Can You Conquer The World With Martial Arts?

In one of the most reputable inns across the vast territory ruled over by the Wuyi Sect, a martial arts expert was leisurely partaking in drink and the attention of the locals.

Wei Qing, colloquially known as the Heart Seeking Finger, was a dark haired man with a long, remarkably smooth, glistening beard, across which he ran his deadly fingers with great frequency and delight. He had killed dozens of men, and a dozen of them had some renown to their names. He was not oblivious to the tension present in the air even as every word of his was showered with praise by the group of wealthy scions and merchants hovering over his table, for the men present knew that he could kill them all on a whim. He was well aware of his own reputation, and found it no shame at all to enjoy the fruits of his labor. His chief amusement lied in nitpicking their words for things at which to take offense, only to laugh it off and pretend that he had merely been speaking in jest.

He would then keep mental notes of those with whom he tried to pick a fight, and had they been foolish enough to neglect to make an apology to him in the form of a gift within the week, made trouble for them.

And yet the wealthy strove to endear themselves to him not just for his powerful connections as one of the most senior disciples of the Wuyi sect's headmaster, but for the chance to put his famous skills and ruthless subordinates to use for their own benefit. They laughed at his jokes, cheered at his stories, and showered him with compliments and drink.

Wei Qing's merry evening had ceased abruptly when a stranger entered the inn. People of all sorts passed through the establishment, and yet this particular individual drew the silence of not only the sycophants and the subject of their unceasing flattery, but the rest of the patrons as well.

A tall, young woman wearing a pale blue robe gracefully walked across the room. Although the gentle roundness of her facial features alone could be considered attractive enough to draw attention, what truly lulled the crowd into such shock was her hair, which, untied, reached down slightly below the woman's waist and looked as though it was made of gold.

Heedless of the onlookers, she approached the counter and placed her hand upon it. The sleeve of her robe was so long that even the proprietor, who stood right in front of her, never got the chance to see a single finger of her hand. The oppressive silence was interrupted by something thumping against the wood.

"Please show me to my room." The woman's voice broke the silence for good. The patrons seemed to take it as a cue to regain their wits and began to gossip in hushed tones. None present had ever seen a woman with such eccentric appearance.

As the woman slid her sleeve away, a golden tael was left on the counter, the sight of which helped the proprietor come back to his senses. The pudgy man clasped his hands together and began to nod eagerly with a big, silly grin on his face, gesturing towards the staircase as he began to lead the way while chattering on and on about the menu, the locale, the services, the weather, and whatever else came to mind.

The woman turned her head in the opposite direction. Her gaze picked Wei Qing out of all the other patrons and lingered on him. The old master's heart began to thump. They stood halfway across the large room, but his extensive cultivation gifted him with eyesight that was better than most. The woman's eyes were the same color as her hair, only ever so slightly darker. He found himself somewhat unnerved at the sight, and began to rub his smooth beard. Suddenly, the woman smiled. It was a small smile, almost like a smirk. Wei Qing clenched his beard. The slight nervousness he felt was instantly evaporated by the heat of his excitement.

Although, he was still at a loss about what he should have done next. As he hesitated, the woman turned away and followed the proprietor upstairs. Wei Qing's hand finished one last lap across his beard and returned to his cup. He chuckled to his fellows. All of them asked what his relation to that mysterious woman was, but Wei Qing kept things vague.

Later that night, as the merriment winded down and the guests retired for the night, Wei Qing snuck out of his room. The wooden floorboards did not creak nor even budge beneath his feet, as if the old man was entirely weightless. He stopped next to a door and perked up his ears, listening. After a while, his ears hadn't picked up on anything out of the ordinary - or much of anything at all - from within that room, so he set his hand down on the doorknob and gently pulled. The door squeaked lightly as it opened, and he slowed down even more. When the gap was wide enough for him to fit through, he had entered the room in a single swift, silent movement, just as gently pulling the door behind him to a close.

He took his time with it. His eyes ran across the spacious room, illuminated by nothing but a speck of moonlight seeping through the closed window. In the large bed on the other end of the room, with only her head above the covers, a woman lied on her back, her long hair haphazardly thrown about across her pillow and sheets.

As soon as the door closed, Wei Qing leaped towards the bed. His fingers struck out at several of the woman's pressure points. Wei Qing's expertise was such that even through the woman's loose robes he could perceive the finer points of her anatomy; even with her body hidden beneath a heavy blanket, his accuracy was unimpeded. Even had the darkness been absolute, he would need only to feel the outline of a stranger's body no more than once for the location of all of their pressure points to reveal itself within his mind's eye. If he could not manage even that much, then he could make guesses with a frightening degree of accuracy.

In the unforgivingly precise art of pressure point sealing techniques, such things were practically unconceivable.

His 5 strikes had begun and ended in the blink of the eye. With those pressure points sealed, the woman would not be able to move any of her limbs. Wei Qing threw aside the blanket and mounted her at the waist. The expression beneath his beard was giddy, and he breathed heavily. His fingers greedily grasped the mounds beneath her nightgown, and soon he went higher, exploring her collarbone, her shoulders, her armpits, her neck, her face. Wei Qing parted her lips with his thumb, ogling at the pearly whites and tongue underneath. The breathing Wei Qing felt on his moist fingers was deep and steady.

By now, his vision had adjusted to the dark as well as they ever would. Wei Qing looked into her eyes, and found the woman staring back at him. The only thing expressed in those yellow eyes was indifference. Once again he began to felt that same pang of fear he had felt when their eyes met for the first time.

Suddenly, he felt something digging into his armpits. He found himself getting lifted up off the bed. His heart skipped a beat, and would never get the opportunity to beat again. The final thought running through his mind was that he hadn't checked the room thoroughly enough, that someone else was hiding in it. Wei Qing flew backwards across the room like a shot arrow.

As his head collided with the door, his neck broke instantly. But even if Wei Qing had had the rest of his natural lifespan to mull over that night's events, he would not have ever arrived at the conclusion that it was the woman who had lifted up her legs, dug her toes into his armpits and flung him across the room with humongous power. First of all, her pressure points were sealed; to the master, this matter was simply unquestionable. Second of all, even with full control of all their limbs, who could possibly exert that much force from such an awkward position?

As Wei Qing smashed through the door, his limp body rolled up to the wall on the opposite end of the hallway. The explosive sound had woken all the patrons, on this floor and the next. One by one they began to step out of their rooms to take a peek outside, candles in hand. They gasped. Not one of them failed to recognize the master's broken body, and not one of them was foolish enough to speak to someone who was so clearly dead.

The plump proprietor, too, had arrived, and screamed at the grisly scene. "Master Wei?!" In his shock he had nearly dropped his lantern. He turned back behind him and shouted. "Guo'er! Bai Fan! He Ru! Hurry!"

A young man ran up from behind a corner, his dark hair tied up into a low ponytail, and a sword on his hip. "Uncle, what happened?" He asked the proprietor. Their way of addressing each other hinted at a familial tie, which would make the new arrival's given name Guo. As he examined the scene, the young man's eyes widened in shock. "Master Wei?!"

Guo was of half a mind to approach Wei Qing, but the crowd had suddenly heard a footstep from the room from which the master had been so violently tossed out of. The patrons gasped again, slinking back into their rooms, terrified. After all, who knew what went through that killer's head? No one was willing to put their life on the line just to sate their curiosity. Guo's uncle was sweating profusely, and clearly wanted nothing more but to hide somewhere just like his guests. Guo himself nervously clutched at his sword.

The golden haired woman stepped out of her room, dressed up in her pale blue robes. Without sparing the onlookers a glance, she crouched next to the corpse and began to go through Wei Qing's pockets. Eventually, she had plucked out an object and hid it beneath her long sleeve. With that done, she began to walk away.

Guo had finally mustered up enough courage to raise his voice. "Wait!" Guo's uncle gestured at him frantically as he had done so, unambiguously suggesting that they not draw her attention. But the woman continued on her way, soon turning a corner towards the stairs down.

"What are you thinking!" Guo's uncle hissed, berating his nephew as loudly as a whisper could allow. "Against someone who could kill Master Wei, what chance do you have? If she's going, then good for her! Let her!"

The next moment, two more swordsmen arrived. Guo's uncle commanded them. "Go let the Wuyi Sect know! If they blame us for this, we're doomed."

Guo spoke up again. "Uncle, who was that woman?"

"I don't know." The plump man replied. "That lady has been the talk of the inn, but nobody knows her."

Guo squatted down next to Wei Qing's corpse. He gently lifted up a part of the dead man's gray shirt, examining a dot of blood seeping through. "He was stabbed by a blade no wider than a finger. I can see five wounds at least." Guo stepped away from the corpse, rubbing his chin in contemplation. "How could there be a martial artist even greater than Wei Qing with such remarkable appearance that no one has ever heard of before?"

"That's what the Wuyi Sect will want to know too! What if they don't believe us? Oh, heavens..." Guo's uncle leaned against a wall, his feet weak, the back of his wrist up against his forehead. "Perhaps she's wearing a disguise... Perhaps it's not a woman at all!" He raised his voice, and, fearfully catching his own excitement, lowered himself back to a whisper. "After all, have you ever seen a woman as tall as her?"

Guo mulled over it some more. "Uncle, you may be right. That's why I must look into this while she's still here."

"While she's still here? What are you thinking? Are you mad?" Guo's uncle exclaimed as his nephew broke out into a run. "Stay away from her, it's too dangerous! Bai Guo! Bai Guo, come back here right now!"

But Bai Guo would not stop, the loud voice of his uncle soon fading behind him. He chased after the mysterious woman, who by now had left the inn. Even this late at night, the bustling streets were well lit and filled to the brim with crowds. Bai Guo's eyes darted around the streets, and he could just barely spot a glimpse of golden locks at the edge of his vision. He sprinted after them.

Swift as he was, he soon realized that he had gotten no closer, and eventually lost her in the crowd. Figuring he would have better luck spotting her from above, Bai Guo leaped towards a house three stories tall, scaling the wall in a few outrageous jumps. As his head emerged over the edge of the roof, he found a golden haired beauty standing right where he intended to plant his foot.

Bai Guo shouted and lost his balance. Just as he was about to fall, he found himself suspended in midair. The woman held him by his forearm, neither pulling him up nor letting him drop. Bai Guo planted his feet back onto the wall and finished his ascent. The woman stepped back, letting go of his arm. She was taller than him by half a head, and Bai Guo had never felt his height to be inadequate up until this point.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice borderline monotone.

Bai Guo broke out into cold sweat, finding himself at a loss for words. He cupped his hands and bowed deeply. "Thank you, senior, for your help."

No response came. Without rising, Bai Guo continued. "For lifting me up." When no response came yet again, he introduced himself. "I am Bai Guo. If I may ask for the senior's esteemed name and the name of your esteemed sect."

His two questions were answered by two more. "Why are you calling me a senior? How old are you?"

Bai Guo felt his throat drying up. "I'm 17 years old. How... how would you like me to address you?"

His words were met with a chuckle, the woman's voice perking up with amusement. "So why did you address me as senior?"

Bai Guo felt he was being toyed with, but continued to respond in earnest. "Because you are my superior not only in age, but in martial arts, too... I only meant to show my respect."

As Bai Guo spoke, he dared to raise his head just a little bit. Both of the woman's long sleeves were by her side. From his angle, he could just barely see her fingertips. The young man suddenly found himself unnerved by the sight. Despite the great length of the sleeves, her arms were still long enough for her hands to be only barely covered by them. He set his head back down, forcing the thought aside.

Once again, the woman laughed. "That's okay then. Say, you are a local here, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Stop talking to the floor." Amusement had suddenly left her voice.

Bai Guo raised his waist, setting his arms at ease by nervously jerking them to his sides. The senior revealed an object in her hand, a black wooden token with the white words "Wuyi" on it, and asked a question. "Do you know what this is?"

"That's..." Bai Guo gasped. "That's the Wuyi Sect's token."

"What is the Wuyi Sect?" The woman followed up without hesitation.

Bai Guo thought the question strange - after all, who wouldn't know something like this? But he decided to answer directly. "The rulers of this kingdom, of course..." He hadn't meant to let those last two words slip out. But the woman seemed to pay it no heed.

"Where is it located?"

"Their main headquarters are in the Wuyi Mountains, but they have many branches, one of them in this city."

"If you could point me in the direction of the Wuyi Mountains, I would appreciate it."

It was now that Bai Guo had finally been unable to answer immediately. He could certainly have given her the directions to the office of the local branch with ease, but this was a lot more complicated.

Sensing his hesitation, the woman asked. "Are you, perhaps, a member?"

"No, ma'am..." Bai Guo answered honestly. An idea had suddenly flashed through his head like a bolt of lightning. "If you would like, I can lead you to their headquarters."

His proposition was met with silence. A small smile slowly crept up on the woman's face. "You aren't a member, yet you know where they're located well enough to lead me there? I don't see any mountains around, so it can't be that close, right?"

Bai Guo clasped his hands and dropped into another bow. He hastily began to explain. "Senior, I went there once when I was younger, to apply for membership within their sect. But my aptitude was deemed insufficient during the trials, and they threw me out. Now I work as a guard at my uncle's inn..."

"Stop talking to the floor."

Bai Guo raised himself again. The woman continued with her questions. "How far is it?"

"About two weeks of travel."

Her smile grew. "And may I ask why you'd be so courteous as to guide me there at such great inconvenience to yourself?"

Bai Guo's throat was completely parched by now. He swallowed heavily, though there was nothing to swallow. His reply came out hesitantly and after a pause. "If I may be so bold, I would like senior to take me on as her disciple."

The woman's smile faded away. Bai Guo desperately continued. "Martial arts have always been my passion, but without the expertise of a true master, my skills have never progressed beyond those of a journeyman."

The senior regarded him with surprise. "Did I, perhaps, get in the way of a similar plan of yours by killing that man?"

"No... Master Wei was part of the Wuyi Sect, and as I've mentioned before, they already refused me."

The rooftop descended into silence. The ruckus of the crowds below them could not overpower the sound of Bai Guo's heart thumping in his ears. Finally, the woman spoke again.

"If you bring me there, I'll consider it."

It was as if a stone dropped from Bai Guo's chest. Bai Guo bowed again, then fell entirely to his knees.

"That's enough of that." The woman spoke with a tinge of annoyance. "We're heading out right away."

"Right away?" Bai Guo parroted as he hastily got back up. "But we need to prepare for the trip... We need food, and... and other supplies... We won't be able to get a horse this late."

"Is there something wrong with your feet?"

Bai Guo was shocked, and waited for her to say that she was just kidding. When he realized that no such thing was coming, he protested. "But, senior, then the trip is going to take much longer than two weeks! Would they even let us past the gates at this hour?"

"Let me ask you something. Do you know martial arts at all?"

"My father taught me a few skills."

"So then are you, perhaps, slow in the head?" The woman turned away from him, walking towards the edge of the roof.

Bai Guo remained in awkward silence.

"The people at the gates are not martial artists. If you can't get past them one way or the other, then there's nothing I can teach you." She stopped at the edge. "From which gate would we be departing?"

"The... the west one."

"I will meet you thereabout. If you take too long, I'm leaving without you." She stepped over the edge and fell. Bai Guo sprinted after her, but when he looked over, there was no trace of the mysterious woman.

Left to his own thoughts, the young martial artist weighed his options.

He was hoping to continue the dialogue a little longer to glean at least some information over what had just occurred in his uncle's inn, but she departed without giving him such an opportunity. Was it worth pursuing this matter any further?

Was the risk of being painted as that woman's accomplice worth the possible payoff of being the one who brought her in to the authorities?

Her intentions confused Bai Guo greatly. Without that missing piece of the puzzle, accurately weighing the risk was next to impossible.

But whether by earning himself a spot in the Wuyi Sect, or by extracting a secret from the mysterious senior during their travels, he stood to gain greatly from this situation...

...At no less of a great risk to his life.

Although his mind was already made up, he still needed a few minutes to muster up courage. He stood stock still on the rooftop, mulling over what he should be doing next.

"Unless she's putting on an act, she's clueless about the local affairs. She has obviously come from somewhere far away... That senior must have already taken care of all of the travel preparations. I don't have much money on me, and most stores are closed at this time. Going back to the inn is out of the question. My uncle would never let me go through with this... And I can't give him the chance to persuade me because he just might be able to convince me! I should just get going now while I still have the courage!"

With those thoughts rampaging in his head, Bai Guo hopped off the roof and made his way towards the city's west gate. "I just hope she'll share her food with me."

As he left the night district behind, the crowds had rapidly thinned out. Contrary to what the mysterious woman had said, almost all of the city's guards were either martial artists themselves or amateur warriors directly under their employ, which not infrequently meant that they would have some semblance of familiarity with a martial arts technique or two. Although the techniques of the Wuyi Sect, as well as just about every sect that had a name in the world, were a secret, it was ultimately impossible to prevent people from catching a glimpse of them in action and imitating the motions, and even such a half-baked imitation presented a great deal of danger when wielded against a human being.

Therefore, Bai Guo was on guard. He hadn't had the silver tongue it would take to talk his way past the gatekeepers, so his only option was to slink past them under the cover of darkness like a common criminal. He approached the gates both swiftly and silently, taking detours through poorly lit streets and shabby neighborhoods.

He suddenly heard the clopping of horse hooves behind him. From the amount of noise and its erratic pattern, he surmised that there were multiple riders. He questioned why someone would cause such a commotion in the middle of the night, but the answer dawned on him immediately.

"Uncle's men must have reported Wei Qing's death!" Bai Guo disregarded stealth and began to run as fast as he could. If he had not managed to get out of the city before they heightened security, there was no way he would be able to get past the experts that would arrive to lock down the city.

The city walls were a little short of 10 meters tall. Their age and inadequate maintenance meant that, ordinarily, they were easy to climb. Had it not been the middle of the night, Bai Guo would have been over them in just a few seconds. But in this darkness, his footwork skills were too dangerous to use. He had to scale the old-fashioned way. As he slowly made his way up, he had to brush his hands across the wall to fill out loose stones to serve as potential grips.

Even climbing like this, his progress could not have been called slow by any reasonable stretch. But with the watchmen about to put the entire city on high alert, Bai Guo felt his heart sink with every moment he had to waste on seeking out a good grip.

And once he had nearly made his way to the top, his situation had gotten even worse - Bai Guo noticed a moving light around the point he was intending to climb over. Most likely drawn by the commotion from the city, a guard with a pot helm was peering over the streets, an oil lamp in hand. The idea that someone was currently scaling the walls had clearly not crossed his mind, but he was staring idly, and it seemed that he intended to stand about for at least some time.

Bai Guo decided that horizontally scaling the wall in search for a better exit point was out of the question; there was simply no time. "At this point, it's either down or up!" With that in mind, he crept ever closer towards the edge, slower than he had ever climbed before.

Suddenly, bells rang out from the city, quickly growing louder as more and more joined the cacophony. It was at that moment that Bai Guo leapt up, crossing the scant remaining meters of the wall. The blaring alarm had silenced the stones loosened up by his rapid ascent.

Like a bat out of hell, Bai Guo emerged where the light of the lantern was at its dimmest. The guard had finally noticed something in the periphery of his senses and quickly turned.

But there was nothing left for him to see. Nevertheless, the watchman was overcome by a growing suspicion. He had suddenly heard a noise, as if, on the other side of the walls, something fell down. He rushed up to the other edge and shined his lantern down.

But there was nothing to see there either. With that, his suspicion had been contented, and he finally resumed his patrol.

Unbeknownst to the guardsman, in the darkness, Bai Guo was sprinting for the tree line ahead of the city, clutching his arm which he had hurt after a bad drop from the walls. It was not his intention to so boldly descend, but in his panic he had lost his grip about halfway down and tumbled.

Bai Guo hid behind a tree and sat down, breathing heavily not from exertion but from the fear. Now, with the city behind him, it had struck him that, should he fail in his little plot, he might never be able to come back to this city even if he were to get away with his life.

A woman's voice emerged from the darkness. "You made it."

Bai Guo's wandering mind was startled, and he let out a gasp. He recognized the eccentric senior's voice, though he could hardly make out her features in the dark.

"...Yes, ma'am." He answered.

"Are you hurt? That looked like a bad fall."

"You saw?" Bai Guo felt surprised. Their little rendezvous was taking place quite a long way from the walls, yet she could still peer through the darkness to watch his clumsy acrobatic escapades. The young martial artist's surprise was quickly overtaken by embarrassment. He moved his arm around, and would describe the pain as moderate. "Ah, I don't know... I think it's okay."

The sparse woods descended into silence. Bai Guo was eager to say something, but found himself at a loss for words, his mind in turmoil. After a while, the senior would finally speak up.

"Lead the way."

Bai Guo stood up and took in his surroundings. "Senior... It's so dark, I'm not sure that I can..."

"The road only goes one way from here."

"But I don't even see the road..."

"Follow me." The woman began to walk, and Bai Guo followed her fleeting figure. "Here we are. I'll tell you when there's a fork in the road."

Bai Guo no longer felt grass beneath his feet, so the senior must have been correct. They both began to follow along. "The darkness doesn't bother you one bit, does it, senior...?"

The senior offered no response to that, and they proceeded in silence for a while. The pace at which they moved ended up rather frantic. What apparently passed for a walk for this woman was very nearly a jog for Bai Guo. Rather than guiding her somewhere, she was the one in the front.

Bai Guo couldn't tell how much time had passed before the senior spoke again. "Needless to say, if you see someone approaching us at this hour, hide."

"Of course..." Bai Guo replied. His eyes darted towards the heavens, and he briefly prayed for a swifter dawn. "Senior..." He began. She didn't say anything in response, and Bai Guo mustered up the boldness to presume that he could continue. "May I be so bold as to ask you for even a scrap of your background?"

Once again, silence. Just as Bai Guo's frustrations began to mount, the woman finally replied. "Ask me something more specific."

"Well... For starters, what is your name?"

"The jianghu will come up with a name for me in due time." Her response carried a note of amusement.

Bai Guo found himself befuddled by such an enigmatic answer. "But... How do I address the esteemed senior during our travels?"

"Address me however you like." She turned her head to him as they walked. From the way she was talking, Bai Guo thought she was smiling. "Why don't you come up with my very first title?"

Bai Guo chuckled awkwardly. "There is no way it would be senior's first title... Right?"

The golden haired woman turned her attention back towards the road. As their conversation was once again about to revert to silence, Bai Guo scrambled to salvage the situation.

"What I mean to say is that, since in my ignorance the esteemed senior's great achievements elude me, I would not be able to come up with a title that would serve as adequate representation of your radiant self." Bai Guo nervously rubbed his hands as he spoke.

"Achievements, huh..." The woman sighed. "I killed that man earlier, did I not?"

"Indeed! May I ask what your relationship was?"

"We didn't have one. That was the first time we've met each other."

Bai Guo found himself thoroughly confused. "But then... how did he end up in your room?"

"He snuck in with ill intentions."

"Ah... I see..." Bai Guo mumbled awkwardly. "So this meeting was... just coincidence?"

"Not entirely." Her reply peaked Bai Guo's curiosity. "I came to this city because I've been meaning to speak to him about a matter that you may find difficult to believe."

"...What would that be, senior?"

"It will be easier for me to show you. About a day from here, we will take a slight detour." The woman's words had once again left him rather mystified, and next to none of his curiosity had been sated. "Anyways, about my first title...?"

"Ah, of course... Uh..." Seeing as the senior had apparently found the conjuration of her first title an interesting enough subject to peel back some of her taciturn attitude, Bai Guo rallied his voice with some enthusiasm. "How did you slay the man? Which one of the esteemed senior's techniques had been used to bring him down?"

"I did not use any techniques. I just threw him."

"But, uh..." Bai Guo meekly protested. "I saw a few puncture wounds on Wei Qing's body."

"Would you really describe that as a technique...? I imitated the pressure point sealing strikes he performed on me as I threw him out."

Bai Guo's protests had suddenly turned enthusiastic. He replied immediately. "I certainly would describe such a skill as a technique, senior. I, for one, couldn't perform a pressure point sealing strike..."

"If you know where the pressure points are located, you can just strike them."

Something about the way she had so callously trivialized the struggles of countless martial artists all over the world had suddenly sapped at Bai Guo's ever dwindling reserves of patience. He praised the heavens for the fact that she was walking ahead of him, for the involuntary grimace on his face had made his displeasure quite unambiguous. He took a moment to gather himself and mustered up the will to continue this conversation.

"But traditionally, such strikes are performed with the fingers, correct? The senior used a weapon. May I ask which weapon the senior favors?"

"I didn't use a weapon."

"He... had puncture wounds...!" Bai Guo wanted to object in a more polite fashion, but ended up blurting it out.

"I must have struck out a little too hard."

"You punctured him with your fingers?!" Bai Guo was baffled. The woman vaguely hummed to the affirmative. "You said Wei Qing performed the strikes on you, did he miss your vital points?"

"He connected quite cleanly. It was pretty impressive considering the circumstances. But he didn't put enough of his internal energy into the strikes, so I could unblock my meridians right away."

"You... You can just do such a thing? The Wuyi sect is most famous for its finger and acupressure techniques, you do not mean to tell me that they can be undone by some trick!"

"It's not really a trick. Even you can do it. It might take you more time, but that's all." From the tone of her voice, it was evident that the woman did not regard the conversation with much gravity.

"...Senior, you overestimate me. I wouldn't even know how to begin accomplishing such a thing."

She had suddenly turned around, startling Bai Guo. Dawn was approaching, and it had gotten bright enough that he could make out the unique color of her vibrant locks. As she drew closer, Bai Guo stilled his breath, afraid that he had somehow offended her.

The woman had reached out to his arm, her large sleeve drooping. She pressed a finger against his left shoulder. "You were hoping to learn something from me, right? Then how about this for a start?" She pressed harder, hard enough for his already injured limb to hurt even more. But suddenly, the pain faded away completely. "Channel your inner energy and try to unblock your meridian. You can work on this on the road."

"Senior... Did you heal my arm?" Bai Guo moved it around and still couldn't feel his injury.

"Not really. I just numbed the pain. The meridian will unseal itself after a few hours even if you do nothing. So take this as a chance to get a better understanding of how internal energy runs through your body." The woman turned away and continued down the road.

"Thank you, senior." Bai Guo performed a hasty bow which she did not see, and swiftly followed her.

After they walked for a while, Bai Guo spoke up again. "How about... Golden Finger Mistress?"

The woman chuckled, and did not respond. Bai Guo did not take it as a good sign. Perhaps noticing his confusion, she spoke. "Wouldn't it be laughable if I nitpicked every title I'm called by? However... I did just mention that I don't particularly care for finger techniques."

Bai Guo felt bitter that his excellent idea had been rejected. "...But you would agree that the word "gold" would not be out of place in the senior's title?"

The senior brushed through her hair. She spoke with a sigh. "I stand out quite a bit, don't I?"

"To put it lightly..."

"After wandering around for so long, I haven't seen even a single person who looks like me."

"What about the senior's family?"

"My parents didn't look like me either." She sighed. "So perhaps it's inevitable that the word "gold" is going to be in at least some of my titles... Not that I mind."

"Where are you from, senior?"

"I could hardly tell you. But at the moment, I am backtracking."

Bai Guo couldn't figure out how to even begin approaching such an answer. Who doesn't know where they come from? The senior was clearly making some kind of joke at his expense, and he didn't want to play along with this tomfoolery. Ultimately, he decided to steer the subject back to the part where it felt like they were making progress.

"Well... Then how about "yellow jade" instead?"

Suddenly, the senior grew annoyed. "I said I wouldn't nitpick it. Gold is fine."

Bai Guo grew nervous as her temper flared up. "Then... how about just Golden Mistress?"

"You're still asking...? What did I just say? Call me whatever you want, that's the whole point." Her long sleeve fluttered as she gestured at him.

"My apologies." Bai Guo said. "But I don't know enough to make a suitable title without offending the senior. If you could share some of your exploits, then I could strive to do better."

"I'm not offended." She replied curtly.

But that did little to avail Bai Guo's fears, so he dared not broach the subject again.

They walked and walked, the sunlight slowly creeping up their backs. The numbness in the young man's arm wore off on its own; he surmised nothing useful from the supposed exercise. Farther up ahead, they spotted houses.

Bai Guo's stomach growled. His eyelids felt heavy. He found it increasingly more difficult to follow along at the woman's rapid pace.

"Senior... how about we rest for a bit in that village? I've been here before, there's a nice inn right there..." Bai Guo pleaded.

"Would half an hour of rest really help you?" She asked. Once again, Bai Guo found himself perturbed by her strange question, but she was quick to elaborate. "There are horsemen riding up behind us. They're probably after me."

Bai Guo turned around, but saw nothing. Nevertheless, he believed the senior, and shuddered. "How did they know? Did anyone see you leave the city?"

"I doubt it. The sect must have sent out people to spread the word that I'm at large."

"Then we can't stop here. We can't even pass through here! The whole village is going to make us out from a mile away."

The senior twirled and turned to face him with a strange smile on her face. "How could we not pass through there? Should we fly over?"

Bai Guo was disturbed by her lighthearted attitude in a situation like this. He had no idea what was a joke with this woman and what was real. Maybe she really could fly, and he was being the fool here for not taking her at face value.

"We can go off the road, and make our way through the wilderness." He proposed.

"How could we not stop there? Are you not hungry anymore?" She continued.

Bai Guo was not a hunter, and didn't know how to subsist off the land. "Well... Perhaps the senior could share some of her rations with me?"

The woman chuckled. "I don't have any rations."

Bai Guo was at a loss. The woman's grin grew larger as she approached. "You're hungry, but you won't eat. We need to move quickly, but you're too tired. You're awfully needy and high maintenance, aren't you? Are all disciples like this?"

"...Are you really suggesting that we just go right in?" Bai Guo stepped back. He was of half a mind to just let her go through with the unreasonable, bullheaded approach she seemed to be hinting at, and let herself get caught. But part of him had an inkling that her eccentric attitude would lead to bloodshed. What were the odds that the people following them now were experts with the skills required to take this woman on, and not just some grunts sent out to sniff out her trail?

This entire half-baked plot of his began to feel like a huge mistake.

As Bai Guo silently wallowed in his regrets, the senior had suddenly brought out two gold taels out from her sleeves. "Let's try your way. Go buy some food and two horses. I'll be waiting on the other side of the village. Nobody will see me."

Bai Guo stepped back again, shocked. That was more money than the young man had ever handled in his life. Not even the richest patrons at his uncle's inn had ever paid with gold. The woman stepped after him, the amusement on her face fading. Bai Guo bowed.

"Thank you, senior." He said, secretly dreading the thought of trading with the villagers with gold. It was bound to attract attention, but he got the impression that trying to bargain with her any more would only spurn her into doing something drastic.

Just as they were about to part ways, the senior spoke up. "And also, buy a shovel."

"...Why? If I may ask?" Bai Guo carefully questioned.

"You'll see."

With that, they split up. Bai Guo went directly to the village, while the senior walked off into the woods.

"Maybe Golden Witch would be a better title for her..." He thought, shaking his head.

While shopping for the necessities, the riders the senior had somehow previously sensed had arrived. They had put up a notice with a portrait of the mysterious woman's face, and questioned the townspeople. Although the locals hadn't dared to disrespect the authorities openly, it was easy to tell that none of them believed that such a person could even exist. The riders seemed to sense their attitude as well. Their questioning didn't go for long, and they left further up the road.

When Bai Guo realized that they weren't looking for him at all, he felt a little relieved. Of course, making it through the rest of this ordeal with his reputation intact would be quite challenging. In fact, after the scant few hours he spent with the eccentric senior, he had abandoned almost all hope of accomplishing that.

Bai Guo realized that if he were to head home now, he could probably return to his ordinary life completely unscathed. But the thought of returning to his mediocrity - of fully embracing it once and for all - had infuriated him even more than the idea of herding the fickle senior. Furthermore, if she was telling the truth, it was Wei Qing who was in the wrong, so the woman herself was not acting without justification. And maybe, just maybe, even if they did get caught, he could explain his plan to them and get away with it...

Bai Guo slapped himself on the cheeks. His fatigue had subsided for just a moment, and he used that moment to regain his courage.

He bought everything he needed with just one golden tael. As he began to ride out of the town on his newly purchased horse with another one in tow, he heard a familiar voice.

"How was it?" The woman asked him. She was leaning against the wall of a wooden house. On her chin, she nestled the upper edge of a white mask depicting a crying woman.

Bai Guo nearly fell off his horse. "You shouldn't have come this close! People will see you!" His eyes were drawn to the mask she held. "What is that?"

"Just a little souvenir I picked up here."

"Please don't tell me you bought that!" Bai Guo's voice was pleading.

"Of course not." The senior replied as if she just heard the most ridiculous thing.

"But stealing it isn't exactly much better!"

"Is my future disciple really such a stickler for the rules? You're helping a wanted murderer, so why make a fuss over something so trivial?"

"That's obviously completely different!" Bai Guo exclaimed.

She approached the spare horse and hopped into the saddle. Sitting in it, the woman looked unstable. "How do I make it go forward?"

"Squeeze its sides with your legs like this." Bai Guo demonstrated, and they began to ride along the road. "Hurry!"

They rushed towards a hill, and after concealing themselves from the town on the other end of it, Bai Guo felt at ease.

"Just so you know, I don't intend to keep hiding from every town we come across." The senior said.

Bai Guo sighed. "Fortunately, now that we have food, we won't need to go into settlements for a while."

They traveled for the rest of the day. When the sun had set fully, they were in the middle of nowhere, and decided to sleep under the cover of some trees by a river. Bai Guo was resourceful enough to have bought a blanket along with the supplies, which he used as makeshift bedding for himself, resting his head on his bag. He had also brought rope, which they used to tie up their horses, and the rest of which the senior used to make her own sleeping arrangements: she tied both ends up to two different trees, and lied down on the rope.

Bai Guo was at a loss for words. Eventually, he mustered some up. "...Are you really going to be comfortable like that, senior?"

"Go to sleep." She replied. Bai Guo kept observing her bizarre sleeping ritual as he was lying down. He watched as her long hair hovered just inches above the ground. He didn't last long; having spent more than an entire day on his feet, his concern that the senior might drop was promptly overcome by fatigue.

He awoke from his dreamless sleep only when the sun was high in the sky. It took him a moment to remember where he was, and he dreaded the continuation of his misadventures with the inscrutable martial arts master.

The senior refused to take any of his rations. He hadn't seen her eat or drink anything the day before either. But even Bai Guo had heard that once one's cultivation was sufficiently advanced, they would have little need of food and drink. Of course, hearing about it and seeing it for oneself were two different experiences, even when it came to subtle things such as this. Bai Guo's admiration for her martial arts and his resentment of her whimsical personality continued their fierce battle within his heart.

They traveled for half a day more when the senior decided to take a detour. "It should be right around this way."

She led them to a small village. Bai Guo was wary of being seen here, but he quickly realized that the village was empty. It did not put him at ease, as the scene immediately became eerie.

"What is this place?" He asked, but the senior only silently rode through the street. As he followed her, he noticed broken doors, hoof prints, and blood drying on the ground and on the walls of buildings. The unease instantly turned to dread.

"What happened here? Where is everybody?" He asked again. They went to the outskirts of the village, and then traveled a good deal farther, following what Bai Guo soon noticed to be tracks. As he was not a tracker by any metric, the trace told him little, but even he could tell that an entire crowd had been trampling through these parts. Bai Guo's nose began to pick up a strange, unpleasant scent. The senior led him to a large patch of soil that, upon closer inspection, was clumsily covered with plucked out grass.

"Dig here." She said. Caked in cold sweat, his head pounding, Bai Guo did as she said. The deeper he dug, the more revolting the smell became, and soon he found himself overwhelmed and lost his nerve.

He turned back to her and began shouting. "Could you please just tell me what's going on?!"

The woman's golden eyes coldly stared him down. "I'll explain after you see it."

That answer didn't satisfy Bai Guo, and so he angrily stared back at her. But it became evident that she wouldn't relent, so he continued to dig.

Soon, he struck something hard. As he brushed aside the dirt, his worst fears came to pass. He came face to face with a decomposing human head.

He leaped out of the hole with a terrified scream.

"They are all here." The senior said.

"Who... Who would do such a thing?!" Bai Guo ran off the disturbed soil. Only now has the vastness of the field covered over by grass truly stood out to him.

"I was passing through this place one night," The woman began. "When masked riders arrived, rounded them up, and killed them. I followed their leader and eventually ended up in that city where we met... what was it called again?"

Bai Guo was dazed, and took a moment to register her question. "You mean Ningde?" When the senior hummed in agreement, another realization had struck him. "You mean Wei Qing did this?!"

The senior continued. "...If you dig some more, you'll find that it's actually only the male villagers."

"I'm not digging anymore!" Bai Guo tossed the shovel aside.

"Then you'll have to take me at my word. The women had been taken away."

"But why? And where?"

The woman smiled slightly. "With your help, we just might figure it out."

Bai Guo found her casual attitude greatly disturbing. He frantically rubbed the back of his neck and tried to calm down, but his indignation boiled over.

"You should be taking this more seriously, senior! You're saying they took them to the Wuyi Mountains? The Wuyi Sect is responsible? I just don't believe it!"

"If you don't believe me, then keep digging until you do."

"This is no laughing matter!" Bai Guo gripped his head. "If they did this, who could possibly bring them to justice? They're the people that were supposed to be protecting us! We should be running away from them, not towards them! I need to go back to my uncle and convince him to flee... I need to let everyone know about this!"

"Do you really think they'll leave you be if you start talking about this?" The senior reclined a bit in her saddle.

"Then I won't tell anyone. I'll just flee with my family!"

"And how will you convince them to run away without telling them about all this?"

Bai Guo was at a loss. "But... Then... You! What about you? What are you planning to do by coming right to them? You may be a master, but that place is full of masters just like you! Are you saying you'll take them on all by yourself?" He waved his hand at her. "That's just rubbish!"

The woman closed her golden eyes. "Of course not. I have a plan."

"And that is...?"

"Why should I waste my breath, sharing it with you? A skeptic like you, who can hardly believe even the things right before his eyes?"

"This is just unbelievable!" Bai Guo sprayed his arms in frustration. He paced around, wondering what to do.

The senior spoke. "Think about it this way. If you leave me now, it will take me longer to find the sect. And the longer it takes me, the more time they will have to continue doing these things."

"Word after word... All that comes out of your mouth is absurd!" Bai Guo gripped his head, on the verge of tearing out his hair.

The woman flipped a leg over the saddle and hopped down. As she stepped closer, Bai Guo warily edged back, fearing that the senior had had enough of his discourteous talk. "Bai Guo, why did you decide to follow me?"

"Why...?" Bai Guo mumbled. Just moments ago he had a pre-prepared answer to this question. But now, things were different, and his mind was in turmoil. He gestured towards the mass grave, and yelled. "It's because, one way or the other, I need to become stronger! So things like this won't happen to me or anyone I care about!"

"Then regardless of whether I succeed, you stand to gain something to that end, don't you? Remember, your only role is to bring me there." The woman offered him an eerie smile. "When we arrive, you can go and announce me to them right away. That way, you can get some good will from the Wuyi Sect."

A chill ran down Bai Guo's spine. Did she see through his little plot back when he first made her the offer?

But Bai Guo shook his head. "I don't want any good will from them... Not after I've seen this. Whatever your plan is, I hope you succeed, senior. And I'll help you."

On Bai Guo's insistence, they returned to the empty village. The young man had spent a while idly looking around. The senior observed him without a word. Bai Guo picked up a fallen sign and brushed aside the dirt.

The village used to be called Qiaodu.

...

The two had traveled for over a week, and the mountains were finally in sight. They elected to stop in the nearby city of Shanlu to rest and resupply one last time. While Bai Guo set out during the day, the senior had decided to enter the city at night to minimize attention.

As Bai Guo was finalizing their accommodations at the local inn, he heard a man calling his name.

"Bai Guo! Is that you?"

His heart sinking, Bai Guo turned to face the man. The older man - tall, skinny, and well dressed in white and blue - regarded him with a smile. A short goatee protruded down from his chin, eternally warped into a curl by the man's habit to wrap it around his finger.

It took Bai Guo a moment to recognize his father's sworn brother. "Uncle Jin?"

Uncle Jin spread his arms wide, and the two shared a hug. "It's been so long since I've seen you! But why are you here? Where is your uncle Zhong? I should go greet him too."

"Uncle Zhong isn't here..." Bai Guo muttered.

"You came here all the way from Ningde alone?" Uncle Jin's eyes widened as he asked. "And your uncle allowed this?"

Bai Guo briefly hesitated before proudly puffing out his chest. "Uncle Jin, in every man's life there comes a time when he feels compelled to wander the jianghu."

Uncle Jin regarded him with a suspicious smile as he began to thumb at his goatee. "You ran away, didn't you, you little rascal? And you're really wandering around alone? Or were you the victim of a bad influence? Let me guess - is it a woman?"

Bai Guo pretended to be offended. "Is this Investigator Hou Jin speaking, uncle?"

Uncle Jin laughed. "That's right, young man! And you're lucky that Investigator Jin is too busy with a case to drag you back to Ningde by the ear!"

Bai Guo pounced on the opportunity to change the subject. "What are you investigating, uncle Jin?"

Fortunately for him, Uncle Jin was always eager to talk about his work. "A murder case most gnarly and peculiar, Guo'er. You must have seen the wreckage down the road on your way here."

"I don't believe I did..." As Bai Guo had not been following any roads to get here, he had no clue what his uncle was talking about.

"Really? I thought you came in from the eastern road. Now I'm even more curious about what you've been up to, Guo'er."

"Uncle, so what's this about wreckage?"

"A carriage of the Xiong clan had been attacked, and the patriarch, his wife, and his bodyguards and servants had all met bizarre deaths." Uncle Jin outlined the grizzly matter with great enthusiasm.

"Bizarre how?"

"Ah!" Uncle Jin exclaimed and waved his hand. "It is too gruesome to be talked about in public, I'm afraid. Are you interested? Is this perhaps the budding Investigator Bai Guo speaking right now?"

"Uncle Jin, you know how I feel about joining the Investigative Bureau... Or more importantly, how Senior Investigator Long feels about it."

"Well, of course." Uncle Jin said, and then lowered his voice to a whisper. "But remember that Senior Investigator Long is in his twilight years will not continue to work forever, and unlike him, I personally consider aptitude for detective work to be more valuable than one's aptitude for martial arts in this field of work. And don't think I had forgotten just how much you contributed to catching your father's killer."

Bai Guo once again felt compelled to change the subject. The matter of his father's early death brought him nothing but misery. "...A man like senior Long just might outlive us both with how seriously he takes his cultivation."

"Or, more likely, that man will outlast us both by sheer bitterness alone."

They both exchanged a laugh.

Uncle Jin continued. "If you would like to become a little braver and maybe learn something new, aspiring young hero of jianghu, then I can take you to the crime scene."

"Is that allowed?" Bai Guo had found his sense of curiosity incited by his uncle's infectious enthusiasm. And if, as his uncle said, it was a chance to prove his value as a potential candidate for the Jianghu Investigative Bureau, then all the better.

"That's up to the investigator in charge." Uncle Jin closed his eyes with a smile on his face. "And the investigator in charge would like to show his nephew the scene."

Moreover, uncle Jin's company was a welcome change of pace compared to his unpredictable master-to-be.

They ventured beyond Shanlu's walls; the pebbled stone road split to one of dirt, down which they walked. They soon arrived at a set of barricades surrounding a considerable area guarded by people dressed in white and blue. Uncle Jin greeted one of them, and they handed him something.

"Is this normal?" Bai Guo asked. "Why was such a big area walled off?"

Uncle Jin approached his nephew and handed him a damp cloth, his eyes wandering around the cordoned area as he pondered his question for longer than he needed to. "Ah, no. It isn't normal at all."

When Bai Guo received the damp cloth, he was more than a little confused.

Uncle Jin continued. "It has to do with the murder method. Cover your mouth and nose with this, and breathe only through it."

"...What exactly is going on here, uncle Jin? And what is this?"

"It's a cloth soaked in some medicine. Just a slight precaution. It's almost certainly overzealous, but it's better to be safe."

They walked past the barricades. It took them a few minutes of walking for Bai Guo to finally catch a glimpse of the wrecked carriage. But what drew his attention was not the vehicle itself, but the round patch of barren dirt that surrounded it, sticking out in what was otherwise a lush green field. Already, the young man could feel a sense of foreboding.

Within that patch of dirt were the black, rotten remains of shrubs and trees, and four black, rotten corpses, one of a horse and three of men. Even their clothes had decayed into rags.

"What do you think happened here, Guo'er?" Uncle Jin preempted the young man's question.

"It's like a bomb went off here..." Bai Guo muttered.

"Did it really?" Uncle Jin goaded him on.

"Well, no, not literally..."

The two approached closer. Uncle Jin grabbed his nephew by the shoulder.

"Look closely, but do not touch anything here. After you've taken a look around, I want you to take a few guesses as to what happened here." Uncle Jin said.

Bai Guo nodded, and began to inspect the scene. A question quickly sprang to mind.

"How many people were attending the Xiongs?"

"Two bodyguards and one servant."

"So then why are there only 3 corpses here?"

"Xiong clan attendants came by when they realized that their master was running late. They brought the bodies of the husband and wife back to their estate." Uncle Jin explained. "The servants that brought them back grew deathly ill within the hour, and passed away three days later. They did not carry back the rest."

Bai Guo began to feel lightheaded. "...Is it really safe to be here?"

"We've made a few rounds already. As long as you don't touch anything and breathe through the cloth, there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Then this must be the work of poison... But it's like an entire barrel's been emptied out here."

Bai Guo's uncle said nothing. The young man found that next to two of the corpses was a weapon. One of them died beside a sword, the other, beside a club.

"These must be the bodyguards." Bai Guo muttered. The corpses were so thoroughly ravaged by poison that little to no flesh remained on their bones, and what little was left was pitch black. Remarkably, they smelled of nothing, not even when Bai Guo took the medicinal cloth away from his nose for a brief moment.

Bai Guo found these corpses easier to observe than the ones back at the slaughtered village, though he struggled to put the reason into words. Perhaps it was because these bodies did not even look human in their current state.

The two bodyguards were spread far apart from each other, while the third corpse, most likely that of the servant, was right next to the carriage. The corpse in front of the cart was lying next to a strange round indent in the dead soil. On closer inspection, the swordsman's leg had been cut cleanly in two below the knee.

"They were fighting somebody. This man's leg has been cut off. The other one must have tried to run away, but didn't make it. There's no obvious wound on the other bodies, so maybe they died from the poison." Bai Guo pointed at the indention. "What is this circle...? Is this where the bodies of the wife and husband were found?"

"No, they were next to the carriage." Uncle Jin said.

"Then what is it? It's like something was lying here. Maybe a big rock, or a barrel? But... right next to the bodyguard?" Bai Guo looked at the sliced bone that made up what was left of the man's leg. "The angle of the slash is low and awkward. What if the attacker cut his leg off... while sitting down here..?"

"Is that right?" Uncle Jin said. "Do you think you could kill a man sitting down, Guo'er?"

Bai Guo shook his head. "Sorry, uncle Jin, but I really don't know what could have done this. If the man was sitting here, then he'd be in the very center of this withered field. I think we're short a corpse."

"You're sure it was a man, not an object?"

"An object, like a barrel rigged to blow up, maybe?" Bai Guo shook his head again. "Well, it wouldn't have cut this man's leg off."

Uncle Jin nodded his head. "Then where did the corpse go?"

"I don't know. There's nothing in the dirt to make it look like it's been dragged away, or any footprints to indicate that anyone approached this place at all."

"Indeed, it does not."

It was at this point that Bai Guo grew tired of playing the guessing game. "So, what, then, uncle?"

"Well, I don't blame you for getting stuck here, since this is more of a test of one's knowledge of the jianghu's many vicious martial arts. You see, it is not unheard of for a poisoner to be immune to his own poisons. The leading theory is that the attacker spread poisonous smoke, which is what killed the family and devastated the vegetation. After conducting his business, the killer simply left, utilizing a lightness technique to leave no trail in the soil."

"Is this kind of poison common?" Bai Guo was shocked.

"Not at all. Speaking collectively for the entire Investigative Bureau, this is the first time we've seen anything like this. To be more exact, there are some ferocious venoms out there that may be able to cause this kind of devastation on an individual scale, like to a single man perhaps, or to a tree. But gas, so potent and over such a wide area? No..."

"Why didn't they run away when they saw the smoke?" Bai Guo asked. "One of them did run, but since the servant and the Xiongs died right next to the carriage, I think he ran because he saw his friend's leg get cut off."

"Perhaps it's invisible." Uncle Jin grimly stated. The thought sent a chill down Bai Guo's spine. "Now, let's get out of here. The less time spent in this place the better."

On the other side of the barricade, Bai Guo was glad to breathe in fresh, unfiltered air.

"I must say, you did very well, Guo'er. Those were some solid deductions, very close to what we ended up with ourselves. And you have heart. You faced those grizzly corpses head on, hardly even blinked!" Uncle Jin patted the young man on the shoulder.

As they headed back to town, Uncle Jin continued to explain. "We in the Bureau have taken to calling this man the Desolator of Life. The Bureau has been employed by the Wuyi Sect to find this man."

"Can you really defeat someone like that, uncle?" Bai Guo asked, worried.

"Fortunately, we don't have to. After we find and identify the criminal, the Wuyi Sect will have to handle the rest. I don't think even the senior investigators are equipped to deal with this." Uncle Jin shook his head. "This is why I value investigative skills more than martial arts. When we fail, we fail not because we get beaten by the criminals in combat, but because we never find them in the first place."

Uncle Jin crossed his hands behind his back as he continued. "But of course, Senior Investigator Long's point of view is not without merit. There may come a time when, in the pursuit of truth, an investigator needs to act in the defense of himself or others. The exemplary investigator must sharpen both his mind and his sword."

"Even so, missing one is enough to make you ineligible." Bai Guo muttered, dejected.

"There is plenty of time for you to prove him wrong, Guo'er. That's why you mustn't slack off in your training or your obligations." Uncle Jin turned to him. "That is to say, you should go back to your uncle instead of wasting time and money on women."

"My reason for being here is not unrelated to martial arts!" Bai Guo blurted out.

"Oh? Is that so?" Uncle Jin asked with a smile. Not for a second had he believed him.

"I may have found a teacher." Bai Guo said vaguely.

"Who is it?"

"The person in question... prefers to maintain their anonymity."

"Sounds like a scam. If you could tell me this would be master's name, I might be able to tell you if you're getting swindled. We handle these kinds of cases all the time."

Bai Guo suspected that even his uncle had no knowledge of the mysterious golden haired senior. Just as he was thinking of a response, his eyes wandered onto a poster depicting said senior's illustration and a description of her crime. He had nearly tripped over his own feet at the sight.

Uncle Jin traced his eyes to the poster, and chuckled. "I know what you're thinking, but they didn't forget to color the hair. Apparently, there's a woman with yellow hair and white eyes running about!" He laughed again. "The Wuyi Sect certainly got played for fools."

"...What do you mean, uncle Jin?"

"Obviously no such person exists. A bad witness must have led them astray, or the perp wore a disguise. The sect reached out to us too, but what can we do if they blundered at the very first step?"

Bai Guo smiled nervously.

They had dinner at the inn, during which uncle Jin continued to discuss the matter of the Desolator of Life.

"Since there were no witnesses, it may be that we're stumped until he strikes again. What remains of the Xiong estate hasn't exactly been cooperative either. All things considered, this attack does not appear random. I would have liked to see their recent correspondences to try to nail down a potential suspect, but I was strictly forbidden from entering the estate by what remains of the clan, and they refused to show me their letters."

"Surely a martial artist like uncle Jin could just sneak in?" Bai Guo asked, which elicited laughter from his uncle.

"Silly boy, that would be a crime. And you get those kinds of thoughts out of your head right now!" Uncle Jin admonished him with a smile. "The Bureau is not part of the Wuyi Sect, or any other sect. We are a neutral party. We cannot just do as we please without express permission from the local authorities. And the Wuyi Sect has not approved our request either."

"If the Wuyi Sect hired you to investigate this, why wouldn't they grant you permission?"

"It could be a bureaucratic delay..." Uncle Jin twirled his goatee and continued in a hushed tone. "But I don't believe that. Who knows what dealings they may have had with each other? And the disappointing thing is, it might not even be related to the incident."

While his uncle was uncertain if it was unrelated, Bai Guo, having seen the things he'd seen, had already made up his mind on the matter.

They chatted about less gruesome subjects before retiring for the night.

The next morning, Bai Guo slunk out of the city without a proper goodbye. A couple kilometers up the road, he reunited with the eccentric golden haired senior.

"I brought you some sweets, senior." Bai Guo said, handing her a small bag with some pasties inside. The woman's yellow eyes went wide; she very eagerly accepted the gift.

"Are these good?" She asked, peering inside.

"I don't know..." Bai Guo answered. "But they look good, don't they? With the little flower-shaped candy at the top..."

She ate them all without delay. Bai Guo felt a little hurt that she didn't even offer to share, and the thought quite clearly never crossed her mind no matter how much he stared at her. When they were all gone, he sighed.

"There are going to be checkpoints past this point." Bai Guo said. "We won't be able to stay hidden any longer."

"It's not too late for you to turn back. I imagine I could find the rest of the way on my own."

Bai Guo shook his head. "No... There's no need. I've decided to see this through to the end."

Just as Bai Guo had said, the path took them to a gated mountain pass. As they approached the gatehouse, Bai Guo noticed something strange.

"I don't see anyone around..." He said.

When they rode through the open gate, they discovered the scene of a massacre. Sliced and blackened corpses wearing the black-and-red uniforms of the Wuyi Sect were scattered around the empty courtyard. The checkpoint reeked of blood and death. The bodies were fresher than the ones Bai Guo had seen the day before, but they were without a doubt slain by the same method.

"The Desolator of Life!" Bai Guo gasped. As the young man, in his panic, startled his horse, the senior regarded him with idle curiosity, unmoved by the carnage before them. He briefly explained to her the meeting with his uncle and what he had seen.

"I need to tell uncle Jin...!" Bai Guo blurted out. On the path ahead, a large patch of grass had wilted in the peculiar shape of a cone, like a round arrow unambiguously pointing in the direction of the killer. Perhaps as the killer walked off, the poisonous smoke must have receded the further he went.

"The smoke was emerging from the man himself?" Bai Guo wondered.

Since his uncle's intentions were to inform the Wuyi Sect about the man's whereabouts rather than actually fight him personally, Bai Guo realized that there was no sense in notifying him. The Desolator of Life was, after all, already headed right for them.

The senior began to ride ahead. "We'd better hurry before he kills everyone."

"Senior!" Bai Guo exclaimed, riding up to her. "Do you know how to deal with that kind of poison?"

"Well, more or less." She said. She then wordlessly turned to him and stared for a while, as if pondering something. When she turned away, she continued. "Worst case scenario, every poison user has an antidote on them."

Bai Guo did not find her words persuasive, but her confidence was staggering enough in its own way. She simply wasn't worried at all, and the young man found it hard to rebuke her.

They rode at full gallop for the better part of an hour. They discovered a second outpost, and with it, a second gruesome scene.

In the center of a stone tiled platform serving as a training field sat a sickly pale man surrounded by dozens of corpses. His disheveled, long black hair nearly touched the ground. His black clothes were covered by a transparently thin white garment, customary for one in mourning.

Bai Guo and the senior had both estimated the range of the poison gas to be about 20 meters, and both stopped just outside of that area. They left their horses a little further behind.

"Are you the Desolator of Life?" Bai Guo asked, sweat on his brow.

The man opened his eyes; the darkness in them radiated the coldness of bare steel. A sheathed sword rested in his lap, a spherical, fist-sized bell chained to the bottom of the hilt. His hand slowly crept towards the handle. He spoke in a low voice, but on the lifeless mountain, his impassive tone was heard with ease.

"I swore that I would kill every last man dwelling in these mountains." He stared at the golden haired woman. "But since I know that you are their enemy, I will give you one chance to turn around and leave."

Bai Guo felt an indescribable tension. Every last cell in his body was screaming at him to flee. The great distance between them offered no relief whatsoever. And it was quite evident that he was only in the periphery of the ruthless killer before them; he shuddered to imagine what it would be like to be in the senior's place, receiving the full brunt of his killing intent.

As both parties remained motionless, a new sound disturbed the dead - that of a sword leaving its scabbard. The Desolator of Life pointed his blade at the woman.

"I can cross the gap between us in two steps." He said. "You may have the skills to back up your fame..." The sword tip slowly shifted towards Bai Guo. "...But what about the runt over there?"

Bai Guo staggered a step back. "We may be on the same side here!" He desperately shouted.

The Desolator of Life had shifted from his sitting place and lunged forward like a loosened arrow. True to his word, it took him only two steps to soar across the entire field. As Bai Guo's heart jumped to his throat, his senses were just barely sharp enough to tell that the man wasn't leaping at him.

A deafening clang reverberated throughout the mountain range as the senior and the Desolator of Life had clashed swords. Bai Guo realized a moment later that his own sword was missing from its sheath - the senior had taken it at some point during the Desolator's two steps. He gawked, and couldn't help but blurt out. "When did she...?!"

The Desolator of Life spoke in the midst of their sword press. "Perhaps I was mistaken about your skill. With form as terrible as yours, it's a miracle that your sword hasn't snapped in two."

Their swords separated. The Desolator of Life's sword rose up towards the heavens, and was swiftly lowered back down onto the woman's head. When their steel clashed again and erupted into another thunderous sound, he repeated the motion again. His seemingly crude movements carried with them an incredible amount of force, and even Bai Guo had gotten the impression that there was more to it than appearances would suggest.

Each collision was louder than the one that came before. Their battle reverberated throughout the mountain range. After the senior had successfully blocked four of such successive strikes, the Desolator of Life widened his eyes and backed away.

As the traces of their clash still echoed across the mountains, the two of them stood motionless. Once the echoes faded, the senior spoke.

"Bai Guo, how are you feeling?"

Her question terrified the young man, because he realized her implication immediately. After all, they drew the ire of a man with an utterly ruthless method of fighting.

"I'm okay." He said, his voice quivering with uncertainty.

"Then may I perhaps take this as a sign that the Desolator of Life is willing to engage in discourse?" She asked. The Desolator of Life said nothing. "Bai Guo, you were saying?"

"We know of the Wuyi Sect's crimes! We're here to stop them!"

"And how do you intend to do that?" The Desolator of Life asked.

Bai Guo turned to the senior. She still hadn't told him what her plan was.

"I'll strike at the head of the sect." She said.

"Then we are at odds after all." The man shook his head. "My intentions are to kill every last man on this mountain, Deng Hong included! And I will not be satisfied unless they all die by my hand!"

He began to swing his sword again. The tip of it just barely touched the earth; a light clink betrayed its collision with something hard. Bai Guo made out a whistling sound as pebbles began to fly through the air towards the golden haired senior. She batted a couple of rocks out of the air with Bai Guo's sword, while two more flew past her.

Their horses neighed and dropped to the ground. The improvised projectiles hit them square in the head and slayed them immediately.

The Desolator of Life began to dash away from them like a bat out of hell. Bai Guo never even imagined that a man could move with such alacrity.

"Senior... What are we going to do?" He asked. "He's really going to kill everybody in the Wuyi Sect!"

The woman sighed. "He killed our horses so we'd take longer to catch up to him. But I was not planning to rush in the first place. Let's let him take his time."

She began to walk. Bai Guo chased after her.

"But... It couldn't be that all of them are guilty of those atrocities! There must be thousands of people living on these mountains! Are you really going to let him just kill everybody? You could catch up to him right away, couldn't you?"

The senior regarded him with a strange look. "My goal has always been the head of this sect alone. And if he gets killed by the likes of the Desolator of Life, then my interest was misplaced to begin with."

"What do you mean, senior? Why do you want to kill the head of the Wuyi Sect?"

"I don't want to kill him. All I want is to see is his strongest technique."

"...To what end?"

"Test of skill."

Bai Guo opened his mouth, but couldn't find the words. He decided to ask something else.

"...What about all the people they've killed?"

"After I defeat him, I can just put an end to that. He'll have no choice but to accept it or die." She dismissively waved her hand before turning back around and continuing on her way.

Bai Guo's eyes wandered over the buildings as he once again found himself questioning the decisions that brought him here.

"Wait, senior." He said. The woman stopped. "I've been to this place when I was a kid. This is where they held the tryouts for joining the sect. Come with me, please..."

He took her into a building which contained the black and red uniforms of the Wuyi Sect. Bai Guo put one on. "Would you like to wear one too, senior?" He asked.

The blond haired woman smiled in response. "Do you really think I'll fool anyone with that?" Bai Guo realized the folly of his question. She continued. "Why did you even bother wearing one yourself?"

"...It might keep me out of harm's way." He mumbled. The senior began to walk out, still with a smile on her face.

...

Deep within the Wuyi Mountains sprawled a walled settlement, the majestic scenery of untamed mountain wilderness supplemented by lavish and colorful architecture. As the spring day drew to a close, the Wuyi Sect was tinted in shades of vermilion. Two tired men in black and red stood guard at the entrance of the sect, chatting idly about trifle matters.

Their conversation abruptly came to an end when they noticed a dark silhouette at the edge of the mountain road. As the two guards observed the unidentified man, they found themselves growing nervous. The speed with which he was approaching boggled the mind. The distance between them was shortening rapidly.

"Stop!" One of them shouted as he drew his short sword. This had startled the other into drawing his blade as well. "This is the territory of the Wuyi Sect!"

But not only had the black figure not stopped, the guard could have sworn that it sped up even more. The distance between them had already dwindled next to nothing. The guard turned around and was about to shout again, but a sharp whistle cut through the air. A rock struck the man squarely into his temple, and he crumpled to the ground.

The guard's fellow couldn't help but spare a stray glance to the fate of his unfortunate comrade in arms. He screamed out in alarm, desperation, and fury all at once, and stepped forward to thrust his sword at the rapidly approaching Desolator of Life.

The man clad in black twisted his body. The short blade harmlessly flew past his shoulder. The Desolator of Life's sword decapitated the man with a single flick of the wrist. Before the man's head touched the ground, the invader had already gone through the gate.

The alarm was raised. Members of the Wuyi Sect swarmed the Desolator of Life. Their signature short swords could not stop his mad dash, only slow it down. The unceasing cacophony of steel clashing with steel, of one sword clashing against many, was supplemented by the sounds of sliced flesh, of spilled blood, and anguished screaming.

The resistance was thinning out. Although none dared to outright flee, the younger members remained at a distance, hesitant to engage outright. Those with the skills for it showered the intruder with large needles, but they, too, crashed uselessly against his sword like raindrops bouncing off roof tiles.

Even those with seniority began to falter, for they realized that the Desolator of Life would not target those who kept out of his way, and the temptation to preserve one's life wreaked havoc on their will to continue fighting.

But everything changed when they realized that even those who stayed away would not be spared. Even those who stayed well beyond the reach of his sword fell to the ground, wracked by sudden bouts of agony.

"Poison!" Someone screamed. Panic spread throughout the already flimsy ranks, and while still no one dared to retreat completely, no one dared to approach, either. But even this was not enough, for people continued to die.

"How is he doing this?!" They yelled, and the gap of their encirclement continued to widen.

Suddenly, The Desolator of Life bellowed. "Deng Hong!" His shout, elevated by his vast internal energy, carried across the entire mountain range.

The sect members clenched their teeth. "We can't let him get to the sect master! We need to stop him!" With newfound resolve, they braced themselves to jump back into the fray.

Another voice, elderly, calm, yet easily audible across the entire settlement, had interrupted them. "Stand at least 20 meters away from this man. I will take care of this."

The sect members heeded the order immediately, dispersing.

At the end of the street stood a robust grey haired man in robes of blue and white, his hands behind his back.

"Senior Investigator Long Delun!" Someone in the crowd shouted in surprise.

The Desolator of Life stopped in his tracks. He had instantly recognized the new arrival as a member of the Jianghu Investigative Bureau by his uniform and the distinctive crest on his shoulder, yet regarded him with the same disdain as the rest of the sect, for his presence here alone betrayed his cooperation with the Wuyi Sect. "This does not concern you or your organization, old man. Stay out of my way and no one will blame you."

"Your inhumane killing method is of concern to the entire Jianghu. Do you know what we've taken to calling you?"

"I don't care."

"The responsibility of disposing of a monster such as yourself falls not only on the Wuyi Sect, but on every decent man who considers himself to be of righteous demeanor." Long Delun brought his large hands into view and drew his sword.

"I don't want to hear one of Deng Hong's cronies talk about righteousness." He spat out in response. "You know as well as anyone else here that the moment you take a step forward, you're dead."

"Poison won't kill me so easily, not even yours. I will have enough time to put an end to you."

"And then you will still die!" The Desolator of Life suddenly lost his composure, his brow creasing in fury.

"What value does my life have at my age?" The tone of the old man's voice seemed to regard the matter with the utmost triviality. "It has never been my intention to live this long in the first place."

The Desolator of Life clutched his sword until his white knuckles grew even paler. The thought that this old man really meant what he said, and was about to die not for the treacherous Deng Hong, but out of a misguided pursuit of justice, infuriated him greatly.

In his frustration, he had ceded the initiative. Long Delun lunged forward, and crossed the distance between them in two steps.

The clash of their swords was like thunder. The Desolator of Life was forced to step back just to endure the blow. The old man towered over him, and yet when he drew back his sword, the dexterity of his massive arms was such that there was scarcely a moment for one to lay an eye on the steel before it would disappear again, flashing like a bolt of lightning towards its target. And lightning struck lightning as the Desolator of Life parried the blow.

Their battle was indeed like a great cloudless storm erupting in the middle of the mountains.

The bell hanging off the Desolator of Life's sword did not impede his swordsmanship, but neither was it being used for any apparent purpose. Suspicion glinted in Long Delun's eye, and his swordsmanship began to subtly change, his strokes and feints guiding the enemy's blade in different directions. The Desolator of Life was almost immediately privy to the shift in the old investigator's strategy, but they were so evenly matched that opposing Long Delun's adjustments would put him at great risk.

While the man in black was no stranger to gambling with his life, he was no fool either; his victory was already all but assured if he simply bided his time.

Veins bulged out on Long Delun's forehead. The old man's face was beet red. Heat radiated from his skin as he mustered up every last bit of his internal energy to fight both the Desolator of Life's sword and the invisible poison wracking his body.

The Desolator of Life was waiting for the strain to open up an opportunity for a decisive strike, but no matter how many blows he deflected, no matter how many feints he threw out, no such chance was presenting itself.

Long Delun would not allow his bodily suffering to hinder the integrity of his stances. His nerves, sturdy as the steel he held in his hand, would not be overcome by panic or impatience. He relentlessly and wordlessly goaded his opponent into following his rhythm.

The Desolator of Life realized that he had made a mistake. Upon deflecting another one of Long Delun's strikes, the small chain on the hilt of his sword rattled and brought the bell forward.

Long Delun swung with all his might, abandoning all pretenses at self-preservation. The Desolator of Life almost instinctively lunged at this opening.

The old man was stabbed through the chest. The chain snapped, and the bell fell to the ground.

As if oblivious to his own demise, Long Delun struck again. The tip of his blade went through the iron bell as if it was made of paper, and then sunk deep into the paved stone tiles. A wisp of white smoke seeped through the gaps in the pierced metal.

The Desolator of Life gritted his teeth in frustration. The old investigator coughed up blood; it almost sounded like a chuckle.

"I thought to myself, what kind of a bell doesn't ring?" Long Delun strained to get the words out. Dark blood stained his clothes and dripped to the ground. "But it was an incense burner..."

"Well done." The Desolator of Life bitterly praised his foe. He pulled out his sword and stepped away. Long Delun tried to remain standing, and for a few precious seconds, with a hole in his heart, he had managed to achieve just that. But then, he fell.

The crowd gasped. "Senior Investigator Long!"

The Desolator of Life walked forward.

"The poison was in that bell! He can't use it anymore!" Even as the sect members had said so, they hesitated to approach the ruthless killer before them.

Another voice boomed across the sect.

"To think that the so called Desolator of Life would turn out to be Cui Shen."

The Desolator of Life's eyes widened. The crowd parted to make way for the man whose soft voice reverberated across the mountains, their postures respectful and their eyes downcast in shame.

The man was tall and slim, his black hair tied back into a long ponytail. His sharp features would have made him stand out from the crowd even had it not been for the authority he unambiguously possessed and wielded like an unsheathed blade. He looked down his nose at the Desolator of Life, and he had done so with insidious derision; his glare must have been cultivated with decades of perpetual arrogance and casual contempt.

"How long has it been, Cui Shen? About five years, was it? My, how you've grown." When the man spoke, it was though every word was coated in a veneer of sarcasm.

"Deng Hong...!" The malice contained in Cui Shen's voice seemed as though it could grind down stone.

"Are you surprised that I still remember you?" Deng Hong asked, seemingly on the verge of laughter. "It's not often that you see a man abandon his woman so shamelessly."

Cui Shen charged him with a roar. The sect members stepped forward to defend their master, but the man spoke again. "Stay out of this."

Cui Shen swung his weapon like a man possessed. Deng Hong weaved around the strokes without much urgency, as though he was being pushed about by a light breeze, and avoided each strike.

Moreover, he continued to speak. "With that being said, you might be surprised to hear that I don't remember your woman's name. I suppose after all these years I don't think much of them anymore. But I do recall that your woman in particular was a most delectable morsel."

Cui Shen's next strike came with such vigor that even Deng Hong could not avoid it. His hand darted to his belt and drew out a short sword. Sparks flew as steel collided.

"It took you five years for you to come up with that poison of yours? A clown's trick." Deng Hong smirked. "For one seeking revenge, time is of the essence, you little fool. What would you have done if I had died during all those years? You would have become the laughing stock of this world and the next."

Their swords clashed again, and they pressed against each other, coming up face to face. Upon taking a closer look at his opponent's features, Deng Hong said, "You're paler than I remember. Was that the price you paid for your training? Lucky for you. Perhaps you would have taken fifty more years if you hadn't forcefully stripped yourself of your available time."

Deng Hong pushed Cui Shen back, laughing. "But I'm glad you returned! I truly am. I've been more amused in these scant few minutes than I've been in months. However, that's enough of that."

All the playfulness left Deng Hong's features. He struck out with his short sword, and Cui Shen scrambled to parry. His defense was successful, but he was forced back. As Deng Hong made to strike again, Cui Shen backed away even farther. He was not pursued.

Deng Hong drew a long breath. Suddenly, a strange chill descended over the street. Cui Shen felt an indescribable pressure stiffen his body.

"What is this?" The question involuntarily slipped past Cui Shen's lips. He had never felt anything like it before. Black veins began to bulge out of Deng Hong's skin.

"What is this, you ask? You see, even a rabbit can sense its imminent demise. That's what you're feeling now." Deng Hong sheathed his short sword. He waved his black sleeve and assumed a stance. "There are no women around to save you this time, Cui Shen."

When Deng Hong moved, Cui Shen had not even recognized it as movement. But what his eyes couldn't see, his instinct could sense. Cui Shen tilted his body, placing the tip of his sword in the path of Deng Hong's fingers.

The gap between their abilities was so vast that Cui Shen's sword had no hope of reaching his foe even while the latter was in the midst of an attack. Deng Hong was, however, forced to make a slight concession. His blackened fingers narrowly missed the vital acupressure point in Cui Shen's chest by about an inch, and the strike landed closer towards the shoulder.

Cui Shen hopped back, wildly slashing with his sword in hopes of preventing a pursuit. But Deng Hong wasn't chasing him.

Cui Shen's vision rapidly began to darken. An excruciating pain wracked his body, as though lava flowed through his veins and arteries. Just holding onto his sword became a torturous affair. As he vomited blood, he heard Deng Hong's voice.

"My mastery of the Soul Plundering Finger has reached a point where it brings certain death even without striking a pressure point."

With his fading senses, Cui Shen just barely felt Deng Hong's approach. His free hand darted into his pocket, and he violently threw out a small object to the ground. With a bang, gray smoke erupted. Deng Hong, with a swift step away, was out of its reach before it had even fully dispersed.

As the observers backed away, someone in the crowd exclaimed, "Poison?!"

Farther back, more voices erupted. "He's getting away! Capture him! Without his invisible poison, he's no threat to us!"

Deng Hong stuck his nose in the air and backed away from the smoke cloud, heading back to whence he came. Most of the disciples ran after Cui Shen, while some remained to tend to the wounds of others.

An older disciple approached him, confused. "Master, what about Cui Shen?"

The sect master's reply was dismissive. "Chasing a dead man through the wilderness at night is beneath my dignity as a sect master. Let the young ones amuse themselves with the chase. They might catch him before he dies from my technique, and get some satisfaction for those he's killed. Regardless, he'll be dead in minutes."

"But what about the disciples suffering from poison? Surely he has an antidote on him, we may be able to save a few."

Deng Hong gave the disciple with a derisive look. "You haven't caught on yet, have you? There is no antidote. He must have somehow made himself immune to his own poison. That's why he looks like a dead man walking. Whatever he put himself through to achieve that must have wreaked havoc on his body." He continued on his way.

The disciple bowed and followed. He found his master's arrogance to be reassuring.

The sun had set. The Wuyi Sect's disciples chased Cui Shen through the dark. The mountainous terrain was treacherous, but it was their home ground, and only the least experienced among them were in danger from it.

Although at death's door, Cui Shen was initially faster than his pursuers. But his body was rapidly deteriorating, and the disciples were gaining on him. He could not navigate through the darkness with his diminished senses, and tumbled down a steep slope.

His consciousness faded in and out on his way down. After reaching the bottom, he could faintly make out a man's silhouette standing over him. Distant, dim light illuminated his black and red uniform. To Cui Shen, his voice came out muffled even as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"He used his invisible poison! Help me!" The man then began to scream in agony.

A reply came from beyond Cui Shen's vision, more indistinct shouting that was no more audible to him than a mumble. "He still had it?! Get back, get back! Stop the pursuit! Let's return to the sect master!"

And then the voices faded.

...

"Good thinking." The golden haired woman said. Her voice echoed through the cavern they took up as shelter.

"I'm just glad we didn't have to fight them all, senior." Bai Guo said, a lit torch in hand. He was kneeling beside the unconscious Desolator of Life, his robe stripped off of him. Black lines stretched across his body like a web. "I can barely feel his pulse, but I don't see any injuries. He must have been poisoned."

"It's not poison. Can't you sense that? It's all over him." The woman sounded incredulous.

"Sense what, senior? What do you mean?"

They exchanged mutually confused looks.

The senior broke up their stare and knelt beside the injured man. "The qi flowing through his meridians is strange. I've never felt anything like this before. It's destroying him from the inside."

Bai Guo was a complete stranger to matters of internal energy. "Can you help him?" As soon as he asked the question, he wondered whether or not they should. The senior, meanwhile, wondered over whether or not she can. She covered her lips with one of her long fingers, staring at the man's bare chest as she pondered.

"There's something I want to try." She eventually said, and placed her palm over his chest. With a grunt, she pressed down. Black blood erupted from the Desolator of Life's mouth, and his eyes half opened. Bai Guo propped up the man's head so that he wouldn't choke.

Staring at the golden haired senior, he weakly muttered, "Meili?"

"Rotate your dantian." She said. "Your internal energy is out of balance. I shared some of my yin qi with you; circulate it throughout your meridians, keep it flowing to maintain some semblance of balance. In time, your balance will restore itself."

The Desolator of Life's eyes quivered in confusion, but his brows lowered, and he began to follow the woman's instructions.

Bai Guo asked, "Is your name Meili, senior?"

"Of course not." She replied and stood up. "Feel free to ask him what it means. I'll go fight the Wuyi Sect headmaster. You should consider, perhaps, staying here. I won't be able to protect you during the battle."

"Senior...! Are you really sure about all this? Look at what they did to this man, and he's no weakling either!" Bai Guo's voice was racked with fear.

"Of course I'm sure. It's what I came here to do." The woman smiled slightly. "And besides, I think it might be easier now than it would have been a few minutes ago."

A raspy, gurgling voiced emerged from the Desolator of Life's throat. "Why... Why did you save me?"

The man looked into the woman's yellow eyes.

"I wanted to see if I could." She replied, and walked away. Cui Shen's mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't muster up the strength to ask her anything else before she disappeared from sight.

The cave descended into an eerie silence. Cui Shen closed his eyes, but his face remained tense; it was clear that he was still conscious. Whether he was following the senior's instructions or not, Bai Guo couldn't tell.

After a while, Bai Guo spoke up with a question.

"I must ask you something. Why did you attack the Xiang clan?"

Cui Shen's brows twitched slightly when he heard the young man's voice. Bai Guo knew that his question had been heard, but no response came. Bai Guo decided that, in his precarious state, Cui Shen should be allowed to take his time; but whether he was actually deserving of Bai Guo's patience depended entirely on his answer. Despite his desire to remain impartial, as the seconds dragged on, frustration mounted. Bai Guo grew conscious of the sword on his hip.

With his eyes still closed, Cui Shen finally parted his lips, speaking with the utmost resignation. "They gave my beloved to Deng Hong."

Cui Shen's bitter reply brought Bai Guo some relief. It seemed that they had not rescued a villain after all.

Cui Shen continued. "They employed her for her martial arts... But her skills, her life were less valuable to them than that maniac's favor." His voice rose, as did the black blood coursing through his veins. He erupted into violent coughing.

Bai Guo waited for him to calm down. "You should have let us help you. With you and the senior working together, we might have..."

Cui Shen interrupted him. "There was only one way for me to wash away my shame. Now... that opportunity has passed. Even if Deng Hong were to die, it would all be useless. I scurried away with my life like a common roach. There is no longer a place for a wretch like me in the jianghu. At this point, even death won't be enough."

Bai Guo hadn't had the words to alleviate him.

After another pause, Cui Shen half-opened his eyes and asked, "Your name is Bai Guo, isn't it? I'm afraid I couldn't recognize your companion."

Bai Guo still didn't know her name, and the idea of telling as much to Cui Shen embarrassed him greatly. He felt that the man deserved to at least know how to refer to his savior.

"That was the Golden Witch." He said.

"...I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that title." Cui Shen replied. "Why 'witch'? Can she use magic?"

"That's how it feels to me sometimes." Bai Guo answered with a small smile.

Cui Shen seemed to have somewhat caught on to Bai Guo's awkward situation. He closed his eyes. "Someone of her skill must be a master in disguise. But if she didn't tell you, there must be some reason..."

"Was your brief battle really enough for you to evaluate her skills?" Bai Guo asked.

"I used four stances from the Bronze Sundering Blows to test her. The second strike in the sequence is strong enough to cleave a man-sized bronze bell in two, and they continue to get stronger after that. And yet that woman was unperturbed after four." Cui Shen continued with more hesitation. "I was worried I'd break my own sword if I continued to test her, so I had to back away. Needless to say, her inner energy is one of a kind. I suspect she is far older than she looks."

"Do you think she might win against the sect master?"

Cui Shen hadn't answered for a long time. "Who can defeat who is a perennial, complicated question, especially when it comes to masters. But Deng Hong possesses immense internal energy, and has mastered one of the most evil finger techniques in the world. Without an ace up her sleeve, the Golden Witch will not come out victorious."

Bai Guo nervously swallowed. If the senior perished, he thought, their chances at making it out of these mountains alive were slim to none.

...

As the night continued, the Wuyi Sect remained on high alert. The countless torches and lanterns made the mountain town seem like it was the middle of the day.

Within the sect's main hall, in a spacious, dimly lit hall befitting royalty, the Wuyi Sect's headmaster Deng Hong sat on a throne of bronze. He let his hair down, and was staring through his dark locks at the closed iron double doors that served as the hall's entrance. An old man with a long, greying beard stood next to him in grim silence.

In the reddish light of the lamps, they were waiting for something.

Deng Hong broke the silence. "Can you hear something?"

The old man's ears twitched. "Not at all."

"Indeed, it's far too quiet. The patrolling disciples must have been taken out already." Deng Hong said. His voice was suffused with utter nonchalance. As he continued staring at the door, he looked almost bored.

"To take all of them out in complete silence is a feat worthy of admiration." The old man replied.

Deng Hong did not seem impressed by this veiled praise. He idly brushed some of his hair aside. "Ordinarily, that may be the case. But Cui Shen had most likely gotten his poisonous little toy by taking on the Five Venoms Devil as his master, so naturally, his companions must be her disciples as well."

"And victory through poison is no feat at all." The old man concurred.

One of the two heavy doors began to slowly slide open. In the dim light of the lamps, the two men caught a glimpse of a pale blue sleeve. A tall, golden haired lady almost sheepishly emerged from the opening. She was wearing a wooden mask depicting the crying face of a woman.

She began to slowly walk towards the center of the room. The two men stared at her for a time before she spoke.

"Now that I can feel you up close, it's all becoming clear to me."

Deng Hong remained outwardly impassive, but his eyes glinted with mild curiosity. "Feel me? What is that turn of phrase? Are you not well-acquainted with the local language? And what is the meaning of the mask? Is it symbolic? Do you mean to represent the women I have slain thus far?"

In truth, the thought hadn't crossed her mind, but now that Deng Hong had pointed it out, she found it clever, and her chest swelled up with pride.

Deng Hong continued. "Or is it a disguise? Well, if you were hoping to disguise yourself, you should have started with that lantern you have for a head."

The old man beside him, despite putting in a visible effort to stop himself, snorted with laughter. Seeing his reaction, Deng Hong burst into laughter. It was as if a dam had been blown open; the two began to cackle fiercely as though they were competing to see who could laugh the loudest.

Under her long sleeves, the intruder clenched her hands into fists. Hidden beneath the mask, her expression was inscrutable, but she was not pleased.

After a short while, the two men had calmed down.

Deng Hong rested his chin on the back of his hand. "But to think that you were the one in cahoots with Cui Shen. What do you think, Liao Cai? Do you dare to test your mettle against Wei Qing's killer?"

The older Liao Cai gave his beard a rub. His tone was that of a sycophant. "Who in this whole wide world would be foolish enough to miss out on such a great opportunity to impress master Deng Hong?"

Liao Cai stepped towards the masked woman and drew his short sword.

Deng Hong called out behind him, instructing the older man. "She doesn't have any weapons on her that I can see, and those long sleeves are ideal for concealing projectiles. Very fitting for a disciple of Five Venoms Devil. Watch out for poisoned hidden weapons. Don't take any chances. Kill her as quickly as possible."

The old man replied, "Yes, master!" and began to slowly approach. When Liao Cai was roughly ten steps away, his body blurred, a burst of speed instantaneously carrying him the rest of the way, his cautious stance preserved in its entirety. The short sword in his hand was thrust towards the woman's chest.

She moved backwards, just barely out of the reach of the blade. Liao Cai made to withdraw, but before he could, the masked woman's hands reached for his outstretched right arm. Her right hand latched onto his wrist, while her left hand grabbed his upper arm, above the elbow.

Liao Cai's eyes widened. Never would he have guessed that his opponent possessed limbs that were so ludicrously long that he could have been grabbed in such a manner beyond the reach of his weapon. In all his years as a martial artist, he had never seen anyone with a build as absurd as this.

The momentum he had intended to use to retreat had been instantly neutered by the woman's vice-like grip. She had full control of his arm. Liao Cai felt himself getting pulled forward, and despite resisting with all his might, could not stop it. He was dragged along to his left side by his right arm, spinning back-first towards his foe.

And in such fashion his entire body ended up under her control. Restrained from behind, Liao Cai found his own arm thrusting his own blade into his neck. The moment he had the idea to drop his weapon to save his life, the woman adjusted her grip by grabbing his fist. Her hand, the fingers on which turned out to be considerably longer than Liao Cai's, began to crush his, and he lost the chance to get rid of his sword.

The old man's struggles bought him mere seconds. Already, the short sword had pierced through the skin of his neck. His face turned red and sweat poured down his brow, but all his efforts were in vain. Suddenly, the embedded sword slashed across his neck. Finally, Liao Cai was freed from the vicious grasp.

As blood sprayed across the polished stone floors, he stepped away from his foe and turned back around to face her. He gripped his cut throat, but could not stop the bleeding. With rage, frustration, and fear all in equal measure over his face, he stumbled backwards, his life extinguished.

Deng Hong observed the entire fight in shock. When the woman turned her head towards him, when the reality of the situation had struck the sect master in its entirety, fury briefly flashed across his face. He regained his composure in but a moment.

With his nose upturned, Deng Hong threw back his long black hair, and began to tie it up with a hairpin. As he was doing so, he asked, "Am I to presume that the disciples guarding my palace had met the same fate?"

"No, they're alive." The woman answered. "I just got a little angry just now."

Deng Hong wrinkled his nose at that reply. With his hair done, he stepped down from his throne, and, short sword in hand, began to walk towards her.

The woman asked, "Is it common for the master to be younger than the student?"

Deng Hong's face twitched, as though he was recoiling from the question. "What are we, making small talk now?" Even so, after a pause, he continued. "It isn't rare. No matter your age, nothing but raw talent dictates how far you can go. But though I was their superior in martial arts at almost half their age, I was no match to Liao Cai and Wei Qing when it came to worldly experience."

His voice carried a hint of wistfulness. The masked woman picked up the sword that lied in the blood pooling up around Liao Cai's corpse. She swung the blade to her side, cleaning some of the blood off the blade.

Deng Hong was enraged by her actions. His face contorted with such fury that he resembled a snarling beast. "This kind of mockery will cost you your life! Pray that you die in this fight, because if you survive, I'll make you live through a fate worse than ten thousand deaths!"

Deng Hong darted forward. The woman, too, had moved. Their figures flickered out of sight. When they appeared again, their swords had clashed at some point, and the only evidence of such taking place was the clatter of steel.

Deng Hong's hawkish features regained their composure during that fleeting moment. Even infuriated as he was, he would not allow his emotions to guide his sword.

He charged back in, performing several more exploratory strikes. Deng Hong learned from his disciple's mistakes, and kept wary of the woman's long limbs. But even so, her reach advantage meant that it was not easy to approach, and all his attacks ended up parried or avoided.

With no good opportunity presenting itself, Deng Hong had decided to create his own. He assumed a stance and dashed in again, the steel in his hand flickering left and right. The woman finally bit on one of the feints and moved her short sword to defend against it.

Deng Hong suddenly thrust towards her neck with unprecedented speed from an unexpected angle. A clap resounded through the room as the air was torn apart by the swiftness of this strike.

The woman waved her unoccupied arm, placing her long blue sleeve in the path of the lethal edge.

The sword could not pierce through it. Upon coming in contact with the fabric, the strike gradually, yet swiftly, and at the same time as gently as though it had landed onto a soft pillow, lost all momentum, like an arrow shot into the blue sky that reached its highest point.

It was a method commonly used to brush away miniscule throwing weapons like needles and caltrops, but it was the first time Deng Hong had ever seen it used on a melee strike performed backed up by the full weight of one's arms and body.

He tried to draw his sword back, but found it stuck firmly in place. The masked woman's hand had moved underneath her robe to grip it with her fingers. Somewhat amused, Deng Hong pulled back again with his entire might. The woman twisted her wrist slightly. With a reverberating crack, their mutual struggle snapped the blade in two.

Deng Hong made some distance and spoke. "Looks like our internal energies are evenly matched." He cast aside the broken short sword. The woman had neither said anything nor pursued him. It gave Deng Hong a moment to consider his situation.

A thought struck him that he would never dare mention aloud.

"Evenly matched? If that was the case, wouldn't the sword get somewhat bent at most? If it was made of a brittle or inflexible material like wood I can maybe understand, but how can high quality steel that carried my internal energy just snap like a matchstick? Not to mention that she stifled my sect's Iron Butterfly Flicker technique with just her sleeve... Maybe I could do that to a novice, but no one in the entire world can use this technique better than me!"

He realized that the words he had spoken moments before were just his instinct affecting his emotions; he was unsettled before he could even wrap his head around the reason, and spoke up impulsively.

His thoughts rushed on, "The more she evaded me, the more recklessly I attacked. During that time, I find it unlikely that I presented no openings, yet she never capitalized on any of them. What is she planning? In any case, I need to be more careful from now on."

The golden haired woman had suddenly interrupted his train of thought with a question. "Was the technique you used just now your strongest move?"

Deng Hong's mind went blank. He once again found himself enraged. He could neither think up a response nor continue to strategize.

The woman tossed aside her own sword. The act of mutual disarmament had infuriated him even more. Deng Hong was so mad he couldn't even hear it clang against the stone floor. But he heard her voice. "Or do you perhaps mean to tell me that mere hours after your last fight you had developed a hint of common sense?"

Deng Hong was instantly struck with a sense of ill foreboding. "What are you saying?"

"Do you really think I can't tell how little of your internal energy you were using?" She asked. Deng Hong could almost feel her sneering underneath her mask. "Have you suddenly attained enlightenment and decided to scorn your lousy foundation? But what a bad time you've picked to change your evil ways."

As the woman chuckled, the things she was alluding to unnerved Deng Hong deeply. Cold sweat ran down his back.

The masked woman tilted her head and continued, "Or perhaps you drained so much from the Desolator of Life that you can't handle even another drop?"

Deng Hong began to shout her down. "Just who are you?! Show me your face! Enough with this masquerade! Take off your mask!"

The woman shook her head. "I'm not someone you'd recognize even if I did take it off."

Deng Hong did not believe her, and his emotional state was in such disarray that he could not stop himself from prattling on. "So then why wear it? Do you find yourself to be so clever, representing my victims, that you can't resist wallowing in your own smugness? You're a woman yourself, aren't you?! If you claim to be unknown to me, your own face would represent them all the same!"

The woman tapped her wooden visage. "This mask has nothing to do with your insecurities." She did not elaborate past that.

"...If you're not seeking justice, if we have no personal connection, then why in the world have you come here?" Deng Hong managed to force a question past his gritted teeth.

The masked woman paused, as though she needed a moment to think. "Test of skill."

"You've made an enemy of my entire sect just to measure your skills? Of all the ludicrous things you could have said, you decided to go with the worst of the..."

"Moron." The woman interrupted him. "The skills being tested here are yours."

"Impudent!" Deng Hong's voice erupted like a thunderclap. He could not endure a single more breath of mockery.

Suddenly, the temperature plummeted. The full extent of Deng Hong's internal energy was so vast that it even affected the surroundings. As he took up a stance, the masked woman observed him, unmoving, her arms at her sides, hidden beneath her long sleeves.

"All of your guesses were mistaken!" He bellowed out.

Deng Hong struck out with two of his fingers. The cold air shifted along with him, a bone-chilling wind trailing the path of his attack; but the strike carried such speed that the frost would not have the chance to settle onto the woman's skin before the attack had concluded.

The woman thrust out her chest towards his fingers. Deng Hong had no time to bask in his shock over such a response. Even a master such as himself would struggle to redirect his attack at this point, and Deng Hong, with his mind clouded by unprecedented rage, had no intention of even attempting such a thing.

His fingers connected with her solar plexus, hitting a vital acupuncture point.

The two martial artists remained still for a single heartbeat.

Suddenly, the masked woman retched, black blood dripping past the bottom of her mask and onto her blue robe.

Deng Hong sneered. He began to laugh, but instead what came out of his throat was a wet cough. His eyes widened as black ichor gushed out of his mouth. His fingers left the woman's chest as he staggered backwards, coughing. A horrible pain began to wrack his insides.

"What the...?!" Deng Hong sputtered, unconsciously clutching his chest. His heart beat erratically, and each beat intensified the pain. The flow of his blood worsened the damage to his organs. A thought came to mind. "Is this poison?!"

The masked woman's shoulders began to shudder. Her golden locks shook. A soft chuckle emerged from beneath her mask.

"It's not poison." She said. "This technique of yours absorbs yin energy. To do that, it naturally entails creating a pathway between your meridians and those of your target. I gave you my energy, just a bit more roughly than you're used to getting it. And I directed it right towards your dantian, to disturb the hodgepodge of foreign energies there. The energies you took from your previous victims."

Deng Hong continued to back away, his features contorting in agony. His body felt cold like ice, yet the blizzard raging within did not numb him to the pain.

The woman put her hand over her mask. Her long fingers ran nearly from ear to ear. "You know, if I knew you would be so eager to kill yourself, I wouldn't have bothered with this."

Her little finger dug underneath the mask, and with her nail, she severed the strap keeping it secure. The crying woman's face fell into her palm. Slowly, she shifted it aside. A golden eye peered down on the dying man. Black blood dripped down her lips, spilling from her chin. The bloodied lips were contorted into an unsettling smile.

Deng Hong fell to one knee. Her previous words were true; he didn't recognize her. As he looked into the woman's eye, fear began to wrack his heart.

It was not the look of one taking begrudging satisfaction from having delivered justice; neither was it the vicious glare of a ruthless and ambitious killer so prevalent to this era.

She was leering down at him with the peculiar bashfulness and amusement of a child mischievously peeping in on something she knew was forbidden, but simply couldn't help herself but look regardless. The sight of it disturbed him to no end.

Deng Hong began to shout and protest with whatever came to mind, trying to deny her with all his might. "Nonsense... None of that is possible! I tamed their qi! You poisoned me!"

The woman lowered the mask in her hand. The top of it covered only her blood stained lips.

"The thought that this was possible earnestly never even crossed your mind, did it?" She asked. "On the other hand, I had a hunch all along about your stupid little technique. My mind can only think of things in terms of martial arts, you see. The first thought that came to mind when I happened upon the scene of one your slaughters was, what purpose could killing the men and kidnapping the women serve for one's martial arts? In other words, why get rid of those strong in the yang and keep those strong in the yin?"

Deng Hong coughed; more blood spilled onto the floor. He could not force his knee off the ground. The woman's voice grew increasingly louder as she continued.

"So I assumed there was some technique I didn't know about that let someone make use of it. And therefore there's a reason you had to take the women away instead of just killing them on the spot. I always had a hunch, but your little skirmish with the Desolator of Life made me all but certain. You couldn't handle all that foreign yin energy entering your body all at once, so you had to pace yourself. And with the amount that you ended up with, it would take decades even for me to truly tame it all. And you didn't even have the wisdom to recognize that you weren't truly making it yours. You were alleviating the symptoms while letting the disease fester. It's true that you had more internal energy than me, but not only couldn't you use most of it, you couldn't even stop it from hurting you!"

"Why... Why did the Soul Plundering Finger not work on you?"

"It did work to an extent. But you don't know how to control even your own qi, so how could you presume to control mine? I just stopped you from taking more than I wanted you to have. But even so, it hurts quite a bit even with this much missing... So I shall now be taking it back."

The woman dropped the mask and took up the stance Deng Hong demonstrated at the apex of their battle.

"You couldn't possibly be..." Deng Hong edged back. His knee still wouldn't rise, so he fell completely and began to crawl backwards. "You... you just said you didn't know...! That you were merely guessing that it existed!"

"It's not like I'll ever get another chance to use a technique as flawed as this." She explained.

The woman dashed forward, her fingers thrusting out. Deng Hong tried to defend himself with an outstretched hand, and the fingers struck a pressure point on his wrist, but The Yin Plundering Finger cared little for which acupuncture point it struck.

The energy that had been drained out was relatively miniscule, but it worsened the unstable whirlwind raging through Deng Hong's meridians. He crumpled to the ground, his body twitching in pain, his face seething with hatred.

The golden haired woman continued to stare at him with a smile on her face. She said nothing as she watched him suffer.

A thought had suddenly crossed her mind, briefly knocking her out of her twisted reverie. "Ah, right. Where are the women you've captured?"

It was nothing more than an afterthought.

"They're all dead. You were too late." Deng Hong spat out, deriving a drop of satisfaction out of sheer spite.

As Deng Hong was lying in agony, his veins and arteries had finally ruptured, and the black ichor of his inhumane technique leaked out of every pore, granting him bitter and permanent relief. He died under the gaze of those yellow eyes, twinkling with wicked joy.

"I didn't think I'd guess everything right in one try. The jianghu is such a wonderful place."

She stared for a while longer, but voices from outside knocked her out of her stupor, and she took her leave under the cover of darkness.

...

The mysterious senior soon returned to the cave, her robe and face stained with blood.

Bai Guo ran up to her in concern. "Are you alright, senior?"

"I'm fine." She replied.

Cui Shen, sitting cross-legged against a wall, spoke up next. "You were not gone long. What happened?"

"Deng Hong is dead." She declared.

The two regarded her with shock, and neither could muster up a response.

The woman sighed. "It's not like I did it on purpose. But it turned out that way."

Cui Shen furrowed his brows when he heard her reply. "You did not kill him on purpose? Then what was your purpose in seeking him out?"

"I needed to know if any of his techniques were worth taking for myself."

Bai Guo realized something. "Test of skill..." He said, and the senior nodded.

Cui Shen closed his eyes. "I suppose it doesn't matter how he died; only that he did. Though I will regret that it was not done by my hand for the rest of my life... in truth, I have no pride or honor left to speak of. It is of no consequence. Therefore, I am grateful to you. I have little time left. Tell me if there is some way for me to repay you, Golden Witch."

The woman's eyebrow curved. "What did you just call me?"

Bai Guo's heart chilled. He didn't expect the title he made up to be sprung on her like that.

Cui Shen did not seem to expect such a reaction. After a pause, he spoke. "...It's what the martial arts society has taken to calling you."

Bai Guo warily peeked at the senior's reaction. His eyes widened.

She was grinning ear to ear. She bashfully brought her sleeves up to her cheeks, gleefully muttering to herself. "That's such an enigmatic title... People think I can use magic?"

Bai Guo sighed in relief. Apparently, it was received favorably after all.

The Golden Witch, after wallowing in her amusement for a time, brought down her hands. "There just might be a way. Do you know of someone called Five Venoms Devil?"

"...May I ask why you're asking?"

"Test of skill."

Cui Shen's brow creased at her answer. "Five Venoms Devil is nothing like Deng Hong. There is nothing to learn from fighting her. You will die even if you win. And even if by some miracle you survive, you will wish that you hadn't. She cannot be reasoned with and kills all strangers on sight."

"You're not a stranger, are you?"

"No. You could say that she is my master."

"Then may I ask you to bring me to her?"

"Out of the question..." Cui Shen replied immediately, but his voice was hesitant.

"Then I can't think of a way for you to repay me, Desolator of Life..." The Golden Witch sighed. "I'll still be going there on my own, though."

"Without someone she's familiar with around, you'll certainly be killed. Wait..." Cui Shen said, still hesitant. "Even a wretch like myself can't stoop so low as to hurt my own master. But if you give me your word that you will not harm her, even if it costs you your own life, then I can take you there."

For a time, the Golden Witch stared at him. "...Very well."

Bai Guo paled at the idea. "Why do you want to meet this person so much, senior, that you'd even stake your own life like this?"

"He's right that just fighting her would be meaningless. You can learn the secrets of a conventional technique by seeing it, but you can't learn anything about a poison by just looking at its powder, and sometimes not even by ingesting it and suffering its effects. This test of skill must be conducted in a different way." She explained.

It did not do much to alleviate the young man's worries. Suddenly, the Golden Witch began to stare at him.

"Moving on from that matter, what about you, Bai Guo? Do you still wish to become my disciple?"

Though that request had initially served as the catalyst for him to begin his journey, when confronted with it so directly, Bai Guo could not help but hesitate. Cui Shen half-opened his eyes to watch this exchange.

"I intend to travel the world," the senior said, "and see the jianghu's greatest techniques with my own eyes. I took great care to stay hidden all throughout our trip here because you were doing me a favor. But I don't intend to continue hiding anymore. If you agree to this, you understand the risks involved, right?"

As they stared at each other, Bai Guo struggled to muster up the last bit of courage. The danger turned out to be even bigger than he initially anticipated, but so did the rewards. Someone on a sect master's level was a one man army. All the surrounding kingdoms were ruled by individuals of such caliber, the fates of nations were decided on the ends of their swords. And that there could exist someone who was perhaps even above those titans was a thought that defied all common sense.

Bai Guo knew that he could not let this opportunity slide, but neither could he bring himself to speak. So first, he bowed.

"This Bai Guo wishes to become senior's disciple!" He finally shouted.

"Ah, well, sure, I guess..." The young man's earnestness seemed to catch her off-guard.

"Please guide me through the rite!"

"What rite? Isn't it good enough that we both know that you're my disciple?"

"What are you saying?" It was Cui Shen who spoke up, flabbergasted. "There is a proper order to these things. I can understand how the boy may not know the details, but how could an expert like you claim to be oblivious? Do you really mean to claim that you've never had to take on a master, or bore witness to such a ceremony?"

"It was my father who taught me my skills, so I never had to do that..." The Golden Witch muttered uncertainly.

"Likewise." Bai Guo, sensing that the senior was being put in an awkward position, decided to back her up. "All my skills were taught to me by my late father as well. So I don't think it's unreasonable to not know."

Cui Shen sighed. "Well, be that as it may, you at least understand the implications of a master-disciple relationship, do you, boy? To agree to this is to put your life in your master's hands. Once it is done, you will never be able to turn back. It is a lifelong contract, and to renege on it is to become the lowliest of scum."

"Of course!" Bai Guo exclaimed, his resolve carrying through his voice. On the other hand, the senior's eyes briefly flickered with uncertainty, though she remained silent.

Cui Shen stared the young man down, but there was no hint of hesitation no matter how long he waited. He spoke, "The disciple must kowtow eight times to the one who shall become his master and swear an oath of loyalty before the heavens."

And Bai Guo did so. As Cui Shen observed, he spotted a hint of embarrassment trailing across the woman's face.

When Bai Guo was done, his forehead remained pressed to the ground. Cui Shen closed his eyes. The more he thought about the Golden Witch, the more mystified he found himself, yet in his position could not ask any of the many questions on his mind, and felt that even if he had overstepped and done so, he would not be left with any answers.

"He can't rise unless you tell him to." Cui Shen explained.

"Get up." The Golden Witch spoke with exasperation. "We should get out of here. There's no telling what the sect members will do now that their master is dead. It will be easier to escape while it's still dark."

Both the newly made disciple and Cui Shen stood up. The Golden Witch took the latter's lack of protest as a sign that he was in good enough shape to flee together with them.

As they left the mountain, they saw no trace of pursuit.

...

A few days later, the news of Deng Hong's death had spread throughout the entire region. As the Wuyi Sect would not divulge any details, rumors and speculations festered across the country.

One such conversation unfolded in a shoddy inn a few days away from the Wuyi Mountains amongst a 5-man band of unaffiliated martial artists.

"I heard," one of the armed men said, idly swirling the contents of his cup. "That Deng Hong died shortly after meeting that maniac, the Desolator of Life."

"It seems that even after all the leaps and bounds that have been made to advance the world's martial arts, emperors and kings can still be killed by mere poison alone." His companion scoffed.

"I heard," another one of the men pitched in. "That the Desolator of Life butchered a hundred disciples with just his sword."

"What use would a poisoner have for sword skills?" The second man protested, and the third found it difficult to argue against his point.

Suddenly, an unlikely arrival stopped their conversation dead in its tracks. A tall, golden haired, golden eyed woman had stepped into the inn, her long blue robe splotched by dried blood and the wear of travels. She strode across the room towards the innkeeper while boldly refusing to acknowledge the heavy silence and the dozen pairs of eyes gawking at her, and ordered 3 rooms and a bath. Very fittingly, she flashed even more gold to pacify the innkeeper.

After a while, four of the five men had all turned towards the fifth. The man in question, his eyes wide, hadn't even realized he was being stared at until the nearest fellow patted him on the shoulder. He hadn't needed to hear a word to instantly realize what was expected of him. He reached for his back pocket, and hastily pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from within. On it was a portrait of the woman in question, along with a few lines describing her all too remarkable appearance and the grave crime of murder of a high ranking member of the Wuyi Sect.

The other four leaned in to compare her to the poster, but it's not as if such meticulousness was necessary; they all already knew as soon as they laid eyes on her. They simply couldn't believe that such a person truly existed.

The five gripped their weapons and made to stand up, but one of their band had raised his hand. The others took it as the gesture it was meant to be: to remain where they are, though they couldn't tell why. Their friend's eyes were peeled to the door.

Two more had entered the inn: a man and a youngster. Their attire, too, was worn down by travel. The group recognized that the youngster's attire denoted him as a disciple of the Wuyi Sect, which made it all that much more difficult to properly recognize the man in his company.

The leader of the band's hand dropped to the table. He paled, and sweat began to run down his face. His companions regarded him with confusion.

Quietly, he hoarsely whispered. "That's the Desolator of Life!"

As the others took measure of the man again, they realized that their compatriot was correct.

"Holy shit..." One of them muttered, planting his eyes down to the table to minimize his presence.

They all began to sweat. None dared to look for more than a moment in fear of reprisal. The two approached the golden woman and began to casually converse.

"Why is there a Wuyi Sect disciple with them?"

"I don't know. Let's just get out of here before they start killing people again."

The others concurred. While the mysterious trio engaged in conversation, the five took their leave as subtly as they could manage.

None of them dared to look back, and thus none of them noticed the young man watching them go.

"Do you think they're going to cause trouble?" Bai Guo asked.

Cui Shen, without even turning his head, spared only a brief glance at the fleeing party. The Golden Witch didn't care at all, and went with the proprietor to check their lodgings.

"With Deng Hong dead," Cui Shen said. "And with the leading theory being that we were responsible, independent martial artists like those are not going to dare to step up to us themselves. And I suspect the Wuyi Sect itself will not make any bold moves against someone who they believe to have bested their strongest expert, so even if they report us to them, it's of no consequence. In all likelihood, the Wuyi Sect is currently bracing itself for an attack from the neighboring kingdoms. But with two out of three of their most senior disciples killed by your master, the Wuyi Sect's days may be numbered."

"Well, that's a relief." Bai Guo sighed. But why didn't you tell us all that before we spent four days running through the wilderness, was his unspoken question. "I need to write a letter to my uncles. Uncle Zhong must be worried sick about me, and uncle Jin must be losing his mind trying to figure out what went on at the Wuyi Sect. I could at least help his investigation."

"...Your uncle is an investigator? Of the Jianghu Investigative Bureau?" Cui Shen warily asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"Nothing..." Cui Shen shook his head. Bai Guo seemed to think nothing of it.

"Say, sir Shen... What do you think is my master's background?" He asked.

Cui Shen shook his head again, this time in disapproval. "I think it is not appropriate of you to gossip about your master behind her back."

"You're right, but... But can't you help but be curious too? I've already spent so much time with her, yet I can't piece anything together. Perhaps someone with more experience such as yourself could glean something?"

As one whose life centered on martial arts, Cui Shen could hardly help but be curious about her origins as well. "She's not very knowledgeable on the matters of the jianghu. Either she is sheltered, or she is pretending. But that she hides her background at all means there is a reason for that, and you would do well to respect your master's boundaries, boy, and not question her judgment."

Bai Guo felt grateful, for in Cui Shen's rebuke were mixed in his observations. "You are right, sir Shen."

It was at that moment that the Golden Witch had returned from her tour of the rooms upstairs.

"I can't take a bath until I have something clean to change into." She said.

The other two concurred, and headed to the local tailor.

From the tailor, Cui Shen asked for an identical set of the clothes he was already wearing. He discarded the mourning white cloak, and walked in his pure black. Bai Guo picked out a fabric that most closely resembled his previous attire. The Golden Witch, on the other hand, was a lot less decisive about what she was going to wear.

Eventually, she settled on a robe of white silk.

"Young miss, you don't have to settle on only one color, you know..." The whisker-mustached tailor, sensing an opportunity, coyly suggested.

"Master, are you sure white is the best choice? Considering our, you know, lifestyle..." Bai Guo chimed in.

"What!" The Golden Witch exclaimed, her long fingers running across the roll of fabric. "But I think it will look good! And since we won't be snooping around anymore, I don't think it will be a problem... But maybe you're right; it could be quite the hassle to wash..."

"Well, while the young miss makes up her mind, let me go take your measurements, young man. Follow me." The tailor still held out a bit of hope, and decided to stall for a bit of time.

As the two left to another room, Cui Shen felt a subtle pressure as the golden eyes began to probe him.

"What is it?" He couldn't endure, and asked.

"You know, the truth is... I don't really know what a master is supposed to do."

Cui Shen sighed. Ever since their meeting in the cave, he had a feeling that that was the case.

"The relationship between the master and the disciple is not something that can be explained in a scant few words. The duty of the disciple is to take care of the master. The duty of the master is to take care of the disciple. The disciple obeys the master in all things. Much like the son obeys the parents and they guide him through life, so does the disciple obey his master and they guide him through martial arts. There is no method for this that can be imparted or learned. It is a matter of experience and judgment. His life and future is in your hands; do with it as you think is best."

"I don't understand. He must serve me, and you said he cannot leave. But what incentive do I have to teach him anything?"

Cui Shen closed his eyes as he continued to explain. "First of all, it is a matter of integrity. It is simply your duty to do so. But even if you were an unscrupulous individual, those who have taken you as their master will not hide the fact that they have done so, and therefore will represent you directly in the jianghu with everything they do. A good disciple signifies a powerful master. An inept disciple makes a fool of his master. Needless to say, in the current age of strife and chaos, honor is not the guiding force that it once used to be. Yet neither is it completely gone, and still holds a great deal of value to all those who live a life of combat. You would do well to remember that."

The Golden Witch silently mused on his words for a while. "Thanks." She eventually muttered.

Bai Guo and the tailor returned at that time.

"Has the young miss decided?" The tailor asked with a smile.

"I'll be taking the white." She said. With a smirk, she glanced at Bai Guo. "...Since I've got a disciple to wash it."

Bai Guo's face soured. It was exactly as he feared.

Cui Shen opened his eyes as he realized something. "Maybe having your male disciple wash your clothes would not be appropriate."

The realization had suddenly dawned on Bai Guo as well.

The Golden Witch seemed indifferent, brushing the matter aside with her long sleeve. "Don't take his side on this. It's already decided."

Cui Shen and Bai Guo both swallowed their words.

The tailor interjected. "Please come with my little sister to have your measurements taken, young miss."

Because the Golden Witch had once again audaciously overpaid in gold, her attire was completed overnight.

The Golden Witch swapped her blue robe for one of a stark, pure white. Her already extraordinary appearance became positively ethereal. The woman waved her new sleeves about. She seemed to take delight in their length, or perhaps comfort in the fact she could hide her hands within them.

Meanwhile, Bai Guo set about writing his letters, moving his brush with a heavy and uncertain hand.

"Uncle Jin,

I hope this letter finds you well. There comes a time when the baby bird must leave the nest, and for me, that day has come. In pursuit of martial strength, I have been fortunate enough to be taken in as the disciple of an incredible expert.

I must first confess that I have deceived you. During our brief meeting in Shanlu, I let you remain under the impression that Wei Qing's killer was fictional; that is not so. The golden haired woman the Wuyi Sect had been looking for was not my master at that particular time, but I was assisting her in the pursuit of justice against the Wuyi Sect.

Deng Hong, the sect master, had been using an evil technique to progress his cultivation by reaping the lives of innocents. I urge you to visit a small village called Qiaodu northeast of Ningde, and venture an hour north past its outskirts. There, you will find the evidence of sect master Deng Hong's crimes. The entire sect is complicit, so please exercise caution if you choose to investigate further.

The sect master had also conspired with the Xiong clan to kill the wife of sir Cui Shen, whom you know as the Desolator of Life.

Justice was delivered by the hands of my master. She refuses to dispense with her name freely, and elected to go by the title of Golden Witch. But as we continue our travels, I imagine she will earn many more names.

With her tutelage, I will not allow anyone I care about to meet the same unfortunate end as my father."

As Bai Guo wrote the last strokes, his hand began to shake. He wanted to write more. He wanted to meet his uncles again, and exchange words and feelings that could not be expressed through the written word. He wanted to reassure them, and be reassured in turn. He realized that he might never see his family again.

His letter to uncle Zhong, his blood related uncle, the inn proprietor back in Ningde, ended up even more curt than his letter to uncle Jin, because he did not include anything related to the Wuyi Sect, and he couldn't bear to write much more.

For no matter how much he wrote, they would not be able to write back, as under his whimsical and eccentric master, his travels were sure to be hectic.

...