“I was getting pretty bored, you know. Those old bags of bones threw me on this missive just because I wasn’t happy with their decision. Isn’t that too mean of them? I worked sooo hard for them, only to be treated like a mere pawn.” The young man complained with sincerity. A sincerity dripping with amusement.

  Shuren stared at Aerestia with a glare, barely nudging his head sideways, to let her know to make no move. He knew, when he felt that sensation, that augur feeling of nauseating disgust that filled his throat and nose, that this person was-

  “You know it’s rude to zone out, right? When someone’s talking to you, it’s common courtesy to pay attention.” With half a step forth, the man entered Shuren’s peripheral vision. His silky white hair flowed past his shoulders, and his dark eyes shone with the wonder of a curious child. The wind picked up, and both his and Shuren’s robes swayed in the breeze. Shuren’s a light blue colour, while his was an ominous dark crimson.

  “Well, I suppose I should at least introduce myself. My name is, well, I don’t actually know my real name, and I didn’t like the one my second father picked out for me.”He crossed his arms to ponder, tilting his body to the side. “You can call me Lixi.”

  What happened to Ming?! This guy, he must be at the high end of Path Foundation, maybe even on the edge of Core Genesis! Why’s this guy moving just to smuggle some mere Rank 1 Deviant Beasts?! He has to be a lunatic demon!

  Thoughts ran inside Shuren’s mind wildly like starved dogs, but he forced his expression to remain neutral.

  “It’s good that you introduced yourself. My name is Hei Xin,” Shuren replied coolly, waiting for a slight moment, and when the hand on his shoulder eased a bit, he continued. “And she is my junior, you can call her Rixia.”

  Aerestia held onto her staff firmly, the ice wall still present, but she nodded her head at Shuren, not saying a word.

  Lixi’s dark eyes lingered on Shuren’s neck for a moment, but a slight smile revealed on his pale face, and he slapped Shuren’s shoulder a few times. “Good, good, good! It’s rare to see such a courteous junior. You have a great character, young hero Hei Xin, and I genuinely appreciate that you know how to speak your true mind. I also understand the feeling of disliking one’s own original name.”

  Shuren’s left eye almost twitched, but he forced the urge in. Though the bloated feeling that dug into his body lessened, Lixi now wrapped his arm around Shuren’s shoulders.

  “Now, we have all shared our names, so we can now be considered friends. Would you please lend me a shoulder to lean on, Hei Xin? I’ve been feeling very sad recently.” Lixi almost teared up as an overexaggerated frown formed on his face.

  “Ahaha, I completely understand, senior brother Lixi. You are… free to speak your mind,” Shuren replied with a dry tone. Luckily, he formed a habit of always retaining a linked Qi connection with his Ruyi Staff, which lay on the floor near the boulders. To Lixi, it wouldn’t have seemed like he shifted his Qi whatsoever since his arrival. But Shuren still refused to even glance towards his weapon.

  “You see, I worked really hard to become the Grand Disciple of my sect. You know that’s the highest honour one could get, and I would gain sooo many resources and benefits from the sect leader and her elders. Sadly, my long standing rival, Reizou, ended up receiving that title instead.” Lixi had a deep frown as his eyes watered, despairing at his situation. “It’s not fair!”

  With a sudden shift, his somber voice turned into a cold one laced with anger. “I challenged him to a duel to the death so I could become the Grand Disciple, but no one gave me the chance to. Our sect has always promoted this way of ending disputes amongst disciples, but they actually reneged on their laws when it came to me. Isn’t it absurd?!” Lixi nudged Shuren, hoping for an answer to his plight.

  If I use all of my potential and even injure my body, I should be able to push him off the canyon. With that, we have one opportunity…

  “Indeed, having the sect rules be manipulated or ignored just for one person is a case of injustice. Senior brother Lixi, you surely have been treated unfairly by your sect,” Shuren continued, though his thoughts focused on a potential solution.

  “Isn’t that right?! So instead, I wanted to punish him slightly for refusing my duel. I was so sad, I cried that day. All my efforts only ended in vain. But just because I took away the eyes of all his servants in return, I got punished by the sect! You are right, my brother Hei Xin, this is surely the highest order of injustice, to sacrifice my potential, someone who toiled and poured blood and tears into the sect, to be compared to the eyes of some mere servants.” He held Shuren closer in his arms with joy, that someone had finally acknowledged his sadness.

  “I even left his favourite servant alone! All I did was help transfer her under another elder to be put to work, so Reizou would come home to a cold bed. To think he would immediately abandon his duties to the sect, running out to look for wherever she ended up. To think the elders wanted to punish me with this ridiculous mission. Oh, to think that I would be treated like trash, but he gets to act like a tyrant.” With a sigh, Lixi bowed his head down, staring at his feet.

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  He held Shuren’s right hand with an iron grip, bruising Shuren’s wrist with ease, and dragged him towards Aerestia. Shuren had no choice but to follow along, ignoring the dull pain. And with both Shuren and Aerestia at Lixi’s side, he stretched out both his hands on each of their shoulders, holding them close to him.

  “With the sharing of our names, we have become friends. With the sharing of my woes, we have become close friends. My fellow juniors of the esteemed Seven Clouds Sect, brother Lei Xin and sister Rixia, would you both please assist me on this small favour?”

  “A-and what would t-that be, senior brother Lixi?” In a bid to help Shuren not have to handle every topic, Aerestia chimed in, stumbling with her words.

  “You must be very tired sister Rixia, but I’m glad you still tried. It’s a good thing you didn’t insult my name as well.” And as if he didn’t wish for anyone else to hear, Lixi began to whisper amongst them.

  “You see, my hands are tied right now. If I try to do anything else, I’ll be punished again. So, my good close friends, whom I met on this fateful day. I wish for a simple favour.”

  Lixi slowly walked them towards the very edge of the canyon cliffside. The caravan was almost entering the range of the canyon, growing ever larger the closer it came.

  Like a snake that slithered into the ears of Shuren and Aerestia, Lixi whispered as he pointed to the caravan.

  With a deep and twisted smile.

  “Can you kill everyone in the caravan?”

  “Hahaha, such a small matter, of course I can do such a thing. Senior brother Lixi, please observe from the canyon as we give you a hand,” Shuren laughed heartily, though the expression on his face began to crack.

  How absurd, but this is our chance to reconvene with Ming. From there our chances are higher to escape. If this guy had tried to take out Ming, there’s no way he would’ve come with even his clothes unscathed, so I’ll have to bet on that.

  Lixi’s eyes almost turned into crescents as his smile deepened, and stepped away, clapping his hands with acknowledgement. “I am quite impressed. Hei Xin, you’re a true friend. Thank you for helping me out.”

  Shuren rubbed the scuff of his robes, walking back near the boulders. He inwardly expressed surprise that Aerestia’s manifested ice wall was still present, but realised it was to be expected. “Lady Rixia, let’s continue our previous plan. I’ll give you the signal, and we’ll head down along with the boulders.”

  As it is now, it’s safer to enter the fray than stay with this mad demon.

  She nodded in acknowledgement, holding in her sigh to avoid all possibility of slighting Lixi. But regret was strewn across her tired face, unable to defy someone above their level.

  Natural disasters like the one which hit her home were one thing, which she got used to the horrors of and understood as an inevitability. But the whims of a single person who was able to toy with her this much incited a deeper feeling of disgust and anxiety.

  “By the way, senior brother Lixi, who exactly is in the caravan?” Shuren probed.

  Lixi leaned against one of the boulders, uncomfortably close to Aerestia, and yawned before replying. “I don’t know, didn’t really bother checking. But, I would expect you all to know, since we’re luring out the rat in our sect.”

  “Haha, that’s understandable.” Shuren halted for a moment to reconsider, but he continued to talk. He knew people like them, and had met them plenty of times in his youth. Those who were eccentric, but loved to talk to deal with their boredom. But he was toeing the line, and one misstep would potentially have him instead of the boulder crashing down the canyon.

  “As you know, we are disciples of the Seven Clouds Sect. Are you our neighbours from the north-west, by any chance?”

  Lixi raised his eyebrows and stared at Shuren for a moment, genuinely surprised. He smirked when he considered his own options. If things went as he expected, he would be less bored in a strife between a righteous and demonic sect. It would be payback for the irritations he had suffered at the hand of the higher ups as well.

  “As expected of brother Hei Xin, you’ve gleaned the matter at hand. But, we’ve hid ourselves quite nicely there, so it may be a long time before you come to see it with your own eyes,” and with intrigue, he eyed Shuren up and down.

  “As for our sect itself, well, I suppose a sect can’t have a face without being known to the world. Perhaps the ignoble would label us as demonic, but what we aim for is anything but blasphemy.” An marble-jade snake slithered out from one of his robes, coiling around his shoulders and hissing near his ears. “In fact, our invitations are open to all. The downtrodden, the lost begotten, the recusants, the bastards, the blasphemers, the lost lambs, and most importantly, the intellectuals and innovators.”

  Even with the snake twisted around Lixi’s arm leading to his face, he exuded a foreign yet friendly demeanour. Every word of his was truly laced with conviction, as twisted as he was. That was precisely what unnerved Shuren. The mind and machinations of those on the demonic path, abandoned and denied by the Almighty Architect.

  “We are simply truth seekers. For this world is veiled, it’s eye a fa?ade. The Heavens aren’t our masters, but rather a stepping stone. For we revere truth, and seek it, even if we must defy the world.”

  With a wide grin, Lixi showed his pearly white teeth blemished by the swarm of tiny snakes writhing in his mouth.

  Shuren swallowed his spit down his mouth, forcing a neutral expression.

  “Brother Hei Xin, our doors are always open to you.”

  “You must only become a man who dares to defy the Heavens.”