Legacy World 3.13 Manipulation

BaiXue waited among the unmaintained tall grass that grew right by the lake and was almost as tall as LongFei. LongFei sat on the ground further behind her, staying hidden behind more tall grass. Soon, the lion appeared through the tall grass in front of BaiXue. 

"Can you prove that your information is trustworthy?" He went straight to the point without bothering to greet her.

"I don't have to prove anything. You can see it for yourself. If nothing comes up, feel free to join in the fun of the raid."

The lion stared warily at her. "Why help me then?"

"Aren't you the strongest and the best? Isn't it a waste of talent to send someone as majestic as you to his death just because of some lowly scheme of a lowly person?"

The lion beamed with satisfaction at the praises she piled on him. His tone became more amiable as he asked her, "What do you get out of this?"

BaoBao mocked the lion for being so easy to manipulate while LongFei was feeling a little peeved that she sung praises of someone else. Even if he knew that she did not mean it, he still did not like it. /I must get stronger so that she doesn't have to resort to such trickery and deception to get what she wants./

"Just a personal grudge. I don't want her to get things her way." To make it more convincing, BaiXue had put on a face full of unbridled hatred.

"You know the one who ordered us to attack?"

"It's FenFang isn't it?"

The lion nodded his head. "Seems like you're trustworthy." He turned away to leave without excusing himself. BaiXue did not mind it, as long as she got what she wanted.

Upon reaching back to the bandits who were all resting near the edge of the forest, before their attack, the bear asked him. "Hey, where did you run off to? We're about to start the attack."

"Why do u need to know. I'm back, aren't I?"

The bear shook his head as he thought about how their poor teamwork and chemistry was the reason for never working together on raids. /These two are such a pain in the ass./

As they got up to commence their attack, the bear noticed how the lion had not assumed the position at the front. The lion had loved to brag about his bravery back in the village so everyone knew that he was always at the front lines. "ShiJiao, aren't you always at the front?"

"Maybe he's scared and he was lying all along." The tiger said with a smirk.

"You're serving as my meat shield." ShiJiao said to the tiger.

The tiger wanted to argue but the bear said, "Shut it. It's time." The bear took off with his group before the tiger could busy himself with another argument with the lion.

BaiXue watched everything from above, without their knowledge. She knew that this group was taking the attack seriously and was of a different caliber from the previous ones. They were the first to use the night as a cover for their attack. They were the first to rest before attacking at full strength. 

ShiJiao followed them, but the moment they left the cover of the forest, he swerved and hid behind a tree in his human form without breaking momentum. No one noticed that ShiJiao was now missing. 

The bandits crept up on the people on the outskirts of the village and killed them with a swipe to the head or bite to the neck. They managed to slay some people before a woman came out of her house to get her son and saw his mangled body instead. 

The scream rang out through the night.

Chaos ensued. People ran for their weapons or their lives. 

FengJiao quickly changed to her phoenix form to back everyone up. 

"A phoenix?!?!" Several bandits cried out in fear. They were only informed that the villagers of this village were stronger and more wary which caused the defeat of their fellow careless bandits who came before them.

ShiJiao had a scowl on his face. He thought about the letter that BaiXue had dropped on him. It was simple but straightforward. "Betrayal. Death mission. Phoenix. Meet at lake." ShiJiao watched how easily FengJiao picked them off one at a time. He knew that the bandits did not stand a chance against the phoenix. It was only a matter of time before they were all wiped out. He retreated as he did not want to get dragged into the fray.

His eyes held killing intent for FenFang. Even if she continued to protect their village, with the rate she fed them to this phoenix, it would end up an empty village. Who cared if she was a mystical being? He shall rally the entire village to rise up against her. It should hurt her at least a little, and that would be far more satisfying than being served on a silver platter. 

/I should have done this from the start./ BaiXue thought to herself. She had wasted time trying to avoid the need to put on a tedious show, but the straightforward and simple way did not work, even when they watched their comrades get tortured. BaiXue felt that how tight-lipped they were was actually quite commendable. However, it also spurred on her desire to ruin the image that they had of their village. Safe haven? Think again. 

Fortunately, her manipulation of ShiJiao worked. Seeing the quality of this wave, it was likely the final attack before FenFang came herself. Since there were finally deaths, it was likely the attack that would convince MengYao once and for all.

FengJiao could not save everyone this time. When the bandits were scared and tried to retreat, they became easy pickings for FengJiao. She easily ended them one or more at a time. The bear was the first to realise this, and he yelled for his group to give up and take as many people down as they could before they died.

"RAMPAGE!" The bear yelled as his group charged into villagers, and swiped and mauled them. While FengJiao was busy roasting one alive, another took the chance to kill more. The rest of the bandits saw what was happening and it raised their fervour. Everyone gave up on living. They only sought to bring down as many people as they could before their time was up. In a way, it was the most exhilarating attack they ever had. They all had smiles on their faces that made them look crazy.

The smarter ones would use FengJiao's flames against her own village. They dodged into huts, houses, and sheds to take cover from her flames. This made her damage her own village. FengJiao was beginning to feel distraught but she never stopped.

MengYao was already well enough to support her in defending the village, but he did not. He still did not trust the villagers. /Perhaps their true colours will appear now that she failed to protect them perfectly. Then I will take her away./

By the time FengJiao was done killing all the bandits off, around a third of the village was killed. Almost everything was charred. It was a disastrous end. The villagers slowly gathered together at the outskirts of their village with grief-stricken faces. Those with loved ones who died were at their dead bodies crying and wailing aloud.

One of the grieving ones saw FengJiao, who had her head hanging in shame, in front of the group gathered at the outskirts of the village. He charged at FengJiao and screamed hysterically, "You failed! How can you fail?! My whole family died!!! I should have died along with them! Kill me now!"

MengYao saw this scene and his eyes darkened. /See? I wasn't wrong./

Suddenly, another grieving man charged at the hysterical one and punched him squarely across the face. "Die if you want! FengJiao did her best and you know that! Without her, the village may very well be wiped out!"

Another one spoke up defensively, "Yes, she already did what she could!"

"Don't be ungrateful!" 

"We were too weak to protect ourselves! How can we blame someone else if we died?"

Everyone began speaking up for FengJiao with tears falling from their faces. Everyone was hurt and angry but they knew that the fault did not lie with FengJiao.

FengJiao also had tears falling from her pretty eyes. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry everyone... I couldn't save everyone..."

The women of the village approached her and gave her a pat on the back. Some hugged her. The whole village grieved together in tears.

MengYao took in this sight with a punch to his gut. He frowned, his eyes filled with disbelief, and his lips apart as if wanting to say something. /I... was wrong? This... is not possible./

It took some time for reality to sink in and when it finally did, a look of guilt showed on his face. Not only did the villagers forgive him for his initial attack on the village, they truly had been nothing but kind and welcoming to him.

The hysterical man, who had since calmed down and apologised, saw the look of guilt on MengYao's face. "Don't feel bad." He smiled a little despite the tears that still ran down his face. "You were still injured. You shouldn't partake in the fight in your condition. So, it's all good. I was the one in the wrong earlier." 

MengYao finally understood why FengJiao truly loved her village. Even if this was all only a lie to the day they died, it did not feel bad to live in such a loving village.

On BaiXue's side, ShiJiao was still halfway through the mountains. 

"ShiJiao's pride will make him lead a revolt against FenFang. Let them do so. Stay out of their sight until you find a particular group of people I want you to separate from the rest."

She followed with detailed descriptions of all the involved parties' appearances. The intense emotions of the original soul led to forming very vivid memories of those who were involved, especially of the green-eyed tiger who dealt the most lethal blow. LongFei faithfully committed them all to his memory.

When BaiXue was done with her descriptions, the flight became very silent. No one said a thing.

It was long past noon, when ShiJiao's body, which wove between a clustered group of trees, began to waver and wane. BaiXue rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was not seeing things.

LongFei, who was aware of her actions, said, "You aren't seeing things. There is an illusion casted here. If you walk within it, it will probably lead you around the whole area instead of truly walking through it. You wouldn't be able to notice a thing unless you witnessed something like this. I can break this spell easily though. I just needed to know the precise area of where the illusion was."

"We'll destroy the entire village after I deal with the group that I have business with." BaiXue calmly instructed. She noted how the bandits' village had really always been right under her nose. It was not very far from her home village.

"Let's head down to rest." BaiXue said.