Chapter Text
The legendary battle with Tianlang-jun’s was a well-staged play.
How bold of these humans was to assume they could trick and defeat the Demon Emperor himself! What were they even thinking? That he’s just some inexperienced youth who can’t dodge a bunch of attacks and timely reevaluate his capabilities? That he doesn’t know when to retreat and hide his traces?
Foolish.
Tianlang-jun united the Demonic Realm with his bare hands, having to fight countless demon lords before they recognized his power. The worst of them probably was his own sister…Oh, these cultivators must be happy they picked on him and not his meimei. In the end she too lost to her brother in power, but she was definitely way more vengeful and wouldn’t leave it like that.
Tianlang-jun was not particularly interested in revenge. He was heartbroken by Su Xiyan’s betrayal, and, well, an unexpected fight ruined the upcoming month for him for sure as some damage had been done.
But that’s what he should have expected. He too once used the seducing strategy out of ulterior motives during his conquest in the Demonic Realm…But his Xiyan wasn’t the kind of person to do that, no.
Besides, Su Xiyan hasn’t even been among the cultivators that attacked him. Maybe she hoped he could escape…She was so close to him, she must have known he wouldn’t succumb.
If you want to hide something, leave it in an open space! Who’s going to look for a wounded Demon Emperor in a third-rate inn? He could disguise as human quite well; as for his wounds, well, he could as well claim to be cultivator or just a runaway noble youth (he believed he looked youthful enough) who ran into trouble. Most of the time, common humans didn’t really care at all. He rented a room and ordered some wine for himself.
Alcohol has surely cheered him up as he thought, maybe Su Xiyan knew he would escape? Of course she knew, how couldn’t she know? How could she ever doubt him? He’s here now, safe and relatively sound. She definitely will explain everything to him once they meet again, he just has to keep a low profile and wait for a good opportunity.
Memories of recent events flooded Su Xiyan’s head as soon as she regained enough consciousness to recall who she was. She tried to get up, but her whole body responded with terrible pain.
“Oh dear, don’t move! Your wounds will open,” an unfamiliar old woman with a worried face rushed over with a bowl of water and held it to Su Xiyan’s lips. Su Xiyan gladly drank it almost on instinct before even thinking of being cautious. “Lie back down, rest. Oh, just who could’ve done that to you, poor child? Rest, rest…You’re safe now.”
Su Xiyan looked around in confusion. The last thing she remembered after throwing away the flask and punching someone’s face to steal their sword and escaping the hell away from the Huan Hua sect was reaching the riverside. Then she had to land her sword, then she probably threw up, and then she staggered down the stream until…How long has she lasted?..
Long enough to reach the vicinity of some settlement, apparently. She began to connect the dots.
Hold up.
“Where…What’s with the child?” her voice sounded hoarse and she felt like words were scratching her throat on their way out.
“Ah, of course, of course,” the old woman smiled. “You probably don’t remember your fever and labor, but of course you wouldn’t forget about the baby. Hold on, he’s right here. Such a beautiful little boy.”
Su Xiyan only now noticed there was something else on the bed beside her, something thoroughly wrapped in clothes that the old woman scooped up and moved closer to Su Xiyan’s face.
“I’d lay him down on your chest, but I don’t want to risk disturbing your wounds. Watch him from my arms, okay?”
Su Xiyan couldn’t think of any words.
Her child was actually there before her. Even if she tried to touch it, her hands wouldn’t listen anyway. She blinked a few times, her brain still not fully processing what this little pink squeaking bunch was.
And then she felt every emotion possible at once.
The old woman was smiling gently at her. “Don’t cry, dear. The worst part is already over.”
It took Su Xiyan a lot of effort to force her trembling lips to move again. There were so many things going on in her head right now, but none of them could be put into words. In the end, she kept it simple.
“Thank you.”
Tianlang-jun was quite used to being alone, but…
It’s been so terribly long since he last saw Su Xiyan. And it felt like there’s not a trace of her left in this world, as if she never existed. Why won’t she send him any sign?
That’s what he thinks until he overhears a conversation between two disciples that wear the same kind of uniform as Su Xiyan.
“...It’s truly a pity. Shijie didn’t deserve such an end.”
“I know, right. It’s all because of that demon…Ugh, frankly, I think it was not a good idea to make her a spy to begin with. If he found out, he would have killed her even earlier.”
“Right, but who else would handle such a mission if not Su-shijie?..”
Ah.
That was quite a lot to process.
Something has gone wrong with peak lord Shen. One day he just lost his consciousness, and when he woke up…When he woke up, he felt like a different person.
At first no one paid attention to that. He seemed to have partial memory loss, which was unsurprising for his condition. Few days after his recovery, Shen Qingqiu has been recalling things and past habits, but…
He just felt different.
Nothing was wrong with his qi or his meridians. His mind didn’t seem to be particularly affected either. There were no signs of possession.
“Sometimes people change in the face of death,” that was Mu Qingfan’s best guess. “Maybe Shen-shixiong has experienced some sort of…enlightenment?..”
Not like anyone had any better ideas.
And, really, apart from Yue Qingyuan, everyone was quite happy with this updated Shen Qingqiu.
“I’m sure you’ll do well,” Su Xiyan smiled as she patted her son’s head. Time was flying so fast; she still couldn’t get used to the fact that her Binghe can speak in complete sentences, and here he was now about to try his luck to join a cultivation sect.
Not Huan Hua, of course.
She wanted her son to keep as far away from the Huan Hua sect as possible, and what could be a better place than the Cang Qiong Mountain sect? Even if for some reason someone from Su Xiyan’s former sect finds Binghe there…She knew that the Cang Qiong Sect always stood for their people. No other sect would be able to efficiently resist Huan Hua.
And it also would be best for the boy to learn to defend himself. There was so much Su Xiyan could teach him herself, but she didn’t want Huan Hua techniques to give out his origin one day.
Oh, and she left the name of Su Xiyan behind long ago.
Now she was Luo Tian, a commoner woman, the old washerwoman’s relative who’s husband tragically died and she moved in with her last remaining family. The old woman that saved her and her son was only happy about their stay; she was not feeling lonely, and also Luo Tian was strong and capable and took the breadwinner duty on herself. It was not too bad, really.
She was certainly earning more than the poor washerwoman ever could. They managed their little household, and as Binghe was growing up, he’s been a very eager helper too. Luo Tian was very proud of him.
“I will come see you and grandma sometimes, right?” Luo Binghe still looked at the people in light robes in the distance with mistrust and hesitation.
“Of course. They let their disciples visit families once a year. You can send us letters.”
“I will,” the boy nodded. He already knew how to write from his mother. “I will write to you everyday.”
“We won’t have enough paper to write back,” Luo Tian chuckled. “Better focus on finding some friends. We’ll always be waiting for you at home, but you are yet to make connections here. You must train and study hard too.”
“I will make you both proud,” Luo Binghe responded and hit his chest with his little fist confidently.
“We are already proud.”
She leaned in to plant a kiss on his forehead and lightly pushed him forward.