The Great Song Dynasty's Soul-Forging in Progress

Qin Tiehua struggled to open his heavy eyelids, and his blurry vision gradually cleared. What came into view was an exquisitely crafted embroidered curtain, its top embroidered with intricate and unfamiliar floral and bird patterns, vibrant in color, full of a lively and wild beauty.

"Oh! You're awake!" A clear, bell-like voice, with a touch of coquettishness and a foreign accent, rang out from the side.

Qin Tiehua turned her head slightly and saw a girl dressed in a completely different way from the ones she usually saw, lying by the bed, looking at her curiously with her big, dark eyes.

The girl was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a round, apple-shaped face and a healthy wheat-colored complexion. When she smiled, two shallow dimples appeared at the corners of her mouth, making her look exceptionally playful and adorable. She wore an exquisite silver crown, adorned with tiny silver bells and openwork flowers and birds, which emitted a delicate and melodious "tinkling" sound as she tilted her head. She wore a colorful embroidered dress, mainly in blue and black, with densely packed and exquisitely patterned flowers, birds, insects, and fish embroidered on the collar, cuffs, and hem. Around her neck hung a heavy silver necklace carved with ferocious animal patterns.

What's most striking is that when she speaks, she always unconsciously twirls a braid tied with a small colorful string with her right index finger, making her appear innocent and charming.

"You are..." Qin Tiehua's voice was extremely hoarse.

"My name is Miao Yunsheng! Yun as in clouds, Sheng as in songs!" The girl spoke quickly, with a cheerful rhythm. As she spoke, she skillfully helped Qin Tiehua up and handed her a bowl of warm soup with a rich medicinal aroma. "Drink this quickly! It's a 'Rejuvenating Soup' personally prepared by our young lady. It's most effective for treating your kind of overwork, blood loss, and qi deficiency!" After saying that, she tilted her head slightly, and a pleasant "ding-a-ling" sound rang in her ears again.

Qin Tiehua took small sips from her hand. The soup was bitter with a sweet aftertaste, and a warm current slid down her throat into her stomach, quickly spreading to her limbs and bones, gradually restoring sensation and strength to her cold body.

"Where am I...?" She looked around and found herself in a very spacious, elegantly furnished carriage with an exotic flair. The carriage moved very smoothly, with almost no bumps.

"This is our young lady's carriage!" Miao Yunsheng wrinkled her nose smugly, her braids curling even faster. "You collapsed by the roadside. If our caravan hadn't happened to be passing by and picked you up, you would have frozen to death!" She patted her chest with lingering fear, her silver ornaments jingling softly again. "You have no idea how terrifying you looked back then. Your face was as white as snow, and you were covered in wounds like an ice statue... Our young lady immediately said you were exhausted and had lost blood, plus old wounds that hadn't healed. Any later and it would have been troublesome!"

"Thank you... thank you so much for saving my life, young lady." Qin Tiehua struggled to sit up and bow.

"Hey, don't move!" Miao Yunsheng quickly pressed her down, pouting, "Our young lady said you should rest well! She'll come to see you in a little while."

Upon hearing the word "Miss," Miao Yunsheng's eyes lit up instantly, filled with undisguised admiration and pride: "Let me tell you, the one who saved you is the 'Fairy Maiden' revered by all seventy-two villages in Yunnan, Miss Yang Jinhua!"

"Fairy Maiden?" Qin Tiehua murmured repeatedly, the title making her feel both novel and inexplicably at ease.

"Yes!" Miao Yunsheng exclaimed excitedly, her words flowing freely. "Our young lady was incredibly capable! You didn't see it back in Yunnan, when those powerful chieftains rebelled—they were so fierce! The imperial army couldn't handle them for a while. Back then, our young lady, well… she wasn't much older than you or I are now," she said, trying to recall, her fingers still twirling her braid, "she rode alone, charging into the rebel army's ranks, facing thousands of enemy soldiers without a shred of fear!"

When Miao Yunsheng got excited, she jumped onto the stone bench, her small body standing ramrod straight. Clutching a roasted sugarcane as a bow and arrow, her cheeks puffed out like a little squirrel's, she exclaimed, "Look, just like this!" Our young lady—she squinted one eye, her little tongue secretly pressing against her canine tooth—and with a powerful shot, the sugarcane nearly flew out of her hand. She stumbled a couple of steps, sticking out her tongue sheepishly, "Oh dear, I'm too weak. The young lady is different!"

Her eyes sparkled as she gestured, "The rebel army was a dark mass, like a black cloud covering the sky! But Miss was wearing that silver-red battle robe—yes, the one embroidered with a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix—it shimmered dazzlingly in the sunlight! Then, she drew her bow, the bowstring pulled taut like a full moon, and whoosh—the first arrow shot out with a thunderous sound! Guess what? The arrow flew perfectly, piercing the rebel leader's helmet tassel, and embedding itself in the cliff face ten feet behind him, the fletching still buzzing!"

She mimicked the sound of arrow fletching with her little hands, giggling, "The leader was so scared, his face turned green, and he almost peed his pants!"

"The young lady fired two more arrows from horseback—whoosh—" Miao Yunsheng tried to imitate the heroic posture of a female general, but her chubby little arms couldn't quite capture the imposing presence; instead, she looked like she was performing a Miao drum dance, utterly adorable. "One arrow shattered his three-zhang-high general's flag, the flagpole cracking into splinters, the flag falling like a broken-winged eagle; the other arrow was even more miraculous, piercing through thousands of soldiers and horses, embedding itself three inches into the ground before his horse's hoof, without harming the horse in the slightest! After the three arrows, the young lady stood on her horse, the wind billowing her cloak like a phoenix spreading its wings. She declared loudly: 'Your rebellion has brought disaster to the people. Today, I, Yang Jinhua, use three arrows as a boundary. If you remain obstinate, the next arrow—' Miao Yunsheng deliberately paused, leaning closer with a mysterious expression, "...will take your head, and tie a bow along the way!"

She giggled so hard she almost fell over, then suddenly became serious: "Those rebels had never seen such supernatural power before! They all thought she was a celestial maiden descended from heaven! Their leader immediately fell off his horse and knelt down, begging for mercy. Later, even General Gao Qiong—that god-like figure—looked at you, Miss, and his eyes widened in disbelief!"

Miao Yunsheng covered her mouth and chuckled, "General Gao said, 'Your archery skills are unparalleled in the world.'"

The young lady blinked and said, "General, you flatter me. I just learned to shoot coins with my father and mother." The general immediately said he wanted to become her apprentice, and the young lady smiled and agreed. The two of them walked side by side into the mountains and rivers of Yunnan.

Later, Miao Yunsheng sat cross-legged on a stone bench, propping her chin up with her hand, her face full of longing: "Miss and the General are like twin lotus blossoms, blooming in our hearts. They taught us to plant terraced fields, and the rice grains grew brighter than gold; they taught us to weave cloth, and the warp and weft were adorned with phoenix feathers; they taught us to read, saying that women could also become scholars! The most amazing thing is that Miss actually humbly asked our Gu Master Granny for advice, saying that Miao medicine can bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded. She squatted in the small bamboo house for three days and three nights, filling a whole notebook with notes, and then traveled all over the Miao villages, using Miao medicine and Gu techniques to save countless people."

Her voice lowered, filled with reverence: "In our hearts, Miss is the reincarnation of the phoenix, and General Gao Qiong is the incarnation of the dragon god. The imperial court appointed them as Generals of the South, but we Miao people revere them as Aya and Axiong—meaning demigods. Whenever there is a malaria epidemic, Miss's silver whistle sounds, and Miao people from all around rush to her aid; whenever foreign enemies invade, the general's war drums beat, and warriors from all tribes gather under his command. They are not only officials appointed by the imperial court, but also our guardian deities. So now, every year on the Girls' Festival," Miao Yunsheng tilted her head, the silver bells at the end of her braid jingling, her eyes reflecting the morning mist of the mountains, "we girls will wear our most beautiful bird-patterned dresses and shoot arrows under the moonlight—of course, we shoot at grass targets! We also sing 'Jinhua Tune,' the lyrics of which Miss taught us—'My sister was born in the mountains and rivers, her heart is higher than the sky and her ambition is as high as the rainbow…' Miss said that women should be like this, standing tall and upright!"

She suddenly jumped off the stone bench and said earnestly, "Do you know? Miss often says that what she is most proud of is not conquering Yunnan with three arrows, but learning our Miao people's Harmony Gu—a kind of Gu technique that calms people's hearts and eliminates hatred. She says that true peace is not achieved through fighting, but through harmony between hearts."

Miao Yunsheng pointed to her heart, then made an arrow-shooting gesture, her eyes crinkling with laughter: "That's why our young lady is a war goddess, a healer; a pillar of the court, and a daughter of the Miao family. Who wouldn't love such a divine girl?"

Qin Tiehua listened intently. She imagined the heroic figure of Miss Yang, who had won the battle with three arrows—how radiant she must have been! This was completely different from the sheltered young ladies she had in mind.

"The young lady and General Gao later got married and lived in Yunnan. This time, she was ordered to return to the capital to report on her duties and visit her relatives."

Miao Yunsheng continued chattering, "Miss's family is quite extraordinary; they are the renowned Yang family of Tianbo Mansion! She is the youngest daughter of Marquis Mu Guiying, the granddaughter of General Yang Yanzhao of the Three Passes, and the great-granddaughter of Old Madam Zhe!"