Yuelong jolted wide awake. He felt something cool slid off his forehead and fell onto his lap. His hands were cold, stinging and slightly sweaty. Yuelong picked up the wet towel that fell from his forehead and looked around the room he was in.

The walls of the room were made of smooth limestone with no windows. Yuelong felt the mattress underneath him and noticed that the bed was the only thing soft in the room. Everything else was made of limestone, even the table and chair at the center of the room. A single white vase on the table lit up the entire room. Strangely, even though the “lamp” could illuminate the room, Yuelong couldn’t see the flame of the lamp. It was a small, smooth-surfaced, white vase that gave off a comforting light.

Yuelong stared at it while he recollected his thoughts.

“We entered the desert… and then the tree, and sandstorm… Mengjun!”

Yuelong stood up from the bed but his legs immediately gave away under him. He managed to catch the edge of the table before he fell facedown. 

“Ugh…” Yuelong grunted at the pain from his hands and pulled himself up.

He felt horrible. His entire body felt cold and empty. The room spun around him as cold sweat covered his hands and feet. Sitting down on the limestone chair, he exhaled a long, slow breath. 

Closing his eyes, he focused on gathering the natural energies in the air around him. Almost immediately, Yuelong felt his abdominal area getting hotter. The warmth gradually spread to the rest of his limbs and the nauseous feeling faded away.

Soon, a knock came from the door. 

“Fan gong-zi, are you up? May I come in?” A female voice asked.

“Who is it?” Yuelong stood up, slightly startled.

“I’m coming in.” The female voice said. 

The limestone door slowly swung open, revealing the hostess of the place. A graceful figure stood by the door, her face covered by a white veil. The moment she stepped into the room, Yuelong felt the presence of this incredible woman. Like a heavenly fairy, she floated into the room, her steps making no noise. The robes of her colorful attire waved in the air like wispy clouds.

“If she isn’t a maiden from Heaven, I don’t know what is.” Yuelong thought to himself.

“I am the assistant leader of the Huangxue Sect, Jinglian. How are you feeling, Fan gong-zi?”

“Ah, forgive my poor manners, assistant leader, Jinglian. I truly apologize for my manners.” Yuelong bowed.

Jinglian was one of three assistants of the leader of the Huangxue sect. Rumors had it that Jinglian’s abilities actually far surpassed the leader of the Huangxue Sect but she declined the offer to lead the sect for she thought she was not suitable for the job. So the leadership was given to her shi-jie, Xinlian.

“It is quite alright, young master, for it should be us that are apologizing.” Jinglian replied with a curtsy.

“Oh? How so?”

Jinglian explained, “You were brought here by a sandstorm and that sandstorm is no natural disaster. For it is one of Huangxue’s defensive mechanisms. Everytime it senses evil, it will head towards that direction to eliminate it.”

“I see. The sandstorm must have sensed the tree demon that attacked us. But where are my friends? Are they also here?” Yuelong asked, slightly clenching his fists. “You see, some of my friends are not cultivators, they have the bodies of a mortal being, I’m afraid…”

“Do not worry, young master,” Jinglian assured. “For the sandstorm is sentient, it can discern evil from good. Your friends are safe, they are merely resting in other rooms, like yourself.”

“Thank Heavens,” Yuelong sighed in relief.

“But what made you travel to the desert?” Jinglian questioned.

“It’s a long story…”

After explaining the entire story of what happened at the Lishui Sect, Jinglian’s face grew darker by the minute. Yuelong could feel a slight fear of the woman growing inside of himself as he saw Jinglian’s expression. He truly hoped he would never get on the bad side of this maiden.

After a moment of silence, Jinglian finally spoke, “I see. So Leader Murong has left this world. That is truly saddening news. We have lost good people that helped us fight the forces of evil, their sacrifices will not be in vain!”

Yuelong nodded. He could feel the room spinning once again. He held up a hand to his forehead.

“Fan gong-zi, I shall leave you to rest, for that tree demon must have taken quite a bit of your energy while it tangled you in its evil roots. It was a demon that we have been trying to capture for quite a while. A lot of travelers fell for its trap, but luckily you brought peace once again to our desert, and for that, I thank you for it.” Jinglian curtsied once again.

“Not at all, it was something that we should do, eliminate the evil of this world.” Yuelong replied weakly.

Jinglian nodded once and turned around to face the stone door. With a wave of her hand, the door slid open and she drifted out of the room, the stone door closing behind her draping ribbons.

Yuelong crawled back onto the soft bed and quickly fell asleep, dreaming of broken scenes with his best friend.

Waking up refreshed the next morning, Yuelong was given a bowl of milky white liquid for breakfast. Upon smelling the liquid, Yuelong could feel himself salivating. He quickly picked up the spoon and dug in. Hidden inside the creamy, sweet liquid were lotus seeds and other various beans and nuts. It was aromatic, nutty, creamy, and slightly sweet. 

“I bet Mengjun would like this!” Yuelong said as he drained the bowl.

After breakfast, Jinglian once again visited and took Yuelong’s pulse.

Yuelong was surprised at Jinglian’s soft, baby-like skin as her fingers touched his wrist. It felt tender, almost like being touched by a warm, fluffy cloud. He felt slightly sleepy from the touch, simply because it was too comforting.

“Am I doing alright?” Yuelong asked.

Jinglian nodded in response. “It is quite magical, the toxins that you mentioned from this mysterious demon are basically gone from your body! I think the tree demon actually helped absorb the majority of it too.”

“The tree demon absorbed it!?” Yuelong said in astonishment.

Jinglian nodded. “I think your friends are the same. Would you like to see them? We have to set up a meeting to determine our next move anyways.”

“Yes, I would like to look around the place as well, if you don’t mind. It’s not everyday an outsider gets to admire the views of the Huangxue Cave.”

A threatening expression flashed across Jinglian’s face as Yuelong said the words, “look around”. But since half of her face was covered by a veil, Yuelong dismissed the thought.

“Not a problem,” Jinglian replied. “Just don’t touch the paintings on the walls, we spent a lot of time on those murals.”

After Jinglian left, Yuelong went out of the room and found himself in a huge cave. The room he was in was merely a hole dug into the wall of the giant Huangxue Cave. Stairs made up of the same material as the walls lead up to his room. As Yuelong followed the stairs down, he admired the maidens of the Huangxue Sect going about their daily businesses.

All members of the Huangxue Sect were females, and every one of them had a white veil that covered half of their face. Like Jinglian, some wore the attire of flying apsaras, the fabric draping and floating after them, while some wore the traditional garments of the Han people. 

Some maidens carried small incense burners that emitted a light, flowery fragrance. Some maidens were creating colorful murals on the smoothened limestone of the cavern. They were depictions of the Heavens and the Three Realms.

The giggles of ladies disrupted Yuelong’s thoughts. He turned around to see a group of four or five maidens huddled together around someone.

“So cute!”

“I know right!”

“I think he looks better with this one.”

“No, no! Try this!”

Just as he was about to get closer, another voice called him back.

“Fan gong-zi, you’re awake.”

Yuelong turned around to see Murong Zi and Sifei standing before him. Both of them had changed out from their white clothes of mourning and into the regular black clothes of the Lishui Sect.

“Murong gu-niang, Sifei,” Yuelong bowed in greeting. “Have you seen Mengjun and Xiao-Kai?”

Immediately, a voice from the huddled group of maidens called out, “Ge, I’m here!”

The teenager popped out from the group of giggling maidens and ran towards Yuelong. His face was flushed red and a unhidable smile bore on his face. 

“Xiao-Kai!” Yuelong patted the teenager’s shoulders. “What were you doing over there? Were you causing trouble?”

“Don’t worry, Fan gong-zi,” A Huangxue maiden explained. “We were merely experimenting with different clothing combinations for our future murals. He's been of great help.” The maiden smiled and waved goodbye to Xiao-Kai.

Xiao-Kai blushed and waved back.

Yuelong sighed and shook his head. “You’ve got a lot to learn.”

“Where’s Mengjun ge-ge?” Xiao-Kai asked. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

“Oh, that’s right. Where could he be?” Yuelong looked around the giant cavern. “He’s taller than everyone here, it shouldn’t be that hard to spot him…”

“Fan gong-zi, Murong gu-niang, are you ready to discuss our plans?” Jinglian appeared silently behind the group. 

“Assistant leader, you’re here! Have you seen Mengjun? He’s one of the friends that was traveling with me. He should be around my height and wearing full black.”

Jinglian looked at him with a puzzled look. “I’m sorry, Fan gong-zi, there isn’t anyone else that the sandstorm brought with you guys. It only brought you four.”

“Then… where is Mengjun!? You said that the sandstorm can differentiate good and evil! Where is he?” Yuelong’s heart raced. After weeks of traveling together, he was just getting to know Mengjun and his childhood. They had so much in common but yet, Yuelong felt as if fate had played a joke on him, always taking those he cared about away.

“I… I do not know. I apologize, Fan gong-zi.” Jinglian curtsied.

“Don’t worry, ge, I’m sure he’s okay. He’s a very strong man.” Sifei comforted Yuelong.

“Fan gong-zi, just remain calm for now,” Murong Zi said. “If Mengjun is really good at heart, nothing bad will happen to him.”

Yuelong immediately looked into Murong Zi’s eyes. “You…” Her eyes were that of icy waters, still and emotionless. Perhaps it was because of her father’s death.

He stopped. “I hope so.”

Yuelong clenched his fists in frustration. “Mengjun, where are you!?”