Jin SeCh25 - Bloodline

For regular mortals, drifting through life year after year like so much flotsam and jetsam, time would inexorably wash away even the deepest pains, the most ardent bonds. Legend had it that down below, in the Yellow Springs, there was a river of oblivion whose waters would make one forget who they were and from whence they came; but in truth, the river of oblivion was in the mortal realm, known by another name as “time.”

Ten years sundered, two lost wanderers; when two returned, both were strangers. LABGjt

Shi Wuduan had thought that all that remained of Bai Li in his memories was his name; he’d thought he’d long forgotten what he looked like, whether he was plump or slender, tall or short. But all those forgotten things, in the instant he set eyes on that person, wakened once more — dredging up the echoes of those bygone days of carefree joy, that little fox who liked disguising as a little girl to trick humans, who smiled like a flower in bloom ….

They were like a garden sealed within his memories… a garden he could only long for, dream about, and cherish from afar; a garden he could never return to.

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Shi Wuduan froze momentarily before he quietly laughed self-mockingly, wasn’t Little Li-zi gone already? He’d seen him stabbed through the chest and dissolved by that black mist with his own two eyes.

Thus he said, “You know, I think we have quite a lot in common. Not only do you closely resemble a childhood friend of mine, you even have similar interests as I do.” Dc0aX5

But the other person was still holding the rabbit cage, staring at him in stupor. He somewhat dazedly, but extremely rudely, reached out a hand, his fingers lightly skimming the faint dimple on his left cheek. He asked quietly, “Are you…. Wuduan?”

His voice was somewhat hoarse, as if it’d been caught in his throat; his words were almost inaudible. Yet even so, Shi Wuduan heard him. Shi Wuduan lurched, took half a step back, and carefully examined him. Suddenly, his eyes widened, he abruptly raised his hand and grabbed Bai Li’s shoulder. Caught off guard, Bai Li was pushed back half a step by the force. 

“Fucking hell, you’re not dead!” Shi Wuduan unthinkingly mimicked Meng Zhongyong’s speech patterns, “I’d thought … I’d’ thought….”

Bai Li didn’t know what to say. He felt like there was something swelling in his chest. He lightly laid a hand over Shi Wuduan’s, which was still clutching the collar of his robe. Bai Li lowered his head; his devastatingly enthralling eyes became concealed by shadow.

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Then, Shi Wuduan noticed that Bai Li seemed to have laughed. He laughed, so very very softly, like a weary traveler, battered down by wind, rain, hail, and snow, whose heart was nearly frozen numb, that had looked up and found that warm, small cottage they’d set out from.

But he was too overcome by excitement to make sense of Bai Li’s minute expressions.

As Shi Wuduan was bumped into by one of the many market-goers, he somewhat awkwardly retracted his hand and said, “Come, let’s find a quieter place to talk.”

He was just about to turn and go, when he remembered something and pointed at the cage in Bai Li’s hand, “Sorry to be rude but, even though it’s a bit dumb, it did used to be raised by me, would you mind letting me have it?” wHKrs8

“I know,” Bai Li said. His voice was still a bit shaky, almost as if he was unused to it. He coughed lightly and opened the cage, taking the rabbit out, “He has the scent of Jiulu Mountain, I could feel it.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

It was strange, how dumb the rabbit was. It didn’t even struggle while being lifted by its ears, it merely curled its front paws and stared stupidly at Bai Li with its buck teeth sticking out of its mouth.

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Ah? Shi Wuduan frowned. For an instant, he’d felt overwhelming killing intent radiating from Bai Li. But it was so brief that by the time he looked over, he’d almost thought it was his imagination. 

All these years…. where had Little Li-zi gone to?

That thought flashed through Shi Wuduan’s mind, but he showed no hint of it on his face. Though they’d once been friends, it had been a long time since then. Shi Wuduan didn’t feel the need to butt into his personal affairs after so many years had passed.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you to the best restaurant in Guji.” hdEw3K

Shi Wuduan led the way as Bai Li, still carrying the rabbit, followed behind. Suddenly, he grabbed his hand. Shi Wuduan jolted in surprise, his fingers curling reflexively. Bai Li’s hand was cold, even his palm was freezing. 

The action discomfited him; why would two grown men be holding hands, pulling and tugging at each other, in public? He subtly extricated his hand while he looked back at Bai Li.

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The Bai Li that stood before him was no longer the silent little girl who followed behind him, nor was the youth that’d been tied to a pillar, desolate and headstrong. He’d seemed to have matured. He was broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, but there was barely a hint of the fox races’ characteristics on his face. 

Shi Wuduan pondered that perhaps because he was a man, his sharp, defined features had muddled the soft, seductive aura common to most foxes. 3FP29t

It seemed only his eyes had remained constant.

Shi Wuduan remembered that when Bai Li was little, whenever the paths became treacherous or there were other people around, Bai Li would trail him the same way — his head lowered, his ice cold hand clasped around his palm, his eyes looking at the ground, as if he was utterly focused on the task of walking.

How was it that even after he’d grown up, he was still like this? Then Shi Wuduan bemusedly thought, well, it does make sense. Ten years is a long time to a human, but it’s nothing more than the blink of an eye to a yao. I doubt this kid’s grown up much since then.

Shi Wuduan’s heart softened, and he let him do as he pleased. W0Z3J7

Shi Wuduan unerringly led them to the restaurant. Bai Li, noticing his familiarity, inquired “Is this where you’ve been living?”

“Also, bring up two cups of rice wine,” Shi Wuduan said to the server, then replied, “No, I just came here several days ago.”

Bai Li, sitting across from him, examined him searchingly. He softly murmured, “You’ve become…. a bit different now.”  

Shi Wuduan chuckled, “Is that so? Different in a good way or a bad way?” 80ceTS

“You’re good any way,” Bai Li said honestly. He added, “I went…. to Xuan Sect to find you. You weren’t there.”

Shi Wuduan’s heart skipped a beat when he said “you’re good any way,” and he glanced up at him. For some reason, he remembered how he’d mistaken his gender when he was younger, dragging him around and calling him “wife.” He thought uneasily, he’s got to be able to tell the difference between male and female after so many years, right?  

“I left Xuan Sect many years ago.” Shi Wuduan paused, as if he didn’t know where to start. The waiter brought their food and wine, so he poured a cup for Bai Li to tide over the silence. When he finished, he merely said, “And I won’t ever go back — but how about you? Have you been back to Cangyun Valley? Back then, we really kicked up a fuss with your mother…”

“She isn’t my mother.” Bai Li replied, his face placid as ever. Shi Wuduan stilled in the midst of raising his chopsticks. Bai Li continued, “Bai Ziyi was indeed not my birth mother. I didn’t know until later.”  4DFmwx

Shi Wuduan sat silently, waiting for him to go on.

Only, when Shi Wuduan examined Bai Li again, he realized that he’d never actually seen his fox form. Even when he’d been struck back to his true form by divine lightning, he’d looked like an ordinary child sporting a pair of fox ears. Could it be that his fox bloodline wasn’t pure?

Thinking this, Shi Wuduan continued where Bai Li left off, “It makes sense now that I think about it. Back then, you clearly looked as sorry as if you’d been raised by your stepmother — when you look at it that way, when you got taken away by that black mist, you were discovering your heritage.”

“En.” Bai Li nodded. Shi Wuduan observed that his tastes tended to be vegetarian, he hadn’t really touched any of the meat or seafood. He hadn’t even looked at the big old pheasant in the middle of the table.   QMLnJg

Didn’t foxes like eating fowl? Something flickered in Shi Wuduan’s eyes. Bai Li spoke, “I met…. my father.”

“Oh?” It took Shi Wuduan a second to react, he nodded “No wonder that mist was nearly suffocating me, yet you seemed to be unaffected. It must be because of your bloodline? Ah, if I’d known earlier it was your father seeking you out for a reunion, I wouldn’t have foolishly risked my life playing hero.”

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Bai Li’s head lowered as he chuckled, “He wasn’t looking for me for anything like a reunion. I’d probably still be trapped in that dark, lightless place if I hadn’t killed him.”

“What did you say?” Shi Wuduan faltered in shock. hAdcmy

Unease and suspicion weighed his heart heavier and heavier. He’d always had the impression that Bai Li was a calm, quiet child, a bit cold, and with the occasional temper, but good-hearted. Even now, Shi Wuduan remembered how Bai Li had thrown him out of the cave, remembered the despair and relief in his eyes as he’d been swallowed by darkness. However when they’d met again, aside from that first moment when he’d been too distracted by delight, Bai Li exuded a rather…. unnaturally threatening aura.

The first time was when he heard Bai Li speak to the shadow that’d mysteriously popped up; the second time was when he casually said that he’d committed patricide.

Bai Li instantly detected the strange undertone in his voice. He looked up at him, his expression complicated. He asked vulnerably, “Do you think I’m bad?”

“Eh….” Shi Wuduan looked down, avoiding his eyes, and smiled a perfectly practiced smile — an action he seemed to have done hundreds or thousands of times, “I didn’t really understand what you said, how could I know whether it was good or bad? It sounds to me like your father isn’t a fox?” ORGd 9

“He’s this,” Bai Li said as he extended his hand, a ball of black qi emerging from his palm.

Shi Wuduan instantly felt the temperature drop, jolting unconsciously, he blurted, “Is that… a demon?”

Bai Li waved, dissipating the black qi. He said faintly, “Yes, it is. If I was Bai Ziyi, I wouldn’t’ve tolerated the presence of a monster with demon blood flowing in its veins either.”

“Now what kind of talk is that? Just how are you a monster?” Shi Wuduan instantly put a chopstick-full of greens onto Bai Li’s plate. At his gesture, the faint traces of despair in Bai Li’s face vanished as he smiled slightly. Shi Wuduan remembered suddenly, “I’d once read in a forbidden scroll that the hall of demons was sealed beneath Jiulu Mountain, though I didn’t understand what it was at the time. Could it be that you were pulled into it back then?” 2T8g 3

Bai Li nodded and said directly, “At first, when he told me he was my father, I’d been extremely shaken and begged him to let me go. Only later did I understand that the concept of family doesn’t exist amongst demons. Back then, it seemed that someone on Jiulu Mountain conducted a rather large ritual and loosened the seal. He took advantage of it and slipped out, encountering me. Since we’re of the same source, his powers would grow if he drained me dry.”

So he hadn’t been in the mortal realm after all… no wonder he hadn’t seemed to gain any wisdom in these past ten years, and even seemed to be sliding backwards. Shi Wuduan looked at him, shelving his suspicion temporarily, and felt pity for him again. He quietly said, “Little Li-zi….”

Bai Li shook his head, carefully chewing the food that Shi Wuduan had put on his plate, as if it was some rare delicacy that deserved to be thoroughly savored.

“Right,” Shi Wuduan casually changed the subject and asked, “What brought you here to Guji City?” DLcaTr

“I came here to find you, but ended up finding clues on the rabbit instead. I hadn’t had the time to figure it out before I encountered you,” Bai Li pointed at the rabbit by Shi Wuduan’s feet. He smiled, “Wuduan, I’ve missed you so much.”

When he smiled like this, he was almost reminiscent of the beautiful, innocent way he looked back in Cangyun Valley. A deep melancholy came over Shi Wuduan, leaving him at a loss for what to say.

Bai Li spoke again, “How about we leave together.”

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6 comments

  1. So many things have changed. Each has his own personal demons that can’t be shared yet.

    My heart bleeds