WangXian Forever 5

Chapter 110 Answers

Exhausted, the fighters built little fires and sat down to wait, while resting. The little family seemed to be the epicentre that the rest gravitated towards, so while Wei Ying was pulled closer to Lan Zhan with Li XiWang settled in his lap, Zhitiao and Yezi were close by with Hongse sitting on their other side.

"I'm curious," Wei Ying said, addressing the twins. "If you don't mind answering some questions."

They nodded, wondering what he wanted to know.

"Why does Jian Ci hate Zai Shu Xia so much? I thought your sisterhood was supposed to be closer than petty rivalry, if that's what it was."

"That's a bit of a long answer." Yezi smiled, looking at her sister, who smiled back sadly.

"We've got as long as it takes for Hui Gai to get back." Wei Ying looked pointedly at the prone body inside the now empty bubble.

"We've never really questioned the way we were brought up." Zhitiao said.

"More because we saw no need, and I'm speaking for all of my sisters here. Children are...sorry, were born and we all had one collective goal, which was to look after our Mother.  She in turn, gave us more children and that's how we thrived, though in later years, we've become hired assassins." Yezi added.

"If our Mother were alive now, she might be disappointed in us, in where Jian Ci has led us." Zhitiao flung more wood on top of the burning flames, watching the dancing orange spirals. "It wasn't always like that. Our Elders were peaceful people who disliked conflict more than anything. If it could be resolved through speaking, they were more than happy to find a peaceful solution. Jian Ci was always a bit too aggressive than the rest of us. "Leadership" qualities, she called it."

"After Zai Shu Xia was born, things changed. Too slowly for anyone to notice at the time, but now that I'm looking back on it, I can see exactly what has happened to us." Yezi continued. "You know she was different right from the get go. She looked different than us, and at the time, we did not know what her blue eyes meant."

"That she was also part of our orphaned family." Hongse said. "All of us share our blue eyes, and at first we thought it was so that villagers would know there was something wrong with us. But my Master, he said it was so we, the Gifted, could find each other and be a family, our own special family to each other. We did not need those who abandoned us from fear, because we could love each other through our commonality."

"And although our goals were different, there's a lot of similarities between our sisterhoods." Zhitiao said, but looking at Wei Ying. "I have you to thank for opening up my mind to new possibilities."

"And me." Yezi added, cheekily. "But looking back, I remember Jian Ci always being a bit jealous of Zai Shu Xia. I guess it was worse than we thought. Jian Ci was the one who followed our sister and discovered her with the Dragon King. She told our Elders and that's when all the trouble started."

"Why didn't they stand up to her? Elders are supposed to lead, right?" Wei Ying thought of Uncle Qiren and the Elders of the Lan clan.

"Our Elders were a little more gentler in the beginning." Yezi said. "And Jian Ci was our strongest fighter and strategist. Many of our sisters looked up to her because she excelled at everything, her training was legendary. Maybe that's why she never understood why the Elders were so lazy with Zai Shu Xia...but I guess a small part of them wanted something different for her. Not just fighting, but a real life."

"As time went on, she would have seen the way Zai Shu Xia was treated as favouritism, and therefore a threat to her status. Especially as now we can see how ambitious she is. I would imagine anybody trying to usurp her would be met with violence." Zhitiao grinned at her sister. "It's a good thing we want to leave that all behind us."

Wei Ying looked at their joined hands and curled his own around Lan Zhan's, smiling up at the Jade. Lan Zhan kissed the top of his head and held him closer.

"Has anyone successfully left your sisterhood?" Wei Ying asked them.

"I don't think so. There never was a reason to. None of us has died through old age yet, so in that we have our Mother's blessing. Only in battle. That's why Bai Hua was so valuable to us too." Yezi said, proudly.

"Then why kill her? If she helped you, too?"

"Jian Ci told us the Elders requested it, and at the time, we accepted it. Now of course, it's a distinct possibility that she lied for her own ends. Bai Hua cured without bias. Even when we sent her threats, openly telling her to stop curing the Dragon King, she didn't."

"You say she cured him twice? How so?"

"The first time was just after Jian Ci exposed our sister. When Zai Shu Xia was locked up in the Quiet Room, and wouldn't change her mind, Jian Ci said we should remove the reason she wanted to leave in the first place. She said the Dragon King would come to meet our sister, and so she lay in wait with a few of us, and attacked him with darts. She thought she had killed him, but he was tougher than that. And the only person skilled enough to cure him, was Bai Hua. Only she could have." Zhitiao explained.

"And the second time was when he came to rescue our sister and they both escaped, but he was pierced with many darts and Jian Ci's dagger."

"So how did you know that Bai Hua had reincarnated?" Wei Ying tightened his hold on his daughter. "More specifically, as Li XiWang?"

"She was immortal. It stands to reason that she had unfinished business and was coming back, it was only a matter of time. Plus, something happened, in Gusu." Yezi tried to remember.

"The shock waves. There was an energy pulse so powerful, Jian Ci said it could only be by someone whose cultivation was as strong as hers. And she was right. That's when you captured me. You caught me in her room..." Zhitiao was thinking back to that night.

"Wow. To think our little experiment had such a big impact." Wei Ying said, looking at his daughter. "We were trying to find a way she can touch the things her parents left for her safely."

"I might be able to help with that." Hongse said, immediately. "If you both don't mind, I would like to explore what happens to her when she does touch them, and possibly, there might be a way to do it through cultivation. Her core is already so strong...I'm sure there's a way."

"I have a question too." Zhitiao spoke up. When Wei Ying nodded, she smiled and said, "how did you meet Hui Gai?"

"That's a whole other story. He was cursed, trapped inside an onyx knife. We had to figure out a way to free him. The first time we met him was because of a soothsayer."

His attention was drawn to the woman still unconscious inside the bubble. She was starting to stir, but moaning painfully.

Wei Ying didn't really want to know what Hui Gai was doing in there...

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