After both bickering adult-children had been sent to their separate spots, Liu Xie wanted to sit down and clear his head. Unfortunately Lin had not left yet and Liu Xie had a feeling there was more on the doctor's mind than just a clothing delivery. So he waited, standing still as he stared at the fish doctor, the crackling fire and distant noises of animals in the forest all that disturbed them. Rui Yifu and Li Baobao were remaining quiet, close to the fire.

"If I may, I have a question for you," Lin asked Liu Xie politely.

"You may ask," Liu Xie inclined his head.

"When did Zhu'er die?"

Liu Xie stared blankly in response. He did not have a response. There were no words he could string together to appropriately answer the question. When did she die? He wanted to say never. But if he was honest with himself, she had gotten close. So close. So many times. Each time she had only survived because of the sap in his body. It was never tea, even if that's what he called it. He had gotten so used to just simply relying on that he had forgotten to consider what it would do to a mortal body over the long term. He felt Rui Yifu's eyes burning holes in the side of his face.

"My apologies," Lin said, "I phrased it poorly. I meant to ask how has she not died?"

"Could you be specific? What do you mean?"

Lin pulled up his sleeve, revealing an arm wrapped in bandages. "When she had come to town, she was not thriving as a child should even after Lang Lang started feeding her. He was so worried that he brought her to me. I did some investigation and I found on her side a very large rotting wound. It looked like something had bitten a chunk of her side off."

"Face Stealers," Liu Xie muttered, grinding his teeth in frustration. Not at Lin's words but at his own failure.

"It was odd, because it seemed like she had recovered. That should not be possible. Not unless something was sustaining her. Once she was removed from whatever was sustaining her properly, she began to fade away again," Lin continued on, as though Liu Xie had said nothing. "I removed a mass of rotting flesh and replaced it with a substitute," he covered his arm up again. "Then I placed her back in the care of Lang Lang, and gave her frequent medicine."

"What was the medicine made from?" Rui Yifu's voice came, lifted over the crackling fire.

"Willow tree bark."

Liu Xie could see Rui Yifu's face with a slight smile on it. His true features and the glow of the flames cast it into a demonic shape. "Well it would make sense, Liu Xie does claim to be an immortal. The same one who taught Lady Gu herself."

Lin stared at Liu Xie with doubtful eyes, "he's not fat or old though."

"I'm sorry to disappoint," Liu Xie replied with a bit more acid than he intended. Lin took a step back away from him. "But Rui Yifu isn't wrong, I did teach Lady Gu." Or rather he dragged her around to different places and made her figure things out by herself. It was the same thing he was doing with Bo, since it seemed to have worked just fine before. "That was a very long time ago however, I've been mostly by myself until fairly recently."

There was a thick silence that came after that. It settled between them all, like invisible walls that muffled any urge to speak. The sound of the fire eating away at the wood, the distant noise of animals and rustling branches in the wind. But no voices. Nobody would speak. Yet there came a voice. It echoed in the forest, "Lin!" someone cried out. "Doctor Lin!"

"Ah, it appears something may have happened," Lin sounded somewhat relieved to have a reason to excuse himself suddenly. Liu Xie caught his eyes glancing over at Rui Yifu before returning to him. "Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Please remember to ensure Zhu'er is taken care of, she's a nice child and Lang Lang said he'll hold her to her promise."

Liu Xie whistled, "is he already recovered?"

"Only enough to speak and maintain the maze curse," Lin replied, a touch of coolness to his voice. Then without any other word he turned around and walked back into the thicket of trees.

"He couldn't leave his people alone for long," Rui Yifu commented once Lin was out of sight. "He really is a loyal dog."

"There's a saying I heard once, that after a hunt is done the hunting dog goes into the pot too," Liu Xie spoke as he came to sit down across from Rui Yifu and Li Baobao. Liu Xie's fingertips went back to his sword. The memories he glanced in Lang Lang's mind were those of happiness except for... "but Lang Lang was not a hunting dog. He was his mistress' best and only friend."

"Then why... why is he still around?" Li Baobao's voice was small, barely above the noise of the fire. "If he was loyal, wouldn't he go with her?"

Liu Xie stared at the young man with a slight frown on his face. Li Baobao had been withdrawing into himself, deeper and deeper. He was beginning to worry that the young merchant's son had become traumatized. If he had, Liu Xie could not fault him. He had walked into a mess far larger than he, or even Liu Xie himself, anticipated. "Because his mistress wanted a kinder world, and Lang Lang decided to try making one like she would have wanted. Even if it's just in that town, a place where people can exist without fear or hunger. How much more loyal can a dog be?"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Here in the North, there's a historical man called the 'General of One Thousand Victories'. His name was Zhou Yishan, and the history books say he was the son of a foreign soldier and one of the greatest herbalists to ever walk the Four Kingdoms. He was best friends with the Crown Prince, who dreamed of a kingdom without corruption where the people could exist peacefully," Rui Yifu recounted. "When the Crown Prince appeared to be slain under the orders of the King himself, Zhou Yishan gathered an army to move against the King. He declared he would rather follow the dreams of a ghost than the wretched desires of a corrupt king. Because Zhou Yishan was partially foreign, not many came to his banner. But his victories against superior opponents drew more to him."

Li Baobao sighed, "but was he even successful?"

"Yes," Rui Yifu replied with a slight smile. "The Crown Prince turned out to be alive and had posed as a captain within the army. It was revealed he had survived his assassination attempt and Zhou Yishan nursed him back to health before declaring war. When the Crown Prince was finally enthroned, he got to make his dreams a reality. Zhou Yishan retired as a poet, and his children lived without fear of war."

"It's one of the better stories about the lengths of loyalty," Liu Xie added. "Many other loyalists to the Crown Prince chose to die, but Zhou Yishan did not. Loyalty doesn't always lead to death."

Li Baobao was quiet, his face thoughtful for a while before he got up. "I am feeling rather tired, I think I'm going to go try resting if I may?"

"I'm not your teacher or father so there's no reason to ask me," Liu Xie said, shifting to lay on his side with his head propped up by his hand.

"Rui Yifu, are you going to sleep soon too?" Li Baobao asked.

"Not at the moment," Rui Yifu replied.

"And you, Liu Xie?"

"I don't need sleep," Liu Xie answered. "It's nice to do sometimes. Good night, Li Baobao."

"What about Ji Ying?"

"She doesn't need sleep either," Liu Xie said.

Ji Ying turned her head from the tree she was staring at, "EXCUSE ME?"

Liu Xie did not dignify the angry girl with a response and looked back at Rui Yifu as Li Baobao retreated to the shack. "I have a feeling you also want to ask me something. Are Fish People just that curious?"

"I just want to know what your plan is," Rui Yifu said, holding a sleeve up to cover his mouth like a coy maiden. "You can't fault me for that, Xiexie."

The cutesy nickname irked Liu Xie enough to make him sit back up. "Don't call me that."

"Fine," Rui Yifu laughed. "But I am serious about knowing what your plan is. See, I know a bit more about the Silent Mountains than the average person might. Bo, Li, and Zhu'er would know nothing about where you're bringing us all to. Ji Ying might know as well but I don't care for her opinion. I think it's only fair that you inform them the full extent of what waits beyond those mountains."

"What do you know about it?" Liu Xie asked, keeping his face expressionless. He had never intended to bring so many people with him there, but he really had no choice. He scratched his arm, feeling a sudden unusual itch in it. Humans had this as a nervous tick. What was he nervous about?

Rui Yifu closed his eyes and set his hands in his lap before opening them again. "It is a place without true death. Beyond the pilgrims paths, what we know as an orderly existence has broken down. There are fires that burn forever in there, and lakes stuck in storms that have not calmed. Ruins that balance in the sky and trees that have a taste for blood. The day the Last Emperor was struck down, reality itself was split open, leaving a void filled by madness."

It was an overly poetic description and yet Liu Xie could find nothing wrong with it. "...I have a house nearby here," he began. "I thought this place looked familiar and now I'm certain of it. It was the mountain nearby that confirmed it for me. When we get a chance to go to that house, I will tell them everything and let them make a choice."

Rui Yifu's face held curiosity and wariness in it, "you have a house? Here? In the Northern Kingdom?"

"Yes," Liu Xie replied, although it was really more like an unwanted gift he only recently found use for. "My uncle gave it to me."

"...Who are you?" Rui Yifu asked. "You claim to be an immortal, but I don't think that's what you really are."

There was some sort of grim humor in a shark accusing him of being inhuman. "What makes you believe I'm not what I said I am?"

"How would you have a house from an uncle when you're older than Lady Gu? You've never mentioned an uncle before, and even if your uncle had given you a house I doubt it would have lasted so many centuries without anyone noticing it unless it wasn't made by mortal hands." Rui Yifu's voice took on an accusatory tone. "You've never quite lied, but you've never quite told the truth. Why should I believe you?"

Liu Xie bit his thumb as Rui Yifu talked. How long had he been saving up all these doubts. Lying was not Liu Xie's nature, and so he naturally avoided often saying anything that would be outright considered one. "I am not lying when I said I was the Bone Willow Immortal, you know. I've never lied about that."

"That was a name later given to you, wasn't it?" Rui Yifu pointed out. "Just like how gods do not often care about the stories created around themselves, so do immortals not often give themselves the names they become known by. Such as the Immortal of Kindness, the Tranquil Sea Immortal..."

"...Oh, Lu Liyi..." Liu Xie felt something sink inside of him. As one of the Ten Immortals, she had been the first to die. Not even her soul remained. Lady Gu had never spoken to him of her afterwards. The other two surviving Immortals, Hou and Song, had also refused to talk about what had happened. Liu Xie had been asleep during the cataclysmic event, and could get nobody to speak about it to him.

"I'm glad at least someone will openly mention her name," Rui Yifu muttered. "You did not choose that name however, or any of the other names appended to you, Liu Xie."

"That's not true, I made up the name 'Liu Xie'."

"Obviously," Rui Yifu snorted. "Stop trying to talk your way around this. I don't think you're a liar, Liu Xie. I think you were never human at all. Am I right?"

Liu Xie was dumbstruck. If he outright denied it, he'd be a liar. If he said anything that did not directly answer it, he would be doing just as Rui Yifu had said. Any denial was a lie, anything else was an admission. He had nothing else to respond with except silence.

So they sat there, staring at each other and yet both unwilling to budge.

Liu Xie was so busy staring into Rui Yifu's strange eyes he had not even noticed Ji Ying standing beside the fire until the silence was finally cracked.

"You're right. He's the Headless God."