Sek Gon was out cold for five days.

When Gou Dzing went to wake him the next morning, there was no response. He had thought that the other cultivator had looked a bit tired the night before, but now in the light of day, he saw the full extent – Sek Gon's skin had a sickly greenish tinge and his eye sockets were dark and hollow. When the bandages on his hands were changed, the burns revealed themselves to have become large blisters, with the skin sloughing off and the raw flesh underneath weeping clear lymph. Occasionally, he would obediently cough up blood as a good cultivator with internal damage should.

Chan Bik came by later on the first day, her cheeks purpled but the swelling reduced. She grumbled angrily at Sek Gon's unconscious form but otherwise listened quietly to Gou Dzing's understanding of the situation.

In any case, the early morning patrol had headed out to the site of the campfire and come back with a report.

“I've never seen anything like it,” Disciple Cheng recounted, having led the expedition. “There's a huge area, about one by one and a half bou that is covered in a thin layer of this strange crystal.” She handed Gou Dzing a small piece of some hard silvery substance, formed of tiny crystalline columns. He turned it over in his hands, puzzled, and experimentally scratched it against a steel dagger used for training. The silver crystal easily left a clean gash on the steel surface.

“There's signs of fire all throughout the area, with one or two trees completely engulfed. But this crystal seems to have otherwise suppressed the flames and prevented them from going any further.”

As they spoke, the younger disciples whispered amongst themselves.

“Cheng Si-dze and Gou Si-hing look so good together, right?”

“Right, Cheng Si-dze is accomplished and refined, and Gou Si-hing is the great Jade Exorcist and head disciple of our school, of course they're right together.”

Chan Bik clicked her tongue and spoke loudly to no-one in particular. “I thought coming to a place like this, I would meet people who would teach me to be restrained and dignified. But apparently it's full of stereotypical background characters!”

Disciple Cheng stifled a laugh and clapped her hands. “Si-dai and si-mui, what happened to your schedules? Just because Master is in seclusion doesn't mean you can laze around! Go on, go and gossip about me elsewhere.”

The young disciples quickly left, looking embarrassed, leaving Gou Dzing, Disciple Cheng and Chan Bik, who was at a loss. Disciple Cheng gestured her forwards.

“What a good girl! Or maybe... you were jealous?”

Chan Bik almost expected a pair of sharp ears and a fox's tail to pop out of this refined Senior Sister. Up close, she was treated to the full affect of the shapely disciple and her attractive face, although she could now see a teasing glint in those narrow dark grey eyes that she had not perceived before.

“Jealous? Cheng Si-dze, I'm not jealous!” she denied, her cheeks warming painfully. Disciple Cheng laughed heartily in a way very unbecoming for a Senior Sister.

Gou Dzing tweaked her ear reprimandingly. “Stop that.”

“You don't have to call me Cheng Si-dze yet,” the woman wiped away tears of laughter as she addressed Chan Bik. “My name is Cheng Baak-hap. You can call me Hap Dze-dze...”

Her ear was tweaked by Gou Dzing again as Chan Bik stood awkwardly with her mouth open, whole face on fire.

“Alright, enough messing around,” Gou Dzing flicked the silver crystal up and caught it. “Call one of the juniors to take this to the smithy and ask if they know what it is. In any case, this could explain why Sir Sek is out cold today.”

“You understand the interaction of the elements, right?” Cheng Baak-hap asked Chan Bik, when the younger woman looked puzzled. “The five elements, Fire, Wood, Water, Metal and Earth all have relationships with each other. These can be destructive or constructive. Fire melts Metal, so those with a Metal attribute have usually weaker to Fire-attributed attacks.”

“After seeing Sir Sek fight a few times, I suspect that he has studied a martial art with a Metal affinity,” Gou Dzing noted. “It's possible to overcome the weakness if you're particularly strong, but even so, it takes a lot of energy.” He turned the crystal in his hands again. “How much energy must it have taken to extract enough of this to smother the fire? A disciple of our school would have had a bit of an easier time, since the Way of the Mountain is an Earth-aligned art. The School of Still Heart is Water-based and would have dealt with this easily.”

“As Dzik Suet Yi-sang said earlier this morning, Sek Gon Si-hing seemed to be suffering from hei depletion.” Cheng Baak-hap had laughed herself sick when she heard the explanation of Sek Gon's name and would now use the full phrase when referring to him. Even now her lips twitched as she spoke his name despite the seriousness of the situation.

“No sign of Teem Djeung Baak, I take it?”

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“None.”

“She will cause even more trouble in the future, I'm sure. We'll have to notify all the sects, and see if anyone knows anything about her. I'll write a letter and have it sent out. Cheng Si-mui, give this to one of the juniors to take to the smithy. Lady Bik, I'll have one of the senior disciples show you around the sect.”

Chan Bik's eyes drifted towards the room where Sek Gon lay like the dead.

“He'll be alright.”

“Ugh. I haven't forgiven him.”

“You don't necessarily have to.”

“I just...” Chan Bik fiddled with the sash of the disciple robe she had been lent. “I know what it's like... being misunderstood.”

“It doesn't excuse the fact that his inaction caused you to get hurt, Lady Bik.”

“I know... Maybe if he bows right to the ground and shouts 'I'm sorry!' a hundred times, I'll forgive him!”

“Aw, how cute!” Cheng Baak-hap seized Chan Bik for a delighted hug. “What a forgiving girl!”

“I think it runs in the family,” Gou Dzing observed under his breath.

“Hm?”

“We need to get going. We've spent enough time on this situation this morning. Behave like a senior sister of the Mount Fa Sect, would you?”

“Grumpy old man.” Cheng Baak-hap left in a huff, pulling Chan Bik with her.

For five days, the Way of the Mountain School continued their usual routine, with the addition of Gou Dzing, and occasionally, Chan Bik, visiting Sek Gon to see his progress. There was no sign of Teem Djeung Baak, and no further disruptions to day-today life.

Which meant something had to happen.

On the sixth day, the school found a strange figure standing in the courtyard. It looked like a small child, dressed neatly in servant's clothing, carrying the plaque of their master in its hands. Its eyes were pure black orbs.

Gou Dzing knelt before it. “Greeting Master's servant.”

The servant smiled mechanically without any sign of emotion. “Head Disciple Gou Dzing, your Master wishes to meet the two children you have brought with you.”

The usual gossip broke out immediately.

“Wasn't Master in seclusion training?”

“That cultivator is still unconscious though.”

“Why would Master want to see Lady Bik?”

“I hear and obey,” Gou Dzing responded calmly. He stood and stared at the small group of whispering disciples, who snapped to attention. “Keep gossiping and you'll get kicked out of the sect. Aren't you embarrassed to be acting like 'stereotypical background characters'?”

They shuffled awkwardly.

“Go back to your business. Lady Bik?”

“I didn't know you also read martial arts novels, Gou Go.”

“I didn't know that Lady Bik gets to call you Go-go,” Cheng Baak-hap chimed in, appearing suddenly to plaster herself over the other girl.

Why are you being so sticky?

“Well why don't you ask Lady Bik if you can call her Chan Mui-mui then?”

“Chan Mui-mui! Oh, can I call you Bik Bik?”

“D-Don't we have to see your Master? But Sek Gon...”

“... I'm here.”

Amidst the noisy bickering, Sek Gon had silently emerged from his room and was resting against a pillar, eyes half-open. The disciples tried to carry out their tasks while sneaking looks at him.

“So that's the famous 'Big Tree'?”

“Looks like a small tree to me.”

“Is he even a man?”

“You three, Disciple Hall now,” Gou Dzing ordered, without even turning to look. The three gossipers tried to look innocent until they realised that all the other disciples were staring at them, and so shuffled off to receive their punishment.

Gou Dzing held out a hand to Sek Gon. “Do you need help?”

A shake of the head. Sek Gon stumbled into the daylight of the courtyard and halted before Chan Bik. It was hard to say who looked worse – Chan Bik, with her cheeks multicoloured with healing bruises, or Sek Gon with his untied hair and eyes that looked like he had been punched.

They stared at each other.

“W-What?” Chan Bik said at last, her hackles raising. “Got something to say?”

“... what should I say?”

“What do you mean, what should you say? Shouldn't you apologise? Look at my face! I was so scared and it hurt and you just stood there!” Tears were already spilling from her eyes, to her annoyance. “Why don't you get down on the ground and grovel, huh?”

No sooner had those words left her mouth than Sek Gon was kneeling on the floor before her. “I'm sorry,” came the muffled words.

Chan Bik stuttered to a halt. She looked at Cheng Baak-hap for help. The Senior Sister was eyeing Sek Gon thoughtfully. “Huh... he really did it. Why don't you ask him to explain himself? Let's see if he really does shoot out words like Gou Si-hing said he does.”

“Sek Gon, explain to me, why did you let me get injured? Like you explained to Gou Go.”

“... I though you wanted to fight her yourself so I didn't want to interrupt even though I thought you couldn't beat her because I thought you would get angry if I interrupted so I was just watching and then when she hurt you and you seemed to want my help I thought it would be best for us to leave so he wouldn't hurt you anymore but then you wouldn't leave and I couldn't understand why and-”

“Sek Go-go...”

“...”

Chan Bik seized both of Sek Gon's hands emotionally.

Eh?

“You're just like me... You've got a weird brain!”

“... ow.”

“Ack, your hands! I'm sorry!”

Gou Dzing rubbed his face. “Really does run in the family.”

“What was that, Gou Si-hing?”

“Nothing.”

“Really, are you getting early dementia? You've been talking to yourself a lot recently.”

“Cheng Si-mui, do you want to join the others in the Discipline Hall?”

“Head Disciple, are you abusing your authority?”

The Master's servant coughed. In all the chaos, they had forgotten it was there. Sek Gon was assisted upright.

“Will you be alright to meet Master?”

Nod.

“Alright. I'll leave things to you here, Cheng Si-mui.”

“Of course. See you later!”

“Don't be so cheerful about it.”

The servant led them further up the mountain, and for the first time, Sek Gon saw the sect clearly.

Five schools, each an enclosed stronghold, were dotted about the granite peaks around them. In the mid-morning early winter air, the altitude meant that thin clouds drifted picturesquely over the rocks, mingling with the smoke rising from cooking fires and the smithy. Stunted trees devoid of leaf completed the vista; Sek Gon paused to rest and stared out across the scene, breath condensing visibly. His eyes lingered on the drifts of snow sparkling at the highest points.

“Do you like it?” Gou Dzing asked.

“... familiar.”

“Your homeland?”

“...”

A hawk glided in lazy circles overhead. They watched it make several turns, then continued their trek as it drifted away in search of food. The servant had led them to a cave entrance.

“Please.” It bowed them in.

Gou Dzing entered first, and bowed respectfully to the figure seated within. “Head Disciple Gou Dzing, greeting his Master!”

Chan Bik bowed nervously. “This person is Chan Bik, greeting the Grandmaster of the Way of the Mountain.”

Sek Gon bowed down to the ground, his forehead touching the dry rock.

“Lord Gaam Bing's Disciple Sek Gon greets the Great Empress, Mother of All.”