I didn’t dare look into Bai Ye’s eyes when he handed the swords to me. If I did, my knees might buckle from yesterday’s memories.

“Master Bai Ye,” Qi Lian bowed behind him. “It is a great honor to finally meet you. I had the opportunity to spar with Senior Yun once, and I admired your sword techniques—”

“She sparred with you using these twin swords?” Bai Ye interrupted him.

“Y-Yes,” Qi Lian answered, clearly not expecting the brusqueness. In fact, Bai Ye had always been a person with few words and little patience, except when he talked to me. I assumed it was his sense of responsibility making him more lenient with his disciple, and I had been very grateful for it.

But an alarm still rang in my head. Was Bai Ye displeased that I used Twin Stars too casually?

Bai Ye simply nodded and turned to me: “Come with me to the main peak. We need to speak with the Gatekeeper.”

He swept his long sleeve in a graceful arc to summon his flying sword, then offered his hand to help me step on. It was a habitual gesture he always used, but I suddenly felt self-conscious in front of Qi Lian. Senior disciples like me should’ve learned how to control a flying sword long ago, and to travel on the same sword as one’s master seemed embarrassing to me.

Qi Lian only gaped at us though. “I … We’ll see you tomorrow then, Senior Yun.” he said at last as I stepped onto the sword and lifted off the ground with Bai Ye.

Fortunately, the main peak wasn’t far from us at all, and I didn’t have to spend much time alone with Bai Ye. I wasn’t sure how red my face would’ve turned from standing so close to him, feeling the warmth and the scent of him surrounding me. We didn’t talk on the way, and I hopped off the sword the first moment I could once we landed.

Bai Ye must’ve noticed my strangeness. His lips moved, but before he could say anything, I took the chance and asked: “What do we need to see the Gatekeeper for?”

I’d do anything to stop him from mentioning what happened yesterday.

Bai Ye was silent for a moment. “Who released the spiritual beast on you?” he asked finally, giving in to my diversion.

“Lin Weiwei,” I answered. “But I don’t have any proof …”

He said nothing and led me straight into the Gatekeeper’s hall. I followed him silently, trying to focus my thoughts on the spiritual beast instead of him.

The Gatekeeper looked up from behind his table when we entered. “Bai Ye? What brings you here?”

“Your daughter’s spiritual pet,” Bai Ye said. “Where is it?”

The Gatekeeper frowned. “I’m not here to keep track of pets.” He paused. “Although … come to think of it, she usually trains it every afternoon, but I haven’t seen it since last week.”

“Because it’s dead.” Bai Ye held out his palm, and a summoning light flashed at the center of the hall. A heap of fur appeared within the light. I recognized it immediately: the poisonous beast.

What was Bai Ye trying to do?

“When I returned from East Village,” he continued, “I found my disciple lying unconscious in the back mountains.” His voice was level, but somehow I could hear rage hidden at the back of the calmness. “She was affected by a lethal venom, the type that only comes from this beast, and it took me five days to drive the venom out of her. I found this—” he pointed to the dead body on the floor, “—not far from where she was. You may check for yourself if the cuts on that beast match her swords, or if the remaining traces of venom in her blood matches the animal.”

The Gatekeeper’s frown grew deeper. “You are saying the beast got loose and—”

“I’m saying someone tried to kill Yun Qing-er,” Bai Ye bit out. “You know how guarded your daughter is with this pet. If it got loose, you don’t think she’ll scream until you turn the entire Mount Hua upside down looking for it?”

“Bai Ye!” the Gatekeeper bellowed. “Watch your words. This is not a small claim to make.”

“It is not. It is about Yun Qing-er’s life, and I won’t let it slide. If you don’t believe me, why don’t we ask the ones involved?”

The Gatekeeper glared at Bai Ye, then turned towards me: “Are you claiming Xi-er brought this beast to you?”

“No …” I said in almost a whisper, daunted by the tension between Bai Ye and the Gatekeeper. “It was Lin Weiwei who brought it to me.”

The Gatekeeper seemed relieved to hear a different name. “Bring Lin Weiwei here,” he said to a disciple in waiting next to him.

The hall was dead silent after the disciple left. I wished Bai Ye had told me his intention before we came—I would’ve asked him to wait until I found more evidence, or simply let it go. After all, Chu Xi was the Gatekeeper’s daughter. What consequences could ever come to her anyway?

Shortly, the disciple returned with Lin Weiwei following behind him. The Gatekeeper gave her a warning look: “Lin Weiwei, Yun Qing-er claims that you sent this poisonous beast after her life. What do you have to say about this?”

Lin Weiwei kneeled in front of the Gatekeeper. “I did not, Gatekeeper. Senior Yun saw Chopper during its training and asked to see it up close, so I let her walk up to the cage. But I didn’t expect that she would unlock it and let Chopper come loose. Chopper is untamed, as you are aware, and I couldn’t control it once it was out of the cage …”

My body grew cold at her words. How could she lie so calmly and naturally through her teeth?

Bai Ye scoffed: “Yun Qing-er’s swords draw spiritual power from its surroundings, and I can show you the glade in the forest that matches the power on the beast’s wounds. Are you telling me that you were training the beast in the back mountains, where Yun Qing-er happens to collect her herbs every morning?”

Lin Weiwei’s face turned white. I looked at Bai Ye in puzzlement: I didn’t know Twin Stars were capable of such. No wonder it helped with my progress tremendously.

Bai Ye glanced at the Gatekeeper. “She’s lying. Now let’s hear Chu Xi’s version of the story.”

The Gatekeeper’s face darkened. “Just because it’s Xi-er’s pet doesn’t mean—”

“I only want the truth, Chu Yang. If your daughter has nothing to do with this, then what harm could come of asking?” Bai Ye stared straight into the Gatekeeper’s eyes, and I felt the entire hall growing cold with his icy tone.. “I’ll say it again: this is about Yun Qing-er’s life, and I won’t let it slide.”