A Broken Heart Still Beats.

Chapter XX

"Well then, isn't that impressive?" Tianlang-Jun hummed thoughtfully once the talisman read through the entire transcript of the play Shen Yuan had brought for him. It had been a shock that the young man had actually been able to do it, but it was nonetheless something for which he was rather grateful.

He loved Shen Yuan's stories! Truly he did, but he needed some drama!

Shen Yuan, however, cringed at the final ending. He could have gone his entire life—both of them—without ever having heard that play, and he would have slept just fine. But now...ugh, now he had to know the fate of Hua Ling who just had to be married to the governor's son, and so went through a few hours' worth of nonsense for it.

Only to die in the end!

What the hell kind of ending!?

After all that demanding work!? Bullshit!

"You're tastes in plays is questionable." Shen Yuan grumbled. He could have read poetry over that. Hell, even Shang Qinghua's attempts at stories would have been better!

"Yuan is still young; he will come to understand their appeal as he gets older."

"What was appealing about that!?" Shen Yuan screeched, startling Zhuzhi-Lang, who had curled up around his legs where Shen Yuan laid out a blanket to keep him safe from the cold. He was getting better at regulating his temperature, but he wasn't sure if Zhuzhi-Lang could do the same, so he brought a blanket.

Tianlang-Jun laughed at his exasperation, however, for the second time that night, his eye caught the scabbard that hung at Shen Yuan's waist—painted a gradient of arctic blue and crimson red that bled into each other until it became a lavender color of sorts. It had been something that earned his attention immediately.

That and the fact that Shen Yuan had quite literally fallen out of a tree upon his arrival. Startling Zhuzhi-Lang into slithering halfway up the trunk to inspect Shen Yuan where he hung over a branch. His snow-white blade lay on the ground, emitting a soft glow as it hummed softly, calling out for its master.

Finally, his curiosity was no longer ignorable, so he asked, "Yuan, tell this Lord of your sword, yes? This one feels rather wronged that Yuan wouldn't tell me that story."

Shen Yuan hesitated at the question. Of course, he'd planned to tell Tianlang-Jun of the...recent developments, he just hadn't been entirely sure how he was to do that. But he supposed, it was better to just get it over with, wasn't it?

"This one...earned his sword Hui Qu through the Sword Retrieval Ceremony that every disciple of Cang Qiong goes through to prove themselves ready for night hunts and other missions on their own. Luo-shixiong actually went along with me, he earned his sword Zheng Yang as well."

"Really, together?" Tianlang-Jun couldn't help but smirk, but otherwise said nothing else on the matter. However, he could see the nervous twitch of Shen Yuan's hands against his knees and quickly grasped his attention on it. "Was there anything else that happened, Yuan?"

Damn, his sense of perception!

"Yes, Junshang..."

Raising a brow at the tone, Tianlang-Jun lulled, "Well then, tell this venerable one. Surely, it can't be as bad as Yuan believes it to be."

Sighing, he steeled himself with a heavy breath, saying, "This one...This one was named the Head Disciple of Ling Shou, the future peak lord under the courtesy name Shen Qinglin, and I will likely be rather busy because of this. So, I won't be able to come to Junshang as often, I'm sorry."

Suddenly, Shen Yuan jumped when he heard Tianlang-Jun burst out laughing, genuine and carefree, he couldn't help but pinch his expression in confusion. "Yuan! You silly boy! Why would you being named for such a position be a bad thing? Shouldn't you be more ecstatic? This means that you will have more say in things, why would this Lord be upset about such a fact?"