Two months passed since the events on Mount Hua.

In the vast city still at times colloquially referred to as "the capital", ordinary life resumed in blissful ignorance over what had transpired.

But even among the select few who did know, the news of his successful mission brought little more than simple relief. Now that those two monsters of the jianghu were gone, the world was a more peaceful place.

Bai Guo was richly rewarded for his contributions. He had been provided with a house, a miniature mansion almost as big as his uncle's inn, and enough gold and rolls of silk to last him for many years to come.

Hou Jin helped his nephew settle in before returning to his old post in the former lands of the Wuyi. The case of the golden haired woman had been settled once and for all, leaving him with no business in the capital. He deemed that Bai Guo's training would be better left in the hands of the Bureau's main office in Chang'an.

Bai Guo excelled at his new role. The investigators in charge of his training discovered that there was little that they could teach him when it came to plying their trade.

The young trainee's only weakness, as ever, remained in martial arts. However, after his journey, he was no longer a slouch even in that regard. His further development required the direct involvement of Senior Investigators.

Among the rank-and-file, it was considered a great honor to be tutored by those veterans.

Though still not yet an official investigator, Bai Guo gradually began to take on real work. His advancement in rank was only a matter of time.

The young man sought to repair his father's ruined sword. But he found himself strangely apprehensive when it came to utilizing his newfound wealth. After saving up his wages, he employed a blacksmith. Though the weapon had been successfully repaired, it became shorter and more brittle, and the smith warned that it should no longer be relied upon in real battle.

But at least it was whole.

Bai Guo put it up on a prominent spot inside his new house.

And yet every time he passed it, he was filled with unease.

No longer did it bring back the fond memories of his father. Whenever he saw it, he could only think of what had happened that day.

Of her wounded, bloodied figure.

Of the hurt in her golden eyes when she realized his treachery.

...Eventually, he took it down and hid it in the attic.

But even that did little to keep his restlessness at bay. When his daily tasks were finished and he found himself back home, his unoccupied mind would always wander back to those events.

Though a part of him was glad that he hadn't been forced to witness her demise, it robbed him of a complete sense of closure. But he also understood that, after everything he had seen under her wing, all the improbable and the impossible things he witnessed her achieve, even that may not have granted him true peace of mind.

He tried to smother those lingering regrets by dedicating himself to his work.

One day, he arrived at the office to find it closed. Unbeknownst to him, it was a holiday.

Bai Guo reluctantly returned home. Without getting changed, he sat down in his courtyard, leaning against a tree. He stared at the thick gray clouds above and took in the autumn air, heavy with the fragrance of approaching rain. Inadvertently, he dozed off.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dream.

Because there it was again.

That white robe, that golden hair...

His breath caught in his throat.

When the frantic pounding of his heart couldn't stir him awake, he knew that it was all over.

How long had she been standing there?

And after their eyes met, why did she remain still?

Of course, Bai Guo knew why he himself remained unmoving. Against the likes of her, what resistance could he possibly mount?

Anticipating his own demise, color drained from his face. His body shook.

But Bai Guo clenched his teeth, trying to force down his fear. Part of it turned to frustration, to anger.

A fierce glare made his stance clear. He did not regret his actions; he would not beg for his life.

As she watched his show of defiance, her golden eyes softened. Bitterness flashed through them.

"It suits you." She said. Bai Guo realized that she must have been talking about his uniform.

He raised himself up along the tree. He stood on infirm legs.

"Mao Zixin..." Bai Guo forced out.

"He's dead."

Bai Guo gritted his teeth. He knew not to expect anything else. "...What are you going to do now?"

She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I found what I've been looking for." She said. "But it was only a preliminary step. Now that my preparations are complete, I must proceed."

Her gaze turned cold.

"On this journey I have learned of my many shortcomings. I know now what must be done. But to achieve my goals, I need time. Stability. And for that, I need your help."

"What are you saying?" Bai Guo was stunned. "You already know what I'm going to say to that! It's out of the question! It's over between us! I can't, I won't help you anymore! And if you're going to kill me for that... then just... get it over with!"

The resolve in her eyes flickered. "I won't hurt you. Whether you agree to help me or not. I know... I kept forcing you to play along with my whims. I won't feign ignorance. And I won't blame you for lashing out against me. You've done it before... just in ways I deemed fit to ignore. But now, you really showed how much it all meant to you. I understand now. And I don't hold it against you."

Bai Guo shook his head in disbelief. "You say you understand, but you're still not listening! It's not about whether you forgive me or not. I just know that you'll never change. And as long as I'm with you, I... I cannot act like myself either. I cannot act like my father would want me to."

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"I do understand. But even so. I would like to ask you for one last favor. After that... You're free to do as you wish."

She made her request. "Take me to Wu Rong."

"Why? What do you intend to do to her?"

"I need to speak with her."

"I won't have any part in this! In anything you get up to! Haven't I made myself clear enough?"

"As long as you're with me, I promise I won't hurt anyone."

Bai Guo recognized the veiled threat in her words. "What's the point in making me do this? You can find her yourself, can't you?"

"I would like you to hear what I have to say. Some of it I've been wanting to tell you for a long time."

Bai Guo grimaced. Wu Rong wasn't a hard woman to find, not in her own city. Her palace could be seen from afar. It was visible even from his house. He didn't want to help her, but neither was he willing to wash his hands of responsibility entirely.

"...I'm only doing this because of your threat."

His master gave him a little smile.

"I'll be waiting outside."

And in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Bai Guo drew a desperate breath and crumbled to his knees. He panted for air as though he had just pulled his head out from beneath deep waters. His fist struck the earth, again and again.

Each hit brought back a sliver of composure.

Finally, he pried himself off the ground and went back inside to wipe the sweat off his body. When he was out of the house, he found her standing there, waiting for him.

He couldn't bear to look into those golden eyes. Bai Guo kept his gaze low as they walked together. Though he was supposed to be her guide, she seemed to already know the way.

They wandered the streets in silence. As always, his master's unique features drew the eyes of every stranger. They gawked at her from afar, pondered aloud who she may have been or what place she could have hailed from where people looked like her.

But eventually, the two of them began to come across those who did know of her. They shared her identity in hushed whispers and hastily cleared out of her path.

The farther along the two of them had gone, the sparser the streets turned.

Soon, there was no idle chatter interrupting their silence. Not a soul dared to linger in the streets.

Perhaps now that their privacy was assured, the Golden Witch broke the quiet.

"How would you describe lady Wu Rong? What's your impression of her?"

Bai Guo let the question linger for a long time. He had little desire to answer. But the silence weighed down on him. He couldn't endure it.

"As a ruler, her governance holds the interests of the common people above all else. The city flourishes under her policies. When it comes to her personally, I haven't known her for long. But from what I have seen of her, I would describe her as driven and intelligent. When I came to her about you, she already knew a lot; furthermore, she quickly realized that you haven't been sparing your victims out of the kindness of your heart, but because you intended to make use of them later."

For a moment, Bai Guo wondered what their journey would have looked like had she not been burdened with her task. He shuddered.

His master seemed to know exactly what was going through his head. "I know your opinion of me has become quite low, but I have never reveled in bloodshed. Even if I didn't have a reason to spare them, I wouldn't just kill indiscriminately. You should at least know that much about me."

Bai Guo shook his head. "I know you don't really care one way or the other. And it's precisely that lack of an aversion towards violence that makes us so different. I can't pretend I didn't know this about you all along. But maybe I held hope that you could change, I don't know. That was stupid. I should have never... I was so stupid..."

"...Did you really hate being with me that much?"

Bai Guo couldn't bear to look her in the eye.

"This isn't about that." He said. "I've seen you do good deeds and bad, but... life is not about a give and take. Or at least I don't believe it should be. I'm not a kid anymore - I understand that nothing's truly black and white, that life just doesn't work that way, that compromises must be sometimes made. But I... The way you go about it, the way the whole world is going, it just isn't right. I tried, you know. I really did. I tried to see things your way, act the way you do. But I just can't. I just don't have it in me I guess. So I decided that, if fate would have me suffer one way or the other, then let me at least toil for a good cause. Towards something that my father would be proud of."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of." The Golden Witch hastened her pace.

They spent the rest of the road in silence. When they approached the palace of the Tang, Bai Guo's master rushed off to take care of the guards. True to the letter of her word, they remained mostly unharmed - she rendered them completely immobile with precise strikes at their pressure points.

They made their way through the vast and picturesque courtyards and gardens of Wu Rong's palace. Not only did they fail to discover a single patrol along their route, but soon their surroundings began to repeat themselves.

"It's a formation." Bai Guo realized. He felt a tinge of hope, thinking that Wu Rong might get a chance to escape his master's ire.

But the Golden Witch smiled. "I could have escaped Mount Hua much sooner, but I thought I'd stay a while, and see what I could learn. I still can't hope to set up a formation of my own, but I did learn how to navigate my way through this particular kind. Follow me."

They veered off the obvious path. They took turns that should have had them walking in circles, and yet they found themselves getting closer and closer to their destination.

It wasn't long before they began to wander the palace halls.

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