Warm winds carried geese home; fragrant grass witnessed parting at Long Pavilion.
"Little Huang, since you chose to stay, protect yourself well. Only by living can you slay demons and save the common people. The road ahead is long, and life and death are hard to foresee. Take care."
"Squeak squeak squeak. If you can't win, run. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
At Long Pavilion ten li outside Yao City, Bai Yujun, the monkey, and Huang Yu bid one another farewell.
"Huang Yu thanks you both again for the grace of elevating me. We will be separated by tens of thousands of li, and perhaps never meet again. I have no way to repay this kindness. Please accept Huang Yu's bow."
She clasped her hands and bent at the waist in a Jianghu salute. Drifters of the Jianghu did not linger over romance or wipe away tears in a wishy-washy manner. Meeting was fate; at parting, they preferred to be unrestrained. Whether they met again someday or not, it would remain a memory from their days in the Jianghu. The breeze blew strands of hair across her eyes.
Bai Yujun took out three weapons and a close-fitting suit of soft armor.
She solemnly handed them to Huang Yu.
"Melt down that junk weapon of yours and make a hoe out of it. I had this slender sword custom-made for you. It's sharp and sturdy, more than capable of killing Demonic Beasts. This is an arm crossbow that can be strapped to your forearm as a hidden trump-card weapon, and this is a powerful mechanical crossbow. In the future, you can ambush Demonic Beasts from farther away, so you don't get surrounded and disgrace the two of us."
"Thank you. Then I won't stand on ceremony."
Huang Yu accepted the