Kang Shi struck at her midsection with a kick. His leg whipped like a lunging snake, but had been caught by the Golden Witch's hand. The man dug his heel in and pulled his leg back with a great deal of strength, but no matter how much he heaved and struggled, he could not pry himself out of her grip.
The master seemed to give up on it and snorted. "Amusing ourselves, are we?"
The corner of the woman's mouth jerked ever so subtly upwards. The older man sprang into action again, hopping off with his remaining foot and spinning himself around for yet another kick, this one aimed at her head.
It had struck the other palm of the Golden Witch with a loud clap, and another limb had been caught into her steely grasp. The upper body of the man continued to soar through the air, briefly suspended by the fierce momentum of his second attack. He leaned forward, thrusting out his palm towards the woman's now defenseless torso.
The Golden Witch straightened out her arms upwards and swung the man over her shoulder like he was a sack of rice. She threw him roughly to the ground, and the man struck the dirt hard with his rear.
He swiftly began the efforts to regain his footing, but ceased his attempts after just a few scant twitches. His face turned stark red and sweat began to run down his face. He remained lying there to the confusion of the crowd.
"Well," The man suddenly blurted out, crossing his arms behind his head. He leisurely leaned back into the dirt. "If you're not going to be taking this seriously, then neither shall I."
He suddenly closed his eyes. As the middle aged man lounged on the ground like he was trying to plunge into a nap, the crowd exchanged confused glances. The Golden Witch stared at him with her mouth slightly agape as if she was about to say something, but after a time, seemed to decide against it. She turned around and began to walk away, only to stop a step and a half later and turn right back around.
"Which sect did you say you were from?" She asked.
Kang Shi snorted. "Vagabonds you may be, but to not even know whose lands you're treading through is simply ridiculous. It is the Qin Royal Dynasty Sword School."
"Would you, perhaps, tell me where your sect is located?"
The man snorted again. "Perhaps you'd like me to walk you there, too? Ridiculous!"
The Golden Witch's brows creased like she just ate something sour. She walked away.
Bai Guo ran up behind her, hoping to dispel his confusions. "Master, what happened?"
"I don't know." She replied. "I think he hurt himself when he fell and can't get up anymore. And when he started acting like that, I... I don't know... It was just embarrassing to be near him, so I'd rather go do something else."
"Why don't you press the issue? What if the crowd ends up thinking that you're conceding?"
"I don't care what they think." She waved her long sleeve to dismiss the issue.
Meanwhile, the old master remained lying there. His two disciples approached, no less confused than everybody else. Hou Wencheng had suddenly found himself getting pulled towards the ground by the ear, whimpering at the mistreatment. Kang Shi hissed at him with venomous whispers.
"Foolish disciple, what good are you? Going around picking fights with everybody and anybody, not knowing how high the sky is, not knowing who you're even fighting! You are nothing but a burden! It took every last drop of my wit to salvage our school's reputation, and to spare all of us from humiliation and death. Now I am wracked by terrible pain every time I try to stand. Let's see how you'll enjoy your day off now! Keep the commoners away from me until night falls, then we'll be leaving this place under the cover of darkness, so that no one can see me in my disgraceful state!"
Kang Shi threw his disciple back. The young man began the watch duty as his ear still burned.
With their accommodations for the night secured, the Golden Witch continued to roam the city streets with her disciple in tow. Nearly around every corner she would find a confectionary or a souvenir to acquire, which would require her disciple to intervene and prevent her from obscenely overpaying in gold, and then again to stop her from simply stealing whatever it was that caught the fancy of her yellow eye. Despite Bai Guo's constant meddling, the young woman seemed to be enjoying herself.
"By the way, master, I've been meaning to ask... How many taels do you have left in your possession?" Bai Guo asked.
"About two."
"Only two?!" Her answer frightened him. It was not as if a golden tael, let alone two, was by any stretch of imagination a small sum of money. But it was always a struggle to exchange it for smaller currencies on the road, and thus it was inevitable that they would have to overspend everywhere they went. They spent an absurd amount during their travels, and they had done so with such levity that Bai Guo had never even suspected the problem to creep up on them this way.
It was certainly a problem unique to the laughably wealthy.
Bai Guo seemed on the verge of panic. "Master, we can't keep spending like this! If we run out of money, what are we going to do? Get a job? Doing what exactly? Would you please let me have the last two taels so that I could try to ration our money out a little better?"
The Golden Witch fluttered her sleeve and procured the two remaining pieces of gold. She seemed to think absolutely nothing of her wealth, or the impeding absence of it, and dispensed with it as freely as she did with words.
Bai Guo felt uneasy as he put the two heavy pieces into his pockets. He was always nervous carrying even just one of them around to make menial purchases, and now, in their scarcity, they felt heavier than ever.
As the young man's mind dwelled on the economical, his master's eyes were drawn elsewhere.
"Say," She began. "The two of you have heard of the Beggar's Sect, right?"
Bai Guo shook his head. "What is that? What sect would call itself that?"
Cui Shen raised an eyebrow. "I've heard of that story. Why do you ask?"
"Story?" She repeated.
"The old folk's tale about a secret gang of beggars who use martial arts to protect the common people. Or did you mean something else?" Cui Shen asked.
"They're not real?" She seemed genuinely surprised to hear that.
"Of course they're not real..." Cui Shen closed his eyes. "Anyone with the skills to lead their own martial arts sect would not be out begging on the streets. It's just a legend that people tell their children."
The Golden Witch pursed her lips in contemplation. "Well, that can't be right..." She muttered.
With that subject seemingly settled, Bai Guo consulted with Cui Shen on how to get the most value out of their gold. As they asked the locals for directions to one thing or another, the Golden Witch had suddenly wandered off.
Bai Guo was struck with panic when he noticed her absence, and he felt like quite the fool for losing track of what may have been the most visible person in the whole wide world. To his relief, he easily spotted her blonde head poking out above the crowd and made his way towards her.
He found her standing over a straw hatted beggar, a peculiar smile creeping onto her face. The beggar flicked his hat away from his weary eyes, and was instantly bewildered by what he had seen.
"Senior," The woman before him spoke. "Would you care to give me some pointers?"
As the Golden Witch loomed over the sitting beggar, he nearly shuddered under the intensity of her gaze. He rued his bad luck, thinking, "Just what is it today? Must be true what they say. Blessings don't come in pairs, and misfortunes never come alone."
"Never before have I been so unsettled by a pretty girl's attention." The beggar said, grimacing.
The golden haired woman before him asked, "Your name does not happen to be Tao Geming, does it?"
"Believe it or not, I've just seen the man walk past here not so long ago." As he saw her smile grow just a little wider, he shook his head. "...But I get the feeling that you don't believe it."
"Well, you certainly don't make for a very convincing beggar." She scooped up the man's clay bowl with the golden tael in it, hardly needing to bend her waist to reach the ground.
"Don't you think that even a beggar can have bouts of good luck? And bad..." The man sighed.
"If Tao Geming is a filthy beggar," The Golden Witch said, "It would fit my disciple's clever theory about why it's so hard to get people to describe someone as unsightly as you."
As Bai Guo overheard her say that, his brows furrowed in skepticism. Evidently, he hadn't shared her view on the matter. But he also believed that his master wouldn't approach this beggar for no reason, so he quietly watched the scene unfold.
She sniffed the air before continuing. "You picked this gold piece off that bloody street, didn't you? I can still smell the blood on it. It's even the same kind."
"If Tao Geming is a filthy beggar," The beggar responded, "Then how could he also be a martial artist of such preposterous skill and cruel demeanor? Don't tell me that nose of yours can sniff out not only a man by his blood, but his martial arts too."
"It's not the nose."
"Well, it certainly can't be the nose, because then it would be mistaken." The beggar smiled a little.
"No, if it was the nose, it would be correct. You know, there's really no need to play the fool. Beggars can be martial artists. The tales about the Beggar's Sect are very well known." She stated the last part with less confidence than she intended to, led astray after her brief discussion with her compatriots.
The beggar laughed. "You seem to have taken quite well to those stories, miss. But I hate to break it to you, but they're all simply tall tales. Beggars all over the world tell them to chance upon a free meal, and I'm just another one of them. But even if you harangue every homeless man you see, you won't find a single martial artist among them. These days, men with skills seek fortune under the banners of sects."
The woman's smile disappeared. "That holds true for most of them, but I know you're not just any beggar." As she said that, the Golden Witch suddenly dropped the clay bowl. By some miracle, it remained whole as it impacted the ground, the heavy tael within loudly clattering about. "I've been polite with you so far. Senior." She added the last word after a momentary pause, having nearly forgotten to do so. "But you surely understand that what I'm asking of you here does not require this much courtesy. I'm very generously giving you a chance to get ready, take out the stick you use as a weapon, and trade a few stances with me."
They stared each other down for a time. Finally, the beggar sighed and covered his eyes with his hat. He grumbled, "Most times, people only talk to me on two occasions: they want me to go away, or they want me to tell them story. But no one's ever mixed those reasons together the way you just did, young lady, by threatening me with a beating because of the stories I've told. I'm telling you, you've got the wrong man, and if you bothered to ask anyone around, they'd be eager to vouch for my homelessness."
The foot of the Golden Witch darted forward. She struck the bowl with her toe, and sent it flying at the beggar's head with such great speed that the tael in it spun out into the dirt.
The projectile was caught into the beggar's palm. Unbeknownst to the two, a small crowd had gathered around to watch the tall blonde stranger harass the homeless, and some of them gasped in wonder at the beggar's feat. Even Cui Shen, who had been idly observing the scene without much interest up to that point, couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"Even if you're really not Tao Geming," The Golden Witch said, her smile slowly coming back. "That doesn't change anything. See? You do have some skill."
The beggar hissed in frustration. "I should have just let it hit me."
...