A soft and warm sensation devoured my being bit by bit as I came to my senses and awoke sometime the following morning. My eyes fluttered open and blinked quickly as sunlight flooded into my vision. A small yet firm grip tugged at my torso as if holding on for dear life. Looking down, I expected to see a head of messy black hair somewhat resembling a particular person. Instead, to my surprise, I was met with a face full of fuzzy white fur. Before I could react, the ball of fluff was pulled away from me, and up stood Bai Huiliang, angrily glowering at a… cat? A small and fluffy feline, similar to a white Persian cat, hung dangerously close in his hand. Its eyes seemed to plead for mercy, but the young villain offered none.
“Gege, you’re awake? How do you feel?” Looking over at me and ignoring the struggling creature in his hands, Bai Huiliang’s gaze softened as he approached me.
Sweat beaded down my forehead as I looked upon the scene in front of me, conflicted between the two. “Ah…I’m fine… it's just that…” My gaze was once again brought back to the cat.
“Oh, this?” His voice was laced with annoyance as he looked down at the creature with contempt. “You don’t recognize it, Gege?”
Recognize it?
A vague line of text resurfaced in my mind for a moment until—
“Wait! That’s Fengli??... The beast from last night?”
Nodding slowly, little Bai looked back down at the now tiny tiger, shaking his hand slightly, causing it to squirm in fear.
“It must’ve lost a good amount of its strength after the fight.” Holding it up to his eye level, he stared it down. “Whatever strength it had left must have gone to healing its injuries, resulting in… this.” Looking in my direction once again, the smaller boy had a slightly… well, villainous look. “I remember Gege once said that if someone hits me, I should hit them back.”
“It wasn’t you that got hit, it was me!”
“Same difference.” He looked away and back to the beast. “This thing almost killed you last night, Gege…” His eyes darkened with the memory of grief. “I can't just let it go.”
Closing my eyes, I thought for a moment. I completely understood how he felt. Had it been me in his place instead, I’d have done the same thing. However, this couldn’t be as simple as that. This spirit beast was fundamentally the villain's first and most loyal servant. No matter who betrayed him and who stabbed him in the back, this creature would always stand by his side. A powerful ruler needs powerful allies, after all. After they almost met their demise by each other's hand, a mutual recognition of power occurred and that forged the way to a lifelong friendship, something the villain so desperately needed to help him retain even a sliver of whatever sanity he had left. Opening his eyes, Lei Qiu looked up at the boy from his place on the bed.
This is something that will in the end help Bai Huiliang. If it's for him, then I CAN'T let him kill it.
Seeming to realize the change in the room, the small beast took this time to make an opportune swipe at the villain's sleeve, skillfully cutting itself free from his grasp. In the next few seconds, the cat had freed itself from one hand and entered the arms of another.
Mewing slowly at Lei Qiu, the small thing rubbed its body against the one person it thought could save its life.
“You know…” Ice cold, Xiao Bai’s voice resounded across the small cabin. “I’m sure the other spirit beasts in the woods would just love a nice meal right about now. How does that sound?”
Its fur prickled in fear as it sought to double its efforts against Lei Qiu. Letting out a distressed cry, it seemed to ask, no, beg, for its poor soul to be forgiven. Letting out a small huff of air, Lei Qiu smiled slightly at Bai Huiliang. “Xiao Bai, it seems sorry… Let it off the hook, okay?”
His ears seemed to droop in defeat. “But… But Gege…”
“Besides, isn't it a little bit cute when it's not trying to kill you?” Rolling up his sleeves, Lei Qiu made a motion to scoop up the cat. “See, look—” The moment just before his hands met the fur of the beast, a strong and almost harmful wind current came spilling out. The force pushed his hand away and yet also attracted it further. Blue and green strands of wind spiraled and looped around each other, causing the current to grow bigger and bigger until… it stopped. Dissipating, both strands of elemental and spiritual energy returned back to their sources. Blue going into the forehead of the beast and green receding into the chest of Lei Qiu. Bringing his fingertips to where the light disappeared, Lei Qiu sat in shock.
“That was…”
“Gege!” Bai Huiliang smiled cheerfully and reached his hands out before tactfully placing them behind his back. “You have a wind spirit root.” Smiling to himself, he said, “I also found out my root just last night.” This was probably the most Lei Qiu had ever seen Bai Huiliang smile. Something so sweet and not yet tainted by a life's worth of betrayal, it was infectious. Lei Qiu smiled with care at the would-be villain.
“You did? What root do you have?”
In a failed attempt to stifle his beaming smile, Bai Huiliang looked down and away from Lei Qiu. “I found out about my lightning root last night during the fight, but later on, after I took you back here, I found out I also have a water spirit root.”
Ruffling his hair, Lei Qiu grinned happily. “So you have a dual spirit root? My family’s Bai Huiliang is so talented!”
So it was him who saved me last night but… how?
Scanning over the other boy's features, Lei Qiu couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
“But you’re sure you’re alright, Xiao Bai? You’re not hurt?”
Tilting his head in momentary confusion, Bai Huiliang slightly frowned. “Hm? No.”
“Promise?”
His confusion only deepened further. “Yes? Gege, what are you…”
His voice trailed off after seeing Lei Qiu reach out his hand and extend his pinky finger. “Promise.”
Although still perplexed beyond all imagination, Bai Huiliang complied and extended his smallest finger, wrapping it around the other.
Smiling, Lei Qiu retracted his hand saying, “There. Now it's settled.” But it wasn’t. Too many questions now remain. If it was true that Bai Huiliang hadn’t sustained any injuries, then the question remained, how? In the original novel, the villain was able to defeat the wind beast, that's a known fact. However, it was also a fact that he was only able to escape just barely clinging onto his life, something the child would then experience many more times moving forward. Keeping that in mind, the question objectively intensified when considering one other factor.
This was never supposed to happen.
Not at this point in time, at least.
The villain had been in the sect for a couple of months before this incident occurred, allowing him the time to at least get to know his power and ability. He even got to train a bit with a wooden sword for practice. For such an important plot point to happen two months early was concerning, to say the least. More concerning was that even if the event had occurred early, you’d still expect the significantly inexperienced kid to suffer some kind of setback, but there was none. Everything up until this point had been wrong and skewed in some way. Nothing was right.
“Gege?”
“Hm?”
Coming back to his senses, Lei Qiu looked up at the child who stood there looking back at him, face riddled with concern and guilt.
“I’m sorry. I wish I had gotten there sooner, or… you wouldn’t have been so hurt.” His face seemed to pale considerably at the mention of it. “Even… before, I had never seen you in that state. Gege, I was scared.” His eyes filled with clear liquid. “I thought I was going to lose you. We finally escaped that place together, I couldn’t lose you, Gege. I couldn’t!” The tears dripped down his face in streaks.
Lei Qiu’s heart shook upon the sound of his cries. This was in no way the villain of that novel. “Shh… It’s ok. I’m ok now. Xiao Bai, see? You helped me, right? That's good enough.” Wiping the tears off his face, Lei Qiu wrapped the other boy in a hug.
“S-so…” Through hushed tears, Bai Huiliang looked up at Lei Qiu, “I can get rid of that thing, right?”
“...Bai Huiliang.”
“Ah? What did I do?”
Clear as day, the tears seen previously were nowhere to be seen. Instead, replacing them now was a smile.
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