When it began to look like Bai Guo would never force out his reply, Ling Ling turned to leave.

"Wait!" He finally exclaimed. "What do you mean by that, Ling Ling? What happened?"

Ling Ling rolled her eyes. "Please don't act like you don't know. I would really prefer that we not dwell on this."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Mistress Ouyang told me, you know." The young woman said. "She told me that you were not sincere in your intentions. You just tricked me into helping your master. At first, I didn't want to believe it. But the more I thought about what happened between us, all the things you said to me, the more sense her words began to make."

"That's not..." Bai Guo tried to protest, but the last word died in his throat.

"And then in the end, you just left like it was nothing."

"I had to follow my master...!"

"But it turns out it was not too inconvenient for you to come see junior martial brother whenever you wanted."

"I didn't come here just for a friendly visit. Didn't you hear what I said when I arrived?" Bai Guo asked. "And I only barely managed to convince my master to allow me this much. And she was furious with me!"

"Maybe leisure is not why you arrived here initially, but it has certainly turned into that very quickly, hasn't it? Don't try to act like you two have been ruminating over some complex issue. You were just sipping tea and playing with your swords! You had plenty of time..."

Ling Ling's voice faded. Her eyes downcast, she turned away from him.

"You said you were busy." Bai Guo said uncertainly. "I didn't want to impose."

Ling Ling glared at him. "I was busy the last time you were here, too. It didn't stop you. I know you - or so I'd like to say, but it's hard to be sure anymore - and the Bai Guo I know can be very persistent when he wants something."

"You're not being fair here, Ling Ling."

"I think I'm being quite fair." Ling Ling interrupted, only to suddenly grow silent. She tensely rubbed her hands together under her sleeves. It was as though holding onto her anger was taking a toll on her; she was beginning to come off more depressed than mad. "I had a lot of time to think about this. I understand that mistress Ouyang put you and your master into a desperate situation. I'm not trying to proclaim a grudge against you. I'm just letting you know that we don't have to keep going through the motions just because you feel pity for me."

"That's not how I feel about you at all." Bai Guo reached out towards her.

The young woman flinched back. "Please, just leave me be. It doesn't matter anymore. I told you I'm fine with it. I just can't pretend not to know. I'd rather we simply not see each other."

Ling Ling walked away. Bai Guo wished to stop her again, but guilt tangled up his tongue, and soon she was gone. Frustrated, the young man brushed a hand through his hair. When he had finally made it to his room, he fell on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind was in turmoil, plagued by Ling Ling's words. And when he began to look further back, he started to feel even worse.

"Sure, lady Ouyang had us in dire straits back then." Bai Guo thought. "But can I really use that as an excuse? Can I really act like I wouldn't put her through the same ordeal even if there was no threat looming over our heads? Of course I can't! I had done the exact same thing at the Mountain Purification Temple."

Bai Guo gritted his teeth. "And I can't even put the blame on her! I could have avoided that obligation with ease, and she would have been none the wiser! If I'm willing to stoop to such lowly deceptions because of a mere suggestion from my master, what else am I capable of? All my talk of righteousness, all of my father's lessons, his sacrifice... What did all of that amount to? If father saw me now, what would he say?"

He continued to dwell on his woes. But even his ceaseless frustration couldn't ward off his fatigue for long. Before Bai Guo had noticed it, he fell into an uneasy slumber.

But because his thoughts had once again revolved around that golden haired woman, the sleep brought with it a repeat of the nightmares.

To his troubled mind, the massacres seemed so plausible, so vivid, that each time it was hard to recognize what unfolded before him as a dream, all but impossible to wake up from. Though he could endure the twisted imagery in its entirety, it was the sight of her unmasked visage that always sent him over the edge; the glimpse of that oblivious smile, so genuine that it resonated in her golden eyes, so blissfully uncaring of the blood that marred her white robe and dripped freely from her lengthy sleeves.

Bai Guo jolted awake. Though his dreams made it feel as though his sleep had been dragging on and on, when he peered out of the window, he found that it was only the first break of dawn. He was still so tired that his eyelids struggled to stay apart. Bai Guo stared out at the flower field surrounding the mansion, bathing in the rays of the morning sun. A gentle wind cooled his skin and stirred to life the many colors outside. The scene momentarily distracted him from his troubles.

He briefly wondered if he might be able to see Ling Ling and her stern old master on their way out. Bai Guo lingered on the windowsill for a time. He soon caught notice of a lone figure clad in black walking down the road leading out of the residence. To Bai Guo's surprise, instead of master and apprentice, it was his sworn brother that was taking his leave.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Because of his fatigue, he was quick to ascribe it to being in some way related to the trip that Ling Ling had talked about. Bai Guo's heart had mostly calmed by then, and his weariness had tempted him into continuing his rest. He shut the window and decided to return to bed. His subsequent sleep was blissfully dreamless.

When Bai Guo awoke again, it was nearly noon. He felt a tinge of shame over his lengthy slumber. Even before he had set out into the world, never had he woken up so decadently late. But it had been long since last he felt so well rested.

Not at all a stranger to living in the Ouyang household, Bai Guo went through his morning preparations and made himself a vegetable breakfast. Next he looked for Cui Shen, but quickly discovered that the man was nowhere to be seen. He peered into his room and found that it was empty. His sheathed sword was on his desk. He heard the voices of the girls outside working in the garden and stepped out to ask if they had seen him.

But when even the girls outside told him that they Cui Shen hadn't been seen since yesterday, Bai Guo was at a loss. It seemed evident that he hadn't left with lady Ouyang, because how could the matter have eluded their lengthy conversations? But then where did he go, and when would he be back? Bai Guo wasn't raring to be gone from this place so soon, to leave without so much as bidding a proper farewell, and neither was he confident enough that he would make it out of the swamp on his own without a guide.

Bai Guo left the girls to their work and wondered how to pass the time. But a sense of unease kept his thoughts in disarray. He instead wandered back into his sworn brother's room and took a better look around. His eyes were drawn back to the sheathed sword on the desk. Alongside it were also two books and a piece of paper. When Bai Guo's eyes ran across the contents of the note, his heart chilled.

"The death of senior Long has always lingered on my mind. Now that even brother Guo has vouched for his character, I cannot remain ignorant of my wrongdoings any longer. My days are numbered and without value. My remaining time will be best spent making amends for killing a good man.

To brother Guo I leave the items on my desk. Do with them as you deem fit. I apologize, but I must renege on my duties as your host. Master Ouyang should return in a few days. She will lead you out of the bog."

Bai Guo frantically leafed through the pages of the two manuals Cui Shen had left behind, hoping to uncover an additional message. But there was nothing in them beyond their subject matter: one of the books described a series of sword moves, while the other detailed alchemical formulas that Bai Guo could barely understand.

Anxious, he grabbed the sheathed sword. He stepped back, his mind racing to decide what he should do next. Bai Guo suddenly recalled his brother's words after their sparring match. At the time, he assumed his relief held no particular meaning. But it turned out that it was Cui Shen discarding what little remained reservations he had to go down this path.

"Brother Shen must be intending to give himself up to the Bureau!" Bai Guo paled. "They'll have him killed for sure!"

He soon rushed out of the room, picked up his own sword and his belongings, then barged into the household's storeroom. He took gloves, a wide-brimmed hat, donned a scarf, exchanged his shoes for thick boots, and all but covered himself head to toe until there was not the slightest gap in his attire for so much as a bug to slip through. Bai Guo sprinted down the road leading into the bog.

The sunlight grew dim, blotted out by dense foliage. "I have to stop him! Their local office is a couple of days away. He must be headed there. I got careless and ended up giving him such a huge head start, and there's no telling when I'll be able to find my way out of this place! I need to hurry! Heavens, let me make it in time!"

As he ran through the swamp, his eyes scanned his surroundings, desperately trying to recall the path he had taken out of this place with his master. His keen ears suddenly picked up a soft hiss.

Bai Guo turned towards it, his sword already in his hands, half of its blade drawn from the sheath. He came face to face with a snake, its fangs bare as it lunged down on him from the branch of a tree. Its gaping maw fell upon sharp steel, cutting deep into its scaly flesh.

Though a part of him wondered if the density of his current clothing could have safeguarded him from its fangs, he knew better than to willingly put it to the test. With a swing of his sword, Bai Guo flung aside the writhing carcass of the venomous vermin. His haste had agitated the poisonous denizens of lady Ouyang's domain, but he had no time to spare on the frivolities of self-preservation.

Bai Guo's mad dash resumed. The thin and serpentine roads twisted and deceived, stringing him along in circles and bringing him nowhere, defying all sense. What little skill for navigation Bai Guo had developed during his travels proved to be of no use, and there was little recourse left to him but to fling himself at as many directions as possible, cover as much ground as he could.

By the time the vegetation around him had finally thinned out, daylight had grown dim. Once he was out of the labyrinthine bog, Bai Guo rushed without pause to Cui Shen's old home to fetch his horse.

...