Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

23. Breaking Point

a/n: i'm sorry the youtube vid pic is such a misfit but i like the music so enjoy ? ?? haha~

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At the center of Star Pavilion Sect was the main courtyard where the disciples gathered for sect-wide events and proclamations. It was also the first place visitors stepped foot upon entering the sect and gave them an impressive view of the nine peaks that towered over the arena on all sides. Unbeknownst to outsiders, Ye Xinglin had also built the sect's ice prisons right beneath the courtyard. Here were imprisoned the worst offenders, usually captives from any of the demonic cultivation ways in the Middle Realm or disciples who had committed grievous crimes.

Ouyang Che led him to the entrance and stopped, saying he'd wait outside until Mo Yixuan finished. The latter followed his directions and eventually ended up in front of the cell containing Nan Wuyue. Most of the prisons were empty, there being no reason in peacetime to fill up the rooms. All Mo Yixuan saw was the young 15-year-old sitting cross-legged in the center of a blue seal array etched into the ground. His hair and face were tinged with frost, his lips and fingers blue.

The reason these were called the ice prisons was because Ye Xinglin had buried the beast core of an ice serpent into its foundations. The seal arrays in each of the prison cells were designed to restrain its occupants in absolute frost, halting their qi circulation and rendering them immobile. Depending on the cultivation level of its prisoner, the prolonged freezing could permanently damage their spiritual veins and even render them crippled for life. For the likes of Nan Wuyue, whose cultivation level could barely be on par with a paltry outer disciple, such torment was simply courting death.

Mo Yixuan took a long look at the boy's taut expression and shut eyes before moving to dispel the array as Ouyang Che had instructed. The seals abruptly faded and their prisoner toppled forward with a gasp. The next second, he scrambled to his knees and peered out the cell with wide eyes.

"...Shizun."

The moniker chafed at him now, making Mo Yixuan crease his brows slightly. But Nan Wuyue all but half-ran, half-crawled to the bars and clutched them with his hands.

"Shizun, you—you're alright? I thought—" Nan Wuyue bit his lip, his eyes staring intensely at Mo Yixuan's face. "I didn't expect you to come..."

"Because you thought I'd be dead?" Mo Yixuan countered.

"No!" Nan Wuyue almost wanted to reach out and clutch the silk robes just on the other side. Yet he controlled himself with a violent shudder and shook his head. "I was wrong. I never meant to—if I'd know it was you..."

How could he explain himself in a way that mattered? He wanted Mo Yixuan dead, not this—whoever it was that had replaced him. He was sure now more than ever that this man was different. When faced with pain—with suffering—he had shown defiance and then tried to embrace his own death. His original master would never go to such lengths when his life was in danger.

"...who are you?" Nan Wuyue finally croaked out.

Mo Yixuan felt like mocking him. "I am Mo Yixuan."

"Impossible!" Nan Wuyue rejected instantly. "I know what he—what my master was like. You aren't him. You haven't been like him since that day in the Qi Refining Pool."

Four days in excruciatingly cold isolation was enough time to reconsider many things. Thinking back on all that had happened, Nan Wuyue came to the startling realization that this Mo Yixuan hadn't done anything to actually hurt him in the time they'd spent together. This man had cooked for him, fixed his training, and took care of him after his kneeling stunt in the rain. In return Nan Wuyue had stolen, stabbed, and tried to manipulate him with a literal vise around his heart. He was the metaphorical serpent biting the hand that tried to warm his icy world.