A hand covered in callouses wrote dragon letters upon sheets as white as the clouds in the sky allowing the words to soar a world completely different from theirs. The sunlight from the candle at his side was steady and strong, casting a blaze across the once clear sky. And, as the black dragon made to sour further and cover the clouds entirely to the end of the world, a tail covered in scales the color of marble curl around the hands of god, pulling the god from his stupor. Strangely enough the god like figure blesses the invading snake with a soft smile despite it being the reason for the death of the once flawless and gorgeous black dragon he had just created. "That's odd, I've never seen you actively search for someone other than your master before. Are you perhaps trying to treat me as your master now?"
He teased the doe eyed snake who could care less for his words, rubbing her chin gently he spoke slowly and warmly with a strange seriousness within his smiling eyes. The words more of a warning than affection "That won't do, you must only have one master your entire existence little one." Funnily enough, it seemed to understand him this time and took it's tail away from his wrist as if repulsed by the mere suggestion making the mildly surprised Da Chuanli laugh out loud. "That's good, you already have a very competent and diligent master. You cannot wantonly choose others." Seeming to sulk a bit, the tiny snake then laid down her head and peacefully went back to watching him without moving.
As he was about to comfort the spirit, a polite knock on the outside of his room echoed out interrupting his words. Knowing who it was Da Chuanli set aside his brush acquiescing gently "Enter." Gao Chang wearing a neutral expression without much guilt entered the room and stood in front of the smiling gentleman solemnly. "Senior brother, Rui Shi is still young and naïve." "I won't hold a grudge for small things." Lowering his head and letting a stray strand of hair fall across his desk Da Chuanli rubs the smudge Chi had caused him to make on the sheets of poems and blows carefully. As if it were never there, the smudge of ink fades into a miniscule smog leaving the spot as clean as if never wrote upon. Watching all of this with a mild expression from a small distance, Gao Chang still lowered his voice when insisting once more.
"....Senior brother they're confused and hurting too, I sincerely ask for Senior brother to not take the things Rui Shi said to heart today. This junior will once more apologize for her sake." *Click! The single tap of a brush hitting the table slaps the air creating a brief ripple in the space between them stifling Gao Chang. It was like witnessing the crack of dawn in a sleeping dragon's eye slowly unraveling right in front of him. Da Chuanli proficiently dips his brush into ink and resumed his practice once more as unmoved and tranquil as a monk. "You and I both know that spiritual weapons only have one master for as long as that person lives, never accepting another till they pass. Chi has been with Master all this time, for nearly six years she never opened her eyes again, until recently."
The brush without needing interference this time became crooked and with it Chi's tilted head as she followed every single stroke he made. When the man paused she did too "-She was the only one who could converse with the spirit in her sword, despite Master's attempts Chi never responded to him either. To suddenly awaken again without choosing a clear wielder is not unheard of, although Chi is rather young to do such a thing. And despite following me around," He pokes the snake's head away form the still wet ink to prevent her from becoming stained as it seemed she wanted to consume it. For what? He still had no idea. "This one has not spoken a word to me either." Perhaps knowing she was being spoken about she raised her tiny head to look up at Da Chuanli and stuck her tongue out a few times innocently.
Gao Chang spoke hesitantly "Senior, may this junior try?" Raising a brow at Gao Chang for his bravery for daring to ask such a blasphemies thing. Da Chuanli almost smiled fully at him with crinkled eyes and all. However, he still generously gestured with his hand eloquently without speaking. He would never mention the fact that Chi had recoiled from even the Nascent soul cultivator who raised them and carried her on his person for half a decade. However, much to their shock before Gao Chang could even take one step forward the tiny sprit reared her head snapping to attention extending to her full height. Practically above Da Chuanli's own head and gave a vicious chandelier rumbling hiss. Her fangs brilliant and white, her black eyes pinned directly at Gao Chang like he was an enemy.
Da Chuanli reflexively held the lunging spirit back with a frown as Gao Chang stood in place shell shocked by the unexpected reaction. It changed into a strange look when he saw how his senior handled the suddenly hissing viper with ease. "Senior brother this is, you are sure you are not bonded with her sword?" Being asked this after Chi had settled down Da Chuanli fell silent for a very long time and handled the snake with the greatest care as if he hadn't heard Gao Chang's question. Even after Chi had long slithered over warily towards Da Chuanli's cabinet to steal more things due to his subtle coaxing Da Chuanli neither confirmed nor denied Gao Chang's question. Only when the little snake had fully hidden in to steal more of Da Chuanli's things did the young man look out towards the waning moon wearing a oddly wistful expression.
"What use is asking useless things? The things that belong to her, will always and only belong to her as long as Master and I breath air. Many of your juniors are still so very inexperienced and perhaps cannot understand the things me and Master do. But when you are bound to a fate beyond that of others it is better to be alone than to care too much and lose it all one by one." "You don't have to lie to me." Interrupting him Gao Chang spoke softly but was fill with conviction, face clouding over with subtle shadows "Wang Lan Biyu, was more to you than just a girl Master had picked up." "And what else could she be besides just an orphan master took in?" "Was she not someone you loved? Someone you wanted to give the best of things? Someone who you thought was perfect in all things? Senior brother although what Rui Shi had said was out of line due to her own ignorance you cannot continue with this lie you have built up."
He held his breath and braced himself to be hit after saying all he wanted to say for once, his muscles tensing. While on the other hand, Da Chuanli had not lifted a single finger. The immortal in white sat in the same place as before, quietly staring at the moon with a wistful expression which to Gao Chang screamed at him something was wrong with this senior of his. It was an strange and peaceful silence where there should have been a sword in his stomach, he held his breath as his mind whirls all over the place wandering why Da Chuanli was just sitting there without saying anything. A man's voice as lyrical and lifeless as a trilling broken chime spoke then, sounding both confused yet steady. The owner of said voice blinks and gave a soft smile to Gao Chang appearing eerily calm for someone who had been scolded by his junior "Is that how it looked in your eyes? Love?"
The youth taps the side of his desk, a habit perhaps picked up by their master when he was deep in thought or troubled by something. "What good is thinking of the past? She is already long gone, so whether it was this so called love or not even I would not know. A mere few years as students running neck to neck towards the path of immortality under the same master, is not enough to confirm this love theory of yours." "Senior brother Ling. You cannot immortalize the dead." This time, Da Chuanli really did give him all his attention. Gao Chang could feel the coil of the dragon breathing down his neck as those Aurelian eyes focused abruptly.
"-Sister Wang has passed away, we juniors who loved her as a real sister have accepted this fact long ago. You and I saw it ourselves, that day sister Wang's....place of death." He hesitated and ended his sentence in a round about way but Da Chuanli narrowed his eyes at him already knowing what he had originally wanted to say. "Gao Chang watch your words." But the younger man shook his head at him slowly as if afraid to shatter Da Chuanli's delusion too seriously if he spoke harsher. "Everyone but you managed to move at that time, as if for you, time had stopped the moment you saw it...As if your entire body had stopped functioning the way you wished it could and should have. Senior brother place a hand on your heart and swear an oath today and I will finally believe you." His hands behind his back clenched tightly into fists, he had spent days, months, years with Ling Da Chuanli observing him and acting as his shadow in the sect.
He was there each time Ling Da Chuanli crossed that spilt in the courtyard hallways of their sect and stared at the empty and cold palace with an empty look on his face. He was there when Ling Da Chuanli threatened Elder Shang with roaring flames in his eyes. He was also there each time Ling Da Chuanli teased Wang Lan Biyu in their youth with a light in his eyes. Each time Wang Lan Biyu played her guqin for their master, who was it who stood off at a distance listening from the other side of the wall with a soft smile hiding from only one person's eyes? Who was it who provided Wang Lan Biyu with the best things even their Master had a hard time obtaining playing it off as mere trinkets? Who was the only one who fought for even a single glance or word from her hard to pry open lips with Fuqing?
Everyone could be blind, but Gao Chang was not. He was the only one who thought more, saw more, cared more once Wang Lan Biyu's end had come for this eccentric senior of theirs. Their senior brother was not a normal person, he was ill, mentally ill. Since the first day he had always thought so, now even more so Gao Chang is sure Ling Da Chuanli is sick in the head. A person who followed the Heartless Dao, how could he be normal? And yet, here this sick person had actually locked onto a single person and lost his mind after he lost her too. Locking up memories of Wang Lan Biyu yet protecting them with all his might to prevent others from tainting them, was it a self defense mechanism? If Da Chuanli did not untangle this deeply hidden heart demon, who knows when he will suffer the dire consequences? In fact, Gao Chang held doubts too each time Da Chuanli ascended without any problems after Wang Lan Biyu's death.
It was only now, seeing how serene his senior brother pretended to be when handling Wang Lan Biyu's spiritual weapon was his heart chilled to the bone. Ling Da Chuanli was not as at peace as he portrayed. How can someone who is so hung up on every single memory of Wang Lan Biyu remain calm in the face of her spiritual weapon reawakening? "-If a demon promised you to bring back Wang Lan Biyu from the dead in exchange for you shattering your Heartless Dao core, would you reject them?"