Past and Present

Chapter 3- Eyes

    It has been almost three weeks and Song Lan still hasn't come back. Xingchen was starting to get worried so he decided to go to Snow White Pavilion and check on his lover.
    But once he arrived he was shocked at what he saw. Song Lan was laying on the floor next to his ground master, with blood streaks on his cheeks.
    Xingchen rushed over and put a finger under the man's nose, he was still breathing. He stood up and looked around but saw nothing, no clue of who it could've been.
    He knew Song Lan's eyes were probably gone, so he made a decision that he promised to never make. He was going to take Song Lan to his master, Baoshan Sanren.
    Putting Song Lan on his back he carried him across the fields of grass, heading towards the mountains. His master lived up in the mountains where he was meant to be cultivating.
    He knew that once a disciple left Baoshan Sanren, they must never return. He, however, was going to be the first person in history to break this rule.
    Xingchen wanted for his lover's eyes to be alright. He didn't want him to be blind forever, he needed eyes to properly cultivate.
    His eyebrows knitted together as he used all his strength to keep on walking. Up and towards the mountains.

    He arrived around three days later and was on the verge of collapsing. He went to a cave where he saw his master, "Grand Master, I'm sorry but..."
    "Xiao Xingchen, I knew you would come back one day," the woman said, "what do you need?"
    "Song Lan, his eyes are gone," Xingchen said, "please help him. I don't know how to heal him on my own, so please. I will even give him my own eyes!"
     "You love him to the point of giving your own eyes to him?" Baoshan Sanren asked, "that is impressive."
    "Please help him," Xingchen pleaded, he set Song Lan down in front of him and fell to his knees, "I'll do anything."
    "Alright," the woman said, "I will help him."
    Xingchen looked up with bright eyes, "Thank you!"
    "But I'm afraid that if his eyes are gone, I'm going to need to transfer somebody else's," she said.
    "You can use mine! I don't mind being blind for the rest of my life, I can manage pretty well," Xingchen said.
     "Fine," she said, "let's begin."
      She ended up having to transfer Xingchen's eyes to Song Lan and leaving her disciple blind. It hurt her, but it was what he wanted.
    The moment the process was done, Xingchen fell to his side on the hard floor with a thud. After walking for three days straight, with no rest or sleep or food, and having his eyes being pulled out, he was tired.
    He was now sleeping next to Song Lan with a calm and peaceful look on his face. His master was watching him with sad eyes, knowing that the man would've given his eyes to anyone. He always had a kind, soft heart, always.
    Whether they were good or bad, he had a soft spot for everyone. He would give anything up for anyone, he didn't need to have a certain attachment to them. That's what Baoshan Sanren admired about him, and she knew he would be a good cultivator.
    Xingchen woke up to Baoshan nudging his arm. He sat up and saw darkness, "Did it...did it work?"
    "We won't know until he wakes up," she replied.
    "Okay," Xingchen nodded and felt his face, he had a cloth covering his eyes.
    "Don't touch your face," Baoshan warned, "it might get infected." Xingchen nodded and lowered his hands to his lap.
    "When will he wake up?" Xingchen asked.
    "When he is ready," the woman responded, "but it should be soon."
     And she was right. A couple of minutes later Song Lan woke up, "Where am I?" He asked groggily. His eyes were also covered with a piece of cloth so he began panicking, "What happened to my eyes?"
    "Calm down," Baoshan said, "I have healed your eyes."
     "Who-who are you?" The man asked.
     "She is my grand master," Xingchen replied.
     "Xingchen? You are here too? And you're Baoshan Sanren?" Song Lan questioned.
     "Yes," Xingchen said, "I brought you here to be healed by her."
     "How?" Song Lan asked.
     "Simple, I transferred my eyes to you," Xingchen said.
      "You what?!" Song Lan exclaimed, "Why would you do that?"
     "Zichen, you know very well that you can't cultivate in the dark very well. And cultivating is your life," Xingchen said.
     "But what about you?" Song Lan asked.
     "I'll be fine," Xingchen said.
     "Alright. What happened to everybody else?"
     "Who?"
     "My grand master, and everyone else," Song Lan repeated.
      "Th-they're dead Zichen," Xingchen said softly.
      "But...didn't you save them too?" Song Lan whispered.
     "They were dead when I checked, but what I want to know is who did it?" Xingchen asked.
     "Xue Yang," Song Lan spat, "he killed them."
     "What?" Xingchen asked, "That's not possible, he wouldn't do anything like hurting someone close to me."
      "Maybe that's why he did it, because of you," Song Lan accused.
     "Wh-what do you mean?" Xingchen weakly asked.
     "Maybe if you hadn't left him and gone with me, he wouldn't do any of this. Maybe if you didn't stop him and let the others do it at the Chang mansion, he wouldn't have gone after me!" Song Lan began raising his voice.
    "How would I know what he does or doesn't? It's been years since I have talked to him properly!" Xingchen exclaimed.
     "He has always wanted revenge, this is his revenge for you," Song Lan snapped. Xingchen grew silent at that, his lover was right, "Xiao Xingchen, let us never cross paths again." Song Lan walked outside of the cave with great difficulty and started down the mountain.
    Xingchen was sitting down in shock once Song Lan left. He couldn't believe that the one person he had faith that would never leave him, just left. It was Xue Yang's fault.
    "Xue Yang," he whispered, "I will find you."