Southbound

Luo Lan came along in the end. That night, he clung to Xiao Yan's leg in the little courtyard at A Heng's home for a full hour, refusing to let go no matter what Xiao Yan said. Eventually, the boy simply shut his eyes and lay down on the ground, as if to say, "If you don't agree today, I'll die right here." A Heng's grandfather watched, dumbstruck, while A Heng covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she struggled not to laugh.

Xiao Yan looked at Luo Lan lying on the ground and rubbed the space between his brows. In the end, he could only sigh. "Go ask your granduncle."

Luo Lan scrambled to his feet and ran off without even stopping to dust himself off. By the time he returned, it was already midnight. His face was blooming with a smile, and the moment he came through the door, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Granduncle agreed! Granduncle agreed!"

Xiao Yan was a little surprised. "What did he say?"

Luo Lan scratched his head and mimicked Luo Tianshen's slow, even tone. "'Let him go. If the people of the Luo God Clan stay cooped up in the city all the time, they'll become good-for-nothings.'"

His imitation was uncannily lifelike; he even got the slightly narrowed eyes mostly right. Xiao Yan was taken aback for a moment, then couldn't help laughing.

The day they set out was clear and sunny. At the southern gate of Luo Shen City, quite a few people had already gathered by the first light of dawn.

Elder Qin came, wrapped in a thick cloak, his face still a little pale. Supported by Steward Liu, he pressed a heavy storage pouch into Xiao Yan's hand as soon as he saw him, saying it contained the best medicinal herbs he could find in the Luo Pill Pavilion's storeroom and that Xiao Yan would have use for them on the road. Luo Qing came, his face as stern as ever. Without a word, he tucked a handwritten booklet into Xiao Yan's robes. Xiao Yan opened it and saw the words "Yin-Separating Mark: Three Transformations" on the first page. Luo Su came, her face cold, and gave him a packet of needles and a bottle of medicine, saying they were for treating injuries from the Blood Fiend Palm. She glanced at Luo Lan and said coldly, "Don't make trouble for him."

Luo Yan came and clapped Xiao Yan on the shoulder with resounding thumps. Laughing heartily, he said, "Boy, when you've made a name for yourself out there, don't forget to come back and share a drink with this old man!"

Luo Feng came too, clad in silver armor with a longsword at his waist. He stood among the crowd, looked at Xiao Yan, and merely nodded. Xiao Yan nodded back. The natal jade talisman with a crack running through it was still tucked in his robes.

Luo Xiao came as well. The young man of the Luo God Clan, who had once carried his eyes on top of his head, stood behind Luo Feng, clutching his silver spear. Awkward and ill at ease, he wanted to step forward, but was too embarrassed. In the end, Luo Feng gave him a push, and he stumbled over. Standing before Xiao Yan, he struggled for a long while before squeezing out a single sentence. "Brother Xiao, I owe you my life. Remember that."

"Heh, I'll remember," Xiao Yan said with a smile. Luo Xiao's face reddened, and he quickly retreated.

At the very back of the crowd stood a young Luo Shen Guard in ordinary silver armor, standing ramrod straight. It was Luo Chuan, the orphan raised by the old commander who had fallen in battle, the young man who had nearly died after taking a pill laced with Blood Erosion Powder and whom Xiao Yan had saved by refining a pill through the night.

He stood there watching Xiao Yan without approaching. Only when Xiao Yan looked his way did he straighten his back and give a forceful Luo Shen Guard salute. Xiao Yan looked at him and solemnly cupped his fists in return.

Luo Chuan said nothing, but Xiao Yan remembered that night in the infirmary, when the young man had awakened from the torment of blood fiend and opened his eyes to see Xiao Yan keeping watch beside his bed. His first words had not been thanks, but a sentence so hoarse it was almost inaudible: "I'll guard this city."

Back then, Xiao Yan had taken it for the delirious talk of someone who had just returned from the gates of hell. Now, looking at the straight-backed young figure, he suddenly felt that this child would probably keep his word.

On the other side of the crowd, Luo Zhi, her face red, quickly pressed a crookedly embroidered sachet into Luo Lan's hand, then turned and ran. She only stopped when she was a long way off and glanced back. Luo Lan stood rooted to the spot, clutching the sachet, his face as red as a boiled shrimp. For a long while, he didn't come to his senses.

Last was A Heng. She stood beside her grandfather with the familiar bamboo basket on her back. Inside it were the little bronze lamp and the scroll. She didn't cry or speak, only stood there quietly watching Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan walked over and stopped in front of her.

"Big Brother Xiao." A Heng tilted her head up. "We made a pinky promise."

"Mm, we made a pinky promise." Xiao Yan smiled and patted her on the head. "Spirit Movement Realm."

"Spirit Movement Realm!" A Heng nodded emphatically. Xiao Yan straightened up, turned around, and looked at the towering city behind him.

The thousand-zhang city walls gleamed faintly in the morning light. Above them, the ring of formation light, flickering in and out of sight, looked like a thin layer of rippling water in the sun. At the center of the city, the ten-thousand-zhang white jade statue of Luo Shen stood with a sword in hand, gazing south.

When he had arrived, he had stumbled into the city from a little village in a mountain hollow to its north. Back then, his injuries had yet to heal, his strength had fallen, and he couldn't even afford a single crystal to enter the city. He had circled back to the same street three times in the Bewildering Tracks Array and been mocked as a country bumpkin by a street vendor. And now...

Xiao Yan's gaze paused on the city wall. At its highest point, atop the southern gatehouse, stood a drab gray figure. He was thin and short, his hands behind his back, his graying hair a little mussed by the morning breeze. He simply stood there, gazing from afar at the crowd outside the gate, without coming down.

Xiao Yan looked at the figure for a while, then raised his hands, solemnly cupped his fists toward the gatehouse, and bowed. The drab figure on the wall made no response. Only when Xiao Yan straightened did he seem to nod ever so slightly-or perhaps it was merely a gust of wind stirring his hair.

"Let's go."

Xiao Yan turned and strode south. Luo Lan was taken aback for a moment, then hurriedly stuffed the sachet into his robes, fumbled to hoist his bulging bundle onto his back, and chased after him. As he ran, he kept looking back and waving frantically at the crowd. "Granduncle! I'm leaving! Luo Zhi! I'll be back! A Heng! Cultivate hard! Luo Xiao! Don't you bully Luo Zhi!"

A burst of laughter rose from the crowd, and Luo Xiao's face darkened. The two figures, one ahead of the other, traveled farther and farther down the main road leading south. Behind them, the crowd gradually dispersed, the southern gate receded into the distance, and the ten-thousand-zhang white jade statue of Luo Shen slowly became a tiny white speck on the horizon.

That night, the two lit a campfire in a small grove beside the main road.

It was Luo Lan's first long journey, and he was too excited to sleep. Sitting beside the fire, roasting Crimson Feather Beast meat brought from Luo Shen City, he chattered away with endless questions. He asked what lay to the south, what the city was called, and how big the snakes in the Ten Thousand Serpents Marsh were. At last, he came to the question he had been holding in all the way. "Big Brother Xiao, what are your two wives like?"

Xiao Yan poked at the fire, its light flickering across his face. After a while, he spoke softly. "The one in the east is called Xun'er. She stayed by my side from the time we were little. When I was young, my cultivation plummeted, and everyone looked down on me. Only she kept calling me Brother Xiao Yan. She's very quiet and speaks softly, but when she gets angry, she's more frightening than anyone."

Luo Lan listened, enthralled. "What about the one in the south?"

The corners of Xiao Yan's mouth lifted slightly. "The one in the south is called Cai Lin. She used to be the queen of a tribe, and she was very proud. When she met me, the first thing she said was that she wanted to kill me. Later..."

He paused and smiled. "Later, she didn't manage to kill me. She never speaks plainly. Even when she's worried about you, she'll still say, 'Hmph, this queen doesn't care.'"

Luo Lan's eyes shone as he listened. After thinking for a long time, he leaned a little closer and asked cautiously, "Then... which of the two is stronger?"

Xiao Yan's hand paused slightly as he poked the fire. He turned and studied Luo Lan's curiosity-filled face for a moment, then spoke in a very earnest, very solemn tone. "Luo Lan, if you meet them someday, you must never, ever ask that question."

Luo Lan stared, blinked, and nodded, only half understanding. The campfire crackled, and the occasional cry of a night bird came from the woods. Luo Lan hugged his knees and gazed at the fire, still murmuring "Xun'er" and "Cai Lin" under his breath. Before long, his head tilted to one side and he fell asleep. Xiao Yan draped an outer robe over him, then sat by the fire until daybreak.

The next day, they continued south. After thirty li, as they crossed a mountain ridge, Xiao Yan stopped and took the Soul Jade bearing Cai Lin's mark from his robes, placing it in his palm. The mark on the jade token still flickered between bright and dim, but within that flickering was a direction, one that had never changed since his first day in the Great Thousand World: south.

Xiao Yan raised his head and looked south. There lay a crimson wilderness, and at its end was a city he had yet to see. Farther south of the city was a vast, boundless marsh, painted dark green.

The sky was high, the clouds faint, and the wind blew from the south, carrying the dry, scorching breath peculiar to the wilderness. Luo Lan stood beside him, looking at the jade token flickering in his hand, then at his face. For once, he said nothing.

Xiao Yan tightened his grip on the jade token and said softly, "Cai Lin, wait for me."