“And so we'll be leaving. We're not sure for how long, but we wanted to make sure Shifu is fine."

After that evening discussion, Hongshi allowed Shu Cailing to leave the table, and went on to drink some more. Shu Cailing headed to bed not long after. In the morning, he woke up to Hongshi making congee in the small kitchen, expression resolute. They packed up things they thought might be useful, and come lunchtime, Shu Cailing broke the news to some of the senior yaoguai on the island. They, in turn, left to help prepare and share the work.

And work it was. The furthest Shu Cailing had gone was this small islet off the coast, which apparently was the corpse of a turtle yao that allowed itself to become an island. The jiaoren took him to stay a night without telling Bai Mingyuan, which was the most adventurous he had been. For that, it was enough to bring some food and snacks. Today, his bag was stuffed full.

“We packed up enough food for two weeks,” Shu Cailing explained, holding one hand up to slow everyone down, “and things to cook with. I’m sure we could figure out how to scavenge if we have to. And it’s not like it’d be pure wilderness out there! There should be a village or town or whatever, you know?”

They were gathering outside the main hall, a small crowd of about a dozen. Most of the island had dispersed after the sun was no longer straight overhead.

"Scavenge… You’ll be staying outside while on the road, that’s right. Don't forget your medicine ah, what if while you're down there you develop a cough and a fever? The young master doesn't know how to care for the sick, so you have to be careful and take care of yourself, don't run around too much," the cook, Qize, fretted. A turtle yao, he seemed to have been alive since the dawn of civilization, and must’ve been here for just as long, because he was one of the most senior inhabitants of this island. "And don't eat just anything out in the world, it's unclean, you might get sick again. Ahh, you children are always making plans on such short notice… I will go and pack up more food, wait here for me patiently."

Shu Cailing only watched helplessly as Old Qize went to the food storage building again, no doubt about to take out enough to feed a family of five for three months.

Beside him, the oriole yao A-Ying, too, frowned with worry. “Xiao Ling, are you sure? The world is so scary… The lord would definitely be able to protect himself, but even if you’re going with the young master, it’s still…”

Shu Cailing smiled at her, grasping her hand and swinging it between them like back when he was a child. She gave him a small smile in return, her wings shifting and settling back after fluttering about in distress. “A-Ying-jiejie, you said it yourself ba. Shige is going with me, and we’re just going to look for Shifu. In the human world, would anyone be able to lay a single scratch on Shige?”

“My abilities should not encourage you to be reckless,” a dry voice said from the side. A-Ying straightened up and gave Hongshi a solemn courtsy, while Shu Cailing shot him an impish smile. Nodding in turn, he then looked around. "I thought I heard Qize here. Where did he go, and so fast at that?"

"Went looking for food to pack," Shu Cailing answered. "How are things, Shige? The hollow tree is fine?"

The hollow tree was a tree that grew behind Bai Mingyuan's residence, and the one Hongshi had gone to check yesterday. It was also the reason why Hongshi had entered Bai Mingyuan's room and thus discovered the letter, but Shu Cailing just realized he forgot to ask about why he'd checked up on it. Within its hollow trunk was a golden beast core that pulsed warm— this was the source of the protective barrier that sheltered the island. It was Bai Mingyuan's energy.

Hongshi went to sit down on a nearby bench. Lips pursed, he said, "There was a sudden spike in energy within it for a moment. Nothing that would endanger the island."

Shu Cailing had a feeling that there was more to it than that, but Hongshi would never talk about it with so much company, and there were some fretful young yaoguai in the audience too. So he just nodded. "That's good."

There was a glint in the skies, and Huihua came flying down from above, her resplendent five-colored feathers leaving glimmers of light in the afternoon sun. With an almost-proud smile, she walked over, looking at Shu Cailing up and down. “Ling’er is going to spread his wings. It feels like yesterday you were wearing a cute little pink dress, tailing after the lord with flowers in your hair. That’s good, you must grow up and find your branch in this world. Jiejie went asking around for something that might help you both in the mortal world, here.”

She handed him a silk brocade pouch, which he opened and peered into. It was filled with coins of different shapes and sizes. “Oh, right, money! I forgot about that.”

“We don’t know which ones are still used in the mortal world, so I do apologize. It has… been some time.” She turned to Hongshi. “I told everyone else not to come over and crowd the entire place, since the two of you are only leaving for a short while. They still have to take care of the fields, anyway. Fret not, Young Master, nothing will happen here. Did you bring everything you need?”

"I'll leave the management to you," Hongshi said with an acknowledging nod. "If you need anything, Qize knows where everything is, including all the books in the libraries."

Shu Cailing nodded too, patting his bag. Though the bag looked unassuming, this was a qiankun bag made by his shifu, and could even fit the entire island if necessary. “I’ve got change of clothes, some books, all my tools and herbs, and Old Qize is getting us even more food. Do I need anything else?”

Humming, Hongshi asked, “Do you have your token with you?” Saying so, he held the carved white jade Bai Ze hanging from his own waist, right next to his peach wood sword. Shu Cailing nodded, lifting his copy of it.

“That is the most important. I brought my own things. If we need anything, we can buy it on the road.” Hongshi turned to look at the buildings and island that had been his home for many centuries, and let out an imperceptible sigh. “We'll be leaving in the morning, then.”

____

Leaving the island itself didn’t feel like much of a trip. There was a waterfall on the northeastern mountains, and nearby was a small cavern with a teleportation array. Shu Cailing himself had gone to play here numerous times before, so there was no sense of wonder to it: they entered a dark, damp crack in the rocks, continued to walk, and just like that, they reached the other end.

If it weren’t for the fact that Shu Cailing knew the island like the back of his hand, he would’ve doubted they had left.

The thundering sound of water crashing down from above was all they could hear when they reached the entrance, which was hidden behind a waterfall. As they walked out to the side, Shu Cailing looked at his surroundings.

Truth be told, no special feeling of adventure arose in his heart. The mountain looked like any other mountain to him. It felt almost… underwhelming.

“Shige, have you ever entered the mortal world?”

“I was born there,” Hongshi answered. “Though the place where I was first planted must’ve been long gone now. I know nothing about the world of today.”

“It’s okay,” Shu Cailing answered cheerily. “We’ll find out how things are together. Can I be honest with you about something? I’m somewhat excited. Do you think I’ll get to use my medical knowledge? I’ve been studying it for over ten years, but I’ve never been able to use any of it. Whenever I get sick, it’s Shifu who takes care of me.”

Despite his lively appearance these days, Shu Cailing was actually born a sickly child, and had been raised as a girl because of it. It was bad enough that even today everyone would talk about how Bai Mingyuan had spent many days by his bedside, nursing a toddler back to health over and over again. His condition improved when he was twelve and he had stopped wearing those pink and goose yellow clothes since then, but half the island still treated him as a frail little girl. It had been annoying, but his shifu explained it to him.

“Many of the people here are old, and in their advanced age are stuck in the past. It’s hard for them to break out of it, but they might with time.” Bai Mingyuan patted him on the head then, smiling. “Please be patient with them.”

Hongshi sighed, breaking him out of his thoughts. “It will come in handy. But don’t be too eager to offer help to everyone; you don’t know what kind of person they are.”

The two of them made their way around the undergrowth that grew lush deep in this wilderness, Hongshi leading the way. His peach wood sword swayed to the rhythm of his steps. While the dangling plants and annoying scratchy grasses calmed down and gave way to Hongshi’s presence, the banks of this rocky creek were lined with loose rocks covered in moss, while the soil below was muddy and soft. Shu Cailing sighed and picked his way further into the forest, trying to answer as he maintained his balance on these shaky grounds. “Isn’t that how the island works, though? Anyone who wants to go there and stay can stay.”

Hongshi stopped in his tracks, turned around, and gave Shu Cailing a look. “Two things: Dad knows what they are, and simultaneously, he is also foolish.”

Knowing the danger yet choosing to carry out his plans anyway did seem like a foolhardy move, though it was also respectable. Shu Cailing only smiled and continued walking.

Civilization rose on the banks of rivers, so the two of them chose to follow the creek. A settlement would appear at some point; or at least, they were bound to find someone. Still, it took quite a while. After walking for days, they finally found a well-maintained path not far from the creek, and reached a town after half a day’s descent.

“Oh… I thought it’d be bigger,” Shu Cailing said as they passed through the gates. He looked around, as if trying to ascertain the population size based on the number of people walking the streets. “This looks about the size of our island, but just… more lively, I guess?”

The main road was bustling, with carts of firewood and coal being pulled across the city in preparation for winter, people in stalls hawking their wares, and passers-by going about with their lives. Shu Cailing inched closer to Hongshi as they merged with the crowds, looking around to try and see whether there was an inn around.

It didn’t take them long to find one on the main street— it was big but did not look particularly fancy, so Shu Cailing glanced at Hongshi, and Hongshi nodded. As they entered, though, problems arose essentially right away.

"You must be kidding me," the innkeeper gritted out. He slammed the palms of his hands on the table, and Shu Cailing tilted his head.

Atop the table between them were the money pouch given to him as well as its contents, strewn. There were a long string of hefty knife cash, various coins of different shapes and sizes, as well as flawless cowrie shells. Somehow, though, the innkeeper was only getting angrier. "You sirs can just get out instead of wasting my time. Out!"

It was late morning and the inn didn't seem to have many people still lingering inside, but those who were were gawking at them rather openly. Scratching his cheek, Shu Cailing said, "I guess we'll go sell something first? For money?"

The casual tone as if he didn't understand how money worked made the veins on the innkeeper's forehead jump, and he opened his mouth, ready to curse them both out. But just as Hongshi's hand started to grip the hilt of his sword, expression icy, a drawled voice came from the side.

"What are you selling? I'm interested."

"Huh?"

A young man sitting on a wheelchair pushed himself away from the table to angle his chair in their direction. He was dressed in dark green and appeared rather casual, but not sloppy; and right now, the glint in his eyes was sharp as his smirk widened. "Show me what you've got. I'm curious now."

He wasn't sitting alone, though. A tall man in autumn colors rose to his feet, smiling politely at Shu Cailing and Hongshi, and gestured towards the free seats on their dining table. "Perhaps these young sirs could come over for a chat?" With that, he glanced at the innkeeper, and the innkeeper turned away with a grumble.

Shu Cailing didn't know what this was all about, but he came over anyway. Hongshi stepped up like a warning when Shu Cailing moved to sit down, though, so he stopped.

"What, you're just going to stand there as we talk? Just loom over the table like a bunch of debt collectors?" The man in the wheelchair was looking at them with raised eyebrows now, while his tall friend moved to sit beside his companion instead, freeing one side of the table for the two of them. After a moment's consideration, Shu Cailing sat down. "What did you bring out to show him, by the way? I swore I saw knife cash. How the hell did you have so much knife cash, stole them from tombs?"

Confused, Shu Cailing blinked. "What tombs? They're just money, isn't that normal? But as for what we can sell… I have medicine and medicinal herbs if you want to buy any."

Almost instantaneously, the young man's expression turned ugly. His companion grasped his hand and squeezed it, though, and took over the conversation. "Medicine? Perhaps you could show us the herbs instead."

It was reasonable not to accept any random medicine when one had prior conditions, so Shu Cailing nodded in understanding, and rummaged through his bag. Hongshi remained standing, though he had shifted to angle himself behind Shu Cailing. He could feel that this section of the inn had become deserted— or more exactly, emptied, despite the gawking from earlier. There were still several people sitting several tables away, closer to the entrance door, but they seemed to pointedly not listen in, busy as they were with snacks and drinks. His expression cooled.

As he dug around, though, Shu Cailing realized that didn't know what would be considered valuable in this moment— would it be the rare herbs with limited use to them, or something common but useful? He had thought that the coins would be useful, after all, and yet…

Looking up, he met the two men's gazes.

"Well, I was thinking of selling some Winter Worm Summer Grass, but I don't reckon either of you would be interested," he said. As he talked, he took another look at them, trying to gauge their needs— other than the obvious, of course. But with how proficient the green-robed man was with his wheelchair, it was obvious he had not been using it for a short while; he most likely already had a family doctor handling that. Upon closer inspection, he also had faint scars on his face, while his friend had hands that seemed somewhat roughened by work. Would they really be the type to seek out Winter Worm Summer Grass, which was most commonly used to maintain complexion? Probably not. "Unless you want to buy for someone in your family? I also have bird's nest and ginseng."

The man in dark gold and brown frowned slightly. "May I see?"

"Oh, sure."

Shu Cailing brought a good section of the medicine cabinets with him. Though they amassed a lot of medicinal ingredients on the island, most of them were useless to the yaoguai, who only needed to cultivate to heal their wounds. Furthermore, when they got sick, it was almost always an issue with their original form— and it wasn't as if you could feed ginseng to tree roots, and dosage for small animals like birds was negligible. As  such, other than delicacies and tasty tonics, most of these herbs had piled up over the centuries, becoming more of a storage hazard than medicine.

"I don't have much of the bird's nest," he explained. It was mostly traded by the swallow yao for favors, other items or as thanks; he had some from helping them and they gifted him with it every year, but he often ate bird's nest soup back when he was young, so he rarely had much in stock. "But I don't mind selling off any or all of the ginseng."

He pulled out lacquered wooden boxes from his storage bag, not noticing the way the other two's eyes widened, and placed them on the table. He opened them all, and pointed at each. "I'm only selling at most five of the nests. As for the ginseng, I think these are…" he paused, and started counting the leaf scars on each of the body. "En, these should be twenty, fifty and hundred years old."

"A… hundred years old?" The man in dark gold sounded a bit disbelieving, his hand reaching out to angle the box to get a better look. As he counted, too, his eyes widened. "I…"

A pale, slender hand reached over to slam all the box lids shut. Before that, though, another hand grabbed the gold-robed man's wrist, pulling it away from the boxes just as the clacks resounded.

The man in the wheelchair turned his narrowed gaze at Hongshi. Hongshi didn't return it, looking nonchalant as he said, "Don't sell your herbs just over this, they're your tools of trade. I have other things we can sell."

"Oh?"

The man in dark gold took in a deep breath as he rose, before he cupped his hands and said, "I apologize for my rudeness, I just now realized we have yet to introduce ourselves. I am Xu Boyan, and this is my good friend He Zhecheng. May I ask these brothers for your names?"

Shu Cailing smiled in return. Though Hongshi definitely was guarded against them, he himself had a good first impression of Xu Boyan. "I'm Shu Cailing, ah wait, my courtesy name is Junyao. And this is my shige, Hongshi."

"Hong Shi?"

"Tao Hongshi," Hongshi said, tone clipped. 

"Tao-xiongtai," Xu Boyan said, nodding to himself. He turned to Shu Cailing. "May I call you Shu Junyao, then? Or perhaps Doctor Shu?"

Raising his hands, Shu Cailing shook his head. "I'm not here as your doctor, I don't think you should call me that. Junyao is fine."

Xu Boyan did look older than him, and Shu Cailing wasn't the kind to sweat this kind of thing. The issue would be to actually remember that was his name. Even Hongshi called him Cailing, and only his shifu remembered that courtesy name, although he often reverted to Ling'er. But that wasn't something these people needed to know, so Shu Cailing simply resolved to be more vigilant in keeping an ear out for this unfamiliar name. "Shall I call you Xu-xiong and He-xiong, then?"

Shu Cailing really felt more relaxed after exchanging names, and Xu Boyan’s polite smile was a tinge more natural too as he said, "If there are other things you'd like to sell, it's also possible to go elsewhere. There is a store here in town that would buy certain things; may I ask Tao-xiongtai what kind of items you'd like to sell?"

"Pearls," he answered.

Xu Boyan nodded thoughtfully. "I believe they'd happily purchase that. Would you like us to show you the way?"

"That would be great, thank you Xu-xiong."