The silent challenge

The rain had stopped by nightfall, but the air was still thick with its lingering chill. Wang Shi stood beneath the same pine tree where he had read his mother's letter, staring at the darkened sky.

He had spent the entire day lost in thought.

He was ready to move forward. Or at least, he wanted to be.

But where was he supposed to begin?

A quiet presence made itself known before he heard a single step.

He turned.

She was there.

Bai Lu stood a few paces away, clad in white, her sword resting at her side. The moonlight softened her sharp features, but her gaze remained unreadable.

She had returned.

Neither of them spoke at first. The silence stretched between them, but it was not empty.

It was a test.

She was watching him, waiting.

For what?

Wang Shi didn't know. But for the first time since their last meeting, he looked at her differently—not as a stranger who had saved him, not as a mystery he couldn't solve.

But as someone who had been there all along.

Bai Lu's lips parted slightly, as if she might speak.

Then, she stepped forward.

Not to fight. Not to challenge him outright.

But to stand before him, close enough that he could see the quiet certainty in her eyes.

"You're ready," she finally said.

Wang Shi felt the weight of those words settle in his chest.

It wasn't a question.

It wasn't an order.

It was the truth.

He had spent days drowning in uncertainty, but now—now he understood.

His mother's letter had given him purpose. Bai Lu's presence had made it real.

He gave a slow nod. "Yes."

Bai Lu studied him for another long moment. Then, just as quietly as she had arrived, she turned.

"Then follow me."

And for the first time in a long while, Wang Shi did not hesitate.