Liu bit his lip as Kyang and Torako berated him, the latter more indirectly than the former. He couldn't say that he was in the right; as fast as it was, something as sadistic as what he did would never be looked upon with praise, only scorn and disdain. But so long as it had gotten the job done, then for the moment it would do.

"I don't want to do it again. Don't worry," Liu said, his voice as heavy as his heart. "But it seemed like the most efficient way to get things done. Beating him back into unconsciousness would only waste more time, and given how bandits tend to act, I assumed that he'd be more apt to bite off his own tongue than be imprisoned for his crimes."

It was a flimsy justification, if nothing else, but that was the best way Liu could rationalize the whole ordeal. Xin's comment prompted a bitter smile from him, but it didn't help his mental state as much as the hunter had hoped it would.

"I know, but... You were injured from your earlier battle, and making you do any more work would just feel insensitive. Then again, I did just torture a man into submission, so what do I know about 'insensitive'?" Liu asked in response, a small, half-hearted laugh following soon after. "But no, any more fighting tonight will probably be too dangerous. You need to get healed and rest, and I need to get my shoulder checked out. We can get local enforcement sent over to check everything out here, and that should net us at least some reward. We can tie up any remaining loose ends tomorrow; at the very least, we can reclaim the looted goods, if not take out their boss."

Looking once more at the decapitated bandit's body, Liu grimaced and, drawing his jian once more, cut the vines binding the body in place. Leaving the body desecrated to that extent... There was only so far he could go before his own conscience started trying to shoot back.

"I'm going to head back to town; the longer that whatever's in my shoulder is stuck there, the more dangerous it is to my body. I'd hate to think that it was blocking a qi pathway or something similar."

Without another word, Liu placed the jian back into its sheath and began the trek back to Mingdu. After today, he really needed a good night's sleep to shrug this off. His mind, however, spoke otherwise.

[hr]
The village, when he and the others returned, was just about ready to turn in for the night. The guards, of course, were shocked at the amount of blood on the group, but after a quick explanation and the rest, a few of the guards went to check the site for themselves. Excusing himself (and Xin) from the group after everyone was safely inside the town, the young hunter directed the martial artist towards to school for treatment as he himself went there. With Kyang's financial situation somewhat alleviated, he hoped that she could at least foot the bill for her own room that night.

Treatment went by quickly but painfully; only a dull painkiller was applied, so his wound was opened, the offending object removed (it WAS an arrowhead piece, after all), and subsequently healed. Told to stay overnight just in case of poisons or anything of the sort, Liu obliged; after all, he'd have to be as in-shape as possible for the fight tomorrow.
[hr]
Liu was, by some chance or circumstance, able to sleep through the night without incident. Though the events of last night had weighed heavily on him, the whole experience had been tiring enough to knock him right out after the treatment had concluded. Testing his arm once more for mobility, Liu nodded before looking at his own uniform. Well, it wasn't as if he needed to be wearing it any more...

Taking a moment to switch sets of clothing, the hunter walked of the infirmary, if only to check the position of the sun in the sky.

Sunrise.

Would the others even be awake by now...?