Shen Hui lowered his head and looked at the wolf's head that had rolled to his feet.
The head was charred black, its fur scorched and curled, its eyes wide open.
Terror from its final moments lingered in its murky eyes, and the whole thing reeked.
The Heartfire had burned it to charcoal from the inside out. Only a thin layer of skin and flesh remained on the outside, barely holding its shape.
He stretched out his foot and stepped on it.
With a crisp crack, the wolf's head crumbled into a heap of black ash.
Wisps of blue smoke rose from the ashes, carrying a burnt, fishy stench. A gust of Clear Wind swept around him and dispersed it.
Shen Hui withdrew his foot, lifted his head, and looked toward the headless wolf carcass still twitching on the hillside.
The hemp robe stripped from a dead man still wrapped around it. Burned to tatters, it revealed the gray-white fur beneath.
He watched for a moment, then turned and walked downhill.
Jingming stood where she was, watching Shen Hui approach her with an expressionless face.
The wolf's body still lay on the slope behind him. The flames had gone out the instant he turned away, leaving only a few wisps of blue smoke curling upward before the mountain wind quickly scattered them.
She suddenly felt a little dazed.
Just moments ago, she had still been thinking about stepping in.
Since the Wolf Demon could speak, it must have grown powerful. It might even possess some unknown supernatural ability.
She had even begun to regret her overconfidence, wishing she had used the Aura Observation Art to examine its Dao Xing carefully from the start.
But before she could make sense of anything, the Wolf Demon was already dead.
Dead through and through, its body severed from its head, even its head crumbled into a heap of black ash.
She had not even seen how Shen Hui struck. She had only glimpsed a thin line of fire streaking through the air, and then the Wolf Demon had burst into flames.
That fire... She remembered the inexplicable panic that had gripped her just moments ago, as though something had scratched at her heart.
Jingming shook her head and couldn't help mocking herself.
She had cultivated the Dao for more than twenty years, yet a single fire technique had managed to frighten her twice.
How ridiculous.
Shen Hui walked up to her without slowing.
"Let's return to the temple," he said.
His voice was calm, without the slightest hint of emotion.
Jingming gave a small start, suppressed the jumble of thoughts in her heart, and regained her usual composure.
"Aren't we going to Li Family Village to tell the villagers?"
She said, "The Wolf Demon has been eliminated. They should know."
"There's no need."
Shen Hui replied without looking back. "They saw that you and I hadn't returned for so long. They'll come up the mountain tomorrow. When they see the wolf's corpse, they'll understand."
Jingming fell into step beside him, thought for a moment, then said, "Then won't they be unable to thank you?"
Shen Hui glanced sidelong at her, his eyes as calm as water.
"I eliminate demons for no empty reputation. Just as Master doesn't let people come to the temple to offer incense."
Hearing this, Jingming turned her head and looked at him.
He walked half a step ahead of her, so she could only see half his profile. She frowned as she studied him. His face was the same, his features unchanged, but his expression...
She suddenly felt that the person before her was a stranger.
The Shen Hui who was usually all smiles and fond of teasing people seemed to have become someone else.
"What's wrong with you?" she suddenly asked.
"Nothing," Shen Hui replied. "It's a lingering side effect of the art. Nothing serious. It'll fade in two days."
Jingming furrowed her brows but asked no more.
She changed the subject.
"Your fire technique is powerful. Its might far exceeds mine."
Shen Hui nodded without a trace of modesty. "You practice a Yin Fire technique. It's uncanny, but lacks ferocity."
Jingming was taken aback, finding his words a little too blunt for comfort.
She knew they were true, but hearing the truth kept in someone's mouth and hearing it spoken aloud were two different things.
She pushed aside the stirrings in her heart and asked, "What about Third Junior Brother's Civil and Martial Fire?"
"An Outer Dao technique."
Shen Hui's tone remained calm, but his words were merciless. "Compared with mine, it lacks variation."
Jingming suddenly laughed. There was no telling whether she was amused or annoyed.
"Are you saying that neither of us can compare to you?"
"I am."
Shen Hui answered plainly, without the slightest hesitation.
Jingming laughed again. This time, the sound was short and stifled, like a breath caught in her throat.
"So this is the real you?"
She looked at Shen Hui's placid face, her eyes probing. "You look down on the world and pride yourself on your own excellence. All that warmth and humility you show every day is just an act."
Shen Hui did not even look at her. His eyes remained fixed on the path ahead.
"Just because I said your and Third Junior Brother's Fire Element Arts aren't as fierce, domineering, uncanny, or varied as mine, you think I'm a hypocrite, putting on airs, and arrogant by nature?"
Jingming shook her head and did not answer. "You haven't even seen Third Junior Brother or me in action. How can you pass judgment on us?"
"I don't need to see you."
Shen Hui's tone was calm. "Those who wield Yin Fire are cold and shadowy. They excel at ambushes, trapping enemies, and disturbing people's minds. Their victims often don't realize what's happened until they're dead. Isn't that right?"
Jingming's eyes flickered, and a stir rose in her heart.
"That's right."
Shen Hui kept walking.
"Then answer me: against a powerful foe in a head-on fight, can your Yin Fire technique burn through their protective astral energy and baleful qi?"
"No."
"Can it destroy their body and magical treasures?"
"No."
"Can it take someone's life in a single breath?"
Jingming parted her lips, but said nothing more.
Shen Hui seemed to have anticipated her response and continued.
"Now, as for Civil and Martial Fire. The civil aspect entangles; the martial aspect tempers. The two complement each other. But since it follows the path of balancing the civil and martial aspects, it's bound to have to attend to both, making it difficult to bring either to its utmost. Against an ordinary opponent, it can naturally be wielded with ease. But against a master of the Fire Element, it will be wanting in some respects and lacking in others."
There was no contempt in his words, yet they still sounded rather harsh.
"The three of us may differ in cultivation and Dao Xing, but the techniques we practice and comprehend all come from the Lesser Five Elements Art. Let the other four elements be for now. At least on the path of the Fire Element..."
He paused.
"Neither of you can compare to me."
At last he stopped and turned to face her.
"This isn't arrogance or insolence. With a technique, one glance at its foundations tells you how far it can grow."
With that, he started walking again.
Jingming stood where she was, watching his figure gradually disappear into the curtain of snow. In the end, she hurried after him.
The snowfall was growing heavier.
Snow on the mountain path had risen past their ankles, crunching beneath their feet.
She lowered her head, watching the trail of footprints ahead as she followed one step at a time.
Strangely, though the wind and snow were stronger than before, the flakes blew soundlessly away whenever they came within three inches of Shen Hui, as if some invisible force were pushing them aside.
She caught up with him and walked beside him.
"What you said just now..."
"Hmm?"
"You don't usually..." She panted. Only after the words were out did she realize she hadn't decided what she wanted to ask. "Do you usually say things like that?"
Shen Hui didn't even turn his head. "Not usually."
"Why?"
"The Shen Hui you know usually understands the warmth and coldness of human nature and knows words can cut like knives. But the Shen Hui you see now has had his seven emotions and six desires burned away by the Heart Lamp. He doesn't know how to hold back or bend his words."
"Side effects of the art?"
"That's right," he said. "You asked me just now if this was the real me. Now I'll tell you: it is, and it isn't."
"What do you mean?"
"Some people laugh when they're happy; others show no sign of it. Some see evil and must eliminate it; others avoid it at all costs. People are made of flesh, blood, and soul, yet everyone has flesh, blood, and a soul. So why is everyone different?"
"Why?"
"Because the seven emotions and six desires shape flesh, blood, and soul into different forms. If you used this art, you'd be no different from me."
As he spoke, he suddenly reached out and caught a snowflake. "So which one is the real me? The parts that were burned away, or the parts that were left behind?"
"Neither."
He answered his own question.
"Or perhaps both."
He turned his hand over. The snowflake slipped from his palm and fell into the snow, lost without a trace.
"Let's go. We'll be back at the temple before dark."