--- 14 years later ---
Her name is Hong Cui Hua, and she’s having a bad day. She'd spent all week convincing her father not to take their family north, she'd exhausted every method of persuasion acquired in her 14 years of life, enlisted her 7-year-old brother to the cause, and even resorted to sabotage, only to wake this morning to a carriage fully loaded and ready to go. As she’d looked into the tired face of her father, she knew she had lost.
“That’s just how it is, sweet. If it were up to us, we would stay,” her mother had consoled “but we’re needed in the north. Besides, it won’t be all bad. Isn’t Mu-Dan coming along too? See it as an adventure."
Cui Hua had only huffed in response. It was good that her friend was coming, but that did little to lessen the frustration she felt towards being powerless over her own fate.
They were mortals. Their place was to serve the sect, and the sect said the north was to be their new home. When cultivators spoke, mortals listened. She knew that. They listened, or they ended up like the Tangs.
----
Cui Hua was 9 when it happened. A hanging, done properly, is a quick death. Fall far enough, and the neck snaps. For the Tangs, the rope was short. They let them dance.
“Defiance is in the blood!” the sect official’s voice boomed from atop a wooden platform. He was a pale, willowy man, but his presence commanded the gathered crowd.
“We were fortunate to have found this treacherous seed before its corruption could spread." The man paused as if expecting us to cheer. We did not. “Let this be a reminder of your purpose; without your loyal service, the sects would fall. Without the sects, all of humanity would soon fall to the spirit beasts.”
One man had offended a cultivator, and 3 generations had hung for it.
“Yours is a noble duty. Remember that, and,” he paused, gesturing to either side of him where 14 bodies hung, “Remember what happens to those who defy the sect." He finished and hopped down from the wooden platform.
Cui Hua hadn’t known them. But later that night, after they’d returned to their own village, she had cried for them. And she remembered.
----
Seated on the back of their carriage trundling north, Cui Hua made a half-hearted attempt to sulk, but quickly realizing her parents were too preoccupied with their own tasks to notice her, she decided she needed a distraction. She was just readying herself to hop down and walk down the caravan in search of Mu-Dan, when her little brother swung up and sat down next to her.
“Hey Sis.”
“Hey.”
“You sound really mad.”
“I only said hey.”
“...How’s it going?”
“I’ll give you a hint: I’m about to go find Mu-Dan.”
“That bad, huh?” he replied with a grin.
Cui Hua grinned back at the little in-joke. Mu-dan was a good friend, really, but as the daughter of the village head, she could act insufferably superior at times. She possessed a minor knack for finding things. Nothing worthy of a sect's attention, especially in their generation, which had a surplus of talent all vying to elevate their family’s station by joining a sect.
“I’m fine, really. I’m more mad at myself than anything,” Cui ruffled her brother's hair and hopped off the wagon. “Wanna explore the caravan with me?”
“Sure!” her brother replied, and they set off down the line of carts, horses, and wagons.
And so began the Hong family’s journey to the north.
////
His name is Lan Tian, and he’s not happy with his current assignment. He is an inner disciple of the Azure Sky sect, a position of prestige and power. The difference between his station and that of an average cultivator could be compared to that between a cultivator and a mortal. In the 16 years since his birth, Lan Tian has represented the sect in countless tournaments, earning glory and treasures that have made him the envy of his peers. Usually, he enjoys his duties, but today, he is being asked to do something he finds… distasteful.
“I’m sorry?” Lan Tian stood, while his father, an Elder of the sect, sat at a desk across from him.
“You are to head to the northern frontier, and assist with subjugating the local spirit beasts.” his father repeated.
“Is this about that inner disciple? Because I assure you that was an accident, and I had him treated-”
“It’s not about that.”
“Then what have I done? Why am I being sent away!?”
His father sighed and put down the calligraphy brush he had been using.
“This isn’t a punishment, son. There’s more to the world than sect politics and tournaments. You’ll be second in command after Senior Disciple Yu, I expect you to show leadership and wisdom.”
“Fishballs is coming?”
His father paused at the nickname. Disciple Yu Yuan’s parents were quite cruel. His name was written with the characters for ‘Expansive’ and ‘Far reaching’, but when spoken, it sounded a lot like ‘fishballs’. For that reason, he usually went by ‘Senior-disciple Yu’ or just ‘Yu’, but the two of them got along well, and it had become an affectionate moniker.
“Yes. I expect you to learn well from him.” his father replied.
If Yu was coming, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad after all. Lan Tian would miss the bathhouse, the markets, and other conveniences of the city, but perhaps the old man was right and it was time for him to stretch his wings and experience more of the world outside the walls of the sect.
“Alright.” he accepted. “When do I leave?”
---
The two's fates would soon converge.
---- Notes:
鱼圆 yú yuán = Fish Balls (up tones)
宇远 yǔ yuǎn = Expansive and Far-reaching. (down up tones)
Cui Hua: 'Cui' is pronounced "tsu-ay" (more-or-less).
This story starts with 4 main character POVs, and these are 2 of them!
As always, please do comment your thoughts on the chapter!
