It was about an hour after Xing Yue's departure when Tsi Yi heard that strange scratching noise coming from behind the wall adjacent to his bed. With how much empty space his room had, Tsi Yi easily walked over to the location and cautiously reached out a hand to touch the smooth gray brick surface.
Instinct made him suddenly retract his palm and take two steps back, an instant before that whole section of the wall fell apart. Through the dust and pulverized bricks, Tsi Yi could make out the distinct shape of a head protruding through the dark space.
This person jumped out and Tsi Yi found himself face to face with his Yang Shidi [1].
"Tsi Shixiong [2]!" the younger man yelled in elation while grabbing onto the prior's shoulders.
"Y-Yang Yu," Tsi Yi stammered his name out in astonishment. "H-How did you find me?"
"Infiltration! It took months before our spies could even pinpoint your general location; it took another few months before we could locate this room and dissolve all the arrays around it," Yang Yu answered. His hand fell out and wrapped around Tsi Yi's wrist, pulling him towards the tunnel. "Come on, let's go."
Tsi Yi bit his lip.
Without thinking, he said: "I can't leave this place."
Yang Yu: "What? Why not?"
Tsi Yi blinked.
His gaze fell, hesitating, before coming to a decision. He undid the sash that kept his robes together and revealed his bare back to his shidi.
Yang Yu's gaze widened at the sight of the intricate red lines drawn into a circular pentagon on Tsi Yi's back.
The two shixiongdi [3] spoke at the same time:
Tsi Yi: "I'm tied to him..."
Yang Yu: "That's a..."
Tsi Yi bit his lower lip and looked down in embarrassment and shame. Though he'd been one of the elder disciples in the Lan Xiu Sect, Tsi Yi had never demonstrated his seniority in either talent or progress. Of the sects' 16 Sword Plays, he'd only mastered seven to this day; with the sect's signature Liu Yue Internal Qi, Tsi Yi had been just barely proficient even before his power was crippled.
Always either dead last or second last, he'd frequently needed help from his instructors or shixiongs, and even on occasions his shidis.
Despite his discontent, Tsi Yi had always outwardly showed exuberant gratitude towards anyone that aided him but...internally, he hated it. Hated his brethren for being better than him. Hated himself for being incompetent, being inept, being the subject of all jokes amongst his shixiongdi [3] when they thought he couldn't hear...
And now, to again be so overtly helpless and in need of rescuing once more by someone younger than him...
Tsi Yi just wanted to hide and bury his face away -inside of Xing Yue's chest -WHAAAATTT -where in the world had that last thought come from?!
Mentally, Tsi Yi slapped himself, placing that last thought to being some negative reaction induced by stress or anxiety for the moment.
He needed to stop sulking in his own self-hate and leave this place and that psychopath once and for all!
"Yang Shidi, do you know how to break a Soul Binding Array? Han Xing Yue uses it to force my compliance, I can't take one step out of this room until it's nullified."
Yang Yu looked at him with a complicated expression, contemplating silently.
Tsi Yi's gaze wandered to the sword hanging off the side of his hip. "Yang Shidi, what if you tried to cut off a portion of the skin on my back to disrupt the pattern. Most arrays are broken if the pattern is destroyed, right?"
Yang Yu: "Yes, that's true but that won't work on a Soul Binding Array...it's a part of the Banned Practices deemed immoral by the Five Sect Alliance. I don't know much about the evil array but enacting it under any circumstance is punishable with immediate execution...the array is inscribed into a victim using the blood of the enactor; it will redraw itself, regrowing any flesh in the process, anytime its pattern is disrupted."
"Then how about you incapacitate me? I can't resist an order if I'm unconscious?"
"That won't work either, the Soul Binding Array allows manipulation over a victim's body, even when they're asleep. If I tried to carry you out unconsciously, your body would start fighting me..."
Tsi Yi was actually unable to comprehend anything after "even when they're asleep."
Oh fucking shit.
A sheathe of cold sweat spread across Tsi Yi's back ...is that why sometimes he woke up having felt like he'd been asleep for days? And why sometimes certain parts of his body ached despite having no memory of-
Tsi Yi vigorously shook his own head, causing his long black hair to fall all onto one shoulder, and startling Yang Yu in the process. Tsi Yi had neither the time nor willingness to think anymore into this subject area.
Right now, he had to focus on getting out of here! But what could he do if the array could even control him while he was uncon-
"Wait, I have an idea," Tsi Yi suddenly stated, "how long did it take you to travel through the tunnel to get to here?"
Yang Yu: "About twenty minutes."
"Then draw an Explosion Array infused with Qi onto the center of this floor, make it big enough to destroy the entire room, set it to explode in twenty-one minutes."
Tsi Yi explained about the second order Xing Yue had given him: to avoid self-harm under any circumstance. Since he couldn't even touch a sword that could be used to hurt himself, if a room was set for imminent explosion, didn't that mean he also couldn't stay inside of it and had to evacuate as soon as possible?
He explained his rationale to his shidi and Yang Yu agreed, commending him on his cleverness.
Tsi Yi smiled politely while internally fighting the potential slight of this compliment, trying to tell himself that his shidi wasn't implying that he wasn't clever in all other circumstances -but then why else would he compliment you?- as he watched Yang Yu draw the incremental array.
Stop thinking so much. Stop thinking so much.
His plan did indeed work. Tsi Yi was able to enter the very narrow tunnel with no hindrance while his shidi followed in the rear. The two crawled through the underpass without talking; for one, to avoid being overheard through any potential nearby rooms, and two...because Tsi Yi was internally still trying to convince himself that his shidi didn't look down on him.
Almost at the end of the travel -based on how long they'd been crawling- Yang Yu suddenly stopped and swore under his breath again. A second later, a loud boom sounded from the direction they'd come from.
Unable to look back with how narrow the tunnel was, Tsi Yi could only ask: "What's wrong?"
Before his shidi could even respond, a very tangible roar of rage exploded through the air also from their starting direction. Tsi Yi knew immediately what had happened: Xing Yue had discovered his escape and Yang Yu had exploded the array prematurely to distract the man, intending probably also to destroy the entrance to their escape route.
In the next moment, Tsi Yi discovered another feature of the Soul Binding Array.
Han Xing Yue's voice suddenly sounded across his mind: 'Come back now.'
Tsi Yi felt his entire skin prickle across his body as fear overtook his senses. His palms turned ice cold as he lost all feeling in his legs; if not for the narrowness of the cave propping him up shoulder-to-shoulder, he'd most definitely have collapsed right then.
Tsi Yi couldn't think, couldn't speak -could hardly even breathe in that moment.
Xing Yue's voice sounded once more through the array: 'I'll give you till the count of 3 to turn around.'
Tsi Yi immediately replied in panic: 'Isn't the tunnel's entrance destroyed from the explosion?'
'It's not.'
Tsi Yi bit his lip again. He'd be willing to bet anything that when Yang Yu detonated the array with Xing Yue in the room, the man had immediately protected the tunnel entrance with a Qi shield, wanting to make sure that his pet could still run back to him.
'1-'
Tsi Yi quickly shouted through the link: 'I don't have enough room to turn around because my shidi's behind me.'
OH SHIT. As soon as he said that Tsi Yi regretted it. Now Xing Yue knew specifically who had helped him escape. He quickly added: 'Please don't hurt him.'
'2-'
Tsi Yi shouted in panic in real life: "I'M ALMOST AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. I'LL MEET YOU THERE!"
He hadn't even realized he'd shouted the words out loud at the same time as he'd screamed them in his mind.
Yang Yu: "What are you-"
Tsi Yi barely registered his shidi's words; his entire body too saturated with adrenaline and sweat. As a medic, he knew his body was in a flight or fight physiological response right now, just from sheer fear of Xing Yue.
'You have five minutes.'
With how panicked Tsi Yi was, he didn't even question why the man hadn't just forced him to return via the Soul Binding Array. Or for that matter, how Xing Yue could even know where the tunnel ended.
As soon as the connection ended, Tsi Yi started crawling as fast as he could through the passage, unable to even hear or comprehend what his shidi was saying to him from behind. He wasn't even able to think coherently enough to warn Yang Yu of what awaited them.
When he could see the literal light at the end, Tsi Yi felt Yang Yu's firm hand lock around his ankle (no doubt worried about his sudden change and continued lack of response to his various statements) Tsi Yi instinctively tried shaking him off with every fiber of his being.
"LET GO! LET GO LET GO! LET GO! I NEED TO GET TO THE END-"
Yang Yu: "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Because the Soul Binding Array was a Banned Practice from the Five Orthodox Sects, it was natural that Yang Yu didn't know everything about it, such as its telepathic link. Unfortunately, Tsi Yi was in no mental state to explain anything to him right now.
He just had to get to the end. He just had to get to the end!
Tsi Yi was scrambling backwards at the same time he was kicking Yang Yu; he slowly inched near the entrance when suddenly two large and hard hands hooked under his armpits and fiercely yanked him out, disconnecting his ankle from Yang Yu's grip.
Tsi Yi knew it was Xing Yue even before the man propped him up and turned him around facing him, caging Tsi Yi inside his arms to stare at him fiercely.
[1] – Shidi = Younger Disciple Brother
[2] – Shixiong = Older Disciple Brother
[3] -Shixiongdi = Disciple Brethren
