Fu Ran’s sudden rigidness caused Tian Han’s attention to be drawn, his eyes going wide at the sight of blood. "Shizun, are you hurt?" His hands grasped at Fu Ran’s wrist, but he easily slid out of the hold.

Fu Ran hushed him and said, “No, just give me a minute. I think this is wrong.” As he went back to paging through the book, sure enough, there was a sheet stained incomprehensible with thick red. He must have touched it without meaning to and spread the blood further. Fu Ran had certainly said that the book was complicated, however, it was not so complicated that there should be blood within its pages.

With a gentle touch Tian Han took the loose blood soaked pages and pulled them apart. "This looks too fresh," Tian Han observed. Once fully separated, they were placed on the dark hardwood desk to dry.

Book in hand, Fu Ran moved to the edge of his bed, seemingly oblivious to the added weight caused by Tian Han sitting next to him. Propping onto Fu Ran’s shoulder Tian Han read the book along with him.

At first, the pages only described how to create a single array, and looked no different than a regular starter book. It described the basic procedure of researching sigils that represented specific regions. No matter where “home” was, the book had basic ideas on how to arrive at the proper location.

Nothing about this book should have been read as fatal.

While it might have sucked to get the array incorrect, the worst case would be that you ended up in a completely wrong region, or worse, the demon realm. Though, even the worst case didn’t mean certain death.

This all changed when Fu Ran read through to the middle portions of the book. There was a massive shift in tone that came about far too abruptly. The handwriting was completely different. Even the small page numbers were wrong, not matching the previous format. “It’s been mutilated,” Fu Ran said. “It looks like a separate book was merged with it.”

He continued to read.

This portion of the book was much darker and heavier in context. The wording vastly jumped reading-comprehension level, and the sigils were of higher caliber. Unlike the book he remembered, “A Beginner’s Array Home,” this book housed an exhaustive materials list.

When raw spiritual energy wasn’t enough, an array needed ingredients of the earth to properly power it, the one depicted in the book was no exception. Since it seemed exceptionally powerful, it required heavy spiritually-dense items. One line caused his shoulders to stiffen:

In order to properly reach the depth of one's subconscious, — must be — with — blood of three dozen mortals. — Then the rest of one's mind can be sealed. Once sealed the vessel — within — limited time to —

Fu Ran couldn’t read more. The pages were much older than the original skin of the book, and had become covered in messy globs of red. That being said, it didn’t require too much thought to understand the basic meaning.

“An array that needs over 30 humans worth of blood?” Fu Ran said, a thinly veiled layer of sweat covering his forehead. He could have said that a hundred times, but it still shook his body. Something like this wasn’t fit for An Xian Yun Peak.

“It is a cursed spell book,” Tian Han said.

It was just as simple as saying something he already knew, but it created panic in his mind when Tian Han seconded his thoughts. Fu Ran couldn’t hold back the words of rage. “This completely goes against An Xian Yun Peak’s cultivation path! Hiding something grotesque where disciples could find it is completely abhorrent!”

Tian Han’s brows were knitted together in worry, and he gently took the book from Fu Ran’s hands. “Please, don’t fret too much over this,” Tian Han said softly.

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“How can I not?” Fu Ran cried.

In order to comfort the agitated teacher, Tian Han gently pressed his palm to the top of his head. While it did bring some comfort, Fu Ran’s blood was boiling and it was hard to bring it down to a simmer. He grit his teeth and dug his fingers into his silk robes until the knuckles turned white.

“This is blatant endangerment. After what happened just under two months ago, how can this be allowed?”

“I can take it to Master Shesui later today. This falls under the jurisdiction of the Library and Records Hall, so it might be best to let him handle it.”

Fu Ran immediately slumped forward, pulling his knees up to meet his chest. “You are right, but...”

He was correct. This was Shesui Lang’s job. For one, he would want to know about this, since the book was found in his library in its current state. And two, he would naturally be best suited to a job involving the mutilation of books, as restoration is also among his skill set.

Lips lowering into a frown, Fu Ran tried to breath out all of his troubles in a single exhale. The hand on his head moved to his back, and drew circles against his robes. Tian Han kept repeating, “Just rest your mind for a few moments,” while continuing the motion.

Fu Ran felt comfortable enough to draw his eyes closed, and he leaned in closer to Tian Han.

I should have stayed in bed, but I can’t leave it now, he thought.

***

After a small passage of indecipherable moments, Fu Ran heard a boot enter into his home from the outside garden. It was light so Fu Ran didn’t panic, and he slowly opened his eyes.

“Shizun,” Wan Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead. He looked to his gege for just a moment, but didn’t pay him more attention than needed. “We finished up our sword swings,” his small voice was a bit warbled in tiredness. The thinner parts of his robes were nearly see-through, because he was that drenched in sweat. Moving into the throws of summer had made the heat unbearable, so it was understandable to see him in this condition.

Standing up, Fu Ran moved, but Tian Han’s hand didn’t. For just a moment it rested on his hip until he stepped too far away for it to reach.

Fu Ran smiled, and hiding his exasperation he said, “That’s good. A-Wan, would you like some tea? It is good to take a break when you can, especially in the hot weather. Tell the others that we will be doing lighter work for the next few days, I have books from the library.” He was happy to see Wan Yu being sweet and obedient, the boy wasting no time after the request was given.

Fu Ran turned to give his thanks to Tian Han only to find himself now sharing eye contact. Tian Han’s lips had upturned into a satisfied grin, and he started to stand. “I will be heading out then.”

Yet again, Tian Han lingered close by Fu Ran, giving a light touch to the sleeve of his robes. “Please, call me next time. It doesn’t matter what it is you need help with, or if it's nothing at all. Even if you just want to look at me, I will come.”

Just to look at you?

He drew his eyes away from Tian Han and responded, “Mn,” instead of a proper sentence.

Tian Han beamed and held the book close to his chest. “Bye Bye, Shizun,” he said, and with simple words, he left the room.

The cute sentence didn’t fit his mischievous face.

Fu Ran watched the door close behind him, and he had to strain to hear the steps of heavy boots leaving Xingti Pavilion. Now that Tian Han was gone, Fu Ran moved to the newly filled bookshelf.

It was a bit jarring how silent things had become when he was the only one in his room. It was like he never paid attention to it before, but why would he? He was always used to this. His fingers ran along the book covers on the surface, nails picking and prodding at the gold edging, and his gaze occasionally cut to the door, expecting Tian Han to still be there. But of course, he was long gone by now. Fu Ran’s lips lowered and his eyebrows furrowed.

He was used to quiet. However, ever since he had taken on disciples, and suddenly obtained a needy companion, he had now grown used to liveliness.

Could I really call Tian Han whenever I thought of him?

Was he allowed that kind of friendship where he could just… choose to hang out with someone should he desire it? After a while of drawing circles into the book covers, he sighed. He felt the intensive need to give both of his cheeks a good slap, as he quickly removed the thought of Tian Han from his mind.

Standing up with the weight of several books in hand, he huffed and walked to the door leading to his private garden.