[Part III]

Without rest or sleep, Su Bai ran for three days.

Three days later, she buried Su San"s body in a place blooming with camellia, before she returned to Southern Zhao, secretly trespa.s.sing the palace of the Gu Master.

She had only just entered when she saw Ah Lai who had been keeping watch there.

Ah Lai remained smiling as she often was. She was dressed beautifully in embroidered robes and wore jewellery which jingled as she moved gracefully. She clapped her hands, then exclaimed, "Ah, Su Bai, you"ve finally returned?"

Wordlessly, Su Bai stared at her, her eyes as sharp as a hawk"s. Yet I saw that her hands trembled, as though she was forcibly suppressing something. Slowly, she asked Ah Lai, "Why?"

"What, why?" Ah Lai"s face was a picture of innocence.

Su Bai continued, "I will never rebel against Southern Zhao. You know this."

"I do not." Ah Lai"s expression abruptly cooled. With great derision, she said, "I have never trusted you Han people, who are as crafty as you are cunning. Especially you, Su Bai, descendent of the Su family, a family who has never in a hundred years produced a traitor towards Great Yue. I am not the only person - no one in Southern Zhao will believe in you. Even if it were Lord Yue Chi, it will be the same.

"You wish to seduce Lord Yue Chi. Of course, we will beat you at your own game and use you in return. From the very beginning, we"re all the same kind of people, our hands stained with blood of the innocent - why do you pretend to be otherwise?"

Ah Lai lifted her head arrogantly, her eyes filled with contempt. "Do you really believe Lord Yue Chi loves you? Since you"ve fled from the battlefield, how dare you return today? Let me tell you this - Lord Yue Chi is about to give you away!"

"Give… give me to someone else?" Su Bai paled as she said through trembling lips, "I don"t believe… Master will never…"

"Do you still remember your father"s archenemy, that conniving Prime Minister of Great Yue?" Ah Lai walked down the steps and drew closer to her. Smiling, she continued, "He has an extremely powerful gu. With it, Lord Yue Chi will be able to create the "Jue Sha" gu - the dream gu all Gu Masters wish to create. That Prime Minister is willing to exchange you for it, and Lord Yue Chi has acceded to his request."

"I don"t believe… I don"t believe…" Su Bai repeated over and over, before she suddenly shouted, "Master promised me he would give me a home. He would never lie to me!"

Ah Lai did not reply, her smile complacent. After a long moment, she slowly said, "If you don"t believe me, why don"t you ask him that for yourself?"

Ah Lai left.

I saw the ghastly white face of Yue Chi who stood next to me, his body trembling. I had a premonition that something terrible was about to happen, and sure enough, I saw a dispirited Su Bai slowly make her way towards Yue Chi"s room, before she knelt on the grounds outside the door.

Her body was still injured from her wounds, but when she knelt, her back remained completely straight, her posture unyielding. The fine rain in the autumn skies of Southern Zhao fell steadily on her back, blood-red flowers blossoming across the grounds as her blood melded with the rainwater which stretched across the compound.

She knelt for a long time, so long that I thought she would perhaps kneel in this manner for all of eternity, when she finally opened her mouth and called the man within the room.

"Master."

It was already nightfall.

That man"s shadow was reflected in the window panes of his room, and she knelt there, her head raised, her eyes unswerving from his reflection. The person within the room did not open the door, continuing to read his book even as he addressed her.

He nodded. "En, you have returned."

As he said this, he seemed to have switched a book, before he continued, "It"s good that you have returned. Pack your things. Tomorrow, you are going to Great Yue."

"Going there… for what?"

Her breath caught, her face deathly white as she fought to suppress the cries which threatened to escape her.

The man did not seem aware of this. His voice remained unchanged as he said, "To exchange for Jue Sha."

In an instant, Su Bai"s entire body seemed to have been pushed beyond their very limits. Her limbs weakened; she collapsed onto the grounds.

She knelt in front of his room, crying. Her cries were like a great iron hammer, driving steel nails into a person"s heart.

Yet the man within the room remained unmoved, and the person outside the room could only cry to the point her heart out.

I saw Yue Chi, who had been standing next to me, slowly walk over. He bent down and extended a hand towards the young woman who was crying on the floor, stubbornly trying to wipe away the tears on her face.

Yet he could not touch her, and could only repeat this action over and over, even as tears fell from his own eyes.

Su Bai once told me that when she cried, her Master would help her to wipe away her tears.

He had said to her that when she had finished crying, he would bring her home.

When Su Bai had recounted this to me, her smile blossomed with blissfulness. Yet, at that time, I could never imagine the image of the legendary Gu Master, a man as unfeeling as he was callous, wiping away the tears of another.

Now that I was finally witnessing this image, without reason, my heart sank.

Yue Chi patiently repeated that familiar movement, time after time. Even though he was unable to touch her, he acted as though she could see him, and murmured soothingly to her, "Ah Bai, be good. When you are done crying, I will bring you home."

These words had no effect on Su Bai. After all, she could not hear them. Still, we continued waiting, and at last, we finally saw Su Bai"s tears subside. She continued to sit in the rain for a long while, before she eventually stood up.

By that time, the man within the room seemed to have retired for the night, for there was no longer any light from within.

Su Bai stared at the room and smiled faintly. "Master, I know that I am nothing in your heart. I know that I am worth nothing to you."

"But, Master," she said as knelt on the grounds once more, heavily kowtowing. "To Su Bai, Master, you are my entire life."

She fought back her tears and cleared her throat as she began to sing a song which originated from her homelands of Great Yue.

She was not gifted with a melodic voice like Ah Lai, but managed to sing an enchanting song which struck the hearts of all who heard it.

She sang: "Carved into my bones is my unwavering longing for your love, did you know?"

***

Su Bai left before daylight. Yue Chi and I continued to follow her. After last night"s events, a crack had appeared on Yue Chi"s mask of calm indifference. His gaze, filled with anguish, never once moved away from Su Bai"s figure.

He said to me, "That day, after she left, she never returned."

Then, he said, "I never truly intended to trade her for Jue Sha. I planned to send her over to draw out that old fox. Once I obtained the gu, I would execute him on the spot."

"But she did not trust me." Yue Chi"s breath hitched as he said, "She really thought I was going to send her to that man, and fled."

I did not speak, only listening to his words as my eyes followed Su Bai, who staggered ahead in front of us. I knew that before long, this memory would soon come to an end.

Because not long after, we would both discover where Su Bai had gone.

Su Bai walked for a little longer before she stopped in her steps.

Arched tall before her was a magnificent wooden door. Su Bai stood in front of the door, her head held high even as her body trembled, as though she knew what horrors lay within.

Finally, at the precise moment when Su Bai raised her hand to push open that door, the last vestiges of Yue Chi"s self-control crumbled as he dashed forward, his movements swift as an arrow, loudly shouting Su Bai"s name, "Ah Bai! Don"t!"

I did not understand Yue Chi"s sudden agitation, and could only run into this great palace after the two of them. After I made my way in, I saw that Yue Chi was standing next to Su Bai, his expression in agony as he tried desperately to stop Su Bai.

But his attempts were in vain.

Su Bai"s face was a picture of unyielding resolution as she slowly walked towards the pond filled with ten thousand venomous gu.

She stared at the ten thousand gu within the pond, her tears silently falling.

But she smiled, and slowly, she whispered, "Master."

"No… don"t…" Yue Chi stood next to her, frantically trying to grab onto her hands, even as he repeated these words.

But Su Bai could not see him. This had happened a long time ago, and Su Bai"s words were a mere soliloquy.

"Master, you wanted me to become a good Gu Master, so I became a good Gu Master. You wanted me to abandon my past and devote myself to Southern Zhao, so I devoted myself to Southern Zhao."

"Now, you want the Jue Sha gu…" She bowed her head, staring at the ten thousand gu within the pit. A long pause, and finally, she seemed to have steeled her heart. "I will give you Jue Sha. I will not go to Great Yue, but for you, I can create the best gu."

"But Master," she suddenly laughed. "Don"t you agree that my entire life is a tragedy? I also wish to lead a simple life, but now, other than this pit filled with ten thousand venomous creatures, I cannot think of a better home. My home was long destroyed; my country conquered. The person who loved me, was murdered by me in my ignorance; the person I loved, wanted to exchange me for a venomous creature. Master, you said that you would give me a home, but in the end, all that you have given me was a lifetime of sadness."

"But I do not hate you." She took a step forward, smiling sadly. "Even if you have never understood the value of a person"s love, still, I wish… to be with you for all eternity."

Her last words having fallen, Su Bai abruptly jumped into the pond filled with ten thousand gu.

Yue Chi stood rooted in spot. He watched as Su Bai jumped, tears falling from his eyes.

Yet I knew that this entire matter had not been concluded.

I quickly took two urgent steps forward, and clung onto the entirely distraught Yue Chi as we swiftly jumped in after her.