There were more people on the path towards Taoyi’s residence today, yet it felt less alive. The servants tending flowers were gone; any that remained from their work yesterday were trampled down to color smears on the dirt by the feet of disciples leaving or coming back to their Cultivation Caves in a hurry.

  Taoyi’s courtyard was the same.

  Hao was a little thankful that he didn’t have to see the blindfolded servants kneeling with their fingernails full of dirt.

  Taoyi must have moved all his skeletons into the closet. Even the old man, who stood at the door like a vigilant guardian dog yesterday, was gone. It seemed tranquil, empty, bland, but calming. The greasy toad must have made his dirty plate look shiny when the prospect of someone from the fifth peak could come knocking.

  Hao could see inside the building once again. Giant windows instead of walls was a bad design choice for a person with so many secrets; he doubted Taoyi thought much of beyond its look.

  It was a little like a punishment or taunt for any guest at the door; there was a clear view of his broad side and folded stomach pressed against a glittering black wood table, food laid out in front of him.

  Taoyi tapped a bell when he was finished.

  The sound the bell made was like a wretched scream to Hao; his hands jumped to cover his ears. Screams multiplied, turning from one voice to a dozen, into hundreds as the resonance lingered.

  It didn’t bother Taoyi at all; he just waited, looking at the rusty copper with a prideful smile, his finger tapping as two servants came to clear the table, another wiped down the surface, then the two came again, placing down another set of meals.

  He lifted his hand. Thick short fingers shooing away their lingering presence. Waving even after they disappeared, as if he couldn’t bear the smell of the people he blinded and muzzled.

  Hao knew they were going to the door on the opposite side of the house from the entryway, where he stood; he couldn’t see them, just hear the door close. Solid wood clunked as it latched and clicked before Taoyi stuck his fingers down into a greasy bowl of water soup. The dumpling he dug out disappeared as if by magic.

  A technique for eating, Hao mocked. But it was hard to deny the envy he felt at the sight of the feast beyond his reach, the door blocking it. All he had eaten in an age was flesh peeled from bone; it was a good day if he had time to cook it, or pair it with a freshly grown fruit; he didn’t complain much when it was still raw.

  The bell rang, teary-eyed, agonized screams. Another plate of food, latch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch.

  Hao felt like he was being toyed with. He was a wolf staring down into a rabbit’s burrow, watching them skin themselves and jump into a salty broth, but it was all a screen. A succulent boar was waiting for him to dive in and get a paw stuck, so it could drive its tusks into his weak points and eat him alive.

  Hao grew tired of watching; his hand flicked against the door, the shockwave sending a sound echoing far louder than he expected it would.

  He turned, looking back at the courtyard entrance. His ears stayed alert for footsteps as he tried out a few different oblivious smiles.

  The steps were hard to miss. Taoyi walked with a rapid rhythm and stomped feet, alongside the sound of his tongue moving around in his mouth; it was obvious who was standing in the doorway.

  Hao turned, expecting exactly what he got, a look of slight disappointment and a sour grin on a face with too much skin.

  Taoyi’s smile quickly adjusted to one more welcoming, “Young Friend Hao, welcome back, but you are far earlier than I expected. Have you changed your mind?”

  Hao controlled his face, tamping down any reaction he wanted to have, even managing to force up a laugh. “Haha, Senior. You misunderstood. I delivered your message to the Fifth Peak. The sight of the peak was truly mystifying.”

  Did he really come too early, or is Taoyi toying with him? The question blared out in Hao’s head, but a smile of comfort grew on his face, adding wrinkles to his cheeks.

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  “I was thinking it would be best if I get the job done and come back, then we can both forget about it for a while.” Hao thought that with his words, his intentions were clear. I did what I had to; now give me what you owe me for it, simple words, and a simple message.

  Taoyi was an experienced man after all. He spent his days dealing with mortal servants and newly risen disciples, when he wasn’t sucking the flavor out of chicken bones. The man struggled to hide his expression despite all his scheming. A flinch told just about everything Hao needed to hear.

  After all, the woman Hao was here to take was the one who taught him everything she knew about Taoyi. His mannerisms, flinch twitches, eye shifts. She didn’t know the depth of his depravity, it seemed, or it was something she kept quiet about.

  Taoyi suddenly reached out, “Wow. Young friends, you sure are fast, but I must say a little too eager. There is admin to do. More than signatures and contracts are needed to make sure a deal like the one I have with the Fifth Peak is done, paper does make mountain dirt move…” he paused, his hand pulling back with a choppy laugh.

  Hao nearly recoiled at the laugh paired with the viper and the greasy lips; this man can walk on the air and summon the wind… He laughed along with him instead.

  “Now,” Taoyi threw his hand up, “young friend, do not forget the primary goal of all disciples is to cultivate well.”

  Hao stood there, still as a tree on a windless day. It was stunning, such shamelessness, that wide, greasy smile didn’t fade for a second, not even as he dismissed Hao like a lost puppy.

  Taoyi lowered his eyebrows and let out another laugh.

  “Senior, is something wrong?” Hao asked, his words as smooth as a sparrow’s wings. So light they could float on the wind, still, the man in front of him scrunched his face at them.

  ***

  Taoyi held himself together the best he could, but this boy made his heart race the same way the Fourth Elder’s did. The brat is against the Fourth Elder; the boy lost every time, but Taoyi was uneasy. I have to be careful with my words while shooing away someone with a connection to the Elders.

  Taoyi chuckled again, looking down at the boy. Can this thing not take a hint? Leave, boy, are you a dog outside a larder? The constant smile and soft voice, he was getting to him, itching at his head, the little beast at his door did nothing unreasonable, but he had to twist it so it was, so the boy was a villain, and he was a victim that was owed something.

  “Hehaha, Young Friend…” That was all Taoyi could say. He laughed again, hoping the boy would just turn and leave.

  Should I just say it in plain words, Leave Chao, Hao, whatever your name is… he tried to think of the best way to say it. Maybe it was best to invite him in, coax something out of him, a dark secret like he had on the Fourth Elder; everyone was twisted like that in some way, no one was perfect beyond what nature’s rules and demands. No one could play hero rescuing the damsel forever.

  But if the boy were to see the woman now… If you wish a hunting dog to hunt furiously, let it smell what’s inside the larder, but don’t let it take whatever it wants. Give it a scrap of what it wants after obeying.

  Hao took a step forward in the lingering silence, his foot inching towards the threshold. “Ahaha,” he laughed. It sounded almost like Taoyi’s chuckle, pure mockery.

  Taoyi accidentally ground his teeth. It was a good thing the boy was a dimwit, with that bright smile and messy hair.

  The boy was just supposed to be a fruit easy to pick and peel. Yet, that sweet nectar felt like it was getting further away, like the fruit was not on a branch, but on a tentacle wiggling playfully in his hand.

  I could kill him with a palm, a finger. Taoyi stared down, “No problems, none at all, but if little friend—Haighhh.”

  Why do I have to relent? He turned to the side, putting back on his composure, “I will need some sort of proof; there are some even among fellow Sect Members unworthy of trust.”

  With that, Taoyi felt elated with himself. Like a well-seasoned chicken thigh, just holding onto the bone meant he had it all in his hand. He was in control of everything again.

  “Senior? You don’t trust the Seniors on the Fifth Peak?” The boy asked, Hao’s childish smile disappearing, his freaky golden brown eyes glinting for a moment.

  “The Fifth P—” Peak, Taoyi remembered who they were talking to; it felt like the memory was an arrow of ice being shoved into the back of his head. An emissary from the Fifth Peak had already visited the Fifth Elder’s own, but the boy couldn’t possibly know that. Why did he have to say it so, like it was an accusation, but he couldn’t have; that stupid smile was still on his face.

  Taoyi felt like he was being toyed with. As if he were food on a plate, but surely that was just an illusion, just his own worry creeping up on him from yesterday’s deals with the Fourth Elder.

  Yet why did it feel like his entire home was crawling with wolfish tentacles? A foot in a torn shoe turned to the side of his threshold.