金玉其外敗絮其中 (jīn yù qí wài bài xù qí zhōng ) - coated in gold and jade, ruined inside; fair without, foul within.

***

Night had fallen over Yùhǎi.

Gong Lau Jan sat on the windowsill of the room they had all rented at the inn, staring out across the darkened streets towards the bay. The inn sat a little ways up the steep slopes that ran down to the harbour, cast from ancient limestone like the enormous natural spikes that rose out of the strangely opaque blue waters of the sea. They had arrived earlier that day, both she and Zéyì exhausted from travelling. Zyu Ji Sang had immediately made Zéyì go straight to bed with a sleeping draught, but Gong Lau Jan had resisted for the time being – there were things she needed to do first.

Zyu Ji Sang entered from the side room where Zéyì was sleeping and went straight to Gong Lau Jan to check her pulse.

"Not now," the loong said wearily, as the doctor opened her mouth to speak. "I know, I know."

Uncharacteristically, Zyu Ji Sang's face showed a tinge of anxiety. "You can't keep doing this, Gong ze."

Gong Lau Jan looked at her trembling hands and put them down with a rueful laugh. "Someone has to."

"That 'someone' should be your ji maa! She has an entire army she can send out to gather information and catch the culprits. You should rest. You're not well, Gong ze. You keep pushing yourself but how much longer-"

"As long as I can." Gong Lau Jan smiled at the rarely distressed doctor. "Can you imagine me sitting in the Ocean Palace, embroidering or something while I wait?"

Zyu Ji Sang looked uncomfortable as she said in a small voice, "At least... you could stop babysitting that person."

Gong Lau Jan's expression turned stern. "Siu Wan(1), you know I can't do that."

"You can't save everyone, Gong ze. She's..."

A little ocean breeze stirred their hair.

"How..." Gong Lau Jan cleared her throat and tried again. "Her prognosis?"

Zyu Ji Sang shook her head. "I... This is beyond my expertise. The demonic energy and her spiritual powers are constantly battling within her. She can't seem to suppress the demonic power properly, it keeps surging back."

"If we couldn't feel it, she would seem so normal." Gong Lau Jan's grey-brown eyes flickered towards the door of the side room. "Except that last time..."

"That's exactly it! She shouldn't be normal. She's a human before she's a cultivator, and she spent over one hundred years trapped at the bottom of a lake alone. How can a human withstand such a situation? Yet after we found her, she 'apparently' recovered so quickly. When she attacked you? I would expect her to be that way more often than not. She's hiding it. And let's not even start on how she's barely been questioning things that she should..."

They lapsed into silence again.

"She's very sick," Zyu Ji Sang said softly. "We need to take her somewhere where someone understands what's happening with her, who can treat her. So you can focus on looking after yourself."

"We've looked, Siu Wan. We've been looking continuously. I fear that it's just made it worse. When I came back the last time and saw what state she was in..." She shook her shaking hands and extracted her water flask. "We can't... I can't leave her alone again."

"I think it's too late."

They both looked grim. Gong Lau Jan took a contemplative sip of water.

"You mean the demon prince, right?"

Zyu Ji Sang distractedly began to empty her bag of items and sort them one by one. "What a strange choice. I don't understand why... Like I said, this isn't my area of expertise. We need to find someone, fast."

"She's waking up," Gong Lau Jan warned under her breath, her supernatural hearing picking up the faint stirring sounds.

Without a single sign of nerves, Zyu Ji Sang continued smoothly, "We're going to have to disguise ourselves to go to the auction."

"That sounds like a hassle."

"Do you really think that Miss Fén, Demon Hunter, can just casually walk into a place like that?"

"What about Miracle Doctor Zhū?"

"Exactly. Have you thought of anything?"

"I could go in my loong form. They wouldn't suspect I was Miss Fén then."

Zéyì laughed softly from where she was propping herself up against the doorframe. Gong Lau Jan smiled crookedly at her. "Sleep well?"

"I did. For the first time in a while, actually."

"Good. So how would you like to be disguised for the auction? Rich merchant? Demon noble?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure. What do you think, Fàn... Your Highness? Where...?"

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Right on cue, the demon prince came waltzing through the door, " Yeah! Let's all dress up as demon nobles! I can sort us all out with disguises easily!"

Gong Lau Jan sighed. Zyu Ji Sang's face twitched.

"A Lián, you could disguise yourself as such, since your demonic energy would lend itself to the disguise. Zyu Ji Sang and I would have to go a different route."

"Poisoner and bodyguard," Zyu Ji Sang suggested succinctly.

"Easy." Gong Lau Jan waved Zéyì to come closer. "Your hair is messy, let me redo it."

Zyu Ji Sang stood abruptly. "I'm going for a walk."

"I'll come with you!"

The cold doctor swept from the room, ignoring the demon prince following closely behind her. Gong Lau Jan smiled and gestured Zéyì into the seat that the doctor had just vacated. "Just the two of us, A Lián. How would you like me to do your hair?"

Humming a little, Gong Lau Jan combed out Zéyì's dark hair, now grown much longer since they had cut it back when she first surfaced from the lake. Zéyì closed her eyes, enjoying the tingling sensation spreading from her scalp whilst simultaneously trying to keep her composure. The loong began to braid her hair.

"Miss Gong?"

"Hm?"

"I'm... sorry. I know that doesn't even begin to-"

"Well, you were right. Although... I'd rather you didn't attack me again."

Zéyì lapsed into a suffocating silence.

"How are you feeling these days, A Lián?"

"N-not bad. It's... it's nice to travel. It's interesting seeing how things have changed over the past hundred years. Do you find that, Gong ze? Is it... hard seeing how things change over thousands of years?"

"I'm a loong. I'm used to it. I think... well, honestly, A Yì, isn't it harder for you, a human?"

Zéyì laughed softly. "Maybe it's a surprise, but not really. I'm very content at the moment. After all, I've also got good companions too, right? You and Zyu Ji Sang. And Fàn Bì'ān, of course. Poor Ji Sang, he bothers her so much. I should tell him off."

"You like Fàn Bì'ān a lot, don't you?"

"He reminds me of someone..." Zéyì's brow furrowed. "He reminds me of... Who does he remind me of? I don't even know! It's there at the front of my mind, I can almost see them... How annoying!"

"It'll come to you. Remember, you're not fully recovered from being cursed." Gong Lau Jan realised she had not braided Zéyì's hair very neatly and undid it. "Let me try again. But you like him a lot, don't you? You didn't answer me."

"Yes! I would have thought a demon would be more... troublesome? But he's actually been so good to me. I don't think I told you, but while I was... while you... when I es- when I left the Chūn Palace and was recovering, he sat outside the cave I was in and waited for me to come out. I was honestly very touched."

Gong Lau Jan's hands trembled slightly as they braided, but she didn't stop and Zéyì didn't seem to notice. "That was nice of him."

"Yeah, he's often been around when I needed... Oh!"

"Yes?"

"I remember! He reminds me of Fifth Brother!"

Gong Lau Jan's hands stopped this time. "As in, your biological Fifth Brother?"

"Yes! Some of his mannerisms, his cheekiness... now that I think about it, even his appearance is a little similar. I don't mean the skin colour or the ears or the horns, ha! But something about the shape of the eyes, his height, the way they laugh. No wonder I feel so comfortable with him." Zéyì smiled with reminiscence. "Fifth Brother Měng Huàn(2)!"

"Tell me about him?"

"Well, where do I start?"

For the rest of the night, Zéyì babbled about Chūn Měng Huàn as Gong Lau Jan braided and undid her hair, over and over, both of them avoiding what needed to be talked about. It was only as dawn was breaking that Zyu Ji Sang returned, Fàn Bì'ān in tow, and banished Gong Lau Jan to the bedroom to sleep. The loong wandered off yawning, waving away Zéyì's profuse apologies for keeping her up. To make up for her thoughtlessness, Zéyì conscientiously ran errands to prepare for the auction that evening, while Zyu Ji Sang and Gong Lau Jan napped.

Zéyì and Fàn Bì'ān, the latter disguised with a scarf wrapped around his head to hide his ears and horns, found themselves running giddily through Yùhǎi, calling out to each other in the warm sun on the busy streets. The city was built into the limestone slopes, a true seaside town, where the limestone plunged into the water, and fishing and passenger vessels slipped between the crags of white that rose from the water. The pair explored the city from top to bottom, dipping their feet in the opaque, bright turquoise water of the bay, standing at the viewing platform at the very highest point overlooking the bay with other tourists, admiring the bronze statues dotted throughout. People with spiritual powers soared overhead on clouds and flowers and swords, and the pair waved crazily at them, laughing. As Zéyì paused for a moment to catch her breath, she thought that perhaps she hadn't laughed so much in such a long time.

Finally, they gathered the necessary items and slowly made their way back to the inn, kicking a rock between them like little children.

"Dàjiě," Fàn Bì'ān suddenly said, as he missed the rock and decided not to retrieve it. "You really like Fén dàjiě, right?"

Zéyì laughed, a little embarrassed. "Fén- Gong ze has been so good to me, but she's clearly not... Anyway, I'm a human."

"I'm glad."

"...?"

"Well... think about it. When you were struggling, where was she? I know she pulled you out of the lake, but she left you alone. And she's saying she'll follow you now since you have her sister's energy, but doesn't she still seem to be more concerned about Zhū dàjiě?"

"So she should be. I'm more than capable of looking after myself." Zéyì lightly tapped the demon's shin with her foot, since her hands were full. "Don't talk like that, Bì'ān dì(3). You're not jealous, are you?"

"Extremely. I wish Zhū Yī Shēng would pay half as much attention to me as she did to Fén dàjiě."

"There's no need for jealousy. Well, more like, there's no point in it."

"Hm?"

"Gong ze and Zhū Yī Shēng... they have a long history, clearly. Of course they're closer to each other than anyone else."

"Now who's jealous?"

"Bì'ān dì!"

"You should ask them what's going on between them."

"No. No, it's none of my business. You're a bad influence."

Fàn Bì'ān shrugged. "You say that, but your demonic energy is starting to get out of hand again."

Zéyì paused to lean against an archway and breathed deep. She screwed her eyes shut with frustration. "I thought I had it under control. Why does it keep coming back? Am I that weak?"

She could feel the chaos in her three dāntián as the demonic energy clawed its way uppermost.

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Fàn Bì'ān said suddenly. "I mean, I'm not that bad, am I?"

"I guess not. Just annoying."

"Oh, thanks."

Zéyì laughed, and forced the demonic energy back down once more. "Come on, let's hurry up."

They returned to the inn to find Zyu Ji Sang and Gong Lau Jan awake and conversing seriously, although the two moved apart as Fàn Bì'ān and Zéyì entered the room. Zéyì made no comment, only handing over the items with a smile.

They donned their disguises, Fàn Bì'ān tweaking Zéyì's outfit here and there or simply teasing her by attaching her accessories to the wrong place until she softly smacked him, laughing. She thought she caught Zyu Ji Sang and Gong Lau Jan looking in their direction once or twice, but she ignored it.

At last, they were done. Zyu Ji Sang was dressed all in black and purple with her silver hair elegantly swept into an elaborate hairstyle, and Gong Lau Jan was impressive in black leather armour, with a helmet that partially masked her face.

Zéyì and Fàn Bì'ān looked like a pair of demonic noble siblings, dramatic in dark red and silver, the former's unearthily pale and silver-scarred skin stark against the cloth. She looked up to find Gong Lau Jan watching her approvingly and immediately looked away, her cheeks warming.

The loong shifted her gaze and gave everyone a satisfied nod as they all donned cloaks to hide under until they reached the venue.

"Looking good, everyone. Shall we go and see what's for sale?"