Hard as Marble

The gentleness in Fahai's voice previously had vanished without a trace, so much so that Xuxian wondered if he had been dreaming. The monk did not look at him but spoke to Suzhen instead. "Bai Suzhen, it's beneath you to hide behind a mortal man like this. Stop using him."

Suzhen's eyes flashed. She pushed Xuxian aside sharply, with a strength that surprised him. "I hide behind no one. It is his love for me that you see, and that is what you can't bear to admit."

She took a step forward, fearlessly, chest heaving. "For all your high philosophy and knowledge, in the end it still comes to what we animals live by--who is stronger. You say that I am evil, and will bring death and destruction, but you are the one in search of violence and bloodshed. You say that I am the beast, the demon, but today it is you who is hunting us down without mercy."

Fahai said nothing, but his fingers tightened around the staff in his hand. Suzhen's gaze was piercing, despite the tears she did not realize were standing in her eyes. She drew herself up so she was the same height as him, her chin lowered slightly to protect her throat in a hostile posture she took on instinctively. He could almost see the snake rearing its head to face its enemy.

The monk found himself wondering how large she would be in her snake form, and tried to assess her energy aura. It was considerably weaker than he had remembered, yet she seemed so confident. Perhaps she had some trick up her sleeve...

"Why can't you let us be together?" she whispered suddenly, and her face twisted as if she was in pain. "Why is it so wrong for us to love each other?"

Fahai curled his lip contemptuously. He was aware that right now Physician Xu could only see him as an unreasonable villain who wanted to murder his wife. Bitterness twisted in his gut.

"Ask yourself, demoness, if I ever deceived Physician Xu. Then look at yourself," he said sternly.

"How dare you remain by his side so brazenly? I will break him away from your snares today, if I have to die to do so."

Susu said nothing but XuXian, watching, saw her face turn hard as marble. There was a look in her eyes he had never seen before.

"Stand back, XuXian." she said softly. "He will not part us if I can help it."

Xuxian felt himself step back obediently, even as he opened his mouth to protest.

Her words came out crisp and ringing. "If there is no other way but to fight, you won't find me running away. I have no desire for bloodshed, but remember now--you are the one who forced me to this."

Fahai's lips folded in a grim line that cut across his face like a knife wound. "You say there is no help for it, but in reality you refuse to admit that this could be easily resolved. Demoness, give the man up. I will leave you to live on the mountains as before, if you swear never to come near him again. There is no way human and spirit can coexist peacefully. You can only harm him; it is your nature."

"Nature? You know nothing about nature, monk." Susu's voice was light, gentle even, but Xuxian felt a sudden coldness waft over from where she stood. Her hands, hanging half hidden in the folds of her long sleeves, flashed.

He felt the fine sleeves brush against his cheek in a caress as her fingers sliced through the air, the fingertips alight with a blue-white flame that was so bright he could barely look at it.

Fahai's staff swung through the air and came up to meet the jet of light that came slicing towards him. There was a deep, fierce vibration in the air that made the very breath in his lungs tremble, and he fell back shielding his eyes, quivering like a frightened animal. Fear took possession of him.

Susu's robe fluttered in the wind as she sprang. For a moment she seemed to hang in the air, glimmering faintly like a white butterfly. Then her wrists twisted in a quick, vehement motion and he saw her hands thrust forward suddenly. An arc of pulsing brightness beat through the air and Fahai staggered back as he tried to counter it. Just one step, but Xuxian saw how the monk's knees shook.

Susu turned to him swiftly. "Xuxian. Stay back!" she cried, as her fingers dug into the air like claws and she advanced steadily on FaHai, forcing him back another step. Her hair streamed back from her face in black ribbons like the tassels of a flag on the battlefield, and her brows were knitted in concentration as she drove the monk backwards.

He saw the monk's face contorting as he mustered his own energy and thrust his staff up with a colossal effort, breaking the force of her attack and throwing her back slightly. There was a deep groaning shiver that twanged in Xuxian's eardrums as the monk's staff deflected the white light bursting from Suzhen's fingers.

Suzhen stumbled from the impact and Fahai leaped forward, bringing the staff down with a grunt. As it came hissing downwards Suzhen glanced up with a startled expression in her eyes. For a moment she seemed terribly vulnerable, painfully fragile, and Xuxian started forward involuntarily with some hazy idea of intervening.

She flung herself sideways with a quick twist of her body, so sharp it seemed like she had snapped herself in two at the waist, and yet through the billowing robes Xuxian saw her land on her two feet, pulling herself up with a smooth, sweeping motion that made him catch his breath incredulously.

Fahai's staff whistled through the air again and Suzhen rose to meet it. The staff twirled and Suzhen's hands beat back in blurs, exchanging twenty or more rapid blows as they leaped and landed, feet equally sure in the air or the ground.

"Demoness--don't let your arrogance blind you," Fahai panted, as Suzhen eluded his fist. "Submit, or you must die in the end."