1 1 - An Onion Flowers In July

Su Qiuyan rolled his eyes.

Scrolls had been haphazardly tossed about, forming towering cliffs of papers that enveloped and hid him from the outside world of the pavilion.

Characters meshed together as his eyesight grew hazy from fatigue.

His patience was wearing thin.

Stiffly, he tossed the scroll into the monstrous pile around him and began to search for his next.

What's This?

While glazing over what felt like the thousandth scroll, he noticed at the bottom of the tattered paper in his hands was a small painting, drawn quite half-assedly.

It depicted a smudged figure with an elongated arm that seemed to reach up into the sky which the artist had not given the care to draw.

The article which preceded the crude drawing documented the first Onion Flowering Competition that Shui Lian Peak won, an event taking place over 900 years ago and has been seldom referenced around the peak as generations passed.

Su Qiuyan himself had not thought of the occurrence in a while now, it was already a feat to keep track of all the recent wins and prizes, much less one from 900 years ago.

Nonetheless, he had been ordered to read anything and everything pertaining to the Flowering Onion Competition and he planned to uphold his integrity in the matter.

The documentation of the event was kept in the pages of an old news booklet.

"Shui Lian Peak makes its grand entrance, displaying the true extent of talent that can be achieved by hard-working cultivators! It seemed the whole time, onlookers had their eyes fixated on their group leader of this year's usual out-of-water team as he captivated the audience with his dazzling ability."

A spark of genuine interest lit up in the fog of Su Qiuyan's exhaustion. Suppressing his tiredness, he read on.

"A talk with the Sect Leader revealed the group leader was but a rookie! What a chance they took with putting him in. While no eyes were on Shui Lian Peak this year, they surely demanded the attention of all! Records show bets this year on the competition results have caused significant outrage, as all those who bet against Shui Lian Peak with high stakes but minuscule chances of failure had to give up their gold and plus some!"

Su Qiuyan mumbled out loud as he continued to skim the pages, "All this talk about a great disciple here, and there's not a single word of who he is?"

He twisted the scroll in all 8 directions, hoping it'd help him decipher the horrendously smudged painting.

Not far from him, over the mountain range of scrolls and papers, Shenye Ai glared at the papers in his own hand.

The sun was almost completely set. Outside, the usual sparkling of the night sky was darkened by the thick veil of clouds and fog which often nestled in the forest before a storm or after a drought.

Behind high mountains and rigid peaks, the sun hid, leaving only the resonance of its warm purple light over the horizon.

As the candle's wick shortened, Shenye Ai's focus shifted more and more to the fading light.

Only when the firelight had become so faint, that his papers had lost all legibility, did he complacently put down the scroll to retrieve another candle.

While the pavilion was nestled deep within a small forest, it had no shortage of matches.

Shenye Ai had always expressed insistent disapproval of it and has always made a point to walk outside before striking a match.

Guided by the soft glow of the candle, Shenye Ai made his way back to his little nook of the pavilion.

Unlike Su Qiuyan, Shenye Ai prided himself on keeping his work areas clean and well organized.

By chance, his gaze drifted up to the ridge of Su Qiuyan's mountain of papers, a sight of which almost immediately planted a stain on his mood.

Shenye Ai spoke through gritted teeth, "We're here to prepare for the Flowering Onion Competition a few months from now, can you not be more organized?"

Having had enough of the walking fire hazard that was Su Qiuyan, Shenye Ai stomped over to grab the scroll from his hands.

He carelessly squinted at the small painting on the scroll, and upon deeming it useless, he rolled up the old paper and began making his way to place it back on the shelf

Shenye Ai scoffed, "This documents the first victory of Shui Lian Peak, most of the information here is outdated and will serve no use to us."

Su Qiuyan gazed lazily at Shenye Ai, a look of sheer disinterest.

.Su Qiuyan let out a sigh, "It's already late in the night, can we give it up for tonight?"

He was already heading for the door, having no guilt or intention to clean his mess up.

A sheathed blade blocked his path, followed by Shenye Ai's figure as he planted himself between Su Qiuyan and the pavilion's exit.

Shenye Ai snorted, "I will be leaving for the evening, you may go as soon as you re-place all the scrolls you've ravaged through."

Shenye Ai turned to the doors, and within seconds they were shut in Su Qiuyan's face.

Shenye Ai's leave welcomed a gust of cold wind from the outside that rushed into the small pavilion, causing the candles to violently flicker. Su Qiuyan himself shuttered from the bitterness of the cold night.

Seconds later, the familiar noise of a barrier being set sounded from the outside, followed by the very distinguishable twinkling sound of Shenye Ai's sword being sheathed.

Su Qiuyan's left eye twitched in aggravation.

Leaving was no longer an option, even as children, Su Qiuyan and the other disciples of Shui Lian Peak could never get past Shenye Ai's barriers.

He glared at the mountains of papers. It was all leveled around his torso; if he so pleased, he could have jumped from the top of the pile to the pavilion's second floor with minimal effort.

Shuffling through the papers, Su Qiuyan found that it was easy to sort them in accordance with the shelf labels. Physically bringing the scrolls over and placing back so many papers, however, proved to be a difficult feat..

Even with the innovation of using his sword as a carrying mechanism, painstakingly placing the scrolls back one by one was enough to make any person lose their mind.

While returning from his third trip to the upper floors, Su Qiuyan noticed the candle on the table was nearly done, leaving only a few incenses of time left at most.

He rushed over, his sword drifting after him.

He carefully picked up the dying candle, carrying it over to a nearby cabinet where extras were kept.

Using the flame from the nearly distinguished wick, he lit a new candle before blowing out the former and throwing it in the bin below the cabinet.

Su Qiuyan grabbed his new candle and headed back to his little table.

He turned and bumped into his sword, as the sword fell to the ground, the scrolls atop it were sent flying off.

As one of them fell, it caught fire from the candle in his hands. The burning scroll continued to fall to the floor, charring the wooden boards below.

Su Qiuyan called for his sword which was now lying lifelessly on the floor under a pile of papers.

Having been infused with spiritual energy again, the sword's tip flew toward his hand. With one light flick of his wrist, the sword flung out so that its hilt was facing Su Qiuyan's palm. The blade's swift action made a small gust of wind strong enough to extinguish the fire.

He placed his sword back in the sheath at his waist before hurrying over to see the damage.

Almost ⅗ of the scroll had been completely burned beyond recognition, leaving behind staining black soot.

Su Qiuyan reached for what was left of the scroll, dusting off the burnt edges before placing it on another table. He then crouched down to wipe away the burned portions of the floorboards.

The moment his hand brushed the pile of ash, the charred area of the floor gave in, revealing a small compartment under the floorboards.

The opening was about the size of a teacup, Su Qiuyan carefully peeked inside the dark crevice.

He brought over the candle, careful as to keep it as far away from the floor and papers as he could. The bright candlelight illuminated the entirety of the compartment.

It was roughly the size of an incense case, but its base extended further down. A single scroll was tucked snuggly within.

Su Qiuyan pinched at the paper's edge and raised the scroll up so that it stood vertically in the small box before pulling it through the opening.

The paper was kept perfectly, white as marble and smooth as jade. It was rolled delicately and sealed with a golden string.

Su Qiuyan carefully untied the scroll, slowly unrolling the paper as its delicate preparation had compelled him to not damage it.

On the paper, there were very few characters, written in a distinguishably professional manner. The ink had been dulled to a faded blue from aging.

Su Qiuyan, unable to keep the scroll open while crouching on the ground, brought it to the table, spreading it out on the smooth surface before placing an unlit candle at each corner.

He squinted at the small writing.

"...was disqualified and eventually expelled from Shui Lian Peak for accusations of utilizing demonic cultivation methods during the competitions…"

The first three characters of the writing were smudged beyond recognition.

* * * * *

Shenye Ai's footsteps quickened as the sun set further.

While Drifting Lotus Pavilion was readily available to the disciples of Shui Lian Peak, there were seldom visitors due to its remote location and somewhat outdated information.

In short, it was mainly used as storage for unnecessary records.

The pavilion was small in size, closely shielded by mountains on all four sides.

The mountains which surrounded the pavilion were so close in fact that the windows could be kept open without wind disturbing the interior.

The pavilion's white outer walls were stained an unappealing beige after years of weathering, and while the building still stood, it was supported mainly by the greenery around it.

As if the earth itself willed the pavilion's life, an old cypress tree grew in such a way that it appeared to be one with the pavilion's walls.

The thin trunk of the tree wove in and out of the wall, leaving little cracks from where it penetrated the wooden boards, yet the wall remained sturdy alongside the tree's support.

Shenye Ai was very familiar with the sight.

"Shen Yue!"

A woman shouted in his direction, Shenye Ai turned over to the approaching figure.

Shenye Ai shouted back, "Shimei, the sun has already set, the cold wind will bring about a terrible sickness."

His words of warning were not heeded as the woman continued approaching.

"Shen Yue, have you seen A-Yan?"

Lin Yue was still out of breath from running to the pavilion.

Her hair was tied into a neat bun, held together by a long green ribbon that matched her eyes.

Under the rays of moonlight, the green accents of her eyes, ribbon, and dress glowed with a calm resolve.

She shivered, her soft, delicate face unable to hide her suffering. The small metal box which she clutched in her hands gave off a faint rattling sound.

Shenye Ai quickly glanced at the box but paid no mind to it.

He knew she would not leave easily, so concealing the truth was a fruitless effort.

"We were studying at the Drifting Lotus Pavilion, I left early while Su Qiuyan stayed to tidy up."

He gestured for her to follow him back to the peak.

"I do implore you to head back, the mountains are only getting colder, I assure you Su Qiuyan will be fine inside the pavilion."

In truth, it was near impossible for Lin Yue to make it there in the first place.

The pavilion housed the core of a very potent disorientation array, set up generations ago.

The array distorted a person's sight and memories, making them walk in circles around a seemingly small forest, the many tall mountains that would otherwise serve as sufficient landmarks would only aid to driving a person mad.

Even after all these years, the array's core has never been located. Much less disassembling the array, nobody on the peak even knew how it worked.

Seeing as she was not yet convinced, Shenye Ai spoke once more, "You are unfamiliar with the land, had the events of tonight not been in your favor, you might've gotten lost and lost your life in the forest's array."

Lin Yue's posture stiffened, yet she showed no signs of wanting to turn back.

Shenye Ai sighed.

As the sunlight continued to fade, so did his patience.

He placed his hand on his sword's hilt and carefully removed the ink-dyed tassel that hung off of it.

Woven into it was an enchanted compass.

He held it out for Lin Yue.

The compass had a completely smooth surface, carved from what looked like blue jade, its vermillion red needle spun around aimlessly.

It had no markings of any sort.

"While this compass cannot lead you directly to the pavilion, the needle will gradually stop spinning once it detects a strong enough energy that is similar to that of the array's core."

With the compass in her hand, Lin Yue gave her thanks to Shenye Ai and excused herself.

Shenye Ai looked at her distancing figure,

"Please be careful with it."