The Tale Of Yèxīng

Closer Than ever

The sky was in a beautiful mood, as there was no rain but a sun glaring at the world with its brightness.  Fortunately, there was enough wind to cool the heat of the great sun in the sky. Bird were singing to their prospectives mates, and the streets of the small sects of Ouyang were bustling with happy workers and people.  Yet no matter how beautiful the day seemed, Yèxīng's frown didn't disappear from his handsome face. He glanced at his Shijie and almost grimaced at her appearance, feeling at fault for how she now looked. 

The siblings had decided to slightly alter their appearances, because running away from such powerful and well known people was not without consequences. So while Yèxīng's had used a technique he was taught by the savages up in the north, that it was to use his cultivation to change some things of his body like hair, eyes and height. But Fan Quan didn't have the same luck of learning an advanced technique like that, so she just cut her hair up to the lenght of her shoulders. For Fan Quan, it was nothing. She would cut her hair a million times and do more for her, but Yèxīng felt as if he took something very precious from her.  

"Didi, are you okay?" Yèxīng's eyes glanced towards his sister, the one and only big sister he could ever think to have and thought: 'What if...?' 

 "What if I accepted to become the Jiang's successor? What if mother left me on the streets of Yunping and her friend, Meng Shi, raised me? What if Merchant Diqiu didn't found me first but Lan Yùntài did? What if I wasn't abandoned in the first place by the Jiangs? Would I be good? Bad? Weak? Powerful? What if-? " But Yèxīng would never get an answer, because those 'What if?' were just thoughts, and would never become a reality, something that, deep down, he was grateful. Yèxīng's silver eyes stared at the figure of his big sister waiting patiently for an answer, not berating him or judging him, and peace overtook him. Yes, this was the life, the people, he would always choose, and there were no 'What ifs?' for this, just a straight answer;

"I'm okay Shijie. Let's go the inn already, I'm starving!" a bright smile overtook Yèxīng's face, and with one hand he dragged Fan Quan around, looking for an inn to stay and rest. Fan Quan smiled, amused, and followed her little brother's suggestion. 

While the siblings where looking for an inn in the Baling Ouyang Sect, the Jiang sect itself was a mess. Jiang Fengmian and his wife, Yu Ziyuan, had left the Cloud Recess(?) in a hurry after finding that Yèxīng had left, and mobilized some of their disciples to look for him. Lan Yùntài was the same, but the only difference is that he  ended his seclusion and took out on his own, officially leaving his position as Leader and renouncing the Lan's surname. This made questions arise in the sects. Some of them being; who was this Yèxīng that everyone wanted? Just how important was he to make Qingheng-Jun himself give up his position and leave his sect like it was nothing.

Lan Qiren looked at his desk and sighed with frustration while passing a hand in his hair. What would he tell his nephews? "Your father left the sect because he decided a street rat was more important ". He just couldn't say that! And while he could lie and say some excuse, it was not in his principles to do, and that would just make him a hypocrite. After some minutes of thinking, knowing that his nephew's where just on the other side of the door waiting for an answer, Lan Qiren talked.

"Come in." the doors to Lan Qiren's quarters were opened harshly, but the man knew that scolding his nephews would do nothing right now, so he just signaled them to sit in front of him, waiting for one of them to talk. The silence made the room tense, and after seeing his nephews didn't want  to start the conversation, Lan Qiren opened his mouth oloy to be interrupted by his older nephew, Lan Xichen.