The gates of the White Crane Apothecary slowly opened, and a woman in red emerged. She was tall and elegant, with a beautiful face, though her skin was somewhat pale as if she rarely saw sunlight. A small red mark adorned the center of her forehead, adding a touch of allure to her appearance. As she reached the gateway, her brow furrowed and her eyes widened, revealing a hint of petulance.
“Who is it? Knocking so loudly.”
“Miss, may I ask if the master of the house is at home?” Su Changhe asked with a smile.
The woman paused for a moment, and then laughed, “Oh, so you’re looking for Old Master Bai. He’s out making house calls. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea while you wait?”
“That’s not necessary, we’ll wait here,” Xie Changze replied.
“Alright, then I’ll go out and find Old Master Bai for you.”
The woman walked out, carrying a medicine chest on her back, as if she had been about to leave anyway. She walked straight past Xie Changze and Xie Jinke. Xie Jinke instinctively reached for his sword, but Xie Changze gently stopped him.
Su Changhe glanced at Su Zhe, and with a slight twist of his fingers, the dagger returned to his hand.
“We’ll be counting on you, then, Miss.”
Su Zhe grasped the Buddhist staff with his right hand and gave it a slight shake. A golden ring flew out, grazing the woman’s cheek before returning to Su Zhe’s hand. He glanced at it and saw a trace of blood on it.
“What are you doing!” The woman touched the wound on her face and shouted angrily at Su Zhe.
Su Zhe reattached the golden ring to the staff, then pulled a small vial from his pocket and tossed it to the woman. “Sorry, sorry, my hand slipped. This is Fragrant Revitalizing Ointment. Apply it to your face, and within half an hour, your skin will be as good as new.”
“You’re insane!” The woman glanced at the vial in her hand, then stormed off, muttering curses under her breath.
After the woman was out of sight, Su Changhe turned to Su Zhe and asked, “Uncle Zhe, are you sure she’s not the junior of that Xin Baicao?”
“Xin Baicao is nearly fifty himself. How could his junior be such a young girl?” Xie Jinke scoffed.
“Could she be wearing a human skin mask?” Xie Changze was a bit skeptical.
“Impossible.”
Su Zhe ran his fingers over the golden rings on his staff. “There’s no human skin mask in the world that can fool my eyes. Not even the Thousand-Faced Ghost of the Mu family.”
Su Changhe chuckled. “I’ve noticed, Uncle Zhe, that whenever you encounter a beautiful woman, your Cantonese becomes exceptionally refined.”
Su Zhe curled his lips and laughed, “Such nonsense.”
A mile away, the woman in red sauntered along, casually tossing the vial in her hand. “Fragrant Revitalizing Ointment? As if I, Bai Hehuai, would ever need such a thing!”
She chuckled, then tossed the vial to the ground and crushed it underfoot.
In the wilderness, a dilapidated Taoist temple.
The Taoist temple was named Pure Yang Temple of Eternal Life, dedicated to Lü Zu, the foremost of the Eight Immortals. It must have once seen prosperous times, as the temple was built on a grand scale with high courtyard walls. However, time had taken its toll, and now the walls stood tall but faded, suggesting that incense had not been burned here for a long time.
* Lü Zu is a respectful way to address Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals in Taoist mythology.
At this moment, the sun had already set in the west, and the dusky light illuminated the Taoist temple, giving a touch of ethereal beauty to its dilapidated appearance. A woman in red, carrying a medicine chest, slowly appeared onto the mountain path. She finally reached the temple and called out loudly, “I’m here!”
As her voice echoed through the air, a gust of wind swept through the temple grounds, and a man in green landed before her. The man’s face was concealed by an ox-head mask, and a long sword hung at his waist, with the character “Ugly” engraved on the hilt.
The ox-headed man looked at the woman in red and frowned. “Why didn’t your master come himself?”
The woman in red waved her hand and laughed. “My master passed away long ago, so he won’t be coming. It’s more likely that your master will be the one to go see him..”
The ox-headed man placed one hand on the sword hilt, and a sudden surge of killing intent emanated from his body.
The woman in red seemed unfazed, however, and simply yawned. “Are you going to see the doctor or not? If not, I’m leaving.”
“Ugly Ox, let her in.” A cold, clear voice rang out from within the courtyard.
“Well, that’s a pleasant voice. Sounds like a handsome young man!”
The woman in red walked right past the ox-headed man and into the courtyard.
But there was no handsome young man waiting for her in the courtyard. Instead, a man wearing a demon mask and carrying an oiled paper umbrella stood there.
But the voice of the woman in the red grew even more excited, as if she could see through the mask. “A handsome young man indeed!”
The masked figure studied the woman for a long moment before slowly saying, “Follow me.”
The woman in red raised an eyebrow. “What a shame. A handsome face, but he doesn’t seem to like talking much.”
She adjusted the medicine chest on her back and followed the man with the demon mask inside.
The temple was empty, with only a tall statue of Lü Zu covered in dust. The altar in front of it was completely bare, the valuable incense burners had long been stolen.
Despite the emptiness of the Taoist temple, the woman in red felt as if countless eyes were watching her from the shadows.
“I think there are ghosts in this temple,” the woman in red murmured.
The man with the demon mask ignored her comment and led her into the inner hall. After winding through several corridors, they arrived at a side chamber. Two green-clad men, one with a horse-faced mask and the other a tiger-faced mask, stood guard on either side, their swords bearing the characters “Horse” and “Tiger” respectively.
The two guards seemed to hold the man with the demon mask in high regard. They bowed deeply and stepped aside, allowing the woman in red to follow the man with the demon mask inside.
The side chamber was shrouded in darkness, with only three candles lit. A white-haired old man lay on a bamboo chair, appearing frail but with eyes that still gleamed with a hawk-like intensity. After scrutinizing the woman in red for a long moment, the old man suddenly smiled, his expression softening into that of a doting grandfather gazing upon his granddaughter. The deep wrinkles etched into his face seemed to smooth out in an instant.
“He’s better than you. He doesn’t need a mask. He can change his face himself.” The woman in red said to the man with the demon mask.
The man with the demon mask was taken aback for a moment and shook his head slightly. He then stepped aside to stand next to the old man.
The old man sat up, his gaze fixed on the woman in red. His smile remained warm and inviting, as if her earlier remark hadn’t bothered him in the slightest. “It’s been a long time. The last time I saw you, you were just a dirty child with a runny nose.”
The woman in red pouted. “The last time I saw the patriarch, he was a fierce warrior, always ready to draw his sword.”
“Still always ready to draw his sword, just with white hair instead of black. But the hands are still stained red.” The old man’s tone carried a hint of ruthlessness.
“Then let’s not waste any more words. Let’s check the pulse first and see if the patriarch can still draw his sword!”
The woman in red set down the medicine chest she was carrying and then pulled out a red thread from her sleeve, wrapping it around the old man’s wrist. She then placed her fingers on the thread and closed her eyes. After a brief moment, she opened them again, retrieved the thread, and kicked open her medicine chest. With a wave of her hand, a dozen silver needles flew out of the chest, and another flick of her sleeve sent them all plunging into the patriarch’s chest.
Her movements were fluid and graceful, like flowing water and moving clouds, each action seamlessly transitioning into the next. The man with the demon mask watched silently throughout, but when the silver needles flew out, a killing intent erupted from him. Yet, as the old man remained silent, the man with the demon mask did not move.
“Rein in your killing intent. If you scare me and cause my hand to tremble even slightly, your patriarch will be doomed.” The tone of the woman in the red carried a faint hint of threat.
“My apologies.” The man with the demon mask bowed his head slightly.
“You’re quite polite.” The woman in red curled her lips, then walked over to the old man. With a wave of her long sleeve, the dozen silver needles returned to her palm. She glanced down at the needles, slightly furrowing her brow. After giving them a sniff, she tossed them away.
The old man chuckled. “Does my blood have a faint scent of plum blossoms?”
“Snowfall Plum Blossom.” The woman in red’s voice was laced with surprise. “Patriarch, how are you still alive?”
The old man didn’t seem to find the woman’s words rude, it was as if her question, “How are you still alive?” was a genuine inquiry. He replied, “After all, I have decades of cultivation supporting me. I can still manage to hold on.”
“Snowfall Plum Blossom… That’s the unique poison of Second Master Tang of the Tang Sect, hailed as the best in the Tang Sect and second best in the world. Its potency is said to be second only to the Mirror Flower Moon of the Wen Clan’s patriarch. They say no one but Second Master Tang can cure it. Where is he?” The woman in red asked.
“I killed him.” The old man said lightly. “My mission was to kill him. It’s just that he poisoned me before I could do it.”
“Oh?” The woman in red frowned slightly. “The patriarch of the Dark River also takes on assassination missions?”
“Excuse me, Miss,” the man with the demon mask interrupted, “but can you cure him?”
“In our Medicine King Valley, we have a saying: ‘As long as you’re not dead, you can be cured!'” The woman in red stroked her chin, mimicking the manner of a certain male physician. “But Snowfall Plum Blossom… that truly is a difficult case. But it’s not impossible. As long as…”
“As long as what?” the man with the demon mask asked.
The woman in the red stepped confidently on top of the medicine chest and said with a straight face, “As long as you pay enough silver!”
The man with the demon mask was taken aback for a moment, then finally replied, “As much as you need.”
“That’s all I need to cure him,” the woman in red said with a proud smile.
The man with the demon mask glanced at the old man, then at the woman in red. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, “Wouldn’t it be better to have your master take a look?”
The woman in red’s smile vanished, and she scratched her head. “My master has long been laid to rest. Why do you keep wanting him to crawl out of the grave?”
The man with the demon mask was shocked. “Xin Baicao’s junior uncle… is dead?”
“Hahaha, Muyu, you’re mistaken,” the old man laughed. “This is none other than Xin Baicao’s junior martial aunt, the late Medicine King’s junior sister, and the last disciple of Li Yuzhen, the founding master of Medicine King Valley.”
“Bai Hehuai, physician, at your service. Greetings to the Patriarch of the Dark River, and greetings to…”
The woman in the red bowed, then looked up at the man with the demon mask and said softly, “Greetings to the Dark River’s Kui?”