Two weeks after leaving the forest, on the seventh week of their journey, Zhang Cai once more stood beside a fire he lit. He sat cross-legged, hugging both arms to his bosom, and stared deep into the flames. He watched them weave back and forth and crackle and smelled the fresh roast of a snake they caught around the holes dug throughout the terrain.

The frigid cold stroked his back and he looked up.

Once the warm and cozy night had left away and for it came back a dark shrouded one piece cloud. The dark-gray waves of its curves moved, they flowed, but he saw it not tremble or float away. When he felt another sensation at his nape, a chill, he raised a hand.

A snowflake touched the tips of his fingers.

‘‘It is winter again.‘‘

Back in that rotten city, it was always winter. It was far too down south, so far away from Wahlidian lands and the Cultivator lands. That place rested on top of ice mountains stretching to the horizon, which the Sun could not melt all year and did nothing but stare down at noon to provide warmth to the homeless like him. With his fellow beggars he would sneak to the main street housed by nobles by the sewers and the roofs, and they would lie down at corners where Sun smiled to warm up when winter truly came there. Many times, they would be chased out, and rarely would someone provide them a fire.

Fire was precious, and the kindness of those that lit them a few minutes worth sanctuary. Zhang Cai had a soft spot for the fire, and an intense hatred for snow.

His gaze flashed by, and he looked at the tent pitched behind his back. ‘‘Will it soak?‘‘ he thought. It would, most likely. He glanced back at the fire, and he had a wish to keep staring at it and warming himself up until the last minute his watch ended.

But snow kept piling up. One by one, he watched the heartless white fall on him and his fire and the tent of his friends, until he felt it was enough and stood up. His Qi full from cultivating in the first hour, he drew four pulls of Qi, which now his body could handle better, and lit a meter wide flameball on top of his palm.

‘‘Stretch,‘‘ He thought and opened the fingers of his wide. He thought of the feeling of stretching his muscles, the tiny twists inside his fingers and the direction his bones looked. And the fire followed that course to seperate, to become five pillars larger than his head.

Zhang Cai swiped at the air.

The five pillars shot forth around him and the tent and set fire to the ground. The hidden grass under burned, the piled snow melted, and under that thin silver layer of cold he saw the black ash rise above. For a moment, he imagined himself as a Xian, a dragon, and his face twisted.

‘‘Fuck it.‘‘ He murmured. His hand clenched, the fire snuffed out. Even out of body, cultivators had connection to the Qi brewed in their dantian, so he had no problem reverting it like this.

‘‘Why go out of my way like this,‘‘ he cast another four pulls, and he squeezed his back muscles until he felt the lower back contract. ‘‘When it is all about me?‘‘

A blazing cloak enveloped him and Zhang Cai sat down beside the campfire left in embers. Another pull he spent and re-kindled the fire. He sat there for an hour and saw the snow cloak the terrain more and more, until he saw nothing but silver and gray-white fill his eyes, and a gale that beat his sleeves back and forth. He tied them like Li Bo did and pulled on the tailored string to bind the black cloth to his wrist.

‘‘It is almost time.‘‘

One look back and he saw Li Bo out of the tent, smiling at the scenery. Both his fair hands around his chest, soft snow fell on the creases of his palms. ‘‘How lovely, is it not?‘‘

Zhang Cai glanced once and shook his head.

‘‘I don‘t like it.‘‘

‘‘You do not? You seemed fine with the cold back there.‘‘

‘‘I like dark places where I am used to feeling cold. But snow is...different.‘‘

Li Bo nodded. He rubbed his hands on top of each other, which Zhang Cai found strange. Rocksmote like him should not feel a cold like this. But then he thought to the mantle of flame on his shoulders, and how he was not much bothered by the cold, yet did anyway.

In that sense, they both, even if indifferent to the nature of winter, had a sentimentality born out of their past. Zhang Cai showed his fear of it by a protective cloak, and Li Bo his fondness by the rub of a pair of palms against each other.

‘‘Do you like snow?‘‘ He asked Li Bo.

Snow crunched at his each step until he came and sat beside him.

Crossing his legs, he put both hands on the crackling fire. ‘‘I do like it. A lot. My dear sister and I have great memories of it together, so winter happens to be my favorite season. We would camp, sometimes, and make fire like this that would go out in a few moments from the winds and the snow.‘‘

‘‘How did you take care of that problem?‘‘ This one stood strong because it was kindled with Zhang Cai‘s Qi, not because snow had no effect. Even then it would go down in time, for no Qi could occupy a place forever.

‘‘We stretched the skins of rabbits and wolves and knitted them together, then put up long poles at their corner to nail it around the fire.‘‘

‘‘They must have fell alot.‘‘ He said. Zhang Cai had a similar experience back at that rotten city.

‘‘First few ones did. But I had Qi by then, and I could dig deep enough into the soil to strengthen their holds.‘‘

Since they could not dig into ice and stone paved paths, Zhang Cai and his lot had no such solution.

‘‘Good...‘‘ he said. ‘‘How nice...‘‘

They sat by there for some time until Zhang Cai looked up at Li Bo getting on his feet.

‘‘What happened?‘‘

‘‘Relieving.‘‘ He said and went away. Zhang Cai saw him a little pale but did not mind. He remained for some minutes, rubbing his hands to get some kind of sensation, to perhaps understand what Li Bo found so lovely. But all snow that came on him melted before the cloak.

A few more minutes passed, and Li Bo did not return. Zhang Cai looked around and tried to listen amidst the flapping winds. Nothing. A whistle so faint from the winds and the snores of Li Huan sleeping inside, the crackle of the flames and the buzzing of his mantle of fire. But no Li Bo.

He got up and walked over where he went, and he spent ten minutes paving his way through the foggy white until he saw a lame figure on the ground, breathing haggard.

‘‘Li Bro!‘‘

He rushed out and took his mantle of fire, and he laid it around the man and raised his head.

‘‘I am fine!‘‘ The man shouted. But he looked pale, and he clutched his chest and belly with each arm. ‘‘Do not shout!‘‘

Zhang Cai bit his lip and raised the man from shoulders. He looked over, and saw his face regain some color from the paleness, but twisted in agony from something. Then he saw Li Bo‘s left arm, and a bandage that was not there before hidden by the sleeves. Untied for once. It seemed green and blue-ish in color, something foul dripped out of it.

‘‘What...what is that? When did you get hurt? How?‘‘

‘‘I said I am fine,‘‘ the man said. He held his smile, and he did not clutch his heart or belly but put one hand on Zhang Cai‘s shoulder. ‘‘Let me stand up.‘‘

Zhang Cai held him by one arm and raised him up. Li Bo let go of his support to stand on his two feet. He took out a pill from his spatial pouch and swallowed it. Color came back to his face.

‘‘Li Bro.‘‘ Zhang Cai said.

‘‘I am fine.‘‘ He replied.

‘‘Li Bro.‘ Zhang Cai said again.

‘‘I am fine.‘‘ He replied.

‘‘Li Bo!‘‘

Li Bo turned around. He smiled.

‘‘I am fine, Cai.‘‘ He said. ‘‘I am truly fine. This little poison will not turn me weak.‘‘

‘‘Poison, right!?‘‘ Zhang Cai could not keep himself calm. He had no way of being calm. ‘‘Back in that forest, right!? When? When they attacked you behind us? Or when you went down to check, to check-to-‘‘

‘‘Zhang Cai.‘‘ Li Bo put one hand on his shoulder, and the other on his head. ‘‘This won‘t kill me. This is nothing.‘‘

Zhang Cai did not believe it. But he felt calmer. He thought of the dark alley where they sat together, and the Sun brightening the countenance of this man who always stood upright and strong. And the pale image before him turned so much more mighty that he felt less anxious.

‘‘But...‘‘ He said. ‘‘But how...how did it happen?‘‘

‘‘Demonics...being demonics, I suppose.‘‘ He said. Li Bo walked forward to their campsite. Zhang Cai followed behind and watched his back and his arms clasped before his waist. ‘‘A stray arrow, or a random cut. I did not follow, but I knew they hit with poison. These things happen all the time in battles.‘‘

‘‘You go in, alone or with comrades, and you think of how to get out there in the fastest way. You do not think of defeating the enemy. You do not think of killing them. The only thought becomes how to get out of that situation; be it to run, be it to strike, or to kill the enemy. And then it all becomes a blur, because you were not in control. Your training dictates that process.‘‘

‘‘So I do not remember.‘‘ He said and gave him a soft smile. ‘‘And you do not need to look like that.‘‘

Zhang Cai wiped the tears off his eyes. ‘‘But,‘‘ he said. But nothing came out of that. What was he to say?

‘‘...nothing on the way happened for you, or because of you. Not every instance of misfortune is caused by a thought of yours, or an action of yours. Some did happen, do happen, and will happen in the future. But not every single thing. If you believe you are responsible for all the malice and evil coming upon you, who is to blame?‘‘

They halted in the midst of the barren terrain. The footprints left in their wake did not last long enough. A minute had passed and now the last step they took disappeared, and they were the only sign of those steps that once existed.

Zhang Cai raised a hand in denial. ‘‘Stop thinking about me, please. Just...don‘t. I am not a child. I know how the world works...no, I don‘t but...I can‘t tell it. I don‘t know how to say what I want to say. But you know, you understand, Li Bro.‘‘

‘‘So don‘t. Just tell me...what is happening to you.‘‘

Li Bo nodded and kept walking. Zhang Cai followed.

‘‘What pain does it cause to you?‘‘

‘‘It is a plant-based poison traveling through the bloodstream...but the plant is from Il-Ich. So it targets the dantian. It flows there and settles there. I can feel it trying to travel through my body by the Qi, so I have been sparing my Qi for some time.‘‘

‘‘Then why are we traveling by the flight swords!? How can you allow it to progress further?‘‘

Though he said nothing in answer, Zhang Cai thought of the happy child sleeping back there.

‘‘Am I allowed to ask it?‘‘

‘‘Her happiness is much more important.‘‘

‘‘She might be a child, but she...‘‘ He wanted to say she would not be forever. That she would see the world as it is and might suffer tragedy like any other. But he thought back to the frontier, to the forest, and their travel through these plains and the crossroads.

She was a child only on that flying sword up above the skies, not down on the ground nor in the presence of her friends.

What was he to do with this revelation? The revelation that these two had burdens on them so heavy they did not deliver it, and he had one so similar that he did not deliver upon them. And the fact that a child ten years of age still bore a burden that she should not, that robbed her of her childishness and made the act of killing so simple.

‘‘...Junior brother Cai.‘‘ Li Bo addressed to him. ‘‘You know what to do, don‘t you?‘‘

‘‘I will not tell her.‘‘ He said.

‘‘Thank you.‘‘

They walked a little further in silence. Both had too many things to ponder, yet so little time to process. And in that precious little time not given to any other person, Zhang Cai thought of something missing.

‘‘What about the demonics?‘‘

‘‘They will not come.‘‘ Li Bo said.

‘‘You lied?‘‘

‘‘I did not.‘‘ From the corner of his eyes, Zhang Cai could see the campfire burning bright. ‘‘It is mere wordplay...and you know it well, junior brother. When you are too concerned with something, it is hard to notice peculiarities no matter how close.‘‘

‘‘WAAAAAAAAAH‘‘

They heard Li Huan cry afar. A panic overcame Zhang Cai and he took a single step forward, and in that single step he saw Li Bo already far from him and beside the fire. He dashed, nevertheless, and pushed his legs till he came beside the camp and saw Li Bo hug his crying sister.

‘‘Whberse dhid ywou gho!? Wherbe whfere ywou!? I whas- I whas!‘‘

Li Bo laid her head on his chest and shushed, and he pat the piling snow off her hair, telling sorry again and again. As Li Bo stroked her head, Zhang Cai saw his feet and visible particles of Qi crumbling to pieces.

Something winced in his chest.