Murim Recurve

"That went well," Once their carriage passed through the area manned by the bandits, Re'Bah smiled as she commented.

"Master is wise," One of the servants said with respect while the others looked at her in admiration.

All Re'Bah needed was but a glance to gather the details of the entire situation and make a single move to tide through it. From start to the end, she hadn't even moved, deciding everything by using her Pranic Avatar.

She then looked at Re'Kha, commenting after a nod, "You did well to match my command."

"It was easy to execute." Re'Kha looked at her Balou that was continuing to run beside the carriage on the right, remaining vigilant all along. As for the Balou summoned by Re'Kya, it too was running along the left of the carriage.

As there was still enough time for it to remain materialised, they decided to keep it running alongside the carriage as escorts. Besides, if the bandits tried any sneak attacks, they would come in handy.

It would also deter any other bandit groups that had decided to enact a wait-and-see approach. So, there was no harm in keeping them materialised.

Their journey continued uneventfully after that as the carriage stopped during the night. Re'Bah and Re'Kha slept within the carriage itself while the five servants set up a tent nearby. Of them, three went to sleep while two kept watch, seated at the top of the carriage where there was a seat to keep watch.

In the morning, they set off once again. All along, Re'Kha gazed outside the window, looking at the passage of the day to keep track of the time when she had to colour her eyes once again. She was supposed to colour them in the evening of the previous day.

But, as Re'Bah was beside her all along, Re'Kha was unable to do it. Thankfully, she never looked at Re'Bah even once, gazing out the window all along. And, Re'Bah seemed busy reading her book.

Even then, she never once looked at Re'Kha, so it worked fine for her.

And in the end, using the nighttime as an excuse to pee, she used a thick enough tree to hide while colouring her eyes. Even without using her Wind Qi perception, her basic sense allowed her to perceive the positions of others in her immediate surroundings.

And thanks to her training with the Wind Qi perception, the range of her basic sense had improved to a radius of thrice her height. It wasn't much but was enough for her to stay vigilant. Moreover, once she turned her back against them, Re'Kha used her Wind Qi perception to perceive the entire surroundings, only acting after that.

So, she had dyed her eyes during the night. And now, she would have to do the same. Only in that way would she be safe. That was why she was gazing at her surroundings, looking at the change in the ambient light.

No matter the season, she had never seen the sun, as opposed to what she had witnessed on Earth. There was a layer of clouds that blanketed the sky permanently. At times, there would be patches of it that would open up, revealing the sky above.

But other than that, there was never once when a clear sky existed in her world. After some thought, she looked at her mother, "Why is our sky always covered by the clouds?"

"…" Re'Bah gazed at Re'Kha with a meaningful smile, "Who knows?"

On seeing that she wouldn't be able to get any information out of her, Re'Kha continued to gaze outside the carriage, eventually noticing the roads turn wider as they passed over a flat plain. Soon, they were able to spot a settlement far away.

It was the Burkurel Ka Clan's Northern Settlement, a sign that they were approaching Burkurel City.

All cities had the same arrangement. The Ka Clan was in the north, the Re Clan was in the south, the Ju Clan and the Vi Clan were in the west and east respectively. Similarly, all five Settlements under an Elemental Clan were situated in their respective direction, further away from the city.

It was evening by the time they passed the Ka Clan's Southern Settlement, treading on the wide road towards Burkurel City. But, the moment they entered this stretch of the road, Re'Kha could see numerous potholes in the road.

They seemed to have been dug up by beasts or something, for they were erratic. There were the carcasses of numerous animals strewn on the side of the road haphazardly. Re'Kha noticed some teams of workers—wearing masks—go about the meadow and pile up the carcasses in a large ditch they had dug, piling up a lot of flammable stuff on it.

It seemed they planned to incinerate the carcasses, having zero intentions to store the meat that had begun to rot.

Further down the road, the scene of carnage increased as Re'Kha saw more and more carcasses piled up along the meadow. Soon, she was able to see the walls of Burkurel City, the place she grew up at.

But now, the moment she looked at its appearance, she was stunned, getting up from her seat in shock, "How is that possible?"

"War makes this possible. What else did you expect?" Re'Bah said as a matter of fact, "We were attacked by a horde of animals and beasts while in the presence of the Kalhas. By the time the Kalhas returned to the Kuhera Forest, we had suffered significant damage already. If your dad was a day later, the number of lives we would have lost would have been even higher."

"Anyway," Her tone fluctuated for a moment as Re'Bah looked at Re'Kha in all seriousness, "Once you enter the city, no matter what you see, don't react. No matter what, act like everything's normal."

"Beyond that, if you still try anything and cause problems for me…" Her voice turned chill-inducing, "I won't even consider you as my daughter and personally…"

"Hack you down."