Tsi Yi was standing frozen and still unsure even when he saw Xing Yue step towards Mo SuFang to retrieve his blade from the man's abdomen.

Wh-wh-what was he going to do?! He couldn't beat Xing Yue in his wildest dreams, he also couldn't whisk SuFang away with some immensely fast qing gong[1], he couldn't even runaway to distract Xing Yue because the array on his back would stop him if he made a run for it!

So what could he do?!

Xing Yue wrapped his palm around the hilt of his blade-

Tsi Yi's breath caught in his throat, feeling his stomach tighten in anxiety -he finally realized his own choice in the situation- if he couldn't confront directly...

Before Han Xing Yue could pull out his weapon, a pained groan sounded behind him: Tsi Yi's pained groan.

Immediately, the man turned around; his eyes widened to the max when they saw Tsi Yi's hunched pale form, expression twisted in agony, cradling his abdomen.

Xing Yue flew to his side, hands wrapping around him as he asked: "What's wrong?"

Tsi Yi's voice was low and pained; his speech was fragmented as he gasped out: "...h-hurts...m-my...stomach..."

Feigning illness made Tsi Yi feel a sense of shame but he did not dwell on this, after all, he'd been put in far more shameful situations with Xing Yue for who knows how long already.

"What?!" Xing Yue exclaimed while moving the man to sit down against a nearby tree trunk; his one hand extended two fingers out to take Tsi Yi's wrist pulse while the other one flew to the man's forehead. "You're not feverish but I can't detect your Minor Yin Heart Meridian[2]" -of course he couldn't, Tsi Yi was a medic and as such knew exactly which pressure points on his body to depress to block a specific meridian channel- "-let me check your heart directly."

It was not a request and Xing Yue did not wait for Tsi Yi to respond before he yanked open the man's white robes at the neckline until Tsi Yi's entire upper chest was laid bare to him. Xing Yue placed his palm right over where his heart was, sending diagnostic Qi into him.

Tsi Yi bit his lip.

...Xing Yue cared quite a lot about him...that was beyond any doubt...

-wait, what the hell was he thinking?!

The man treated him at worst like a sex toy and at best like a domesticated pet, how in the world could he have any pity for him?! How in the world could he actually feel any semblance of guilt for deceiving him?!

Xing Yue's voice cut into his thoughts: "I still can't find it-" before Tsi Yi knew what he was doing Xing Yue had pressed the entire left half of his face straight against his chest, listening directly with his ear.

Goosebumps rose up the entirety of Tsi Yi's back and not at all in an unpleasant way. Warmth spread and filled the man's face as even his breathing became stagnant. Why...why was he having this reaction...

Tsi Yi's mind had let go of all tension the moment Xing Yue's ear touched his chest -to the extent that he'd even forgotten to maintain the hold he had in keeping the heartline suppressed-

-his pulse flowed forward at a normal -at an above normal -at an extremely above normal speed forward.

"I found it," Xing Yue declared with less than subtle relief as he finally lifted his gaze- "what's wrong? Why is your face so red?"

Tsi Yi couldn't even bring himself to reply, his entire self frozen stiff.

What was wrong with him? He'd been in far more intimate positions with Xing Yue in the past before -an ungodly amount of times at that! So there was nothing special about that one action at all!

There was nothing special about what he'd just done at all! So what the hell was wrong with him?!

The palm Xing Yue now placed over his flushed cheek was definitely not helping either! Tsi Yi's face only grew hotter and redder in the process-

-he refused to be like this with his captor!

Tsi Yi's hand suddenly wrapped tightly around Xing Yue's wrist, stopping his touch, even knowing it would probably provoke the man's anger.

Xing Yue's brows did indeed cross in ire; his lips parted - when in that moment two spinning swords spun through the air at lightning speed and stuck straight through the man's chest. Blood spurted forth onto Tsi Yi's lap with how close the two of them were.

Once again, Tsi Yi's breath caught inside himself, except...this time, it seemed like he had forgotten how to breathe altogether. Like an ice bath had been poured onto his entire self, Tsi Yi felt like he had lost all sensation in his limbs.

His mind didn't even register SuFang's hobbled form pulling him away as Yang Yu tightly gripped his blade, Ka Xiu, and twisted it deeper through Xing Yue's chest.

-st-stop-

-don't hurt him-

Was that his own voice?

Blood spurted forth through Han Xing Yue's lips-

-don't-

-don't hurt him-

-pl-please-

-please-

-st-st-stop!!!!-

...this wasn't him currently shouting...because neither Yang Yu nor SuFang had reacted in the slightest as if he had. Not even just to tell him off for defending his own kidnapper.

So where had that voice come from?

Tsi Yi wasn't sure but he was certain that he wanted to shout the very same things right now.

He was his kidnapper, rapist, tormentor but Tsi Yi couldn't help the way his heart tightened at the sight of Xing Yue's bleeding form. He wasn't even aware of what he was doing as he started fighting inside of Mo SuFang's grip as the latter kept trying to pull him away. Tsi Yi's eyes were completely trained on Xing Yue's hunched form as a morbid amount of blood poured out from his chest and lips.

"Let go -let go -let me go!" that was his own voice this time.

Mo SuFang was at a complete loss on what to do. On the one hand, he was literally cradling his chest to minimize blood loss from the huge gash Xing Yue had graced him with; on the other hand, he was fighting against Tsi Yi to prevent his friend from running back to that very same enemy!

Tsi Yi didn't know why...he just...didn't want to leave him.

Tsi Yi couldn't even separate his gaze from Xing Yue's deadlocked one as the man, without even breaking eye contact, raised one black-energy-filled hand up to the apexes of both swords stuck threw him -before forcing them out in one move.

The blades flew back through the air; Mo SuFang caught his sword, Kan Xing, as it rebounded but Yang Yu missed his, Ka Xiu, as it flew past him and stuck into a faraway tree -he turned to try and retrieve it only to feel Xing Yue's  cold palm lock against the back of his neck.

"A sword with the name 'repairable'? Ha...how laughable...I'd like to see how you can repair this," Xing Yue taunted a moment before black energy coursed at lightning speed from his body into the prior's, piercing through Yang Yu like twenty angry spears.

Tsi Yi stopped resisting inside SuFang's hold.

A moment later, the spikes protruding through Yang Yu's back formed into hooks at the end; retracting straight through the man's body, they pulled out flesh, bones and organs as they exited.

Yang Yu slumped uselessly to the terrain.

His sword, Ka Xiu, dematerialized into a cloud of silver dust -like all spiritual weapons did when their owners passed.

Xing Yue turned back facing Tsi Yi and Mo SuFang.

It was evident through his sweat soaked forehead and the huge amount of blood he'd already lost that the man was close to collapsing. Still, even in this state, Han Xing Yue extended a hand out towards Su Fang -towards Tsi Yi:

"...don't...you dare...leave..."

From the moment he'd witnessed Yang Yu's death, Tsi Yi's mind had become frozen in place, unable to change or react to anything. Even now, as Xing Yue's gaze seemingly sought to pierce his entire soul, Tsi Yi couldn't even bring himself to blink.

H-he...killed Yang Yu...

...Yang Shidi was gone...

Tsi Yi wasn't really sure what happened after that; he hadn't passed out but it was like...he'd mentally checked out, unable to fully comprehend anything outside of vague absorption: SuFang said something about reinforcements being on the way to arrest him, XingYue said...yet another threat, mentioned Tsi Yi's name again...something about killing him if he took Tsi Yi away-

-was there another fight?

Did...did he see Xing Yue colliding into a tree and falling onto his stomach?

Did he witness Xing Yue vomiting forth a huge slew of blood before finally collapsing?

...Tsi Yi wasn't sure because he soon fell unconscious as well.

[1] qing gong = lightweight martial arts, the kind that allows one to travel through air, hence 'lightweight' or move extremely quickly like the wind

[2] Minor Yin Heart Meridian = 1 of the 12 Principle Meridians that is connected to either a hollow or intact organ, as believed in ancient Chinese medicinal practices were where Qi (life energy flows through), they are all either detected through the palm or the foot and run to the specific organ