The earthy smell of moss spread in the Yinlin woods as uprooted trees swayed gently and lanterns flickered to the cadence of the whistling wind. Kaolin strode through the blossoming forest with heavy steps. A lot of thoughts weighed him down, trying to drag him into a bottomless abyss with no escape. Still, he tried his best to cast aside each harrowing thought, refusing to let them consume him.
He had journeyed across towering mountains and still rivers to persuade his good friend and a wounded soul to let go of the past, but he knew Wei Lan was not one to be convinced so easily – even with the fate of Shenzhou on the line. Yet he could not turn back. Every step and every breath carried the weight of what might come if he failed, and thus the years of untold tribulations, of laughter and bloodshed, settled all the deeper over him as he drew closer to the hidden sanctuary. He had to try, at least. If nothing else, he had to try.
The rebels followed him with their eyes as he crossed the threshold, neither of them trying to stop him nor asking his name, as if they could feel the power of the three conflicting forces in his core deep in the marrow of their bones.
Guo Lan was the first to spot him across the training grounds. His eyes flickered with a mix of disbelief and doubt, then widened with familiarity. Kaolin beamed upon seeing the stunned face of the cultivator and was about to greet him when Guo Lan suddenly leapt forwards, snatched his arm, and dragged him away.
"You're right on time, Master!"
"Right on time?" Kaolin couldn't hide the surprise in his voice as he was being led away, not sure what was going on. "What is this about?"—and when the cultivator failed to reply—"Guo Lan?"
"This is not the time, Master! Please, we must hurry!"
Although reluctant, Kaolin allowed the cultivator to drag him down a narrow corridor until they reached a secluded chamber hidden behind a billowing curtain. There, upon a wooded bed, lay Wei Lan. His body was gaunt, his face drenched in cold sweat, and his limbs were twitching from fever.
Kaolin's eyes narrowed. He didn't need to take a closer look to figure out what this was about, since he, too, endured what Wei Lan was going through. It was the curse of the Forbidden Arts – a curse Kaolin knew all too well.
"He's been like this for days," Guo Lan said. "Please, Master Kaolin! You must do something!"
Kaolin did not move, and although he too was troubled by what he was seeing, he had to keep a straight face to not make Guo Lan any more panicked than he already was. "This burden was of his own making," he said, adding before Guo Lan could interject. "He must learn to tame it on his own."
"But—"
"There are no buts or ifs, Guo Lan."
The silence that followed stretched long, and as Guo Lan kept pleading with his eyes, Kaolin finally caved in and sighed, stepping forth. He came to a halt by the bed, placed a hand over Wei Lan's forehead, and infused a current of qi into his core, one forged with his celestial powers. Golden light flowed through Wei Lan's chest right then, and his breathing slowed, as did the fervent fever caused by the curse.
Kaolin then faced Guo Lan, who took a deep breath of relief. "This is only temporary," he said. "He needs to feed. That's the only way to stabilise his core. Why has he resisted?"
Guo Lan sank into a nearby stool without replying. His face was drained of colour, and he hesitated for a few seconds before revealing the reason behind Wei Lan's unstable condition.
"Some twenty thousand years after you vanished, Master, Wei Lan stopped feeding evil spirits to the curse, and just… wanted to fade away with you. But then you returned, and when he started feeding again, it was too late. His body could no longer hold the corrupted powers or control them. And this… is the result."
Kaolin turned his gaze to Wei Lan, whose sleeping features almost made him seem as innocent as a child. That fool, he thought, that pitiful child willing to die for him rather than carve his own path and live on. With a quiet sigh, then, he shifted his attention back to Guo Lan. "Go rest," he said. "I'll watch over him."
Guo Lan hesitated, then nodded, too tired to argue, and then started for the door. He had not slept a wink ever since Wei Lan had fallen ill the night before, afraid that he might pass away if he left his side even for a second. But with Master Kaolin here, there was nothing to fear. At least, for now.
Kaolin remained by Wei Lan's side throughout the night, wiping the sweat from his brow and checking his qi and pulse, to make sure the fever went down and the curse stayed dormant. While the transfer of energies was only a temporary solution, it was the next best thing besides feeding the curse with evil spirits under these circumstances. And as the night wore on, Kaolin felt the weight of destiny settle upon him all the more, or rather, what he was expected to do to not only rid this world of the demons, but also free Wei Lan from the curse of the Forbidden Arts.
He had long avoided such thoughts, hoping that his time in the Lingjiang River had spared him from such a fate. Yet now, with Wei Lan's condition spiralling out of control, it seemed there remained but a single path before him, one he had to follow whether he liked it or not…
When dawn broke over the Yinlin woods at last, bathing the sanctuary in golden rays, Wei Lan woke up from his deadly slumber.
"Guo Lan?" he said in a hushed and strained voice. "Guo Lan, where… where are you?"
Kaolin rose from where he had been sitting and met Wei Lan's searching gaze, which narrowed at the sight of him. Before Wei Lan could voice his surprise at seeing him at the Yinlin Sanctuary, however, Kaolin spoke first. "Guo Lan's not here right now. How are you feeling?"
Wei Lan's brow furrowed before a faint cough escaped his chapped lips as he tried to sit up straight but failed. "What are you doing here?" he asked, voice hoarse and strained. "I thought—"
"I came here to ask you a favour, though I know it may be a difficult one."
Wei Lan managed to sit up at last, still weak due to the curse's relentless grip but stable, nonetheless. Kaolin pressed on. "I want you to join hands with Huan-Yue and train both the Moonshadow Guards and the Jinlin Guards, pass on what you learnt from the rebellion and aid us."
Wei Lan's face darkened. "Are you here to ask me to forget what the Jinlian Sect did to my people, Kaolin? The blood they spilt so mercilessly?"
"I know this is not easy for you, but only with your help does Shenzhou stand a chance against the Demon Army."
Wei Lan briefly looked away, struggling to gather his thoughts, weighed down by too many thoughts and doubts. "And if I were to somehow forget all that pain and forgive… what of my men?" he asked. "They too lost their families to the Jinlian Sect and their insatiable greed. Even if it is you asking, Kaolin, I still cannot—"
"I know," he cut in. "But Zhenhai is different. You know that. What the Jinlian did to you, to all of us – no one can deny that. But if we don't move on, Shenzhou as we know it will cease to exist."
Wei Lan lowered his gaze. "I'll see what I can do," he said, albeit with a hint of hesitation in his voice. "But I can't promise you anything. I need to talk this over with the others, hear what they have to say."
"And I don't expect anything less," he said, adding. "You're a wise leader, Wei Lan. You have not only given your men purpose where there was none but also shown them the weight of honour and the strength of mercy." He then rose to his feet. "I'll be hearing from you soon."
As he turned to leave and return to Huan-Yue, Wei Lan suddenly called out behind him and broke him off. "Hey, Kaolin?"
He faced the cultivator once more, noticing the subtle shift in his expression. It looked like Wei Lan pondered something, weighing whether to reveal what lingered at the tip of his tongue or keep silent forever. And as the seconds stretched between them, Kaolin's patience wore thin.
"What is it?"
"Have you," Wei Lan spoke at last, "not wondered why Xiyan hasn't broken through her cultivation level yet?"
Kaolin took his time replying, trying to decipher why Wei Lan suddenly brought up Xiyan unprompted, especially since he knew Wei Lan wasn't too fond of her ever since that day back in Wujing Yuan.
"And you know why?" he said. "Is that what you're trying to say?"
Wei Lan swung his legs over the bed and rose with such ease that it almost seemed as if he hadn't withered in pain just a few hours ago.
"Follow me," he said, brushing past him without any intent to slow down or wait for him to catch up. "I need to show you something."
Moments later, they soared through the woods, ascending into the vast welkin as the trees and thickets vanished beneath them. Kaolin followed without asking any questions and, as the city of Nivarra came into view below in all its glory, Wei Lan finally slowed, descending onto a cliff that overlooked the fortress, which was no longer in ruins but stood tall and proud before them.
Kaolin's brows arched as he tried to make sense of why Wei Lan had brought him here, of all places. "So," he asked, "what is it you wanted to show me?"
Wei Lan nodded towards something without saying a word, and Kaolin followed his gaze to one of the towers, where the majestic dragon spirit, whose scale they had come to Nivarra to retrieve thirty thousand years ago, stood chained. "So…" he whispered more to himself than for the other to respond, his frown deepening by the second as the truth settled in, "…this is why."
But why had Xiyan not consumed the dragon spirit to claim its powers? Without the spirit of her clan guiding her to her destiny, not only would she fail to break through her cultivation, but also put her own existence at risk. Moreover, should the Demon God discover the dragon's true purpose and consume it, even his celestial powers would not stand a chance against him.
Wei Lan pulled him out of his thoughts before they could unravel further and disturb his already spinning mind. "Huh? What are those things doing here?"
Demons and Devils marched in formation, some mounted on ebony horses, others trudging on foot. At the centre rolled a carriage with an abnormal level of dark energy, but it wasn't the mysterious carriage that drew Kaolin's attention; it was the masked figure at the forefront leading the demons towards the fortress.
"What do you think they're carrying?" Wei Lan asked in a flat tone before noticing Kaolin's face twist into a frown. "Hey, what are you thinking?" And when Kaolin failed to reply, he added. "Kaolin?"
"Evil spirits?" Kaolin said in a whisper, his voice laced with disbelief at the sheer absurdity of what was now taking up all space in his mind. How come he had not thought of this before? In hindsight, it all made sense. He hadn't imagined the lack of dark energy back in the Qhinshao Forest, after all. But if these thoughts were indeed correct, then he had to interfere and steer Rongjie in the right direction – or rather, before the Demon Army breached through the weakening seals of Huan-Yue.
"Evil spirits?" repeated Wei Lan, his eyes growing wide with awe, and perhaps hunger as well, before adding. "But why have they captured evil spirits?"
Kaolin, now with a rising sense of urgency. "Wei Lan, you stay here and keep an eye out in case the Demon God pays an unexpected visit." He then poised to soar into the sky, towards the fortress infested with demonic energy, when Wei Lan's hand shot through the air and halted him in his tracks.
"Huh? What do you mean?" he said, confused, before it dawned on him. "Hold on, are you entering the fortress? But why?"
"I need to talk to Rongjie, the sooner the better."
"Rongjie—what?" Wei Lan's eyes narrowed briefly before exclaiming as a sudden thought crossed his mind, one he had forgotten all about. "Hey, isn't that the name of the guy you were looking—"
"Wei Lan."
"All right, I won't ask more questions," he said, and as Kaolin prepared to soar into the welkin for the second time, adding nimbly with a serious tone Kaolin was not used to. "Hey, Kaolin? Don't you dare die on me, because if you do, I really won't forgive you this time."
Kaolin dropped his head as a hearty smile tugged at his lips as he heard these sincere words, taken aback for a few seconds and unsure of what to say, before replying in a playful tone. "Even if I wanted to, death refuses me, I'm afraid. So… don't worry too much."
"Stop smiling like that! I'm serious – answer me like you mean it!"
Kaolin drew a deep breath, giving Wei Lan's shoulder a firm squeeze before replying with the seriousness Wei Lan wanted. "I won't die," he assured, then added, with another playful tone and a brow raised in defiance. "Am I allowed to leave now?"
Wei Lan stepped aside with a reluctant nod, and as soon as he did that, Kaolin surged towards the fortress in the distance without wasting a second, until all that was left of him beyond the demonic array was his fluttering robes, which too became nothing more than a speck as the distance between them widened.