Chapter 70 — The Talisman Painter Who Guards the Village

The Fire Before the Storm

On the morning of departure, the whole Rễ Bàng Hamlet gathered to see Diệp Sương off, more people than at any occasion she had witnessed since arriving in the light rain the previous year. Mr. Bảy Nhánh stood at the front, holding a small cloth bag of dry food and medicinal herbs the neighbors had saved.

“Be careful on the road,” he said, his voice choked. "This village will always be grateful to you, no matter what happens."

"I'm the one who owes the gratitude," Diệp Sương replied, bowing low to the old man. "If my neighborhood didn't trust me from the first night, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to go until now."

*

Ms. Tú hugged her tightly, while the little boy clutched the hem of Diệp Sương's shirt and refused to let go. "Will Miss Sương come back again?" he asked, his innocent voice making the crowd laugh and cry at once.

"I will return," Diệp Sương replied, patting the boy's head, "when everything is okay, I will definitely come back and teach you to draw more beautiful charms than you have ever seen." The boy nodded, giving him the old pebble he had received the last time - which he kept in his pocket throughout the journey - as a silent promise that gift would guide him back.

*

Miên Trà and Du Khinh stood waiting at the edge of the forest. They both changed into neater clothes to facilitate the long journey, although they still could not completely hide their strange appearance compared to humans. Lãnh Vũ personally saw them off to the final boundary of Thâm Vụ Forest, a place he had not set foot outside for decades.

"This is the first time, after many years, that I let two of my clan's children step out into the outside world as one person," he said, his voice both proud and worried. "I trust you, Diệp Sương. Don't let that trust become another mistake in our clan's history."

"I will protect them with my life," Diệp Sương replied, her voice firm and without hesitation.

*

Lãnh Vũ nodded, then turned to Miên Trà, placed his hands on his young grandchild's shoulders, his mature eyes reflected the undisguised concern of a grandfather for his grandchild leaving the nest for the first time. "You must always be careful, always listen to Diệp Sương and Du Khinh. If anything goes wrong, find a way to return immediately, don't be stubborn."

"I know, patriarch," Miên Trà replied, her voice still a bit shaky but her eyes full of determination. "I will take my clan's honor with me, I promise."

Du Khinh, standing nearby, bowed slightly to the patriarch, not saying much, but his steady eyes replaced all necessary promises.

*

Before leaving the edge of the forest, Diệp Sương stopped for a moment, turned around, and looked back at the panoramic view of the Thâm Vụ Forest stretching out behind her—the place that had once scared her on the first night she lost her way had now become an inseparable part of her life's story, no different from Tùng Lĩnh Village or Vân Tiêu Peak.

"Thank you for trusting me," he said to Lãnh Vũ one last time. "No matter what lies ahead, I will never forget what your clan taught me about healing rather than conquering." Lãnh Vũ nodded slightly, did not say another word, just stood silently watching the three figures gradually disappear behind the trees, until the last figure completely disappeared into the morning mist. Before disappearing completely, he pulled out a small bracelet made from his own clan's feathers from his sleeve, silver glittering in the morning sunlight, and gave it to Diệp Sương through the hands of Miên Trà.

"This is our clan's token," Miên Trà explained as she handed it back to Diệp Sương, her tone solemn and different from her usual childish look. "Until now, no human has ever been given this item. The chief said, if you meet any member of the Vụ Ẩn clan on the road, even in any other forest throughout Cửu Vân, this bracelet will prove that you are not an enemy."

Diệp Sương took the bracelet, her throat choked with emotion, and carefully put it on her wrist, next to the faint scar from the first night she had bitten her finger and drawn blood to save Rễ Bàng Hamlet. She understood that this was not just a gift, but a heavy commitment that the Vụ Ẩn clan, after generations of caution, was now willing to place in her hands.

*

The three of them had been walking for half a day when it started to get windy. It wasn't the usual wind that warned of rain, but an unusually cold stream of air blew across, carrying the unfamiliar smell of damp, moldy soil, causing both Miên Trà and Du Khinh to stop and look up at the sky with alertness.

"Something's wrong," Du Khinh said, his voice low. "This wind is unlike any wind I have ever felt before."

Diệp Sương looked up in the direction she was pointing, seeing on the far horizon, a huge mass of dark clouds was rolling, unusually dense, not moving in the usual wind direction but as if it was being born from the ground itself, rising higher and higher with each passing moment.

*

"Is that..." Miên Trà whispered, her voice trembling. "Is that the sign the patriarch warned about?"

Diệp Sương did not answer right away, simply standing silently and looking at the strange black cloud. A cold feeling spread across her spine, no different from the feeling she had on the night a small demon tide hit Tùng Lĩnh Village when she was thirteen—only this time, its scale was much larger, enough for all three people standing at a great distance to feel the weight pressing on the air.

"We must go faster," he said finally, his voice final. "Whatever's brewing there, we don't have much time left to get to the warning site in time."

*

That night, the three stopped on an open hillside, afraid to light a large fire that might attract attention. Diệp Sương sat watch, her eyes never leaving the dark clouds rolling in the distance and spreading across the sky.

Miên Trà, unable to sleep, snuggled close to it, her voice soft. "Miss Sương, are you scared?"

"Yes," Diệp Sương answered honestly, not hiding it. "I'm afraid what's coming will be greater than anything I've ever faced. I'm afraid, no matter how hard I try, I won't be able to save everyone."

*

"But the patriarch once said," Miên Trà replied, her voice young but full of comfort, "a single tree alone cannot make a forest. You are no longer alone, Ms. Sương. You have children, there is Du Khinh, there is the whole clan and the village of Rễ Bàng is standing behind you, whether you see it or not."

Diệp Sương turned to look at the little Vụ Ẩn child, a strange warmth filled her heart amid the surrounding fear. She hugged Miên Trà in her arms, squeezing gently, like a real sister hugging her younger brother before the upcoming storm.

Du Khinh, standing guard not far away, turned to look at that scene. His eyes, for the first time since the day they met, no longer had any reserve, only the sincere sympathy of a true teammate remained.

"You know," he said, his voice low but no longer as cold as the first time, "I used to think that if one day I had to leave the Thâm Vụ Forest because of human affairs, I would be full of resentment. But now, I see that I am walking for a reason bigger than that old resentment—for my clan, for Rễ Bàng Hamlet, and perhaps for people I have never met who are also living under the same stormy sky."

Diệp Sương looked at him, smiling slightly in the darkness. "Thank you for believing," she said softly. "I know it's not easy for you."

Du Khinh did not respond further, just returned to his guard position, but his appearance, under the pale moonlight, had somewhat relieved the tension that had been there since the first day they met.

*

The next morning, as the three continued on their way, the rising sun behind them dyed the sky a strange red-orange color, reflecting on the edge of the dark cloud mass ahead into a bright but uneasy halo, like a fire foreshadowing a huge storm about to strike the entire land of Cửu Vân.

Diệp Sương tightened her bag strap, taking decisive steps forward, Miên Trà and Du Khinh walked on either side, three small figures in the middle of a vast land trembling before a danger that no one had yet predicted the true scale of. Behind them, Thâm Vụ Forest and Rễ Bàng Hamlet gradually disappeared, but in front, Vân Tiêu Peak, Lam Thủy Town, and a vast kingdom were waiting, unaware that these three small people were carrying a warning that could be their last chance to prepare.

Diệp Sương looked back at the sparkling silver bracelet on her wrist for a moment, then looked up at the dark clouds that were still constantly rolling on the horizon, thinking to herself, even if the road ahead led her back to face those who had abandoned her, she would not walk alone like the night she left the three-entrance gate last year.