Jade Spring

Jade Spring Village (玉泉村) was a village situated in northern Shang Commandery due west of Yangzhou City during the Qin dynasty. It was the home of Wei Yu's youxia disciples, Yu Ying, Chu Huan, and Chu Huan's sworn sibling, but it was destroyed in 215 BCE by the Qin in retaliation for the theft of a talisman with mystical powers. Yu Ying and Chu Huan's sworn sibling were the only survivors of the bloody massacre.

History

Stolen treasure and bandit troubles

In 215 BCE, the three youxia partook in a mission to infiltrate Yangzhou Palace and to take back a treasure that, according to their informant Nie Jing, had been stolen from a poor farmer by corrupt officials. Unbeknownst to them, it was a scheme by Nie Jing to implicate them in its theft and provoke the retribution of the Department of Immortality. That same day, bandits raided some of the outlying homes and took their residents hostage. While Yu Ying returned to the village by a different route, the other two encountered the incident on their way back with the treasure in hand and saved the hostages. Although they tried to leave one bandit alive for questioning, Nie Jing intervened to silence him under the pretext it was imprudent to spare him. Eager to strike back at the bandits, Chu Huan left by himself in haste to hunt for them, locating their camp shortly after in a cave.

Chu Huan's sworn sibling questioned Nie Jing on her flawed intel about the level of palace security as they returned to the village together, but Nie Jing feigned that it was an honest error. When they arrived, Nie Jing passed a message from Fan Zeng to the youxia about a gift from the martial arts master Ji Wei they should collect while claiming that she would "be off to fix [their] mess". In actuality, Nie Jing was reporting to her ally Yang Duanhe of the Department of Immortality to set the stage for the impending attack on the village. ^{[citation needed]} Meanwhile, the youxia met with Ji Wei, who presented them with the Axe of Valor and offered a sparring match to instruct them in its use.

Afterwards, the youxia helped Yu Ying chase down a group of thieves who had just robbed her, in the process discovering her secret cache of rewards from the people for her service that she intended to save for emergencies. Her friend vowed to keep the secret before heading off to find Chu Huan. Outside of the bandit cave, Chu Huan informed them that the bandit leader was presently absent so that this was the optimal time to attack. They sneaked inside and began stealthily eliminating bandits, but the leader unexpectedly returned with kidnapped children they intended to sell into slavery. The sight of this triggered Chu Huan's childhood trauma as a victim of trafficking as well, and he launched furiously at the leader and his men from hiding. Through fraught fighting, Chu Huan and his sibling prevailed and freed the children. Out of consideration for Yu Ying, who was also a former child slave, the two agreed not to share this sensitive detail about their operation with her.

Massacre by the Qin

Back at home, the three friends enjoyed what would be their last day together, with Yu Ying sharing her dream to develop a thriving business like her idol Ba Qing and Chu Huan teasing his sibling with Wei Yu's favourite wine the day before they turned twenty. The following morning, they were woken up by a sudden attack by purple-uniformed Qin soldiers. The soldiers immediately went about setting houses on fire and torturing villagers for information about the stolen treasure, promptly executing any who truthfully declared ignorance. Ji Wei himself fell to the blade of a Qin soldier. While Yu Ying sheltered many of the children inside her home, Chu Huan rushed to the main hall, where the treasure was kept in a warehouse. His sworn sibling slew most of the Qin soldiers themselves, rescued Yu Ying and the kids from the besieged house, and joined him in fighting five soldiers in front of the hall. Although they were able to kill their enemies, they discovered that the treasure had been taken already. Taking the secret tunnel beneath the hall out of the village, they planned to rendezvous with Yu Ying and the children she saved at her safehouse, but just as they left the tunnel through its waterfall exit, they were ambushed by more Qin troops. The Qin commander Yang Duanhe leaped down from above with his sword aimed at Chu Huan's sworn sibling, and Chu Huan had just enough time to push them aside to take the mortal wound instead. His sibling narrowly escaped with their life.

By the time they made it to the safehouse, it had already been attacked, and the youxia had to rescue Yu Ying from captivity, upon which they shared the news of Chu Huan's demise. Suddenly, they detected a Qin soldier spying on them and immediately flew into pursuit despite Yu Ying's warnings. Sure enough, the soldier was merely baiting the youxia into an ambush with four other soldiers. The youxia dispatched all but one, intending to save them for interrogation, but as before, Nie Jing came out of nowhere to silence the soldier with an arrow, feigning blood thirst to avenge the village. As Yu Ying caught up with them, Nie Jing claimed that Grand General Meng Tian was responsible for the massacre. Believing her, the two youxia decided that it was best to warn their contacts in Yangzhou City, villagers like Fan Zeng and the chef Jiu Wei who were there for work. Instead of aiding them, Nie Jing pretended that she wished to keep a low profile and remain uninvolved, only offering the advice that they gather the Jade Spring survivors at the city's rear gate as that would be the "fastest route out".

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Jade