Inside a seedy inn on the outskirts of the Kunlun Mountains, the dejected Liao Lan was cooped up in her room, staring bitterly at a handful of silver coins and strings of cash scattered around a table. Shao Luli approached her with a tray of hot tea and rice crackers and took a seat next to her.
"So much time wasted already and this is all we managed to scrounge up. We won't get very far on just this much." Liao Lan mumbled, letting the silver run through her hands. "After the Yellow Fairy robbed us, I wasn't worried at all at first. I thought my reputation alone would be enough to earn it all back in no time. But after she dragged me into that fiasco with her disciple, I became enemy number two of the Kunlun Sect, and suddenly my fame is nothing but a burden."
Her disciple rested a hand on her shoulder. "We'll make it through this, master."
Liao Lan set her head down on the desk with a tired sigh. "I can't wait to be gone from these stinking mountains."
Shao Luli smiled and gave the woman's tired shoulders a gentle rub. A sudden knock on the door startled them both, straightening out Liao Lan's back. They both had the thought of just ignoring their unexpected guest, but the knocking continued, taking on an increasingly insistent rhythm. The disciple finally wandered over. When Shao Luli opened the door, she shrieked, tripping over her own feet as she tried and utterly failed to retreat.
Blood drained from Liao Lan's face when she saw the intruder. The massive woman standing in the hall leaned below the doorway and entered, a small smile beneath her golden eyes. Liao Lan was so quick to drop to her knees that she slid a little across the carpeted floor. But she could only sputter stupidly, not a single coherent word springing from her lips.
"Get up. I want to talk." The Yellow Fairy said, prompting Liao Lan to raise her head. The disciple crawled back into a corner, observing the scene with terror in her dark eyes.
"I've done what you bid of me, madam!" Liao Lan's voice trembled. Her knees remained on the floor. "How have I wronged you? Did the young man not make it back to you?"
"No, you've done well. I'm not here to do anything bad to you. Get up." She demanded again. Liao Lan slowly raised herself up on shaky legs.
"On the contrary, since you've done so well, I'd like to reward you." The woman said. "What do you say about becoming my disciple?"
Liao Lan's mouth opened and closed and opened and closed. Her eyes wandered over to the young girl in the corner, hoping to verify whether she had heard the same words or whether she had completely lost her mind. Shao Luli stared back at her with the same dumbfounded expression, helping Liao Lan regain her grip on reality.
When her stupor began to drag on, the Yellow Fairy spurred her on. "Well? Out with it."
Liao Lan cupped her hands together and bowed a little. "I'm sorry, senior, I just don't understand. What brought this on?"
"As I said, it's a reward for saving my disciple."
Sweat dripped down from the other woman's brow. She thought about it some more, and her bow deepened.
"I don't know if this unworthy one is qualified to serve under you..." She stammered.
The Hungry Yellow Fairy clicked her tongue. Just that alone made the woman before her flinch. "Enough with the roundabout language. Just tell me yes or no."
Again, Liao Lan was briefly plunged into silence. "Then... Then if it pleases you, this Liao Lan would be proud to accept your proposal! Please accept my kowtows, master!"
She dropped to the floor again. Shao Luli's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull as she bore witness to the impromptu ceremony before her.
"Good!" The Fairy was pleased. "Gather your things. I'll be waiting outside. We're leaving right away."
She twirled, setting her long sleeves aflutter, and left. Liao Lan scooped over to her bed, leaning up against it. Her disciple crawled over towards her.
"Master," she said, "Why did you accept?"
"Are you kidding me?" Liao Lan replied with complete exasperation. "Just what do you think would happen if I refused? I only barely made it out with my life the first time around, you think I'm going to risk souring our relations with her again?"
Though Shao Luli already knew the answer, she still couldn't help but ask. She crumpled beside her master on the floor. The two women stared at nothing for a while, as though their souls had been drained from their bodies. Suddenly, the older woman's temper exploded, and she started banging her fists into the bed, screaming into the sheets and pillows.
"I was being so careful! How, how, how did she find us?! How did she find us before even the Kunlun Sect could?! And last time, too, she found me with such ease to draft me into her stupid little war against them! I don't understand, it's like I'm really possessed by a ghost! When oh when will my luck turn around?!"
Her outburst suddenly came to an end. Her face remained in her pillow.
Shao Luli asked, "What are we going to do now?"
The question lingered in the room. Liao Lan suddenly rose and grabbed the younger girl by the shoulders.
"Maybe this is my luck turning around!" She suddenly exclaimed, giving Shao Luli a slight shake. "She's so powerful, having her for a master couldn't be anything but a blessing, right?! Aren't we, in fact, incredibly fortunate that she's not only willing to let bygones be bygones, but also teach us martial arts?!"
"That woman is bad news, master." Shao Luli was less than enthused. "I just know nothing good could possibly come of this. She probably won't even teach us anything. And who knows what absurd trial she might put you through again."
Liao Lan had been nearly overwhelmed by her disciple's pessimism right then and there. But she boldly pressed on through the gloom. "Well this is the hand that we were dealt, little Lu! Don't be so gloomy, girl! It's like you don't even know your master. You know my greatest skill isn't my martial arts. Ptooey, who cares about that? What makes me Liao Lan is my ability to make the most out of a bad situation. I can turn lead to gold as if with magic! We'll make it through this, and we'll be even better off than we were before! We will! Don't you trust me?"
Shao Luli gripped her master's arms, her eyes filling with determination. The girl had finally been swept up in her master's optimism. Her head bobbed with a meek nod.
"Come on, let's not keep your grandmaster waiting." Liao Lan said, rushing to her feet. They both hastened to gather their meager possessions.
When they stepped outside, they found the golden haired woman waiting for them. Liao Lan took a deep breath as she approached and reverently bowed before her.
"Forgive me, master, but your disciple doesn't know how to address you." She said.
"Call me the Golden Witch." Her master replied. "I have a question for you. Who taught you martial arts?"
"I was trained by Lady Rose Vine of Fairy Spring Valley."
"Is she skilled?" She asked.
"Very much so." Liao Lan assured her. "Her fame far exceeds my own."
"Take me to her."
Her sudden demand caught Liao Lan off-guard. "To what end, if I may ask...?"
"Test of skill." The Witch's succinct reply answered none of the questions ringing through her fresh disciple's head.
"I... I don't know if I can, master. They don't accept visitors, and I've long been banished from that place. I am not welcome there. We would be bringing a calamity upon all of our heads by venturing there."
"Let me worry about that." The Golden Witch waved her sleeve. "Just bring me there."
"It's quite far from here..." Liao Lan's last ditch effort to dissuade her new master earned her a glare. She relented with an urgent bow. "As you command!"
The trio took their leave of the mountain range, venturing south and to the east.
Shao Luli sourly noted, "Wasn't there another disciple?"
"He's away on private business." The Golden Witch replied. The other two women subtly exchanged surprised glances. They found their separation to be an unexpected development for someone who at one point went to such lengths to retrieve the disciple in question. "We'll be moving quickly. I hope your disciple can keep up, Liao Lan."
Just as they seemed ready to begin their journey in earnest, they spotted a man perched up on a lone tree farther up their path. Liao Lan recognized him immediately. She halted her steps and in her dread had inadvertently backed up into her new master. The Golden Witch's long sleeve gently brushed her out of the way. Her golden eyes stubbornly ignored the man up above, continuing with her stride. Liao Lan grabbed her disciple's hand and the two of them followed her master very closely behind, shielding themselves behind her tall figure like a pair of scared little girls hiding behind their parent.
Just when it looked like they would pass the Invincible Blood Sea by, the man's voice resounded across the field.
"So you finally cast off that useless burden."
Her steady steps suddenly stopped. The neck of the Golden Witch slowly craned up to gaze at the man above.
"I thought I made it very clear what would happen if I see you again." She hissed. "I figured maybe you came upon me by honest mistake, but since you helped him, I thought I'd let you off just this one time. But I see you intend to hound me until I put you down like the dog you are."
Tao Geming smirked at her budding rage. "You think your words meant anything to me until this moment?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" The Golden Witch demanded.
With a cold snort, Tao Geming plunged down to the ground and bellowed, "You think the words of that bashful little girl meant a damn thing to me? If you have something to say to me, do it now, while your owner's still got you off your leash!"
The golden eyes flared with rage.
In that moment, Liao Lan felt like Tao Geming's diminutive figure loomed over them like a mountain. Invisible, stifling pressure bore down upon her and her disciple. A sudden wind swept through their hair. Even their master's back no longer felt safe to hide behind; not because her presence paled in comparison to his, but because Liao Lan feared that they could get immolated in the flames of her wrath. She felt an instinctual understanding that conflict between these two was simply beyond her, and there was no safety to be found anywhere the eye could see.
"There it is!" Tao Geming shouted. "During our first meeting, I glimpsed that incredible look in your eye for just a moment. As I followed you, I came to realize just what it was that made you hold back that day. And what a pathetic reason it was! You're just a girl after all!"
The Golden Witch blurred into action. Her long arm drew a great arc as it swept through the air, sending her fist out to crush the man's skull. Tao Geming received her ferocious strike upon his crossed arms. The ground shook. His feet dug an inch into the earth. And though the Golden Witch strained, she couldn't move him any more than that. Little by little, his arms forced her limb back.
"Now that he's not looking over your shoulder, you're finally planning to take this all the way?" Tao Geming asked, a grin on his face. The disdain contained in the woman's expression was beyond measure. She exhaled sharply and drew back her arm. Just that alone left her well beyond his reach.
"Just what are you trying to pull here?" She asked. "You, who had so much to say about cunning and the trickery of the jianghu, are just trying your hardest to die at my hands? Perhaps you're willing to at least reveal your intentions before I put an end to you?"
Tao Geming snorted. "Why do you think I've been keeping out of your way for so long? I had no interest in associating with you while you still had that weight wrapped around your neck. But now, I wish to witness it firsthand."
"Witness what?" She pressed, annoyed.
"The real you!"