Tao Geming sat on his bed cross-legged, his eyes closed. He slowly opened them.

"Be specific." He uttered harshly, as if he was the one being done a disservice here.

"How did you find us?" She asked.

"I followed you from Yiqin."

The Golden Witch scoffed. "You, perhaps, take me for a fool. You were nowhere near us the entire time!"

Tao Geming erupted into a laugh. "Standing atop a mountain, I can see every beast across the entire range. If you think I had to be anywhere near you to pursue, you really are a fool! I had an entire night to watch you flounder around like a fish, running from those Royal School morons. You thought I wouldn't learn anything from that? I grasped the limits of your extraordinary sense as if it was my own!"

He shifted in his seat, gripping his knees. "See, this is what I was talking about. You have brute strength, but you don't have the slightest bit of cunning in you! The way you are now, the jianghu will chew you up and spit you out like a bitter root. You've been getting on well enough because nobody knows who you are, but see just how quickly your fortune can change when someone is prepared for you! If I had bad intentions, where would you three be now?"

The Golden Witch wasn't pleased at all to hear any of it. Her blonde locks shook as she half-turned to leave several times during his speech, but somehow forced herself to stay.

"Why did you attack lady Ouyang?" She asked next.

"Since you straddled yourself with an unnecessary promise like the fool you are, I had to do what you originally intended on your behalf."

"I'm asking you why!" She erupted.

Tao Geming suddenly hesitated.

"I stated my desire quite clearly during our first meeting."

"That stupid idea you got in your head? Something about reversing your age?" The Witch groaned. "You were mistaken! I can do no such thing."

"There's no point playing the fool now. You have something I need; I have something you need."

The Golden Witch couldn't help but laugh. "What could you possibly have that I need?"

"Experience!" Tao Geming exclaimed. "I spent my entire life as part of the jianghu, and for over 40 years I wandered it by myself. I know every trick and every scheme. Instead of letting a kid and a dead man keep herding you into trouble, let me guide you!"

"This is absurd. Get lost!"

"You get lost!" Tao Geming lost his nerve. "This is my room!"

The Golden Witch turned away indignantly and left. "If I catch you following us again, I'll kill you!"

She slammed the door on the way out.

As she passed Cui Shen's room, Bai Guo peered out. "Master..." He called out.

She twirled around on her foot and barked, "What?!"

When she found her disciple gaping wordlessly at her outburst, she tried again more gently. "What?"

When still no response came, her patience quickly wore thin. "Just come with me." She said, walking away. Bai Guo followed.

They stepped out of the manor and climbed the roof. They gazed at the field of flowers from above, though the beautiful view had been marred by Tao Geming's rampage. They saw Ling Ling working to pluck out the ruined flowers and dig up the soil tainted by her master's poison.

"How's Cui Shen?" The Golden Witch asked.

"Well, he's not very pleased about what happened with his master..." Bai Guo tried to summarize it diplomatically, but the woman was nevertheless downcast by his words. "Master, I have to ask, why didn't you stop Tao Geming?"

Her mouth in her knees, she muttered. "It's as he said.Whether I like it or not, he did do me a favor. It was convenient. It's why I haven't killed him still. The truth is, even after all this time, I had no real plan coming here. Maybe I really am a fool."

"If you get swayed by that man's words, then you really are, master!" Bai Guo exclaimed. "He's a vagabond who wastes his life wandering around alone, what advice could he possibly offer?"

She sat there in silence.

"Master... I understand why you might have felt apprehensive asking sir Shen about how to persuade his master to teach you the poison arts, but why didn't you ask me? I assumed you had a plan already, so I didn't ask about it. I'm sure we could have figured something out, even with just the two of us."

As she remained quiet, Bai Guo grew a little indignant. "You know, master, as your disciple, it really bothers me that you don't rely on me for anything. I may be lacking in martial arts, but I have other talents! Even if you don't think I can help, bring the problem up to me anyway, and you might be surprised!"

She turned her yellow eyes towards him. "Okay..."

They were both silent for a time.

"Also, if it makes you feel better, I don't think sir Shen will stay angry for long..."

The woman sighed. "I don't imagine he'll wish to travel with us anymore, though..."

"I don't think that was his plan to begin with, master. Maybe if his health was a bit better..."

"That's true, but I was thinking that we could perhaps find him a decent place to settle down before we must part."

Bai Guo pondered her words. He had then been loudly interrupted by his grumbling stomach.

"Tonight is going to be tough..." He whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not planning to eat in a place like this, that's for sure, so I'll have to sleep hungry." Bai Guo explained. Though she hadn't shared his woes, she smiled in understanding.

Nevertheless, that evening, they had been invited to dinner, and Ling Ling pestered them until they agreed to attend.

Bai Guo sat there, picking at his vegetable dish, unconvincingly pretending to eat. The Golden Witch hadn't even bothered to pretend. Cui Shen and Tao Geming ate without reservations. The other four girls and the old nun had joined them as well, as well as the Five Venoms Devil and her young disciple. Not a single word had been uttered at the table.

Ling Ling, sitting beside lady Ouyang, whispered something to her, glancing at the other master-disciple pair in confusion. The old woman's quiet reply caused her to gasp.

Ling Ling suddenly stood up and yelled at them, indignant. "You really think us so wretched, that we would stoop so low as to poison our own guests?!"

Bai Guo, startled, nearly dropped the chopsticks that he had been pretending to use. Breaking out into a sweat, he hastily began to eat in earnest. The Golden Witch felt pressured into nibbling her meal as well, if only to prove her good will.

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Contented, Ling Ling sat back down.

Then, Tao Geming looked up from his plate and grumbled. "Why am I being subjected to a monk's diet? Don't you have any meat and wine?"

Ling Ling meekly lowered her gaze and dared not say a word.

Her master replied, "Go prepare the guest some frogs, little Ling. And give him some of that wine you made with the other girls."

The girl stood up again. "Would any of the other guests like to have some, too?" She intently stared at Bai Guo.

After some hesitation, the young man responded. "If it's not too inconvenient..."

The Golden Witch said, "I'll try a frog."

After the additional dishes had been served, they all finished them in gloomy silence, and then retired to their rooms.

The next morning, as the Golden Witch was getting herself ready, Ling Ling came into her room.

"Breakfast will be ready soon." She said. After the woman nodded at her in acknowledgment, the girl asked, "Would you like some help? I can brush your hair."

"If you don't mind." The Golden Witch replied. Ling Ling sat behind her and began to run her hands and brush through the woman's long blonde locks.

"I've never seen anyone with hair like yours." The girl mused. "Mistress Ouyang told me that people from very far away have light hair like you. Would you tell me which land you hail from, and what language do they speak there? I hope you don't mind me asking, it's just that the other girls keep pestering me about you, but I don't know what to tell them..."

As Ling Ling mumbled her excuses, the Golden Witch responded, "I'm not from very far away, and this is the only language I speak. I used to live near the lands of the Wuyi. I've never met anyone that looks like me. I don't even share a resemblance with my parents..."

"Could you tell me more? Who were your parents?"

But the woman suddenly grew quiet. Ling Ling didn't dare to prod any further and allowed the conversation to peter out by focusing on the work.

At one point, the girl subtly brought the hair closer to her nose and took a quick whiff.

But the Golden Witch had noticed. "...What are you doing?"

Ling Ling glowed in embarrassment and hid from the mirror behind the woman's frame. She stuttered out a reply. "Nothing! I was just a little curious. I thought since it looks different, maybe it might smell different, too... That's all..."

"Well, how was it?" The woman laughed.

"It was good. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it." She stammered. "It smells like hair."

"Would you perhaps like to have a taste, too, to make sure there's nothing wrong with it?" The Golden Witch joked.

"No!"

After that exchange, Ling Ling continued to brush until her shame had cooled.

"What do you think?" She finally asked, glancing into the Witch's mirror.

The Golden Witch briefly took her own measure. "It looks good. Thank you."

"Have you ever thought about tying it up? I could help and lend you some hairpins."

"No, I like it better this way." She stood up. "And it's more practical."

Practical, how? Ling Ling wanted to ask, but as the woman's tall figure suddenly rose and began to tower over her, she found herself overwhelmed. She scrambled to her feet, but still needed to crane her neck to look her in the eyes. Staring in wonder, she said, "You're so tall. You must draw eyes everywhere you go."

"That's true." The Golden Witch sighed.

"You don't like that?"

"There are times when I'd rather look like everybody else."

Ling Ling nodded, though she could hardly understand her woes. "Breakfast will be ready soon. I'll call on you."

As the girl left, the Golden Witch reconvened with her two companions.

Or at the very least, that had been her intention at first. She frowned before saying a word, and went to Tao Geming's room.

He greeted her with a shout. "Stop barging into my room uninvited, you hag!"

"Why are you still here?" She shouted back.

"What business is it of yours? I can stay as long as I like!"

They glared at each other for a while.

The Golden Witch suddenly asked, "Why have you still not expelled the poison from your body?"

"I'll do it when I damn well please! Now get out!"

She slammed the door on him and stomped back over to Cui Shen and Bai Guo.

"We can't leave before he does. He'll just follow us around again!" She complained.

Cui Shen concurred. "I can't leave while he's still here, either. There's no telling what he might do. It wouldn't be right to abandon my master at a time like this."

Realizing that he was speaking as if he had already excluded himself from their group, the Golden Witch and her disciple exchanged defeated glances.

Bai Guo changed the subject. "Master, what was that about the poison in his body?"

The Golden Witch replied. "It's strange, but I could have sworn that he had already gotten rid of it yesterday. But today, I can feel its presence disrupting his internal energy again."

Bai Guo paled. "Did they poison our food after all?"

Cui Shen sternly rejected the thought. "Lady Ouyang isn't just a run of the mill poisoner. She is also a martial artist of the jianghu, which means she has her principles. Even if she intended to kill us or Tao Geming, that's not how she would go about it."

The woman's yellow brows curved. "I don't really understand, but I'll trust your judgment. That still leaves the matter of how the poison returned."

"Master, I'm not entirely sure why you're interested in this at all, to be quite honest. Even if the Five Venoms Devil found some other way to poison Tao Geming, as long as she's not targeting us, what difference does it make to us now?"

The Golden Witch pressed her sleeve against her chin. "It could be that he had been poisoned again without knowing, but it could also be that, perhaps..." She trailed off.

Bai Guo's hair stood on end as he recognized a peculiar glint in his master's eye of vibrant yellow. It was that same fascinated glimmer that, in his experience, always heralded the approach of a brand new unsavory incident.

But at that moment, Ling Ling summoned them for breakfast.