Some ways away, the other group had set up camp for the next shichen.
The two fighters in the group, Yun Zisu and Shi Ze, had been tired by the battles; though two hours was not much, it was enough for a rest. Ru Ge said there might not be a fight, but instead the deterrent would be in the form of greater defenses— the people manning this array couldn’t afford the energy expenditure of any more mud creatures or phantoms.
There was no fire, but the five of them grouped on opposing sides almost by nature. Without Wan Yu around, the atmosphere seemed to solidify; though he was annoying, he at least annoyed everyone at once. Here, in the dark, Xue Ying kept shooting Ru Ge glances as though she wanted to talk, but her shifu paid her no heed. As Yun Zisu and Shi Ze dozed for a bit, Tian Ling found herself meeting Ru Ge’s eyes, and looked away.
Nothing happened, though. After some time, the two awoke and stretched. Ru Ge didn’t hurry, though. Instead, they gestured to Yun Zisu to sit back down and broke the silence. "This miss Yun."
Yun Zisu, half-bent and trying to sit down, startled at the address. "Y-yes?"
"How long have you been a friend of this Wan Yu?"
Ru Ge’s position, of course Yun Zisu wasn’t too clear on. Their identity, however, was that of Ye Xiyang’s confidant, and it seemed like they were looking into Wan Yu out of concern for him. That made Yun Zisu even more wary, however. Wan Yu was a lone cultivator, this Ye Xiyang had the weight of the sect behind him— if anything happened to Wan Yu…
"Years," Yun Zisu said.
"...Has he always been so…" Ru Ge glanced at the sky. "Audacious?"
"It was Sect Leader Ye who first attached himself to Wan Yu," she replied, voice clipped.
Xue Ying rolled her eyes. "He was, wasn't he? Born like that."
"It's not your place to say," Yun Zisu said, frowning. Ru Ge waved Xue Ying off, and the girl quieted down. Huffing, she leaned back on where she sat, looking away.
A comment on her best friend's personality, justified as it was, Yun Zisu was already somewhat defensive. But within this conversation, where she and Ru Ge were clearly talking about the relationship between Ye Xiyang and Wan Yu, she was unwilling to allow Ye Xiyang to have the upper hand even more. Wan Yu might have kept the matter from her, but now that she had cooled down, she could see that his hands were rather tied too. No matter how powerful Wan Yu was or became, it alone wouldn't surpass what Ye Xiyang was capable of. Demonic sects were never simple.
"He's not bad," Shi Ze said, looking up. He'd been silent for so long, his voice startled everyone. "Shifu did say…"
"I don't care what your shifu says," Ru Ge interrupted. "Your shifu does not ever think outside of the battlefield."
"But Shibo—"
"Shi Ma has her own considerations, I have mine," Ru Ge said. They rose to their feet. "If you have the energy to talk you have the energy to fight. Let's go."
Yun Zisu didn't want to have this conversation either, and so they set off ahead of time. Ru Ge led the way, and soon they arrived before a wall of twisted energy. At first Ru Ge glanced at their disciple, but in the end all they said to Xue Ying was, "Pay attention."
Within less than the time it took to burn an incense stick, the wall flickered out of existence. The world around them shivered in the aftershock before stabilizing, and in front of them, bodies engulfed by the earth were all that was there. No grass or trees; the only things poking out of the dirt were the faces of the unconscious Vermilion Sun Sect disciples, ashen and lifeless.
Yun Zisu felt like something within her caved. Like a dirt floor, within seconds it fell through and revealed unbearable emptiness. She had always felt like she needed to prepare for the world, but every single time, it always felt like nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.
“These…”
Based on what was explained to her, Yun Zisu could tell that these disciples had been turned to something akin to a power source. They were all still young— their cultivation was not so deep, and they couldn’t possibly be enough for an array that could create a space this big. If they weren’t dead already, it was unlikely that they were alive.
And then there was the matter of them being a crux.
“They don’t need to be killed,” Xue Ying huffed, walking over to one of the buried disciples. “What do you think my shifu is?”
“Get to work,” Ru Ge said. Xue Ying ducked her head and did as instructed.
______
"It's time to go. Wake up."
Wan Yu stirred with a small groan. His body was sore, his bones hurt, his head pulsed, and someone was shaking him, though without much force. The low voice was a pleasant buzz, though, like the trickle of a stream, sounding so comfortable… Wan Yu cracked open his eyes and the figure moved away.
...The what, now?
The who?
Ye Xiyang pushed something into his hand, saying, "Eat this first, then these. Be quick. The faster we resolve this, the faster we can leave."
Bleary, Wan Yu looked down and stared at what he’d been handed— it looked to be a bar of half-crushed nuts and some chopped things that could be dried fruits, all held together by solidified, sticky sugar. He turned to Ye Xiyang, and his thoughts fizzled out. "Wha?"
"There's no time for other food, and this is the best there is for now," Ye Xiyang explained. "Eat."
Maybe he was hallucinating? Wan Yu remembered something like this before, when he was so tired that his dreams started making things up that felt so real he had to ask whether it happened or not.
"How is it so sweet?" he mumbled. "Where'd you guys find all these honey and sugar…"
"Hey, don't fall back asleep," the voice said fondly. After some time, a hand wrapped around his back and pulled Wan Yu into a straighter sitting position, and Wan Yu startled awake with vigilance. At that, Ye Xiyang drew back to a more respectable distance, but far from far enough. "Good. Now eat."
"...It's pretty good." Wan Yu blinked at the voice for a second before he realized it was Quan Su, who was already up and standing behind Ye Xiyang, looking like she'd just been there watching the show. "Just eat it, we've been trying to wake you up for a while now."
This felt… bizarre and off, but Wan Yu slowly nibbled on the nut bar, wincing a bit at the sweetness. The crunch of the nuts helped, though, and after chewing for some time Wan Yu felt more and more awake. He threw the last third into his mouth— and regretted it, too full— and pushed himself up, looking around to check if he'd forgotten something. Nope.
"Here."
Wan Yu almost expected something to be thrown his way but no, Ye Xiyang handed him a pill instead. Eyeing it, Wan Yu made a questioning noise.
"It'll give you a temporary boost to your qi. You'll need it for Heavenly Rend."
Huh. Why was he suddenly so generous? This was the first time he saw Ye Xiyang ever bring out pills; while it wasn't uncommon, especially in sects, it was rare for Wan Yu to ever use it. They were useful, but he often didn’t have the money or could use it for something far more worthwhile. Immortal Master Ning Shan didn't interact much with the jianghu and couldn’t make them, and back in his days in the sun he wasn’t the sort to hoard them. The only time Wan Yu had a spiritual pill while up in the mountains was when Immortal Master Lu Kong presented it as a small gift.
Well, Ye Xiyang didn't need to lie about it, he supposed. Killing Wan Yu would've been simpler moments ago, while he slept, so he plopped it into his mouth.
Ye Xiyang's expression furrowed into worry for a second. "Be careful of eating things people give you…"
Wan Yu stuck out his tongue. "Want me to spit it out now?"
Quan Su, "......" Disgusting.
After a moment, Ye Xiyang shook his head. "Nevermind. That pill will help buffer your meridians too. A lightning-element weapon, your body is a pure water spiritual root, while it indeed doesn't impede its flow, doing it too much for too long will burn you inside out."
Case in point, the burns Wan Yu got last time. Granted, it would've been far worse were it anyone else— Wan Yu indeed was a rare pure spiritual root, and of water too, which was the second best at accommodating lightning. And though his personality likely impeded his cultivation early on, given how unlike water it was at times, it was clear that it had its upsides. A pure water spiritual root person with the personality… They were unlikely to be on this path in life. Another factor that couldn't be discounted was, however, intention. Lightning was righteous, and Heavenly Rend was a legendary weapon with consciousness— just a thought of evil and he would have been pulverized.
Wan Yu, a bit unnerved, took a small step back and said, "It's fine. Shifu gave me only a selection of his weapons to carry with me, and they were chosen after great consideration."
"I know," Ye Xiyang said gently as he drew back and gave him some space. "You don't use these weapons lightly, and you more or less have an understanding of your limits. It's always good to be careful, though."
Wan Yu, "......"
Quan Su, "......"
Both, "......" Who is this substitute, or is it a possession? Either way, they're terrible at acting like Ye Xiyang.
“Let’s just go,” Wan Yu choked out. Without waiting for a reply, he pulled out Heavenly Rend from the jade ring. The damned thing already gave him a zap as a greeting, but even that zap was preferable to its voice inside Wan Yu’s head.
Still alive?
Wan Yu ignored the words. “Sense anything, old man?”
There was a moment of silence before Wan Yu heard the curses come flowing like a waterfall, forming a grin on his face. Glancing at Ye Xiyang, he nodded— Ye Xiyang gave him a nod back and gestured at Quan Su to get on Heart Mirror.
Quan Su was unwilling, but she wasn’t unreasonable. Heavenly Rend was crackling with energy now, and in this bubble under Ye Xiyang’s umbrella, the air felt as tense as a drawn bow.
Who dares claim to be me?
"Donno. Let's go find them?"
Without a word, Heavenly Rend yanked Wan Yu forward. Wan Yu cursed before getting onto Silvergrass, flying off to where he was dragged— frowning, Ye Xiyang followed, Quan Su grabbing onto the back of his robes. As they broke through the treeline and went back up to the skies, the rain seemed to be louder, too. Ye Xiyang’s lips thinned as he extended the range of his umbrella’s protection. This much was no hardship, but…
Heavenly Rend was exerting its presence, and it was only Ye Xiyang’s aura that kept Quan Su from being fried by the crackling air. They kept rising and rising, and only now did Ye Xiyang realize that this heavenly dome above them was receding, as if avoiding their approach— yet another sign that one of the cruxes was in there. Lightning struck. It was blocked by the umbrella. Quan Su startled behind him— Ye Xiyang sighed and said, “Hold on tighter.”
Thunder followed.
“Ye Xiyang, I’ll go alone!” Wan Yu turned his head to shout. “Take Quan Su back down, bring the umbrella with you!”
“I can take care of her,” Ye Xiyang said. His voice wasn’t much louder than the rain around them, but it reached Wan Yu’s ears clear and firm. “Just follow Heavenly Rend and destroy its copy. I will handle the rest.”
An angry weapon was not something to underestimate, much less a weapon that had existed for hundreds of years. While outside of the dome black and white lightning alternated, a discerning individual could see that the black ones were more powerful, aggressive. Quan Su was trembling from all the flashes and booms, but were she not protected by his aura, she might’ve died from her organs failing. Things weren’t much better for Wan Yu. Ye Xiyang’s aura was reinforced by the spirit of the Slumbering Dragon, which stood unmoving as a mountain; Wan Yu was but a young man with his shifu’s scabbard in one hand, grasping onto a legendary weapon at the height of its rage.
The smell of burning atmosphere was being overpowered by the faint scent of burning skin.
“Gege,” Quan Su gasped, though her voice was drowned out by another thunder. Ye Xiyang still heard it.
“He will be fine,” he said.
All this while, lightning had been raining down from the sky. This time, however, the heavens above them couldn’t retreat any more, and Heavenly Rend let out a bolt of white from its body— Wan Yu jerked forward and vomited blood. Ye Xiyang’s heart jolted as he realized what had happened: Heavenly Rend fed on resentment, and had squandered what it managed to gather from the atmosphere on all the bolts that rained around them. This time, it was drawing its energy purely from Wan Yu.
Taking a shaky breath, Ye Xiyang risked it and whipped out Fractal Frost, aiming for the sky.
It was a gamble. Being proud as it was, Heavenly Rend could get angrier, interpreting this as him meddling, but Wan Yu could die if this happened two, three more times. As the wall of the space froze under Fractal Frost, he jerked his wrist and grabbed something from inside it— Elder Xie had embedded the fifth crux inside the boundaries itself, so that it wouldn’t be found. It would’ve worked, too, had Ye Xiyang and Ru Ge not intervened.
The thought rendered Ye Xiyang cold.
As Fractal Frost retracted, a white staff flung out of the sky, too, flying out of its reach. Ye Xiyang let it go, recalling his fan.
A man in black and white manifested into the world, crackling with fury— “The audacity—!”
And as though time had slowed down, the false Heavenly Rend shattered into white dust as it fell. One second later, something seemed to burst—
Wan Yu blinked blankly as his vision whited out and the world went suspiciously silent. He couldn’t see; his head throbbed once, but now there was nothing. It was only when someone pulled him back by the arm that he realized something was off, but before he could ask, that arm wrapped around the back of his neck and a hand pressed something into his mouth. Wan Yu opened it and swallowed.
After a moment, his vision frizzled back to existence: everything was still white, but Wan Yu could see the hand now rubbing his throat, as though helping whatever thing he swallowed go down. Turning his head to ask, he instead saw Ye Xiyang mouth some words. What?
Suddenly the world was dark again, but there was no rain.
