Upon waking, Wang Xiao noticed that it was quite dark. Evidently, during his restless sleep, he had been hit with a fever that had left him drenched in sweat from head to toe. How long had he been unconscious? He had no way of knowing, nor did he fully understand what had happened to him. One minute, he was defending himself against Zhang Yao's accusations, the next, he was lying on his back inside what appeared to be a cave.
Slowly rising onto his forearms, and wincing at the pain this action induced, Wang Xiao took notice of the small but warm fire burning nearby. This explained why he wasn't feeling as cold as he should have been. Zhang Yao must have lit the fire and left the cave to go hunting, or maybe to find help.
"Unlikely," thought Wang Xiao. From what he understood of the other man, he was probably gone to complete his hunt.
Taking his absence as an opportunity, Wang Xiao gingerly tapped the front of his shirt and found that the book was still nestled against his chest, undisturbed. "Good," he thought, "brother Zhang didn't have the idea to search me before he left me here."
Wang Xiao sat up properly, leaning heavily against the back wall of the cave and, pulling out the book, he finally examined the cover.
The book was bound with a thick blue paper on the front and back, with the characters for 'One Thousand Souls' etched vertically on the front. Happily, Wang Xiao opened it to the first page and began reading its contents. After a few minutes of speed reading, he had read it cover-to-cover without taking as much as an extra second to process the information contained within.
Wang Xiao frowned. Something was amiss with this book. While it made sense stylistically, it didn't hold any incantations or powerful techniques to execute. From what Wang Xiao knew, the One Thousand Souls manual was an evil artefact that held the secrets to life and death within its pages. However, this book had nothing dangerous written in it. On the contrary, it read more as a history of Bowu temple and Daishan than anything else.
Confused and disappointed, Wang Xiao turned the book on all of its sides, shaking it, flipping through it, and even slapping it against the rock, in the hopes of dislodging an extra hidden sheet of instructions.
Alas, nothing more came out of the book. At this point, Wang Xiao knew that he had been fooled. The person who had dropped their jade pendant had probably gotten a hold of the real manual and replaced with a crude copy which held no relevant information. Cursing his naivety, he angrily threw the book across the cave, letting it collide with the opposite wall, and watched it slump to the ground with its pages folded over.
"Useless!" He cried out loud, just as Zhang Yao made an appearance at the mouth of the cave.
Zhang Yao heard Wang Xiao's exclamation and witnessed his sudden bout of violence. He wondered about what could have caused him to lash out against a book but thought better to ignore the situation and pretend he hadn't seen it happen.
Not wanting to startle him, Zhang Yao loudly cleared his throat before showing himself in the dim light of the campfire. He caught Wang Xiao's surprised expression as his eyes settled on him. Taking in his appearance, Zhang Yao thought that he didn't look any better than when he had left him an hour ago. Wang Xiao still had a deathly pallor to his skin and was still clearly suffering from his earlier fever.
Zhang Yao approached the ring of light cast by the fire, sheepishly holding up a pheasant in one hand and wild fruits in the other.
"I didn't know if you would prefer meat or fruit., so I brought both," he said, staring him dead in the eye from beyond the safety of the campfire.
Wang Xiao blinked a few times, trying to process the information.
"You... you went hunting, for food...? I thought you were gone after your wolves."
"..."
Wang Xiao felt awkward at this sudden peace offering. Hadn't he been insulted earlier when he had accidentally read his mind? Why the change of heart?
Zhang Yao simply stated: "You were injured and unconscious, I thought you might be hungry. Since you look like a priest, I wasn't sure if you'd even eat any meat."
Bewildered, Wang Xiao couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Y-you... y-you thought I... pfft... I was a priest? Why?" He asked as he struggled to speak through his laughter.
"You just look like one, that's all. Plus, you were so concerned with the temple earlier on that I thought it made sense if you were one" stated Zhang Yao.
Upon hearing this answer, Wang Xiao doubled-over with laughter, clutching at his sides. Him, a priest? How ridiculous! Had this swordsman never seen a priest before?
Zhang Yao frowned at his reaction, feeling rather insulted. "I don't see what's so funny," he replied, still holding the pheasant and fruits.
"S-sorry brother Zhang... haha... it's just that... I've been accused of being many things in my life, but being a priest is a first for me... hahaha."
After a while, Wang Xiao's laughter subsided, and he was able to speak normally once more. Feeling refreshed and alive again, he said, "thank you, brother Zhang, you made me laugh so much, I completely forgot about my troubles. Thank you for the food, too. I'll have a bit of both if that's alright."
Nodding, Zhang Yao stuck the pheasant on a pointed branch and set it to roast over the open fire. Wang Xiao took this moment to get up from his resting place and came to sit closer to the warmth. He observed how the strange and stoic man before him proceeded to cook the pheasant and cut the fruits into manageable sizes.
"You're good at cooking," he stated with a small smile playing on his lips.
Zhang Yao looked up from his work and nodded slowly. "I've had to learn early on," he replied.
Wang Xiao thought that this remark had something to do with the vision he had seen back in the forest. Zhang Yao's beautiful mother had undoubtedly prepared meals for him when he was young, so how come he was so skilled at it? It was as if he had had to raise himself from a young age...
"...'s wrong? Wang TianMing?"
"Huh...? Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought," replied Wang Xiao, having only half-heard what the other had said.
"What did you just say?"
"I asked you what was wrong. I guess you still have a fever..."
Moving too quickly for Wang Xiao to move out of the way, Zhang Yao was suddenly upon him, palm on his forehead, eyebrows creased in concentration.
"W-what are you doing?" Stammered Wang Xiao in shock as he backed away from the other's touch.
Zhang Yao returned his focus to his meal, simply saying, "eat first, then sleep."
Wang Xiao felt a flush of heat spread across his cheeks in indignation. He wasn't used to people worrying about him, and this was a very strange and foreign feeling. Resting his hand against the side of his face, he felt the warmth of his skin, which he was sure wasn't due to his fever. Still reeling from having been so casually touched, he failed to see Zhang Yao extending a leg of pheasant towards him.
"Eat."
Nervously, Wang Xiao accepted the food offering and brought the roasted leg to his mouth. He hadn't noticed until then that he had been starving for quite some time now. After the first bite of juicy, tender meat, Wang Xiao fell onto the drumstick like a famished dog. Zhang Yao's cooking truly was delicious, and he felt full and satisfied after his meal.
Content with his sudden obedience, Zhang Yao stood up from his place next to the fire and, pointing towards the back of the cave, commanded: "sleep."
Just as Wang Xiao was getting ready to protest, the other turned his back on him and, in a swish of red robes, made his way for the exit.
"Wait! Where are you going?" he called out, but no answer came.
Frustrated, Wang Xiao slapped the rock beneath him with his good hand. "What is wrong with that guy," he thought as he relived the past hour within his mind. "First he helps me, then he just leaves without a word. Fine, it's not like I need him around anyway. Tomorrow, I'll get up early and leave before he comes back. This will be where we part ways, brother Zhang."
Begrudgingly, Wang Xiao moved back to where he had previously been resting, noticing for the first time the bed of pine needles that had acted as a softener while he slept. Feeling increasingly confused and mortified at the same time, Wang Xiao tried to imagine how the other man had collected the pine needles and placed him on top of them. No, no, he didn't want to think about it. It was just all too weird, even for his feverish brain. He prefered to think that the bed had already been there when Zhang Yao brought him to the cave. The cave... how had he been transported?
"Enough with this line of thinking, Wang Xiao," he chastised himself. "You really do need to sleep. You're starting to imagine too many strange things."
Laying on top of his makeshift bed, Wang Xiao suddenly felt more tired than he'd realised and, closing his eyes, he drifted off into a deep, fitful sleep.
________________________
20 years ago, Yi clan
________________________
"I said no!" roared Yi XiangLiang, as his counsellors huddled together in front of him.
"But clan leader... this has to be done... there's no other way," said one brave minister, stepping out of line and ahead of his peers.
"What don't you understand? There is absolutely no way that my newborn son will be put through that!" exclaimed the leader, red with furry.
"Clan leader, this is beyond your, and our, control. These are direct orders from the emperor himself. How can you possibly disobey his highness?" replied the same brave minister.
"Would the emperor do this to his own son? I highly doubt it!" he replied, fists clenched.
The assembled ministers all shook their heads in unison, whispering among themselves. "Why is the clan leader being so unreasonable? It's a direct order from the palace! As if we can disobey it!"
Yi XiangLiang slammed his fist onto his writing desk, sending papers flying right and left. Glancing to his right, he caught sight of his wife, pale and teary-eyed from overhearing their conversation. Worried about her frail health, he addressed her in a calm, soothing tone.
"Dear wife, please go back to our son, he needs you more than I do right now. There's nothing for you to do here anyway. I'll come and see you later when it's all over. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to A-Huang."
Nodding delicately, Madam Yi left the room with her attendants, holding a handkerchief to hide her trembling lips.
After she had exited the room, Yi XiangLiang turned on his ministers, more furious than before.
"Look at the state you've put my poor wife in! What if she becomes ill from this? This will be your fault, ministers!" yelled the clan leader.
The ministers remained huddled together against the clan leader's fury. They knew that they couldn't disobey the emperor and that if they did, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"My lord... there might be a solution, although unorthodox," said a young minister who stood at the back of the crowd.
"Speak up, Minister Qu. What solution?" demanded Yi XiangLiang.
"We could use another child, born on the same day and at the same time. The ceremony will work just the same since it's based on astrology and energy compatibility. No one, except those in this room, would ever know that the switch was made."
At the sound of these words, an uproar broke out amongst the ministers, some agreeing with the proposition, others vehemently opposing it.
"Brother Qu! What you're suggesting... it's immoral! It's illegal! It goes against the emperor's decree! If this were to be found out one day, we would all be executed for our crime, including our clan leader! Are you out of your mind?" replied the first minister.
Yi XiangLiang seemed lost in thought amid the confusion. If this were done, his firstborn would be spared. However, if they failed, the emperor would surely annihilate his whole clan on the grounds of treason. To the clan leader, the benefits greatly outweighed any potential consequence, and so, he called for order in his hall and announced his decision.
"Silence! Listen to me, as your leader, I order you to find a boy, born on the same day and at the same time as my son. Bring him to me, and get rid of any witnesses. Once you have found a suitable replacement, invite Xi-daozhang to the clan and tell him to start the ceremony. No one is to tell him the truth about the child he will seal. I will save my son, no matter the risk."
The ministers all shook with fright and worried about the future outcome of this terrible decision.
Only Minister Qu smiled knowingly before saying, "so it will be done, clan leader."