Xue Hua was acting strange
The immortal thought,
For some reason, Yue Ran couldn't help but feel a strange atmosphere around the child, even though he didn't act strange in any particular way, Yue Ran recognised that he wasn't truly acting in his usual way, so, he was certainly being strange, he still smiled whenever their eyes would meet and get shy trying to avert his gaze acting as though it was an accident,
He still tried to bore a hole through Yue Ran's head with his incessant staring, but, he felt very different than his usual self
Since a while back he had been extremely quiet
He didn't know if it was intentional or if the child even realised it himself,
Was it the lingering effect from the beast?
Yue Ran had tried feeling out anything strange from his energy flow, but everything was alright,
Then why was he acting strange?
By now, he should've been trying to form conversations awkwardly, fumbling over his words like usual but he seemed rather...content with the silence this time
Yue Ran wasn't bothered by it, he believed so, but after getting used to the awkward self of the kid, this sudden shift in energy felt quite odd.
Maybe he was just being silent for a change, he shouldn't bother about it any longer,
Yue Ran told himself that bringing himself back to the present moment,
Their cloak dragged through the snow as their feet sank softly with each step, Xue Hua having shorter legs was having a bit of trouble keeping up, yet he never fell too far behind, he was always close enough to never let go of his grip on Yue Ran's cloak, it was quite funny how he tried to refrain himself from pulling on it but would always tug a bit too strongly while trying walk faster
His hair flew wildly with his strained efforts, and his face flushed up as he tried to catch up, almost tripping multiple times.
Yue Ran's brows twitched as he controlled his pace to match the child even further,
He couldn't believe how slow he actually was going just to make it possible for the child to catch up to him, it was ridiculous but he couldn't do anything about it.
If not for this, they've would've reached their destination way sooner, however, since there wasn't any particular need to rush,
He remained patient with Xue Hua
Images of the child's previous expression flickered through his mind, maybe due to the absurdity of it all
To him, he really couldn't understand the child even before and now he felt even more lost about the child
It felt absurd at first, but it seems that the kid was truly sad over what happened in Siquan-
Why?
Nevertheless, Xue Hua didn't mention anything and Yue Ran didn't press him about it either,
He thought that Xue Hua was a very curious child, but he did not ask about anything even when he suddenly returned with their original clothes and had him change, Yue Ran thought he'd ask about the woodcutter, but he didn't even say a single thing
This made him wonder if Xue Hua was actually still upset with Yun Buizha over the matter of that tree, but it just seemed a bit too much, and no way could he be that childish, but it seems he was indeed that childish.
After the death of "Xiaoming" the tree lost whatever strange energy it had, when they left, it was nothing but an extremely dried piece of rotten tree that would fall with the slightest push
Yue Ran glanced at the child who was walking beside him, despite falling behind multiple times,
Xue Hua as far as he knew was someone that did everything without asking any question, that made him wonder if he was just slow in understanding and thoughts?
Since as far as he had seen and experienced, kids were unreasonable, asked many questions, had even more demands and were extremely quick to object.
And that... didn't seem to be out of possibility either,
However, Yue Ran hoped that it wasn't the case, after all from what he could remember, the kid had quite a heightened sense of smells and even intuition or similar senses
Which, of course was evident from the event during their first night in Siquan,
For a child, he was certainly very useful and capable,
Maybe he was one of those kids who were unusually aware, making him appear more reasonable and mature...
Although Yue Ran didn't actually know what the kid was, it didn't matter much,
Yue Ran never imagined him to be like the other kids, but it was still unexpected to see him stand so unphased by what he faced in Siquan yet be moved by sentiments.
He doesn't seem to be foreign to extreme sight, perhaps he himself didn't realise it yet, he did show extreme reactions, but they were never truly appropriate it seems,
He did show fear, but that was only when he was physically affected other than that he seemed quite unbothered by whatever he saw
This only further proves his identity as a being not belonging to mortals, which wasn't a big deal
In rare cases if he turned out to be a demonic child which was already unlikely, he could merely kill him, since it was already very convenient, and that wouldn't be changing anytime soon, as far as he knew
And him following behind him everywhere only added to the convenience as long as he proved to be harmful,
If he was a spiritual beast or something else
Yue Ran could always make use of him in some way or the other
But, he still couldn't get past the fact that the child had managed to grow attached to the mortals in such a short time
Even though they've only been here for a short time the kid was being sentimental, was it a common thing or was he just overly sensitive?
It wouldn't be surprising if this turned out to be something common either, maybe Yue Ran was just oblivious to it.
Yue Ran couldn't quite answer himself,
Like always, he could only observe from the sides and try to figure out what was usual, and what was not.
Trying to understand the people in front of him, like always, that had been his role, and he quite liked it, observing others, studying them felt quite rewarding, it felt like he was reading a book full of things he didn't know, learning every little thing through them
Much like Xue Hua, his master was a person who sympathized with many if not every person, yet he was always dishonest about himself to others and especially to himself.
Xue Hua didn't seem too different from him either,
To think that he had remained in that room longer just to shed his tears alone amongst the dead-
It seemed that he was hoping to get away with it, leaving Yue Ran in the dark about it
However, his face betrayed his intentions, how could Yue Ran not notice the redness around the edges of his eyes?
Unfortunately, the kid wasn't too sharp, and even his attempt to hide it was betrayed by his own face,
If Yue Ran was being honest, he wouldn't even consider it an actual attempt; it was just a poorly executed idea.
But for his dignity Yue Ran decided to act unaware, it wasn't like a child could actually be able to fool him regardless of what he did.
Was he mourning for that girl?
The one he called, "Xiaoming" ? Even though they were merely strangers?
He didn't know whether to be concerned or impressed.
What did he even know about her?
The girl was probably already dead before their arrival, it could be noted just from looking at her condition.
This made him question what Xue Hua actually saw while being within the beast,
Yue Ran wasn't totally oblivious, he had a feeling that what the beast showed Xue Hua were probably illusions it crafted since it seemed to have a strong power of illusion,
or perhaps what he saw were the memories of that girl,
but he couldn't help but wonder,
What was it that Xue Hua really saw that could cause such a reaction from him in such a short time,
to grow enough emotional connection to even mourn over her.
Yue Ran's hand shifted within his cloak, reaching towards his side, where around his waist hung the pendant he carried with himself without fail, with each step it danced in the air swaying along with his movements
Grabbing it gently around his palm, he firmly pressed his thumb on the surface before gently rubbing his fingers through the rough edges, feeling the chipped pieces as his fingers gently caressed its sides the feeling seemed to remind him to slow his thoughts,
He frowned slightly, his brows barely twitching upward
As he concluded,
The child was truly strange
In many ways... he was always smiling for no apparent reason, cheerful, quick to joy... quick to sympathize with strangers much like a certain person
Yet, they couldn't be more different, they looked completely different despite sharing the same shade of hair, even if Xue Hua was still a child and his appearance was still changing and immature,
he knew, their appearance couldn't be further from each other, except his hair, Xue Hua looked nothing like his master in **any** way.
They both had an entirely different feel to them, and most importantly, their core was completely different--
He immediately released the pendant from between his fingers,
Their will to live
The contrast was somehow intriguing in itself
How one could be so similar to another yet fundamentally different, was it a coincidence? A play of fate?
Despite his reason for sustaining Xue Hua's life being out of mere curiosity over their similarities, he never expected them to have this much behavioural trait in common, and to think he was involved with both now,
he couldn't deny just how much he was entangling himself with the being he saved out of mere curiosity, maybe it all began the moment he named it, or perhaps from the moment he saw it laying on that forgotten corner.
Was this his...destiny ?
To search for his master in something that constantly reminded him of his master, to look for answers from someone so similar to the one that caused him to form those questions in the first place.
It was so strange,
But, no matter how much Xue Hua grew to resemble his master as time passed, Yue Ran would never mistake the two,
It was that he could not mistake the two
Even if Xue Hua grew to resemble him contrary to his expectations,
Neither could perfectly replicate another even if they tried, after all,
Despite everything, Xue hua felt like his own self, perfectly exclusive to him with such certainty that he could merely follow suit and admit it with the same certainty.
Trudging through the snow, the only sounds that filled the silence between them were their breaths,
Xue Hua breathed a bit heavier with weight as he had been trying to catch his breath for a while, having lost his strength a long ago as they walked without resting through what seemed like an endless expanse of snow
While the other was a much more pleasant sound, soothing, calm and stable, belonging to the immortal that walked without a single change in expression, that the dissonance between them couldn't be larger, while Yue Ran seemed to be on a casual stroll, Xue Hua looked as though he had been running for a long time.
Dawn began breaking through, lighting their way
Siquan was now far away from them,
It was no longer visible long ago even if they strained their eyes,
Their sinking footprints were constantly erased by the flowing wind breezing past them,
Panting softly Xue Hua took a deep breath and continued walking with firmer determination
Yue Ran had predicted multiple times that the kid unable to walk any further would drop onto the ground but never once was he right, and Xue Hua was still walking, growing more determined with each drag, he seemed to be enjoying it.
This made Yue Ran even more curious about his limits, since he kept exceeding his expectations he wondered, just how long it would last,
He realised,
Being wrong felt quite refreshing.
He wanted to stop his expectations from growing, yet the child kept proving him wrong over and over.
The very child who was following behind him with a flushed face, along bright eyes that seemed to grow more enthusiastic,
Yue Ran slowed himself down further not even knowing if that was even possible, glancing at the kid,
If someone looked closer they would notice that Yue Ran himself was starting to act a little strange too.
Having wandered the mortal realm alone for a long time after leaving the nameless peak-- his home.
The feeling of being with someone had long grown foreign with the memories of his travels with his master turning into a distant memory of the past, he had forgotten just how it felt...
It was weird
He kept wondering if this was how his master felt as well when they were traveling around together centuries ago when Yue Ran himself was a child, yet to become his disciple.
In those moments they were merely...two strangers who had no one else to lean on to.
To think he was living through the same thing once more centuries later...
but now rather than being a clueless and vulnerable child, he was living it through the shoes of his master from the past.
With all this he couldn't help but feel hope creeping in through the back of his mind, one that had been buried for many many years
After wondering in vain for so long... Could be finally... Understand it this time?
His eyes flickered with a strange emotion, that had been drowned for many years, it was resurfacing once more, all because of this one child.
He knew it was ridiculous, even so, as ridiculous as it was, he could not help but wonder, if--
if this amnesiac child was possibly the missing piece he needed to finally find the answer to that damning question...
Could he actually give him an answer after all these long pointless centuries?
There was no guarantee that it would happen, but there wasn't any certainty that it wouldn't either.
He was sick of feeling lost without any clue to that nagging question stuck on his mind
So what choice did he have left after trying everything out but to look at this child, Xue Hua
Who followed him without question
Trusting him blindly, depending on him for his survival, Yue Ran wondered how it felt.
To trust someone blindly over their life without knowing anything about them.
Something ancient within him begged a question
How would he react if he knew?
Unlike his master who stayed with him regardless, what would this child do if he learned more about him?
...
Xue Hua tugged on Yue Ran's sleeves gently, seeing a large gate from a distance, his eyes widened as he asked,
"Gege, what is this place?"
His voice was brimming with curiosity and excitement as he asked, so much that it felt unlike the child who had just recently cried.
Just like the child who was in excitement over a new environment,
For the first time in his years of wandering alone, Yue Ran found hope.
A hope named Xue Hua
"Qingxue City"