A thick, white mist draped over the bamboo grove like a sorrowful silk stretched across the sky. The pale moonlight filtered through, each droplet on the leaves glittering like tears that had yet to fall. The peaceful scene was torn apart by the fiery blaze of thousands of torches tightening their circle.
"Search the forest! The demon must be hiding nearby!"
"Catch it! We can't let it hurt anyone else!"
Shouts rang out, fierce and stormy.
Within the dense bamboo, Little Bach, in her snow-white fox form, trembled as she hid. Her wide, panicked eyes reflected the fading moonlight. She didn't understand why she was being hunted, nor why those who once called her "miss" or "fairy sister" were now screaming the word "demon."
Through the chaos of roars and shouts, a familiar voice cut through:
"Little Bach! Where are you? Don't hide... Come out! I won't let them hurt you!"
Trach Hien.
She shivered, retreating deeper into the thicket.
"Trach Hien... I'm sorry... I can't meet you... I can't let you get caught up in this..."
Footsteps drew closer, a figure bursting forward, torch held high. It was him, his blue robe disheveled, face streaked with night mist, yet his eyes remained gentle as ever.
"Little Bach, don't be afraid. I won't let anyone hurt you."
From behind, a mob surged forward, their eyes bloodshot with rage.
"The demon is here somewhere! Split up, surround her!"
"There! Over there! Catch it!"
"Him! He's shielding the demon! He's clearly complicit!"
"Take them both!"
The clash of weapons rang out as one man swung a sword. Trach Hien didn't hesitate, leaping to block the strike.
The blade tore through his robe, blood spraying like red blossoms blooming in the night forest.
"No!" – She screamed, rushing from the bamboo thicket.
"Stop!" – Trach Hien rushed forward and spread his arms to shield her. – "She's innocent! She hasn't hurt anyone!"
But the mob didn't listen. Someone shouted:
"Its eyes... they're red!"
"It's transforming... the demonic aura is rising!"
"Kill it before it goes mad!"
She turned, facing hundreds of scorching eyes. In that moment, a surge of emotion rose in her chest. Flames of anger, fear, and despair merged with the pure, forced demonic energy spilling from her shattered heart.
"Little Bach..." – Trach Hien grasped her hand, voice weak. – "You have to go... If you don't... both of us will die..."
He continued to speak in a weak, whispering voice.
"Run! I am human. They will not kill me."
Seeing her red eyes, he begged.
"Please don't hurt them... I cannot bear to see you become a true monster."
Bach Lan looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears.
She had once believed that no matter how the world turned its back, as long as he was by her side, it would be enough.
But she did not know the truth.
From the very beginning, he was the one who spread the rumors. He had secretly bought the body of someone unjustly dead, piling up cases of disappearances and mysterious murders on her, claiming she was a demon.
He was the one who slipped the potion into her tea to force her transformation.
He was the one who ordered his men to stage this hunt. Everything had been a performance, even the blood on his shoulder was fake, carefully arranged.
After she practiced the forbidden arts to restore his fate, he went to the capital to take the exams. Fortune favored him, and soon he caught the eye of a general's young lady.
He loved her, but the human world and the realm of demons were not the same. He could not let her block his path to power and career advancement.
He was the one who abandoned the oath he had sworn long ago and agreed to marry the general's daughter.
This time, he returned only to drive her away, yet he did not want her to hate him or seek revenge.
"As long as you leave, everything will end. I will not be called a traitor."
So, he acted... and he acted with perfect conviction.
He acted as if he still loved her deeply. He acted as if he still wanted to protect her. And even in the final moments, when his blood dripped onto her, it was all still just an act.
Only she was real; her feelings for him had always been true, eternal in their purity.
She darted forward like a wisp of white smoke, leaving behind the place she once called home, the place where the most innocent and cruel love of her life had begun.
Behind her, smoke and fire soared into the sky.
Ahead, there was only uncertainty.
The wind whipped Bach Lan's hair wildly, and distant explosions echoed through the air. A pillar of light descended from the heavens onto the forest, the glow of the Heavenly Thunder. She trembled, knowing they were dangerously close.
Bach Lan shouted, wrenching herself free from Dong Ha's grasp. A surge of hot energy burst from her body, erupting into a white radiance. Trees bent under the force, rocks flew into the air, and even he was thrown far away.
She vanished quickly into the shadows, paying no mind to the scratches on her arms and legs. All that remained was the dull, gnawing pain consuming her heart, relentless and deep.
Finally, after all her struggles and stubbornness, she returned to the mortal world.
From behind the trees, she saw a grand mansion draped in brilliant red fabrics, lanterns lighting up the entire evening sky.
The sounds of wedding drums, firecrackers, and jubilant cheers pierced the air like sharp needles.
She paused, clenching the frayed edge of her worn sleeve in her palm.
In the courtyard, Trach Hien stood in his groom's attire, his face radiant beneath the red veil, holding the hand of a beautiful, proud young lady in a floral sedan chair. Together, they bowed to the heavens and earth, amidst the lively blessings of the crowd.
A passing servant whispered:
"It's fate. The bride is the general's daughter. Trach will surely rise swiftly in rank from now on."
Another laughed loudly:
"Good thing he left that fox spirit behind. Otherwise, he'd already have brought disaster to his family."
Those who had hunted her that night were also at the celebration, raising their cups and talking happily among themselves. One asked:
"Have you received your reward yet?"
"Yes! After that whole act, he rewarded us generously."
Little Bach ran wildly, not knowing how she had escaped. The pain in her chest was suffocating, her heart pierced by thousands of sharp, icy needles, shredded until it felt like nothing remained.
She walked barefoot in despair, her clothes torn, her hands bleeding, yet her eyes were hollow, empty, like a lifeless puppet.
"No... it can't be..." – She whispered, her heart breaking into countless fragments.
"He promised he would never leave me... that he would be faithful forever."
"Or was it all a dream? Was the one in the wedding attire never really him? Or is this just a dream I haven't woken from yet?"
The vows by the stream from long ago still echoed faintly in her mind. And now... was it all just a dream?
At that very moment, a beam of light descended from the sky.
Boom!
The entire heavens seemed to shudder.
Amid the silent clouds, The Celestial General landed, his white robe shimmering with divine aura. His face showed no emotion, only eyes as deep and cold as ancient stone.
"You have forgotten all celestial laws."
"Magic is not to be used in the mortal realm."
"Nor is it to be used to alter fate."
Bach Lan lifted her head, blood trickling from the corner of her lips, her gaze empty yet etched with profound sorrow.
"I do not seek to change destiny. I only... only do not want him to die."
Before Little Bach could react, a flash of light struck down from the sky like thunder. She only had time to scream before her body was slammed violently onto the ground.
Spurt!
Blood gushed from her mouth.
She staggered to stand, but her legs had no strength left. Every ounce of spiritual energy she had used to save him now turned against her.
In the haze of exhaustion, drained of her life force, Bach Lan could no longer clearly sense reality. Her consciousness sank into a cold, deep sleep, without light, without sound. Yet within that silent darkness, a familiar presence gradually seeped in, guiding her into memories not her own, but those of Thanh Nhi.
The memory unfolded.
A bone-chilling wind swept across Ho Han Bang, silent and frozen beneath a thick sheet of white ice. On the surface, a figure lay motionless, long black hair coated in frost. It was her, Little Bach lying beside a gray wolf, Dong Ha. Both were punished for breaking the heavenly laws, condemned to endure a thousand years of frozen imprisonment beneath the Ice Pond, their bodies unyielding, their spirits locked away.
From afar, a raging storm approached, carrying the pounding of war drums, the cold clash of swords and spears, and the shouts of soldiers. At the center of the execution ground, a man in tattered official robes knelt, shackled and bound to the ground.
It was Trach Hien.
In that moment, Thanh Nhi witnessed everything.
A high-ranking official proclaimed the sentence:
"Criminal Trach Hien, charges: corruption, collusion in bribery, embezzling military rations, causing thirty thousand soldiers to starve on the battlefield! Betraying sacred vows, betraying the people, betraying the nation! By law: execution, body unclaimed, exposed for three days!"
The drums sounded one final time.
Before the executioner's blade fell, Trach Hien lifted his head, eyes chaotic, half-aware, half-dreaming. His gaunt face still carried a trace of defiance, yet in his final gaze, he seemed to search for something amidst the crowd.
He whispered softly, as if leaving a last farewell: "Little Bach..."
The sword swung. Blood spattered.
No one saw him off.
No one mourned.
He, Trach Hien, the man who once vowed to live and die for love, in the end did not die whole, just as the curse he had once spoken came true:
"Little Bach, I swear, I will only love and marry you alone. If I break this vow, I shall die incomplete."
As his spirit sank into the deepest layers of memory, Bach Lan seemed to merge with her sister. She saw herself standing by the execution ground, saw the blade swing, saw Trach Hien's eyes, hazy, reaching for a lost realm of love. But her heart no longer fluttered; it was filled only with sorrow and a coldness that seeped to her very soul.
The one who had sworn to love her for a lifetime was gone, leaving only a streak of blood across the execution ground and a curse he had fulfilled with his own hand.
She painfully realized that all along she had been nothing but a puppet, a piece to be used by others.
The love she had trusted, the life she had been willing to sacrifice, had only returned to her as exploitation, a bitter, heart-wrenching deceit.
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