The sun shone down in a sweet warmth, down on that little farm house.

The frost began creeping in again.

A man who's hair was darker than blackened steel stood at the edge of the little village, warding the frost away from the homes and crops. He didn't seem to strain in pushing the frost away, as if it was part of him.

The ice crept over the view.

He had returned to the citadel.

To the dream he'd long forgotten.

A ghost in white knelt before a corpse in green.

An arrow nailed through their chest.

Red paper flowers surrounded them in greater numbers now.

As though this were a ritual the ghost had carried out for many years now.

•••

The scent of oranges and ginger gently pried him from the dream rather than a fall.

Instead he awoke in the perfect fairy tale way. The light didn't grate at his sleep-addled eyes, in fact the soft orange sunshine falling through the window was warm and comfortable beyond the sheer curtains.

It was easy to wake up warm and well rested.

"Awake yet?" A voice asked in a gentle tone.

Hong Chunji was staring at him with an extremely amused expression.

Qing Xiashu's brows twitched before lazily nuzzling back into his pillow.

It was far too early for all that speech.

His pillow moved.

"Ah! Sorry!" He practically threw Hong Chunji's arm away, startling the little wyrm from her rest cuddled around his head.

He was eloquently snorted at.

"How elegant. Good morning." The prince chuckled as he climbed over Qing Xiashu. "I was waiting for you to let go for like an hour."

"Sorry..."

"Well, I thought you would have liked breakfast, but you liked my arm even more." Hong Chunji mentioned as he moved across the inn. "Do you want tea?"

"Black tea?

"Mn."

"Yes please." Qing Xiashu mumbled, slowly sitting himself up to rub sleep from his eyes. He tossed his legs over the edge of the bed in an extended stretch before finally getting up. "Hong Chunji, was it today or tomorrow that the seamsters said?"

"Tomorrow, what would you like to do today?" Hong Chunji asked over his shoulder as he chopped ginger and ground down coriander. "We could wander around town, try to find a yaoguai hunt nearby, sight see, anything really."

"My my, Chunji, so forward asking me on a date so early in the morning." Qing Xiashu mumbled out mindlessly with a yawn. "Ahk!" A small chunk of ginger root had struck him in the side of his head.

"It's far too early in the morning for you to be so shameless!" Hong Chunji hissed, raising a hand to throw another piece of ginger.

"Chunji cuddled me all night but now he beats me! How cruel!" Qing Xiashu complained, picking up the ginger to return it to the kitchen.

"Silence, snake!"

Qing Xiashu grinned but honored the demand, stepping closer and leaning into Hong Chunji's precious personal space, smile refusing to falter.

"What?" Hong Chunji muttered with a beet red scowl, leaning away on his heels.

The head disciple's grin widened smugly, rising up on his tip toes and pecking the prince's cheek without a word.

Hong Chunji looked both abashed and offended, only for Qing Xiashu to laugh softly.

"You're too easy to terrorize, with or without words [https://img.wattpad.com/062895716c385b5964726bb0e08614aa7df455c9/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f42445066537938476951524477773d3d2d313439373031373833382e313830393438333663326634346631303430313236323039363933322e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"You're too easy to terrorize, with or without words." He stated, straightening and stepping away to seat himself at the table and make more talismans. "As to what we should do today, I suggest we see if the black smith has any semi decent weapons for sale. Anything is better than nothing at this point."

"Mn, sounds like a decent plan." Hong Chunji said with a nod as he chopped away at the ginger. "If we find some decent swords we might be able to fly with them."

"Oh gods, I don't even want to imagine trying to fly a spiritless sword anymore. Touming has spoiled me too much, I'll stick to the horses."

Hong Chunji rolled his eyes so hard Qing Xiashu could see it through the back of his head. "You Northerners and your animals. Jiao Jin isn't so good that I've forgotten how to handle regular swords I'm afraid."

"How did you come across Jiao Jin anyway?" Qing Xiashu asked, setting his chin in his hand.

"I won it in a bet."

"A bet?" The head disciple snorted at the idea.

"Mhm, I was thirteen and wandered into a gambling den in Yang Xin."

"Really? Are you serious?" The head disciple was struggling not to laugh at the absurdity of a child winning a spiritual weapon from a probably rather small bet.

"Entirely, I'm not sure what happened to its last owner honestly."

"And you just ran with a cultivator's spiritual weapon?"

"He was a collector. I doubt he cared too much. But even if he did, there wasn't much chance they were going to let him bicker, it was run by some kind of yao, Shejing I think."

"What did you bet?"

"My breakfast, I wasn't hungry that morning and decided to give it a go. Figured that was the best I was ever going to get and never looked back. Since then Jiao Jin has been mine and served me well enough." The prince answered with a shrug. "How did you get Touming?"

"It was a gift, I went on a hunt with Xue Shixiong and we helped the ghost of an old traveling mei shou. I was originally training with a guandao, but he gave me the sword out of his grave and I cultivated its spirit and named it later."

"You built Touming's spirit from scratch? Doesn't that take forever?" The Prince asked over his shoulder with an amused laugh.

"It does, but I thought it was an interesting process so I wanted to try." The head disciple hummed. "Kaihua and Xuelu took significantly less effort but I'm only a little jealous."

"How so?" Hong Chunji asked as he sat down beside Qing Xiashu, letting the congee sit to simmer for a while but bringing with him a pot of tea.

"Some of their hair and blood was forged into the blades so they were already tied, with inherited spiritual weapons you have to forge a connection, like you did, or start from scratch, like I did."

"Mn." The prince hummed in understanding, pouring a cup of tea for each of them and passing one to Qing Xiashu.

"You know, you're the second person I've met who's won a sword that way."

"Oh?" The prince raised his brows.

"There was some kid I met years ago who won one off someone. Can't for the life of me remember anything about them-- But I ended up giving them a manual and shooing them out."

Hong Chunji stared at him for a long moment before rolling his eyes and shrugging. "Blade spirits aside, we should invest in self defense weaponry. Are you a good archer?"

The head disciple sounded a note of acknowledgement while he blew the steam away from his tea. "Mm, I could probably hunt our food while we travel. That could eliminate some trouble with stopping in towns. We'd be able to travel until we needed to rest instead of matching it up with inns. Should we continue to follow the river to get to Tian Yang?"

Hong Chunji waved a hand in front of his face. "No no. That would take forever. We should cut across the turn of the river now and follow it when we find it again. The turn will probably take around thirteen hours to cross so we should make an effort to leave relatively early tomorrow morning and make it to the river before nightfall."

"How many days do you think it will take to get there?"

"Two most likely."

"It takes something like thirty seven days to make it from one end of the continent to the other on foot so assuming everyone is only traveling twelve hours a day, we should have a minimum of twenty days ahead of everyone else. And that's not including the amount of time it would take to escape the wilds themselves. God knows that would take a few weeks as well... Really I think we're looking at something like two months ahead of schedule."

Softly, Hong Chunji whistled. "That... is a lot of time to kill... I'm sure A-yi would appreciate the help if we stuck around though... I doubt Laotou is around to help her out anymore. Will working in pig pens bother you, Princess?"

"Who do you think mucks the stalls when no disciples are on punishments?" Qing Xiashu snorted.

"Perhaps I should have seen that coming, where else would your humor become so dirtied?"

The head disciple laughed again, shaking his head. "It's not my fault you open yourself to teasing. Besides, yours is hardly any better."

"Your influence." Hong Chunji decided as he stood and turned back to the kitchen, chopping scallions and collecting a number of things, setting some eggs in a boiling pot of water to cook for a few minutes before going to work cooling and peeling them. He put the congee in two bowls and decorated them in soft vibrant colors.

Qing Xiashu did nothing but rest his chin into his hands and watch.

If he could have nothing but Hei Xianying and Hong Chunji near him he would probably die happy, especially if they both kept making him feel all warm and stupidly fuzzy inside.

"You're staring." The prince mentioned as he set out the bowls on the table and sat himself down again.

"Watching you cook is a blessing."

Hong Chunji didn't respond the way the head disciple expected him to. He didn't really respond at all, he just flushed and dug into his food without replying, lacking the calm grace that usually accompanied him while he ate.

Qing Xiashu could only smile in amusement before beginning to eat his breakfast in silence, allowing the next half hour to pass peacefully.

"What's on the list for today? Blacksmith, camping supplies, lunch, anything else?" Hong Chunji asked after he'd already begun to clean up the dishes, taking them back to their strange little mini kitchen.

"Should we even bother with camping supplies? It'll only be one night."

"You don't want blankets?"

"Well, I have you."

Hong Chunji choked on his breath, crumpling in on himself to cough before shooting a halfhearted glare over his shoulder. "I'll put 'something to shut Qing Xiashu up' on the list of things to buy."

Qing Xiashu snorted and leaned back on one hand. "You already have something that can shut me up, Chunji~!" He teased, blowing a kiss across the room.

"Bah!" The prince tossed his hands up in his mock outrage.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

When had he grown so bold?

Qing Xiashu had been arguably meek for years, scared to grab ahold of Yin Liming's hand without excuse.

"Do you know where the smith is?" Qing Xiashu asked as they left the inn no more than an hour later.

"Mn, follow me." Hong Chunji announced as he began to sift through the morning bustle of the main road market. To avoid getting lost, Qing Xiashu caught a hold of the prince's hand, squeezing just enough that he wouldn't slip away.

For just a moment he gazed down at the shape of their hands. Where Qing Xiashu's fingers were almost fragile, Hong Chunji's were solid, he wouldn't be surprised if his hands were able to entirely vanish under the prince's.

"Here we are."

Qing Xiashu blinked and looked up at the shop they had entered, stubbornly linking two of their fingers even though they had escaped the crowded area.

Ah, maybe he hadn't grown much more bold...

He still worried he might be a bit too much.

"Liming Yingxiong! Back again? I hope you didn't crack your scabbard again, that was quite the fix last time." The old man inside the shop laughed, standing from his stool to greet Hong Chunji as an old friend.

"Good morning, I was hoping you had some swords for grabs, arrows too."

"Cultivation grade I assume?"

"If possible."

"Yes yes." The man waved his hands as he hobbled off. There was some thumping about in the back room before the man reappeared with a number of well crafted boxes.

"Northern, Southern, Eastern, I even tried my arm at some Western style blades, their guards are far more dramatic." The man said as he laid each sword across the counter.

"May I?" Qing Xiashu paused before he touched any of the swords.

"Feel free, you cultivators can get quite picky about your sword weight, I wouldn't attempt to keep you from testing them." The old smith chuckled. "Most of these are my grandson's works, but a few are mine, which will probably be lighter."

"What about this one?" Qing Xiashu asked, picking up a bronze sword and drawing it, flicking it back and forth a few times to feel it cut the air almost as elegantly as Touming.

"Ah, that is one of mine, it's built with a Northern style but made with materials from the South. Just a little experiment of mine. Those Northern disciple's like their swords light, and believe me, making a sword light with all the dense Southern materials was a struggle."

Qing Xiashu hummed quietly as he brushed his palm over the unnamed blade. "I'll take it."

The old man blinked in surprise. "You've not even touched any of the others."

"Don't bother trying to reason with him." Hong Chunji chuckled. "There's no arguing with him, he's stubborn."

With a snort, the head disciple rolled his eyes dramatically. "You can argue, it just won't get you anywhere."

"My point precisely."

After a long few minutes, Hong Chunji settled on a sword that was formatted much like Jiao Jin. Though it lacked the flashes of bright orange, instead holding green fire opals in its golden guard. "Ah, so, that one was commissioned by the royal family back in the day, you ought to be careful with it, it's rather expensive."

"Who was it commissioned for?" The prince in plain sight asked.

"One of the princes I suppose, though one would assume the older prince already had one, perhaps it was for the little one. Ah, he'd be something like your age now."

Qing Xiashu took a quiet glance at his companion, expecting to find some sadness or anger. Instead he found only a soft melancholic smile. "We have the funds." He pointed out, smiling when the prince visibly perked up.

The two swords, and a number of arrows were paid for while they quietly left the shop. "Was it made for you, do you think?" Qing Xiashu asked quietly as their anonymity was bestowed over them by the crowd.

"It's possible. But I can't understand why they wouldn't have one commissioned by the court smith like my brother's was." Hong Chunji answered softly, gazing down at the green fire opals burrowed into the guard, shifting it back and forth to watch them flash.

"Kaihua was forged by an outside smith."

"Your family unit isn't exactly known for working off tradition."

Qing Xiashu heaved a sigh. "Look. I... Hate to say this, but they may have wanted to slow down your progress by not having it forged with anything from your being... They probably felt the need to stall you until they were sure your abilities could be controlled."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm saying they might have thought you could be dangerous."

And oh how terrifying Hong Chunji might have turned out under their control, one shuddered at the thought.

Though Qing Xiashu had yet to see any suspicious abilities...

Hong Chunji sighed and shook his head. "My mother was distant, power hungry, and perhaps slept around. But she wasn't outright malicious."

The head disciple simply chose not to dispute the claim.

He wouldn't fight him on that now.

"In any case, you already have Jiao Jin. It at least seems plenty happy with you as its master, replacing it now wouldn't do you much good." Qing Xiashu reasoned, avoiding the issue.

"Yes, I suppose that's true." The prince sighed, tying the sword to his hip. "If I ever have children maybe I'll pass this one down to them."

Qing Xiashu only smiled at this. "That sounds lovely. I think A-Ying would like this bronze one."

"You know what would really be lovely? Kongjian bags."

"Mmm! Yes." The head disciple clapped his hands, turning partially towards the other. "With all the time we have I could probably embroider in the charms myself if we bought some decent silk. I doubt I have the patience for more than one though."

"One would be plenty, don't you think?"

"Maybe, at least to hide the swords when necessary. Money too."

"Should we pick some silk from a vendor then?" Hong Chunji asked, head tipping a smile on his face.

"That's something to do! More parchment too, maybe some charcoal so I can plot, I remember most of the charms but I should still sort how they fit together."

"If you want charcoal can't we take some from the oven?"

"Mm, I suppose."

"We should buy enough for two pouches."

"Oh?" Qing Xiashu tilted his head back to look down his nose at Hong Chunji. "Why do you want two? Have something to hide already?"

The prince laughed lightly and shook his head, stepping into another shop off the main road. "No, I just wouldn't mind learning."

"They aren't the worst thing to make. But you better not get pouty if you get impatient."

"I never pout."

"Oh? I must have been hallucinating then."

"Perhaps so."

"Hello, what can we get for you?" A woman in the shop asked, wandering over to them with a few skeins of cloth in her arms.

"We need a square meter of silk total, unembroidered." Qing Xiashu chirped, peeking around the shop, scanning over all the bright colors, as usual lacking red.

"What color?"

"Uh- cream I suppose, two spools of navy thread as well."

"Do you have a project?" The woman asked as she set down the heavy bundles of cloth, skimming through the shelves until she found what she was looking for, setting a roll of cloth on the counter before cutting it smoothly with a terrifyingly sharp pair of shears.

"Just a little one, nothing dramatic."

"Ah well, let me know if you need any patterns. Will you need any needles or do you have them already?"

"Oh, yes needles please, that completely slipped my mind."

"Liming Yingxiong, you're very quiet on this visit." The woman mentioned, turning to look at him with a curious quirk in her brows. "If you're looking for more jobs, the old woman who owns the mill at the east end of town has been asking around for help lately."

"I'll look into it." Hong Chunji mentioned with a soft nod.

"Wow, did you break him?" The woman asked Qing Xiashu quietly as though the prince wouldn't hear them. "He used to be so chatty!"

Qing Xiashu laughed softly and shook his head. "He's always been awkward when he's around me."

"Awkward? I just like to let you do the talking, I'm tired of talking, besides, you talk enough for an entire block."

"Tch, introverts." The head disciple teasingly sneered.

The woman chuckled at them as she finished folding the silk, setting aside the spools of thread and some needles. "Well, thank you for your business~!" She cooed.

After leaving the shop Qing Xiashu stretched his arms up over his head. "Is parchment on the way to the old woman's house?"

"No, but it is between her property and the inn."

"Then we'll drop by on the way back, what work do you think she'll have for us?"

"Milling rice flour I'm sure, she's been having trouble working the machinery on her own for years. Perhaps harvesting as well. It's about that time of year. She has a few tiers that she keeps but it isn't a mass scale, a few people could knock it out in an afternoon."

"You spent a lot of time here." The head disciple noted as they began to move to the quieter parts of town and abandon the main market.

"Mn, I did. It was the first place I spent a large amount of time after leaving home." Hong Chunji seemed almost wistful. "Since then I've come back through here a number of times, had Jiao Jin repaired, new robes when I outgrew the old ones, all that sort of thing."

Qing Xiashu hummed in acknowledgement before a small sad smile appeared on his face.

Ah...

The prince had been on his own long enough.

He should get to return home.

He'd say so if it wasn't such a sure fire way to cause all out war.

"It was alright." The prince mentioned, sensing the growing unease. "I liked living on my own, I missed the snacks and tea my brother used to give me though, and later having A-yi to tuck me in."

"Did you like your brother?"

"Mn, I used to want nothing more than to be like him. I think though, I might have ended up more like our mother... I never seem to manage to say what I mean. But he never had any issue. He was even kind to Xue Feiyi, despite what ended up happening."

"Wait... They were friends?"

"Sometimes, during confrences, when I couldn't find my brother, I would just look around the quieter areas until I found Xue Feiyi. He wouldn't move around much, just sit in the sun with something from our library. It was easier to track him down and just wait until my brother turned up with snacks for us."

"I can't believe Xue Shixiong tolerated that sort of thing..." Qing Xiashu laughed. "He's always been tolerant of children, but anyone near his age ends up with the cold shoulder."

"He changed obviously." Hong Chunji replied flatly, picking at the threads of his ripped sleeves. "Whatever happened that night, he wasn't the same person my brother was friends with. The person he became is who I'm hunting."

The head disciple frowned.

Hong Chunji was hunting a theory.

"What will you do when you realize that person doesn't exist?"

"What will you do when you realize that they do?"

Qing Xiashu shook his head slowly, frowning at the ground. "What will I do if you succeed?"

"When."

"... What?"

"When I succeed. I am going to kill him."

"Right..."

How did Qing Xiashu always push that away?

Was it strictly functional until they were free of each other or was he the one with ulterior motives...

The rest of their walk consisted of an ineffable quiet.

"We're here." Hong Chunji murmured.

Qing Xiashu altered his expression the moment they came across the owner of the little farm.

The woman certainly needed help. She directed Hong Chunji to horribly physical tasks. But with one look at Qing Xiashu's thin wrists, she directed him to follow her.

He was tasked with helping her harvest the rice in her tiers of patties. The water was mostly drained but the ground remained muddy, his feet sinking into it the moment he stepped down. He helped her set baskets along the walls to collect the bundles of rice that they cut.

He didn't at all argue being separated from Hong Chunji and that awkward silence that bit at his ears.

"I'm glad to see my assumption of you was incorrect." The woman chuckled in her wobbling voice.

She was far too old to be out here.

She should be retired!

Yet here she was with a sickle in her hand!

This town should get their crap together unless they want to start outsourcing their rice...

"What assumption?" Qing Xiashu asked in amusement. He was sure he could guess.

"You seem like a well pampered young master." She answered, tossing a bundle of rice over the top of his head and into a basket.

The head disciple chuckled. "I am now, but my father's family tended to travel in the East when I was younger. I spent a summer there and helped them make money by working in some farmer's fields. That and the deer they traveled with were weaning."

He had wanted to be there for the birth of the calves but his mother had prohibited him from visiting during the spring.

Why? He would never know.

"Ah~ Part of the northern tribes, I see? Where is your father now?"

Qing Xiashu's smile twitched. "He.. ehm... I'm not sure... I haven't gotten to see him in a very long time. My assumption is that he passed away."

In hindsight he'd have given just about anything to have spent just a little more time with his father and extended family before he was torn from the opportunity.

His aunties and cousins had taught him how to dance while dripping in colorful beads.

His uncles had taught him how to fish from the ice and then use that fish in the best soups, and don't get him started on the venison.

Heavenly.

He'd been far too spoiled by everyone while he was there.

If he could ever figure out where those farms were exactly, he might manage to track them down.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, my daughters were crushed when my husband died, it must have been hard to lose him so young." Her sympathetic tone reminded him of the last time he'd heard his grandmother's voice when she gently chided her son over his marriage.

"You have children?" Qing Xiashu asked to change the subject.

"Oh yes, grandchildren as well, as you can see they live elsewhere." She chuckled, gesturing to the empty farm, they could just barely hear Hong Chunji across the farm working away. "But sometimes people like you come around to give me company and I meet all sorts of strangers."

Qing Xiashu laughed softly as he nodded. "Social."

"Very, how is it that you know our Yin Liming?"

"He and I have known each other for a while I suppose. But we aren't always exactly friends..."

"How is that?" She asked, and when Qing Xiashu hesitated too long the woman continued. "Come now my dear, I may have some wisdom for you."

"We disagree on something, and it seems that every time the topic comes up one of us shuts down or says something cruel."

"But you can't avoid the topic?" She asked, tossing another bundle over the top of his head.

Damn she was moving quick, he should think less and work faster.

"It's unfortunately deeply embedded in both of our lives." The head disciple explained with a frown, finally collecting enough plant matter to toss his own bundle into the baskets. "It's just- it's something my brother did. A-Ming is very sure he did it, and that he's a bad person. Meanwhile, I know that he did do it, I just don't think it's so black and white, my brother is usually very... self restrained I suppose? He's not going to do something like that for no good reason."

"Have you spoken to your brother about it?"

"More like spoken at him, he's not much for explaining himself."

"Perhaps it is that black and white and your brother is simply afraid to tell you in case you turn on him."

"I can't believe that. He's too gentle hearted." Qing Xiashu murmured, fiddling a single ear of rice between his fingers. "But I know I can't convince A-Ming. Any time I try he shuts up completely and won't listen to anything I say. He'll even ignore other people when he gets like that."

"Did something similar happen earlier today?"

Qing Xiashu only nodded.

"Hmm..." The woman hummed in contemplation, an amused smile appearing on her face. "I don't mean to over step, but it is possible our Yin Liming is a bit like my late husband. Sometimes, if he knew he had upset me, he would try to find a way to apologize. But he would sit and think so long that I always thought he was ignoring me, he would even ignore our daughters and it took far too many fights before I realized how hard he was trying to apologize. He just couldn't figure out how. By tomorrow I bet he'll have made you something or done something you've asked him to do ages ago and stutter through some vague apology." She explained. "Men like that never know how to say they're sorry for their words."

Hearing the woman speak so fondly of her husband made something flutter in Qing Xiashu's stomach.

He'd give anything to be like that with someone, to accept and be accepted.

For now though, he had too many words that he needed to keep to himself.

He gave a mild smile. "We'll see I guess..."

He couldn't afford to ignore the dreams.

Even as much as he wished to abide by Xue Feiyi's directions.

In ignorant bliss.

Everything he loved was in his cozy little world, how the hell would he survive if his dreams came to pass?

He'd grown so attached to this life he led.

He didn't want to lose it...

The glaciers that were visible through the window in his bedroom.

The pounding summer rains.

The scent of ripe plums, in turn with their blossoms, and pine incense permeating every room of the palace and surely sinking into his clothes and sticking to his skin.

How he would hate to lose it all...

"It's alright my dear, everything will come around in the end." The woman assured him.

He nodded slowly.

The next thing Qing Xiashu knew he was face planting into the bed in the shared room, back aching with a loud groan.

"I'm not makin' dinner." He grumbled into the blankets.

"That's fine."

"I'm going to sleep."

"That's fine."

"I'm going to burn the inn down."

"That's fine."

Qing Xiashu scoffed quietly, Hong Chunji wasn't listening to him.

That is fine.

He didn't need to be listened to.

He rolled his back to the rest of the room at large and faced the wall, making shapes in the churning darkness that overtook the room.

The blankets shifted around another body entering the bed, but neither so much as attempted to touch.

•●•