A Handful of Dirt

Gui Yuan cocked his head on one side and looked at her with interest. "Why, you're pretty clever after all. Are you jealous of me?" He chuckled.

Qingqing glared at him. Her fear was slowly fading as she figured out what had happened. Not knowing why always made her afraid. Now that she knew, she felt her courage coming back to her.

"So you were the one. You caused all this trouble for Sister Bai. And it was my fault for not taking your life that day. Pah!" She spat. "I hate myself now. I should have cut your throat before knocking you out of the window."

Gui Yuan frowned. He did not understand what was happening yet but it gave him an uneasy feeling to see her talking back to him.

Qingqing dragged herself up, a mocking smile on her lips. "I see why now. It makes perfect sense. A lowlife like you could only reach this level of cultivation by doing what you do best--stealing and appropriating. Nothing you have now is really yours. You didn't even kill them yourself. You found those bodies after Sister Bai had done the hard work, and leeched off it by eating their hearts. That's disgusting, in case you didn't know. No matter how many times you kill me, you can't get over the disgrace of that. You're a phoney. You're a pathetic cheat resorting to eating human hearts--which you didn't even kill yourself! Why, I should be the one laughing. It's pitiful."

She threw her head back and laughed, shrill and reckless.

Gui Yuan frowned. A murderous look was on his face. Confused, angry, insulted--he did not know why things had changed so suddenly. Why was this little snake spirit suddenly so cocky, so insulting, when only moments ago she had been so humble?

"I killed them myself," he growled. "How dare you say I didn't?"

Qingqing looked carelessly at him from the corner of her eyes. "Save your breath. Sister Bai killed those bandits." she said contemptuously. "Stop claiming credit that isn't yours."

"Yes, and I was watching her the whole time," he snarled. "But that was just the bandits. The rest, I killed them myself!"

"The rest?" Qingqing's eyes studied his face under her eyelashes.

He made an impatient gesture. "What does it matter? I'm strong now. Strong enough to take my revenge. Which I will. I'll kill you first, then that sister of yours. Judging from her current state, she won't even know what hit her."

"You've been watching us," Qingqing said to herself softly. "So all this time you've been hiding on the mountains. Watching us. Waiting."

"I knew you both thought I was dead," Gui Yuan said triumphantly. "You would both have your guard down. You would not expect me to appear again, or to be stronger."

He sniggered. "That sister of yours, for all she seemed so powerful back then, is a sorry sight. After getting dumped by that man, she's gone to pieces. What a mess."

Qingqing's teeth showed in a fine line of white over his lips. "A mess which was largely due to you. You still dare to talk about Sister Bai with your filthy blood-stained mouth. Even if she'd lost half of her cultivation she could still kill you without blinking an eye!"

Her hands shot out. As she talked, her fingers had grasped the earth beneath them, silently gathering up a handful of dirt. Now, as he leaned forward towards her, she flung both handfuls of dirt straight into his eyes, savagely.

Gui Yuan roared in pain and Qingqing crawled backwards as fast as she could, as he struck out blindly in her direction. "You little jinx," he shouted. "I'll kill you. You won't be able to escape from me after I've broken your leg like that. Just you wait. I'll suck every drop of essence from you and peel your skin off your bones one by one."

He clawed at his eyes. Qingqing turned herself back into her snake form once more and slithered clumsily through the grass. Every move was torture with her broken tail, but at least it was better than hobbling on one leg in her human form.

Her heart was pounding crazily as she went as fast as she could, trying to put as much distance as possible between her and Gui Yuan's yells. Once he got his eyesight back he would be searching for her. She could not go far in this state. If she could find somewhere safe to hide she might be able to survive this.

She felt sick. So Gui Yuan was the reason behind those corpses. If only Sister Bai and Xuxian knew--but they would never know unless she managed to survive this.

Groaning to herself, she pushed herself forward. Oh Qingqing, she lamented silently to herself. See where you've come today. One careless mistake brought this on yourself and others. If you had taken the terrapin spirit more seriously and not been so sure of your powers, you would not be running for your life now.

She clenched her teeth, and then froze as a familiar sound wafted over the air. The dull thud of a woodcutter's axe. Ringing through the woods faintly in a steady rhythm.

"Yuanzheng," she whispered, and then again, with sudden urgency, "Yuanzheng!"

Thoughts swirled confusedly in her head. Maybe Yuanzheng could help her. She pushed that from her mind impatiently. What was she thinking? How could he possibly stand against Gui Yuan? And he had no idea who was coming towards them. Would Gui Yuan leave him, or stop to kill him for his essence as well?

She had always thought she was clever, but it was a different game when you were running for your life, choking on panic and fear and dragging a broken leg behind you. Tiredly she tried to think what was the best option.

Qingqing hesitated, torn. She made up her mind hastily, and turned decidedly in the direction of the axe.