walking across the bridge, the sound of fighting was getting louder and louder.

They were right by the sect gate, she could tell.

It was only two streets away.

So she did what she would do on any other normal day in YueYang.

She walked home.

Whistling merry-go-round of life, she turned the street corners without even thinking and was now face to face with what looked like eighty Wen soldiers outside the gates to the sect.

Fortunately, they hadn't noticed her at all and were too busy fighting with...YiZhang! And Gao Song and Gao Liang! ChenHe was fighting as well!.... Well, he was just dodging people and hitting them with his zither, which was proving a lot more effective than you might think. 

I never did teach him Freeze Note did I, TaiFeng thought. 

Oh, well, time to do this.

Unwrapping the borrowed item from her waist she swung it around in a circle until it was nothing but a blur.

Getting a feel for it she swung the rope in an infinity symbol as the dagger at the end shone in the winter sun. 

Not even announcing her arrival, she went in quietly and slit the throat of two Wens without anyone even noticing she was there. 

Going behind YiZhang she stood back-to-back against him. 

"Zhang'er, your swordsmanship's improved."

"S-Sect Leader Qian?!?!"He shouted not taking his eyes off the fight surrounding him. 

"It's nice to see you. To your left!" She said, taking out the threat. 

Dodging another sword slash, she and YiZhang coordinated the Fleeting Dragon Steps. 

TaiFeng truly was a genius, even before she adopted the name Qian TaiFeng. To make a swordsmanship style that can be adapted to suit any weapon wasn't an easy feat even for the most skilled martial artist. But hey, at this point impossible feats were just something she did every morning. 

"It seems you've got things sorted out here." She smiled. God, she had missed her little ducklings. 

"I'll help out ChenHe as for A'Song and A'Liang.." She trailed off as she just watched Gao song smash two Wen soldiers' heads together like walnuts while Gao Liang threw a Wen down on the ground and did a flying press on him. 

"They'll be fine."She and YiZhang simultaneously said. 

Going over to ChenHe she wrapped the javelin dagger around her waist as a makeshift belt and shifted through her Qiankun pouch. 

Pulling out Xingguang, she ran her fingers across the familiar woodgrain and let out a resonating note that froze a Wen going straight for poor ChenHe. She really needed to up this boy's fighting skills.

Instantly whipping his neck around, he turned around and gave a tired smile. 

"Sect Leader Qian!!"He wailed, before hitting another Wen in the cranium with his zither. 

"I knew you weren't dead. I knew the whole time!!"He cried, going over to her. 

"We can all cry later."She said, holding back tears of her own. She was really going to need some tissues once this whole ordeal was over. 

"Forth form stance."She said in an assertive voice. "Take a deep breath in and visualize the notes in your head. 

Doing as she said, ChenHe fixed his stance, took a deep breath in and focused on the notes, running his fingers over the zither strings. 

"Don't think, just let it flow out. Trust your instincts" 

Determined as ever to make his mentor proud, he let out a note at the same time as TaiFeng as two glistening waves of spiritual energy gushed out of their zithers at the same time. 

"Good job." She said, striking down some more Wens with her fists. 

"Where's Zewu-Jun?"

"He's further down the street. The Wens found a weak spot in the barriers and were trying to break through."

"I'll leave you here, regroup with YiZhang and the others. I'll take care of the Wens further down."

Nodding, he made his way over to his fellow disciples while TaiFeng went in the opposite direction to Xichen. 

Doing a classic c-drama t-pose jump, she made her way onto the brick walls that lined the street and ran across them, scanning the crowd of reds and blacks until she found a big blur of sky blue and white.

Xichen looked utterly exhausted and was covered in blood, some his own but most of it from others.   

'No one hurts my man and gets away with it!!'

Jumping down in front of him, she let out a wave of spiritual energy as she came down. Now, using the javelin dagger, she took out five Wens at once. 

"A'Hong?!"Xichen said, still fending off Wens left, right and centre. 

"Hi, A'Huan." She smiled, while Xichen blushed at the name before he remembered that she wasn't even supposed to be here.

"Wait, why are you here?!?! How are you here?!?!"He said, taking down a Wen, standing back to back with his love. 

"Um, long story short," She said, taking down a few more Wens.

"I needed to get back to my office... And I really missed you, so."

Xichen almost got struck down due to that, but TaiFeng had his back, luckily. 

"Um, well, also, there was something I wanted to-DUCK!!"She said as Xichen ducked to avoid a flying piece of debris. 

They took down four Wens each and were now branching out until they were on either end of the street. 

"Lan Xichen! I really wanted to tell you that-"A Wen went straight for her, and she punched him square in the face. 

"Tell me what?!" Xichen shouted as he struck down four more Wens with his sword. 

TaiFeng picked up a random sword, threw it at someone, and skewered him like kebab meat. 

"Lan Xichen, I really like you!!"She screamed from across the battlefield. 

Xichen almost fell over, but luckily, he didn't. 

"I think you're amazing, kind, and generous, and you've got a heart of gold! And I know that I'll regret it forever if I don't say it now! Lan Xichen, i really like you!"