"If, if I ever make a mistake, in the future, will you tell me then? Please, please, let me know." Lin Si, 13, to her best friend
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Li Junlong didn't hesitate, sending out a wave of sword qi towards her, she, holding up Li Junli, still lacking proper inner qi couldn't block it, it wracked across her back, and if not for her hardy body and her not dissipating it a little, would have split it in two. She set down Li Junli, turning around in surprise, thinking it were a friendly blow. "Li Junlong! You're back!"
Li Junli panicked, seeing his face and sensing his blood lust, calling out, "Gege do-" coughing up more blood. He knew what his brother was thinking, he wanted to warn Lin Si, but he was busy coughing up bad energy and blood, his body becoming lighter with every cough.
Li Junlong raised his blade. "Step away from. My. brother." His voice was edged with killing intent, death's whispers seeping from every word.
Seeing his face, she quickly judged the situation must not look good to him, but she didn't have the strength to face him currently. "Wait, i, it's not what it looks like, I'm healing him, okay, healing him!"
Li Junlong glanced over to his brother's panicked expression, blood dripping from his lips and sneered. "Healing?" He was mad but more than that, what was the incredible disappointment? Disappointment morphing into disgust at himself? It seemed…he must have…he must have actually fallen in love at some point. Why did he do that to himself? He had told himself to never let love get in the way of revenge or his brother, yet, here, it had. "Away. Now." Their last battle he had lost at a close margin, now that he had gone up a realm, he should be able to have a chance of beating her. He never could tell her realm though.
Lin Si refused. She got annoyed when he was like that, commanding her like a dog. "What do you mean? I'll feed him the rest of these pills, and what are you going to do about it?" She sneered. But, the it dawned on her a second time. Wait. He's strong. He's very strong. The strongest I've met other than a few ancients, and I…don't even have a properly grandmaster realm my qi and life force are weak from draining them, and I'm wounded. The blade raced towards her, she had no choice but to dodge away.
"You vermin-!" He sneered. "You horrible creature! Why did such an existence, such a wasteful existence grace this earth? To make people miserable?" He berated her, as he put himself between her and his brother. She decided to let him feel safer for his brother, while she explained.
"Alright alright, but calm down, it's now what it looks like, I'm just healing him." she spoke calmly, with authority and wisdom, "If it makes you feel better, just check these out," she pointed out the last four pills, "he needs to take them to complete the treatment, then, he will be all better, that sickness he was born with, completely gone!" She didn't understand why he'd backtracked on his treatment of her, why he suddenly didn't trust her, but she figured she could work it out later, for now, just convince him she isn't hurting anyone, let him see for himself.
Li Junlong picked them up, examining them for himself, "These?"
She nodded, "Yes, he must take those, they will make him completely better!"
Li Junlong glanced down, his brother looked more emaciated and sickly than he had when he left, blood trailed down his lips, and he was trying to speak, but his lips were trembling, trembling in fear, and agitation, his nerves also acting up again for the first time that day, as he began to cough up more blood. "You think I'm an idiot?" He finally sneered, dropping them to the ground, he lifted up his muddy boot, grinding them into the floor, they fell between the boards, into the muddy dirt below. "Hah, you think i can't recognize the smell of poisonous herbs or poison? You think I can't tell if my brother is feeling better? You think I can't see through your lies and deception? You really think I don't know about you and the Xu family? Hah. enough. I've had enough of you. Hand over the antidote, I might let you leave, otherwise, your path of lies ends here."
She was shocked, too shocked to move for a moment. Li Junli as well, was shocked to silence. And then, her face changed. Right this new feeling came back. Rage. That was what she felt. Rage. pure, unadulterated rage.
Her face changed. "You." her lips curled. "Little." Her teeth bared, her eyebrows furled, "Piece" her hands flew out, one taking hold of her blade, leaning against the wall, the other, making obscene gestures at him, 'of' she raised her blade, her eyes bored daggers, waves, no legions, no, galaxies of hatred his way, "waste of breath," she spat. "I'll carve out your flesh, and feed it to the carrion and dogs!"
He needed no further invitation, seeing her usual happy face completely contort, he felt he'd finally uncovered her true self. He leapt towards her. Didn't hold back. Back then, he'd been tired, he'd been clumsied by his anger. This time, he was enraged, but it was controlled, intent. Although his brother was only narrowly so, he was still alive, what more could he hope for? What more could he fear or be upset about?
His blade was sharp from the previous battle, his qi still plentiful despite the long journey, only a little exhausted. They fought. Blade for blade, each time he slammed into her, she felt her recently closed wounds reopened, each clash they had, she was forced to take a step back. The qi in her body was so low, she could barely keep her blade alight, and could spare nothing on protecting her body. It was a fierce fight. Her to survive, him to kill. "Antidote?" She screamed as they fought. "Ahahahaha." Her blade curved toward him, deathly, eerie, like a white ghost. "You'll find that antidote in hell, you will. and," There was no beauty in this fight. It was fight to the death, both fought as fierce as wolves, nothing was too low, nothing was too dirty. "I," but step by step, each heavy slam of his his blade, forced her backward, she lost her rhythm, and he stepped closer to block her from retaining it, "Never" her blade hand fell too far to the side, he took the opening, and his cold long blade slipped under her defense, she felt coldness as the blade simply slid into her stomach, all the way through, to the other side, ah, will I die? "Lie."
She considered the situation for a moment. I survived the ancients, I survived the uprisings of the southern plains, I survived the demonic cult, I even survived burning my own life energy, but I'll die here…
'Will you really choose to subject the world to chaos, over the life of one young boy, and the knowledge of a madman?' Right, she should have done that. Instead, she saved the boy, and the madman now knew everything. World peace? Maybe, maybe she'd brought it, while saving the young boy, while letting the madman have the truth, but, in exchange, would she lose her life for this?
'Then rather than taking just the lihuo flower, I leave these seeds to you. Of all the people in the world, only you, I believe, will use them well.'
Right, she had the seeds. Why did she give them to her? Did she see some other grand purpose for her in the future? She knew she wasn't normal. She was the guardian of the demonic cult, but instead of protecting the things she came for from her, she just handed them over. She was easily as strong as her, maybe stronger, but she was also at the end of her life. A magic beast. Lin Si had heard of them. She had met one before, hence why she recognized her.
And not just that, if she died…weren't there things she needed to do? Her martial arts inside of her responded to her call, she once again felt the ability to control nature itself around her, gathering it towards herself, she tiptoed backward, her body left the ground behind, she leapt into the air, flying over the wall, and away, flouting woods so fast, he'd be hard pressed to catch her. And he didn't chase. He wasn't sure if more Xu people would be hiding out, ready to come in the moment he let his guard down.
He turned back around, the door was open, Li Junli had seen everything. But he wasn't looking at Li Junlong as he entered.
"Didi," Li Junlong sighed in relief, bending down. "I'm so happy to see you are alive, I was so afraid, you have no idea how hard it was for me to get back here in time!"
"Brother." Li Junli still didn't look at him, his voice was stiff, emotionless.
Li Junlong had never seen him like this, was he mad? His brother had never truly gotten angry at him, just play mad. Even if he was upset, he was always mature about it, often smiling through it. "Didi, I'm sorry I'm late, but I'm here now, okay? Brother won't leave you again, brother will protect you, forever, I won't leave you again. You are safe with me-"
"I don't want to!" Suddenly his brother screamed at him. He turned to look at him, tears in his eyes, but not falling, his voice was harsher than Li Junlong had ever heard, traced with hatred. "Gege, have you ever thought, for one moment, that I might not want to be with you forever?" He glanced down. "Yes, I know, you are dependent on me, to such an extreme degree, it used to give me fulfillment and purpose, but, gege, I don't want this, I don't want to be here, and I. Don't. Want to be by your side forever."
Li Junlong was stuck in place, tongue-tied. His brother had never spoken to him so fiercely before, other than a couple irritated remarks from not getting what he wanted, he was always well-behaved. But what was this? Didn't want him? But, but they were brothers! They only had one another! He had sacrificed so much for him! He had taken him everywhere with him, he, his little burden of a brother, he'd never left him behind, always carrying him around…Always providing for him. They were all each other had!
"Gege, do you know what it's like? Do you know what it's like to not have control over your bowels, relieving yourself at the beginning of the night, and sitting in feces for several hours, until someone checks on you. Do you know what it's like, every time you want to clean, stand, eat, you must request someone to help you? Do you know what it's like to never have a moment of privacy? Do you know what it's like if you want to go somewhere, that you'll always need another's permission? Have you ever considered…" He began to sob, finally, wretchedly. Li Junlong had never seen him cry. Something that Lin Si had seen several times, was a first time for Li Junlong, because Li Junli always pretended in front of him, he pretended to be happy, pretended to be sweet, became the little brother that Li Junlong needed. And he didn't regret it, but, his brother also needed to understand at some point; he glanced at his brother, rage in his eyes, as they flooded past his tears. "I had a chance at throwing all that away brother," he sobbed, reaching out to grip his collar. "I could've walked, I could've gone to the bathroom myself, bathed alone, made my own lunch! Opened. The. Gate. Alone! And you, YOU SELFISH PRICK, you took it away from me!" He was screaming now, almost hysterical, spit flying over Li Junlong's face, who just sat there, muted, expressionless, which only annoyed Li Junli more. "What? You like seeing me weak? Huh? You like having someone you can always care for and protect, someone whose life always needs fixing, so that you never bother fixing your own? What? You like me being forced to stay by your side forever? You don't want me to stand alone, no, you never did, you want me to be your little, dependent, brother, forever, Lin Si, Lin Si, she's too good for you, you selfish prick! I, I, hate you!"
Li Junlong decided to sooth him, realizing he was overly agitated, which could be dangerous to his current health, also impressed by how much strength his hands actually had, but they were still very weak, against Li Junli's wishes, as his brother easily forced them off of him. "Calm down, calm down, it's okay." He comforted, pressing Li Junli down onto the bed, again, Li Junli couldn't move, but he had spoken his part, and was now rolling over to facing the wall in defeat. His body already exhausted from the outburst.
"She was healing me." He spoke. He felt Li Junlong gently patting him. "I hate you."
"Shh, shh, she wasn't healing you, She was lying to you, she's a snake, she says nice words, but she was never here for you, she was here for me, to use us both. She would not heal you, she wanted you to…" die. He didn't finish the sentence. Her face changed at the end, it revealed it all. All that hatred for him that she had been hiding had finally revealed itself.
"I hate you, i hate you" Li Junli didn't stop mumbling, even as Li Junlong called a physician, even as the physician explained the various poisons in his body, even as he sent for an alchemist, and put out the candles, and left him to sleep.
Li Junli continued to sob towards the wall, endlessly, hopelessness in his eyes, only when the room was made completely black several hours into the night, he finally drifted into sleep, but it was restless, it seemed his mind was determined to make him watch that scene of Lin Si getting stabbed to death by his brother, over and over. And her gaze at the end, that rage, that rage, toward Li Junlong. Was it the betrayal of him to her, or was it….was it for him? He didn't know why he wanted it to be the second one.
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Lin Si ran as far as she could through the woods, across an entire mountain, to the other side, where she suddenly stumbled across a small, isolated cabin, not having the strength to go farther, and only a couple pills on her person, afraid for wolves, she turned away, opening the moldy door, she closed it behind her, stumbling over to the back wall, caked in shadow, she leaned back against it sliding down, till her behind hit the floor boards, leaning back, holding her stomach, as blood dribbled out.
"So, it seemed your attempt to save him was futile then?" Snickered a wicked voice came from her side, she glanced over, shocked, what she'd assumed was a pile of rubble in her weakened state, so heavily cloaked in darkness earlier, now that her eyes had adjusted, she noticed, was a man. They sat merely two arm lengths apart, both leaning against the wall, both with intensive wounds, and she couldn't help but grin a little, laying her head back against the wall.
"It seems that little boy is gonna be the death of the both of us, hahahha."