Blood Cultivation

unlike father

Sizhui hadn't been this terrified of losing someone since Jingyi had been stupid and brave on a nighthunt and almost died. The crushing weight that sat on his chest when he realized that he might lose his best friend had scared him more than he had thought he could feel. Jingyi recovered and was more sensible on nighthunts, promising to never be so stupidly reckless, please, Sizhui, don't look at me like that, I'm fine.

Looking at a new friend who had quickly become terribly dear to him lying so still and pale under the brightness of her own blood was that same horrible feeling all over again. This couldn't be the end. They'd all made it through the last ordeal in one piece. Wei Wuxian didn't die a second time. His father and Jingyi and Jin Ling all survived. Sect Leader Jiang and Zewu-Jun had not been permanently hurt. Sizhui saw the bright red lines and disturbed eyes of those at the Guanyin Temple heal over time. Some of them were still healing.

—

"She's gone!" Jingyi tumbled into the room that Jin Ling had appointed as the place they'd all gather to plot and plan and try to solve a problem they could barely see the outlines of. His breath came out in sharp gasps, the sound of them something more anguished than merely being winded and Sizhui went quickly to steady Jingyi. Tears were already threating to spill over his eyelashes when he repeated himself. "Senior Lin. She's gone. Someone took her." He gestured with shaking hands. "There was a shadow and then something shoved me and Senior Lin just, just vanished in front of me."

Jin Ling fell off his chair in his haste to stand up. "Jingyi, calm down and explain better."

"Where were you?" Senior Wei interrupted, wearing his concern visibly. "How did she vanish? Was it a teleport?"

Jingyi clung onto Sizhui, distraught. "We were in the garden by the guest rooms. She was trying to tell me something and I was trying to get her to stop and then this black thing came in between us and I got flung backwards. When I regained my balance Senior Lin was gone and there was a stir of wind and oh!" Jingyi reached inside his robes and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "This fell."

Senior Wei took the paper and studied it. "Sizhui, go and get Hanguang-Jun. Jin Ling, get Jiang Cheng. Jingyi, you come with me to the edge of the forest where we met that nasty talisman last night. You two bring the others there, got it?"

"What was the paper?" Jingyi asked when his friends had gone. "Did Senior Lin leave a message for us?"

"That she did," Senior Wei said grimly, crushing the paper with a clear "do not come after me" instruction on it. "And we're not going to let her down."

—

Meili had expected it, honestly. She'd been expecting it since her father had first appeared in front of her in Lanling some days ago. Even with the brief encounter during their nighthunt, he hadn't really tried anything extreme. It had been surprising that he'd waited so long to make a move, choosing instead to bait her and let her friends work on the problem that she'd been living with most of her life and never thought anyone else would know about. Meili had assumed that she'd spend her days cleaning up after other people and avoiding her father and eventually her cultivation would get the best of her and that would be that.

She had never dreamed of developing close friendships or befriending sect leaders or telling anyone the reasoning behind her unorthodox cultivation. Secrets were her close friends; breaking her silence was the enemy. Sharing a secret had the power to kill, but she'd just handed it over without even a struggle. Besides the obvious one. She hadn't tried so hard in years to tell anyone all her greatest regrets. The loss of her core and her choices on certain matters had ceased to be something she mourned, being instead something she just accepted. If she couldn't speak about her horrors, she would at least avoid them. She would refuse to commit more sins.