It only took a glance for Ye Xiyang to know exactly where they were: it was that night when Wan Yu handled the mud creature. While Wan Yu was busy with the thing, Ye Xiyang had ample time to observe his surroundings, after all. Waving on a wider barrier onto his umbrella, he led the other two deeper into the array space.
“The other half of the array setter died,” Ru Ge suddenly said. Ye Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “Must’ve been absorbed into this space.”
“Oh?”
“It will get ugly soon,” Ru Ge said. Whenever they sidestep an explanation, said explanation was either unimportant or disgusting. “Let’s simply find Xue Ying and Shi Ze.”
Ye Xiyang let out a faint hum at that, reaching for the jade. This time, things were easy— they were led straight to the boundary edge on the other side of the space, something that only took half an hour when unimpeded by the winds, rain and terrain.
Along the way, though, Ru Ge started, nonchalant, “So, this Wan Yu."
"What is there to say?" Ye Xiyang said, a bit helpless. He kept being prodded on this matter, but even though Ye Xiyang was a cut-sleeve, it didn't necessarily mean he was attracted to everyone that grabbed his interest one way or another. More importantly, even if he did feel an attraction, it didn't mean that Ye Xiyang was interested in more.
Wan Yu was an interesting young man and to a degree his personality was magnetic, but that was all there was on the matter. His looks barely skirted the line of above average, and everything else was mostly scars and calluses. His thinness wasn't that of the aesthetic sort either. Only the way everything came to life when he moved in a fight seemed to salvage anything.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Ye Xiyang said.
They arrived to flinging mud, the wet dirt stopping midair as it struck the wall of Ye Xiyang’s protection. Ru Ge leaned away in disgust, but then their eyes turned assessing. “That’s one of the cruxes, isn’t it?”
Ru Ge already had an overview of the situation long ago. Ye Xiyang nodded.
The battlefield was even more of a mess than the original, but in a different way. Two figures flitted here and there, one dark one light, as the mud creature towered over them, but this time the lack of coherent rain and the additional figures changed the dynamic— in a protective barrier Xue Ying stood with a child, playing on her xiao, her song disorienting. It was one of Ru Ge’s core pieces. Outside, Wan Yu was keeping the limbs busy— man and sword rejoined and split as they moved around the creature, every now and then using the drying technique to smash a limb. It both seemed to work and futile at once. Though the water couldn’t quite rewet it due to the warped laws of reality at these border-edges of a manmade world, as if through pure magic another limb would resurface after a while, and his actions only bought them some time. On the other hand, Shi Ze seemed to be trying to close in on the core. It was easy to read the battlefield that way; the core roles clear, everything only danced in that rhythm.
“Where’s Yun-shijie?” Ye Xiyang heard from behind him. Ah. He’d forgotten about Tian Ling.
“She might not have found them yet,” he said, shrugging. “I would advise you to stay until this battle’s over. It won’t take too long.”
The difficulty indeed had been scaled down when the summer storm didn’t quite touch these lands, and on top of that Wan Yu had two helpers. Sighing, Ye Xiyang handed the umbrella to Ru Ge and walked out.
The mud creature rose as it dodged another attempt by Shi Ze to close in, four limbs surrounded Wan Yu, the air around him chaotic with flung-about debris. With a snap, Ye Xiyang opened his fan.
Wan Yu felt a shiver run down his spine, and only after it happened did he realize it was from the cold— the Weird Earth Baby had frozen solid, its muddy self darkening as it solidified. A crack had been what caused it— more specifically, it was a certain whip that did it.
“Ye Xiyang! You piece of shit bastard!” he roared at the top of his lungs. Hopping off Silvergrass, Wan Yu waved and let the sword unleash its full powers, the blade flying at speeds almost invisible to the eye and shattering the limbs. The air became deafening for a moment with all the cracking sounds compounding on each other. As chunks of frozen mud rained down, the figure of the Weird Earth Baby shattered into pieces, too, and two people met eye-to-eye from across the battlefield.
When Silvergrass flew back into Wan Yu’s hand, Ye Xiyang felt like a figure from 17 years in the future overlapped with the furious man stalking towards him.
“That’s a very hurtful greeting,” Ye Xiyang said.
“Where does it hurt?” Wan Yu asked, though it might as well be a bark. His usually bright and cheeky grin had turned into a facsimile of itself, one full of bared teeth. “Here, let me flog it more.”
Ru Ge, “......”
“In my heart,” Ye Xiyang said, a hint of regret seeping into his voice. “It hurt. I thought we were friends.”
Ru Ge, “......”
“Oh? Come here, let Gege take a look and mangle it more.”
Ru Ge, “......”
"All right," Ye Xiyang acquiesced. "What is it this time?"
Wan Yu, "......"
Ru Ge, "......"
"What is it this time?!" Wan Yu roared, grabbing Ye Xiyang by the collar. Any other time Ye Xiyang wouldn't buck, but this time he played along, faking a stumble forward. Wan Yu avoided him; with a smile, Ye Xiyang straightened up. A punch— it was caught. Gritting his teeth, Wan Yu raised a leg in a kick, but it was blocked by another hand, too, and he withdrew before going in for a full out brawl.
Thud. Thunk. Thud. Wan Yu and Ye Xiyang exchanged blow after blow. Instead of calming him down, though, it only served to incense him. At the last move, Ye Xiyang sidestepped.
"When angry, your left leaves a lot of openings," he advised.
“I’ll punch you a new opening,” Wan Yu hissed through gritted teeth. In the end, though, he took a step back and breathed deeply, regulating his inhale and exhale along with his mood. Then, in one explosive burst, "It's all your fault! You ruined my friendship with Zisu!”
Right after, he deflated. It was a sorry sight; muddied from the fight, he also looked tired from lack of proper rest, the shadows under his eyes accentuated by the slump of his shoulders.
"Even without me, you'll ruin your relationship with her," Ye Xiyang pointed out. "But in consideration of our past camaraderie, I'm willing to explain things to her?"
Wan Yu rolled his eyes, though it took on a distinct hopeless note. Pushing Ye Xiyang away by his shoulder, he walked back to where Quan Su was, where she hadn't moved from the place the barrier Xue Ying set up used to be. Xue Ying, on the other hand, was by Ru Ge's side this time, mirroring her shifu's horrified expression. Shi Ze looked intrigued. Ignorant of all this, Wan Yu said, voice tired, "What is there to explain? I— argh. You're taking too much enjoyment out of your revenge. You should be beyond this. You're a sect leader. All I ever did to you was make you plant rice seedlings."
Ru Ge's expression distorted. Ye Xiyang, on the other hand, schooled his face better— the reminder of the fish nipping his skin when he was caught unawares was not going to leave any time soon, but he was used to a lot more from Wan Yu.
"It's nothing of the sort," Ye Xiyang coaxed. "Rest easy, I'll explain everything to Yun Zisu once she returns. I'll take the fall for this relationship of ours."
Ru Ge, "......" What is this subtle pampering tone…
______
Deeper into the forests, the unrelenting rain returned— When Yun Zisu gritted her teeth and brushed her hair back and out of her line of sight, the water got into her eyes anyway.
The terrain and the weather, both were infuriating. They’d settled on a small clearing, but even that had been widened through the sheer amount of trees chopped down by stray sword intent— many of which had come from her, as she overreached and he sidestepped. It had been a farce of a dance, this fight: as trunks fell and covered up the arena, they’d jump over it and took the break of being separated by a tree to reconsider, recalibrate their approaches.
Yun Zisu brushed her hair back once more.
“Wan Yu” and “Ye Xiyang” were a quick pair, but only “Wan Yu” fought— and he fought like a savage. Not unsophisticated— not that, but the way he moved was always a shade off, and Yun Zisu couldn’t help the frustration welling up in her as she guessed another follow-up wrong.
It was a mix of things. First, this phantom fought with basic moves, but with inhuman power behind them. But it wouldn't be a problem if it didn't have Wan Yu's identity plastered onto it, poorly done as it might have been. At the blur of white limbs in this dark, rainy nights Yun Zisu raised her arm in preparation for a swift, transitional kick, a common move from Wan Yu, but what she got was instead an ungainly, powerful kick— the destabilizing sort, unbecoming of Wan Yu's skill. But the worst part was—
Whenever "Wan Yu" tethered on the verge of losing, "Ye Xiyang" saved him.
Yun Zisu gritted her teeth and took a step back, using the energy to lunge at Ye Xiyang. Prismatic Ray was singing with pure, sharp intent— fire brimmed under the steel, letting out wisps of its promise in flashes of light, flames extinguished too fast by the rain. Still, trees around them fell in twos and threes; as the three of them navigated the terrain in a ridiculous dance, the downpour seemed to become worse and worse as the skies cleared of peering silhouettes of shifting leaves above.
It was getting insulting, how long this battle was taking. Wan Yu had the advantage over her due to element, but in terms of strength they were matched: she overpowered at the early stage, he was a beast as time pushed him to the edge. But this— this knock-off?
Yun Zisu lunged for a low thrust, sensing a high swipe, but her blade was met by a clumsy, downward swing.
She.
Kept thinking this was Wan Yu.
As soon as he deflected, "Wan Yu" retreated and assumed a defensive position in front of "Ye Xiyang", and Yun Zisu felt the blood in her body rise to her head. Stealing a deep breath in the gap between the actions, Yun Zisu drew back and bade her energy.
"Yun-shijie!"
And she unleashed the moves she'd been practicing for as long as she remembered: Thousand Sunset Clouds Gold.
"Eat! Shit!"
All this time she had been fighting this phantom as though it was Wan Yu, but it wasn't. This was a poor copy of him, and just as much as she didn't recognize it, what it was doing or what it was going to do, likewise it didn't know her— these set of moves that Wan Yu had already learned to counter easily overwhelmed this phantom, especially with the increased speed and furious fa jin. Yun Zisu felt her blood boil and channeled the fire into her increasingly aggressive advance, landing slices onto thighs and sides and, at one well-timed feint, chopped off the phantom's left arm.
Got you.
It wasn't crippling, but it did affect balance and movement— off-kilter, its moves were even messier now, and Yun Zisu slammed in harder to destabilize it.
And it was getting cornered. It was becoming clear, though, that this phantom Wan Yu was shielding the one behind it— and somehow, that made her see red.
"Even like this, you're still shielding him?!"
"Yun-shijie!" The voice was more urgent now.
"I'm!" An authoritative slash. "So!" A thrust that she diverted upwards. "Wan Yu!" She grazed the wrist of the phantom. "Frustrated!" A clean cut, now. "With!" The sword and hand still attached to it fell with a splash. "You!"
"And your stupid Ye-xiong too!" she shouted as she lunged in, using her sword intent to lengthen her reach— and pierce the two shadows through, skewering them in the chest.
The two melted into mud in the rain, and Yun Zisu threw Prismatic Ray to the side. After another moment, she dropped to her knees and cried.
"Yun-shijie…"
It was Tian Ling. Yun Zisu wiped her eyes— not that it mattered, in this rain— and looked up and to the side to see Tian Ling, actually Tian Ling, kneel in the puddle with her. The girl laid a hesitant hand on Yun Zisu's shoulder. "Yun-shijie, you're bleeding. I'm scared it'll get…"
"Yeah," Yun Zisu said tiredly. "I'll be fine, though. Give me a moment and we can head back. It's a waste to do anything here. Needs it dry."
She was garbling her sentences, she realized, but she was too tired to care. Now that the tension of the moment had faded, all that was left was the exhaustion— the soul deep kind, the sort that made her want to go to sleep, like a campfire extinguished by a strong wind. It was just now, too, that Yun Zisu realized her aggressive approach had left her exposed to more of the counters, and that she'd gotten several cuts on her upper arms and another on the outer side of her thigh, but all of them were shallow and weren't bleeding too much. Yun Zisu accepted Tian Ling's silent offer for help and the two slowly rose up, Tian Ling dropping down for a moment to grab Prismatic Ray as they passed by it.
When they returned back to the unofficial base, it was to a meal. An umbrella floated high in the air, and from it was a dome that shielded them all from the rain; under it, two stoves were boiling large pots. Everyone present gathered round it, sitting on the dry ground bar for one person who sat on a log. They seemed to be waiting for it to cook.
When she saw that person there, though, her lips thinned.
Still, she couldn’t hold a grudge forever. Someone like her, her anger came and went like a flash fire— by the time she approached Wan Yu and Ye Xiyang sitting by the stove, she’d schooled her expression into the border of politeness.
Wan Yu rose to his feet, but his awkwardness was palpable; Yun Zisu sighed and sat down, though it was more like falling down. Only Tian Ling helped her from just crumbling into a heap. The wounds were starting to sting, now, and Yun Zisu was exhausted.
“Shit ah— do you need bandages? Help?”
“You’re not usually this awkward,” she said, half a sigh half exasperated. “It’s fine. Tian Ling can do it.”
Wan Yu shut up at that, and moved to dry her. The water floated in the air for a moment before shooting out of the boundaries of the barrier. Yun Zisu let out a contented sigh; she felt warmer already, and it helped that Wan Yu had been careful, enough to also clean some of the dirt off from all the splashing in the mud she’d done.
“I hadn’t imagined you to be this awkward,” Ye Xiyang commented as he lifted the lid of the pots and put in some herbs before stirring them. Whatever it was he was cooking, it smelled fragrant— Yun Zisu was worse than Wan Yu when it came to cooking, and she had to admit her stomach churned in hunger. At least Wan Yu was familiar with the ingredients that came with certain dishes and could more or less hazard a guess. Yun Zisu had never stepped into a kitchen for anything but tea. How did Ye Xiyang know how to cook so well, though…
Wan Yu shot him a nasty glare. “Like you’re one to speak. At least I have friends.”
Ru Ge, “......”
“At least he has friends,” Yun Zisu agreed. “I’m cross with him, but at least he has friends.”
“Thank you, Jiejie.”
“Clearly you two don’t need me to make up,” Ye Xiyang said in a dry voice. Yun Zisu resisted the urge to roll her eyes— between her lack of energy, the consequential lack of filter to her emotions, and the occasional pain from Tian Ling dressing her wounds, she felt her control over her usual politeness faltering.
“Please do,” she said. Ah well, the best she could do right now was keep the sarcasm to a minimum— she’d deal with the consequences later. “What brought you here, Sect Leader Ye?”
Ye Xiyang rolled with it. “Wan Yu just happened to own a pearl I was interested in."
This time, though, it was Wan Yu who made a face. “What? I don’t own any pearls. Unless you’re talking about night pearls, which you can buy anywhere.”
“It’s a one of a kind pearl. There might never be a second one. It was something powerful enough to throw the entire jianghu into chaos, so I was rather curious and wanted to take a look.”
Ru Ge’s forehead knotted as they too joined in trying to figure out what artifact Ye Xiyang was talking about. They’d kept a loose catalogue of thousands of artifacts in the jianghu, many of which were rare and lost and existed only in throwaway lines in an old book, but none of them fit this pearl Ye Xiyang was describing. And it ought to be a real thing. Ru Ge knew Ye Xiyang when he sidestepped conversations— but then again, this Ye Xiyang was also not the one Ru Ge remembered months ago.
“I have no such thing,” Wan Yu said, voice flat. “If you bullshit, at least don’t bullshit something that could land me on a watchlist, you asshole.”
Ye Xiyang spread his arms. “You were asking. I answered truthfully.”
“You were sincerely lying, and there’s a difference.”
“Suit yourself. If that helps you sleep at night, Xiao Wan.”
“Leave it to Ye-gongzhu to make things up to comfort himself over the fact he’s been stalking me for weeks.”
“Can you two shut up for like, five seconds?” Quan Su finally said, loudly enough it seemed to ring in the air. Everyone fell silent, and their gazes all darted to the sole child amidst them, but nobody said a word as they glanced at each other. Quan Su, on the other hand, made herself comfortable. “Thank you.”
Ru Ge, “......” They need a thorough talk with Shi Ma soon.
The food was done, though. Porridge, as that was the only thing that they could have at this point, but with what Ye Xiyang had in his kit, it was even more fragrant and hearty than the congee made from what Shi Ma had packed as thanks to Wan Yu— more spices, for one, and also some more dried ingredients. The congee had chunks of meat softened from the long cooking. The other pot, though, was sweet millet porridge. Jujubes, goji berries and cubed sweet potatoes floated in it, giving it an autumn color that seemed even warmer in this cold weather. Everyone grabbed a bowl or two and ate in silence.
"Before anything else, let's first resolve this array," Ru Ge started. Everyone perked up, sitting straighter as they all turned to them. "Fated Hexagram, as the name implies, comprises of 6 points. They ought to be things of import. The mud monster should be one. The extreme yin men array another."
"The phantoms," Ye Xiyang added. "What they thought of as Wan Yu and I."
“They might be counted as one, but we will have to check," Ru Ge said. "Prior to the Vermilion Sun disciple defeating it, the disturbance to the laws of this place was somewhat noticeable, but after, I would say that it might count as one. Did you notice anything on your way over?"
Ru Ge was looking at Tian Ling and Yun Zisu as they said that. Tian Ling blinked before saying, "I… uh, I think the rain wasn't… it was floating upwards. And I think some of the fallen trees just disappeared."
"How far were you?"
"Oh… About 8 li from here?"
"Hmm. Not too far. I would say indeed, the two are one crux."
"Wait," Wan Yu said, holding a hand up. "Does it need to be destroyed or what?"
Ru Ge raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"
Wan Yu rolled his eyes before rising to his feet, moving back to where there weren't people. Then he pulled out the cauldrons, letting them embed into the earth from their sheer weights with dull thuds— one, two, three, all the way to ten. In the end, the cauldrons formed an arc that half encircled them. "Cos we haven't destroyed these. Time for some good ol' pulverizing, I guess."
Unsheathing Silvergrass once more, he did just that.
The changes this time were both palpable and dramatic. The ground shook and dropped— in layers, as in it lost a palm-height amount of soil. Everyone scrambled away from the stoves which fell with loud thuds— the pots were thankfully almost empty, but the fire was an inch away from spilling out and catching some scraps of fabric unaware. The sky wobbled like it was about to fall apart. Wan Yu hurried closer, heart pounding a bit from the unsettling uncertainty of the world shifting.
“Half of it destroyed, this space is obviously unstable,” Ru Ge said. They looked way too calm for this. “The next we should find is the Vermilion Sun disciples. I’m afraid that if we push it back even further, they’ll be dead.”
