Chapter 67 — The Talisman Painter Who Guards the Village

Nameless Alliance

Diệp Sương returned to Rễ Bàng Hamlet after nearly a month with the Vụ Ẩn clan, bringing Miên Trà with her—a bold decision that Lãnh Vũ himself, after many days of consideration, finally agreed to allow, on the condition that Du Khinh escort her closely throughout the journey.

Mr. Bảy Nhánh stood frozen at the village gate when he saw Diệp Sương appear, behind him were two strange creatures that he had never seen with his own eyes in his entire life, only hearing through rumors from the drunken nights of the old men in the neighborhood.

"This is..." he stammered, his hands trembling as he pointed towards Miên Trà and Du Khinh.

"This is my friend," Diệp Sương replied, her voice calm but firm. "The Hidden Vu Clan, the people our neighborhood still considers a legend. They are not enemies, sir. They are also victims of the same thing that is gnawing at this land, just like our neighborhood."

*

Not everyone in the neighborhood easily accepted it right away. A few elders stepped back, whispering in fear, some children hid behind their mother's skirts, looking at Miên Trà and Du Khinh with both fear and curiosity. But Ms. Tu, who Diệp Sương had saved from a strange wolf one night, was the first to step forward, without hesitation, extending her hand to greet.

"If Ms. Sương believes in them," she said, her voice decisive, turning to look at the whole neighborhood, "then I believe it too. She saved my child's life, I have no reason to doubt what she brought here."

That simple gesture seemed to break the last wall of shyness. Gradually, each person, one by one, began to get closer, although still keeping a cautious distance, but without the initial panic in their eyes.

*

That evening, around a large fire in the middle of the neighborhood, an unprecedented conversation took place - the neighbor Rễ Bàng, the Vụ Ẩn clan, and a disciple expelled from the largest sect of Cửu Vân, sat down to discuss a common enemy that all three sides had never had the chance to face to face.

"If it's true what Ms. Sương said," Mr. Bảy Nhánh mused, "then the weakening of the land here, in the Thâm Vụ Forest, maybe even in many other places, all stem from the same conspiracy. So what should we do? This hamlet only has a few dozen people, no one knows how to draw spells, and no significant weapons."

"Our clan can sense fluctuations in Linh Mạch much more sensitively than humans," Lãnh Vũ, who was also present after closely monitoring Miên Trà's trip, said. "If we cooperate—the humans keep watch during the day, our clan warns of disturbances at night, and Diệp Sương uses her abilities to respond when needed—we may protect each other far better than either side could alone."

*

Diệp Sương sat quietly listening, her heart filled with an emotion that was difficult to name - not exactly joy, but more like a deep relief, as if the burden she had been silently carrying alone for many weeks had now been shared, even if only a small part.

"I can't promise to protect everyone from all dangers," he said, his voice sincere. "I also no longer have the title of sect disciple to provide any official protection. But I promise, I will not abandon anyone in this alliance, the same way I was not abandoned by anyone when I needed it most."

"Alliance," Du Khinh repeated the word, his voice somewhat unfamiliar. "An alliance without a name, without flags, without ordination from any court or sect."

"Sometimes," Mr. Bay Branch smiled slightly, even though his eyes were still heavy with worry, "nameless things are more durable than things stamped with a red seal. At least, this thing no one can take away from us with a proclamation in the middle of the hall."

*

Not all members of the Vụ Ẩn clan agreed with Lãnh Vũ's decision. The next day, when Diệp Sương and Miên Trà returned to Thâm Vụ Forest to report the news, another clan elder, with a small figure but cold eyes, blocked the way at the entrance, protesting vehemently.

"Chief, do you intend to place the fate of our entire clan in the hands of an alliance with humans?" she growled, unable to hide her displeasure. "The memories of those hunts have not faded, yet now you want us to stand in the same line as the very species that caused that pain?"

"Not all people are the same, just like not all members of our clan think the same," Lãnh Vũ replied, his voice firm but not losing respect for his interlocutor. "I do not ask our clan to forget the past. I only ask that our clan clearly see the danger ahead, a danger greater than any old animosity between the two species."

The debate lasted until late afternoon without reaching a consensus. In the end, the opposition accepted a stance of noninterference, though it did not fully support the plan. Diệp Sương stood outside the debate, understanding that the trust she was trying to build remained fragile and could collapse after one unfortunate event.

*

The first test of that young alliance came sooner than anyone expected. Just three nights later, a loud noise rang out from the edge of the forest, at the border between Rễ Bàng Hamlet and Thâm Vụ Forest - not a single strange beast like last time, but a herd of hysterical creatures, bloodshot eyes, rushing out from the dense fog, destroying the fragile bamboo fence protecting the hamlet.

Miên Trà, who was on guard duty with a few young Vụ Ẩn warriors at the edge of the forest as assigned, was the first to discover and let out her clan's characteristic warning howl that echoed throughout the forest, promptly waking up the whole village before the herd of animals could rush between the rooftops.

*

Diệp Sương rushed out of the tent, already holding a pen and a small ink bottle that she had kept with her since the day she left the deep forest. She mixed Mr. Tám Mực's homemade ink formula with herbs the Vụ Ẩn tribe had shown her how to extract from the leaves of the Thâm Vụ Forest, creating a new type of spirit ink, unprecedented anywhere in Cửu Vân.

"Draw the outer circle, I will guard the inner circle!" He shouted loudly, running to the end of the hamlet where the herd of animals was pouring in the most fiercely, his hands quickly drawing modified talismans along the remaining fence, the pale yellow light spreading into a long streak connecting each roof.

Du Khinh and the Vụ Ẩn warriors rushed straight into the middle of the herd of animals, using their clan's superior strength and speed to stop the most ferocious animals, while the men in the neighborhood, under the surprisingly calm command of Mr. Bảy Nhánh, used fire torches and sticks to protect the spaces Diệp Sương had not yet been able to draw.

*

The battle lasted nearly an hour, chaotic and suffocating. When the first light of dawn glimmered through the foliage, the strange beasts finally retreated, leaving a devastated hamlet but not a single human casualty—an outcome Diệp Sương herself, panting amid the ruins, had not dared believe possible if she had faced it alone.

"We did it," Ms. Tu said, her voice still shaking but her eyes shining with unprecedented pride. "Three sides, never fought together before, yet we did it."

*

Lãnh Vũ, standing in the middle of a pile of ruined fences, looking around at that scene that was both cruel and miraculous, turned to Diệp Sương with a look completely different from the first night they met in the deep forest.

"I have lived long enough to doubt every promise from humans," he said, his voice low but not as heavy as before. "But tonight, I believe, this nameless alliance, may be the first thing in many generations that restores my faith in the possibility of coexistence between species." Diệp Sương nodded, her face smeared with dust and dried ink, but her eyes, for the first time since the night she was sentenced to deportation, shone with a light not from any talisman, but from the trust that was gradually being rebuilt, brick upon brick, between people and races who had never thought of standing on the same front line.

*

Even the elder who had objected most harshly the day before, upon hearing the news that the battle had ended without the loss of a single person or Vụ Ẩn, quietly went to the ruins, stood and watched the scene of the people and the Vụ Ẩn clan working together to clean up and bandage each other's small wounds, without saying a word, but her eyes had lost some of the inherent coldness.

Miên Trà ran to hug Diệp Sương, her whole body still covered in mud after the battle. "We've won, Sister Sương! Even your clan's most difficult ancestor can no longer say a word of protest!"

Diệp Sương laughed, patted Miên Trà's head, then looked up at the distant horizon where the sun was rising, warm yellow light spreading across the ruined rooftops that still held life inside. She knew that tonight was only the beginning and that many bigger challenges waited ahead, but for the first time since her expulsion, she felt she no longer had to bear everything alone.