RISE OF THE MARTIAL GOD

Xinglan sighed and pulled to a stop under a huge tree by the side of the road.

"Let's rest here and eat from what was left over from last night. Then when you regain your energy, we will go inside the forest in search of a suitable campsite."

The two girls sighed in relief, happy that they finally stopped.

"Ah!" The small cry of pain had Xinglan turning around, distracting her from what she had been doing.

She immediately rushed to Miao Miao.

"What's wrong?"

"My legs are stiff, probably from sitting too long."

Xinglan sighed and carried her down, carefully seating her on a protruding root of the big tree.

"Tong Tong, do you need help getting down from your horse?"

"No need, I'm already down."

She skipped to the duo and squatted down, quickly retrieving the remaining food from the storage ring.

They began to eat it from the pot, seeing no need for propriety since Anthony was no longer around.

"It's almost going stale." Miao Miao muttered with a mouthful of rice, and a few pieces fell out, making a mess.

"It's still good. At least, we have enough to eat. Let's eat it. The stew and braised meat are good. The rice is the one going stale because we didn't heat it up. Just use lots of stew and meat to chew it, you won't notice the taste." Xinglan whispered, pushing the meat and stew to her.

She began to eat the stale white rice, letting them have the stew, fish and meat. Tong Tong equally gave Miao Miao leeway, only taking a bit of meat and stew, leaving it majorly for the princess who devoured it without conscience.

Miao Miao looked at Xinglan who was only eating rice with vegetables.

"Won't you eat meat? The rice is better with stew."

Xinglan smiled and patted her hair.

"It's fine, I prefer it like this. Eat a lot."

Miao Miao shrugged.

"If you say so."

The rice no longer tasted good, but Xinglan kept shoving it down her throat without accompaniment, so that others would have enough meat to go with it.

After a while, Miao Miao pushed the stew to her.

"I'm done, you should have some stew, it shouldn't go to waste. If we leave it till tomorrow, it won't be edible."

Tong Tong gave her a side eye, cursing her silently. Xinglan smiled at her and nodded, accepting the stew. Tong Tong sighed and scooped some of the meat to Xinglan's side.

Just as she was about to scoop another portion, Miao Miao dipped her hand into the bowl, clearing out the remaining pieces of meat. She shifted away and leaned against the tree trunk, munching happily.

Tong Tong gritted her teeth and took a sip of water. She looked apologetically at Xinglan, but she didn't seem to notice. She poured the remaining stew in and mixed it with the rice, swallowing it hungrily.

She noticed Tong Tong looking at her and stopped.

"Zhao Tong Tong, why aren't you eating? We don't know when we will see a place to eat. Even if we have the roasted fish and corn with us, it won't do much. You should fill your belly with rice, it's still remaining."

Tong Tong smiled at her and shook her head.

"I'm already full."

"Are you sure?" Xinglan asked slowly, even though her stomach was still half empty.

She nodded in affirmation and Xinglan began to wolf it down once convinced that others had eaten their fill.

She picked up two pieces of meat from the three Tong Tong had placed in the rice pot before her majesty swept away the remaining ones and brought it to Tong Tong's lips.

"Have some…"

Tong Tong swallowed her saliva and removed her face.

"I already had some while I was eating, I don't want more."

Xinglan pushed one into Tong Tong's mouth and ate the remaining two.

Tong Tong looked at her in guilt as she chewed the meat. She had been so hungry that she didn't remember that Xinglan would also love meat, and only did something as an afterthought, when she was almost full.

She allowed her to make the sacrifice again.

Miao Miao had curled up after eating the meat and drinking some water, and her breath evened out.

"If we find a stream or a well, we will wash the pots and spoons. For now, I will keep them in the storage ring." Xinglan whispered, and drank some water.

She turned to see Miao Miao already sleeping. She smiled and caressed her hair, sitting beside her.

Xinglan suddenly froze up, her posture rigid and guarded. Tong Tong was still leaning casually against the tree, sipping water from the gourd.

"Yo, what do we have here?" A lewd voice came from the opposite side of the road. The voice had Tong Tong turning around with lightning speed.

Men dressed in hemp clothes and rough garbs, holding either a butcher's knife or a long walking stick, were coming from the bushes at the other side of the road.

"I knew it, this place is not safe." Xinglan muttered, her hand instinctively touching her waist.

But her sword was not there, it was still strapped to the horse.

"Another set of robbers. How could this be possible? This place was supposed to be safe, we didn't meet another set all day." Tong Tong whispered in horror, quickly standing up.

The moment the word 'robbers' filtered into Miao Miao's ears, her eyes shot open.

She immediately got to her feet, same with Xinglan.

"What do you want? We have no money on us." Xinglan said, slowly walking forward to meet them halfway.

More robbers suddenly jumped out of the trees surrounding them. One rushed at Miao Miao, his knife extended.

She screamed and immediately pulled Xinglan before her, using her to block the knife. Xinglan instinctively turned her wrist to meet the knife, making it collide with the metal buckle of her leather fastener.

"Hehehe. This sister of yours seems to hate you. She even used to block a knife. Is she really your sister?" One of the men asked, eliciting mocking laughter from others.

Miao Miao's face turned red in embarrassment and she bit her lips hard,

"Cut the crap. Come at me if you dare." Xinglan shouted, immediately rushing at the ones closest to her. She fought them off, avoiding hits till she got to her horse and drew her sword.

A man punched her from behind and she grunted. She avoided the next hit and retaliated, slashing the man down.

"You bitch! How dare you hurt him?" One of them roared.

"I won't just hurt you, I will kill all of you if you don't leave."

The men laughed, their laughter loud, mocking, and grating to the ears.

"She has fire, I like that. It makes this all the more fun."

"Attack."

Like that, the battle got fierce with the men mostly surrounding Xinglan who they saw as a threat. Tong Tong also did her best, fighting the much she could with her daggers, memories of Anthony's lesson flashing through her mind.

But this was her first real battle. Her movements were clumsy and easily guessed, lacking the finesse of a real warrior. And they took advantage of it.

Miao Miao noticed that none of the robbers seemed to pay her attention and quickly hid in the nearby bush, behind the shadow of a huge tree.

A man suddenly grabbed her from behind just when she relaxed.

"Pretty girl, what are you doing?"

She turned to see two of the thugs and she screamed in horror, her voice reverberating in the dark night.

Xinglan heard her voice and looked up, her eyes darting to the spot she left her. Using that one moment of distraction, one of the thugs stabbed her, and she grunted, vomiting blood.

She kicked the thug away and blood spurted out of the wound on her belly. She immediately dashed towards the area where she heard the voice. But the thugs besieged her, not letting her move forward.

Xinglan became desperate, fighting like a mad woman, her head was spinning from blood loss and exhaustion, but she still kept trying to create a path and rush to the direction she heard the sound. Her desperate attempt left her vulnerable to attacks because she disregarded defense, only trying to attack and make way.

In just a few seconds, her body became riddled with wounds, and it kept increasing. Blood was flowing steadily from her mouth.

The thugs tore off Miao Miao's clothes, and she screamed again.

"Were you looking for us?" One of the thugs asked and tackled her to the forest floor.

Her boob was exposed and her cloth pulled to her waist, while she struggled desperately, crying on top of her voice.

One of the thugs slapped her in irritation.

"Shut up and entertain us like a good girl."

"She's really pretty, her thighs are flawless." One said, his rough hands grazing her thigh.

His dirty callused hands roughly caressed her pubis, and his middle finger sought out her entrance. She cried loudly and trashed about, kicking him away with all her might. The other slapped her and held her hand tightly.

"Xinglan, save me! They're going to rape me. What the fuck are you still doing? Save me now!" Her loud shout dissolved into whimpers as they angrily beat her for shouting, and she sobbed.

"Save me please, I beg you." She wailed, struggling wildly.

Her cries for help was heard by Xinglan and her heart pounded madly. She immediately rushed forward on Miao Miao's urging, without regard for her life.

Tong Tong looked up, her face splattered with blood of the opponents mixed with hers, each of her daggers glistening with a red viscous liquid. Her eyes sought Xinglan and she immediately screamed in horror on seeing her panicked fighting in a bid to rush to the screaming Miao Miao.

"Xinglan. No!"

But it was too late, one of the men had stabbed Xinglan from behind, making her freeze in the process of running. She staggered as blood poured out of her mouth, and her sword fell from her limp hands.

Tong Tong's scream of horror resounded all around as Xinglan collapsed to the ground, the sword still embedded in her back. Even then, she was still trying to get up and answer Miao Miao's call, her eyes never leaving that direction for a moment, filled with pain, fear and regret.

Tong Tong screamed loudly and began to rush to her, crazily fighting the men in her path. Before she could reach her, another man raised his knife to finish Xinglan off. This time, it was aimed at her neck.