章 54: Grass
Chénli was just pulling her sword out of the back of the last corpse as the young teen heir came running up. A slight shift in Chénli's posture gave away her surprise, but she shook her sword off and glaring down at the body, aimed a kick at the one she had clearly stabbed in the back.
"Idiot. You never disengage in the middle of a fight like that. Was that racket you?" She lifted her head and directed the last question at Dàilán.
"Last guy made a lot of noise since he was not in a position to do anything else, probably trying to call his friends back - I take it, it helped?" Dàilán frowned at her friend's state, some clear slashes showing and splatters of blood.
Chénli grunted. "Nothing serious. I did not expect three, thought they would send the bigger group towards the 'threat' and leave the 'silkpants' with just one so I could come get them while they were looking for you."
Dàilán sighed. "Chén'er... I took out five."
Chén'er froze, looking her up and down. "You do not look wounded."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, sis." The young Heiress blew out a heavy breath and stood next to her friend, "The first four never knew what killed them. The last guy was paying more attention to you and I got him before he could do anything but make threats. I take it yours were harder?"
Chénli looked irritated, even through the distortion of the cloak. "They were skilled. Too skilled for bandits. The first one went down without a problem - they were expecting a noblewoman and he got too close thinking about 'fun'."
She spat at one body laying a little away from the other two and continued, "the other two reacted too quickly to his death for me to take them out - I was holding them off well enough, but it was a stalemate until they heard that shout, they both got distracted. Then I took out the guy who was fighting me when he was not paying full attention - he told the other guy to go back and see what was going on - cocky bastard. I got him a breath after that - and the other guy was an easy kill, as he had turned away to leave. Idiot." she kicked the body again, then crouched over it - evidently examining it.
"They were not bandits," said Dàilán drily as she sent little threads of Essence out in sweeps even as she looked cautiously for anyone else, "Mid Earth at the least, they all had Essence discharge when I killed them. One even mentioned pretending to be bandits to keep an eye on Knife Sect. Another said it did not matter if the Knife Sect found out about them, something about starting things early."
Chénli jerked upward where she had been examining the body. "You are fu… you are not joking…" she trailed off as she looked at her mistress.
"The last guy was shouting about grass, for some reason. Does that mean anything to you?" Dàilán pretended not to notice her bodyguard's aborted swear.
Chénli cursed viciously, then bent down and cut off the left chest plate of the body at her feet, exposing the man's pectoral - and cursed again.
Dàilán walked over and looked at the exposed flesh. There was a small tattoo of a tuft of grass, with four stalks sticking out, on the man's chest.
Chénli's voice was grim. "Grass Cult. We have blood feud with these..." she kicked the body again. Then her voice turned confused, "This must be a kill team we stumbled across. What the hell are they doing so close to the Sect undetected."
"No," pointed out Dàilán, "the camp has clearly been there a while. They mentioned monitoring the Sect. They had been there long enough to get complacent, killing travellers for 'benefits'."
Chénli looked around in concern and confusion. "I take this route back to the Sect - maybe one in three times, I never saw anything."
"You are dressed as a Sect member when you do, right? I bet you they know which days you usually come through and avoid the area, that way the Sect does not get alerted to their presence. This time they were not expecting you, plus we were acting as regular travellers..." Dàilán listed out her thoughts, Chénli's face going visibly grimmer with each point.
"We have to get this information back to the Sect immediately." Chénli turned toward the trail, stopping short as Dàilán grabbed her arm.
"Clean up first - and look for proof, evidence we can take with us. If they are not the only team, they will be missed. A team vanishing is better than bodies proving they have been detected. You taught me that," the Heiress reminded the angry enforcer, "I will make it an order if I have to."
Chénli shook her head. "No, of course not. You are right - they had to have been avoiding the patrols as well, which is almost impossible without someone in the Sect feeding them information - we need to find anything we can to prove it." She turned to her friend and clasped her arm, "thanks for keeping your head… I am a bit…"
"So am I," replied the Heiress, "But if I am going to have nightmares for the next few weeks, I want some loot to show for it."
Chénli snorted. "Point, but first." She bent down and cut the tattooed skin off with her knife. "Collect these - proof, and the Sect has a bounty out on them. Essence Stone per stalk."
"Stalk?" asked the Heiress, grimacing as she moved over to the furthest body - the one her friend had said was killed first and cut away the chest piece with a dagger, looking down at the tattoo. "Oh, I see - this one only has three."
Chénli cursed again. "I will bet the last has…" another curse, "Yes, five. No wonder he was keeping up with me - solid mid Earth."
"The stalks of grass represent levels and ranks I take it?" said the Heiress as she searched the body, finding a few Essence Stones and a good amount of civilian coinage on him besides his weapons.
"Mortals are bare, Earth Levels get the tuft of grass - one stalk for every rank. Sky get two tufts - same deal with stalks, but supposedly and thankfully you rarely see their Captains out," responded Chénli as she looted her own bodies.
"What do we do with the skin?" questioned Dàilán, looking down at the grisly trophy.
"Special Formation plate, here," Chénli walked over and handed her a circular plate. "Place the skin on it and channel Essence…" Dàilán did as Chénli said and the tattooed skin vanished in a shimmer of Essence.
"The bodies?" Asked the Heiress, looking around and seeing that the other two had vanished.
"Disposal Formations. I have a roll…" Chénli produced a small strip of paper and pressed it to the body channelled essence into it. She stepped back as the paper glowed; the body, blood and mess vanished in another shimmer of Essence.
"We best get rid of the two I killed first then - I pulled them behind the bushes, but they are close to the trail. Would not want someone else stumbling across them and raising an alarm that might alert the others. The camp is hidden, we can check that last," said the young Heiress, doing her best to focus past the trembles she could feel as the adrenaline began to wear off.
"Right." Quickly the pair of them hurried back to where the two of them had split up and her friend let out a low whistle as she saw the crumpled bodies, her eyes flicking up to the branch above the bushes. "Nice, single strikes from above. I see what you mean about them not seeing you. That invisibility technique?"
"Yes," agreed Dàilán, swallowing back a sour feeling at the back of her throat. "Mountain Mists, too."
"Speaking of which, you can drop Mists now. There is no one around - I have been checking," reminded Chénli gently.
"Oh," Dàilán felt the burn of embarrassment push back the queasiness that had been threatening to envelop her. "Yes." She stopped in place, dropping the technique and felt a little more tension unwind.
Chénli was checking the bodies. "Damn - a pair of fours, both with Essence blades. Going up was a good move." She turned the bodies over looking for items.
"Yes," agreed the heiress, remembering the burning leaves on the bush, "they did a number on the bushes - if I had been behind them…"
"Not the first time these two have done this apparently," remarked her friend as she came back to Dàilán, tossing her a couple of full pouches as the bodies shimmered away into non existence. "They had a fair bit of loot on them. I kept the swords... The Sect Forging Masters can maybe find out more from them. Their camp?"
"Through the trees. That way." Dàilán set off quickly, steeling herself for what she was about to see now that she was not focused on survival.
She led her friend back to the camp quickly and Chénli's muttered curse as the small clearing painted with the last fighter's blood came into view nearly undid her. "I had no choice. He was strong… if I had not attacked as quickly and as brutally as I could - even with every advantage he nearly parried my attack…" she found herself explaining needlessly.
Chénli eyed her with concern. "I will deal with the clean up. Go and check around for anything they might have left as a telltale or message that might alert any other kill teams."
Dàilán nodded, turning around to make a quick circuit around the clearing, searching for any trace of Essence that might be hiding anything. It took her a few fēn and she returned to the spot she started from without finding anything, where Chénli was waiting with her hood thrown back, her eyes huge in a pale face.
The young Heiress paused uncertainly, stopping as her friend rushed quickly rushed her and enveloped her in a hard embrace. "What?" she asked her friend in confusion.
"You are certain you are unhurt? No, actually, take the robe off," ordered her bodyguard.
Dàilán coughed. "You as well, then - you are more likely to be hiding wounds," she pointed out acerbically.
Chénli frowned, tossing her long, dark brown hair back, the wind catching it like some sort of silken war banner. Dàilán snorted at the out of place thought and the lady in waiting frowned harder. "What?"
"Your hair… it is a bit…" Chénli rolled her eyes in response to her mistress' comment. "I had it loose to sell the 'Noble Woman' act - pity none of those idiots tried to grab it - actually, that should have been a dead give away that they were not bandits…"
"You are still wearing the razors, I take it?" The young teen unfastened the robes and let them drop - turning to show the lack of wounds. "Now you, Chén'er," she ordered, pulling the robes back on.
Chénli grimaced and complied, showing a number of light slashes that had already begun to heal over.
"Hypocrite," remarked Dàilán. "Nothing needing treatment thankfully. Now, what is the problem?"
"Another pair of threes - your first kills. But the last," her friend said as she did her own robe up and hesitated, "I am taking the body with us. The Sect Healers may be able to get useful information from the corpse."
"We have to carry…?" The young Heiress felt sick.
Chénli shook her head. "No - another special Formation plate. But, Mistress," she looked at Dàilán - her eyes wide, "he had nine stalks - Peak Earth, one step from Sky. It is a blessing from the gods that you took him without a scratch."
Dàilán stumbled back a step. "Gods, my first blows took his wrist and hit a Dantian… I caught him in such an awkward position… if I had not crippled his Cultivation right off…"
"You might not be here. Your father and grandfather would have murdered me. Gods, they still might when they hear about this." Chénli looked shaky, "I failed as your guard. Everything in my power, hah!" She shook her head bitterly.
Dàilán regained her balance and shook her head. "Definitely not your fault. If they get upset just point out the Sect is at fault for leaving enemies so close to their borders. We had to clean their mess - they better not take it out on us." She paused, frowning as she turned and started walking back through the trees, headed back to the trail, "What kind of dumb name for an Evil Cultivation Cult is 'Grass' anyway?"
Chénli laughed as she pulled her hood up and followed, then passed her. "Death Cult. It is their stupid motto - 'From Death, Grass always grows'. They consider our Sect - Knife Sect - to be subverting the natural order of things - bad for business in other words."
Dàilán pulled her own hood up, matching her friend's pace as Chénli picked it up and they both rushed up the steepening hill, covering li in miao. "I thought killing people is what the Sect did? How can a Death Cult have business anyway?"
"An Enforcer clan carries out lawful assassination of people deemed undesirable - sometimes at our judgement but usually when we are notified or requested to do so. It is amazing how many important people are full of nasty deeds that make them great candidates when their rivals ask us to bump them off," explained the Enforcer as they rushed up the trail faster, li flashing by with each breath, "Of course, the secret rule is that we investigate both parties, kill everyone deemed unorthodox and confiscate their assets - not just kill who we are pointed at."
"Uhuh, suddenly I understand why the Sect is having problems. The amount of enemies that policy must create," replied Dàilán sarcastically.
"Not so much," said Chénli, "since enemies of the Sect are just new targets."
"This is different from a Death Cult, how exactly?" pointed out the Heiress acerbically.
"Because we have magistrates that sign off on execution orders after the investigations are done. We do not kill innocents and we do not kill without cause." Chénli's voice was curt. "Grass kills anyone - no questions asked - as long as the price is paid. They have been long used by the really nasty sorts we usually go after, to kill innocents and righteous Cultivators and we have a standing kill order on their Cultivators."
"Let me guess - they have kill order on yours," sighed Dàilán, "That last one said something about grass growing back no matter how often the knife cuts it."
"Yes. They are particularly fond of attacking us while saying that - like it is a personal affront that we stop them from feeding everyone to their damn grass." Chénli snorted.
"Want to bet they are behind the mess we are in?" asked the Heiress, "I bet they would love to kill the Heir of their blood enemies. They probably already did once, with Mother." Anger surged through Dàilán and she pushed herself faster.
"More likely to use you as a Cultivation Cauldron for one of their young geniuses actually," warned her friend, "their Cultivation Techniques are Unorthodox as you can get - I am sure your death would be involved at some point."
"Wonderful. So who do we tell once we get to the Sect? If the patrols are compromised, it might involve high level Cultivators of the Sect and if we tell the wrong people we know their plot…" Dàilán trailed off.
"Why bother with intermediaries - since you are going to see your Grandfather anyway?" asked Chénli, "Hopefully, he will know who can be trusted. You will have to demand that I come with you though - they will not let me in with you to see the Sect Leader otherwise."
Dàilán laughed harshly. "As if the Sect heir would go someplace without someone I trust to guard my back. They will let you in."
Chénli nodded, "I hear and obey, mistress." She slowed down. "We need to walk normally from this point - Cultivators rushing towards the sect's border will cause alerts. I need time to send the recognition patterns to the formations as well."
The pair walked at a civilian's pace for perhaps half a kè in silence with the bodyguard concentrating hard if the frown on her face was any indication. The young Heiress could feel irregular prickles of Essence from Chénli as she negotiated their passage through the formations, so she avoided distracting her and paid attention to the ironically peaceful and beautiful scenery around them as they walked slowly up into the hills. The large trees were thinning out being replaced by picturesquely stunted trees large boulders and small cliffs on either side as the path wound through the hills, looking like something out of a famous Penjing but life-size. She kept a careful watch as they went, but nothing ran across the careful essence probes she tossed out and nothing dangerous was visible. She wondered how Chénli normally kept watch while she was doing this process.
"You do not have to look for threats, mistress," her maid said somewhat distractedly as they walked, "the last fifty li out from the sect borders are all heavily patrolled."
Dàilán snorted coldly, "Given what we just experienced, I will not be taking that for granted. You are always telling me about being security conscious - that would seem obvious."
Chénli grunted. After a moment or two she replied, her voice focused. "There, passage approved." She walked a step or two more and then stopped to bow to the Heiress, "You are correct, of course. I have gotten so used to thinking of this as a safe area…"
Cleverly carved out of the small cliffs and a natural stone arch that crossed between them was a small but elaborately decorated stone páifāng that stood over the path just ahead of them. Chénli gestured towards it, "Channel your Essence through all five Elements - starting from Wood, as you go through and complete the cycle before you exit - or you just keep walking along the path."
"OK. Time to go be a Princess." Dàilán dropped her hood and threw her hair out out in a river of ink-black that cracked and flapped in the wind, Essence pouring off of it in an intimidating show of force.
Chénli coughed, eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter as she covered her mouth with a hand. "A bit much…"
Dàilán sighed, she shoulders slumping and let her hair fall down her back in an inky waterfall. "I sort of wanted to look more heir-like…"
Chénli rolled her eyes and stepped closer to her friend, passing her shoulder reassuringly and gathered the hair up, tucking it under the collar of Dàilán's robe. Then she pulled the robe's hood up over the Heiress' head, "We are here incognito today, Princess, low-key, remember? Just be yourself. No need to pretend for that. Leave the face-slapping for another time."
Her lady-in-waiting tucked the hood over her friend's face and gave a short sniff of satisfaction, before adjusting her own hood slightly and walking slowly forward to bow and gesture her Mistress over the threshold of the páifāng.
Dàilán took a deep breath and inclined her head in thanks, then walked swiftly forward through the páifāng, vanishing as her body crossed under the shadow of the arch. Tugging her own hood more securely over her own head, Chénli followed a beat behind her.
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