"They told you to let your father go to the city," Hera said.

"You see, the trust between us is starting to gap," Shi Min said, watching her sit across from him with a wooden stool, "First of all, I must explain that I did not order your father to go down the city. ”

Hera stared at him, "You didn't?" ”

"No, I've always advised your father not to get involved in the army, and killing Nemia is a priority." Shi Min said, "You know that your father is a human being, and he doesn't want to see good and brave people die, let alone see people being bullied and suffered, which has become an important part of his personal honor." ”

Hera believed Shimin's words, and most of the anger in her heart was somewhat burned by his words, but not to the point of being wiped out.

"But his honor didn't save him, did it?" Shi Min added.

Hearing this, Hera's heart resurfaced with anger.

"Now it's your turn to inherit his mantle," said Shi Min, "you must succeed your father, and perhaps you will die honorably in a battle, or you may survive, but no matter what, you must choose this path, even if you don't want to, because only then can you truly comfort his spirit in heaven." ”

Hera lowered her head, and after a moment she whispered, "I don't know what will happen next. ”

"I'm just saying this to let you slowly come to your senses, and then tell me when you have the answer." Shi Min got up from his seat, picked up the cane on the side, and limped to the door, "From today onwards, I will assist you again, and at the same time I will succeed your teacher again, I know you would love to kill Nemia, but that is only the beginning." ”

"What's the beginning?" Hera asked.

"I'll tell you that then." Shi Min pointed his staff at the sword on her father's altar and said, "It's up to you to get familiar with it again." With that, he turned and walked out the door.

After he left, Hera sat for a long, long time. She stared blankly at the light of the lantern, missing her father, holding on to a fragile thought: his father was not dead, and that he would return again anyway. The body she saw was not him.

It wasn't until dawn that Hera figured it all out, and the candles in the lantern had burned out. She wiped her cheeks again and lay on the bed, clutching her father's bracers. When she finally made up her mind to do what Shi Min had told her, sleepiness hit her, and she fell asleep with tears in her eyes.

Mission must be achieved. There was a short pause. Looks like she's woken up.

The gray mist cleared, and Hera opened her eyes.

It's past the morning, and it's still a hot day, which makes her very happy.

In the city, they had water, countless pools, shade from trees, and the occasional breeze from the top of the hill. But below, the Mongols are in a difficult situation.

She got up, washed her face, put her long hair that had not been taken care of for a long time, took out the black clothes in the cupboard, and pulled up her hood. She then pried open a movable floor in her father's room and put his bracers inside. After arranging the floor, she got up to look for the old man.

The whole city had been awake for a long time, and the lively atmosphere in the air told her that the news of last night's war had spread in the city. Although Promes won, Nemea's army retreated completely, preventing the city from returning to its original appearance.

She left the main city and followed the road through the edge of a pond that connected with the blue sky, past countless artisans' houses, and finally reached the mud-walled houses above. Next to the room is a fishing spot, and legend has it that the giant Cleion once caught countless fresh fish in the river below here.

Hera followed the gravel path to the other end of the house and found the stoneman, who was sitting outside the hut, mending his fishing nets.

"I'm glad you came," Shi Min said, turning his back, "and it reminded me of your father as I watched you come over. ”

And don't want to hear him talk about his father. Now, she must restrain her grief from the bottom of her heart until she inherits his mantle, "I have an answer." ”

"Oh?" He didn't lift his head, still concentrating on the knot in his hand, "So, what's the answer?" ”

"I'm going to kill Nimia." Hera said.

Shimin's fingers stopped moving, resting the nets on his knees, and he looked up at her, "You say it again." ”

"I'm going to kill Nimia."

Shi Min smiled, "Okay, then the real training can start now." ”

The way Shimin trains, she already knows this, Shimin does not forgive any mistakes, does not tolerate any shortcomings, for this, Alice is sad for Hera, but also glad that she can gain a new strength.

"Come again!" Shi Min said.

Hera continued to practice as planned, running through the jungle, dodging, jumping, climbing, stabbing her target with a short knife, and shooting at her target with a wooden bow in her hand.

On the rocky cliffs above her, the stone people watched, slamming their canes into the ground to count the seconds. When she had done all her training, Shi Min shook her head.

"Come again! You have to speed up! ”

Hera stood there, breathless, her muscles shaking, and she looked up at him, looking like it seemed impossible to complete the drill faster.

Shi Min pointed to the woods behind her, "I see three places where you can go to the provinces for some time, and you have to find new paths and use new methods. ”

"Forgive me, teacher." Hera said.

"You can go and ask Nemia for forgiveness because you disturbed his rest, but say it before his pet eats you."

Hera bowed her head.

"Does that make your father proud?" Shi Min asked.

"Nope." She spoke like a mosquito.

"So," he said, "one more time." Faster. ”

Hera poked her palm with her fingernails and strode to the training start. On the way, she picked up her bow and focused all her anger on the stone people into training.

From the starting point, she jumped out again, and in a breath, she climbed over rocks, roots, branches, and trunks, searching for the best and fastest route. Her blades flashed like lightning, her bow and arrows hissed toward their targets, but the sound of her staff resounded through the valley as a symbol of her defeat.

"You're only a second faster than before!" Shi Min shouted, "Come again!" ”

Hera wanted to shout back, she did her best, but she restrained herself and just glared at him.

"You hate me." Shi Min smiled faintly, as if he was enjoying the process of torturing her, "But I'm not an enemy, Nemia is." Don't forget that. ”

It's an easy mistake to make.

"I hope you can do all this," he said, "and I hope you will soon become like your father." ”

"That's my hope, too." Hera said.

"Then you must be worthy of this position, your father is much faster than you." He pointed to the training site with the end of his cane, "Come again!" ”

Hera underwent several more trainings to reach the level of proficiency required by the stone people. He just nodded in affirmation. This achievement took a lot of energy on her, and she no longer had the slightest sense of accomplishment, she just wanted to fall. Luckily, Shimin gave her a rare break.

So, the two sat together by the lotus pond and ate the cold fish and rice in silence. Hera could see the clear water beneath her feet, reflected in the mountains that had been dyed orange by the summer sunset. The warm sun made her forehead sweat, and without a trace of wind, the sweat stayed there.

"Do you have heartache?" Shi Min said.

"What?"

"The survival of our empire depends on the inch of land on which we sit." He struck the stone on the platform, "A lonely mountain, a lonely city." ”

"A lone general." Hera added.

"Yes," said Shimin, "but I wonder if I'm just throwing stones into the water." ”

"What do you mean?" Hera asked.

Shi Min sighed, "Can we really change anything?" Can any of us have that power? Or maybe we're just stirring up ripples and comforting ourselves," he said, looking at Hera, "we've done enough to change the world. ”

"You can't stop me." Hera looked at herself reflected in the water and said, "I have to do that." ”

"I'm not going to stop you, it's up to people to make things happen, and it's up to heaven to make things happen." He turned to her, "How are you going to act?" ”

"I'm waiting for you to tell me you're ready." Hera said.

Hearing her words, Shi Min smiled.

Despite the tiredness of her body, Hera's anger was aroused, "Do you think that's funny? ”

Shi Min shook his head, "You misunderstood, I was just laughing at the two of us. ”

"Why?"

"Because I'm waiting for you, I'm waiting for you to show me that you're ready." He laughed again, "Looks like I'll have to wait a little longer." ”

Hera didn't know what it would mean to be ready, but she wasn't in the mood to play word games with him right now. She was tired, the day had been long, and she got up to leave.

"Don't think about it so much, kid." Shi Min said behind her, "It's easier than you think to do now. ”

Hera paused, and was about to answer, but she only shook her head, maybe she would be able to argue with him tomorrow.

"Good night." She said and walked away.

"Tomorrow at sunrise!" Shi Min shouted, "Don't be late! ”

Hera nodded, and continued on her way, through the workshops by the lake, into the city, and back to her home.

Dragging her tired body, she decided to go straight to her father's room and remove his bracers from under the floor, as she had done every night since he had been involved in that battle under the city.

Hera held her bracer in her lap and stroked the totem on the blade of her bracer, and she raised her pen to write her father's soul in her diary. She wrote a lot, about her training today, about her respect and hatred for Shimin, about how much she missed her father, and about assassinating Nemiah to console her dead father.

Closing the journal, Hera didn't put the bracers back in place this time, she took them and turned around and walked into her room, and after taking off her clothes, she put the bracers on the head of the bed, ready to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she would be awakened and tossed and turned.

Before she knew it was early in the morning, she got up to get dressed and washed, this time she put on her father's bracers and hung up her father's saber, and went out to prepare to repeat the training day after day.