Backlash Part 1

Chapter 171: Worse Than a Toddler on Bed Rest

Luo Qingyang was able to move much faster on her own than with the forces moving toward Dafan. Even still, she found herself pushing herself to go just a little bit faster. A few less breaks than she would normally allow herself. A few more meals eaten while in transit. A few less hours of sleep. Maybe more than just a few less hours of sleep.

She couldn't help it. The nervous energy had gotten to her before she left to scout ahead. Jiang Yanli had done her best to conceal her nerves, but Luo Qingyang could tell she was worried. The situation was time sensitive. There was no way to know how long Nie Mingjue might be able to lay low in Dafan without being discovered. This was only made worse by how delayed their departure had been.

Jiang Yanli was not the only one nervous. Lan Xichen's face looked pinched. His normal calm and reassuring smiles looked tight and uncomfortable. He radiated anxiety in a way that was as uncomfortable as it was surprising. Lan Xichen had always been rather good at maintaining his outward calm. Sometimes the calm would be tinted with another emotion, but overall calm was still the primary feeling he would exude. Even when Nie Mingjue was first captured, Lan Xichen's devastation only slightly dampened that calm. This was the first time that Lan Xichen was radiating a completely different emotion. Anxiety seeping out of him despite the thin veneer of calm he was trying to mask it with.

All of that on top of the QingheNie sect cultivators was too much for Luo Qingyang to ignore. Nie Huaisang was so focused on getting his ge back that Luo Qingyang was surprised he didn't just take the QingheNie cultivators and go. The disciples themselves were eager to charge into battle and reclaim their sect leader.

Luo Qingyang had looked forward to distancing herself from all that nervous energy. Unfortunately now that she was moving ahead of everyone else, it seemed that nervous energy had decided to come with her. Luo Qingyang found herself travelling long past when she would normally sleep. She was too anxious and wound up to rest, so she might as well keep moving. Eventually she grew tired enough to stop and sleep for a few hours before heading out once more.

She reached Dafan in the early afternoon. Luo Qingyang had approached cautiously, unsure what she might find. It was clear her caution was unnecessary. The evidence of battle was everywhere. Burned houses, discarded swords, and bodies. The dead littered the ground. Some of them were civilians, others wore the robes of the QishanWen sect's army.

Luo Qingyang remained cautious. A battle was fought here recently and there were many dead soldiers. Luo Qingyang could not afford to assume what the outcome was. As far as she knew there were only three allied soldiers in Dafan. Wei Wuxian, Hanguang-jun, and Chifeng-zun were all practically legends on the battlefield. Three legends versus an entire army is still not very good odds. Especially when one of them was being held by the QishanWen sect until very recently.

Luo Qingyang noticed people seemed to be slowly gathering the dead. From what Luo Qingyang had observed in the past, The QishanWen sect didn't usually bother with cleaning up the aftermath unless they intended to use the space. Even then, they usually burned them rather than perform burials. Luo Qingyang observed the direction they carried the bodies and cautiously circled around towards the other end of the village.

Just outside the village a group of people appeared to be digging a series of graves. The group comprised mostly of elderly men and a few middle aged women. Luo Qingyang closely observed their robes. They were wearing QishanWen sect colours. Luo Qingyang could tell their clothes had once been of good quality, but they were worn and faded past the point of needing to be replaced. Luo Qingyang could imagine what the fabric would have looked like, but now that same fabric was worn thin. The colours faded and fabric stained more grey brown than white.