Another tense night began in the Chan Household. Some tried to stay awake by working - the servants in the kitchen, and Lady Yan and her eldest son together in her office, trying to calculate their lost income. Somewhere hidden, Gou Dzing could hear a steady fwoosh – thwack – the sound of flogging - followed by a cry of pain. So this was the Chan Household, unable to keep up a pretence of normalcy to their guests for more than a single night.

Yeung Sue was whispering to her little daughter, battling her own exhaustion as she tried to keep her awake. Despite her cruel jabbing of the soles of Mei Ying's feet with needles, the little girl eventually succumbed to sleep. Yeung Sue began to cry, her sobs echoing through the courtyard.

Chan Ngan and Leoi Tou-Fa were huddled together in their room, holding each other tightly as if the strength of their embrace would keep the demons at bay.

One by one, the residents of the Chan House began to fall asleep, and into nightmares.

Gou Dzing ran lightly from room to room once he heard the breathing change. The children slept peacefully, while their older half-brother and his wife whimpered and tossed.

Chan Bik breathed quietly in her room, without the slightest sign of discomfort. And Chan Gam, for once, looked calm and untroubled, his exhaustion evident now that his fierce expression was gone.

Beside him, his mother cried silently in her sleep.

In the kitchen, Cho Guk slept peacefully. The other servants twitched and choked.

“All five are sleeping peacefully,” Gou Dzing reported back, seated beside Sek Gon's bed. The other man looked exhausted from his earlier illness, but his eyes moved back and forth restlessly under his lowered lids.

“And Yue-muk?”

“I didn't look at him specially, but he was asleep and whimpering like the others.”

“Go back and check, but assume he's awake.”

“So you think... But couldn't it also be...?”

“Go check first.”

Gou Dzing was gone and back in a flash. “He's awake. When I approached quietly he was sitting up and looking around.”

“Good.”

“The others are definitely asleep. I see what you mean now.” Gou Dzing flashed a grin. “What a smart kid. Won't you join the Mount Fa Sect? I want to show you off as my junior brother, my Si-dai!”

“No.”

“So direct. Not even a pause.”

“Even if I thought about it for a second longer, I would still say no.”

“I think that's the longest sentence you've ever said to me,” Gou Dzing teased.

Sek Gon shut his mouth and refused to say another word.

“Sir Sek? I was just joking... Sek Gon? Sek Si-dai? Sek Dai-dai?”

CLANG!

Gou Dzing narrowly managed to draw his sword and block Sek Gon's as it swung towards him. “Why are you so angry all the time?”

“Get out.”

“Alright, alright. Good night, Dai-dai!” Gou Dzing escaped rapidly from the room and perched himself on the roof, perfectly content to stay awake throughout the long night until the rising of the sun. A few nights of no sleep meant nothing to a disciple of Mount Fa.

A few weeks of bad sleep for the Chan Family was disastrous.

Yeung Sue, waking first with anxious eyes only for her daughter, raced into her mother-in-law's chambers screaming. Screeching like a demon, she pounced upon the sleeping Se Sue, waking Lady Yan and Chan Gam as she shook him.

“Yeung Sue! Let him go! Can't you see he's also suffering?”

“HE'S PRETENDING!” Yeung Sue shrieked, as her groggy husband tried to pull her away with difficulty. “MY DAUGHTER! MY DAUGHTER!”

She was eventually hauled away, howling incoherently, as Se Sue woke from one nightmare to another, trembling pitifully with the bedcovers wrapped around him. Lady Yan collapsed beside him.

“L-Lady Yan?” A weary servant with eyebags so large he looked as though someone had punched him bowed unsteadily. “A... message...”

“Not now, Ah Fung...”

“It's from the Jade Exorcist... He says he knows who is causing the nightmares.”

*

Everyone gathered in the hall without thought for procedure or decorum. Most were still in their bedclothes, with outer robes draped over them. Only those who slept well that night had some presence of mind to dress properly.

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Gou Dzing looked at them all carefully, as he fiddled with the tassel on his sword. “Where is Yue-muk?”

“Yue-muk?” Chan Bik asked, surprised. “Why do-”

Her words were cut short as Gou Dzing flashed past her, so fast that only one person could follow him with their eyes, in pursuit of the figure disappearing across the courtyard.

“Demon!” he called, infusing hei into his voice. “If you do not stop, I will use force! Surrender peacefully!”

Yue-muk did not look back, but it was clear that he was much slower than Gou Dzing. With a hiss, he skidded to a halt, then lunged back at the pursuing exorcist. Gou Dzing drew his sword in preparation, but the other man's body suddenly disappeared under a writhing mass. Rats began to pour out of his clothing.

Gou Dzing also ground to a halt, drawing several paper talismans from his robes. The watching Chan Family clutched at each other, horrified.

“Yue-muk? He was the demon?”

“Perhaps he was possessed?”

“But he was such a good man... I hired him because he felt familiar... Like an old friend...”

“He doesn't look too friendly now,” Sek Gon remarked, from where he was watching in the doorway of the hall.

Chan Bik rounded on him. “What are you doing? Why aren't you helping?”

“... Gou Dzing can do it.”

“You lazy worm! What kind of person leaves their friend to do all the work? No, I get it – you have no skills. Gou Dzing told me himself how you fell out of the window... You even tripped over the demon and still didn't notice him! How can you call yourself a man?”

The words dried in her throat.

Although his eyelids were still lowered, his eyes were now glaring directly at her. The silver slivers in the grey irises stabbed her like knives.

“Not a man, you say?” He strode past her, hair untied and unbrushed, a robe thrown carelessly over the clothing he had worn to bed.

Gou Dzing had managed to create an earthen net to trap the rats inside. They hissed and beat themselves bodily against the walls of the net, causing showers of soil to rain down upon them. Rats were smothered under the weight of the soil, or choking as it filled their lungs. Amongst the rats, a human figure crouched, groaning in pain.

“... Yue-muk?” Lady Yan called, a hand to her mouth. “That's... that's Yue-muk, isn't it? Is he... is he in pain?”

Gou Dzing frowned. If he broke the barrier, the rats would escape, and it would be difficult to identify the lead rat in the chaos. If he didn't, Yue-muk, now apparently abandoned by the rat demon, would die, suffocated by the soil. With a grunt of anger, he released the barrier.

The rats exploded out.

A figure streaked past, and swung once, accurately.

A rat lay stricken on the ground, its head neatly severed, a tiny golden circle imprinted on the fur of its belly.

Sek Gon flicked blood from his dou as the remaining rats disintegrated into black sludge, and turned to find Gou Dzing staring at him with shining eyes.

“... what?”

“Can I call you 'Master' instead?”

Sek Gon punched him in the stomach and walked away.

*

With all the excitement over, the household opted to sleep for the day. Gou Dzing sat guard to watch Yue-muk, who had been in a coma since the earth barrier had collapsed and Sek Gon had slain the rat demon. They all finally emerged as the sun was going down to find Gou Dzing standing at the door of the room where Yue-muk was resting.

“He's awake.”

The Chan Family filed in, while the servants peered through the windows. Cho Guk was weeping helplessly, while Sek Gon was leaning against a wall with his eyes closed, apparently ignoring everyone.

“Apologise for the delayed greeting, Lord Chan,” Gou Dzing said politely, bowing to Yue-muk.

Chan Bik rushed to the bedside. “... Father?”

It was like a landslide. The whole family hastened to the man in the bed.

“Are those fake moles?”

“If he shaved off that beard...”

“Fake eyebrows? Dyed hair?”

Chan Ngan clutched the bedclothes. “Father... what happened?”

The man in the bed slowly turned his eyes towards his youngest son. “I... survived, and came back alone... but I had no place here anymore. I was angry. And in that anger... a demon found me.”

“It's difficult for a normal person to resist a demon,” Gou Dzing interjected. “We're lucky he wasn't so far assimilated that he couldn't be saved.”

His words brought a fresh wave of tears. The family threw themselves on the rediscovered patriarch, sobbing and laughing, while he struggled to breathe under the mass of people. Sek Gon and Gou Dzing watched without offering assistance.

“You know you won't be able to get out of going to Mount Fa with me.”

“...”

“I'll drag you there if I have to.”

“... do you think that will really work?”

“I'll follow you and cry continuously if you don't.”

“... I'll come with you.”

“Thought so.”

Behind them, Se Sue was quietly shepherding his two children away from the room. “Come now, little ones. We should... should...”

“Should what?” Yan Wai-Wai had caught sight of them. She stood between her husbands as though they were both ropes that held her fast with equal strength.

“... leave.” Se Sue spoke softly, his bewildered children clinging to his legs.

Yan Wai-Wai glared furiously. “You are both my husbands. Why should you leave?” She whirled to face Chan Taam. “I love you both. Don't think for a second I don't! My heart is big and strong enough for this!”

Tears sprang up in Se Sue's eyes. “Wai-Wai!”

Chan Taam hid his face in his bedclothes. “Mei Yan!”

The next moment, everyone was sobbing once more and hugging one another. Gou Dzing tried hard not to laugh when he caught sight of Sek Gon's disgusted face.

“I think that's the most emotion I've seen you show,” he managed to get out, as he folded his arms tightly to try and prevent his ribs from heaving. Perhaps he could use his hei to control the laughter...?

“... did they forget that he basically tortured them every night?”

“Technically that was the demon...”

“... using Chan Taam's anger.”

“Not our problem anymore!” Gou Dzing shrugged with cheerful philosophy. “... was... did you just smirk?”

“No.”

“You answered far too quickly. You laughed. I saw it!”

Sek Gon drew his weapon. Gou Dzing drew his. Without a look back, they leapt from the room and fought each other across the courtyard.

Gou Dzing's sword was strong and heavy, with blows that could drive the smaller man to his knees, but Sek Gon was light and sharp, dodging the swings and darting in between swings. He pursued the Jade Exorcist through the dusk, the irritated look on his face falling away into a meditative gaze. Those sharp silver eyes softened, and the dou sang through the air.

“Are you two done yet?” Chan Bik complained. Sek Gon and Gou Dzing halted and looked at her simultaneously, making her pause guiltily.

“I'm... I'm sorry, Sir Sek. I have a tendency to speak without thinking. It's gotten me into trouble a few times but... I'm sorry.” She hung her head, and her voice fell like a scolded child. “I said some very disrespectful things to you.”

Sek Gon sheathed his blade and walked away.

Gou Dzing sighed, putting away his own sword and making his way to Chan Bik, whose eyes were streaming tears. “Give it some time. You'll do better from now on, right?”

“I.... I've been trying! I don't know why these things come out of my mouth... Mother sometimes says I should have been born a boy... I'm so... flighty and fidgety and sometimes I do and... and say things without even... thinking-”

“Circulate your energy, Lady Bik. Remember what I taught you before?”

She did. As she settled, Gou Dzing continued, “Why don't you come with us to Mount Fa? Perhaps the guidance of a Master will help you.”

“I... I'll ask my M- parents. My parents.” Fresh tears were spilled. “Father... Dad... He's home.”