QingYu: A Wuxia Tale (Going Through Reediting)

Witness

(Jiang's POV)

I never knew Mei can run this fast. He moved across the entrance of the forest with a speed I can't almost match. He jumped over fallen trees, skid across the trail to change directions and listen to the different sounds around the forest at the same time.

His moves are exact, sure, trained. Should not be surprising since he is a soldier and a second in command at that. But I get a feeling that even Qing is not aware about this side of his second in command.

Mei moved like a fighter. A trained artist.

He moved like an assasin...

He stopped and I stopped behind him. I followed his gaze and my eyes rounded when I saw a peculiar scene ahead of us.

Dayu, surrounded by soldiers holding their swords.

It looks like they will kill the poor helper.

I was about to shout a warning to Dayu when Mei moved again and what seem strange to me gets even stranger when Mei joined that scene.

He unsheath his sword and threw it at Dayu while shouting the helper's name.

Dayu caught the sword and swung it around, catching a soldier attacking him, slicing him in the middle and that soldier fell, clearly dead at Dayu's feet.

I saw something flashed in Mei's hand. A blade. He run into a soldier and started engaging him in a fight. With just one slash of his blade, the soldier fell down clutching his cut neck.

I swayed at my feel when Dayu and Mei started going through the soldiers surrounding them like they practice those moves a thousand times.

But of course, those soldiers have training too and they get a swipe or two against Dayu and Mei but the two moved like they knew where to place themselves.

I watch as Dayu swung the sword on a soldier fighting Mei while Mei pivoted to throw his dagger on an approaching soldier and got him on the neck.

I was real stunned that I forgot that I should be helping them.

"Mei!" I shouted my lover's name but he shouted back a, "Stay there!"

Fine. I will stay here.

It's mesmerizing in a way to watch Dayu throw the sword upward and Mei caught it in mid jump. He made an arch slash to catch a soldier attacking Dayu while Dayu run towards a group of soldiers with something in his hands.

I can't help a gasp when I spied small acupuncture needles in Dayu's hand. He went through that group of soldiers, avoiding their swords while pushing needles in different part of those soldiers body.

One by one they fell on the ground.

Then I saw a soldier coming from Dayu's behind but Mei caught that soldier by grabbing his hat and hair and stabbing his sword on the soldier's back savagely.

I thought it was over until Mei pulled out the sword from the soldier he killed to pass it to Dayu who flipped the handle to throw it at a soldier running a few yards away. Trying to escape.

Just like that, my second in command is dead.

The sword caught him in the nape and came out on his neck. And I don't think it's a coincidence. Dayu made a calculated throw and he hit his target.

After the clashing of swords and swishes of the daggers, silence reigned. Dayu and Mei look around their handiwork then nodded at each other.

Holy temple they are scary...

They walk towards me. I stepped backward until I felt a tree behind me.

I am trapped.

They stopped in front of me. Dayu turned to Mei, "I have to go. Tell him what you need to tell him but he had to coordinate a story for us,"

Is it me or Dayu doesn't sound so sweet at all?

Mei nodded, "You are not part of the partrol team. An attack occured and one helper was taken. The other died while escaping. Are you sure all the soldiers are accounted for?"

"Yes," Dayu said. "Even the one that killed the other helper came back and you killed him," Dayu pointed at someone who got killed by Mei's dagger.

They are thorough too. Excellent.

"And if Captain Wang got suspicious?" Dayu asked Mei.

"Then we will tell him the half truth. You were attacked and Captain Jiang and I rescued you," Mei answered. Dayu nodded in approval.

They look at me again. I averted my gaze. Call me a coward but I just saw a helper stuck some probably poisoned acupuncture needles in a person's pressure point, instantly killing him.

Whatever Dayu is...I am not sure. What I am sure of is he is not a mere helper.

Dayu stared at me with those pretty but cold eyes. Then he turn to leave.

Mei and I are alone. I watch, amazed, as he went to the soldiers who died under Dayu's needles and collected the said needles from their bodies. He then stab the dead soldiers one by one with the sword.

I flinch when he tear a cloth from a dead soldier and use it to wipe his sword, the sheath it again. He then threw the cloth in a nearby bushes.

Who is this man, and where is my lover?

You know, the cold, clueless but sweet at times Mei.

This Mei is...terrifying me.

Mei looked at me. He walked towards me and sat on a fallen tree.

"Ask and I will answer," he said. "But make it quick because we have to report this," he sweeped his hand on the dead bodies on the forest floor.

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously as I stood in front of him.

He raise his head, "Me? I am Mei. Soldier. Second in command under Captain Wang..."

"And?"

"And a spy for "The Shadow","

I forgot to breath as his eyes went to the direction where Dayu walked. I followed his gaze.

Dayu...is "The Shadow"?!

Qing's obsession? "The Shadow"!

I sat next to Mei. "Explain it to me, please..."

"It's a long story..."

"Give me the shorter version,"

Mei laugh a little, "The short version? Dayu will kill the Master General and General Wang. That's the short version,"

My heart can't take all the surprise anymore. "T-the Master General and Qing's father? Dayu intends to kill his lover's father?"

Mei nodded.

I stared at him. "You...don't plan to kill my father, right?"

He frown, "Why would I kill your father, I never even knew how he looks like. I never met him before,"

Exactly. Why indeed?!

"But Dayu plans to kill Qing's father. Does that mean he knew General Wang before?"

Mei looked at me, "Should I give you the longer version now?"

I stared at him. I sighed and nodded. Those dead bodies are not going anywhere anyway.

Might as well take all the surprise I can get for tonight.