"...it's better"
Xue Hua stood beside Yue Ran as he mumbled his answer,
the smell was gone
However, he could still see the melting decay from the corner of his eyes, they trembled and he soon turned away, stepping forward in an attempt to avoid the sight,
He frowned slightly and felt something crawl within his belly.
If his upset stomach was a lie last night, then maybe the truth had caught up to him right now.
The image of the tree, carved in his mind, the more he thought about it…it felt even more disgusting,
Recalling it, the mere image made him feel a strong desire to recoil
But, the most uncomfortable thing wasn't even the smell nor the sight, it was a strange familiarity he felt.
He could sense something familiar from it, and that made his stomach turn almost coming up to his throat.
Something twisted, and all jumbled together in filthy mess, like human guts smushed together with pigs and served raw in a big plate.
That was how it felt.
He found swallowing difficult, as he kept thinking of the image. If, he had been around the smell for a bit longer,
Maybe he'd have thrown up.
The smell was overbearing, and soon turned into nausea, but-
It disappeared when Yun Buizha arrived.
The smell only seems to grip onto him stronger with the passing time. Xue Hua's hands gripped the handkerchief, tightly scrunching it together almost like crumbling a paper but he didn't seem to have realised it as he looked at Yun Buizha,
who was oblivious still
Yue Ran decided to remain silent,
Crossing his arms, he began observing the woodcutter.
But the subject was unaware of how tense the people in front of him were,
"The blossoms are truly beautiful aren't they?"
He grinned, his eyes gushing with fondness towards the tree. His heart was full whenever he looked at it but instead of agreement he heard something unexpected-
"Is it?"
Xue Hua blurted out
This seem to take the woodcutter off guard as he raised his eyes,
He stared at Xue Hua in confusion,
"What?"
Yun Buizha let out a short laugh, as if he had heard a joke he believed he must've heard wrong, after all he was once reprimanded for poor hearing by one of the old folks, he looked at Xue Hua waiting for him to say something,
But the boy was done with his words,
The cheerfulness seemed to begin to fade, as Yun Buizha looked at his face, he didn't seem to be joking.
Yun Buizha swallowed his breath, as he tried to ask more in order to refute him. After all, who wouldn't find the tree beautiful? Even a person with a bland taste would agree with its beauty-
but he made himself pause, trying to not get worked up,
But the expression on Xue Hua's face was making it difficult.
Xue Hua merely stayed still as if he was waiting for the woodcutter instead, he had blurted his words rather ambiguously.
When he couldn't ask anything more, the complicated feelings turned into nervousness, much so when he glanced at the immortal who stood quietly with an indifferent expression on his face, as he looked at the tree.
But wasn't that how he always looked?
Even the kid himself would have a hard time reading his emotions
He justified himself, but the look on the kid's face?
His palms began running sweaty,
It was the kid's face that began to make him swallow hard, as if he was in the middle of being interrogated.
Which was weird, how could he get this nervous just out of a mere kid's expression?
Wasn't he just most probably throwing a tantrum because something didn't go the way he wanted?
Which was most probably the young master's reaction
After all, he had been very excited just a day ago, planning on taking the young master to see the tree.
He was just a kid.
Who was throwing a tantrum while the actual adult stayed quiet letting the two be, so couldn't help calm the kid down, it didn't seem like the young master was going to say anything for now.
So he was to deal with him alone but
Yun Buizha was a simple mortal, whose only way of livelihood was cutting woods, he was literate but he was not someone who loved reading or rather,
He would rather sweat during the morning and embrace the sun instead of drowning in words, so he was also quite dumb when it came to many things.
That was what the old ladies would say so
In short, he didn't know how to deal with kids basically,
The previous time, it was Xue Hua who asked questions with enthusiasm and carried the conversation, so this time, the poor woodcutter was to try and coo him.
So he wouldn't call himself knowledgeable in various things, handling children being one thing,
He lacked knowledge in many departments and that was also why he was easily influenced by everything, gullible too, which wouldn't be anything particularly bad in many cases…
But for him?
It seemed to be rather severe.
To be caught in a strong illusion, it wasn't surprising at all.
But what bothered Yue Ran was how he even fell into this illusion, was it just him…?
That was unlikely, according to him, everyone referred to the tree as
'ever blooming'.
Since when?
Since the very year that it bloomed again?
How? Shouldn't the barrier still work fine then?
Yue Ran's fingers traced the rough edges of the pendant,
Before his gaze lingered on Yun Buizha,
The woodcutter who was in an illusion...
A thought came to his mind...
The river...
It had spiritual properties, he could sense them, no matter how faint.
But question was,
What exactly did they do?
Since when have they been drinking that water?
Immediately, things seem to add up
'That would make sense.'
If... That water had confusing elements, it would make sense. His thoughts clicked, connecting the small dots scattered through his mind.
Then could that have been the source of that weird scattered feeling he got from the village?
The one he felt from the villagers?
But the woodcutter didn't seem to carry it.
Why?
It was now obvious, the villagers had a distorted reality...one that was surely caused by the water, that was the only explanation.
But who first brought it in?
The villagers themselves were unlikely to wander through the forests or the valleys, but...he looked at Yun Buizha, if the person was a woodcutter.
Then surely he
Must be the one who found it.
But Yue Ran didn't want to speak, not yet,
And also, Xue Hua seemed to be quite worked up by it, or rather, was he shaken up?
His gaze was almost a glare whenever he turned his eyes towards the woodcutter.
Strangely,
Yue Ran noticed, the boy could be seen rubbing the side of his stomach. One where he previously was wounded.
Was he feeling phantom pains once more?
He noticed this in the past weeks too, but wasn't it becoming more frequent these days?
His fingers tightly pressed the pendant's surface
The boy was tensed,
He remembered the night, the previous night, if he didn't intervene immediately, Yue Ran would've drunk it.
But doing so, he put Yue Ran in an awkward position, making him tell a lie...at first it felt good but the more he dwelt on it, the more wrong he felt… he made someone so untouched by the world lie because of him…
but then his guilt turned towards something else, towards his feelings of the woodcutter
But... If he hadn't sat in between us, I could've warned him, I wouldn't have been distracted, I wouldn't have caused a scene.
I wouldn't have...
Had to wait alone in an empty room.
Xue Hua's grievances seem to pile up one after the other,
But the moment of silence had turned a bit too awkward, seeing that neither the immortal nor the boy had any intention of breaking it, Yun Buizha let out an awkward laugh, as he shifted around
Trying to read the boy and the immortal.
Xue Hua wasn't bothered by the silence, rather he was caught up in his thoughts, the image of Yun Buizha babbling about a so-called 'beautiful' tree at his village was still so vivid, after all it had only been a day since,
He said, 'a tree that was ever in full bloom.'
It was ridiculous,
When he saw the tree,
Him praising its beauty,
'About the sight of snow resting on its bright flowers in a place where everything was depressed with only white the sun would kiss its blooms every morning, and showering it with its light at the eve'
These were the words the woodcutter told him, promising a breathtaking sight.
The boy bit down on his lips, as he looked up at the liar, with a grieved face.
It sounded wonderful, yes, Xue Hua was more than eager to see it,
Truthfully he had been looking forward to seeing it since they entered the village, to show it to Yue Ran, to surprise him with the wonderful sight--
Now,
They stood beside that very tree,
the same one that stood before then, in its rotting decay, the same one described as 'beautiful'
Siquan's hope blooming in its eternal glory.
Xue Hua's eyes seemed to burn,
Suddenly being confronted with the boy, he was dumbfounded, for some reason it felt like he had wronged the boy in some way, but he didn't know how.
Could...It also be because of last night?
The kid was still a child after all..
He felt an invisible pressure on him,
He suddenly wanted to redeem himself despite it, laughing awkwardly
"Do you not think so? This is the tree I told you about when we were in that cave!"
He couldn't help but scratch his neck while trying to look at the reaction of the two
The lack of reaction was....
His chest pounded, he couldn't handle this extreme silence, it was so uncomfortable, as if something was being twisted inside him.
He words seems stuck in his throat, and a hint of rebellion in his heart,
Was he that upset over it?
But why?
What about the young cultivator? Why was he just staying silent?
Why were they suddenly being like this? Were they trying to give him a hard time?
But why?
His thoughts raced,
'immortals only care for their desires and whims!'
He recalled Old Jiu's words,
...was he correct?
Then the image of the dying cultivator flashed through his mind once more.
he shook off those thoughts,
They must have a reason, he was just too dumb to understand it,
After all they were his benefactors, they were just different from those straight forward people in the village.
He was just assuming things
....but why?
The silence was uncomfortable it always had been, he never liked it, it felt like something was starting to dig around him, with small needles. Breathing was becoming difficult again...
Just like then...his hands gripped the belt around his waist,
The wind was starting to pick up the chill,
The morning heat had calmed down long ago,
"What's the matter?"
He tried to approach them, but his feet wouldn't move
He didn't want the silence to drag any longer
"I-is something wrong?" He stammered, while trying to put on his smile despite the twitching
Xue Hua did not answer, he had no intention to, but while he was worked up he had forgotten to notice how Yue Ran's attention had shifted to him.
And so, the first one to move was Yue Ran,
Amidst the tense air between the two he gently placed his hand on top of Xue Hua's shoulder
At the sudden touch, Xue Hua was taken off guard,
"Gege-"
He looked up,
Following his frame walking towards Yun Buizha
This was a development neither of them had expected, but somehow the woodcutter felt relieved.
His face was still a mix of confusion and anxiety, but his relief was obvious as he finally exhaled the air caught up in his lungs.
"It's nothing too serious"
He spoke softly, the gentleness making Yun Buizha freeze, and his mind still for a moment.
"It just seems that, I won't be able to enjoy the view"
Yue Ran added shortly,
This however, had the opposite effect of Yue Ran's first sentence as Yun Buizha's face distorted into pure confusion as his brows unconsciously furrowed.
"I have pollen allergy" Yue Ran confessed,
It seemed so sincere that neither Xue Hua nor Yun Buizha could tell whether it was a lie or a truth.
Regardless of what it was, Xue Hua took a mental note.
Yue Ran had a pollen allergy...so perhaps it was a good thing?
His thoughts wandered
All the wariness had melted, he no longer looked at Yun Buizha, rather all he could see was a straight back that belonged to his immortal, purer than snow.
'Pristine'
That was the only word he could think of when he watched him.
Yue Ran had managed to diffuse the situation, he didn't want to escalate the situation since Xue Hua was quite upset over something, worked up, so much more than the situation called for.
Yun Buizha...just looking at him Yue Ran could conclude that he was simply a victim caught up in the illusion and he doubted that he would even be able to give them much information.
But the people who could though...were the chief and his ill daughter. Yue Ran had a feeling, something was off about her illness,
Was it a cover?
But his train of thoughts were quickly interrupted
"...huh?"
Yun Buizha's voice escaped as his eyes widened,
It was... surprising
So cultivators despite how strong and the abundance in spiritual materials and abundance in spiritual energy could still have something as trivial as an...allergy?
"Is that so...?"
He was still dumbfounded, was this just an excuse?
After all, he seemed to be rich...so wasn't there anything that could fix it? Was he being fooled...?
But,
That didn't seem like it.
He was sincere.
So how could he just assume that to be a lie as he pleased?
Before he realised, his shoulder began to relax once more, as he slowly regained composure,
The cool breeze blowing on him felt refreshing rather than imposing.
It reassured Yun Buizha in ways more than one, more than he himself realised.
So even people on the path of immortality weren't perfect...
"About the tree"
Yue Ran continued
Yun Buizha quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he fixed his posture,
"y-yes! What about it?" He stuttered
Yue Ran paused briefly, as he looked at the woodcutter, his eyes seemed to reflect with clarity then a scene, that surprised both the people present,
Yue Ran out on a faint smile, faint but unmistakably a smile
"Could you tell me more about it?"
He continued, glancing at the kid, who was staring straight at him
"It seems he didn't want to tell me about it-"
Yue Ran made a motion of looking back at the tree with an indifferent face before turning to the woodcutter again,
And finished his sentence,
"So why don't we talk about it in your house?"
The sun was now blinding with its light reflecting on the vast snow
Perhaps enough to cause visions for even those perfectly sober.