Chapter Text
The jinshi exams tested a scholar of his knowledge of Confucius’s teachings. The average pass rate was between one to two percent, meaning only around 20 or so people out of a thousand test takers succeed. (Yu)
The former general sighed as he began tidying his desk for the night. Being in the military was one thing. Studying for one of the most difficult exams in history was another.
“You will succeed.” his lady had said just before she was sealed by that damn monk. In all honesty, that sounded more of a command than a simple prediction.
Muttering under his breath, he cleaned up the ink tray and his brushes, wiping off stray ink splatters off the surface of the table with the side of his fist . Of course. It makes sense. If he were given a high ranking position, he would have more power. With more power, more people would be under his control. With more people under his control, he can find that key and free his lady. With his lady, they could make the world perfect.
Loud rustling outside snapped him from his thoughts. His small home was situated right along the edge of the woods. He’d grown accustomed to the critters running about in the brush, but this sounded different. Whatever was outside was large and moving fast. Just as he was about to head out and take a peek, a slim black hound bounded out of the trees and dove through the window, effectively knocking the man over.
Yelling as he stood up, he was about to shoo the thing away, but it’d nabbed one of the brushes he’d dropped before taking off into the brush. He sighed. The brushes he used were handmade. He was not going to make another brush, especially with the exam coming up so soon. With that, he dashed off after the hound.
The shrieking of cicadas grew louder as the former general ran deeper into the brush. The branches of the trees kept slapping at his face, but he ignored them. The dog soon came into view, brush still in its mouth and crouching by a pile of fabric.
The veteran frowned. As he crept closer, the hound watched him get closer before dropping the brush to nudge at the fabric. Was that metal under there? the former general thought. Maybe I can sell that and get some extra money for food. But what’s this doing all the way out here?
With one swift motion, he grabbed the fabric and tore it away from whatever it was covering. He stared.
There was a man under the cloth dressed in dented armor and leaves.
Darkening blood had pooled around him, and he was laying flat on his stomach, face in the dirt. Despite this being the perfect time to harvest his flesh, he rolled the man over to dress his wounds or at least see if he was alive. Maybe it was instinct from the time he was a military leader, but this person seemed… important. A bandage had covered his forehead, possibly from another injury there, too. He took two of his index fingers and pressed it against the man’s neck to read a pulse, resulting in him groaning aloud. So he was still alive.
The dog now held itself closer to his owner, lapping at the huge gash in his chest. The veteran sighed. He quickly gathered several long branches and tied them into a sort of raft with torn pieces of fabric before he fastened a longer rope to one end. Then, he transferred the wounded man onto it, dragging him and contraption back the way he came from. The dog followed, nosing at the raft to help them go faster.
Once they’d arrived home, the old general tended to the man’s wounds. The smell of iron made him salivate, but he ignored it as he sanitized and stitched the his chest wound with a hot needle. Once finished, he transferred the man onto his bed. He could just sleep elsewhere, anyways. As he changed into his nightclothes, the general paused. He’d forgotten to change the bandage on the stranger’s forehead. Eh. No worries. That can be done in a couple minutes.
He slowly unraveled the cloth and grimaced.
The man has a third eye.