When they had gotten the scroll from Huo Feng, getting a bite to eat, and doing a small training lesson on sword formations in the forest behind the inn, the four travelers made their way swiftly back to their rooms. The entire time, due to their ongoing altercation, Li Yuan and He Renxiao barely uttered a word to each other.
The tension had been building up for years, even before their mission even started, though it seemed only now that it was even more evident than before, like the forced proximity was making the two even more hostile with one another, two wolves circling one another for dominance of a territory—or, He Renxiao assumed the "territory" in this case for their fathers' favor, or even Lan Qiang's attentions.
He Renxiao could often feel the way Li Yuan tensed whenever their eyes met, threatening to spill or lash out. It was a deliberate space his older brother maintained between them when they walked. Though it was familiar, Something that didn't just occur in this life, but the last one too. He Renxiao was vaguely aware that Li Yuan couldn't remember.
But I remember. He Renxiao thought, his fingers curling into fists at his side... I remember everything..
The travelers had all decided to stay together in one room until nightfall, feeling that it was best to stay with their small group. The oil lamps cast wavering shadows across wooden beams, the air smelling of rice wine and cooking oil.
He Renxiao sat alone at the table in the corner of his and Li Yuan's shared room, reading from the scroll he had bought from Huo Feng, his eyes downcast and trying to make light of what it all meant, meanwhile Li Yuan stood nearby, his arms crossed and eys closed like he was upset—per usual.
His mind was foggy, a ghost haze that he just couldn't seem to shake. He didn't understand the pull to the scroll, nor why Mo Shuyi was determined to get it for him.. Moreover, why the merchant seemed shocked—even scared to deny access to this mysterious scroll. He stared down at the scroll quickly, not saying a word.
Li Yuan had noticed this overwhelming quiet emanating from his younger brother—or so He Renxiao had assumed he did, since he spoke up. It was a fault of Li Yuan's own that
"You were reckless." His voice had cut through the otherwise silent scene like a knife through silk, sending a chill down He Renxiao's spin.
He Renxiao decided to not let it get to him and he just shook his head, turning away and hugging his knees to his chest. "I don't recall asking for your opinion, ge." He Renxiao replied, the bite evident in his tone.
From across the room, Mo Shuyi's flickered up from his book he had been reading, expression hard. Some cold twisted in He Renxiao's chest—perhaps an echo of a memory.. It came clear now.. Those same hands holding him down, that smile that promised pain.. He shoved the thoughts down, knowing he could change it.
That hasn't happened yet, and it won't happen again. Not if I can help it.
But Mo Shuyi was watching now, seemingly more alert, having seen the aggression between the two. His expression was dark and unreadable.
Li Yuan moved closer to He Renxiao, slithering like a serpent and his shadow falling across He Renxiao's form. "You've been acting strange since before we left the sect. Like you're distracted and something is weighing on you." He paused, and there was a hint of an unspoken concern, something He Renxiao had come to pick up the beginnings of in his past life.
"Master Lan is worried about you."
He Renxiao finally looked up, and the expression on his face made Li Yuan take an involuntary step back.
"Master Lan," He said dangerously, yet in a soft way that seemed that only He Renxiao knew how to do, "Is none of your business."
"That's enough!" Li Yuan's hand shot out, gripping He Renxiao's wrist like a vice. This hand happened to be the one that was fidgeting with the blade. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but you will respect your elders! Maybe not listening was what got Wangji killed!"
Something in He Renxiao snapped.
He Renxiao surged to his feet, the table screeching backwards while his blade clattered to the floor. He grabbed the collar of Li Yuan's robes with both his hands, slamming him against the nearest wall with enough force to shake the foundation.
"Don't you touch me! And don't you EVER speak about He Wangji! You never even knew him, so shut your god damn mouth!" He Renxiao snarled like a dog, and for a moment, just a moment, his eyes flashing with something inhuman.. Something beast-like. Caine and ancient..
Li Yuan's shock lasted only a second, the breath knocked out of him, before his training instincts kicked in, twisting He Renxiao's grip and dove his elbow towards his younger brothers ribs. He Renxiao's eyes flashed with anger as he blocked, and redirected the approach, his body moving with muscle memory that transcended this lifetime. They'd fought before—gods, how many times had they fought?—but never like this. Never with this desperation clawing beneath He Renxiao's skin.
It was the fact that He Renxiao was a lot stronger than him. Was now but hadn't always been. It surprised him because He Renxiao was so sure he wouldn't have the strength to fight back—but maybe it was the surging guilt that he couldn't save one of his brothers that forced He Renxiao to continue and defend him.
They crashed into another table, sending paper and scrolls flying. Li Yuan's fist connected with He Renxiao's cheek, snapping his head to the side. Coppery liquid flooded He Renxiao's as something feral and similar to a growl formed deep in his throat.
He Renxiao caught Li Yuan's next punch mid-air, his fingers digging in hard enough to bruise. "You don't understand!" He hissed, though wasn't sure what he was trying to say. You don't understand that I've watched you die, that I failed everyone..That I'm drowning in memories and a future no one else remembers.
Li Yuan lunged forward, his knee diving upward. He Renxiao twist but wasn't fast enough, and the blow caught his side, driving the air from his lungs and sending him flying into another wall. He Renxiao groaned in pain but got back up. He ran forward and back at Li Yuan.
They grappled, neither willing to yield as they moved with a violence that bodied years that only one could understand.
Then, as suddenly as it happened, the two were pulled about.
He Renxiao looked up with hazy eyes to see Mo Shuyi holding him back. The older male had one hand pressed against He Renxiao's chest, spiritual energy flooding from his palm to the contact point like ice breaking, forcing He Renxiao's muscles to lock in place.
On the other side, Lan Qiang was holding Li Yuan back, who also looked dazed and beaten beyond what He Renxiao thought. Li Yuan shouted out, "Right, of course, cause Shizun indulges you too much!, if father were here—"
"Father isn't here, now is he?" He Renxiao growled back. "You're not him, so stop acting like it!" Li Yuan's jaw tightened. "Someone needs to remind you that your actions reflect on our family. On me. Every time you throw yourself into danger without thinking—"
"Without thinking?" The words came out as a snarl. He Renxiao stood so abruptly his chair scraped against the floor, the sound setting his teeth on edge in a way that felt almost physical. "You know nothing about how I think."
Mo Shuyi's expression flickered—something almost like recognition, or perhaps just confusion at He Renxiao's intensity. Then it smoothed into his usual mask of elegant indifference.
He Renxiao pulled away from Mo Shuyi, ignoring the pain radiating through his back. Something felt wrong—not the fight, but something deeper. A restlessness that had nothing to do with Li Yuan's sanctimonious lectures. It crawled under his skin like insects, making him want to tear himself apart just to make it stop.
"He Renxiao. Li Yuan." Lan Qiang's voice remained calm, but there was steel beneath it. "With me. Now."
They followed their master outside into the courtyard, where the evening air did nothing to cool He Renxiao's burning frustration. Lan Qiang turned to face them, moonlight catching in his dark hair, making him look both younger and infinitely older than his years.
"This cannot continue," Lan Qiang said quietly. "Whatever poison exists between you two, it ends now. We have a mission. Lives depend on us reaching Frost Pine Village."
"Shizun—" Li Yuan began.
"I don't want explanations." Lan Qiang's gaze moved between them. "I want solutions. Clearly, you cannot share quarters tonight." He paused, something weighing in his expression. "He Renxiao, you'll room with Mo Shuyi. Li Yuan, you're with me."
He Renxiao's stomach dropped. The restlessness intensified, now accompanied by something that felt horribly like fear. Sharing a room with Mo Shuyi. Being alone with him in the dark, with nothing but paper walls and the memories of what those hands could do.
But that was another life. He doesn't remember. He doesn't know.
Does he?
Mo Shuyi's expression remained unreadable, but something flickered in his eyes—dark and complex and gone too quickly to identify.
"As you command, Shizun," Mo Shuyi said smoothly, bowing with perfect form.
He Renxiao managed a stiff nod. The crawling sensation under his skin intensified, and for a moment, he could have sworn he heard something howl in the distance—a sound that resonated in his bones in a way that made no sense.
Li Yuan looked like he wanted to argue, but Lan Qiang's expression brooked no disagreement. "We leave at first light. I suggest you all get rest. We have a long journey ahead, and I suspect it will only grow more difficult."
He had no idea how right he was.
Intermission:
The click of the metal latch sounded like a cell door locking and sealing He Renxiao's fate. The room was small and smelt of old cedar. It had been smaller than the room him and Li Yuan were sharing before, which made this whole situation all the more suffocating.. I mean, seriously? Mo Shuyi had been this close to their Shizun all night?
He Renxiao could only growl thinking about it. Not out of jealousy, heavens no! He would never think that way, it was far too indecent, and that was his master and Shixiong, but more so protectively, like how dare he be so close to MY shizun after what he did?!
Okay, maybe it was still a little upset.. But he had a right. Though, as Reren Xiao said, he had been reborn.. So in which case he would fix it. He would make Mo Shuyi—Ao Jun—the tyrannical ruler of the cultivation worlds, pay for what he did..
He Renxiao sighed. He didn't look at Mo Shuyi. He couldn't. Instead, he just made is way to the far end of the room, his movements stiff and mechanical as began to undo the belt of his robes.
Every little movement from Mo Shuyi had begun to make He Renxiao uncomfortable. Not that he hadn't been this entire time, but regardless, he was still trying to warm and settle with the idea of being near Mo Shuyi, but he had been warming up—almost as normal. But he was still uncomfortable..
Most of his emotions were genuine—he had been genuinely happy with what they had been during these past few days, obviously. But there was still that hanging feeling of discomfort.
He doesn't know, Renxiao told himself, his fingers trembling slightly as he pulled at a stubborn knot on his belt. He isn't that man yet. He doesn't remember.
"Your side is bleeding again."
Mo Shuyi's voice was low, devoid of the cruelty Renxiao remembered, yet the sound of it made him flinch. He Renxiao finally looked up. Mo Shuyi had shed his outer robe, standing in his white inner robe.
He looked younger like this, less like a conqueror and more like the fellow disciple he was supposed to be. But his eyes—dark and searching—held a depth that shouldn't belong to a boy his age.
"It's fine," He Renxiao said, turning away to side the crimson stain on his robes from Mo Shuyi, instead, enduring the pain and laying on the side of which Li Yuan's knee had connected. He was still sore about the fight with Li Yuan..
"Let me look at it. Shizun taught me a healing—" Mo Shuyi began to approach.
"I said it's fine! Just drop it!" He Renxiao snapped, his voice cracking in the quiet room. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to settle. Mo Shuyi didn't move, just staring at his small Shidi. Watching. Then he spoke.
"Renxiao.. Shidi, you've been looking at me lately like I'm a ghost.. a monster.."
He Renxiao paused, his hand still hovering over his belt. "Your imagining things." He muttered, curling closer in on himself. The physical exhaustion of the day finally began to take a toll on He Renxiao. He felt more raw and exposed than anything.
In this past life, he knew exactly how to break him, piece by piece. Being in a dark room with him now, alone, felt like he was stepping into the mouth of the beast..
Across the room, Mo Shuyi took a seat on his own mat. He quietly leaned back against the wall, his gaze hardly leaving He Renxiao. There was almost a strange, restless energy to his posture, like he was burdened by something he didn't dare speak.
"I had a dream last night," Mo Shuyi said suddenly. His voice was distant, as if he were speaking to himself. "I was in a forest of white trees. And there was a dog... a massive, black hound with eyes like dying stars. It was snarling at me, protecting something I couldn't see." He paused, his brow furrowed in confusion. "When I woke up, my heart was racing. I felt like I had lost something important. And I felt... guilty."
He gripped the edge of his blanket, his knuckles white. "Dreams are just reflections of our own anxieties, Shuyi. Nothing more."
"Are they?" Mo Shuyi stood up, crossing the small space between them before Renxiao could protest. He knelt at the edge of Renxiao's mat. He didn't reach out, but the proximity was suffocating.
He Renxiao looked up, and for a terrifying second, the lamplight caught Mo Shuyi's eyes just right, turning them into the predatory amber of the wolf.
Run, his instincts screamed. Kill him, the Dragon hissed.
Instead, He Renxiao forced himself to hold the gaze. He searched Mo Shuyi's face for a small moment.. Then turned his gaze away.
"Go to sleep, Shuyi," He Renxiao said, his voice a ghost of a whisper. "The path tomorrow is long."
Mo Shuyi lingered for a heartbeat longer, his shadow stretching long and jagged across the floor, before he finally retreated to his own mat.
The lamp was extinguished, plunging the room into a heavy, velvet darkness. In the silence, Renxiao lay perfectly still, listening to the rhythm of Mo Shuyi's breathing. He lay with his hand on the hilt of his hidden dagger, his eyes wide open, watching the shadows move on the ceiling.
Across the room, Mo Shuyi was doing the same—two predators, two victims, two brothers, all caught in a loop of time that only one of them could see, waiting for a dawn that promised only more ghosts.
The morning light of dawn came with a heavy feeling of dread and sleepiness. He Renxiao had barely slept. The room he'd been sharing with Mo Shuyi had been thick with unspoken tension—a tension in which He Renxiao wasn't even sure Mo Shuyi was aware of, and it was just him.
hey laid on opposite sides of the space, utilizing what little space they had. Mo Shuyi and Lan Qian had seemed to have taken the smaller room, while Li Yuan and He Renxiao had taken the bigger one. It was almost like they were hyper aware of every breath the other took.
Once, deep in the night, He Renxiao had opened his eyes to find Mo Shuyi sitting up, staring at him with an expression of such profound confusion and something almost like grief that it had stolen He Renxiao's breath.
Then he looked away, and the moment shattered like thin shards of glass.
They ate and then quickly met with Lan Qiang and Li Yuan. If they were going to make it all the way to the Pinefrost Village before sundown, then they would need to be quick and efficient with their next moves.
He Renxiao stuck by Mo Shuyi's side the entire time, half because he felt compelled to, half because he was scared he'd be turned into dirt if he so much as looked at Li Yuan the wrong way, what with him being snotty and turning his nose since yesterday.
Now the four rode in an uncomfortable silence. A silence that was no longer comfortable like it had been before, but uncomfortable with a hint of tension just on the horizon, building up like a forest fire. Mo Shuyi had seemed to try and ignore it, keeping his Shidi by his side as he urged his horse forward.
They had formed a loose formation as the followed the mountain path towards the Pinefrost Forest just outside Pinefrost Village. Li Yuan, ever the one with 'authority,' though their teacher was right next to them, had taken the lead, his back ridged and stiff, still presumably with anger, which He Renxiao didn't mind.
If he were going to be all bent out of shape about what happened, then why should He Renxiao try to fix it any more than he did? It would be as pointless as trying to get a brick wall to have a conversation with him..
Lan Qiang brought up the rear, his eyes watching their surroundings, and of course Mo Shuyi and He Renxiao were in the middle.
He Renxiao was still slightly shaken, but he kept his eyes on the surroundings. The trees were tall, reaching up into the sky with leaves that were slowly turned to shades of reds and yellows. He noticed immediately when the first hints of mist began to flood into the clearing below. He Renxiao quickly pulled his horse to a stop.
"Everyone, stop! look!"
It came so slowly, so gradually that if He Renxiao hadn't been looking at that moment, he would have missed it. It crept up from the valley like a ghostly finger, curling around the horses legs and muffling the sound of hoof steps.
Mo Shuyi pulled his horse to a stop beside He Renxiao, hopping off. He came over to help He Renxiao get down, the smaller male landing on the group with quiet ease thanks to the help of his Shixiong.
Li Yuan also hopped off his horse, walking ahead to check out the problem. He paused for a moment, then spoke up.
"Maintain vapor." He announced, turning around. "It's common for this elevation, we'll make it through it."
The mist thickened, taking on an almost tangible quality. He Renxiao's horse nickered nervously, ears flicking back and forth. That crawling sensation returned, stronger now, accompanied by the distinct feeling of being watched.
Hunted.
Noticing He Renxiao's unease, Mo Shuyi completely ignored Li Yuan and turned to Lan Qiang, perhaps a bit stiffly, and guestured with his head towards the smoke. "Shizun, something isn't right. It isn't natural."
He Renxiao had turned and quietly hid behind Mo Shuyi, more out of habit than fear, since he was short—Mo Shuyi's body could block him, though noticed that Lan Qiang had also gotten off his horse as well and was moving to stand near Mo Shuyi.
"The mist is only responding to our spiritual energy," Lan Qiang explained calmly. "It's.. Feeding on it, almost. Growing denser where our qi flows strongest."
As if responding to Lan Qiang's words, the mist roiled and shapes began to form within it. He Renxiao's breath caught as a figure materialized before him, seemingly out of the thin mist. It walked pace with his horse, right beside, then stopped, as if to mimic He Renxiao's earlier movements.
"What the—" Li Yuan's voice cut off sharply. He Renxiao looked forward to see his brother had stopped, staring at his own shadow-self, which had stepped directly into his path. Around them, more shapes formed—duplicates of all four of them, moving independently, creating a crowd where there should have been only four travelers.
Mo Shuyi's horse reared. He controlled it with practiced ease, but He Renxiao saw his face had gone pale. "They're not just reflections," Mo Shuyi said, his usual composure cracking. "They're... they're us, but wrong. Different."
"Let's keep moving, we have to get out of here." He Renxiao said, nodding to Mo Shuyi and turned to mount his horse again, and so did the others. He Renxiao had a bad feeling about this, and he knew better to sit and dwell on it. He knew to follow his instincts.
He Renxiao's shadow-self reached out, and he felt the touch like ice against his soul. Images flashed through his mind—himself in armor, standing in a throne room, sword dripping red. Himself in chains, screaming. Himself dying, always dying, in a hundred different ways across a hundred different moments.
Futures that weren't. Pasts that were.
The restlessness under his skin exploded into something more—a pressure building in his chest, in his throat, demanding release. The shadow-self opened its mouth, and He Renxiao heard it howl, a sound that no human throat should make.
The sound that came from his own mouth in response was worse.
It erupted from somewhere deep inside, primal and furious and not entirely human. His horse bolted, but He Renxiao was already moving, already leaping from the saddle. His feet hit the ground and the world tilted, shifted, became something else.
The mist recoiled from him like a living thing. He Renxiao felt power surge through his body—ancient, vast, utterly foreign and yet somehow intrinsically his. His vision sharpened, colors bleeding away until the world became rendered in stark contrasts. The scent of the mist hit him like a physical blow—wrong, corrupted, tainted with old magic and older fears.
He opened his mouth and roared.
The sound tore through the mist like claws through silk. It wasn't a human sound, wasn't even entirely terrestrial. It carried weight, authority, the voice of something that had once guarded the boundaries between worlds. The shadow-selves shattered, dissolving back into formless vapor. The mist itself began to disperse, fleeing from something it recognized as predator.
He Renxiao stood in the clearing air, chest heaving, and slowly became aware of three sets of eyes fixed on him in various states of shock.
"What," Li Yuan said slowly, "was that?"
He Renxiao's throat felt raw. The power was already receding, leaving him shaking and cold. "I don't know," he said, and it was almost true. He didn't know, not really. He only knew that something inside him had recognized the mist as a threat and had responded with overwhelming force.
Something that wasn't entirely human.
Lan Qiang dismounted, approaching carefully as if He Renxiao were a spooked animal. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm—" He Renxiao cut off as he looked around, really looked, and felt his blood run cold. "Master. We've been traveling in circles."
They all turned. Through the dispersing mist, He Renxiao could see the inn they'd left that morning, not behind them but ahead, exactly where they'd been heading. Somehow, despite hours of travel, they'd been led in a perfect circle.
"Impossible," Li Yuan breathed.
But Mo Shuyi was staring at He Renxiao with an expression of dawning horror. "Not impossible," he said quietly. "Someone—or something—didn't want us to leave."
The mist had fully cleared now, leaving only morning sunlight and the ordinary sounds of the mountain. But He Renxiao could still feel it under his skin—that presence, that power that had answered his call. And from the way Mo Shuyi kept glancing at him, from the way Lan Qiang's expression had shifted into something thoughtful and concerned, he knew they'd felt it too.