The boar fiercely roared and mauled General Hua over and over but he managed to stay on his toes even though the boar continued to try and impale him with it's tusks.
"Hurry and attack it, Luo Na!" He shouted. Luo Na removed her cloak and with her jade daggers, she tried to strike the boar swiftly.
"Sonata of the flower crane. Shadow shower technique!" She shouted as she swiftly executed her attacks consecutively at the boar.
She then withdraws and leaves a cloud of smoke behind her. The boar angrily squealed and managed to stand up after her attack.
"I can't believe it. It still stood up. My Sonata of the flower crane can even pierce the most strongest armor ever created by men." With disbelief, Luo Na let go of her daggers. The boar charged towards her. General Hua ran to save her. No... He couldn't make it.
"Pierce. Like the wind that impales my enemies." A man with gray hair ran fast and stabbed the boar with a shower of blades.
Luo Na's eyes grew wide. "Xiao Na... My brother..."
The beast collapsed on the ground with it's dying breath. After a while, the beast closed it's eyes and turned into a jade crystal.
"Why are you here Xiao Na?" Luo Na stepped forth to meet her brother.
"What did father tell you when we were just little?" Xiao Na picked up her daggers and handed it at Luo Na. "Never let go of your weapon when the enemy is still alive. Remember that." He added.
Luo Na cried and hugged her brother whom she did not saw in months.
"Are you here for the Jade spirit too?" Taking his sword and sheathing it on his back, General Hua joined in their little reunion.
"No." Xiao Na spoke. "I only came to see my sister."
"Your army must be close right? Are you framing us?" General Hua's feelings grew fiery. He does not want someone betraying him.
"I mislead them for Luo Na. I am not helping you collect and reclaim your kingdom but if it is what my sister desires, then... I will do as she asks."
With a gust of wind, Xiao Na disappeared without a trace leaving only Luo Na and General Hua and the jade crystal.
"What should we do? Should we call Wei Yue?" General Hua asked Luo Na.
The crystal glowed even brighter than before and then a woman's voice spoke...
"Please... Hear my request before I disappear..." The jade crystal said.
General Hua and Luo Na turned back to look at the crystal. They decided to touch the crystal themselves. When they reached out at it, a fragment of memory flashed and they were transported at another time but much more older.
They saw a woman combing her long black hair. General Hua reached his hand at the woman but it just went through.
"It is just a fragment of my memory before I turned to a demon." The woman with long black hair appeared at them.
"Were you the boar jade spirit we encountered lately?" Luo Na asked her.
"Yes. Before I became one, I am once human like you. That is... Before I was..."
She stopped speaking and a fragment of her memory flashed in front of them.
"Useless! You aren't giving me enough money to go drinking!" A drunken man shouted as he beaten the long haired woman into black and blue.
"I am sorry, Cheng. Although my hair is like a rope that is indestructible, rope does not sell very highly in our town. Please Cheng. Stop. I am pregnant with our child."
The woman begged him to stop beating her but he continued to punch and kick her until she fell on the floor.
"Such a useless wife you are! I might have as well sold you to the slave traders then! You're lucky that I married you and for that you shall repay me with every breath that you take and every tears that you shed."
The man left her crying on the floor and went outside grumbling.
The woman is too powerless to even stand up and wept as her husband went away. Blood is flowing out from her robe. She touched the blood and clenched her stomach.
"My child." She murmured. With tears in her eyes, she cursed him. She cursed him.
"From this day on, your life is mine to take. A dreadful husband isn't a husband at all. I curse thee. I curse thee to die in my own hands!"
The woman's hair fell from her head and she had then transformed into a vicious creature with glowing red eyes and large tusks.
The memory fragment then disappeared and the woman appeared at them emanating from the crystal.
"Thank you for setting me free. I have been trapped at this curse for eons hunting people with hatred and darkness in their hearts." The woman said at them as she disappears gradually in a form or a light residue.
The crystal stopped levitating and fell on the ground. General Hua picked it up and handed it to Luo Na.
"If someday, I'll be an abusive husband like that man... Will you kill me?" General Hua asked Luo Na.
The General's smooth moves didn't work on Luo Na. She wasn't trained in an army for nothing.
"That wouldn't really happen, General. Keep dreaming, someday you might awaken to the reality." She winked at him.
"That what?" General Hua smirked.
"You're not my type." Luo Na walked leading to the entrance of the forest holding the crystal in her hand.
General Hua caught up to her and they both walked outside the forest safely.
Li An and Wei Yue was already waiting outside for them.
"Luo Na, are you alright? Wei Yue said that you two aren't just the only person inside the forest." Li An exclaimed and held her hand. She noticed that Luo Na held the glowing boar jade crystal and let go of her hand.
Luo Na handed Wei Yue the crystal. "I think you need some alone time talking to the guardian of that crystal, Wei Yue." Luo Na said as she tossed it to him.
Wei Yue nodded. "Certainly." He then excused himself and meditated at the willow tree behind them.
"Isn't it rude not asking your superior about how he's been after the battle, Li An? Is that what you've learned at the army? Disrespecting your commander?" General Hua let off a spout of steam at his head.
"Why should I be worried about you sir? You aren't related to me at all." Li An carelessly said not minding about what her superior would say.
"How dare you talk back to me you dimwit!" General Hua is even more fired up than before.
"We're not in the army anymore Sir... Right now, we're just captives that escaped with a wild dream of reclaiming a broken kingdom!"
"Why youuuu!" General Hua ran to catch Li An while Luo Na laughed happily.
When they were young, Luo Na and Xiao Na would play tag and run like that until they couldn't play anymore.
"The sunset sure looks pretty." She whispered and took a deep breath and found herself staring at the General's eyes.
"Not as pretty as your eyes, Luo Na." He said and was about to caress his face.
She turned away and blushed. Many questions are running on her mind but right now, it's a bit too early to start romance.