The next day, they were once again back at the bog.
"The Body Dissolving Incense was made to be not only simple, but versatile." Cui Shen explained. "The ability to be assembled in any which environment and on the move was a vital part of its design. There are countless possible substitutions for the eight core ingredients. I will try to teach you about every single one that I know of, and how they affect the ratios during the creation process. My knowledge on the subject is by no means exhaustive. After I've taught you everything I know, you will have to pursue the art on your own."
From dawn to dusk they wandered the swamp, sifting through plants and venomous critters.
Well over a month had passed, and the three were spending less and less time at the house. Bai Guo found his master to be growing increasingly more tense; he guessed that she hadn't been making progress as quickly as she had hoped.
As the days dragged on, Bai Guo and Ling Ling became nearly inseparable. Every chance they had to work on something together, they took. Progress on the flower field had gradually dwindled to nothing, as the two were too engrossed in each other to pay any heed to productivity.
But neither of them was oblivious to the way they looked, and whenever they sensed prying eyes, they attempted to act with the harmless cordiality that proper decorum demanded of them.
And yet Bai Guo could tell that their efforts were unconvincing. And even Ling Ling began to realize her folly when the old nun brought the four younger girls to help them in their task. A short and stern-looking woman, she communicated entirely in gestures.
"Sister Lai..." Ling Ling first bowed respectfully. "The girls shouldn't be here, it's too dangerous. Mistress Ouyang's poison seeped into the soil, there's no telling what might happen."
But the old woman stubbornly shook her head again and again. The young disciple was forced to relent. Now, surrounded by people for most of the day, their private time became scarce and fleeting. Their only relief was that the others had daily duties of their own. Much to the old buddhist nun's chagrin, she could not maintain the constant watch she very clearly desired.
But it only served to make what little time they could scavenge to themselves that much more precious.
One day, when the two coincidentally found themselves a private moment in the kitchen, Ling Ling took the opportunity to grumble as she was cutting a cabbage.
"I wish mistress Ouyang would just agree to teach your master the arts. All of us learning together, it would have been wonderful. I'd love to have a martial sister like her."
Bai Guo sighed heavily. Ling Ling sensed that he wasn't merely responding to her words, and set her knife down to come closer. "What's wrong?"
"It's all my fault." He declared. "It's because of me that she's risking her life for lady Ouyang's secrets!"
"How do you mean, young master?" Ling Ling sheepishly ran her fingers across his sleeve in an attempt to console him. She had indeed begun to address Bai Guo as young master, but only when they were in private. It had turned into a term of endearment.
"She is a peerless expert. Mastering a martial art for her is as easy as taking a breath. But me, I've got no talent for it." Bai Guo shook his head. "There isn't much she can teach me, and I'm slow even at what little is left for me. All her efforts are in vain. But I know her well enough by now to know that she's too stubborn to give up on anything, even on a wretch like me. She must have figured that the poisoner arts would suit someone like me better, so she came here. She's probably right, but even so... "
Bai Guo sighed again. "I mean, just think about it - with her martial arts as sublime as they are, even if she stands to benefit from your master's teachings, surely she wouldn't so senselessly risk her life for them like this? If you had a mountain of gold, would you gamble with your life for a few more coins? So she's doing this for a different reason."
She gripped his sleeve harder. The girl's agitation was growing in tandem with his. "Did your master say that?"
"Of course she wouldn't tell me that. It would be tantamount to admitting that she thinks I'm hopeless. She must think my pride couldn't take it. But I'd be a fool not to know."
Ling Ling swallowed heavily. "What if I taught you some of the arts?"
"It wouldn't do any good. First of all, her pride would be destroyed if someone did a better job of teaching me than her - nothing short of teaching me herself would set her at ease. Secondly... She can't back out of this challenge now. It's all well and good for Tao Geming to suffer the consequences for his actions, but I worry that master will meet the same fate."
"But then what can we do? I can't teach your master in secret. She spends every waking moment together with mistress Ouyang, and they even sleep in adjacent rooms." The girl seemed at a loss.
They suddenly heard footsteps coming from the hall and separated in the blink of an eye. The mute nun returned from her errand, cutting their private moment short.
They hadn't had the chance to speak again before that day ended.
Cui Shen returned much earlier than usual, alone. Bai Guo asked him about his master.
"I taught your master everything I knew. Sticking around would just slow her down. Her memory is something to behold." Cui Shen explained, though his tone was far from hopeful. "But though her progress boggles the mind, I doubt it will be enough. Perhaps if she had the full year she initially asked for... No, even then it seems unlikely. And she's working under a much tighter time constraint than even that."
"Master has always found a way to exceed expectations." Bai Guo tried to offer a more optimistic perspective, but in truth, he was also doubtful.
"Let's see if we can't find out just how much time she has." Cui Shen suggested. He headed towards Tao Geming's room. Bai Guo grabbed his sword before following the dark-clothed man.
The door was slightly ajar, so they peered in. Tao Geming sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes closed in intense concentration. A clay basin on the floor contained a thin pool of black liquid.
"What do you want?" Snarled the Invincible Blood Sea. His eyes remained shut.
"How much time do you have left?" Asked Cui Shen.
"More than you, cripple."
Cui Shen impassively continued. "The two months lady Ouyang gave you are almost over."
"The old bag is in for a surprise, then." Tao Geming sneered.
Realizing that the conversation wasn't about to go anywhere, the two left.
Bai Guo sighed. "He seems confident at least."
"So he does. With Tao Geming's character, if he sensed urgency, I suspect he wouldn't act so composed. It seems that your master still has some time left to work with. They both keep exceeding lady Ouyang's expectations, which I believe bodes well."
Their observations brought them both some semblance of relief.
"Now I'd like to ask you something, Bai Guo." Cui Shen began. "What are your intentions towards Ling Ling?"
Caught completely off-guard, Bai Guo sputtered, no coherent reply coming to mind. Blood rushed to his face.
"I overheard the girls gossiping about you two." Cui Shen said. "But it's not as if it wasn't obvious enough already."
Bai Guo suddenly fell to his knees and kowtowed. "Sir Shen, I should have asked for your permission...!"
Cui Shen seemed baffled by his reaction. "What are you doing? Why would you need my permission?"
"You are her elder brother!"
Cui Shen sighed. "I'm her junior martial brother, and even that makes for a strenuous relation at best. Enough of this, stand up."
He helped the young man up to his feet.
"I don't think that's true at all." Bai Guo insisted. "You're one of her most cherished ties, no different from a brother by blood. I really should have asked."
"It's not my place to give you permission. Only one person in this household constitutes her family."
Bai Guo suddenly paled.
Cui Shen shook his head. "Naturally, you understand that it's impossible, don't you? And if she finds out about what you two get up to while she's gone, I don't think even your master could force her to stay her hand."
"What do you think I should do, sir Shen?" Bai Guo asked, his voice quivering.
Cui Shen closed his eyes, pondering the question. "That's something only you can decide. You already know what I had done when I was in your shoes. And you know that it brought me nothing but regrets."
His dark eyes wistfully stared off at nothing. "...Well, I suppose it wasn't all regrets. Even if I was given a chance to live my life all over again, hopeless fool that I am, I suspect I would just squander it on the same mistakes."
After a few moments of silent reminiscence, Cui Shen turned to Bai Guo. "The only advice I can give you is this - if this is not something you're willing to stake your life on, then don't bother."
As the young man bowed to show his gratitude, Cui Shen walked away.
That night Bai Guo found himself ill at ease, wracked by guilt. "Oh, Bai Guo, you really are a wretch! You've even deceived a true brother..."
Time continued to pass. Cui Shen had attempted to help around the house at first, but when he realized that sister Lai was using him just so she could maintain a stricter vigil over the two young disciples, he began to act like his condition had taken a turn for the worse, and confined himself to his room.
When the second month of the challenge began, The Golden Witch frantically rushed into Tao Geming's room with a bowl in hand.
"Drink this." She demanded without ceremony while presenting the container.
"What in the world is this? It smells foul." Tao Geming recoiled at the liquid within.
"Would you not waste my time? This could be the antidote." The woman impatiently pressed the bowl ever closer to his chest.
"Could be? If you aren't sure, test your crap on animals, not me."
"There's only one animal here with the right poison running through its veins!"
"Why you little...!"
"You agreed to play the game, so follow the rules!"
Tao Geming finally took the bowl from her. He gulped it down, his face as bitter as his drink.
"How do you feel?" She asked.
"I don't feel anything."
"And the poison?"
"Well we're going to find that out tomorrow, aren't we?!" He shoved the empty bowl back into her hands.
The Golden Witch rushed out as quickly as she arrived, frowning all the while.
No longer had she been spending her days in the swamp. Instead, when Cui Shen's miniature alchemical kit proved insufficient for the scope of her work, with lady Ouyang's taciturn permission, she appropriated the old woman's laboratory and spent most of her time there.
Lady Ouyang patiently observed every moment of her work from the corner of the room.
But the golden eyed woman was stumped. Already past the first deadline, she still hadn't felt like she was approaching anything resembling the solution. She realized that assembling even the first part of lady Ouyang's poison was turning out to be an extreme time sink, and instead of reverse-engineering it outright, she decided to try to create the antidote directly.
Slouched over a bronze table littered with flasks, powders, and reagents, the Golden Witch massaged her scalp with her long fingers, contemplating her next moves. But little came to mind; she was simply too anxious for the results of her first experiment. She waited for the relief that would come from narrowing down some of her chaotic thoughts.
The next morning, her hopes turned out to be in vain, as her potion had had no effect whatsoever. She analyzed the dark liquid that Tao Geming had taken to habitually expelling each day through his fingertips, but scrutinizing it unveiled nothing of worth. Somehow, it was little more than inert, discolored blood, as if the poison vanished the moment it made its way out of the body.
The Golden Witch was back to square one, rethinking her entire approach. A sudden regretful realization dawned on her.
"I made a mistake..." She muttered. Lady Ouyang's ears perked up as she listened. "I had it drilled into my head that the only path to mastery is through dogged commitment to the way, and yet here I am, jumping from one measure to the next like a startled rabbit."
The old woman responded with contempt. "What good is that hollow aphorism to you now? You don't have time to pursue anything properly. Your current approach of shooting in the dark is certainly desperate, but there is at least a chance of making a correct guess, however miniscule it may be."
"No..." The Golden Witch hissed in frustration. "Shut up."
Lady Ouyang stared daggers into the woman's back, nonplussed by her callousness. But the mistress' stern brows suddenly relaxed. Ever since the Golden Witch had showed her up with the Body Dissolving Incense, the old woman had never looked more confident.
The younger woman began to ramble frantically. "People like you might be content to live their lives the way you do, in that lackadaisical, half-baked manner, but I'm different. I need to do this. I need to do this right. If I compromise, it will all be in vain. Our stupid game doesn't matter to me anymore. I can't worry about Tao Geming's life. And if I can't overcome this, if I can't do it the way it should be done, it's not worth fussing over my life either."
Lady Ouyang listened with restrained amusement. "Dying for your master's teachings. How commendable. It seems that even someone of your shoddy character is not bereft of decent qualities. I'll be sure to record it on your tombstone."
The Golden Witch straightened her back and took a deep breath.
Her work continued.