In Shades of Black and Gray (DISCONTUINED)

Oh, that spiteful face

10 Years Ago; A few miles outside Lanling

Zou Lingxin watched in mute terror as another cultivator fell, a series of brutal, jagged cuts marring the skin across his throat, blood cascading down and staining his golden robe crimson. He stumbled back, his grip on his sword loosening as a tremor shook his body. He hardly noticed when his weapon hit the ground with a dull thud. He didn't notice, but the being that was currently eradicating the small group of cultivators certainly did. Zou Lingxin felt his knees give out and he fell to the ground, too consumed by horror to turn away from the sight in front of him.

A woman, a few inches taller than himself and donned in gold and red robes stood before him, her hands coated in blood. Her long black hair hung loosely around her thin shoulders, giving her a wild, almost feral appearance. Adding to the apparent feralness, her lips were pulled back into a snarl, displaying sharp canines that looked as if they could easily rip through flesh and bone. 

She stared at his face a brief moment longer as if she were trying to place him from somewhere, then her eyes flickered down to study his robes with a single-minded intensity. They were nothing remarkable. Simple and dark green in color. The woman, if that's what such a creature could be called, ceased her snarling, her expression shifting into something more passive and Zou Lingxin had the ridiculous that he was safe from her fury. 

A scream or more really a howl pierced the tense silence as one of the cultivators from Zou Lingxins own sect stumbled to his feet, his hands gripping his bow with white-knuckled intensity. The woman didn't so much as looked concerned as the man nocked an arrow and aimed it in her direction. His arms trembled from the strain and he struggled to take aim and Zou Lingxin couldn't shake the feeling he was missing something important. Something that could save their lives. There was order to this chaos. He was sure of it.

Realization came to him as soon as the arrow was sent sailing through the air. 

Previously, he had thought that all the cultivators were dead, slain with a simple flick of this woman's wrist but he had been incorrect in this assumption. He could see a few of them stirring now, letting out soft groans of pain. They were injured, clearly. And they probably wouldn't make it back to camp unaided but they were certainly not dead. No. The only ones who were undeniably dead were all Jin cultivators. He opened his mouth, a strangled plea escaping his lips. The woman simply angled her head to the side, the arrow flying past her harmlessly and landing somewhere in the forest beyond. Her expression hadn't changed the entire time. 

Zou Lingxin gaped at the aloofness she had displayed. To dodge any arrow aimed at one's head was an inhuman feat. But then again, he had seen many inhuman things tonight, starting with the unnatural gray of the woman's eyes when they first encountered her, wandering barefoot through the forest, an air of demonic energy surrounding her. She had seemed lost and confused. Distraught even. At least until she had caught sight of the golden robes of the Jin cultivators. 

She had turned practically animalistic, easily slashing the throat of the first Jin that dared lay a hand on her, even if that hand was one of concern. After that, it was all a blur and the whole event was over in a matter of seconds. The ferocity in which she attacked them was personal. It had to be. No one could possibly display so much rage and not have some sort of personal vendetta. 

Just what exactly had the Jin clan done to warrant the wrath of someone so powerful?

The boy from his own sect, Zou Gengyu, was now desperately scanning the area, most likely in search of another arrow and Zou Lingxin decided that he needed to act now or otherwise risk the woman's patience running thin. She might have been willing to spare them now but he was sure that would change if Zou Gengyu tried to kill her again. Even now, he could see that her attention was entirely focused on his sect mate and she didn't look pleased.