"Please take a seat while we await their arrival. Music!" The Lin Patriarch clapped his hands and servants rushed forward to provide chairs and food, while musicians strummed their lyres to provide music.
Yip Chor settled into his chair in relief, he wasn't very accomplished at standing for long periods anymore and coupled with the overwhelming stimulus from this social gathering, he couldn't help but feel weary at it all. Yip Jia sat next to him with a plop and rubbed his back. She could see how drained he was. He closed his eyes breathing deeply while listening to the Lin and Yip Patriarchs speak about what seemed like friendly nonsense. With a jolt, his eyes snapped back open and his spine straightened to attention when he heard a strange tinkling female voice greet his sister.
"Yip Jia, it is nice to meet you in person after seeing you perform at the Battling Games." It was Lin Hua, right in front of him. Up close, she seemed less ethereal, more real, more human, and yet... not human.
"Ah yes, and it is nice to see you too. You put up quite the fight with Lixin. I respect that." Lin Hua blushed. She looked at Yip Chor and curtsied at him, her eyes searching. "It seems we are to be married." She commented offhandedly, as though the prospect of marriage was the same as accepting a cup of tea.
Yip Chor nodded absently, an awkward pause taking root.
Lin Hua broke the silence. "I know your siblings from Qilin. Everyone knows them really, they are celebrities in the younger generation." Lin Hua said again, with another blush.
"You are one to talk Lin Hua, your exploits in the battling dragon sect are known as well." Yip Jia responded as was customary. "Your betrothed, however, well, he supersedes us all. He has the secrets of the universe and he is the wisest person I know." Yip Jia said, with fondness in her voice, directing the conversation back to Yip Chor.
Her comment was clearly an exaggeration but was based on truth. Thinking back to their childhood, and the 'lectures' she had carried through her trials at Qilin, if there was one person who she could credit with shaping the three Yip siblings' lives, it was their big brother Yip Chor.
"High praise indeed!" Lin Hua breathed, her interest peaked. "Since you are the wisest person in the world, perhaps you can help me with a problem I have." She said cheekily.
Yip Chor felt blood rush to his face, just so it could drain away again. "How might I help?", he said uncertainly, looking at the apologetic look of surprise on Yip Jia's face at the challenge.
"Well, upon arriving back in the mortal realm, things I used to hold dear have lost their colour. Is there anything for me here anymore?" She said with veiled meaning.
Yip Jia's ears perked up at the question, despite its duplicity, as she had also felt the same coming back from the celestial city. She had confidence based on experience that her Big Brother would have an answer, and yet, she wondered if his response would be less than satisfactory now that she was a cultivator and her horizons had been broadened.
Yip Chor took a steadying breath and answered, his mind forming around the question.
"When a child begins learning the laws of mathematics, they think that this is the breadth of the universe... only to find that they are at the first stage. When a student of mathematics completes their studies, they look back with experienced eyes at their childish perspective and laugh in shame at how small it was." Yip Chor paused with a small chuckle as he became immersed in his thoughts.
"But when a master of mathematics challenges the fundamentals of the universe, they will go back to those childish learnings and from those tiny tools, form a new, deeper understanding of the universe. Thus the circle is complete. If you see the world as bland, look a little closer, perhaps you will find the Dao." As Yip Chor spoke, his words ebbed and waned, like the water on the beach, and a profound lilt entered his voice. It was mesmerising. Yip Jia was enraptured, her mind clicking as she again saw a path forward and found light and life in the world around her. Lin Hua resisted for a moment, her pride in her perspective and her accomplishments as a cultivator fighting the challenge from Yip Chor's final statement and his lowly station as a mortal. How could his perspective dominate that of immortals? And yet, she could not resist the answer for long without resisting the Dao itself, for this metaphor held truth.
---
"Yip Quinfan, Yip Lixin" Cried a livery servant.
Everyone's attention shifted toward the steps of the pagoda. Two exceptionally handsome young men ascended the stairs in perfect synchrony, from the sway of their hips to the roll of their shoulders. Yip Chor failed to recognize them; they looked nothing like the image he had held in his mind.
Yip Chor's mother, taken aback, covered her mouth in shock, while a hint of tears welled in her eyes. Yip Bin stood up, and even his father sat upright, their eyes widening in approval.
"We, the Yip brothers... Greet you, Patriarch! Greet you, Father..." The Yip twins bowed simultaneously to their ancestral roots and the Lin Patriarch. Their habit of completing each other's sentences, once annoying, now seemed endearing, and natural—as if they were different expressions of the same person.
Identical in all aspects, from their tousled brown hair to their red and orange livery adorned with a sun emblem, the twins exuded a commanding presence.
"We Yip brothers greet Eldest Brother!" they declared, bowing in respect to Yip Chor, leaving him feeling a bit embarrassed. He did not deserve their respect. It was like a couple of kings bowing to a beggar. He nodded in acknowledgment, following the customary response when addressing someone of esteemed status.
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"Ah, excellent, excellent. Please, have a seat and discuss your recent accomplishments in the Qilin battles. We have heard of your remarkable achievements, reaching the pinnacle of the younger generation," the Lin Patriarch welcomed them, urging them to share their experiences.
Yip Chor's ears perked up, eager to hear the tales of his long-lost brothers. Seven years had passed since they last saw each other, and the desire to embrace them overwhelmed him. He was certain his mother and the rest of the family felt the same way.
"Yes, the heavens favoured us, and fate smiled upon us. All glory belongs to our sect, the sect of the Rising Sun," the twins replied in unison, delivering the customary response. Yet, beneath the surface, Yip Chor detected a subtle tension between Lin Hua and the twins. Their gazes exchanged strange looks, carrying a hint of shared history. Lin Hua seemed to be blushing, at the attention. In Yip Chor's mind, it was all explainable, given Lin Hua's loss to them.
"Fate is indeed a fascinating concept. One wonders if it truly exists or if skill and strength alone shape our destinies. I heard you defeated my granddaughter, Lin Hua, and my grandson, Lin Fu?" the Lin Patriarch inquired, awaiting their response.
The Yip twins remained silent, their gazes turning predatory as they locked onto Lin Hua. Yip Chor, felt danger in that look.
The absence of any response from the twins caused the Lin Patriarch's brow to furrow. Lin Hua's eyes widened ever so slightly, a sense of worry washing over her. The tension in the atmosphere became almost tangible, capturing the undivided attention of everyone present.
Yip Lixin shared a significant glance with Yip Quinfan before shifting his focus to the Lin Patriarch.
"Allow us to speak frankly, Lin Patriarch... we have come to annul this sham of a marriage," Lin Quinfan asserted, his voice resolute.
"What?!" The Yip Patriarch jolted upright, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Why?!"
The pagoda reverberated with shocked murmurs, a collective gasp hanging in the air.
"We refuse to bear the shame of this girl marrying into our family," Lin Quinfan boldly declared.
"Shame?!" The Lin Patriarch stood abruptly, his aura intensifying as he readied himself to defend his family's honour.
In response, Lixin and Quinfan emitted an aura of equal strength and conviction, mirroring their resolve.
"Why don't you ask her?" Lixin challenged, shifting the attention towards Lin Hua.
At that moment, Lin Hua turned deathly pale, the colour draining from her face, emphasizing the vividness of her blue eyes.
"Lin Hua, what is the meaning of this? Explain yourself," the Lin Patriarch directed his fury towards his granddaughter, seeking an outlet for his mounting anger.
Lin Hua shook her head in denial, tears now streaming down her cheeks. "Please, don't," she pleaded, her voice as beautiful as the girl herself. One couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for her.
"Can someone please elucidate this situation?! What shame are we speaking of?!" The Lin Patriarch demanded, his voice echoing with frustration.
After a pause, and a slightly mocking smile, Lixin responded. "It is the shame of an adulterer. This girl has sucked the cocks of my brother and me as I'm sure she did the same to any man who showed a measure of strength. This filthy sap will not manifest a branch from our yip tree!"
Amongst cries of shock, Lin Hua stood up and fled the pavilion, her little prepubescent brothers and father all standing up in defiance of this great accusation.
The room unfolded into chaos. In that chaos, Lin Hua's father jumped towards the brothers, attacking them. Lixin stepped forward and with a graceful relaxed punch, drove his fist into the man's neck, crushing his windpipe.
"You dare!" The Lin Patriarch completely lost his cool when he saw his son drop to the ground, choking on his own throat. Leaping on the twins, his early Treasure Manifestation body cultivation slammed into them and was countered by Yip Quifan, who released a burst of Chi energy that seemed to hold tendrils of lightning which shocked the patriarch and relaxed the tension in his muscles. With a kick, He drove the patriarch to the side, slamming him into a jade pillar with a crack. Taking two steps forward that seemed to drive him forward 10 metres with a speed that caused the wind to whistle, he lifted his leg and drove his foot into the patriarch's head, smashing it into the pillar, completely cracking it in half and tearing the patriarch's head off against the sharp jade column base.
It was a strange scene, the Lin patriarch's head rolling to a stop a few feet away, his eyes still blinking, the same head from which had escaped crass jokes just a few moments before. His body slumped against the base of the pillar, the space between the top and bottom pillar joined periodically by bursts and splatters of blood from the man's neck.
His son lay a few feet away, his face blue, his body still. his family on their knees beside him wailing with shock and fear in their eyes. This Lin family's root and core branch had been uprooted in less than a minute.
The Yip family stood on their feet in shock, tightly bunched together, all with looks of shock on their face except for Yip Jia, who shook her head in disappointment.
The other aristocratic families stood as well, their men standing in front, ready to attack if necessary, in the face of the Yip brother's wild onslaught.
"How shocking Lixin, we were attacked as guests... simply for speaking the truth". Lixin and Quinfan shook their heads in disappointment and what seemed to be regret.
"Two Cultivators from the treasure manifestation stage attacking us brothers at once... And us, only in the Qi Condensation stage... Fortunately, we survived!"
"You saw what happened didn't you?" Yip Lixin enquired of one of the weaker-looking guests, a look of innocence on his face. He looked like he was about to cry.
"Ye-es, I did see this. They attacked you, brothers, as guests! How shameful!" Slowly but surely, the crowd started catching on, the story Lixin and Quinfan introduced taking root in the minds of these soft, fearful aristocrats.
"Yes, how shameful, this branch of the Lin Clan never did seem to be righteous."
"Yes indeed, when your patriarch is a gambler and a whoremonger, you are bound to have these results."
Heads began to nod, as the story took hold. Not all were soft though, some caught onto the game that had just been played but no one liked the Lin patriarch much so they followed along, seeking now to curry favour with these Twins who had jumped an evolutionary level.
"This great slight needs to be reported to the authorities.... we must have justice" Lixin and Quinfan stated in a sincere way that did not put into question their righteousness in this matter. Slowly, people started leaving together, bowing in respect to the Yip family, especially the twins. A power shift was apparent.
Through the whole thing, Yip Chor stared on, his hands trembling. He had never seen such violence before, and it shocked him to his core. He was barely paying attention to what was going on around him, his eyes solely on the patriarch's severed head on the floor. He had never confronted death in this manner before, especially the death of a cultivator... a revered and invincible construct in his mind.
Now, that construct was broken and the seeds of the bigger questions of the meaning of life and the potential futility of it all began to take root in his mind. Little did he know that the answer to these questions would take him on a journey that would drive him to the deepest grottos and highest heavens in the world.