The pair continued south from the ruined village, the sun's blazing eye just beginning its descent from its noontime apex.

"So," Five began, "how do you want to handle this fellow?"

Blood River shrugged. "I go in and kill him, and we're done?"

Five laughed. "Oh dear."

"Something funny?" River asked, perplexed.

"Oh, not much," she replied, "I just assumed that you had more experience dealing with these kinds of marks. I forgot that you're younger than I am and your targets so far have either been on the move or been destitute rogue cultivators."

"Is there some distinction I should be making then?" River asked, curious. While he was probably safe regardless thanks to Mister Black's presence, that trump card was not something he would reveal to anyone.

"Old monsters with caves specialized places for cultivation tend to fortify them with traps and even runic diagrams," Five explained. "Since this cave is likely something inherited from previous generations of ancestors in the clan, I imagine the defenses should be pretty formidable among those for a cultivator of his level. That is probably why the Den didn't bother dealing with him yet; they'd have to dispatch real experts rather than an army to deal with the arrays."

River snorted. "Given the tendency of Flowing Water's leadership to funnel resources for personal enrichment, you're likely right. So what do we do about it?"

Five tapped at her temple with a forefinger. "I'm not a strong fighter like you, but my detection abilities are top class, at least in a backwater like this. I can also do some minor mental attacks and lightbending. That talent is part of why my grandpa picked me up."

"So you're saying I can go without the hood entirely if I keep you around, and could have when we set out in the first place."

"Sure, but I've learned early on to try to keep it simple, given that was only a minor inconvenience. The point is, I can locate the weaknesses in any arrays around the cave, and I can also help subdue the Ghost without being involved in the melee." Five sighed. "You know, just in case you had anything to say before sending him off."

"That's handy enough. We can try it your way, then, and if he resists I can squish him anyway."

Five laughed. "Of course, River."

The pair slowed their approach as a mountainous outcropping came into view. It wasn't very much of a mountain, more resembling a pile of white rocks jumbled together from a distance, but in the generally flat grasslands, it was still prominent.

"This should be it," Five announced.

River nodded. He didn't know, one way or another, as this was beyond anywhere he'd ranged in this direction.

Five stopped. "Hold still," she commanded, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

River gulped and complied, doing his best to remain calm as she did whatever it was she was doing.

"Okay, it looks like we're in luck," she announced, her eyes still closed. "Our friend is home. As for the defenses... a detection array, a handful of trap diagrams, and some essence collection runes. I'm actually a little disappointed; I was expecting more." Five furrowed her brow in concentration. "Give me a moment, and I'll have us keyed to bypass the array."

River nodded.

"Not bad," Mister Black chimed in unprompted, "not bad at all. This girl has a real talent for this stuff. It wouldn't be bad for you to keep her around, you know."

"If you like her so much you can jump ship, you know," River retorted.

"Tsk tsk," Mister Black chided, "now what have I done to deserve that? She's not very good at the killing part, anyway, so she'll always need a partner. Don't tell me you disapprove of the match, my friend?"

"We'll have a discussion about deserving things later," River remarked sourly, "and I'll take care of my own business when it comes to that kind of thing, thank you."

Mister Black chuckled. "You aren't cultivating to be a eunuch, my young friend. Plus you'll cut off your circulation wearing those pants if you don't do anything--"

"Thank you; I can handle it fine myself, you old ghost." River remarked sourly, doing his best to not flush openly at the provocation.

Mister Black only laughed at that but said nothing more.

"Okay, done!" Five announced as that mental laughter faded off. She opened her eyes and smiled. "Let me go first so I can guide you through the traps."

River nodded. "Of course. Lead on, my lady."

Five smirked as she turned and walked towards the rock outcropping, every so often turning in a precise manner on her heel and then continuing to step forward. River followed suit, cursing that he didn't come up with some pretense of having a detection ability so they could just leap over these things entirely and get this over with.

But at least the view was nice.

A quarter-hour passed before they finally made it to the cavern's entrance. River could feel essence in the air denser than that typically found in the grasslands as some leaked out through the cave mouth.

Five put a finger to her lips and then quietly tiptoed inside. River did his best to remain silent as he followed her in.

The tunnel was a narrow fit, barely wide enough to accommodate a single grown man at a time. River found himself amused at that fact; at least this way, there was no escape for the old clan chief. The reliance on the detection array wouldn't be his downfall -- being River's enemy was enough for that -- but it definitely made the whole thing easier.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

At the end of the tunnel, in a small chamber scarcely larger than the old shack River lived in, the Ghost of Flowing Water sat in a meditative pose, a runic circle drawn around him. His eyes were closed, and his attention seemed wholly focused on his cultivation; who would or could intrude here, after all?

The former clan chief of the Flowing Water tribe was a slim and rather plain-looking man draped in a blue robe. His unlined face did not match his age but his silver hair did. River recalled that the man was supposedly as old as Elder Cloud, who was old enough that even with a peak Human Realm physique he was already at the end of his natural lifespan.

A slight cracking sound echoed through the chamber as River stepped on a loose pebble. He cursed silently as the man's eyes shot open and he jumped up to stand on his feet.

Before the man could do anything else, Five dashed forward while making a waving gesture with her right hand. The old chief clutched his head and groaned in response to the gesture.

Five ran into the chamber and threw herself aside in time for River to charge forward and into the man, slamming him into the cave wall and restraining him with a hand on the neck.

"Who--?" the man asked in a raspy croak as he regained his faculties.

"One of the ones you discarded in your indifference to anything but your own advancement, you bastard." River spoke through clenched teeth.

"What? But why--?" the man seemed genuinely confused at the accusations.

"Don't play stupid, old man," River said, almost spitting with fury. "All of you knew about Elder Wave's little hobby chamber and did nothing."

"It wasn't my place... I'm the protector of the clan, not the enforcer..." the man was at a loss for words.

"Don't bullshit me, old man," River sneered. "Who is there to protect if not the most vulnerable among us?" He then did something surprising to both the man and to Five: he let the man drop to the ground. "Kneel and beg for forgiveness and you might have a chance."

The old clan chief clutched at his throat and gasped for air, but it was clear that he understood the gravity of his current situation. This devil child in front of him had handled him as casually as he could handle a child. River could almost see the wheels of his mind spinning as he calculated the best way out of this situation.

"I-I'm sorry," the Ghost of Flowing Water said, getting on both knees. "I'm so very sorry. I abandoned my responsibilities and thought only of my benefits. I was blind, so very blind. Now am I forgiven?"

River shrugged and dropped to his haunches to look the former clan chief in the eyes. "It's okay, I forgive you, old man."

The Ghost of Flowing Water, the clan chief of the Flowing Water tribe, heaved a shuddering sigh of relief at River's pronouncement of forgiveness.

River's right hand shot out and clutched the top of the old man's head.

"Now," River smiled gruesomely, "you can go to Hell and ask all the rest of them for theirs. See how kind I am?"

The man shuddered and tried to claw at River, but it was already too late. He rapidly, visibly withered, his unlined face pruning up as the blood vitality was sucked out of his body.

To River, the man's blood essence was an exquisite repast, finer than the meals he had at the inn. It was the best feeling he had felt since before he was interrupted draining Elder Wave in what felt now like an eternity ago. The black hole of Passion Sublimation whirled as it consumed his anger and hatred and jubilation, while the man's remaining vitality drained out and refined River's body.

Sighing as it ended, River stood and turned to regard his companion. Almost to his disappointment, Five did not seem to be perturbed in the slightest by the barbaric bloodsucking. She didn't scream, didn't shake, and instead watched passively as he got to his feet.

"I was afraid you were going soft there for a second, River," she said after a moment's silence.

"Never," River shook his head. "I wasn't going to let him go without first kicking him off a cliff into despair, though. It's the least he deserved."

Five laughed. "You're interesting," she noted, smiling.

"I have somewhere else to visit right now," River said. "It's not far. Would you like to accompany me?"

"Uh, sure," Five replied. "Where is it?"

"That old outpost," River responded. "After mentioning it earlier, I think there's still some other ghosts that need to be laid to rest there now that this Ghost is finished."

"Let's go, then," Five turned and went down the narrow cavern corridor.

River followed while considering something. After using the Blood Devouring Palm on the old man, he felt... full. He had accumulated the energy and the honing to advance his physique again, but there was something else missing. He found inspiration in those final words to the Ghost of Flowing Water, though; he would purify his mental state by cleansing that old bandit warren.

The pair set off again, returning north past the broken ruins of Flowing Water. The sun was two-thirds through its descent by the time they reached the hill mound where River had abandoned his old name and life.

The station had yet to be repopulated, and about the only cleaning that had happened was the removal of the desiccated corpses. There was little point in manning the place as a waystation now that Flowing Water was wiped out. Five procured a dead torch from a sconce and, using some art River didn't recognize, lit it with her hand.

As they walked around the interior of the hill mound, River narrated the tale of what happened there to Five, saving for last the reveal of Elder Wave's "playroom." The woman who seemed so very worldly paled as she looked around the chamber and left as quickly as she could.

"So, what are you going to do with... that." Five said, shuddering.

"I'm going to purify it all," River replied. "Between the supply of lamp oil already here and some of what I have from the caravan... it should be enough. It'll burn away, all of it."

The pair got to work, River alone taking care of that one particular room, and within an hour they were finished, tossing the lit torch into the hollow's mouth and watching the whole thing go up in flame as they distanced themselves. River felt an easing of that pressure of fullness inside himself, but the bottleneck didn't quite budge yet.

"I think I need a bath after that," Five remarked, wrinkling her nose.

An idea occurred to River as she said that. "I know just the place," he told her, smiling as he dashed through the grasslands.

It was only a few minutes before the pair reached a large pond, a place River had last seen a lifetime ago. It wasn't particularly spacious, but the water was clear.

"And this is the place where everything changed for me," River announced. "Right by the bank of this pond."

"Oh?" Five arched an eyebrow. "You can tell me about it while we wash down, then," she remarked, looking him up and down.

"Uh..." River was getting memories of his awkward morning from that look and promised to burn this pair of pants as soon as he could manage it.

Five smiled and reached forward to hook a finger into his waistband, pulling him towards her. He was too surprised at that moment to resist.

Then she shoved him into the pond, laughing before she jumped in after him. They struggled in a not-so-serious manner for a moment, water splashing over and around them as they did, but she finally managed to plant a kiss on his lips.

"Well then," he finally managed to speak.

Five smirked. "Oh dear, our clothes seem to be all wet, whatever shall we do," she almost shouted in mock seriousness as she got out of the pond.

"Uh..." River was at a loss for words again, but he did scramble up and follow her up to the bank.

"Idiot." Mister Black chimed in, "get some blankets out of that pouch of yours and lay them out. You don't want to be doing this on the grass and dirt, you moron."

"Do you mind?" River retorted at his ghostly guest.

Mister Black laughed. "I'm leaving, I'm leaving... have a good night, young man." A wicked laugh accompanied the old ghost's withdrawal.

"Well?" Five said, snapping River out of his reverie. "This isn't coming off by itself, you know."

River followed Mister Black's advice and procured some blankets, laying them out along the bank.

Then he took care of her wardrobe problem, even as she took care of his.

As the ruddy light of the setting sun played over the rippling water of the pond, River and Five got down to business with earnestness. There wouldn't be very much sleep for either of them that night. Besides the many things the young man learned from the woman that night, there was one bit of knowledge he learned that he treasured above all of it.

A name. Celia.