Rogue One: An Untamed Story

Chap 20: Before Hers, It Was His

Narrator's Pov:

For the following years, Liu Yang trains. She grows and learns and she fights. Minzhe teaches her everything he knows, showing her how to strengthen her golden core and build her muscles.

Life as a cultivator, no less a rogue one, is tiring and dangerous. But Liu Yang adores it.

Liu Yang was right about Minzhe. He is in fact very nervous around children. When she got older, he told tell her that he had left his clan to be a rogue cultivator, because he did not agree with his clan's beliefs. 

Minzhe is gentle but not timid, awkward but not introverted. He is warm and friendly, but has no idea how to handle small children.

When Liu Yang was 13, she was delighted to learn of this fact. And so for the next two years, Liu Yang had fun in sending her shifu into a panic whenever she acts reckless or rushes into a situation.

Minzhe once told her that her "free-spirit is bound to kill him one day." Despite them always coming out alright in the end.

She now wishes that she had listened to him.

In the blink of an eye, a total of seven years have passed since Liu Yang left her village with Minzhe. She hasn't look back. Travelling around the cultivation world, exploring towns and trying new food was a dream she never knew she wanted.

A week before Liu Yang's eighteenth birthday, Liu Yang and her shifu were tasked to kill a wolf/fox hybrid in Ba Ling.

The creature was said to have red fur like that of a fox and was as large as a wolf. It had been stalking a forest in Ba Ling.

It was supposed to be a simple hunt. But they had underestimated its strength. The monster was dead but Minzhe was fatally wounded.

"Shifu!" Liu Yang screamed and dashed to him. She fell to her knees beside him and tears sprung from her eyes. Her hands pressed firmly on his chest, trying to stem the flow of blood. There's no use trying to send spiritual energy when the injury is so serious, and her strength so low.

She had lost her sword in the frenzy, with only her dagger left. Her shifu, too, was down a weapon. His sword had been snapped in two.

Minzhe coughs and ignores his disciple's protests when he sits up. His hands are equally covered in blood. More his than the wolf/fox hybrid.

Liu Yang fights off more tears and gets to her feet, "Wait for me shifu, I'll-I'll find help." She moves to leave but Minzhe grabs her hand. She kneels down again.

She takes Minzhe's hand and squeezes tightly until she could feel his knuckles. Her heart aches as his hand feels so cold. She gasps softly when he wipes away the tears from her cheeks. "Silly Liu-er, no need to cry..."

He chokes on a cough. Liu Yang hovers above him, unsure if she should pat his back to help with his cough or not touch him. She stifles a sob as a thin line of blood trickles from shifu's mouth.

Minzhe smiles sadly, "I--know that I am so proud of you Liu Yang. Do not be rash when on night-hunts in the future, alright?" He teases, though it sounds like a serious request.

(A dying wish.)

Liu Yang can't bring herself to smile. "Shifu, please. Let me find help." She pleads, even when she knew that the wound is too deep, that by the time she finds a doctor Minzhe will be long gone.

Minzhe can't be saved.

He knows this, too.

Minzhe reaches for his hip and takes out his dagger, Huiqing. He puts it in Liu Yang's hand.

Liu Yang breaks into a sob as she realises what this means. She bows her solemnly. "Thank you for everything, Minzhe." She whispers.

He smiles at that and says, "Huiqing belongs to you now."

Tears swarm her vision she bites her lip as Minzhe draws in a shuddering breath. Then, his hand goes limp in her grasp.

Her other hand clenches around shifu--no, hers now, Huiqing's blade. Her grip is tight that it cuts her skin. She couldn't care less.

Liu Yang tilts her head up, fresh tears flowing from her face to her neck. She looks to the carcass of the monster then to the sky.

She slips her eyes close and she screams.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
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