009 Tracks & Crows

I fixed Li Ming with a steady gaze. “You better explain to me exactly what is happening here, and you better be honest about it.”

I had no idea what I would do if I had just killed all of those cultivators for nothing. What if this woman who looked so harmless was actually the real villain? The thought made my stomach twist. Forget about a good night’s sleep.

“S-Senior,” she stuttered, slowly breaking down to sobbing.

I sighed and turned away from her. Cry? Really? I guessed it must’ve been bad.

I bent down and picked up the black sword that had fallen from Liu Janhong’s grip. The moment my fingers closed around the hilt, a strange sensation washed over me. I recognized its properties immediately. This was Blackedge Eclipse, a fairly popular sword back in Legacy World Online. Yet holding it here felt deeply wrong. The strange compulsion I had felt earlier had not come from the sword’s appearance at all. It had come from the connection it once shared with the demon-masked man. Now the blade projected faint emotions toward me, something like quiet happiness at being freed from its previous owner. The feeling grew weirder and weirder. Was this sword actually sentient?

I turned back to Li Ming. “What now? I am waiting for an explanation.”

She took a shaky breath, her eyes still wide with shock. “Our entire village was attacked without warning. Those black-robed men came in the night. They slaughtered the guards and… It was terrible.” Her voice cracked, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “I am so worried about my grandmother. She was the one who told me to run. I do not even know if she is still alive.”

I sighed, the anger and adrenaline slowly draining out of me. “You should come with me to my camp. We can talk more about it there.”

Just then, Xing Ning arrived, appearing at the edge of the clearing. He froze at the sight of the bloodshed, his face paling. “Senior—”

He turned to the woman beside me as if recognizing her. “Li Qing?”

I remarked, “Apparently, it is Li Ming now.”

Li Ming seemed to recognize Xing Ning as well. “Xing Ning?” Fresh sobs broke from her as she stumbled forward and buried her face against his shoulder, crying uncontrollably.

“They attacked the village,” she wept. “They killed so many people. I thought I would die tonight. Everything is gone. My home, my family… everything.”

She was a complete mess, trembling and barely able to stand. I placed a hand on Xing Ning’s shoulder. “Bring Li Ming with you back to the camp. Let us talk this over with the warmth of the fire.”

Xing Ning nodded, supporting Li Ming gently as he led her away through the trees. I remained behind, standing alone amid the carnage.

I leaned forward and inspected what was left of the demon-masked man. He had been reduced to nothing more than a mangled pile of meat and shattered bone. The only thing that remained intact was the demonic mask. It was red, with horns and a crying face carved into it. I recognized it as an item from Legacy World Online too. Did this have something to do with the reason I had transmigrated into this world? The thought sent a chill through me.

I sighed and used the bottom of my staff to move aside chunks of flesh. Beneath the remains lay a dark seed. It had developed rather severely, with a small bulb of a flower already forming above it, probably close to blooming. Despite its slight resemblance to plant life, my phytokinesis would not react to it at all. In fact, my druid instincts loathed it with pure revulsion. I had no idea what this seed was, but it was undeniably bad.

“Thorn Whip.”

A single thorny vine ripped the seed apart in an instant.

I thumped my staff on the ground.

“Thorn Whip.”

More thorny vines burst into motion, ripping apart every similar seed I could sense within the bodies of the dead cultivators around me. Now that I had a closer look and a calmer mind, the Earthling part of me could not help but feel a bit queasy at the sheer slaughter I had committed.

“No, this had to be done.”

Druids were never strictly on the side of justice. They were not for good or for evil. They simply represented balance. Of course, a person’s natural alignment would tilt them in certain directions, and I liked to think of myself as someone who leaned toward good.

I used my phytokinesis to bury the mess I had made, smoothing out the torn terrain and invigorating the trees I had displaced during my rampage. The forest slowly began to heal itself under my guidance, the soil drinking in the blood while new growth pushed through the broken ground.

Once the clearing looked somewhat peaceful again, I turned and made my way back toward the camp, Blackedge Eclipse still gripped loosely in my hand. The sword continued to hum faintly with that strange, almost grateful energy. I would have to figure out what to do with it later. For now, answers from Li Ming were far more important.

I saw the tree house and the soft glow where Xing Ning had lit up the campfire again.

The light danced across the wooden platform and the surrounding leaves, casting long shadows that made the night feel a little less oppressive. Li Ming had calmed down somewhat. She sat near the fire, her shoulders still trembling but no longer wracked with violent sobs. Xing Ning was beside her, carefully feeding her pieces of the sweet wild fruits.

Xing Ning looked up as I approached, his expression hopeful yet hesitant. “Senior… I hope you don’t mind me feeding her some of the stores of the tribute you gained from the local wildlife?”

I waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine.”

I stepped closer and handed him Blackedge Eclipse. “Look after this for me.”

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He took the sword with both hands, eyes widening as he turned it over. “Whoa… What is this?”

I could actually feel the blade hum with quiet happiness the moment Xing Ning’s fingers closed around the hilt, like a weight had been lifted, or perhaps like it had found a new companion it approved of. In the game, you could have multiple copies of this sword, but lore-wise, as a legendary weapon, it was considered one of a kind. If we were talking reality here, this was the only Blackedge Eclipse that existed in the whole world, both here and back in Legacy World Online.

I shrugged, keeping my tone light. “Just a really cool sword.”

I turned to Li Ming, studying her tear-streaked face. The strange seeds I had torn apart earlier were still messing with me, stirring a restless impatience deep in my chest, an almost compulsive urge to act. It made me worry about my own agency. I didn’t know something like druidic rage was possible, or perhaps it was the lingering personality of Nevle Drol Diurdhcra bleeding through. Either way, I forced myself to speak slowly and gently.

“Take it slow. There’s no need to hurry.”

Li Ming stopped eating. Resolve flashed in her eyes as she straightened her posture.

“This junior is called Li Qing… or rather, Li Ming,” she said softly. “I was raised in the Hidden Village of Leaf, a place that has long guarded the secret realm known as the Emerald Verdant Forest. Not long ago, the Serenity Cliff Sect, along with several minor sects and wandering cultivators, came to our village for its opening.”

Her fingers tightened slightly in her lap.

“For reasons unknown to me, the village agreed to betroth me to one of their young masters. Yet before anything could come of it, calamity descended. Our home was attacked without warning. My grandmother, Elder Guo Yupin of the Serenity Cliff Sect, and the villagers… they stayed behind to carve a path for my escape.”

She lowered her eyes, her voice trembling despite her effort to steady it.