“What manner of little demon are you, stealing things from the human world?”
I froze in place and slowly turned around.
That was the first time I met Bai Heng.
He wore the frosty robes of the White Crane Immortal Sect, a Qingming Sword at his waist, and stood beneath a weeping crabapple tree. Dusk was settling in. The evening breeze lifted half-fallen petals, brushing past his brow, his shoulder, and his sword tassel before drifting down onto my trembling, upturned face.
They said the White Crane Immortal was cold and taciturn, and despised demons above all.
But in that instant, he was plainly the Buddha who had come to save me.
“I didn’t steal anything.” I held up my empty hands for him to see, my voice trembling. “I was just… looking.”
He lowered his eyes.
When our gazes met, I found courage from somewhere, or perhaps I’d simply given up caring. “My name is A Wan. I’m not a demon, just a homeless snake.”
He was silent for a long time.
Long enough for the last streak of sunset to sink behind the mountains, long enough for me to think he would strike me down with his next sword stroke.
But he put his sword away.
“Come along.”
