The route that they followed seemed somehow familiar. Gong Lau Yan remained in human form, but she was still faster than the two disciples, in spite of the speed of their lightness arts. Cheng Baak-hap had elected to stay behind. “Just a little more. I think… I’m almost achieved a breakthrough…” No amount of wheedling or pleading from Chan Bik would change her mind.

Gong Lau Yan flowed across the landscape, and as the three of them entered a stretch of hills, Gaam Yuk Ying said, “The canyon?”

It was. Gong Lau Yan halted at the edge of the precipice, and they all looked down on strange, carved visage that peered out from the depths. Chan Bik pulled a face.

“Wow, that’s really creepy. This is where that bitch cut apart a demon camp, right?”

Her Senior Brother nodded, but he was looking to Gong Lau Yan.

“You’re wondering why I brought you here? Well, you tell me, Little Gaam. Grandmother started acting a little strange after she was here. How did she seem when you first arrived here?”

“She… was not comfortable.”

“I know I’m not,” Chan Bik said, turning her back on the face. “Argh, that’s even worse! I can feel it staring at my back!”

They all backed away from the edge.

“How do you feel, Gong Dze?” Chan Bik asked. The loong’s usual carefree smile was strained.

“Better, now that we can’t see that thing. But I feel like it’s going to come crawling up out of there at any moment.”

“Don’t say that!”

“What else?” Gaam Yuk Ying asked quietly, still staring in the direction of the canyon.

“What else… You mean about Grandmother?”

“Yes.”

“She keeps coming back here.”

Two faces with identical looks of confused concern turned to her.

“I’ve seen her a few times. I only managed to follow her twice, but it was enough. If she was in her right mind, she would have noticed me straight away.”

“Are you sure she didn’t notice you?” Chan Bik asked. “What if she was pretending?”

“What for? I can’t think of any good reason she would pretend that she didn’t notice me following her. She’s coming back to this spot again and again to stare obsessively at that face. You know what she said to me the other day? ‘Lau Yan, I think we’ve been doing this all wrong.’ What does she mean by ‘this’?” She flung herself down with a sigh and smoothed stray hairs back aggressively with both hands. “Kids, I’m telling you this so you’re not blindsided, you understand? I’m not expecting you to fix anything, or solve anything. But I want you to be aware that Grandmother is worried, so that if she tells you to run, you run, and if she tells you to hide, you hide, even if it doesn’t make sense in that moment, okay?”

“Of course.” Chan Bik bristled. “I know you’re a thousand years older than us, Gong Dze, but we’re not idiots!”

“I know you’re not,” Gong Lau Yan said, with a fond smile. “You’re smart. But sometimes you’re too determined for your own good, okay? And this is not something you can handle. I want you to live to my age, okay?”

“That will only happen if I Ascend,” Chan Bik said grumpily, but she looked placated.

“I’m sure you will. All of you.”

“… Sing Sing… Cheng Si-mui as well?”

Gong Lau Yan held out her hand, and Chan Bik placed hers on to, anxiously.

“You don’t necessarily have to have amazing martial prowess to Ascend, Little Chan. There are scholars in the Heavenly Realm too. And people who did extraordinary deeds. Little Cheng is very, very intelligent. She’s doing something so important right now, that there’s no way that she won’t one day be Ascending next to you.

“Not that I really understand why you’d want to,” she added, in a different tone.

“What do you mean?”

“The Heavenly Realm is really boring.”

“What? Why?”

“Everyone just sits around. Or naps. The only interesting things happen when they decide to visit the Mortal Realm.”

“So why don’t they spend more time in the Mortal Realm?”

“Oh, a lot of them do, but the world is a big place, Little Chan. There’s only Grandmother, Old White and Auntie Gwong here at the moment. And there are some… There are some who prefer to just stay comfortable in their fancy palaces.”

There seemed to be real anger behind her words.

“Like who?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“No one important.” Gong Lau Yan smiled and jumped back up. “Let’s head back.”

She took a few graceful, loping strides, and then flew away across the barren land. Gaam Yuk Ying followed close behind.

Chan Bik glanced behind her, back towards the invisible canyon, before following suit.

*

“Tsun Dzan has been attacked.”

Yuen Muk looked up from piles of herbs he was sorting, a blackened book in one hand and a delicate dried iris blossom in the other. “Demons?”

“Humans.” Gaam Bing loomed in the recently repaired doorway of the clinic. “Ling Gwong has gone there already to see the situation.

“Two Dragons Four Tigers?”

“Correct.”

The young man turned back to the dried flower in his hand, twirling it between his fingers. Light from the open window shone through the white petals, each faint vein emphasised. His black-and-gold eyes traced the spots of orange and blue that liberally daubed the larger sepals backgrounding the plain petals.

“Are you staying here, Master Gaam?”

“One of us will be here at all times.”

The air still smelt faintly of ash and fear, no matter how they had rebuilt and swept and washed. Some of the disciples had left the sect, seeking safety elsewhere.

But where? With the Two Dragons Four Tigers Alliance gearing for war throughout the country, everyone was on edge. The Kwan Leon, Hung Tung and Ming Sects were based throughout the mountainous country of Dzang in the north-west of the Five Kingdoms Region. Mou Dong Sect was only a little further east of Mount Hua, and with the armies of Sek’seun and Cheon lurking at the borders of Dzue, there were few places where one could seek refuge.

“Come outside for a bit.”

Yuen Muk rubbed his eyes with a sigh and followed the big man from the building. They sat together on the stone steps, the White Tiger of the West gravely considering the blue sky, Hawk Eyes staring at his own hands.

Nothing was said. The mountain breeze carried alternately warm and cool air past them. A few surviving Fragrant Tea plants stubbornly waved tiny white and blue flowers, but much of the surrounding vegetation, including Dzik Suet’s prized herb garden, was burnt to blackened stubble. A few plants had clawed their way back, but the famous plum blossom trees of Mount Faa, which should have been thick with bright green leaves and beginning to bear tiny fruit, were mere skeletal silhouettes.

Still, they remained standing. No one had found the heart to remove them in the clean-up process.

“Um… Great Master. Yi-sang.”

Yuen Muk looked away from his hands to find one of the younger disciples bowing to him and Gaam Bing. He bit his lip and quickly smiled. “What is it, Si-di?”

“I’m sorry, Yi-sang, I know you’re busy, but my ankle is a bit sore… I’m sure it’ll be fine if it’s just bandaged!”

“Come with me. Let’s take a look.”

The young boy followed, limping.

Ankle is a bit sore? Looks like he sprained it.

“Training hard?”

“Yes, Yi-sang!”

“I’ve often been told that staying busy is good for you, especially when the mind has fears,” Yuen Muk pulled up a wooden box for the boy to sit on, and indicated for him to remove his boot. Gathering bandages and salves from the supplies they had managed to scrounge up, he continued, “but sometimes, that’s simply running away, I think. Sometimes you have to sit and stare your fear in the eye.”

“Is that why they call you Hawk Eyes, Yi-sang?” the boy asked, wincing as he gingerly slid his boot off. His ankle was swollen, purple and blue and red.

“Maybe. Names come and go in the world of martial artists, the gong wu. Roll up the hem of your fu so I can apply a cold press.”

Even in summer, the high mountain streams ran cold, so Yuen Muk could fill skins with the creek water and apply them to injuries. The boy gritted his teeth at the cold touch.

“You’re from the Clear Sight School, hm? What’s your name?”

“Bou, Yi-sang.”

“Bou? As in…?”

“Fortress. With the characters for ‘human’, ‘mouth’, ‘tree’ and ‘earth’. When I was born, the village sage told my parents I had too much metal in me, so they gave me a name with Wood and Earth to balance me out.”

Yuen Muk laughed.

“Yi-sang?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking of another cultivator who followed the Clear Sight practice. His School Name had a lot of Wood in it.”

“Did it balance him out?”

“Hm, maybe? I think he was fine the way he was.”

The water had warmed up by now. Yuen Muk removed the skin and began to apply the salve.

“Was he a close friend of yours, Yi-sang?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m sorry if I’m being rude, but you seem sad.”

“You’re right. I miss him. But I’ll see him again soon.”

Bou watched as his ankle was bound. “Is it the Jade Exorcist?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The friend you were talking about,” Bou persisted, “who had a School Name that was full of Wood.”

“Who knows? Alright, take this stick and keep your weight off that foot for a week at least. Come back in two days so I can check.”

“A week?”

“And you won’t be able to train normally for two weeks.”

“Two weeks?”

“This is why you need to be careful, Si-di.”

The boy whined under his breath.

“Go on. Go and rest.”

“But what if she comes back?”

There was no need to ask who ‘she’ was.

“We’ve strengthened the defences and increased surveillance. We’re unlikely to be caught off-guard again.”

“But she’s the Crazy Smiling Demon. Isn’t she really a ghost? We need the Jade Exorcist here to stop her.”

“The Jade Exorcist is looking for her as we speak,” Yuen Muk assured him. “And anyway, I know a thing or two about exorcism, you know? Now get going, it’ll be dinner time soon.”

Bou turned and almost ran into Gaam Bing. “G-Great Master!”

“I’m going that way myself.” The big man stooped and picked up the child. Yuen Muk smiled in spite of himself at the sight.

His smile faltered moments later. “Master Gaam…”

In a rush of red feathers and scorching heat, Ling Gwong landed in a stumbling panic, babbling without hanging form. “Demons! De… They’re fighting everywhere in… in the… east… Mou Dang… Tsun Dzan…”

Gaam Bing was already gone, headed for the Clear Sight School. Avoiding her searing red feathers, Yuen Muk crouched beside Ling Gwong as she rapidly regained her breath. “What is it, Master Ling Gwong?”

“Tsun Dzan… Tsun Dzan was attacked by the Mou Dang Sect. They wanted a strategic command centre further east, it seems. But while they were there, demons made their way past the Sek’seun army lines and reached the Mou Dang Sect stronghold.”

“Is that even possible? The border is crawling with soldiers.”

“They had help, in a way.”

“Not…”

“That girl,” Ling Gwong said bitterly. “She’s attacking everyone and everything. I flew over the border on my way back. The border posts are on fire. Tsaam Lam hasn’t caught alight, it would take enormous spiritual power to burn that place, but it broke the Sek’seun army line and the demons took advantage of it. Perhaps they knew that Mou Dang’s main cultivators would be at Tsun Dzan, since they turned west instead of east and headed there.”

Gaam Bing bounded back beside them, having returned Bou to his school. “Stay and recover. The two of us will go and investigate.”

“But it’s my disciple who-”

“She is not your disciple.” Gaam Bing’s voice was filled with a deep anger that made Yuen Muk’s teeth rattle. Ling Gwong cowered.

In the blink of an eye, a gigantic white tiger stood beside them, long tail whipping agitatedly. He turned his massive head to Yuen Muk, silver eyes glinting. “Prepare your medicines. We will leave now.”