A New World: Middle Kingdom Book 1

by Mike Han

  Now my turn to blush, I acknowledged her reply, “Thanks for your compliments. I am thankful that I had Will as my instructor as well as guidance from Elder Hao. What are your plans now that you have informed us of the updates on Deacon Yu’Er?”

  “Senior sister Ren is in favor of us returning back to school. But Mei and I felt that we should accompany you to the ruins to repay for saving us.”

  “Oh no, it’s alright. We did not expect any repayment for helping you with the bandits.”

  “Nevertheless, we had decided that we will accompany you both to the ruins.” She insisted firmly.

  I was enthralled and amused with this young lady’s reaction. I gave a laugh and said, “Well, if Will is willing, I am fine with it too. After all having good company with you will definitely make the journey much more enjoyable.”

  Blushing faintly, Min nodded in agreement. We had then spend some time having causal talk and Min shared the history of her school with me. Lotus School was founded by the current Headmistress Priestess Changqun, who was from a small nunnery. Twenty years ago, she was passing by Canyon Town when she noticed a large number of orphans in the town due to the many wars and feudal troubles in Middle Kingdom. A large portions of the orphans were females, as the male orphans were either taken in by the monastery or adopted by other families. Unfortunately female orphans were often thought to be a burden as they could not work well in fields or other hard works. Taking pity on these female orphans, she had stayed and founded the Lotus School to take care of these female orphans. Priestess Changqun was an established martial artist, and being afraid that these young ladies would be bullied, she had begun to impart her skills to them and these had started the founding of her school and disciples. Today, the school had such a widespread reputation, many families queued to enroll their daughters to the school.

  The next day, Will had anticipated their requests to join us and agreed with a smile. We bought some horses from Balance Village and made our way to the ruins. It took us three days to reach the ruins, which was located about a day journey from Canyon town. We had detoured to Lotus School in Canyon Town, to allow Mei to inform the Headmistress on the development and not surprisingly, she was also in agreement for Mei and the rest to accompany us, her departing words; “This matter does not just concern the Balance Sect. Miss Yu’Er’s investigation into this matter had revealed the possible remnants of the evil cult. This news alone would concerned not only the schools here in Canyon Town but everyone in Middle Kingdom. It would be our duties to render all assistance. Go ahead and do your best. Send words if you need help.”

  Along the journey, there was no signs of other human traffic. The place had an air of being long-forsaken. Though the bodies of the past feud between the righteous sects and Evil Demon Clan had long been reclaimed and buried, there were still signs of the violence that took place then. Remnants of broken weapons still littered the place, not considered worthwhile by the sects to reclaim or reuse. There were scattered places that still had traps activated to hurt and injured everywhere till these days, explaining why few people ever ventured to this region. Once Min accidentally stepped into a sandpit trap, which had her tumbling down towards a ten foot dropped bottom with age worn spikes. Luckily Will had jumped in, grabbed hold of her wrist and jumped out before she had tumbled far. His quickness, ability and skill gave credence as to why the martial world gave him the nickname Whirlwind. After this incident, we had slowed down to make sure that we don’t fall prey to traps again.

  As we approached the entrance of the ruins, we spotted two unfettered horses feeding nearby. Ren spoked up, “These were the horses that Miss Yu’Er and the other disciple were using when they left the school.”

  “Looks like they suspected they might be delayed and had let the horse loose. I wonder what sort of delay they were expecting.” Will mused.

  We had then too left our horses unfettered near those two other horses and made our way to the entrance. The entrance must have been very grand in its heyday. The gateway was easily ten feet high and a gatehouse at the side for their sentry to monitor people entering their clan. A curtain wall surrounded the clan, which was four foot thick and battlements top the wall at twenty feet. All these were now in ruins. The battle to take down the clan must have been furious and must be more akin to warring states, rather than between sects. I was filled with immensity as we stepped into the ruins.

  “How big was this place?” Will pondered my questions thoughtfully and answered, “They said that at its height of glory, the Evil Demon Clan boasted ten thousand members. It took the combined might of all the righteous order, which not only included the three main sects but also numerous minor sects and schools, before they were able to tear down the wall and put down the clan. Even then, it was rumored, that many of its members escaped into the wildness to lay low. After that battle, the righteous order also suffered great loss, and was not keen to purge those that escape. Instead this place was set on fire and all usable materials seized, before the raid was disbanded and everyone left for home. No one had set foot or lay claim to this area since then. Hmmm, maybe Deacon Yu’Er suspected that the descendants of those remnants started these attacks on those schools at Canyon Town to take revenge of the destruction of the clan. We will start searching inside the ruins to see if we can find any trace of Yu’Er’s whereabouts.”

  It took us three days to cover every inch of the ruins. Within the walls were the remains of buildings, which were so large that it could have hold hundreds of people easily. However, it appeared that no one had disturbed the remains for a very long time and we could find no trace of Yu’Er around. It was on the fourth day when we decided to conduct another search of the ruins that we discovered a sign that we overlooked.

  “Hey, everyone come over here!” We heard Min shouting for us. She led us to the midst of the ruins where a well was situated. There beside the well was a pole and carved into the pole was an emblem of Balance Sect. I would have walked past without noticing it, if not for Min drawing our attention to it. “I recognized this from the emblem engraved on Jun’s sword. Is that the Balance Sect’s symbol?”

  “Yes, it is. Why would the emblem be carved here of all place?” Will wondered.

  Finding no other clues around, I peered into the well. Something along the side of the well caught my eyes. Quickly lighting a torch I took from my pack, I shine the torch into the well, “Everyone come take a look. There are footprints along the side of the wall. Could someone have tried to climb down to the bottom? Some hidden area below?”

  After a quick round of discussion, we decided that Will and I will descend to the bottom of the well. The Lotus School disciples will keep watch at the top, and if we were not back in by sunset, they would head out for help. They agreed that more help would be required, if even experts like Will and Yu’Er would be incapacitated without alarm being raised. We secured a rope at the pole to act as our anchor point, while we lowered ourselves down into the well. Will took the lead, as he felt that he would be more able to handle any emergencies or hostilities if they were to suddenly occur.

  We reached the bottom of the well, without any incidents. True to our guess, the bottom was bone dry and we spotted a passage leading into deep darkness. Giving a quick shout to the ladies at the top that we were proceeding further inwards, we moved out into the passage with Will in the lead. The narrow passage eventually branched out into a big cavern. A whoosh was all I heard when Will gave a shout of alarm as he raised his blade to block an attack. Only an experienced and skilled artist like Will could block the swift and sudden attack in the stillness of the dark cavern. The flickering torch flames barely provided sufficient illuminance for the on-going battle, as I tried to track the happening around me. As I get accustomed to the gloom, I was able to tell that there was only one person that was attacking but the attacker was extremely skilled and Will was barely keeping the attacker at bay. However instead of the said twin daggers that were used in the attacks in Canyon
Town, this attacker was using a sword, and the moves were extremely familiar to me.

  Setting aside my thoughts, I drew my sword and quickly stepped in to assist Will. The attacker did an amazing triple strike attack on Will, forcing him to leap backwards to avoid being skewered at the third strike. The attacker had pressed his advantage, lunged forward and would have scored a lucky hit, if I had not stepped in at this point. My sword flew at the exposed ribs of the attacker as he was lunging forward towards Will. Recognizing that I was the true threat at that moment, he had no choice but to swirl away from his original path, avoiding my attack. But even as he moved away, the attacker swiped his sword at me, covering his retreat with an elegant counter-attack. Rather than the expected block of my sword, I flowed into his retreat and using my left palm to grab his sword grip, while my sword raised to his throat, forcing him to a standstill.

  “Jun, stop!” Will shouted and approached with the torch. Under the illumination of the torch, the attacker was revealed to be a young lady. “Yu’Er! It’s me, Will.”

  “Uncle Will? What are you doing here? Who is your friend here?” Yu’Er stepped gingerly from my sword tip. For a moment I was shocked senseless as it come to my realization that the attacker was the person that we had been searching for. Then realizing that I was still holding my sword at her, I quickly lowered it down.

  “Pardon me, Deacon Yu’Er. I am Jun.” I quickly bowed and replied to her.

  “Yu’Er, Jun is also a disciple. He was sent to assist me in my quest to search for you. What happen to you?” Will interrupted.

  Not answering Will, with disbelief in her eyes, she looked at me and continued, “Jun is a disciple from Balance Sect? How can it be? I knew all the disciples from Balance sect and had never seen him before?”

  Will chuckled, “Not surprising. Since he had only just entered Phoenix Hall and was one of my newest recruit.”

  “Our newest recruit? Was he from another sect before joining us?” She asked.

  “Err, no, Miss Yu’Er. I had never joined any sect or school before joining Balance Sect.” I stammered out before Will could reply.

  Incredulity was sketched on her face as she stared at me. “Your skill at disarming me is definitely not that of a recruit. He is way to skillful, didn’t you see that, Uncle Will. Are you sure he is not a spy?”

  Will chuckled, “Yu’Er, you have been away too long. Elder Hao had accepted this guy here as his personal disciple. I presumed that Elder Hao had been giving him personal tutelage as well.”

  Yu’Er gave a delightful laugh, “Elder Hao had accepted a disciple at last! Now I have someone else to talk to, other than those three stuffy deacons.” She then turned serious, “I was searching for clues at the ruins when I found that it was strange that the surrounding of the well was free of derelicts as compared to the rest of the area. After I discovered that the bottom was bone dry, I figured out that maybe there is a secret passage. But as you could see, I was attacked and subsequently trapped down here and been trying to figure out how to make my escape when you both came down.”

  “Attacked? Trapped? Where is Cai? Weren’t he accompanying you in your search?” Will started looking around.

  Yu’Er gave a look of disgust, “That worm? When the attack came, he fled and left me behind. I tell you everything later. But could we get out of this place first? I am starting to get sick of this place.” Saying this, Yu’Er picked up the torch that Will had dropped in the fight, and started to make her way to the bottom of the well, with us in tow.

  The rope that we used to make our way down was still there. But we could get no answers from the top. With no ideas on the development at the topside, we made our way up cautiously. To our surprises, Min and the rest were gone and there was no signs of them at all, even their previous preparation of keeping watch had been erased. Fearing the worse, we made a quick sweep of the area but could find no clues as to their whereabouts. By sunset, we could not find any traces of them in the ruins, and decided to set up camp near one of the ruins that was still serviceable for shelter.

  While we sat round the campfire considering our next step, Will spoke up, “Yu’Er, why don’t you tell us what happen to you so we can have a better idea of our adversary.”

  After spending some time gathering her thoughts, Yu’Er began her narration, “As you know, about two months back, news about the attacks in Canyon Town came to us. Granddad and the elders discussed over the matter and decided to send one of the deacon to look into the incident. I volunteered for the task as I know the other deacons were busy with helping granddad over the sect matters and I was relatively free. Cai, that good-for-nothing, was lazing in the sect and asked to follow along. I believed that he probably just wanted to come to Canyon Town to enjoy himself. Anyway after visiting several of the schools in town, I gotten my first clue from Lotus School. I decided to come over to the ruins to see if my suspicion that these attackers were remnants from Evil Demon Clan was true. We discovered the dry passage at the bottom of the well. As I was discussing with Cai about the plans about exploring the secret area in the well, a group of ten masked men dressed in black attacked us. They were all using the double hooked twin blades and were extremely skilled. I could barely hold my own when that worm Cai decided to take off for himself. I couldn’t take on ten attackers by myself and decided to take a risk handling them from the well. At the least they could only come at me one at a time and would be easier to handle. Luckily for me, they didn’t follow down, however the well was too deep for me to climb out without aid. Even with my lightness skill coupled with jump ability, I couldn’t reach the top of the well. Then you guys came along, just in time as my rations were running out and I was out of ideas.”

  Will pondered for a moment, “So your suspicion that these attackers from the ruins here are correct, unless they were following you out from Canyon Town?”

  “It could be, but I would think it was unlikely. I was pretty cautious on my way out here and had not detected any signs of pursue or trail.”

  “So that would still leave the identity of the attackers to be discovered. Also now our friends from Lotus School had also gone missing.” Will wondered out loud. “I think the best solution would be for Yu’Er and you, Jun, to head back to Canyon Town and get help, while I continued searching for clues around here.”

  Shaking her head, Yu’Er debated, “That would not be wise. You would not be able to handle them by yourself, Uncle Will. We also do not dare send Jun back to town by himself, no offence Jun, but after all you just graduated though you learnt Elder Hao’s skills. No, I think the best we can do is for Uncle Will to head back to town to get more help, while I stayed here with Jun to search for clues.”

  Even though Will argued vehemently against the idea, Yu’Er was very determined and in the end, used her authority as Deacon to order Will to go back to town. Myself, I find it amusing to see a young sixteen –year-old lady bullying a pissed off thirty- year-old hunk into following her orders.

  Later in the night, when I woke up to take my turn to watch over the camp, I found Yu’Er gazing contemplatively into the night. Giving her a polite greet “Deacon Yu’Er, are you not resting yet?”

  She turned and look at me, and I was struck by her youthful beauty. Her eyes spoke of wisdom beyond her age; and her action after she was stuck in the well testify to that. Calmness and decisiveness come naturally to her, giving her a cool and elegant look of that of a regal princess. Her mannerism spoke of a lady groomed to be a leader, but then a mischievous smile broke on her face, “Come Jun sit beside me. Don’t be so rigid. Just call me Yu’Er, I won’t bite. Now tell me all about yourself and how you become Elder Hao’s disciple? You do not know how many senior disciples have beg him to take them as his personal disciple but he always say he is too old to teach. Come to think of it, I myself have asked him to teach me but he just tell me my Granddad is more than capable.” She harrumph and continued jokingly, “What was that technique that you used back in the cave? That ol
d fox taught you that, right?”

  We had then spoke about me joining the sect and she had shared with me how she lost her parents when she was young in a boating accident and her granddad was all she had left. He had taken her in and lavished her with care and love. She reflected that her granddad had probably felt guilty about his powerlessness to stop the death of her parents and so over the years, after the death of her parents, who were also his disciples, had chosen to take her as his only other disciple and groomed her to be his successor. Speaking of this, she giggled as she would be the first female Grandmaster if it came true. It took on a more somber note when she found that I was an orphan too but when I shared with her how I woke up with no memories of my past in the carriage, she was intrigued by that. Of course I mentioned nothing of this as a virtual world and was surprised that I was willing to share so much secrets with her, but her willingness to listen stirred in me a desire to open up and share that which I dared not to so far.

  After listening to my strange past, she declared, “Don’t worry, Jun. You have me as your big sister here to take care of you. We would solve your mysterious past together.”

  The both of us then realized the absurdity of her statement, since I was older than her, and both of us giggled and eventually broke in laughter.

  “Hey you two. One of you supposed to keep watch and the other go to sleep. How do you expect me to sleep with so much talking and laughter?” Will grumbled.

  Yu’Er stick out her tongue in a mischievous grin, said her goodnight and went to get her rest, while I continued my watch, now alone deep in thoughts, dreading the numbering days in this virtual world.