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.

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[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. ]

[daozhangs]

And what did these rumors claim?

[legbreakings]

Does it matter? I know now where I stand with you, rumors aside.

[daozhangs]

( it does matter. xingchen would like to know what word has reached lotus pier that made jiang wanyin so wary, if only because none of that which he did should have reached the cultivation world at large. the villages were small and far from the traveled path. there were no survivors. even if word might have spread of what had occurred, there was nothing which could have implicated him in the acts.

except for xue yang himself.

but ultimately, he recognizes that digging up precisely what xue yang has done to his reputation since his death is a road which leads only to madness. xingchen shattered his soul, so he could not be reanimated like zichen had been. anything beyond that, he deserves for all that he has done. )

You're right. Forgive me.

I'm glad to hear that you are still comfortable working together. I would understand, if you weren't.

[legbreakings]

It's fine. I said it's fine, didn’t I?

If I thought badly of you our first meeting in Bavan would have gone very differently

[ Because he knows already he won't let bygones be bygones. If his enemies ever show up here he will continue the fight. That this is a different world changes nothing. ]

[daozhangs]

You're right.

Today has been trying. I don't mean to be difficult or to second-guess your judgment. I should probably rest.

Thank you for checking in today. I'll be in touch tomorrow with further news on the meteors.

action, several days later

[legbreakings]

[ It's when their travels take them back into the direction of Bavan that Jiang Cheng separates himself from his travel companions for a day, braving the city they had actually been planning to avoid until things calmed down.

It would have been nice enough to avoid the latest disaster striking Bavan just once but with Xiao Xingchen still in the city and determined to stay there and help, it's where he needs to go to check on him.

And check on him Jiang Cheng feels he must, even if the last thing he wants right now is face anyone who knows him in person. Not with his voice as it is...

He seeks out the address that had been given to him and knocks without calling out, feeling like his heart is racing with anxiety though he strongly suspects he doesn't even have a heart anymore - at least no heartbeat anymore, and why should he, when it is no longer blood that flows when he cuts himself. And now, as he speaks, it isn't his own natural voice that comes out of his mouth. His speakers' imitation of his voice sounds reminiscent of a gramophone recording, not that Jiang Cheng would be able to pinpoint it as such. He just knows that it fills him with horror every time he makes a noise, so he tries to avoid it. ]

[daozhangs]

( by now, xingchen has gotten well-enough acquainted with the low-end hotel in which he has been staying that he's able to move about the room much like he might have were he still able to call on his qi. the city outside, well, that's... still a work-in-progress, for certain. and there has only really been so much xingchen could do, once the meteors stopped and everyone just started falling asleep.

fortunately (or, perhaps, predictably), jiang wanyin had distinctly failed to be one of them. though they've been in very little contact over the last couple of days, it has largely been due to their prevailing fatigue (xingchen's, especially - it's far too easy for fatigue to disorient him, without his qi) making topics beyond brief check-ins difficult to come by and these laptops feel that much more foreign and ambiguous to continue to function.

but that preternatural pull into the depths of unconsciousness has finally released its hold on them, and after what was probably not nearly enough sleep for either one of them, he's been told to expect jiang wanyin at his door.

and sure enough, there's the knock. no words, but who else would come calling? no one but perhaps the proprietor, and this knock was a bit too authoritative for that. and so xingchen opens the door with a welcoming smile. )

Jiang-zongzhu, ( he greets, stepping back to allow the man to come inside.

what with it being a rented suite (and one rented by xiao xingchen, no less), very few signs of life can be found throughout the small living area and the adjacent sleeping area - most of which sit on the single table, including a bottle of bleach (relatedly, note the lack of blood staining his robes), a bag containing some tea blends, and a bakery container. in fact, he's stepping over to said bakery container as soon as the door is closed, fingertips finding it easily and lifting the lid open to reveal three pastries of various sorts lingering inside. ) I've come to learn that not all of us are still able to eat such foods, but if you are, I've picked up an extra for you.