ic inbox, ryslig.

[daozhangs]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, XIAO.XINGCHEN. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 018.07.154.55 *** XIAO.XINGCHEN has joined 018.07.154.55 <XIAO.XINGCHEN> You have reached Xiao Xingchen. <XIAO.XINGCHEN> I am often away from my laptop, but I will do my best to answer as soon as I'm able.

Comments

[legbreakings]

It may provide us with some answers.

[daozhangs]

I'd like to come.

[legbreakings]

Of course. Together, we may be able to get some answers.

I don't know when, or if it's possible at all. But if it is, I feel this way to get answers can't be ignored.

[ Not that he expects the Fog God to answer any of his questions. But maybe they will be able to feel out some answers anyway. ]

[daozhangs]

( xingchen's not sure why he anticipated resistance, but he receives precisely none of it and that's inexplicably heartening, more so than he might easily admit. )

It seems to be the best plan we have, at the moment. Once you're done with your traveling and rocks have seen fit to stop falling from our skies.

[legbreakings]

Of course. I will try to learn as much as I can about the Fog God during my travels, too. I keep hoping the locals would have answers the monsters are missing, even if they are reluctant to share their knowledge with outsiders.

[ Which, fair enough, he can respect that. It's just terribly inconvenient right now. ]

[daozhangs]

Perhaps I might make my own attempt, down the line. Assuming I'm still capable of appearing benign once this month is through.

( he hasn't the foggiest guess what manner of beast he'll become, after all. some of them seem quite gruesome, while others seem... at least somewhat less so. )

[legbreakings]

I hope so for you. Appearing human makes it not only easier to interact with humans but also safer. The people here have good reason to hate and fear us.

[daozhangs]

( after a bit of deliberation, )

Do you still appear human?

( it's no more than anyone with eyes might know at a passing glance, which is perhaps the only reason he presumes to ask. he could also argue, if pressed, that it's only practical that he know - if only to be able to know how they might be received, should they ever travel together. )

[legbreakings]

[ Oh.

Oh.

It hits him that Xiao Xingchen wouldn't have seen, he wouldn't have experienced it that first day as he did... ]

Yes. For now. Well. As long as I'm
fully clothed.

[daozhangs]

( it's true - xingchen has experienced precisely none of the monstrosity so far. he has literally just been taking jiang wanyin (and various others) on their word that such a thing is occurring around him.

now that he has his answer, he's not sure whether to say 'how fortunate, then' or something more apologetic. he settles on, )

I see.

Thank you, my friend, for indulging the question. If there's anything you'd care to ask in return, it's only fair that I allow it.

( because there have been times, he thinks - pauses, both in their initial meeting and in these conversations since - in which various questions have gone unasked. some of those questions were xingchen's, but not all. )

[legbreakings]

I have many questions. But they are either not my place to ask or this is not the right time.

[ More like, he isn't sure Xiao Xingchen is ready to handle them on top of everything else. ]

[daozhangs]

It wasn't my place to ask what I did. I won't force you to ask what's on your mind, but please know that you won't offend me if you do.

[legbreakings]

My nephew told me about what happened in Yi City.

[daozhangs]

Of course.

What is it that you'd like to ask me?

[legbreakings]

I don't even know where to begin.

What I need to know most is, did you turn away from the righteous path? I heard the rumors.

[daozhangs]

I've not heard the rumors you speak of, so I can't confirm or deny their truth.

But I did part from the righteous path.

( he wouldn't call it turning away. it wasn't as if he turned and walked the other way, off down some winding road to hell. he simply (stupidly, naively, irresponsibly) lapsed in the most basic of vigilance, and in doing so he cut short far too many undeserving lives. )

[legbreakings]

You have killed.

[ And not in the way all cultivators kill when they go to war or dispense justice. ]

[daozhangs]

I have.

[legbreakings]

Why?

[ He's not handling this well, Jiang Cheng knows as much, but he also has no delusions it would be going better in person. In person, there would just be more yelling and agitated pacing. ]

[daozhangs]

I thought that they were already dead.

( a long pause, perhaps long enough that jiang wanyin nearly (or successfully) sends a reply, but then - )

The Shudong area, particularly surrounding Yi City, was plagued by puppeted corpses. I thought that it was some sort of curse. I spent much of the last two years doing battle against it, but I could never predict where it would strike and by the time I arrived each time, every last one of the villagers had been turned. I spent much of this time cleansing villages. Cutting down corpses, burning them.

I discovered eventually, after far too long and far too many dead, that they weren't truly corpses at all. One whom I trusted had learned how to trick Frostwork's call, and those whom it told me were corpses reborn were innocent men, women, and children cut tongueless so they could not plead their cases.

I never once stopped to consider this possibility. Rather than the most basic of due diligence, I foolishly trusted that my companion would not lead me off the path I walked. Villages lie empty by my hand, piles of bodies burned to ash.

Yes, I have killed.

[legbreakings]

[ This fits with what he had learned from the juniors but it's still harder to hear it right from the source. Especially since now, he is wondering how it affected Xiao Xingchen instead of only worrying about Jin Ling's safety. ]

You trusted your companion. It is not wrong to trust in those closest to you, it is wrong of them to betray it.

But you did kill these people.

We all have to live with our mistakes.

[ And this man seems to be punishing himself for his mistakes already. A good thing, in Jiang Cheng's book. It should hurt. If something like that didn't pain you, you would be no ally. ]

[daozhangs]

We do, and I will.

( whether or not he intended to live with what he had done, such is what fate (or the fog god) has chosen for him. )

[legbreakings]

This can be a second chance. A place to save lives.

[ Offering comfort. Optimism. He's not good at that. But he is trying. ]

[daozhangs]

It can be. I plan to try.

I suppose you understand now, why you don't have to worry that I might allow myself to embrace the Fog.

[legbreakings]

I understand, yes.

I heard rumors about you. I didn't want to think badly of you but I had to be sure how you feel about what happened.

[ There is a lot more to it than what he had known, too, so maybe he's partially regretting having asked at all. ]