The world came back together like patchwork being pieced together after being ripped apart by a god.
They were 22 again. At the Spirits Festival. They had just exited the cave, Nie Asreal supporting him as he walked. He had put Yi Lian's hair back into its half up half down style with the hairpin set in place. Nie Asreal was surprisingly good at these things. His Shidie had taught him when they were young because he wanted to learn. He wanted to learn about a lot of mundane things like cooking, hair styling and efficient packing! He did everything he could to distance himself from being like his family.
Nie Asreal, "I thought you were immortal. How come your body isn't healing faster?"
Yi Lian sighed and played with his swords tassel. "My Cultivation is very confined unfortunately. It just takes a bit longer then it should." He felt the mark suddenly stab him again. He put a hand to his chest but it didn't help. Nie Asreal used the hand that held him up to pass spiritual energy to him.
Yi Lian shook his head. "It's not that I lack power, it's the opposite actually. I accidentally bound my sword and my soul at a young age, it makes me a lot stronger because it's like an extra consciousness and energy to feed off of. So i'm fortunate it didn't end badly like it doesn for some. I just now covert spiritual energy into cold energy."
Nie Asreal stopped giving him spiritual energy. "You cultivated a sword at a young age, gained immortality at a young age, is there anything you can't do?" He laughed.
Yi Lian suddenly stopped and flung his hand out. A shard of engraved ice flew out like a knife towards his target and the creature crippled to the ground. The Evil Peak Demon was consumed in ice from its chest outwards until it was covered in frost and shattered into dust on the spot.
Yi Lian staggered a bit but Nie Asreal was quick to grab around his waist.
Seven Evil Peak Demon's came out from the shadows, stamping and hobbling towards them like a pack of corpses.
Nie Asreal, "Will you be able to fight?"
Yi Lian nodded and unsheathed his sword. The mist seemed to have dimmed slightly. "Don't be like that… I didn't throw you on the floor earlier…" He told Winters-Gaze. It seemed to have ignored him because it dimmed even more.
Nie Asreal ran forward, talisman in hand. The Demon clawed it's rock covered hammer like hand towards him but he dodged swiftly to the right. When he did he swooped around and stuck the talisman to it's back, causing the creature to become engulfed in flames.
Meanwhile Yi Lian hopped into the air and pushed lightly off of a rock and sliced down and straight through a demon. The demon sliced in two but Yi Lian was quickly surrounded by four more. He stabbed forward but the Demon used a large rocky part of it's body to deflect it. Though it was still plagued by frost, WInters-Gaze wasn't working properly so it spread much slower.
He stabbed and slashed through the air, beautifully attacking and dodging but soon it was one verses over a dozen and he wasn't getting anywhere.
As soon as one was cut down another two would show up. Yi Lian turned around when he sensed the killing intent so close but the demon to his right had already reached out much closer and ripped a claw mark up his leg.
He staggered back and was about to get hit again but Winters-Gaze fell back into life. It had forced Yi Lian to use a sceal on it so it could fly through the air and stab through the demon's chest.
It started fighting off the surrounding enemies but Yi Lian had no time to be grateful. He fell onto one knee and groaned out in pain. The pain in his chest was too deep and too painful especially to support a sceal as well as standing on an injured leg. He closed his eyes for a second to concentrate.
He heard a booming noise and opened them again instantly. Nie Asreal stood back facing, before him with a talisman floating in the air before him with a deep red aura. The closest demons exploded into flames on the spot, leaving crumbled red rocks in their wake. "Can i borrow that?" He asked regarding Winters-Gaze. Yi Lian nodded and forced it back to his hand so he could throw it over.
As it fell into Nie Asreal's hand it reacted like a father being asked by the prince for his daughter's hand in marriage. It exploded with light and mist and let itself be fluttered through the air in Nie Asreal's grasp.
Yi Lian couldn't suppress an eye roll.
Of course it would be like this. Winters-Gaze was only like this on two types of occasions. One was when it wanted to show off and the other was when it was a life and death situation. At the moment it was ruffleing and flaunting its feathers harder than he'd ever seen before.
Nie Asreal cut down a few demons and chuckled. "It's quite the sword! You said it has part of your soul?"
Yi Lian sat down on the floor and said quietly, "Yes…"
He wasn't this dramatic. Him and Winters-Gaze had a strange relationship. Yi Lian saw it as extremely dramatic and a show off and it thought Yi Lian was boring. So sometimes it refused to work if it was moody, like it was since it was interrupted before and been thrown to the ground without Yi Lian fighting for it at all.
Nie Asreal elbowed a demon in the face as he took on another. "So it holds current and past parts of you?"
Yi Lian sighed. "Yes. Everytime I touch it it exchanges the part of me it holds with a new part but I believe it keeps some sometimes even though I tell it not to…"
Nie Asreal reached into his sleeve and threw out a bundle of talismans at the demons.
The whole gorge went up in flames around them with a bang. Winters-Gaze activated Yi Lian's sceal and flew back to him so it could shield him from the heat.
Nie Asreal walked over and put Yi Lian's arm over his shoulder and grabbed Winters-Gaze in the other hand and they set off further into the gorge. "This is great! I have an idea. It might hurt but it'll be so worth it if I can show you something!"