Chapter Text
“My brother raised him wrong” YinYing-Nushi said as she walked from one side to the other of the room, her husband watching her with his serpentine eyes. He was in his human form to fit in the chamber, practically waiting for wife to calm down to tell him what he had to say. She couldn´t help but hate that quality she used to appreciate in him now. “Aren´t you going to say something? Your son is more educated in bad theater and poetry than in politics and history of even his own clan!!”
“Your clan, wife”
“And yours too!!! He doesn´t know a single thing about the Serpent Demon Clan either!!!”
“What can I do, wife?” he said, shrugging. “I´m not powerful like you, nor a Heavenly Demon to have some claim on the throne. Nor am I the beloved sister of the former Sacred Ruler of the Demonkin” he explained “If I were to say something, even if your brother. I´m sure that the former, departed Junshang would have killed me, in-law or not, or his son would have done for calling him poorly educated.”
“If only that brat didn´t have Xin Mo…” she sighed. “He is strong, but politics is a completely different battlefield, be it in the Lower or Middle Realm. Unfortunately, both my son and my nephew are unfit for that battlefield… and I can´t allow anyone from my blood to be used or dethroned for a stupid upstart.”
“You care from them both”
“Surprised that I care for my nephew?” she put her hands on her hips. “It isn´t like I want our son on the throne. That´s just a sure path towards unhappiness, so much that I don´t blame my brother for wanting to run away from it.”
“Still you care for Luo Binghe”
“I would be a very bad aunt if I didn´t… and even my brother raised my son when he received our little snake, though he did it badly. He was a good uncle to him and I strive to reciprocate the favor… even if it´s a bit too late. Is it that surprising?”
“For some lineages, yessss”
Apparently, Heavenly Demons were not amongst those that wouldn´t care for spawn of their siblings. As for she herself… it was not that she hated her nephew or believed him unfit to rule, it was only that… he was not prepared. She was going to have to give him and his own boy some secret lessons to make sure they were truly educated for their roles. Seriously, what was she thinking when she sent her son to that vagrant? Of course he would educate him in things he himself enjoyed, like those awful theater pieces and bad literature… huh, seriously, what was she thinking? And, gotten to that, what was Su Xiyan thinking when she decided to share her bed with her brother? Exactly what did she found even remotely attractive in Tianlang-Jun? Perhaps it was because they were brother and sister, but…
“I just don´t know what to do to correct that” she said, sitting down on the cushion that was next to her husband. “Exactly what could I do to correct this? We dreamed to have time to ourselves after we were freed and now this…”
“Your brother was at fault” her husband answered, extending her some pastries.
“Yes, not a question that”
She took one of the pastries and started to eat. If only some easy way to correct everything was… wait… perhaps not here, but in another place. She didn´t know exactly where, as her nephew had more than messed with the array once he had thrown the body of the one that had rejected him… quite petty, that one, she needed to do something to make him understand that not everything revolved around him… that some people were entitled to say no… and from where he had gone that that man would say yes to him? From what she could gather, they had been complete and utter scum to one another, the human first. Her nephew shouldn´t be that obsessed with the man who had so badly abused him… or perhaps that was why he was obsessed with him. Anyway, she was going to have to work on that.
Returning to that array…
“Come on, we have something to do”
She practically dragged her husband to the abandoned place where the remains of the array were. It couldn´t possibly send someone to wherever her grandnephew had gone to escape, but it can send something else to some unknown world. Memories. Memories of the future to come, the future that she was able to see despite being sealed… but would that reach the past intended? Or would they be… in a different context? Only the results could tell. And who knows, maybe in some future her nephew could get to be happy with the scum he was so obsessed with. He had said once, in a rant, that there was a version of that man that had loved him with all his heart. Maybe… a version of her would get to see that future full of light.
-In another reality, the Burial Mounds-
Lan Shizui knew this was basically common knowledge now, but he didn´t like being here one bit. Being tied up and hanging from the walls of a cave known to be the dwelling of an evil demonic cultivator… everyone else there was in the same situation as him, but he was pretty sure that he was the only one with a bloody headache. Why did he have a headache anyway? He hadn´t suffered from them before, but since he was captured and put in that place… it was as if a floodgate had burst. And the fight between the Jin cousins was only making it worse. He tried to calm it down, but he ended up not being able to control it. He joined the fight in a way that his father would probably never approve of. Then Jin Chang managed to kick him in the mouth, making his headache worse.
He didn´t notice what he was doing, he swore. It was like… manipulating the energy around him, but not… spiritual energy. It was… something darker and that he hadn´t even touched before, though it was whispering to him nonetheless. As if it had been there his whole life, just waiting beneath his skin. The resentful energy, because he was sure that was what it was, did as he wanted and freed them all. The landing hurt a lot, but at least they all managed to not break their necks on it. Shizui rubbed the back of his head. How in the world had he managed to control resentful energy so easily?
“Shizui, are you…”
“Get back!!!” Jin Chang snarled at him. “He is a demonic cultivator!!!”
“How dare you say something like that about my friend!!!” Jinghy supported him, but Shizui couldn´t deny that he had just used resentful energy. The how was the only question, as he had never done so before. “Shizui might be boring, but I have never seen him breaking a single rule, including not messing with resentment!!!”
“He had just used resentment energy, we all saw that!!!”
“Lan Shizui” Jin Ling, who had been watching at him strangely since he freed them all from their ropes. Shizui could barely hear him with the voices in his head, the voices that called him by his name and called him towards the pound that seemed to be filled with blood. “You just controlled resentful energy in a way that the Yiling Patriarch was said to have done. Where did you learn to do that?”
“I… I…”
“Shizui, are you alright?” the other Lan boy approached, putting a hand on his back. “You don´t feel very well.”
Jinghy seemed to be the only one that was worried about the state his friend was in now. Shizui could tell it was obvious that he wasn´t well. He was certainly too pale and too shaken… besides, the Yiling Patriarch… XIAN-GEGE… what was that voice? Was there a child in this place? It was supposed to be a battlefield… and the only ones there were supposed to be the bloodthirsty Yiling Patriarch and his army of ruthless Wen cultivators and fierce corpses that he created to take over the Jianghu. Luckily the righteous cultivators have stopped him before he could execute his evil plans… XIAN-GEGE… but the voice of that child didn´t stop screaming in his head… DIEDIE… when had it changed? Why…
“What is that?”
Shizui didn´t know when he had done so, but he had picked up an old toy from the ground. It was a small windmill like the one he remembered having as a child. His own was still in the Jingshi… but he had heard his father say once that it was not the first one he had ever possessed. He couldn´t remember another… but this one felt so familiar that it was as if it had always belonged in his hand… but it couldn´t be… he had never been here before… DIEDIE!!! DIEDIE!!!... the screams of the child were growing stronger and stronger. He also couldn´t stand the headache that was inundating his body now. It felt very hot, even in the palm of his hand. It was… strange… and… DIEDIE!!! DIEDIE!!!!... he couldn´t hold it anymore and whatever he was holding inside of him got out. Suddenly, they were not alone in the cave.
“A-Yuan” a person dressed in black and red, with his hair down except for a red ribbon holding it away from his face caressed the head of a child that Shizui couldn´t help but… think was him. He looked so much like he did when he was younger… “Go with Popo now, she is going to play hide and seek with you. Remember, the trick is not getting out, no matter what you hear, until Rich-gege or I go find you, alright?”
“Xian-gege, I don´t…”
“Shhh, it´s going to be alright, everything is going to be alright” he offered him a tired smile. “And remember, don´t get out no matter what you heard…”
“Xi… DieDie… DieDie, don´t leave me!!! Please, come with me!! Everyone come with me!!!”
“We can´t, remember that we are playing hide and seek.”
“The evil men in gold will hurt you”
“Nothing is going to happen to me” the figure in black smiled at him reassuringly, even if his words sounded like a lie. “Go with Popo, I will find you again.”
“Don´t leave me!!! Qing-jie and Ning-ge said that they would be fine too and they haven´t returned yet… don´t me too!!! DIEDIE!!! PLEASE!!!!”
“Nothing is going to happen to me, I will be right behind you, didn´t I say?” the same smile was plastered in his face like a mask. “You don´t have to cry, you are going to make Popo worry” he turned around to grab something, but then he turned again and… “A-Yuan? DieDie loves you, you know that, no?”
“DieDie…”
“Go with Popo now”
Tears started to stream down Lan Shizui´s cheeks as what he could only guess was his younger self was taken away from the cave. The toy felt from his hands… the same toy that was laying abandoned there. He had from time to time wondered where Hanguang-Jun had found him as a child, but those worries were quickly forgotten. Lan Wangji was a good father, he wouldn´t change him for the world. He doubted his parents before him had even cared about him or were dead anyway, so there was no point on asking… but apparently, Wei Wuxian had also been a good father. And he hadn´t wanted to abandon him, he was forced to by death. A death that had been brought by the Rightful Sects. And the people that surrounded him… they didn´t seem like cultivators, but the old and the weak. If they were truly the Wens he had rescued from the camps at Qiongli Path, then there was a possibility that he wasn´t…
“You… are Wei Wuxian´s child?” the voice of Jin Ling returned him to reality.
“I didn´t remember that…”
He couldn´t even finish the sentence as a sword was ran through his middle. Suihua, from the ornamented pommel it had. He spat out blood. He had a strong golden core, that won´t be enough to kill him, but… what right Jin Ling had to stab him? The sins of the parent were not the ones of the son. If so, then Jin Guangshan´s would be Jin Zixuan´s and thus Jin Ling´s. He didn´t have any reason to… to… his head was hurting a lot as the rage started to fill his soul. The Sects, the Rightful Sects, even the Lans, had taken…
“Shizui!!!” Lan Wangji barging in on the scene was what made the Jin heir pull the sword from him. His father ran towards him, as Lan Jinghi moved to support him as he tried to cover the injury left by the spiritual sword. “What happened here? Why did you stab my son?”
“We should be the ones asking, Hanguang-Jun, why someone as esteemed as yourself would take the son of the Yiling Laozu into his own family” Jin Chang again moved to the front, as Jin Ling was too shocked to talk. Was this his first time stabbing something the wasn´t an animal or a yao? Must be. Lan Wangji didn´t seem to even bat an eyelash. “Because you had to have known when you found him who his father was. And he mentioned a Rich-gege in the memories we were forced to see… was that you, Hanguang-Jun?”
A cold expression was the only answer he got, which only seemed to fuel the anger on Jin Chang. The Lan Second Jade completely ignored the temper tantrum the Jin second heir was throwing in favor of looking after his son. The soothing tone of his father helped a bit, but he couldn´t help but feel some of that same pain in the back of his head. The spiritual energy fluctuating through him helped too… but he couldn´t help but feel that something very important have been taken from him, even if it was long ago. It pained him even more to know that he had sacrificed himself to keep him alive. And the Wens… Heavens, why the Sects have continued when they saw what really was there? Were they truly so blind that they would confuse some old men and women for soldiers? And they dared to call themselves righteous after what they did here? Even his own Sect… were the Lans really so righteous after they had slaughtered a bunch of old farmers and women and nearly killed a toddler? Did they really have the right to use the Discipline Whip on his father merely because he recognized the tragedy and crime that occurred there and tried to save his zhiji, who was still honorable no matter what the world thought of him? Why… why… WHY?!!!
“A-Yuan” Lan Wangji whispered to him. “I know that what happened here is too much for you to understand now, but we have to get out of here before…”
“Before what? Before the Sects finished what they started and kill me?”
“A-Yuan…”
“Will someone even raise a hand to stop it? Even between our disciples, who knew me? Shufu? Bofu? Or will they whip me like they did for you? Or merely get rid of me? What is going to happen now, A-Die?”
“Everything is going to be alright”
“Yes, Shizui” Jinghi spoke from his side, cheeringly giving him a thumbs up. “You don´t have to worry, we are with you. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
He certainly wished that it was true. But when he crossed the door of the Demon Slaughtering Palace, still injured by the cut on his abdomen made by a spiritual sword, it only confirmed his suspicions. There was a mob of cultivators from different Sects, listening to Jin Chang, who rudely pointed at him and yelled that he was the son of Wei Wuxian, that he had been the one who had kidnapped them, who knows for what. He completely forgot to mention that he was in the same situation as them when the revelation happened. Ouyang Zizhen tried to intervene in that moment, but he was silenced by his father. A woman, apparently the mother of one of the kidnapped children, addressed Hanguang-Jun and asked him why he would do something like colluding with the son of the Yiling Patriarch. Then people started accusing Lan Shizui directly, telling him what his father had done to them. As if Wei Wuxian´s actions were his own, as if his crimes were… even Shufu…
The pain started to course through his head, right behind his forehead ribbon. Like that he couldn´t do anything, he could barely keep from curling over himself. Jinghi approached and put his hands on his shoulder, worried. Those idiots might not be able to see it now, but Lan Wangji also gave a slight look towards his son in worry. But he didn´t have much time to do so, as the first cultivator launched directly towards Shizui. He got in the way, drawing Bichen to stop whoever that might try to kill his son for the crime of being his zhiji´s child. And there were so many, coming from all the places… so much was the hate that the name brought in many people that…
“Die”
Shizui almost expected to see the light of Zidian coming from him, being too slow now to stop the spiritual whip, but what was coming towards him, what his protectors, as Jinghi had joined his father in protecting him from the mob, was a blade as fast as that whip. He tried to at least protect himself with his hands, but suddenly something got in the middle. A white blur that he couldn´t identify before he closed his eyes… he opened them and…
“Baba…” the boy´s eyes widened when they saw his father in front of him, with Sandou piercing his chest. Sect Leader Jiang pulled his sword out, probably causing more damage, as the teenager tried to support the falling body. “Baba… Baba…”
“A-Yuan… go… live…”
“Baba, don´t talk…”
A sword was pointed right at his face when he kneeled down to try and press some cloth in the injury. He almost begged at his Shufu and clansmen for help, but the only one that got close was Jinghi. The others remained there. And the oh-so-rightful members of the Rightful Sects did the same. Almost as if they were waiting for the Sect Leader Jiang to finish the work they have all set to finish. The destruction of the Legacy of Wei Wuxian. As if his genius, his spirit, didn´t live in each of the things he created, in all the inventions he made… as if a son was to be blamed for the sins of his father… sins that were not truly sins.
“I should have known as soon as I learned about your existence” Jiang Cheng said, sneering right at him. “He was always stalking his steps, always following him wherever he went, no matter that we were on a warzone or that he was a criminal. I thought that it was because he hated him, but I should have realized… that the feeling was the opposite. And much stronger. Like only a Lan could love.”
“Please, someone, he is…”
“It´s too late, boy” the Master of the Four Poisons smirked. “I coated the blade in a poison, even the strong golden core of Hanguang-Jun won´t save him from it´s stab. And neither would you.”
“Shufu… please…”
“You shouldn´t have followed the same crooked path that your father followed, Shizui” Lan Quiren shook his head. “I believed you could be saved, considering how young you were when Wangji brought you to us and how you grew up, but now… it doesn´t matter. Once one takes the crooked path, he or she are condemned. I can only hope that your soul isn´t as corrupted as to never join the reincarnation wheel.”
Shizui could feel tears coming to his eyes. But they weren´t tears of pain, they were tears of complete rage. He was feeling… murderous for the first time. He meant… who did these people thought they were?!!! They had slaughtered innocent people there, killed the only man that was doing what was right and protecting those harmless civilians, they killed his DieDie and his Baba and soon they were going to kill him… and why?!! Because he was his father´s child?!!! Because he was somehow capable of manipulating resentment without even meaning?!! When he ever even shown interest in the ghostly path?!!! But it seemed that this didn´t matter to any of them. Much less to Sandou Shenshou, a man ready to execute him in vengeance for sins that were not his. That had been ready to kill his Baba for…
The sword went up
First one father, then the other… and for what? Because they tried to protect him? Because this people considered it incorrect for a father to protect his child? Were they going to allow his Baba to die simply because he wanted his son to live? The rage turned into something else, the need to feast off this people´s blood. The need for them to suffer like he was suffering, the need to rip them to pieces because they were blaming him for something that wasn´t wrong, wasn´t his own actions to be put on his shoulder, and they were going to let the people closest to him die because they think they were righteous and Hanguang-Jun was not because he had fallen for the Yiling Patriarch… because he had raised his son… because he had protected him and now he was on the floor, dying in t he same place his beloved had died… was this the place he was destined to be orphaned? Just before he died? No…
“Die now”
“NO!!!!”
His head went up as he spit the words, the resentment reacting to him, his eyes glowing bright red. For some reason, his forehead ribbon also felt to the ground of the Burial Mounds. He couldn´t see, but a bright red mark was shinning in his forehead. Several silver butterflies flew around towards the intruders, attacking at the same time as the resentment form the ancient battlefield, bending to his will. Several of the talisman and barrier experts went to the front and tried to shield themselves, Sandou Shenshou also retired, but the barrier collapsed after a long attack. He got up, feeling utterly murderous.
“Here is not the place I die” he said, his rage coating each of the words. “This is the place you all die.”
“Now now, little one” a female, soft voice was the last he heard before a hand was put in front of his eyes. His body suddenly lost all it´s energy and he fell into someone´s arms. “We don´t want you to do something you will regret later, no?”
-In another place-
Gonyi Xiao had always wondered why. Why he decided to get that array from that girl, Qiu Haitang, and continue coming to this world? Long ago, when he met her, she had only asked for him to do something in return for the array. To tell Shen Qingqiu that she was sorry for her even trying to get revenge for what had been justice for all the slaves her brother had tortured and killed for fun, for all the lives her family had ruined by chaining them in slavery. She said that before entering a Temple as a nun, a Temple she would never get out of again, where she would pray for the victims of her family, to appease their anger, until she died untouched. That way the Qiu family would finally die out.
But he was getting too far into the past. What he had come here to do in the first place… that mission that he had left unattended and practically forgotten until he realized what Jin Guangshan, that scum that A-Yao insisted to call father instead of him, had done. Unfortunately, he had arrived too late to avoid it. And, with Wei Wuxian dead, he and only he knew in what kind of danger they were. Luckily, the Lan boy had stolen the dying Yiling Patriarch and left him alone as he went to fight his own kinsmen to protect him. It was all he needed to steal the corpse and seal the spirit inside a qyanku pouch. That way, no one had to know and he could go on as he had ever done, denying that he had found… but then he felt something emerge. Exactly what had A-Yao done this time? He had told him clearly to stop!!! Why couldn´t he listen?!! A Heavenly Demon created that thing, pretty much like Xin Mo, only a Heavenly Demon would be able to control it… he hadn´t said it that way, but he couldn´t help but think that…
He then found a mob of cultivators from all sects gathered around the mouth of a cave. He couldn´t see his adoptive son nor his sworn brother in any place around, but he could see A-Yao´s Er-ge´s younger brother in front of a tiny figure, shielding it with his body. The boy in question seemed to be going through some kind of crisis, as he was holding his head tight. His eyes were blood red and in his forehead… oh, shit!!! If that wasn´t a sign of a scion of the Heavenly Demon´s bloodline, he didn´t know what it was. He had never considered before… but it made sense in some way. Lan Wangji had fallen so deep for that boy, it wasn´t that far fetched that they had had an affair before marriage and ended up with a child. And he had heard rumors about Hanguang-Jun raising a child. What was the name again?
“All of you, have to stop right…”
“NO!!!!”
Gonyi Xiao joined the barrier makers, cursing with all his strength. Cursing those idiots for having done something that would doom their entire world, for being such intolerant idiots, for not seeking answers and simply followed the narrative Jin Guangshan had given him. Why to believe that guy anyway? He was a sleezy person, willing to mislead anyone so long as it suited him. Wasn´t that what he did to Wen Ruohan when he sent his bastard son to the Sun Palace? Because he was sure that it had been that fool the one that sent A-Yao there… A-Yao. If only he didn´t feel so attached to him, he would have left those idiots to let their intolerance and stupidity kill them.
Though that was a regret he can left for later. Lan Shizui was in a full-murderous rage now, completely awakened to his demonic inheritance. And had no control at all, more like his emotions have the control of the situation. Besides, something told him that this Heavenly Demon was stronger than Luo Binghe himself. Or perhaps Tianlang-Jun, once he has grown into his inheritance. For once, he had never seen another of his kin able to use wreath butterflies... but during his travels he had heard the legend about a ghost that could. One that… no, that would be too much of a coincidence. And he didn´t have time to ponder on that, he needed to stop Lan Shizui from killing them all.
“Here is not the place I die” the recently awoken Heavenly Demon spoke, his bloodthirst practically palpable. He gritted his teeth, this was going to be harder than he initially thought. A-Yao better apologize later for this. “This is the place you all die.”
“Dammit, you idiots, you have done it now” he said, not particularly carrying about who heard him calling esteemed members of the Rightful Sects lackwits. “You have awoken one of the greatest demons you could wake up and if be don´t manage to…”
A sword suddenly fell from the sky, besides it a woman with long silver hair. He had been around the Peak Lords of Cang Qiong to recognize another immortal in front of him. She seemed ready to fight, but there was also some reluctance in her face, almost as if she didn´t want to…
“Now now, little one” another woman suddenly joined, now a demoness with the zuiyin in her forehead. Her and another man with long, silver hair tied up in a way that reminded him a lot of Zuzhi-Lang. In fact, their eyes were the same too. “We don´t want you to do something you will regret later, no?”
“It seems that our jailor has seen fit to join this… esteemed cultivators in their desire to harm your kinsman, wife” he said, his voice sounding like a hiss. The hiss of a snake. So this was the couple that had disappeared so long ago, the sister of Tianlang-Jun and her snake demon husband. “Perhaps I should entertain your guests while you take care of that?”
“Suit yourself, husband, if you truly want to. Just leave our jailor to me when you have finished with the others”
“Wait” Gonyi Xiao stepped in front of the crowd. He knew they weren´t on the same league as that woman, a Heavenly Demoness that was said to have been the preferred sparring partner of her brother, the then Demon Emperor. No, it was time to negotiate. “I have something that you might be interested in. And it would only cost you a few hours of silence.”
“What could you have that might interest this venerable one?” she asked, a poison purple painted nail pointed at him. “I should rip off your tongue from your mouth.”
“If you did, you won´t have this”
He pulled out a pouch. He had picked that up hoping to forever hide what A-Yao had done and don´t bring the attention and rage of the Demon Emperor onto his adoptive son, but… it was going to be known now anyway… and they were going to need the time… besides, it was the only thing he could negotiate with. And it worked. The Demoness´ eyes widened when she realized what was inside. Her hands turned into claws and her expression turned into one of utmost fury. But she didn´t move. Neither did the snake demon.
“You…”
“The corpse and spiritual remains of Wei Wuxian, preserved and kept safe since the moment he died” the Huan Hua Palace disciple said. “I have kept it hoping that one day it would be of use… and now it´s the day” he extended his hand. “I will give you this, you leave with the boy and the corpse… I´m sure your brother Tianlang-Jun is still able to use the Holy Mausoleum to return life to this body.”
“Boy, that…”
“Alright, you have your deal… but I´m also taking those two, it seems that my dear great grandnephew would love to have his father by his side, to make sure he is alright” the Heavenly Demoness completely ignored whatever the other cultivators were going to say in favor of negotiating with Gonyi Xiao, who actually had something that interested her. “Oh, and his friend too. Yes, I will…” she suddenly grabbed one of her husband´s hand and smelled it. “Peculiar…”
“Wife…”
“Let´s see what happens next, there will be war anyway” the pouch was passed towards the Imperial Princess of the Lower Realm, concluding the negotiation. “I doubt my brother or his son would accept anything else as a response for the murder of a scion of the Heavenly Demon bloodline.”
“The consequences that will come from this, I know them better than you”
The woman smirked in a very cruel way, probably already smelling the blood shed by the warriors in the air and used some kind of talisman to make both her husband, her guests and the pouch disappear. He sighed in relief. He only hoped that Wei Wuxian was indeed the person he thought he was and would never dare to raise a hand against the Jiangs or other cultivators that weren´t mistreating others. He was an honorable man… he hoped that remained in him despite him waking up as a full Heavenly Demon. As for his own problem…
“Where is A-Yao?” he asked the white clad cultivator that was right behind him. “He has some answers to give me”
-In another reality-
YinYing-Nushi didn´t know what she would find out once she arrived to her home reality, but it definitely wasn´t what looked like a temple. Much less to find her brother discussing Taoist doctrines with someone who looked like a monk. What had happened here? Apparently, she had landed into a very different reality than the one her other-self sent her knowledge about. She was going to have to learn a lot of things if she was going to efficiently help his nephew to achieve his vengeance… because there was no doubt there would be vengeance. There was something about them Heavenly Demons that made them rather possessive of their things, their family included. And to hurt a Heavenly Demon´s possession was just the right thing to do if you want to gain their enmity.
“Sister, you are…”
“We don´t have much time, or I would already have asked about my own son or rather the education you gave him” Tianlang-Jun at least had the decency to look ashamed. “Well, what are you waiting for? I need you to take this to the Holy Mausoleum and this” she pointed to the boy and unconscious, hurt pair of father and son. “To somewhere they could heal safely”
“What is…” her brother´s eyes widened when he touched the thing. His breathing became erratic for a moment, but he recovered fast. “I haven´t used the Holy Mausoleum for a while, but I´m still capable. Come on, I will take you there” he turned to his former discussion partner. “Abbot Wu, please take care of the cultivators. And… inform my son and son-in-law about what happened here. I want them to be aware of this new development… as well as having some explanations on how this happened as soon as I finish.”
“Of course” the buddhist master with wooden legs bowed as best as he could. “May I ask the venerable Lord if this is going to come to war?”
“Not one that concerns the Zhao Hua Monastery if they don´t choose to join.”
“Zhao Hua Monastery wants to keep the peace that has been so hardly obtained after such a long time. And we thought…” his eyes wandered towards the pouch with resignation, perhaps having joined the dots. “But if the Lower Realm enters war with some unknown Sect or land, this peace might not be long to last.”
“It certainly wouldn´t… but that doesn´t mean that Zhao Hua Monastery has to concern themselves with that.”
Tianlang-Jun then turned around and rushed towards the Demon Realm, his sister and brother-in-law in tow. They were greeted as soon as they entered the terrains of the Palace by a young man in official´s robes. The demon crest on his forehead made the Heavenly Demoness tear up. He was so beautiful… and strong and perfect… and he would be wise if only her brother hadn´t botched up his education… she couldn´t help herself but cry at the first true sight she had of her son.
“JiuJiu? What has…” she suddenly enveloped Zuzhi-Lang into his arms. “Who is this…”
“I don´t have time to fully explain everything, Zuzhi dear” Tianlang-Jun held up the pouch in his hand. “I need to go to the Holy Mausoleum and make preparations for the ceremony, I wouldn´t want to lose more time” Zhuzhi-Lang shuddered. “And I need you to tell my son that we finally are going to know the truth. So he needs to return as fast as he can.”
“Sure…” he slithered away. His mother was about to follow, but her brother stopped her. “Come, we have some work to do”
-In Cang Qiong-
“Sect Leader Yue, I´m here” as elegant as ever, Shen Qingqiu saluted his shixiong. “I wish to pray by your side this year too.”
“You are welcome to do so”
Shen Yuan entered the room, bowing respectfully to the man. It was a meaningful day for him… he didn´t want him to mourn alone, specially when he was using the body of the man that Yue Qingyuan loved more than anything in the world. He felt so guilty when he saw that tablet that the Sect Leader took out of hiding for special occasions, only for his eyes to see. After all, Shen Qingqiu was still alive. At least that´s what everyone else believed. But Shen Jiu wasn´t and Yue Qingyuan didn´t deserve to live in a lie, so he had come clear to him after his wedding to Binghe. Allowed the man to know that the qi deviation had been the cause of death of his beloved and that a stranger had occupied his body. That it wasn´t his fault that Shen Qingqiu didn´t return his affections. That Shen Jiu was dead… so he could mourn him and in time heal. And mourning Yue Qingyuan did, quietly. No one else had to know now that Shen Qingqiu´s image had been rehabilitated.
It was such a sacrifice for someone who didn´t ever show him a bit of love… Shen Yuan secretly wished there was a reality in which they both could make up and love each other as Yue Qingyuan dreamed. Though he doubted Shen Jiu´s damaged soul could give him the kind of love Yue Qingyuan deserved. He had seen what he could of his memories and seen too many bad experiences with members of the same gender. It was obvious that he was suffering from a crippling androphobia before he died… one that he had expressed by being hateful and even violent towards any male in his vicinity.
“I wonder some times… if he would ever forgive me for leaving without him.”
“I doubt so, zhangmen-shixiong”
“I do too, Xiao Jiu surely knew how to hold on a grudge. I´m surprised you don´t… considering everything” Shen Yuan´s eyes fell to the floor. “Maybe I shouldn´t mention…”
“The only person I´m angry at for what happened is me” he answered with sincerity. “After all, what kind of mother allows his newborn to be stolen from the room next to him as he sleeps peacefully? What kind of mother doesn´t travel to the ends of the earth to search for him?”
“There were already enough people searching for him”
“Not enough if we haven´t managed to find him yet” tears started to fall from his eyes. “If only there was one more, then we could…”
“Zhangmen-shixiong” a disciple knocked on the door. “The Abbot Wu is here to talk to you and Peak Lord Shen. It´s about the case of the disappeared prince.”
They were both speechless. What… has someone really been able to find him? After all these years? Was Shen Yuan finally going to be able to hug his son? To have him in his arms? He couldn´t help but rush to the door as Yue Qingyuan hurried to hide the tablet again. His happiness disappeared as soon as he saw the expression in the young disciple´s face. It was… grim to say the least.
“What has happened?” he asked, a hand on his chest.
“I don´t know, but from what Abbot Wu said, it was not good”
Shen Yuan nearly fainted. Only the support of Yue Qingyuan prevented him from doing so. He was too good to him, holding him up as they went to see the Abbot. He wished Binghe was there to hold him, not Yue Qingyuan, but… he was away now… searching for a son that was now being returned to them… hopefully still alive. Hopefully… still in time to be threated and… and… he couldn´t even hope to continue living without his baby, he couldn´t. He simply couldn´t.