100. Final Rite
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After the brief meeting with Immortal Kai Zhen, Luoyin returned to his guests, drinking and chatting merrily with them.
But once the last of the guests left, the house was finally silent, and he shut himself in his room, and armed with a new determination to stay and protect Yue City at all costs, he worked tirelessly into the night, writing out recipes, and drawing an endless stack of diagrams.
The sun was already high in the sky when his friends arrived the next day.
"Zhang Yin!" Xu Min hailed, and Luoyin's face brightened at the sight of them.
"Xu Min!" He greeted, and then surprisingly patted Xu Lian on her head. "Lian Lian! how are you?"
'Lian Lian?!' They all thought.
Xu Lian gasped and suddenly clutched his arm. "Yin gege! Such an affectionate nickname! Are you finally acknowledging me?!"
"Ei? What do you mean? Haven't you always been my little sister?"
"Hao. Such a wonderful 'little sister'." A glib voice spoke behind him, and he stiffly turned his neck to see Weiyan approaching, a dark cloud of aura surrounding her.
"Y- Yanyan! Wasn't your aura white?! What is this darkness?!"
Xu Wen and Xu Lin suddenly appeared beside Xu Lian, saying in a chorus,
"Little Sister! Let go of that arm now!"
Xu Min leaned closer to Luoyin. "Even if she doesn't let go, won't you let go?!"
"Ahaha!" Luoyin snatched his arm away. "Let's go, let's go!"
Luoyin had 'lost' in a drinking game against Xu Min the previous night, and as punishment, he offered to treat them all to lunch and give them his new set of complex talismans.
And the day went well...
"These talismans here can cause brief darkness for all but the user! Effective in escaping unsuspecting enemies!"
He had made it as a formation to trick *ever-night plants into growing even in the sunlight, but the disciples needed all the protection they could get, so he converted it to a talisman.
(*Fantasy plants which grow in regions where it's always night.)
"... and these ones here are an improvement of the regular smoke talisman, but this smoke is a poison which can render careless enemies immobile for hours, depending on how much they inhale, or how quickly they can get their qi to counter it!
"It would work on lower immortals!"
"Ei?! It's that powerful?!" Xu Lin exclaimed.
"These ones will create a swift maze with the fastest growing grass ever, and the grass is impervious to most attacks."
He left out the fact that this grass was an immortal grass which seed he had summoned right from his Four-Petal Garden!
"It's the best way to split a horde of enemies apart and then face them separately!
"These ones will send anyone who steps on them into a sealed alternate space for an hour..."
By the time lunch was done, they were all eyeing Luoyin in awe and admiration, and each of them had several stacks of the new talismans which would surely sell out faster than most pills if Luoyin ever decided to sell them!
A truly wonderful day indeed...
...but the knowledge that Xu Lian was Luoyin's little sister in his past life had led him to obliviously pat her head every so often, leading to a collection of dark clouds following them around town!
And for once, the others were quick to leave once they reached the Yan house, including Xu Lian, who sent Weiyan a smug smirk.
"Weiyan Jie, it's not who arrives at the store first, but who makes the purchase, right? Huhuhu..."
There was a sudden burning draft of wind surrounding them, and they didn't hesitate to swiftly vanish from sight!
"Meimei, won't you give up on Shixiong?" Xu Wen warned on the way back. "I worry Weiyan Jie might really kill you."
"Heh! It's her fault for being complacent! If she had *'taken Yin gēge down', he wouldn't have run away!"
(*Er, ehehe, if you don't get it, please hold on to your innocence! (???))
"Is this something a young unmarried lady should say?!" Xu Wen demanded.
"What?" She shrugged. "If it was me, he wouldn't last two day-!"
"Stop dreaming of someone else's husb-!" Xu Lin began, but Xu Lian's hand had lashed out, punching him.
"I'm no longer interested in Yin gēge! ...at least not in that way!" Xu Lian scrunched up her face. "I realized at the training grounds that I didn't really mind their relationship, and all along I simply wanted to annoy Weiyan Jie.
"I do like him, but I can't explain it, and I recently felt the same thing towards that other younger Immortal... It's more like how I feel about A-Wen and you, but with more respect."
"Wait!" Xu Wen's expression was suddenly dark. "What's that supposed to mean...? My own twin sister doesn't respect me..."
"She doesn't respect us..." Xu Lin repeated, with the same dead expression.
"Ah, no! It's a different kind of 'respect'!"
Xu Min merely shook his head.
He could certainly understand her.
After the eye-eater incident, Xu Lin and Xu Wen had asked him why he held Zhang Luoyin in such high regard, and his answer had been something similar...
He simply had the feeling Luoyin was someone he should respect and befriend!
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Back at the Yan house, Luoyin had waved till they disappeared, then turned to Weiyan.
"Yanyan! Why don't we-? Ei...?"
Weiyan had cooly moved past him and entered the house.
"Yanyan! Wait for m-!" He followed after her, but she had vanished. "Ei?!"
'Is she angry?!'
She was.
A severely pissed off Weiyan reappeared before her courtyard and stormed in, her thoughts insisting on tormenting her.
'On the wedding night, he mentioned someone else he loved...'
'Could it be Xu Lian??!!'
'But when and how?!' She didn't even think the two had met before the Eye-eater incident.
She stopped suddenly and gently touched her lips.
'And why did he kiss me...?' She wondered, as an inevitable warm feeling settled around her.
She sat heavily on the bed. 'To be fair, I kissed him first...' But recently, they seemed to be drawing close to each other...
Did Zhang Luoyin still have someone else in his heart?!
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Late at night, Luoyin resumed work, this time in the hidden refinery making pills, and around the third hour, he returned to his room, falling right on the bed for some much needed sleep.
But just when he shut his eyes, he heard it... A sweet and solemn melody of strings.
'This -! This is!'
It was Weiyan's Pipa again, but this was different.
This flitted not only into his ears, but through his skin- his entire being!
He had never heard her play like this before, and the melody wrapped around him with a warm feeling, leaving him with a sense of everything good and beautiful.
It was as if she poured a bit of her soul into the strings, and before he realized what he was doing, he sat up and a light green flute appeared in his hand...
He had seen it during the new year and had really bought it out of habit, since he hadn't played the flute for thirty-thousand years.
But now, though it didn't match the supreme white jade flute in his past, he put it to his lips, drew in a soft breath, and began to play.
At Weiyan's courtyard, her fingers stilled in shock, but only for a second, then they resumed playing.
The soft flow of the flute wove around her, lifting her spirits, and she wasn't sure how she knew it was Luoyin, but somehow she did!
It was as if he blew a bit of his soul into the flute, and that warm feeling grew more insistent within her.
To whichever lucky servants were listening, it was simply an intricately beautiful duet, but not to these two.
This was more than a duet... It was a silent exchange between them, unifying their essences over the distance, and when Luoyin finally pulled the flute away from his lips, he remained still, staring in disbelief.
The duet had called forth every single memory of Xu Weiyan.
From the Lava Sea, to his curious glances at the Caoyang Palace, to their time in the brilliant sunny herb garden there...
From the night of her return to Yue City, to the scandal, to the duel, to every time she swiftly jumped in to guard, defend, or care for him, and even to every meal they had shared...
He flushed as more recent memories swirled - her weight as he lifted her into his arms at the training grounds, or as she crashed into him, her arms going around him in a warm hug...
...and then that kiss...
Luoyin shot to his feet, intending to march right over to Xu Weiyan's courtyard.
But then he sat back down heavily.
'No!'
There was something he had to do before taking certain steps, and if he went near Xu Weiyan right now, he would definitely take 'certain' steps!!
His marriage to Xu Weiyan had been borne of circumstances beyond his control, but both their hearts were now drawn to each other, and he wouldn't disrespect her by keeping even the sliver of someone else in his heart.
Which meant...
He held out a hand, and his blue aura rose up, forming the ghostly outline of a funeral plaque, and on it was written,
Yan Liwei.
Between he and Liwei was an age old romance, one which had several thousand years before her death, and after her death he had personally created a golden plaque identical to this one on Caoyang.
He still couldn't believe a mere mortal had somehow overthrown his love for Yan Liwei, but now his heart and thoughts were only filled with Xu Weiyan.
He simply felt it was time to lay Yan Liwei to rest...
"Weiwei," He began in the silence, as the ethereal plaque hovered in place. "I've wronged you. I promised you a lifetime, but we didn't know how short that would be.
"I've mourned you through thousands of years, and I would for thousands more, but by some divine miracle, this heart of mine beats for someone again." He said softly, his voice barely a whisper. "I never even noticed how or when she crept into my heart..."
He fell to his knees and held up his hands in a respectful salute. "You can blame me, curse at me, and hate me. In the end, my own heart is the problem." He continued. "It has latched on, and I can no longer do without her, so I must wrong you." He sighed.
"I must let you go completely now, Yan. Li. Wei..." He bowed forward, touching his forehead to the floor. "Please receive my last rite to you!"
Above him, the ghostly plaque slightly vibrated in place, its aura lines shining brightly. But then it slowly faded away, leaving a semi-darkness behind.
Luoyin raised his head with a sigh, simply kneeling there in the darkness.
There was no helping the sad feeling which settled with the shadows, but this time, they were short-lived, and it didn't take long for his mind to refocus on a pressing matter...
He had never once expressed his feelings to Xu Weiyan!
This was something he had never considered, and guilty arrows shot through him...
Xu Weiyan had done so much to express herself all along, going through the trouble of bringing him meals, moving closer, and then there was even that night of lotus lanterns, wine, and soft music...
As a man, wouldn't he be taking Weiyan for granted if he didn't put in some romantic effort?!!
'Aiya...' He lay down, forcing his eyes shut! 'New matters indeed arise when old ones are laid to rest!'
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