While shopping for the necessities, the riders the senior had somehow previously sensed had arrived. They had put up a notice with a portrait of the mysterious woman's face, and questioned the townspeople. Although the locals hadn't dared to disrespect the authorities openly, it was easy to tell that none of them believed that such a person could even exist. The riders seemed to sense their attitude as well. Their questioning didn't go for long, and they left further up the road.
When Bai Guo realized that they weren't looking for him at all, he felt a little relieved. Of course, making it through the rest of this ordeal with his reputation intact would be quite challenging. In fact, after the scant few hours he spent with the eccentric senior, he had abandoned almost all hope of accomplishing that.
Bai Guo realized that if he were to head home now, he could probably return to his ordinary life completely unscathed. But the thought of returning to his mediocrity - of fully embracing it once and for all - had infuriated him even more than the idea of herding the fickle senior. Furthermore, if she was telling the truth, it was Wei Qing who was in the wrong, so the woman herself was not acting without justification. And maybe, just maybe, even if they did get caught, he could explain his plan to them and get away with it...
Bai Guo slapped himself on the cheeks. His fatigue had subsided for just a moment, and he used that moment to regain his courage.
He bought everything he needed with just one golden tael. As he began to ride out of the town on his newly purchased horse with another one in tow, he heard a familiar voice.
"How was it?" The woman asked him. She was leaning against the wall of a wooden house. On her chin, she nestled the upper edge of a white mask depicting a crying woman.
Bai Guo nearly fell off his horse. "You shouldn't have come this close! People will see you!" His eyes were drawn to the mask she held. "What is that?"
"Just a little souvenir I picked up here."
"Please don't tell me you bought that!" Bai Guo's voice was pleading.
"Of course not." The senior replied as if she just heard the most ridiculous thing.
"But stealing it isn't exactly much better!"
"Is my future disciple really such a stickler for the rules? You're helping a wanted murderer, so why make a fuss over something so trivial?"
"That's obviously completely different!" Bai Guo exclaimed.
She approached the spare horse and hopped into the saddle. Sitting in it, the woman looked unstable. "How do I make it go forward?"
"Squeeze its sides with your legs like this." Bai Guo demonstrated, and they began to ride along the road. "Hurry!"
They rushed towards a hill, and after concealing themselves from the town on the other end of it, Bai Guo felt at ease.
"Just so you know, I don't intend to keep hiding from every town we come across." The senior said.
Bai Guo sighed. "Fortunately, now that we have food, we won't need to go into settlements for a while."
They traveled for the rest of the day. When the sun had set fully, they were in the middle of nowhere, and decided to sleep under the cover of some trees by a river. Bai Guo was resourceful enough to have bought a blanket along with the supplies, which he used as makeshift bedding for himself, resting his head on his bag. He had also brought rope, which they used to tie up their horses, and the rest of which the senior used to make her own sleeping arrangements: she tied both ends up to two different trees, and lied down on the rope.
Bai Guo was at a loss for words. Eventually, he mustered some up. "...Are you really going to be comfortable like that, senior?"
"Go to sleep." She replied. Bai Guo kept observing her bizarre sleeping ritual as he was lying down. He watched as her long hair hovered just inches above the ground. He didn't last long; having spent more than an entire day on his feet, his concern that the senior might drop was promptly overcome by fatigue.
He awoke from his dreamless sleep only when the sun was high in the sky. It took him a moment to remember where he was, and he dreaded the continuation of his misadventures with the inscrutable martial arts master.
The senior refused to take any of his rations. He hadn't seen her eat or drink anything the day before either. But even Bai Guo had heard that once one's cultivation was sufficiently advanced, they would have little need of food and drink. Of course, hearing about it and seeing it for oneself were two different experiences, even when it came to subtle things such as this. Bai Guo's admiration for her martial arts and his resentment of her whimsical personality continued their fierce battle within his heart.
They traveled for half a day more, when the senior decided to take a detour. "It should be right around this way."
She led them to a small village. Bai Guo was wary of being seen here, but he quickly realized that the village was empty. It did not put him at ease, as the scene immediately became eerie.
"What is this place?" He asked, but the senior silently rode through the street. As he followed her, he noticed broken doors, hoof prints, and blood drying on the ground and on the walls of buildings. The unease instantly turned to dread.
"What happened here? Where is everybody?" He asked again. They went to the outskirts of the village, and then traveled a good deal farther, following what Bai Guo soon noticed to be tracks. As he was not a tracker by any metric, the trace told him little, but even he could tell that an entire crowd had been trampling through these parts. Bai Guo's nose began to pick up a strange, unpleasant scent. The senior led him to a large patch of soil that, upon closer inspection, was clumsily covered with plucked out grass.
"Dig here." She said. Caked in cold sweat, his head pounding, Bai Guo did as she said. The deeper he dug, the more revolting the smell became, and soon he found himself overwhelmed and lost his nerve.
He turned back to her and began shouting. "Could you please just tell me what's going on?!"
The woman's golden eyes coldly stared him down. "I'll explain after you see it."
That answer didn't satisfy Bai Guo, and so he angrily stared back at her. But it became evident that she wouldn't relent, so he continued to dig.
Soon, he struck something hard. As he brushed aside the dirt, his worst fears came to pass. He came face to face with a decomposing human head.
He leaped out of the hole with a terrified scream.
"They are all here." The senior said.
"Who... Who would do such a thing?!" Bai Guo ran off the disturbed soil. Only now has the vastness of the field covered over by grass truly stood out to him.
"I was passing through this place one night," The woman began. "When masked riders arrived, rounded them up, and killed them. I followed their leader and eventually ended up in that city where we met... what was it called again?"
Bai Guo was dazed, and took a moment to register her question. "You mean Ningde?" When the senior hummed in agreement, another realization had struck him. "You mean Wei Qing did this?!"
The senior continued. "...If you dig some more, you'll find that it's actually only the male villagers."
"I'm not digging anymore!" Bai Guo tossed the shovel aside.
"Then you'll have to take me at my word. The women had been taken away."
"But why? And where?"
The woman smiled slightly. "With your help, we just might figure it out."
Bai Guo found her casual attitude greatly disturbing. He frantically rubbed the back of his neck and tried to calm down, but his indignation boiled over.
"You should be taking this more seriously, senior! You're saying they took them to the Wuyi Mountains? The Wuyi Sect is responsible? I just don't believe it!"
"If you don't believe me, then keep digging until you do."
"This is no laughing matter!" Bai Guo gripped his head. "If they did this, who could possibly bring them to justice? They're the people that were supposed to be protecting us! We should be running away from them, not towards them! I need to go back to my uncle and convince him to flee... I need to let everyone know about this!"
"Do you really think they'll leave you be if you start talking about this?" The senior reclined a bit in her saddle.
"Then I won't tell anyone. I'll just flee with my family!"
"And how will you convince them to run away without telling them about this?"
Bai Guo was at a loss. "But... Then... You! What about you? What are you planning to do by coming right to them? You may be a master, but that place is full of masters just like you! Are you saying you'll take them on all by yourself?" He waved his hand at her. "That's just rubbish!"
The woman closed her golden eyes. "Of course not. I have a plan."
"And that is...?"
"Why should I waste my breath, sharing it with you? A skeptic like you, who can hardly believe even the things right before his eyes?"
"This is just unbelievable!" Bai Guo sprayed his arms in frustration. He paced around, wondering what to do.
The senior spoke. "Think about it this way. If you leave me now, it will take me longer to find the sect. And the longer it takes me, the more time they will have to continue doing these things."
"Word after word... All that comes out of your mouth is absurd!" Bai Guo gripped his head, on the verge of tearing out his hair.
The woman flipped a leg over the saddle and hopped down. As she stepped closer, Bai Guo warily edged back, fearing that the senior had had enough of his discourteous talk. "Bai Guo, why did you decide to follow me?"
"Why...?" Bai Guo mumbled. Just moments ago he had a pre-prepared answer to this question. But now, things were different, and his mind was in turmoil. He gestured towards the mass grave, and yelled. "It's because, one way or the other, I need to become stronger! So things like this won't happen to me or anyone I care about!"
"Then regardless of whether I succeed, you stand to gain something to that end, don't you? Remember, your only role is to bring me there." The woman offered him an eerie smile. "When we arrive, you can go and announce me to them right away. That way, you can get some good will from the Wuyi Sect."
A chill ran down Bai Guo's spine. Did she see through his little plot back when he first made her the offer?
Bai Guo shook his head. "I don't want any good will from them... Not after I've seen this. Whatever your plan is, I hope you succeed, senior. And I'll help you."
On Bai Guo's insistence, they returned to the empty village. The young man had spent a while idly looking around. The senior observed him without a word. Bai Guo picked up a fallen sign and brushed aside the dirt.
The village used to be called Qiaodu.
...