Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Sunslayer

"Hey…hey…!" Connie shook the collar of the man in her hands. Upon realizing that he could no longer answer anything, she sighed. "I think I went too far," she let go of the man and stretched her back with a loud groan. "Been so long since I did an interrogation. Getting a bit rusty."

She took the cup of warm water that Lihua offered and downed it in one gulp. "Seems like the Faith have more rat problems than we thought."

"Don't they all?" Lihua commented. "After all, it is only human to fall so easily to temptation of the flesh. Unless one is a monk of the highest degree," the raven-haired woman paused before advising their next move. "This one think that this news should be told to the Maiden of Water post haste."

"I concur. Lihua, go back to the city and inform the Maiden of Water about what we found out from this pile of garbage. Make sure to go straight to her and hand this unpleasant matter over. I have enough shit on my plate to take care of, even without the Faith's politicking."

Lihua cupped her hands and bobbed lightly. "As you wish, Mistress."

"Connie? Shouldn't I be the one to go instead? I can reach the city faster."

"This one commends your spirit, darling. But you are not capable of flight yet. As such, this one is the most suitable person to handle this," Lihua said, patting Illumca on the shoulder. "You should stay with the Mistress and take care of your soon to be Junior Disciple."

After saying that, the Queen of Frozen Caves leapt into the air, and with a wave of her sleeves, soared into the sky, leaving a trail of ice crystals behind.

"The rest of you, take care of the leftover," Connie commanded the Silence, before turning towards Akula.

The Centaur was still sitting in meditation with eyes closed, cold sweat running down her neck. Connie watched this with a troubled expression. "This is taking longer than usual. What's going on in there?"

Upon receiving the memory from Connie, Akula felt the ground beneath her hooves vanish. She then fell into the gaping maw of darkness for what felt like ages, before landing onto a hard surface.

"U…ugh…" Akula fought against the urge to retch as her eyes started to get used to the light after a period of darkness.

At the corner of her hearing, she could hear something familiar. Yes, the song of iron meeting iron, melding together with the discordant cries of soldiers. The unique sound of a battlefield.

She found that she was standing in the middle of it, the ground beneath her stained red from spilled blood. Men wearing armour and helmet that she had never seen before were fighting men in yellow clothes.

While Akula was still perplexed, one of the men in yellow swung a large sword at her. She reflexively tried to get her Sukheri, only to find that it was not on her. Helplessly, she raised her arms to block the incoming attack. She gritted her teeth to prepare for the pain, but the sword went past her and cut open the chest of a man behind her.

"This…this is an illusion?" Akula murmured, but she remembered the name of the Technique. "No, this is a memory."

The men in yellow quickly routed the last of the armored men and cheered after the last of their enemies joined their fallen compatriots. Moments later, however, those jubilant smiles turned to distress.

Akula saw the ground tremble; the discarded weapons that had fallen to the ground clattered, and the surface of the pool of blood next to her rippled. She heard a war bugle being blown from behind her. As she turned, she saw a mighty cavalry with banners of gold came into sight, pouring from atop a green hill. There were so many of them that the hill turned gold.

Then she saw the formation parted.

And then, like a rising sun, something came up from the hill. Something massive.

No, it was not something.

"I – Impossible!" Akula mouthed. It was someone.

A giant woman wearing scale armour of gold and red came into sight, a verdant green tassel tied to her waist. She stood majestically tall, even the tall cliff overlooking the battlefield only reached her waist. On her back was a massive bow to match. Its green surface radiant with power.

"She comes! The Sunslayer comes!!" the men who were celebrating their victory before trembled at the sight and had begun to lose their courage when a shout reverberated from atop the battlement on the other side.

"Stand your ground!!"

The giantess stopped in her tracks and raised a hand halfway up. At that instant, the army stopped their advance.

As Akula was wondering how to get to a better view of the giantess, her body floated into the air, rising above the battlefield.

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The army behind the giantess were disciplined, each of them exuding pride and confidence. There were more than ten thousand men on that side. While on the other side, there were barely two thousand.

The men in yellow gathered before a ruined city where a majestic gate had been blown apart. The buildings were foreign to her; the roofs being curved, with ends that were decorated lavishly.

Atop the city's front battlement was a bamboo table with a ceramic cup. One look at the exquisite workmanship and one would know that its value could buy a castle. Shame however, that that very cup bore a small crack at the rim, rendering its value, nil.

A clear rice wine was poured into the cup from a beautiful pot. Its intoxicating fragrance of ripe cantaloupe driving away the smell of blood from the vicinity. Akula gasped upon recognizing the woman holding the pot. The graceful curves of her body and the impossibly thin waist. "Madame Sui…? Then that means...that old man is…"

An elderly senior with white hair and a long beard sat upon a broken throne, the blood of its past owner still stained its ornate back. The man wore a dark robe with red accent; his deep eyes gazing past the bloody battlefield; one hand caressing a worn-out scented pouch.

"Co - …Wang Tian Gu?" she corrected herself. She had listened to Connie boasting about her former life's physiques. Looking at his body, she could not help but compare him to her clan's warriors and found them wanting.

"Shīxi -" The female giant began. Her voice pauseing briefly, before it boomed across the battlefield. "…Heavenly Poison King. You and your men are surrounded! Surrender now and stand trial before the Emperor, or else!"

"Or else…what, Hong Yi?" The man in red put down his cup with a forceful thud. "Hm, I heard that they call you something else now," The Heavenly Poison King cocked his head. "Then, will you shoot me down with your arrow, Sunslayer?"

"If you surrender, it will not come to that."

"Are you mad?! That man has annihilated my righteous clan! That is a great sin!! He must die" An obtuse-looking man standing upon the cliff next to the giant strode forward with a face full of hate. "Heavenly Poison King!! I will see you drawn and quartered!!"

"Stand down, Lord Zhong Wei," The giant scolded him with a firm tone, causing him to flinch. "You have killed too many people, Heavenly Poison King. As the Royal Adjudicator of this realm, it is my duty to uphold justice and stop you."

Her words were followed by curses and the banging of shields of the Imperial soldiers.

Ignoring the bleatings of the Noble bastard, the old man propped his cheek with his fist.

"Haha. Justice, you say? Where was justice, when the Zhong Family took the rice from the hands of his starving people? Where was justice, when sons and daughters were taken from their parents and sold as slaves?" the man in red's voice became heavier. Malice dripping from his every word. "Where was justice, when an innocent child was taken and the mother killed without mercy?!"

"Sunslayer…that man beside you, Zhong Wei, is the twentieth in my list. He's the kind of rat that would hide in his hole until sufficiently prodded," he smirked. "The death of your brother, Zhong Yu, and the rest of your clan, was simply a catalyst to drag you out of your hiding hole. With you gone, I will be one step closer to avenging her."

"You bastard!! You killed everyone in my family just for that?!"

Wang Tian Gu shook his sleeves. "Yes, indeed! And my revenge will not cease until each and every one of the names in my list and all members of their families are erased from the face of the earth!!!"

Hong Yi shouted with anguish in her eyes. "Revenge will not bring her back!! You once stand for justice, Shīxiōng!! Please, open your eyes!!"

"Hahaha. Justice! You speak of justice, and yet you are protecting one of the bastards that kidnapped my daughter and killed my wife! If that is justice then you are blind! Blinded by your own hypocrisy!"

With those words, the Heavenly Poison King slammed his hand on the table and reduced it to dust. "SUNSLAYER!! If you deign to protect him still, then you are my enemy!!"

Akula saw the stout giant's lips trembled and the edge of her eyes glistened. "So, is this how it must be between us, Shīxiōng? Can I no longer hear you call me Shīmèi anymore?"

"Then, to uphold justice, I will kill my heart."

The female giant took an arrow the size of house's pillar and nocked her bow. The arrow flew towards Wang Tian Gu, before being swatted by the phantom of a large centipede.

All of a sudden, a jolt of pain shot through Akula's head and she fell onto her knees, wincing in pain.

"W-what's happening?"

The scene blurred, and everything happened in a flash, suddenly, the men that were with the giant had become dismembered corpses.

The giantess's body blurred and her body had become tattered. Numerous giant arrows dotted the battlefield. On the other side, Wang Tian Gu's clothes had been ripped apart, showing a body marred with scars and burns. A part of his ribs had been gouged apart, and Akula could see his innards spilling out.

The scene blurred again. And the giantess now had in her hands, her bow. But this time, a blinding golden arrow was nocked.

When she pulled the bow, the sun began to dim, and the earth around her cracked and sunk. Crackles of Energy crawled through the earth, collapsing the cliffs near her.

"AAAGH!!!"

The scene came and went like disjointed pictures of a story. As if the owner was ripping out parts of the whole in frustration.

Akula screamed in pain. Memories came flooding into her head. Image upon image flashed before her eyes.

A young giantess was crying in the middle of a valley after being bullied by her seniors. A young man with hair tied to a bun used his white robe to clean up her tears.

No.

The same young giantess held a bow for the first time and managed to hit a bullseye. The young man sitting on a tree clapped with joy. The face of the giantess blushed as she looked upon him.

Stop.

The giantess sat on a Celestial Palace, looking down at the clouds. Waiting for him to fulfill their promise. With each changing scene, seasons came and went.

The giantess waited.

And waited still.

But he never came.

"STOOOOPPP!!!"

Out in the real world, Connie sat on a chair with on foot tapping in impatience.

It's been more than two hours. Did I make a mistake in giving her 'her' memory?

Just as Connie was thinking that, Akula's eyes jerked open and let out a painful cry. Her head shot back and beams of light shot out of her eyes like a beacon in the dark night sky and her body began to float. The wind around her started picking up speed, causing the chairs set up next to her to fly away.

"W-what's happening?!!" Illumca said. "Is this part of the Memory Bestowal Ritual?"

"This feeling…?! Energy Deviation?! How is it possible? She has yet to become a Cultivator!!" Connie spoke to herself. "No, does this mean…? She's using her life force?!"

Immediately, Connie flung herself towards Akula, then she jabbed her finger into the points at the top of her head, the base of her heart, and below her navel. With the last pressure point taken care of, the Centaur's body stopped floating and she fell limp onto Connie's arm.

"Akula!" Illumca came over as fast as possible. Her face filled with worry. "Is – is she gonna be okay?"

"I hope so. I've managed to stop her from using her life force. But I still don't know how this could happen. I've never seen something like this before."

Connie parted the bangs of the Centaur and saw that she was now asleep; sleeping a troubled sleep.