Chapter 8: The Man on the Mirror

The newly formed trio decided to rest up in a small town for a few days before they continued with their demon hunting. As expected, Xiao Long was filled with questions for Lin He and the Heaven that Lin He had to stop him from asking too many questions.

"Shifu! Lin Shifu!" Xiao Long called out once again after asking another question.

Lin He stopped in his tracks abruptly, causing Xiao Long to bump into his back. "Xiao Long, you are… asking too many questions in public."

"Wait, Shifu, one last one. Please! I promise it's the last."

Lin He shook his head quietly, "You've said it was the last question, five questions ago. I'll allow you to ask me only one question a day from now on. Is that clear?"

Xiao Long sulked at the new restriction imposed on him before giving a nod. "Yes, Shifu."

It seemed like being a Shifu wasn't that bad afterall, though Lin He did not accept him officially as his disciple. But Xiao Long's repetitive calling was kind of drilling the impression that Lin He was actually his Shifu.

Lin He took a glance behind them and noted how Xuan Yi had a dark expression as she followed behind from a distance. It was as if being close to Xiao Long would cause her to shorten her lifespan or get some disease. She had been oddly quieter than usual and avoided Lin He whenever Xiao Long was around. It was funny how a few days ago, she was fighting with Xiao Long to be his first disciple and now she's keeping her distance.

"Is she okay?" Lin He asked Xiao Long, concerned about Xuan Yi's sudden detachment.

Xiao Long's gaze flickered towards the girl and back to Lin He. With a smile, he just waved his hand. "She's just upset that I'm around. She has always been quite a loner back at the Sect anyways. She hates to socialise with anyone."

"Hm. She hates to socialise or she hates it when you tease her?" Lin He questioned directly without a second thought.

Although Xuan Yi did not mention anything to him, he could have guessed that the Lan Sect disciples haven't been nice to her from the way Xiao Long treated her.

A flush of pink appeared on Xiao Long's cheeks as he rubbed his nape awkwardly. "Well, I just thought it would spur her to be more diligent in her learning and not give Lan Sect a bad image. She hasn't moved up her rank when everyone else did already and she seemed to be stagnant in her skills as well."

Lin He lets out a soft sigh, "I know you are criticising her out of goodwill. However, you have to learn to treat others nicely as well. Help them when they need help instead of pushing them away by blaming them, understood? Besides, Xuan Yi also played a part in saving you last time, so treat her well from now on as a way of showing your gratitude."

Xiao Long nodded his head firmly and quickly bowed, "Yes, Shifu. This disciple will remember your words."

Lin He gave a small smile at Xiao Long, feeling glad that he was taking in his advice attentively and sincerely. He was hoping that travelling as a trio now would not cause any trouble and that things would go on smoothly until Xuan Yi's promotion. Afterwards, he would have some time alone to investigate who put a bounty on him with the demons. He definitely did not wish to involve innocent parties into his own affair, especially when there might be dangers involved.

"Oh, where did she go?" Xiao Long asked as his eyes scanned the crowd.

Lin He turned around and noticed that their sulky lady had gone missing. The streets were bustling in the evening during dinner time and the crowd made it hard for them to search for her. Lin He, however, had a guess about her whereabouts.

"It's fine, let her be. Let's go and grab some food." Lin He offered as he led the younger male towards a food stall.

=

After dinner, Lin He took a stroll along the river located beside the town. Sure enough, he saw Xuan Yi alone by the river bank.

For the past two nights, he had seen her at the same spot. It's not that he wanted to stalk her, it was just nice that he could see the view of the river from his room.

But tonight, she brought along a few more items with her - a bottle of liquor, some fruits and a few stacks of incense paper. A small flame was burning before her as she quietly burned the offerings in her hands.

Lin He stood there quietly and observed her, deciding that it was best for her to finish up what she was doing before he tried to speak to her. He noted how she was muttering to herself as she watched the flames grow while she fed it with the incense paper. After she was done, she sat herself on the ground and started drinking.

"Tsk, I will have to prove myself worthy of being a Lan Sect disciple now that Xiao Long is around." She said as she took a swig out of the bottle, looking up at the moon. "Ah, of all people he had to be the one following along. I'm probably going to have to listen to his criticism all day!" She whined as she threw a piece of small pebble into the river.

"Also, mum, it's crazy how I've managed to get a god to help me out. I'm not sure if he'll mark me down for Hell after he returns to Heaven for using a binding spell on him. Ahh, but whatever! That's a problem for another day." She continued before taking a sip again. "But if he's a god, would my spell actually work on him?" She questioned as she rubbed her chin curiously.

Lin He stifled a laughter at her interesting conversation with herself. He didn't know she was such an amusing character behind her hot-tempered facade and to be honest, it was kind of adorable.

He wanted to answer her question when she continued her talk.

"If he didn't run away, I guess it works on gods as well." She said quietly before smiling at the moon.

"Sorry mother, I was so caught up with my own agenda for the past few days that I almost forgot that it was your death anniversary today. I tried to find your favourite dishes around town for the past two days, but they only had these…" She said as she pointed to the platter of fruits before her. "I promise I'll buy you your favourite fishball noodles next time! Scrape that, I'll offer it to you on the next full moon! That would make up for my mistake." She said, chuckling to herself.

No wonder she had been missing from time to time the past few days. She had been looking around town for stalls selling fishball noodles. But this town was mostly occupied by farmers, so it was hard to find any seafood related dishes around.

That would explain why she looked rather depressed recently, she must have been sad and disappointed about forgetting her mother's anniversary and being under prepared for her offerings.

Deciding that it was best if he left her alone, Lin He was about to turn and leave when his eyes met Xuan Yi's, who had stood up to take her leave as well.

They stared at each other quietly before Xuan Yi gestured for him to come over, pointing to the bottle of liquor near her.

"Want to grab a drink?" She offered as Lin He made his way over to her.

Xuan Yi thought it would become very awkward if she had just turned her back and walked off instead of greeting him, so she decided to offer him a drink. Afterall, they would still be travelling with each other for a while so it was best if they were on good terms with each other.

Well, at least until her promotion.

She sat back down on the rocky surface and started wondering if he had heard everything she had just said. It would be embarrassing if he heard the way she was chatting happily to herself but she couldn't admit right out that she was feeling shy about it, that would break her scary facade she had built up.

"Did you… hear everything?" She asked once he sat down beside her.

He nodded his head quietly.

Shit. Fine, act nonchalant.

Xuan Yi picked up the bottle of liquor to pass it to him, only to have him reject her offer.

"I don't drink. Sorry."

"Is it a god's thing to not drink?"

"It's just me." Lin He answered with a small smile.

Silence descended between them as they both admire the full moon hanging up in the night skies tonight. It wasn't a suffocating kind of silence, but it was rather… comforting.

His presence here tonight was comforting to her.

"Do you miss her?" He asked, his tone was gentle as he looked at her.

"It would be a lie if I said no, right?" She chuckled before taking a swig from the bottle again. "But I try not to miss her."

"Why not?"

Xuan Yi could feel a lump up her throat as memories of her mother came flooding into her mind.

The memories of her last moments as she tried to shield her from the demons.

"Well…" She cleared her throat, attempting to find her words while trying not to sound like she was about to cry. "Whenever I miss her… those bad memories would appear first."

Her eyes flickered towards Lin He's. "Memories… of her last moments with me. Before she was killed by the demons." She continued, her voice growing smaller as she spoke.

Xuan Yi quickly took another gulp of the liquor to calm her nerves down. It was hard for her to open up her feelings, especially about her mother, to anyone. Even to her own family members.

But Lin He made it so easy for her to express it, as if he had pressed on to the right buttons to unleash the emotions within her in a tender and easing manner.

Ah… why was she telling a stranger this? Was it because he was a stranger that she felt it was easy to share her feelings?

Lin He spoke after a while, a small smile hanging on his face. "You could say I was in the same situation as you."

Xuan Yi looked at him silently, her eyes widened in surprise.

"My mother died while saving me from the claws of the demons. Those were the last memories of her that I had as well." He continued. "But rather than remembering her with just those bad memories, try remembering those good days with her as well. Eventually, you'll replace the bad ones with the more beautiful ones. Then missing her wouldn't be as painful as before."

"Also," He paused. "It's not your fault."

Xuan Yi stared at him. She could feel a gush of warmth in her chest and her vision slowly blurred after hearing his words.

She couldn't explain how much his words gave her a sense of comfort and warmth, making her want to give him a tight hug.

Maybe he was right. It's best to remember someone with beautiful memories of them rather than sad ones. Then maybe, it wouldn't be as heartbreaking and guilt-filling for her whenever she missed her mother.

She wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes and took another sip of the liquor.

"Tha-"

"Also, stop drinking so much liquor! It's very bad for your health and an unhealthy way to spend your money. If you don't know where to spend your money, then give it to me. I'll spend it wisely for you." He nagged as he frowned at the bottle of liquor in her hands.

Xuan Yi sucked in a deep breath after hearing his words. The atmosphere felt as if it had fallen back to the icy region and she just let out a sigh as he continued preaching about how bad liquor was.

Nevermind, she'll thank him another day.

=

A few days later, Xuan Yi was passing by Lin He's room when she heard voices in his room. Thinking that it was probably Xiao Long asking questions again, she was about to continue her way down the inn when she saw Xiao Long walking towards her.

Oh? Who was that in Lin He's room?

Xuan Yi pressed her ears against the door and tried to listen to the conversation between the mysterious guest and Lin He.

The voices sounded rather muffled but she swore she heard a feminine voice coming from behind this very door.

She covered her mouth to hide her surprise gasp.

Did the god bring a lady into his room?

Xiao Long knitted his brows when he noticed Xuan Yi eavesdropping on his Shifu and stormed towards her. "What are you doing?" He hissed, careful not to be too loud in case Lin He heard him.

He definitely didn't want to be mistaken as an eavesdropper as well.

Xuan Yi rolled her eyes in annoyance at him and ignored his question. In the end, Xiao Long too pressed his ears against the door when he heard noises coming from within.

On the other side, Lin He was receiving an earful from his friend.

"How could you just expose your identity like that?!" Wei Yong's voice blared through the small bronze mirror. "You should have denied it through and through! Now, two people know who you are!"

Lin He smiled sheepishly at his friend, who's currently a mini projection from a bronze mirror that Wei Yong had casted a communication spell upon. Internally, he was thankful that Wei Yong wasn't here physically or else he might have been strangled to death for breaking one of the important Celestial rules.

"I've told you, the Vine Demon exposed me in the first place! Do you think I would want to be exposed?" Lin He retaliated, shaking his fist in the air. "What should I do now? Wait for you to come down and wipe off their memories?"

Wei Yong rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment. "I don't know if I have time to do that… I'll have to send in an application to visit the mortal realm to the Celestial Court if I don't have any duties and it's going to take some time. Nonetheless, keep their mouths shut until I can find time to go down. If some god passing by knows about this and tells the Jade Emperor… You might just get banished to the mortal realm for good!" He warned, his eyes laced with concern for Lin He.

"I know, I know…" Lin He said before letting out a sigh. "Oh, I wanted to ask you something." He continued, remembering why he called Wei Yong in the first place.

Wei Yong raised an eyebrow and urged his friend to continue with his words.

"Do you know if anyone has an immensely hateful grudge against me to the point of wanting me dead?"

"No… I only know some gods do have some bias against you, but not to the point of wanting for your death."

"Hah… Well, I've got a bounty of sorts on me…" Lin He confessed, feeling a little embarrassed to even say that.

Wei Yong already has a lot on his plate as one of the Elders, but now Lin He felt like he was adding on to his pile with his own troubles.

"What?!" Wei Yong exclaimed out loud, causing the bronze mirror to tremble.

Not only did the mirror shake, even his door shook and swung open, sending in two familiar faces tumbling into his room.

"Hi… Shifu…" Xiao Long greeted sheepishly as he scrambled off Xuan Yi's back, who was covering her face with her bare hands.