EMERALD AND STAROCEAN
"See boss? Naturally, I knew you'd be here, in this strange-looking chamber, in this strange-looking dungeon! Sorry if I was late, it took me a while to climb down the hidden ducts, you see! I will always find you and save you, wherever you might be, boss! Just leave it to- Oh? Boss! Is that a smile I spy? Ah! I'm sorry boss, no need to pinch me..."
...
"See boss? Naturally, I knew you'd be here, in this strange-looking alcove, in this strange-looking temple! Sorry if I was late, it took me a while to convince the crazed followers outside to let me join the procession, you see! I will always find you and save you, wherever you might be, boss! Just leave it to me, boss! Uhm, is boss... laughing? I'm in bliss! How blissful that I got to see it!"
...
"See boss? Naturally, I knew you'd be here, in this strange-looking cave, in this strange-looking underground tunnel! Oh, this dirt? Ahaha, sorry I got a bit dirty while digging the hole to get here, you see! Sorry if I made you wait! I will always find you and save you, wherever you might be, boss! Just leave it to me, boss! Uh? Eh, is boss crying? Am I that amazing?"
...
"See boss? I knew you'd be- Agh!"
"What boss and boss! Shut up you and accept my hug, Little Lan! Oh? You're blushing now? You're just too cute, Little Lan!"
"Ouch, ou- Eh? Me? Cute? Hehe..."
...
"S-See boss? I knew-"
"Yes, yes, you knew, but you also know the drill! Here's a hug!"
"...ok...Hehe..."
...
"Uhm, the usual?"
"Yup! The usual routine! Come here, boy, I missed you."
"Me too, brother."
...
Again and again.
There was simply nowhere that the young man with purple hair wouldn't be able to find him. Similarly, there was nothing those emerald eyes wouldn't happily put on the line.
When the purple-haired Xiao Lan finally also stepped into the Ageless Realm at twenty-seven years of age, he caused an uproar across the land of countless planes. Even more so, the news shook the esteemed Xiao Clan.
A breakthrough to the Ageless Realm at the age of twenty-seven. It was a never-seen-before event in the history of the Xiao Clan, by a long shot too! Normally, it should have been enough reason to feast and celebrate for weeks and months, for it would have jumpstarted a period of prosperity for millennia to come.
It was just...
"Wait, 'that' Xiao Lan?"
The same Young Master that they had expelled from the Clan just a few years prior?
A dozen years earlier, Xiao Lan had been part of the Main Lineage of the Xiao Clan, as well as the publicly recognized future Head of the Clan. However, one day, he had expressed the wish to join a certain starry-eyed youth's quest to wage war against the Heavens. He had even announced later that he would be leaving the Clan's Grounds soon. As soon as he did, his status as Young Master and member of the Xiao Clan was revoked: had a member of their Xiao Clan publicly announced his intention to fight against Tian, it would have brought disaster to them all. It would have been like a declaration of war to the Nine Heavens, and Tian wouldn't have let it slide easily.
Thus, Xiao Lan had been expelled and his name wiped off all public records, effective immediately.
But then, at twenty-seven, he Ascended.
…
Having broken through into the Realm of the Ageless, the young man with purple hair and emerald eyes had also stopped aging. As per dictated by his exalted bloodline, he'd henceforth maintain a physique in the prime of his years.
Actually, since the starry-eyed youth had entered the Ageless Realm at an even younger age, Xiao Lan naturally appeared slightly older than him.
For a while after that, the emerald-eyed young man would often joke around, "Hehe, how is it that I'm younger than boss, and yet I look older? Do I get to be the boss now?"
This would be soon followed by a fierce headlock and a round of pinching on the child of prophecy's part, an eternal youth now well into his fifties.
...
Twenty years after his Ascension, Xiao Lan was kidnapped by a group under the Nine Heavens; the swordsmen of the Ran Clan.
Less than a week after that, a blue-eyed demon appeared and wreaked havoc. He slaughtered all Ran swordsmen that dared to come out of their Clan Grounds, causing havoc across the Clan's territory.
This enraged their Head. Clouded by his rage, he foolishly lead the best warriors at his disposal to go after that demon for revenge.
A few days after their departure, the elusive demon was already knocking at the Ran Clan's front door.
With the only people that might have posed a threat looking for him elsewhere, he barged straight inside.
Countless rose in flight to stop him, wielding their remarkable Ran blades. In no time, they had all fallen in a hail of crimson and shattered Starmetal. A hundred steps in, none dared hamper the demon's path any longer. Horrified by the singularity of torrential blood, the surviving Ran clansmen could only witness by the side as the infamous duo reunited: before their very eyes, the starry-eyed youth sighed and pinched Xiao Lan's nose in annoyance, before breaking off into a smug smirk. Just like that, the two then successfully fled before the experts could come back. Never once, did they look back.
Behind, they left a devastated city. A citadel of Ageless corpses, amassed in piles by the roadside.
A Clan of Immortals, reduced to rubble. Sparing it nought a glance, they had left the city of tears in laughter.
It would only be in the far future that the survivors of the Ran Clan, who would actively join Tian's army, and the Rebels, led by the starry-eyed youth, would cross paths again.That would of course be on the gargantuan battlefield that had pitted the forces of Heaven against the armies of the Evil Saint.
The aftermath of that clash would leave the Nine Heavens scarred beyond recognition, and countless in despair as their most brilliant ember was extinguished.
And just like countless others, the Starmetal swordsmiths were reduced to a name in a eulogy.
...
Going forward another decade from the massacre at the Ran Clan's grounds.
On a night of full moon, the little boy bearing the surname Xiao, yet forsaken by it, achieved the unthinkable: he fulfilled his Second Ascension.
Under the glow of the True Stars beyond the fictitious sky of the True Earth, Xiao Lan was finally baptised as a 'He'.
At the age of fifty-nine years old, Xiao Lan became the youngest to have entered the Immortal Realm.
Days later, he returned back to the Xiao Clan. With the support of the starry-eyed youth, Xiao Lan imposed himself as the Head, thereby announcing the breaking off of the Xiao Clan from the Nine Heavens and an alliance with the child of prophecy's army: henceforth, Xu Ling was to be recorded in their annals as their Ancestral Protector.
From that moment onwards, the Xiao Clan and the Evil Saint became an inextricable existence, bonded in Karma.
On that day, a pair of Bright emeralds and two breathtaking staroceans exchanged a meaningful glance in the midst of the festivities.
It had been roughly forty years since their first true encounter. From a group of estranged vagabonds, they had now grown into existences that could shape the land of countless planes.
The first had become the head of the esteemed Xiao Clan, becoming the fastest ever person to have entered the Immortal Realm, doing so at the 'tender' age of fifty-nine years old. Standing atop the Xiao Clan's Throne, the Bright Lord could simply wave a hand to deploy hundreds of thousands, millions of powerful Brightfolk: outside the Nine Heavens, 'He' ruled supreme; Xiao Lan.
The second had just as great a renown. The Child of Prophecy, the Great Sage that revolutionized cultivation, the Childe of the countless Laws that was foreseen to surpass Hundredth Xu, and the chief of the rebellion against Tian's Nine Heavens!
The Evil Saint with cold, yet breathtakingly beautiful blue eyes, wherein relentlessly revolved the matchless starry sky of yore. He had eradicated countless Clans as the youngest Ageless ever since turning at twenty-four, stepped into the Immortal Realm at sixty-one, and at eighty-five years old was the head of an army of millions of beasts, humans, and otherkins; Xu Ling!
Forty years ago, Xiao Lan had met a wounded Xu Ling and had protected him with his own life, lowering himself to using his nails and teeth to fight back, coughing blood with every breath: all to save the starry-eyed youth from impending death. He had repeatedly done so again and again for the following four decades. Even as he became aware of Xu Ling's deepest secret, his pseudo-invulnerability, Xiao Lan did not hesitate to put his life on the line if it meant it would ease his idol's path.
All along, Xiao Lan had never asked for anything in return.
Finally, one faithful day forty years later, that same person he had so vehemently called "Boss" had picked him up and placed him atop one of the tallest thrones that there could be. The Immortal Throne of Xiao; Clan of the Bright Smile.