Heavenly Soul

Finally, Qinghe urged, "Continue."

So Wei Xiang did. "The clan leader of course knew that he couldn"t tell the others about my origin, so he claimed I was an orphan whose parents had been killed while outside. Since the clan members were being hunted left and right by cultivators led by Master, it wasn"t difficult to believe. But the other elders found the missing egg and carried out their own investigations. Though they did find out the truth later, they were convinced by the clan leader that it was for the best of the clan. By this time, the wyverns had been cornered to the point where they gathered to take shelter in this dimension. No one, not even Master, was able to breach it.

"I had strong apt.i.tude towards fire and metal. I had the potential to be the strongest. So they coddled me and constantly pushed me to train. Though my cultivation kept skyrocketing, I lacked the experience of actual combat. So, after being strongly cautioned to keep my ident.i.ty a secret, I was sent outside into the world. The protectors they sent with me were seen through, however, and they were soon killed.

"The Sentinel Grandmaster captured me. But finding that I was relatively young for a wyvern and knew nothing, he proceeded to explain all the evil deeds perpetrated by my clan. I obviously didn"t believe it. The wyverns had fed and sheltered me. Though I had no one in my age group to make friends with, the adults all showered me with adoration mixed with reverence and took proper care of me. They were the only family I knew. There was no way I would believe a stranger over them.

"Realizing this, Master took me to witness the wyverns sneaking around, murdering and pillaging. He made me witness them at their worst and forced me to face the cruel truth. And rather than blaming me for being blind all this time, he offered me a place in the ranks of his Sentinels. He didn"t want me to have to go back and face them."

Taking a deep breath he continued, "I declined. I wanted to speak with the clan leader and ascertain the truth for myself. Master let me go and told me he"d be right outside, near where he"d discovered the entrance of the dimension a while ago. But he never once asked me to betray my clan or coerce me to let him in. I think that"s when I began trusting him. Anyway, rea.s.sured by his presence, I entered the dimension.

"I went straight to the clan leader and asked him about it. He didn"t even attempt to hide it. He said he saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. He a.s.sumed I would find it so too. When I showed my disgust, he tried to convince me that it was my destiny to lead the clan to Heaven or something. Then he told me about my birth. He rambled on and on about how he"d breed me to rejuvenate the bloodline… I was naturally horrified.

"When he saw that nothing he said was getting through to me, he tried to capture me. He and the elders… they wanted to cut off my wings and imprison me so that I could fulfill their insane dreams. It was one thing too much and I snapped."

Wei Xiang"s eyes had grown distant with remembrance. He laid his head down on Qinghe"s lap. Qinghe silently combed his fingers through his hair soothingly.

"I don"t even remember what happened. I was furious and panicked and… I just slaughtered them all. I knew that each and every one of them was complicit in this betrayal. They hurt and killed and pretended it was for a good cause. I saw the kind auntie who used to bake sweets for me ripping apart a family of humans. I saw her gnaw at their bloodstained bones while grinning, flesh and gristle stuck between her teeth. Not one of them was free of sins and they…disgusted me. I feel guilty for feeling this way. They did, after all, raise me up. But I couldn"t stop myself from doing what I did.

"When I exited the dimension soaked in blood, Master was waiting for me. He was shocked when he saw me and even more shocked when I told him what happened. But he didn"t blame me and kept attempting to offer comfort even though he was really awkward at it. He took me away and I joined the Sentinels. All of this happened around ten thousand years ago."

Qinghe slowly digested what he"d heard while stroking Wei Xiang"s hair.

Finding out the truth about his clan and their expectations must have been more horrible than Wei Xiang had let on. It would be like living in a large, happy family, thinking you were cherished and cared for, only to realize one day that everyone except you was a serial killer and that they expected you to take the same path of senseless brutality and lead them while on it. The feeling of betrayal must have been overwhelmingly crushing and absolutely devastating.

Finally done with telling his past, Wei Xiang was relieved and settled himself more comfortably in his beloved"s lap.

"I wonder how many issues you have…" Qinghe pondered out loud.

Wei Xiang barked out a short laugh. "Are you taking revenge on me for before when we talked about your issues, beloved?" he asked, smiling.

The hands brushing his hair paused as he said "beloved", but soon resumed.

"You keep calling him "clan leader", but the tree guardian called you "Sovereign". If you are both leaders of the heavenly wyverns, why the difference in address?"

Wei Xiang explained, "A species of beast usually branches off into many different clans over the course of time. The leader of each clan is called a clan leader or clan head, while the leader of the whole species is called a Sovereign. The t.i.tle of Sovereign is decided based on power and is bestowed absolute authority over the entire species, while the clan leader has to share his authority with the elders of the clan and is only one part of the governing body. He may not make decisions alone. Since I was the most powerful heavenly wyvern, the clan leader couldn"t a.s.sume the t.i.tle of Sovereign unless he defeated me."

Qinghe ruminated on this revelation for a while, trying to piece together the kind of environment Wei Xiang must have grown up in.

"By the way, where is the place your clan used to stay? I don"t remember seeing it on our way," Qinghe asked.

"This is a huge dimension. The clan built a small town to live in. It"s somewhere on the opposite side over there, past the tree line and over a chain of hills. There is nothing much to see though. I burned down most of it that last time, plus ten thousand years have already pa.s.sed. It must have been reclaimed by the land by now." Wei Xiang"s voice was normal and without any special emotions, as if he"d gotten over it all long ago.

Well, he did have fourteen thousand years to deal with it.

Qinghe"s heart nevertheless hurt, but he was also glad that talking about his past didn"t seem to affect Wei Xiang much.

He looked down and his breath almost stuttered.

Wei Xiang"s long straight hair was draped over Qinghe"s lap, contrasting starkly with the white robe. With a relaxed and content expression, Wei Xiang was sprawled leisurely, his long and muscled body laying languorous in repose. As Qinghe"s gaze meandered over his lover"s well-proportioned figure, he felt his own body heat up. He suddenly became very aware that his lover"s head was in his lap, too close to a certain area.

Qinghe felt warmth crawl up his face.

"I think you should get up," he said in a somewhat stiff voice.

"Hm? Okay," Wei Xiang sat back up and looked to see Qinghe blushing. He raised an eyebrow, but made no comment.

"Thank you for telling me," Qinghe said as he got up. It was about time they headed back.

Shrugging, Wei Xiang spoke, "It"s no big deal. It"s been so long that I truly did forget about it. I have a satisfying job and I have you, so I"m happy with my current life."

Qinghe smiled. "Let"s return. The others must be waiting."

And so they made their way back to where they"d first entered the dimension.

Just as Qinghe was worrying about how they"d get out, Wei Xiang directed his attention to a formation that lay underneath millennia of dust and debris. If Wei Xiang hadn"t been familiar with its placement, Qinghe would never have been able to find it buried under all that.

Feeding it some spiritual energy, they were finally able to get out.

On the other side, Jing Shui and the others had already made themselves at home, much to the dissatisfaction of the tree guardian.

Light abruptly flashed, and suddenly there were two more people in the clearing.

"Brother Feng, you"re back!" Jing Shui exclaimed happily as he looked over his friend for damage. He was finally relieved when he saw that he was unharmed.

Seeing his worried expression ease, Qinghe smiled. "Yes, I"m back."

An YaLing asked, "Were you able to find the beast?"

Qinghe nodded. "We did. We even killed it." He wasn"t about to tell them about Wei Xiang"s connection to that female wyvern though.

"Then did you collect its venom?" Lei Zihua immediately questioned.

"It was more of an acid, but yes. I filled up all the bottles you gave me, Sister Lei," Qinghe replied while handing over the bottles.

Wei Xiang, on the other hand, was silently plotting, thinking of all the ways he could torment that blasted tree that had tried to cause them no little amount of trouble.

"Qinghe," Wei Xiang called out. "Why don"t you lead the others out of the forest? I have something left to do here."

Looking over at the ancient tree, Qinghe shook his head in pity. Once it was gone, they wouldn"t be able to access the dimension again. But oh well, there was nothing in there that they needed that badly anyway.

Not to mention that it had not only caused the Nightmare Parasite to rip open their emotional scars in front of each other, it could have also gotten them sucked clean of spiritual energy, causing their deaths. Plus, that sly tree had it coming. Who asked it to go against his lover. It deserved whatever it got.

Led by Qinghe, the group started making their way out. Occasionally, they would hear the sounds of creaking wood and breaking branches from behind them, along with m.u.f.fled screams in the voice of the tree guardian, but they all decisively ignored it together and marched forward.

They reached the end of the forest uneventfully and once again used the transportation array there to directly go to the Lightning Sky Sect. Qinghe and the others were grilled thoroughly by the sect master, Qinghe being interrogated the most, since apart from Wei Xiang, he was the only one to see and fight the wyvern.

Qinghe told them an abridged version of what happened. It was mostly the truth, he just omitted all the things the wyvern had said to Wei Xiang.

Of course, the sect master didn"t doubt his account since Qinghe had brought over a few copper scales and had already handed over the acid. The acid was crosschecked and found to match the liquid that the serpent beast had expelled before while fighting other cultivators outside the forest. If Wei Xiang also corroborated his story, then there"d be no problems. Qinghe didn"t worry too much about it.

After returning to Heavenly Peak Sect, Qinghe was once again called to the sect hall and made to recite the entire thing yet again. By the time Qinghe retired to his room, night had already fallen.

Freshening up at the stream, Qinghe wore his loose robe and was preparing to sleep when a knock sounded on his door.

He could more or less guess who would be on the other side. And sure enough, when he opened the door, he was greeted with the cutely repentant faces of the twins.

"Senior Brother, may we come in?" Fei Jin asked politely.

When had these little imps learnt to be polite?

Qinghe gestured them inside anyway. This would be a good time to have a nice talk about what they did before.

After entering, the twins fidgeted nervously. Was their senior brother still angry? With that perpetually cold face of his when in private, they couldn"t tell anything.

Just in case, they decided to apologize. "Senior Brother, we"re very sorry for what we did last time!" Fei Jin said loudly as they both bowed deeply.

Qinghe let them sweat a bit before he spoke, "Good, you better be sorry. Do you realize how embarra.s.sing and awkward that was for me to end up in such a situation? How would you have compensated me if my lover thought I"d cheated?"

Fei Yin and Fei Jin went and solemnly held each of Qinghe"s hands as Fei Jin proclaimed seriously, "Then we"d take responsibility and marry Senior Brother."

"…" A tiger never changed its stripes, did it?

Shaking his head, Qinghe finally cracked a smile. The twins who had been peeking at his expression to make sure they hadn"t taken things too far were finally relieved when they saw his smile.

Nervously, Fei Yin spoke, whispering shyly, "Senior Brother…can we lie down with you?"

Qinghe raised an eyebrow. Hadn"t they grown out of this habit yet?

When they had newly arrived in the sect, the twins used to come and burrow in his sheets whenever they had a nightmare or were feeling insecure or anxious. They"d come in the middle of the night and ask to lie beside him, and Qinghe would slowly comfort them and ease their worries.

"Very well. But if you both don"t behave, I"ll call the Sentinel and make him spank you for hara.s.sment, understood?"

The twins looked offended at the threat of being spanked as if they were still kids. They might sell meng constantly, but that did not mean they were children! They were seventeen already, you know! Seventeen!

As if unable to see their expressions, Qinghe said, "Ah, I almost forgot. Since you behaved so badly last time, I"m punishing you. You"ll both spend one month on Starry Mountain Peak and cultivate seriously. You are permitted to shield yourself from the wind."

With a face full of unshed tears, the twins looked imploringly at their senior brother. He had never punished them before. This must definitely be that Wei-whatever"s fault! They should have known he"d bring them trouble!

"Don"t look at me like that. I"ll make your favorite sweets when you get back, okay? You can depart tomorrow for your punishment," Qinghe was unrelenting even as he compromised.

Sighing, they both nodded their heads.

Truth be told, they did feel like they deserved it. Actually, they could even be said to have gotten off lightly. Qinghe was truly terrible at gauging the severity of their crime or administering the relevant amount of punishment.

After such a long and mentally tiring day, Qinghe was exhausted. He guessed that after all that had happened today, Wei Xiang would need to spend some time talking things out with his Master, the Sentinel Grandmaster.

Qinghe lied down and patted the bed by his side. "Come on now, your senior brother is too tired to stay awake any longer."

The twins immediately climbed up to lie down on either side of him, relieved that their senior brother wouldn"t distance himself from them.

Within seconds, Qinghe was deeply asleep.

Fei Jin and Fei Yin raised up their heads and met each other"s gazes.

"Senior Brother is still too lenient. He can"t even punish us right," Fei Jin commented with unhidden affection.

"Maybe that"s why he needs that annoying Sentinel by his side," Fei Yin said thoughtfully.

They themselves were too selfish and greedy for their senior brother"s compa.s.sion and affection, they could never tell him to harden his heart even if he was being hurt. But as Qinghe had told them before, Wei Xiang had no trouble calling him over it and making him fix his issues.

This was exactly what Qinghe needed.

They both looked at their sleeping senior brother. Fei Yin waved his hand and retrieved a blanket from his storage s.p.a.ce. The twins carefully tucked Qinghe in it, warm smiles on their faces.

Maybe this situation at present was also not bad.