It hurt.
It hurt an absolutely horrendous amount when his soul slammed back into that body, bringing it out of stasis.
It hurt tremendously, dealing with the sudden influx of sensation; of numbing coldness and searing heat before the ice crystal containing his vessel shattered into a million pieces.
It hurt, suddenly having to breathe with lungs long out of practice, and it hurt as he fell onto the floor, his legs much too weak to carry him.
Fortunately, there was no one to see him in such a state – no one save for the System, which had already seen him at far worse.
[System 225 would like to inquire, would Host like a pain-numbing potion, free of charge?]
A hesitant paw accompanied the statement, and You Bingleng almost smiled – and yes, that thing better be free of charge, because he sure as Hell wasn’t about to pay for it. “Yeah.”
Consuming said potion by no means took the pain away though, merely the edge. You Bingleng didn’t say anything about it though. Instead, he steeled himself against its remnants as he tried to get back up – something that he did eventually manage, even though it left him feeling incredibly faint.
Honestly, what was this? This body was supposed to be strong! This body was⸺
Perplexed, he took in his current state – the sleeves that were suddenly too short and the fingers that were suddenly too long.
Mesmerised, he looked at his own hands – much larger than he remembered – and then brought them up to his face, simply to confirm. “Oh.”
Even without a mirror at hand, he could more or less confirm it; confirm that this body – the body of Bai Jixue – was no longer that of a teenager but rather something significantly more mature – no beard though, which was a relief, because You Bingleng had never been a big fan of beards.
With that out of the way, he struggled to his feet, only to find himself forced to sit back down.
“It’ll probably take a bit more time for me to recover,” he gasped. “So, in the meantime, tell me about the Mission, System 225.”
In spite of the years that had gone by, the halls and temperaments of the Lotus Leaf Sect at the White Flower Pond remained largely the same – and easy enough to fool, given sufficient knowledge and skill.
The trip into the sect’s archives seemed to have been largely wasted however, unearthing nothing of any particular note. Thankfully, he’d discovered this relatively early on, meaning that they were already on their way out when it finally happened.
You Bingleng – or rather Bai Jixue – sensed the thing a good moment before it actually manifested; a dimensional rift.
For a brief moment, he froze, wondering if his presence here had been detected. But then, he relaxed, because no, that wasn’t him but rather some other bastard, and he hadn’t come alone.
Naturally, Jixue went to take a look.
“Honestly, do you control your landings at all?!” spat one former annoyance, an adult Jiao Ziyu from the looks of it.
Clearly, the other was displeased at having fallen into a river, but honestly? He deserved it, and the same likely went for the demon brat accompanying him.
This also gave Jixue ample opportunity to observe them both, and to glean information out of the pair without their knowledge. Because clearly, something rather significant had to have happened, given how the pair interacted.
“Honestly, I told you... not to make the jump... if you weren’t sure you’d make it,” Jiao Ziyu muttered, trying to get both himself and the demon brat out of the water.
The demon brat in turn mumbled something, something to which Jiao Ziyu readily commented: “Little Yue must have it rough, dealing with someone like you.”
And upon hearing this, Jixue knew they were on the right track.
He didn’t interrupt them though, not at first. Instead, he waited, biding his time as the pair made a small campfire to warm themselves and then proceeded to have a very enlightening conversation. Jixue almost felt it a pity to interrupt them, but on the other hand⸺
He stepped out into the open, plucking the meat bun that Jiao Ziyu had been in the process of handing over to the demon brat, and then promptly invited himself into their midst.
“Ah yes, do tell,” Jixue said, splitting it before offering the smaller portion to the demon brat. “I am finding myself quite intrigued.”
He also found himself thoroughly enjoying the looks on their faces.
“So,” Jixue said. “What is a Peak Lord of the Green Jade Peaks doing all the way out here, and with the Demon King’s nephew of all people?”
“I can explain?” Jiao Ziyu said, cornered and confused. Also⸺ “...Do I know you?”
Good instincts – or at least passable ones, he supposed.
“How did you know?” the demon brat asked, paying no heed to the other – and in return, Jixue paid little heed to him, instead clicking his tongue to prompt System 225 to come out of hiding.
Jixue himself had little use for that bun after all, whereas Systems maintaining their own vessels just might.
Also, it was a test – a test to determine whether or not the demon brat could recognise a System – and he evidently did, going straight on the offensive. He was a fool though, swinging that sabre of his around like that. Jixue easily stopped it with his fan, and in doing so, he was able to confirm it – to confirm what his instincts had already told him.
“Hoh,” he said. “Why hello to you as well, dickhead. How’s life as a sword working out for you?”
The cursed blade glowed and shook in response, to the seeming shock of the others. Thus, Jixue opted to do them a small⸺
“You’ve aged, Venerable Master Bai.”
Ah.
Well, normally, Jixue would’ve been offended. This time around though, not so much. Instead, he laughed, taking off the weimao he’d been wearing. It had proven a decent disguise so far, and Jixue rather intended to keep it, even after he’d ditched the white robes.
“Why are you wearing the same attire as the masters of the Lotus Leaf Sect, Venerable Master?” Jiao Ziyu asked, growing noticeably bolder.
“Would you wander these lands in the green of the Windward Sect, Little Ziyu?” Jixue asked in turn, because much like the answer to the first question was technically none of the other’s business, the answer to the second was definitely no.
“I’m not entirely sure where this is actually,” the other readily admitted, glancing towards the demon brat.
“The Borderlands,” the latter promptly spat, still brandishing his sabre in spite of looking like he’d much rather not – which was understandable, honestly.
“The Borderlands, huh?” Jixue huffed, reaching for the weimao once more. “Figures.”
And indeed, it figured. Indeed, it⸺
“He hitched a ride with us!” the demon brat snapped. “We could’ve drowned because of him!”
Hah.
Putting the weimao back onto his head, Jixue completely disregarding the blade still pointed at his person. Because⸺ “I would’ve fished you out before then,” he said, knocking his fan twice against the blade, which lit up and vibrated in response as Jiao Zilei sought to communicate with him.
Jixue did not really pay attention to what the fool wanted to say though, figuring it was likely of lesser importance to the situation at hand.
“Then,” Jiao Ziyu began. “If this humble one might ask, what was Venerable Master Bai doing over at the Lotus Leaf Sect?”
It was technically none of the other’s business. But⸺ “I was looking into some things. Then I sensed you people and figured I’d rather deal with you than with the scriptures.”
True enough, he supposed, fanning himself. Besides, he wasn’t under any obligation to tell the truth and could thus lie however much he wanted to.
“Are you here to sabotage us?” the demon brat then demanded to know, and Jixue decided he didn’t like the other’s tone – or the other in general. Still⸺
“To sabotage your rescue mission, you mean?” Jixue said, still fanning himself. “Not really. I might even consider helping you out. Not for free though.”
Both of them made a face at that, but honestly what had they been expecting? Free handouts?
“What do you want?” the demon brat demanded, and Jixue promptly snapped his fan back shut.
“System 707,” he said. “Ring any bells?”
The brat – Youming Jun, apparently – had clearly inherited the temper of his mother and the recklessness of his father, among other things. He was certainly powerful enough though – even by demon standards – even if his lacking emotional control made him ridiculously easy to subdue.
And as far as subduing him went, Jixue had scarcely needed to use more than a fraction of his own power to do it, indicating that the quality of demons these days was indeed quite poor – or rather, that the quality of their instruction had been lacking.
Honestly, what had Àiyǎn been doing?
With a sigh, Jixue resumed stroking the brat’s hair.
It proved annoyingly soft and smooth to the touch – to the extent that it almost distracted Jixue from what he was doing, speeding up the brat’s recovery while System 225 delved into the brat’s memories – which seemed to be taking a while, leaving Jixue ample time and opportunity to make Jiao Ziyu squirm.
“So,” he said. “I hear that you and Mingyue are an item now.”
“We are,” the other reluctantly admitted, busying himself with the food – still a bit of a coward, but with enough of a spine to be considered vaguely tolerable.
Still, what Mingyue saw in him, Jixue did not know or understand – and neither did he feel inclined to find out more about it. Besides, at this point, Jixue no longer had a say, given that they were both adults now and thus capable of making their own decisions – be they smart or foolish – and soon, Jixue would be on his way again, this time never to return.
He might not have seen the appeal of Jiao Ziyu. However, he was glad that Mingyue had found someone to care about to such a degree, because at least the latter was someone that Jixue would never take away from him. Now, Mingyue’s disciple on the other hand⸺
Honestly, this was such a mess. And the more Jixue learned about the situation at hand, the messier it seemed. Certain things were becoming increasingly clear though, largely thanks to the information gleaned from the mind of one ‘Former Future Demon Lord Youming Jun’.
As a result, Jixue could now more or less piece together what had caused this world to suddenly turn critical.
Granted, there might’ve been factors that Jixue was still unaware of. However, a major contributing factor seemed to have been the temporal anomaly brought about by System 707’s former Host, known simply as ‘Yue’, which had resulted in him, the System, the demon brat, and Mingyue getting flung back into the past – at least in the metaphysical sense, with them waking up with memories of events not yet experienced and then deciding to prevent them from ever coming to pass.
Youming Jun seemed to have taken a particularly active role in all of that, and had apparently managed to keep System 707 and Yue separated for a good while – right up until System 707 had managed to outsmart them both, that is.
“A reckless idiot,” Jixue concluded, without any particular fondness. “I’d thought he’d develop a tiny bit more sense being raised by his mother, but clearly, I expected too much...”
Because Limao had been sensible, at least compared to others. Going by Jiao Ziyu’s expression however, the other seemed inclined to disagree.
“This humble one was under the impression that the boy’s mother killed the boy’s father and later on attempted to assassinate the Demon King though?”
Hah? “Really? Limao did? When?”
“I don’t know,” the other quickly responded. “He only mentioned that he’d gotten the sabre from his mother, and that he suspected that she’d used it in the assassination attempt.”
Jixue hummed, wishing he’d been around to see it. A shame, truly.
“Did you know him?”
“Did I know him?” Hah. “Yes, unfortunately.”
Hearing this, that Jiao Zilei once again tried to speak, and Jixue once again ignored him in favour of his disciple.
“Were you close?”
Hah. “No, dickhead and I were not close. As for you however...”
The blade stilled, and so did Jiao Ziyu. Then, clearly shaken, the current Peak Lord Jiao put down his bowl of soup and turned towards the sabre where it lay and finally asked: “...Master Jiao?”
And indeed, he was correct: Because that was indeed former Peak Lord Jiao, Jiao Zilei – what remained of him, at least.
“That’s⸺” Next, Jiao Ziyu stared at the demon brat in obvious disbelief. “Master Jiao’s son?!”
And indeed, it was, and from the looks of it, he was starting to wake up.
“Ugh.”
Youming Jun stirred, then blinked blearily up at Jixue. Then, upon realising his own position, he promptly scrambled away, baring his teeth in an outright snarl – which wasn’t even remotely intimidating, especially not since the Demon Prince’s next course of action was to Jiao Ziyu as a human shield.
Honestly, the quality of demons these days...
There might yet be some hope for this one though.
“Fine,” the demon brat said at last, averting his eyes. “I’ll talk.”
Good.
“The one behind this... incident... is most likely Hua Hongzhu,” Youming Jun explained. “She’s the daughter of the Butterfly Demon Clan’s chief. We’re... not exactly on good terms.”
Despite saying so, the other didn’t seem overly concerned however – something that Jiao Ziyu also noticed and commended on, prompting an explanation.
“Despite our relationship, I know she’s not stupid enough to cause Yue any serious harm,” the demon brat snorted. “Because if she does, or if Yue comes to any harm while he’s in her care, then neither she nor her clan will make it out unscathed. Depending on my uncle’s mood, they might not even make it out at all.”
Hoh?
“Then what about your mood?” Jiao Ziyu asked.
“Oh, I’m definitely pissed off,” Youming Jun huffed, arms now folded across his chest. “But I’ll be sure to consult Yue’s opinions on the matter before I wipe out their entire bloodline.”
Well, that sounded like an absolutely splendid idea to Jixue’s ears. Unfortunately, it wasn’t included in the mission at hand.
“Out of curiosity, how closely – if at all – does the Demon Realm adhere to the tenets of the Jianghu?” Jiao Ziyu asked, earning himself a lengthy explanation about regional differences and whatnot, which wasn’t necessary or even accurate in this case. Because the shorter and far more useful answer would’ve been ‘not very well’ and the slightly longer one would have been ‘only when the repercussions clearly outweighed any immediate benefits’.
“⸺The Hua have sworn themselves to my uncle,” Youming Jun said. “And my uncle has previously shown favour to Hua Hongzhu.”
Hoh?
“However, my uncle has shown favour to others in the past, and he still killed them the moment they crossed him⸺” Yes. “⸺I mean, I did and I’m alive, but I’m his last remaining close blood relative and I’m only alive because of Yue’s intervention⸺” Hoh. “⸺And because we settled things after that.”
Settled things, huh?
“You did mention something to that effect,” Jiao Ziyu said. “And that your... royal uncle had expressed his approval of recent life decisions of yours.”
Recent life decisions, huh?
“Then,” Jiao Ziyu said. “Since Yue’s your... mate, and you were effectively raised by your royal uncle... that would make Yue the King’s son-in-law, wouldn’t it?”
Him being Mingyue’s disciple would also make him Jixue’s grand disciple though.
“Are you absolutely certain that none of this has your royal uncle’s approval?" Jiao Ziyu asked, once again addressing Youming Jun. “I’m certainly no expert in the Demon Realm and its politics, but from where I'm standing, this seems like a high-risk low-reward kind of endeavour. I mean, if this Hua Hongzhu has a feud with you personally and is willing involve your spouse, then why did she decide to bring it into the Demon Realm? Why not just take him – and the whole city – hostage instead? They’d be running the risk of one of the major cultivation sects butting in, sure, but that could’ve doubled as an opportunity to get rid of you, no?”
As it turned out, Jiao Ziyu was unexpectedly clever – or at the very least, significantly smarter than the competition. In a way, it was a pity that the fool had spotted him first – although truth to be told, even if he hadn’t, then Jixue likely wouldn’t have bothered with him anyway.
“Hua Hongzhu knows she can’t defeat me head-on,” Youming Jun claimed, like the fool he was, indicating that this was her wanting to challenge him on her home turf and that Yue had been taken in order to provide an incentive.
“Don’t get me wrong though⸺”
At this, Youming Jun clenched his fist, eyes gleaming red. “⸺I’m going to crush her.”
Right.
“Right...” Jiao Ziyu sighed. “Okay, you’re going to crush her. Fine. What’s your strategy here? What’s your plan? What’s your backup plan? What factors are relevant to consider, before and afterwards? Do you actually have some support network over in the Demon Realm or do you rely solely upon your royal uncle’s connections and underlings? What’s your exit strategy? What’s your alternate exit strategy? What’s your plan in the offhand case your royal uncle sides with the Hua clan?”
At this, Jixue snapped his fan open and shut, because although Jiao Ziyu’s concerns held merit, the other was still wrong. Because in spite of Jixue’s other opinions about the Demon King, he really couldn’t see the other doing such a thing, and certainly not to anyone even remotely connected to Mingyue and therefore also to him. And in the offhand case that he had, then Jixue would kill him with his bare hands.
Speaking of killing though⸺ “You know, it’s been a while since I last assassinated anyone...”
