Remembering You For Eternity

2.39 Legend (1)

Zuo Shan'er blankly stared at the cloudless sky. She was at Lady Mei Gui's residence in Lingdi, sitting docilely at the central courtyard, the small garden currently teeming with spring blooms. At times, lone butterflies fluttered past to land on the bed of flowers close to where she was.

A picture of harmony; a beautiful young woman, with an expression as pure as a newborn baby - a real-life painting of innocence. The butterflies fluttered close to her ink-jet black hair, some graced her shoulders.

As if she was a part of the blooming garden itself, just another stalk of flower they were willing to grace.

Nevertheless, Zuo Shan'er kept her cloudy gaze affixed at the sky, as if she was seeing nothing, feeling nothing at all. Her lips were lightly tugged upwards in what seemed to be a smile but not. It was an unchanging non-expression ever seen on her porcelain pale face.

Cao Lu and Xiao Zi stood at a distance, their own gaze mixed with pity with a twinge of indifference.

"The most fortunate one is probably her." Cao Lu snorted, "The troublemaker ended up having the best fate of all, conveniently forgetting what she has done."

"If even forgetting the one she loves is called fortunate... ." Xiao Zi murmured. Cao Lu sighed in response,
"Foolish girl. One should know when to give up."

Lingdi had finally been liberated from Daemons. A few full moons had passed; although there had been no news from the Emperor or about the Imperial City that also supposedly had Daemon problems, the group of young Dao cultivators did not dare to march onward before the arrival of their elders in Lingdi.

And those elders really did finally arrive. The Sages from Chun Ping Gu sect, Wu Shan sect, and Hui Lin sect reached Lingdi merely days ago. The town was still thriving, although it haf lost the majority of the imperial soldiers stationed there - who had turned into Daemons and subsequently subdued prior their arrival. The Sages had also brought a fair few of seasoned Dao cultivators to set up a temporary stronghold. More beast-masters and Enlighteneds and Sages from other sects had also joined the cause. As best as they could, they had also subdued and purified surrounding small villages that had suffered similar catastrophe.

Cao Lu and Xiao Zi had found out that Lady Mei Gui had been evicted from the imperial harem since a while ago, and ultimately ended up stationing herself in Lingdi, taking into account the safety that it should have provided. After all, Lingdi was a stronghold town. Who would have known that everything would turn to hell in such a short time.

Lingdi, thankfully, still had a fair amount of survivors - normal humans that had gotten away from Daemons or from being turned into one. When the first breakout happened, although Lady Mei Gui was not too informed about the whole Daemon issue, she was smart enough to notice the anomaly of some soldiers that had turned berserk. Those were apparently the ones that had turned into Daemons early.
She managed to convince a fair few of townspeople to settle in the quietest part of town. A messenger had been dispatched to seek aid from the Imperial City, but none had ever seen him back in Lingdi again.
The whole predicament told Lady Mei Gui that the situation was likely to be more dire than anticipated. However, with a number of townfolks under her management and protection, she could not just bring a few guards and escape by herself.
She was an upper-ranked Martial-Artist, and so were her guards. They could probably afford to escape from town themselves. But the commoners would not stand a chance.

Only when she heard from her informant that a bunch of cultivators had encountered trouble in town did she bring some of her most able guards out of their hiding place to observe the situation. She had overestimated her ability of course, by taking the Daemons head on, but at least she was reunited with her daughter, Xiao Zi, in the end.