In the training grounds of Xuanhua Palace, no secrets could be hidden.
One day, Luo Yan asked Zhao Zhilan, "Tell me, did you come here with hatred?"
“Hatred? There is no hatred!” Zhao Zhilan replied.
“You’re lying,” he said. “People lie when they’re scared. Some lie more, some lie less, and some just repeat a big lie until they almost believe it’s true themselves…”
But deep down they always knew that a lie is still a lie, and that would show on their faces.
Tell me, why have you come?
Zhao Zhilan pursed her lips tightly, "They deserve to die! I hate them!"
"Who are they?" Luo Yan pressed.
"Names don't matter!"
"No, it's very important!" Luo Yan insisted. "Tell me, who are these nameless people?"
"If you don't talk, I'll kick you out." She understood the implication. "Uesugi Kenkatsu, Ashikaga Nobunaga... they committed heinous crimes against the people of my border regions; they even skinned innocent civilians alive."
I want them dead! I want to tear them to pieces!
“Disciples of Xuanhua Palace hear such comments every day.”
“I know,” Zhao Zhilan said.
"Is this why you came here?" Luo Yan continued, "To learn our skills so you can kill these people you hate?"
Zhao Zhilan didn't know how to answer: "Maybe, I'm not sure!"
“Then you’ve come to the wrong place, Your Highness! Life and death are not matters for you to decide; only the Faceless God can grant such a favor,” Luo Yan replied. “Go back, go back to where you came from!”
"No, I can't go back!" Zhao Zhilan pleaded. "I... I won't be an avenger!"
"Can you just let go of hatred like that?"
"I'm willing to give up everything to become a disciple of Xuanhua Palace!" Zhao Zhilan insisted.
Luo Yan sighed. "But no one forced you to do anything." She said, "It was all your choice!"
Then she stood up. "Your Highness, please bow to the Faceless God!"
"Oh." Zhao Zhilan glanced at the statues standing along the wall, candles flickering at their feet. "Which one is it?"
“All of them,” Luo Yan announced. “Your Highness, please remove all the clothes from your past life.”
Zhao Zhilan immediately complied.
Then, Luo Yan brought her a set of extremely worn-out clothes: an undyed ripped top, loose trousers, linen underwear, and cloth shoes.
Seeing this, Zhao Zhilan looked slightly bitter, because the holes in her top and bra were somewhat embarrassing.
"You care a lot?" Luo Yan asked her. "Disciples of Xuanhua Palace once disguised themselves as prostitutes in order to carry out an assassination. I don't need to explain that kind of place."
"No!" Zhao Zhilan took a deep breath, then changed into new clothes and accepted her new identity.
From that day on, Luo Yan would ask her every day, "Who are you?"
“Nobody,” she replied.
She was once a princess of the Great Xia Dynasty, but now she is just a disheveled and filthy beggar.
At the Xuanhua Palace training grounds, no one is allowed to speak freely without Luo Yan's permission.
Moreover, she needs to train in the cellar for most of the day.
Luo Yan was in charge of managing the candles, and she would only allow the light to last for less than an hour each day in the cellar.
As a result, Zhao Zhilan faces darkness almost every day.
The first lesson Luo Yan taught her was to memorize the location of all the candles in the dark.
“Scents guide us,” Luo Yan explained, “and the air is warmer where the candle is burning.”
She told Zhao Zhilan to close her eyes and experience it for herself.
Elder Gu led most of his disciples away from the forest and headed to Dongpango.
Luo Yan forbade Zhao Zhilan from becoming an avenger, but the disciples of Xuanhua Palace themselves became avengers.
Zhao Zhilan didn't understand how she differed from them, but she didn't want to ask any more questions.
Because if Luo Yan had the chance, she would whip her with a willow whip.
Now, only seven or eight people remain at the Xuanhua Palace training grounds, most of whom are girls under the age of fifteen.
But Zhao Zhilan could tell from their eyes that these people were all highly skilled assassins!
After several days of training, Luo Yan gave Zhao Zhilan an order to kill the cook at the training ground.
Upon hearing the order, Zhao Zhilan froze on the spot for a long time.
She was a girl five years younger than her, and one of the few "friends" she had gotten along with in this place!
However, to her even greater surprise, the girl remained completely calm after hearing the story.
She lay quietly on the floor, peacefully awaiting death.
At this moment, Zhao Zhilan panicked.
At this moment, Luo Yan spoke up, "In a sense, death is not a bad thing; it is a gift from God to end our desires and at the same time, to end our suffering."
On the day each person is born, the Five-Faced God will watch over them and accompany them throughout their life.
When our sins become too heavy, when our suffering becomes unbearable, the Faceless God will take our hand and lead us into the land of night.
The girl echoed at the same time, "All men must die!"
“It’s not easy to have a clear mind!” the other disciples chimed in.
"No, I can't do it!" Zhao Zhilan said in great pain.
"Then you can leave. You are not one of us, not yet."
“If you leave, you can’t come back,” Zhao Zhilan asked.
"right!"
This answer saddened her greatly, and Zhao Zhilan didn't want to leave. "To stay, you must kill her?"
“That’s right!” Luo Yan said, “But please remember, don’t treat this place as a shelter. Under this roof, everyone’s duty is to serve, understand?”
We demand your obedience, at all times and in all matters. If you cannot, please leave.
"I will obey." Zhao Zhilan steeled her resolve, then pulled out a dagger and stabbed the girl on the floor.
Blood flowed from the girl's body, and she smiled calmly.
Suddenly, Zhao Zhilan seemed to see a very strange sight.
"Her face..." Zhao Zhilan thought, "Why does it look so familiar?"
"That's my face!" Zhao Zhilan recalled. "Why? Why did this happen?"
"We are all nameless people!" Luo Yan said in a strange tone, "We all believe in the Faceless God!"
“I have given everything to the Faceless God. My body. My soul. My life!”
"What? What happened?" Zhao Zhilan suddenly felt a sharp pain in her abdomen.
The painful spot was the very spot where he had stabbed the girl.
"Elder Luo, what exactly happened?"
"All men must die!" Luo Yan replied.
At this moment, faces suddenly appeared before Zhao Zhilan's eyes.
"Get away, get away!" she cried in terror.
However, the next second...
She suddenly realized that everything in front of her was pitch black.
She's blind!
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