The rot runs deeper

Xie Bian collapsed in exhaustion on his bed, feeling the weight of the day like a burial mound settling over his back. One would think being dead would spare him the indignity of exhaustion, but thus far the only thing being dead spared him from was the pleasures of living.

He fell asleep dreaming of all the delicious food he was constantly served at the Wei estate but couldn't taste, he imagined the fragrant scents of the teas he couldn't savour. His sleeping mind turned the tea into rain which he at least could feel, and the rain became the warm caresses of a familiar pair of hands, which he had felt on him but not like this. Not that he remembered, but he remembered nothing.

He had been dead nearly one month.

His dreams pitched him violently from one sensation to the next, he woke up gasping, wondering if two dead things could feel alive together.

It was Fan Wujiu's presence in the room who had wrenched him away from sleep, he stood over Xie Bian's bed like a beautiful spectre.

"I'm going to talk with Wei Liang, convince him we can work together," he said, adjusting the fall of his hair in annoyance. "Stay here, entertain Wei Xiangsi if he comes. We stand to learn more if we approach both of them from opposite angles."

He paused. "Consider telling him I'm possessive or controlling of you. Anything that will make him more willing to trust you, to see similarities in your positions."

Xie Bian grumbled under his breath: "I don't like lying."

"We have been lied to since the first moment we stepped foot in this house."

"And so we should sink to their level?"

One corner of Fan Wujiu's lips curled up. "We've had this conversation. Honesty will get you nowhere with dishonest people."

He left the room afterwards, leaving Xie Bian to puzzle when they'd had that conversation because he had no memory of it.

He fell back on the mussed sheets with a sigh. Who kenw when Wei Xiangsi would pay him a visit?

The sight of Wei Liang's careless fingers on Fu Shulin's book jumped to his mind. Xie Bian had put the book aside after the shocking carnage of An Mu's death, but the truth was that he couldn't stomach the idea of not knowing what would become of Fu Shulin if someone were to take the book from him, or destroy it.

Yanluo might have had a specific reason to give him the book but Xie Bian was still reading it because he felt connected to Fu Shulin.

He wasn't going to languish in bed all day waiting for Wei Xiangsi. He got up and got the book out of his infinity pouch, bracing himself for the consequences of Fu Shulin's explosion.

---

Fu Shulin became aware of someone calling his name. Yao Yan was shouting at him to control himself.

His entire body was shaking, the spiritual energy raged inside of him, whatever dam had been holding it back had burst, and Fu Shulin didn't know how to stop the tide.

He turned to face his shifu. The bodies of the Soaring Crane disciples were crumpled on the floor all around them, but not all of them were dead. Fu Shulin felt the spiritual energy inside him wouldn't rest until he killed them all.

"Shifu, let me avenge Mu-jie."

Yao Yan muttered an invocation and pulled a talisman from within his sleeve, sending it flying towards Fu Shulin. He closed his eyes before the full force of it struck him, and didn't open them again for nearly a day.

When he came to, he was lying among straw on the back of an open carriage. There were chests all around him, and bolts of cloth hiding him from view. He sat up and lifted one corner of fabric to peer at who was driving.

"Shifu? Where are we going?" Fu Shulin asked.

Yao Yan looked behind his shoulder to shoot him a wan smile. "To Longyu, we need to hide..."

"No," Fu Shulin said, squaring his shoulders. "We should go to Longbei."

Yao Yan pulled on the reins, slowing down the horses to a trot. "That's where those Soaring Crane cultivators were headed, I don't think it's a good idea."

"Jade Dragon Manor will open trials soon, and I'm going to join," Fu Shulin said.

To think that even a few weeks ago he'd been ready to give up on it all, to be a rogue cultivator, together with Yao Yan, traveling through Jianghu and helping the common people; going wherever the road took them, with no sect to tie them down.

That bucolic life had gone up in smoke with An Mu's death. Her killers were still alive, and while Fu Shulin didn't blame Yao Yan for stopping him, he understood in himself a fundamental change. His life was no longer his alone, now he shared it with An Mu and with her killers, and if he wanted to get it back he had to settle the score.

Yao Yan was looking at him with great sadness. "That will be difficult," he said, sighing. "Especially now, we are wanted criminals. Soaring Crane won't let the death of their disciples lie."

"Those people hid behind the power and protection their sect afforded them to do as they pleased, if I want to go up against them I'll need it too."

Fu Shulin knew it was useless to try and go to the yamen with his version of events. They would have him and Yao Yan in irons in seconds, and executed the very next day.

He saw only one path towards justice and it was soaked in blood.

When he was a powerful cultivator in his own right everyone would know the truth about the cowardly events that cost An Mu her life, and Soaring Crane would take responsibility for its disciples.

Yao Yan's expression remained troubled. "I told you I could help you, and I'm a man of my word, but as your Shifu, I would be remiss not to warn you: the rot runs deeper than you think. It isn't just a few trees, the very soil is poisoned."

"Then I'll burn it so something new may grow."