If I could afford to wait, I would've postponed the trip to the back mountains and stayed at Bai Ye's side all morning, all day. But my supplies were low after days away from Mount Hua, and I usually avoided gathering everything I needed at the same time, just in case someone passing by might recognize the ingredients and infer the purpose of the mix. Unfortunately, that meant I had to pay more frequent visits to the glade.
My thoughts wandered as I picked my way through the lush greenery dressed in morning dew. It was a foggy day in the hills, the sun nothing more than a ring of halo behind the heavy mist. It reminded me of the day when I first led Bai Ye here, eager to show him my discovery on that same foggy morning four years ago.
"Master!" I remember myself exclaiming in excitement. "Guess what I found here?"
