The sound of the metal gate tumbling off the side of the mountain could be heard for miles. The cultivators raised their swords and watched in horror as two men stepped out from the darkness of the mountain prison.
In the arms of the man in black was a tender looking youth, clothed in bright red. The robes had long become dirtied and tattered and the youth’s wavy hair was unbound and strewn across his visage, just barely covering up the bruises around his neck and face. The dried blood against his paling skin made him look especially pitiful—not to mention the two large, gruesome holes that pierced through his shoulders.
However, the eyes used to look upon this pitiful youth was nothing but hatred, lingering with terror and disgust.
“Fan Yi,” a man stood at the front, his hand tightly gripping his sword until his knuckles turned white. This action couldn’t be mistaken for fear though. His eyes still burned brightly with hatred and annoyance. “Leave him now and we’ll let your little sect go.”
The man being addressed, Fan Yi, glanced down at the man in his arms before tilting his head back up at the cultivator before him. His thin lips pulled into an amicable smile. If it weren’t for the weapons pointed in their direction, it might seem as if they were in the middle of a delightful chat between friends.
“Young Master Li—ah. No,” Fan Yi chuckled, as if embarrassed by his forgetfulness. “It should be Sect Leader Li now, right?”
The man surnamed Li’s eyes darkened.
“I’m afraid I can’t comply with your little request,” Fan Yi sighed. He looked back down at the pale face, resting against his chest. His eyelashes seemed to quiver for a moment before he recovered his perfectly smiling eyes. His gaze was cast back on the cultivators before him. “You see, he is now part of my sect.”
“Your—” Sect Leader Li scoffed. “Since when? From beginning to end, he has belonged to our Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect. Even if he were to die, his ghost would still belong to us!”
Fan Yi’s smile did not waver. “Even if he were to die, I would save his ghost from your tainted hands, Sect Leader Li. Much less now that the person is still alive.”
“Fan Yi—”
“Sect Leader, stop trying to reason with him!” a disciple scoffed. “Just because we give an inch, they think they can take a mile! The only reason we, Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect, have not exterminated you from this world is because we saw that you have been behaving yourselves and not causing trouble. But you dare come up to our front door and steal our disciple?!”
“Your disciple?” Fan Yi’s gentle gaze suddenly turned steely. “I see. So, the great Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect will treat their most treasured disciple as if he were a criminal without so much as seeking justice for him first?”
“Aren’t you all worse than an unorthodox sect then?” the man beside Fan Yi finally spoke.
His appearance was exceedingly handsome, like that of a poisonous tyrant. His hair was pulled up into a bun and his armored robes sat in a way that made him look much more muscular than he already was. The heavy saber that he easily held in his hand reflected the light of the lanterns around him, making him seem like a warrior from hell.
“How dare you!?”
Just as the disciple tried to strike, his arms were swiftly sliced off.
Wretched screams filled the air as, one after another, the cultivators’ bodies began to move on their own and attack their own comrades.
Li Ran’s head swam as he parried off an attack. His eyes fell on the two intruders and felt his blood boil. The puppeteer wasn’t with them! How could he have missed that?!
“If you want to attack Screeching Sparrow Sect, then feel free!” Fan Yi declared, his voice echoing eerily all throughout the sect. “We will humbly await your arrival.”
The carnage was swiftly left behind and everything began to blur into scenic mountains and fast flowing rivers.
They flew quickly and for a long time before the two men finally landed and settled down in a nearby cave.
“How is he?” a figure emerged from the shadows with a furrow in their brows.
“Yizhou!”
Ren Yizhou lifted their hand to stop Tian Xiewen from moving any closer.
The man that had previously displayed a beastly anger pouted but obediently took a step back.
Fan Yi did not answer the other person. Aside from barely acknowledging them, he only sat silently with the man against his lap.
“Bad,” Tian Xiewen said. He felt a lump forming in his throat as he stared at the frail body. “…They broke his legs and arms and locked his scapula bone.”
“…What?” Ren Yizhou’s brows furrowed. They placed their hand over their mouth and felt their stomach churn.
To lock one’s scapula bone was an extremely painful ordeal. Don’t even mention practicing martial arts—it’d be difficult to even lift a finger or move on your own.
“How could they do something like that?” Ren Yizhou’s soft voice could barely be heard, as it finally began to rain outside.
“He escaped with his life and his meridians intact,” Tian Xiewen said. “That can already be considered the best luck he can encounter…”
“Best luck?” Ren Yizhou felt their temper flare. “You call that luck?”
“…The silver lining of a terrible ordeal,” Tian Xiewen said. However, it was clear from his voice that even he was riled up about this stranger they had just met.
Fan Yi silently and persistently circulated spiritual through the man’s body. His expression was serene but his dark eyes were tumultuous. He couldn’t help looking at the gruesome holes in the man’s body from time to time. A fiery hatred began to brew in his stomach.
Ren Yizhou couldn’t see, but they could tell from the stench of blood that the person they had saved was on the verge of dying. If he hadn’t reached immortality at such a young age, they definitely would have gone in to rescue a corpse.
“…Wasn’t Yu Lan Sword Immortal supposed to be their inheritor?...How could they…” Ren Yizhou’s words stopped short. They couldn’t continue any longer and only held a hand over their mouth as they slumped against the wall.
“It has to be a ploy,” Tian Xiewen said. He turned to Fan Yi. “Yi-ge, we have to—”
“Wait for him to recover,” Fan Yi’s calloused fingers pushed Wu Lingtian’s matted hair from his face. “Then see what he decides to do.”
“…Yes, Sect Leader.”
The group waited for a long time before the rain finally cleared and Wu Lingtian’s breathing became regular again. Despite this, the red-clothed man began to run a fever. Without too many materials on them, they could only rush back to Screeching Sparrow Sect before the fever got even worse.
The scene that the disciples saw, at the crack of dawn, were the Three Pillars returning with a basically crippled man in their arms. When some approached in an attempt to get an understanding of the matter, they were waved off by Tian Xiewen or Ren Yizhou. Their normally amicable sect leader carried a gloomy face too, so they could only obediently step to the side and watch them carry this stranger into their sect.
A week passed before Wu Lingtian opened his eyes.
The first thing he felt was the searing pain in his chest, but he quickly noticed that he could somewhat move. His leg was no longer broken and his fingers were back in place. When he attempted to sit up, he felt a feather-like touch against his shoulder. He turned his head and looked at the gentle expression on Fan Yi’s face and seemed to freeze in place.
“Lay back down. You’re in no condition to be moving around.”
“Where am I?”
“Screeching Sparrow Sect.”
“Why am I here?”
Fan Yi smiled as he stirred the steaming medicine. “I promised I would save you.”
Wu Lingtian settled back down and watched as Fan Yi sat onto the stool beside him and lifted a spoon to his lips.
Wu Lingtian immediately jerked back before he slumped helplessly back against the pillow.
“…It’s medicine, not poison,” Fan Yi said, sounding a bit helpless.
Wu Lingtian’s brows were furrowed as he stared at the medicine, as if it was the source of his troubles. He turned back to Fan Yi and looked away.
“Not drinking.”
“If you don’t drink it, how are you going to get better?”
“Slowly,” Wu Lingtian replied.
“…Be good and drink it,” Fan Yi inched onto the bed and held the spoon closer to Wu Lingtian.
Wu Lingtian shrunk back and turned his head away uncomfortably.
“…Drink it. I have candy.”
Wu Lingtian’s brows seemed to relax and he reached out for the bowl. His hand was swiftly pressed back down.
“Don’t randomly move about. Although you’re healing quickly, it wouldn’t do well to agitate the torn muscles,” Fan Yi said. “Just let me feed you.”
“…Hold the bowl to my lips. I’ll drink it,” Wu Lingtian compromised.
“It’s scalding.”
“It’s fine.”
Fan Yi stared at the stubborn creature in front of him but eventually complied.
As if it were just room temperature water, Wu Lingtian drank it rather quickly. After the bowl was removed, his distorted expression could be seen and it didn’t pass until Fan Yi pressed a piece of candy into his mouth.
“And here I thought the great Yu Lan Sword Immortal wasn’t afraid of anything in Heaven or on this earth,” Fan Yi chuckled. “It turns out you’re afraid of bitterness.”
Wu Lingtian did not respond as he silently swirled the candy in his mouth. His expression relaxed, returning to that of a dull, sentient doll that Fan Yi was so familiar with.
Fan Yi’s smile wavered slightly. He set the bowl aside and turned back to Wu Lingtian. “They released the news.”
“Mm.”
“…The world now knows that you betrayed Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect and that you killed your master.”
“Oh.”
“Are you not alarmed?”
Fan Yi took in Wu Lingtian’s sickly pale appearance that made the mole under his left eye more prominent. A man of his prestige has fallen to the point where he had to take shelter with an enemy—should he at least show a sliver of reluctance? A silver of indignation?
Wu Lingtian, however, simply rose his pair of dark, empty eyes and stared at Fan Yi and asked in that same, even, monotone voice he always used. “Why should I be alarmed?”
“The entire world thinks you’re evil now.”
“…Let them think as they wish,” Wu Lingtian concluded after a brief moment. He carefully laid back down on the bed and tugged the blanket over his shoulder. He let out a slow exhale. “Even if I were to explain, there is no one in this world who would believe a word I say.”
A/N: I wanted to try posting on this website to see how it goes, but this story's home base is over on my WordPress. It has in-depth character info and footnotes on terms, so if you're interested go check it out. It's updated till chapter 5 right now!
https://glowingreverie.wordpress.com/
Thank you for giving this story a chance. I'll continue updating on here for a period of time to test out the waters lol
