QingYu: A Wuxia Tale (Going Through Reediting)

At the Crack of Dawn

(Qing's POV)

I woke up to the sound of rooster welcoming the morning. I don't have to look out of the window of the cabin serving as my living quarter to know that darkness still reigns outside.
I slowly got up from the pallet bed, wondering about the boy from the market.

Did he really said he was from SiChuan, the land known for its cruel governor? People from SiChuan are dying one by one from hardships. Terror reign in that land. Hanzong, being it's neighbor are a popular place for refugees from SiChuan to run to.

But their leader is not the only legend terrorizing that land. There is someone else who puts the fear on the heart of the people, not just people from SiChuan but to its neighboring lands as well. That someone is called "The Shadow".
"The Shadow" showed up almost 3 decades ago as a mercenary assassin.  "The Shadow" was called like that because that's the only thing witnesses will say after he had killed someone.
"It was really dark but we saw a shadow and then the Master just dropped down, already dead..." a witness once said.

Mercenary assasins are not a new thing in the Three Kingdoms. And most certainly not unheard of here in the Middle Kingdom. But what separates the "The Shadow" from the rest is its varied ways of killing. Sometimes it was bloody and brutal, like it will slash their victims too many times blood drained from the body.

Other times its clean. Too clean like using poison that is barely traceable. There are times that marks can only be seen, like "The Shadow" use its own hands to strangle the life out of it's victim.

And "The Shadow" had a reputation. When it had a target, its a guarantee that that target will die. It won't hesitate, it won't show mercy. It will kill.

I call it an "it" because "The Shadow" is not considered human. It was a monster. It kills officials and soldiers like me. According to the information we had on its victims, they are usually government officials and soldiers. And The Shadow killed them for money. Its a paid mercenary after all.

"Bastard!" I fisted my hand. This last year, "The Shadow" was rumored to have been spotted in Hanzong. Everyone was saying its new target is inside the Military base, someone on the upper rank.

How convenient because my own father happens to be in the upper rank on this base. He could be a target. I am determined to capture and kill that "shadow" before he killed anyone, my father or the Master General himself, General Zong.

But soldiers from SiChuan started dying, then an official from Nanjing, a governor from Guangzhou. "The Shadow" is everywhere. Now they say it was in SiChuan again, like that chaotic place is it's homebase.

That's why I urge every soldier under my management to be alert. If that monster is back in SiChuan there is a chance that it will try to enter Hanzong and the Military Base.

That's why I need that boy. He may have an idea who "The Shadow" is. He was from SiChuan after all.

I stood up from the pallet, move to the small table on the corner of my cabin. As a Captain, I have my own place to sleep. I don't sleep in one of the bunkhouses that accomodates our soldiers. I enjoy this one luxury.

Not that I can't sleep among my soldiers but I am a solitary creature in nature. As the only son of a powerful General, I was forced to separate myself from my more fragile sisters. I snorted when I remembered my four sisters. Fragile? Those harridans?

But that's what happened. Be it with studying or training, I did it alone. Until my father took me inside the Military Base to start being a lowly soldier. That's when I started fitting myself with others, see if I am stronger than them or find out where I am lacking.