Fan Yi looked down at his feet for a moment and wedged his boots further into the dirt until it made a clear imprint. He took a step back and let out a soft sigh before turning around and began to head back to his home.

The sun in the sky was slowly setting, signaling the end of yet another day. The sound of cicadas began to fill the air with greater vigor, filling in the silence with a strange kind of symphony. The disciples had all filed to the dining hall now. Most of the noise and light was concentrated in that area. The only thing lighting Fan Yi’s path back up the side of the mountain were lanterns that floated in the air, emitting a warm glow. Along with the cicadas was the crunch of Fan Yi’s boots. His thoughts circled through events from the past to the events till now. The peace that he rarely felt when left alone arrived again, warming him a little bit more in the chilly summer night.

Fan Yi glanced towards the dining hall but turned his back, not feeling hungry enough or energetic enough to be bothered by the disciples. He made his way back to his own estate and glanced towards the guest courtyard. He thought about what Zhen Yueyue said and slowly trudged into the bedroom. He carefully lit a candle and sat down beside Wu Lingtian’s bedside. He began to slowly undress Wu Lingtian again, as he had the past several days, and checked on the state of his bandages.

“You won’t be needing my help anymore tomorrow,” Fan Yi murmured to himself as he carefully stripped the bandages off. He leaned Wu Lingtian against his shoulders as he reached over for an ointment. “What’s this I hear about not wanting to wake up? It isn’t like you to throw a tantrum.”

Only the sound of cicadas responded to Fan Yi.

“Are you angry at Li Ran?” Fan Yi wondered aloud. “It was unfair of him to not give you a trial. But if you feel that it was unfair, you should wake up and yell at him. Haven’t you always hated when people put words into your mouth? You always glared at me when I did it.”

Fan Yi carefully smeared the anti-scar cream across Wu Lingtian’s shoulders and slowly massaged it in.

“Do you think no one wants you to wake up?” Fan Yi asked. His movements paused. “…Am I not a person? If I didn’t want you to wake up, why would I take such good care of you. I might as well have let you bleed out and die.”

Fan Yi softly sighed as he moved onto the next scar. “If the world didn’t have Yu Lan, what kind of world would that be? There wouldn’t be anyone to bring justice in the cultivation world anymore. No one cares as much as Yu Lan does.”

Fan Yi looked down at Wu Lingtian, who was leaning against his shoulder and slowly laid him back down. “Aren’t you a magnolia, resiliently growing amidst the snow? What happened to that resilience?”

Fan Yi fell silent and felt a bit of a loss. He really only knew how to provoke Wu Lingtian, but he wasn’t sure if this kind of provocation would make Wu Lingtian wake up. His gaze traveled up to Wu Lingtian’s closed eyes and he smiled.

“Yu Lan, I still haven’t paid you back for what I owe you. I am someone who gives back what others have done unto me. What am I supposed to do? Follow you to the Yellow Springs?” Fan Yi asked. “If you died, how am I supposed to take care of you?”

The smile slowly fell from Fan Yi’s face. He carefully pushed aside a loose lock of hair from Wu Lingtian’s face. “If you wake, I’ll give you candy.”

Fan Yi reached into his sleeve and produced a round candy, carefully wrapped in paper. He played with the wrapper and glanced up at Wu Lingtian.

However, there was still no response.

“…What happened between you and your master…what happened to Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect and how they wronged you,” Fan Yi started, “Don’t you want to get justice?”

Seeing the man still unresponsive, Fan Yi let out a long sigh. He stood slowly and glanced back at Wu Lingtian one last time before he blew out the candle and stepped out of the guest room. Fan Yi didn’t bother glancing back up again as he closed the door. If he had, he would have noticed the slight movement from Wu Lingtian’s hand.