She waited among the umaintained tall grass growing right by the lake that was almost as tall as LongFei. LongFei sat on the ground further behind her, staying hidden behind more tall grass. Soon, the lion appeared through the tall grass in front of BaiXue. 

"Can you prove that your information is trustworthy?" He went straight to the point without bothering to greet her.

"I don't have to prove anything. You can see it for yourself. If nothing comes up, feel free to join in the fun of the raid."

The lion stared warily at her. "Why help me then?"

"Aren't you the strongest and the best? Isn't it a waste of talent to send someone as majestic as you to his death just because of some lowly scheme of a lowly person?"

The lion beamed with satisfaction at the praises she piled on him. His tone became more amiable as he asked her, "What do you get out of this?"

BaoBao mocked the lion for being so easy to manipulate while LongFei was feeling a little peeved that she sung praises of someone else. Even if he knew that she did not mean it, he still did not like it. I must get stronger so that she doesn't have to resort to such trickery and deception to get what she wants. 

"Just a personal grudge. I don't want her to get things her way." To make it more convincing, BaiXue had put on a face full of unbridled hatred.

"You know the one who ordered us to attack?"

"It's FenFang isn't it?"

The lion nodded his head. "Seems like you're trustworthy." He turned away to leave without excusing himself. BaiXue did not mind it as long as she got what she wanted.

Upon reaching back to the bandits who were all resting near the edge of the forest before their attack, the bear asked him. "Hey, where did you run off to? We're about to start the attack."

"Why do u need to know. I'm back, aren't I?"

The bear shook his head as he thought about how their poor teamwork and chemistry was the reason they have never worked together on raids before. These two are such a pain in the ass.

As they got up to commence their attack, the bear noticed how the lion had not assumed the position at the front. The lion had loved to brag about his bravery back in the village so everyone knew that he was always at the front lines. "ShiJiao, aren't you always at the front?"

"Maybe he's scared and he was lying all along." The tiger said with a smirk.

"You're serving as my meat shield." ShiJiao said to the tiger.

The tiger wanted to argue but the bear said, "Shut it. It's time." The bear took off with his group before the tiger could busy himself with another argument with the lion.

BaiXue was watching everything from atop them without their knowledge. She knew that this group was taking it seriously and was of a different caliber from the previous ones. They had decided to use the night as a cover for their attack and rested well before attacking instead of rushing headlong into the village in an overbearing way like the previous ones all did.

ShiJiao followed them but swerved at the last minute to hide behind a tree in his human form without breaking momentum once they left the cover of the forest. No one noticed that ShiJiao was now missing. 

The bandits crept up on the people on the outskirts of the village and killed them with a swipe to the head or bite to the neck. They managed to slay some people before a woman came out of her house to get her son and saw his mangled body instead. 

The scream rang out through the night.

Chaos ensued. People ran for their weapons or their lives. 

FengJiao quickly changed to her phoenix form to back everyone up. 

"A phoenix?!?!" Several bandits cried out in fear. They were only informed that the villagers of this village were stronger and more wary which caused the defeat of their fellow careless bandits who came before them.

ShiJiao had a scowl on his face. He thought about the letter that BaiXue dropped on him. It was simple but straightforward. "Betrayal. Death mission. Phoenix. Meet at lake." ShiJiao looked at FengJiao picking them off one at a time. He knew that the bandits did not stand a chance against the phoenix. It was only a matter of time before they were all wiped out. He retreated as he did not want to get dragged into the fray.

His eyes held killing intent for FenFang. He was planning to rally the village to rise up against her. Even if she was a mystical being, she betrayed them and no longer had the intention to protect them anyway. It was no longer the mutually beneficial relationship they shared from before. Instead of being sitting ducks, he rather tear a piece of flesh off of her even if he would die for it.

I should have done this from the start. BaiXue thought to herself. She had wasted time trying to avoid needing to act so tediously but the straightforward and simple way did not work even as they watched their comrades get tortured. BaiXue felt that how tight-lipped they were was actually quite commendable. This spurred her decision to ruin the image of their village being their safe haven instead.

She knew that tonight was likely the last attack that would convince MengYao since there were deaths of the villagers tonight. She was relieved that her manipulation of ShiJiao worked.

The difference in tonight's attack was only apparent to the people who experienced or witnessed the previous attacks. FengJiao could not save everyone this time. When the bandits were scared and tried to retreat, they became easy picking for FengJiao. She would easily end them one or more at a time. The bear was the first one to realise this so he yelled for his group to give up and take as many people down as they can before they died.

"Rampage!!!" The bear yelled as the group charged into villagers and swiped and mauled them. When FengJiao was busy roasting one of them alive, the other took the chance to kill more. The rest of the bandits saw what was happening and it raised their fervour. Everyone gave up on living. They only sought to bring down as many people as they could before their time was up. In a way, it was the most exhilarating attack they ever had. They all had smiles on their faces that it made them look crazy.

The smarter ones would use FengJiao's flames against her own village. They dodged into huts, houses, and sheds to take cover from her flames. This made her cause damage to her own village. FengJiao was beginning to feel distraught but she never stopped.

MengYao was already well enough to support her in defending the village but he did not want to. He still did not trust the villagers. Perhaps their true colours will appear now that she failed to protect them perfectly. Then I will take her away.

When FengJiao was done killing all the bandits off, around a third of the village was killed and the village was charred. The villagers slowly gathered together at the outskirts of their village with grief on their faces. Those with loved ones who died were at their dead bodies crying and wailing aloud.

One of the grieving ones saw FengJiao standing with her head hanging in shame in front of the group gathered at the outskirts of the village. He charged at FengJiao in his anger and anguish while screaming, "You failed us! You failed to protect us! My whole family died!!! I should have died along with them, kill me now!"

MengYao saw this scene and his eyes darkened. Look at that. I wasn't wrong in the end.

Suddenly, another man who was grieving charged at the man who blamed FengJiao and punch him squarely across the face. "Die if you want! FengJiao did her best and you know that without her, the village would only have a few survivors!"

Another one spoke up, "Yes, she already did what she could!"

"She did wonderfully!"

"We were too weak to protect ourselves! How can we blame someone else if we died?"

Everyone began speaking up for FengJiao with tears falling from their faces. Everyone was hurt and angry but they knew that the fault did not lie with FengJiao.

FengJiao also had tears falling from her pretty eyes. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry everyone... I couldn't save everyone..."

The women of the village approached her and gave her a pat on the back. Some hugged her. The whole village grieved together in tears.

MengYao took in this sight with a punch to his gut. He frowned, his eyes filled with disbelief, and his lips apart as if wanting to say something. I... was wrong? This... is not possible.

It took some time for reality to sink in and when it finally did, a look of guilt showed on his face. Not only did the villagers forgive him for his initial attack on the village, they truly had been nothing but kind and welcoming to him.

The man who blamed FengJiao earlier saw the look of guilt on MengYao's face. He said to MengYao, "Don't feel bad. You were still injured. You shouldn't partake in the fight in your condition. So it's good. I was the one in the wrong earlier." Then he faced FengJiao to apologise properly.

MengYao finally understood why FengJiao truly loved her village. Even if this was all only a lie to the day they died, it did not feel bad to live in such a loving village.

On BaiXue's side, ShiJiao was still halfway through the mountains. 

"ShiJiao's pride will make him lead a revolt against FenFang. Let them do so. Stay out of their sight until you find a particular group of people I want you to separate from the rest."

She followed with detailed descriptions of all the involved parties appearances. The intense emotions of the original soul led to forming very vivid memories of those who were involved, especially of the green-eyed tiger who dealt the most lethal blow. LongFei faithfully committed them all to his memory.

When BaiXue was done with her descriptions, the flight became very silent. No one said a thing.

It was long past noon when ShiJiao's body which was weaving between a clustered group of trees began to waver and wane. BaiXue rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was not seeing things.

LongFei was aware of her actions so he said, "You aren't seeing things. There is an illusion casted here. If you walk within it, it will probably lead you around the whole area instead of truly walking through it. You wouldn't be able to notice a thing unless you witnessed something like this. I can break this spell easily though. I just needed to know the precise area of where the illusion was."

"We'll destroy the entire village after they leave to deal with FenFang and I deal with the group that I have business with." BaiXue calmly instructed. She noted how the bandits' village had really always been right under her nose. It was not very far from her home village.

"Let's head down to rest." BaiXue said.