Murim's Weakest Princess

By the time Anji came to, her memories were fuzzy. The room was unfamiliar, and she had no idea what she had been doing before. Yet, as the fog of sleep cleared, she remembered the smell of blood and the hole in the chest.

Leaping out of bed, Anji ran to the nearest door. She had no idea where she was, but she knew what she had to do.’

As if on cue, the door swung open, and Anji ran into a tall figure hard enough to bounce back. Just before she hit the ground from the rebounded force, a steady arm caught her.

"Why are you still so reckless even after a thousand years? They say time mellows a person out. Surely you are better than the other ten-year-old snot-nosed brats out there."

Looking up at the man who clicked his tongue, Anji froze. However, the mass murderer simply looked as if he had a long day and did not want to talk about anything.

Anji let Song Min pull her to the bed and watched as he placed a bowl of what smelled like medicine. Although she did not know the concoction, she could smell some qi replenishing herbs in the brew as he tucked her back into the blanket.

Without explaining himself, Song Min acted as if he had always taken care of Anji his whole life. His actions reminded Anji of her time at the Celestial Dragon Sect as a sickly child. Lizi and her mother would often do the same. The only difference was in how genuine the actions felt.

"I can feed myself," she declined when he held out a spoonful of medicine to her.

Instead of arguing and fussing over her, Song Min smiled politely and placed the bowl on the nightstand beside.

"I see," he noted airily. "I suppose you can."

The medicine did not seem poisoned. And even if it were, Anji would still drink it anyway. In a huff of mild annoyance and defiance, she drank it all in one gulp and regretted it as the hot liquid scalded her tongue.

Song Min watched with mild amusement how his mortal enemy acted so stubbornly and recklessly. Nothing had changed, even if Zhong Kui was now a child. However, he still had principles as a man not to harm children and women. Right now, Anji was nothing more than a weak pesky annoyance.

Offering her a sweet, Song Min observed the conflict on Anji’s face as she calculated whether she should accept the gesture. Eventually, the child’s psyche won, and she popped the candy into her mouth, melting in blissful relief almost immediately. Even if her mind and soul remember, her body was still that of a kid. Her reaction only validated Song Min’s feelings. He did the right thing back there.

Anji wondered what the Ghost General was thinking about as he stared at her without speaking. From his actions, he had no intention of harming her. They were enemies from a different life. Yet, in this life, something was different. She had a horrible feeling but could not place a finger on that strange air around Song Min.

"You’ve changed," she noted.

Song Min smiled. "You haven’t."

Silence hung in the air for a few moments as Anji frowned in confusion. Song Min’s appearance was so different, and his temperament was completely opposite from when they first met. He had a fluid grace that no human possessed. Yet, he said she was the one who had not changed?

"You’re talking nonsense," she eventually concluded aloud. Pleasantries be damned.

That reaction caught Song Min by surprise, and he laughed heartily so much that tears would have formed at the corners of his eyes if he were human. Even after a thousand years, this was the only person who could continue to surprise him.

"Zhong Kui... no, Zhao Anji. You’re still as amusing as you were back then. You truly have not changed."

Unwilling to humour small talk, Anji cut to the chase.

"Why did you stop me?" she demanded. "Wasn’t he your friend?"

The dreary pivot wiped any traces of humour from Song Min’s face. Instead of answering her, he posed a counter question.

"And so what if he were?" he challenged. "Does it make any difference? At the end of the day, everyone dies."

It was a factual statement. Anji could not say he was wrong. However, she did not like that answer.

"Pu Jianming still had time left," she argued. "You stole it from him."

Song Min’s eyes quivered but only for a second. Anji still caught it anyway. There was no way the passionate scholar who became a vengeful ghost to avenge the victims of a corrupted system could remain unaffected. Looking at Song Min made Anji wonder how someone with the right heart could choose the wrong path knowingly.

"I did," Song Min eventually replied. "But that’s not something for you to concern yourself over, is it?"

Even when admitting his crimes, Song Min did not seem to regret anything. The sheer stubbornness to walk away from err was one thing. Anji can bring a horse to the watering hole but not force it to drink. However, when that same horse she dragged over kicked her, it became utterly personal.

"Not anything to concern myself over? Are you really saying this to the ninth successor of the Mystical Qilin Sect? Pu Jianming was my sect’s traitor and mine to punish! How dare you interfere!"

Throwing rank had always been a thing of the past. Anji never used it when she was Zhong Kui. Back then, she saw Song Min as an equal even if he were a weak vengeful ghost. It was due to this mutual respect for a kindred spirit that she failed to capture him. Her heart was too soft. But now, she refused to make the same mistake. The tables have turned after a thousand years, and Song Min had the upper hand.

Both parties glared at each other, one fierceness and one iciness. Neither relented as the two sides of good contested.

"You’re right," Song Min mocked. "How dare I interfere with how you wish to throw away your life for a stranger you met only a few hours before. How could I? Unforgivable."

The mocking tone was so strong that Anji felt herself getting a headache from the bottled up anger. However, the next words chilled her to the bone.

"How dare I save you from throwing away your life for a mere traitor when you have a very sick brother in my captivity that only you can save. I suppose I should have let you save Old Pu and severe all your meridians beyond cure."

Feeling like a rat trapped by a skilled cat, Anji shuddered involuntarily. Her heart raced even with her best attempts to remain composed.

"What do you mean? Weren’t you the one who captured and tortured my second brother?"

Glaring at Anji, Song Min pointed his index finger at her nose.

"Firstly," he snapped. "He got caught poking his nose into my business at Luoyang. Mind you, it was a legitimate business."

Poking at Anji’s chest this time, Song Min growled.

"Secondly, he was treated as a VVIP guest at my personal inn. We didn’t even use ropes to bind him, only spells on the room. He was fed three times a day and even prescribed medicine."

Pointing at the bowl of medicine Anji just finished, Song Min growled with toxic in his voice.

"Thirdly, stubbornness must run in your new family’s blood. Because like you, that little shit had the nerve to not only toss all the food and medicine away since his capture. He tried to break the spell and suffered a backlash but is so dangerous that no healer can even approach him. If he weren’t your brother, I would have turned him into a corpse solider."

Now facing Anji directly, Song Min sat taller than ever. Returning to his previous coolness, he calmly gave her two options.

"I promised not to harm or hurt those you hold dear. You know what I want. Either you behave and recover quickly so that you can help that stubborn brother of yours, or I’ll cut off a lock of your hair and threaten that menace in my VVIP room to behave and receive treatment from a quasi physician."

To Song Min, both methods were valid. It hardly bothered him what Anji wanted. After all, he already had her where he needed her to be.

Anji’s ego wanted to protest. However, she knew what was better logically. Hope was such a silly thing. Part of her already knew what Song Min was planning. They were out of time. However, part of her hoped her smart second brother might be able to do something if only she could talk to him.

"I’ll cure him myself," she whispered. "How bad is his condition?"

Snorting at the expected answer, Song Min collected the empty bowl.

"Bad enough that he shouldn’t even be walking but he is still attempting to pick the locks daily. Now that you know, I hope you’re grateful that I made the decision for who you should be saving. Pu Jianming was a traitor, a death was befitting of someone like him. As for you, a tragic hero can only suffer helplessly. There’s nothing else you can do in this life, so sit back and watch me succeed. You’ve lost, Zhong Kui. It’s over."

Balling her little fists under the cover, Anji avoided all eye contact until Song Min was fully gone from her sight. Alone now, she finally let the tears fall but not a single sound out of her mouth.

"It’s not over," she swore. "Just you wait, Song Min."

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