Becoming One
The courtyard behind the gray door became the place where the two met every night.
Every evening, Long Tian slipped out of the academy and crossed more than half the city to Official Well Lane. By the time he pushed open the gray door, Yu Jin was usually sitting cross-legged on the bed, having already completed several rounds of breathing exercises. The mass of golden-black light and shadow in his palm grew more solid, the two little dragons twining ever tighter until their individual outlines were almost impossible to distinguish. They looked more like a slender, two-colored stream slowly swirling in his palm. When Long Tian released the presence of his Origin Return Pearl and brought it close to the light and shadow in Yu Jin's palm, the gray-white halo drifted toward the golden-black light of its own accord. When the two touched, there was not the slightest resistance. They came together as gently as a single drop of water that had been split apart and rejoined.
Watching the two presences blend, Yu Jin murmured, "They want to stay together."
Long Tian drew the presence of the Origin Return Pearl back into his dantian. After the gray-white halo receded, it left a faint trace of lingering warmth on his skin. He thought for a moment, then took Yu Jin's right hand and pressed their palms together. The Origin Return Pearl turned once in his dantian, and the gray-white halo spread along his meridians, up his arm and into his palm. At the same time, the golden-black light and shadow inside Yu Jin surged along his arm into his palm. The two presences met where their hands touched-not colliding or clashing, but blending together naturally, like two streams flowing into the same river channel.
Long Tian felt the Origin Return Pearl suddenly spin twice as fast, its gray-white halo growing thick and bright. Yu Jin's golden-black light and shadow also grew more solid. The two little dragons twined more slowly, but with greater force. In that moment, the two men's dantians seemed to resonate, their respective Soul Power forming a closed circuit through their joined palms, circulating round and round. The merged presence washed over the walls of Long Tian's meridians. The soreness and swelling were much milder than during his usual tempering, replaced by a sense of ease, as though his meridians were being gently nourished.
Only after about the time it took to drink a cup of tea did the two presences gradually withdraw into their respective bodies. When Long Tian pulled his hand away, his palm was slightly red. He looked down and saw that the gray-white halo between its lines had grown a full degree brighter. The Origin Return Pearl in his dantian had also grown a size larger, and the fine golden lines covering its surface like cracks in ice were clearer than ever.
Yu Jin looked down at his hand. The mass of golden-black light and shadow floated steadily in his palm, no longer wavering on the verge of collapse as it once had. He raised his eyes to Long Tian, and the embers in their depths finally held a distinct warmth.
"We grew from the same root," Yu Jin said.
Long Tian did not dispute it. He looked down at the halo lingering in his own palm, then at the mass of light and shadow in Yu Jin's, now close to its complete form. A vague thought finally took shape in his mind: Yu Jin's Martial Soul was fused by nature. There was no gap between his light and darkness, so the gray pearl in his dantian grew through fusion. Long Tian's own tempering and Return to Origin cultivation, which he had begun at the third ring, were in fact filling the rift. One was fused by nature, the other tempered after birth; together, they formed the complete unification of light and darkness.
"You can fully release your Martial Soul now," Long Tian said. "Once you do, the Iron Guard's tracking technique might pick you up. But you felt it just now too-as long as the two of us are close enough, your presence and my Origin Return Pearl will mingle. What the tracking techniques outside pick up won't be the light and dark attributes alone, but chaos."
Yu Jin nodded and drew the light and shadow back into his palm. "Like hiding in a cloud of gray mist."
"Right." Long Tian got up and paced a few steps around the room, his mind racing. "Keep practicing and stabilize your Martial Soul completely. If Shen Mo comes again next week, I'll have him bring an item that can block Soul Power tracking, as a second layer of protection. Until then, try not to use your Martial Soul in open places. You can practice when I'm beside you. The gray-white shell of chaos can block most detection."
Yu Jin agreed, pulling the quilt over his legs and leaning back against the wall. His cheeks were a little fuller than when he had first arrived, and the line of his jaw was no longer so sharp, though he was still gaunt. He gazed at the mottled old wooden beams overhead and suddenly spoke. "When I'm well, can I go with you?"
Long Tian stopped at the door and looked back at him.
"Anywhere is fine." Yu Jin kept his eyes on the ceiling, his voice so soft it nearly blended into the crackling of the fire. "I don't want to be left alone beneath this city, and I don't want to live in hiding anymore."
Long Tian stood by the doorframe. Outside, the snow in the courtyard had stopped, and moonlight spilled through gaps in the clouds, spreading silver-white across the ground. He looked at Yu Jin, small and thin, his complexion sallow, the dark bluish shadows of years without sunlight still beneath his eyes. But the embers in those eyes were indeed beginning to burn again.
"All right," Long Tian said.
He pushed the door open and went out. The snow was dazzling under the moonlight. He walked all the way back to the academy, the crunch of his boots on the snow especially clear in the silent streets and alleys. As he passed the old sealed well at the former vegetable market, his steps slowed for a moment. Someone had disturbed the bluestone slab over the opening. Some of the dead grass covering it had been pushed aside, exposing a fresh scrape along the edge. He crouched and touched the scraped surface with his fingertips. The soil was still damp; the slab must have been lifted that afternoon.
Someone had gone down the well.
Long Tian spread the dead grass back over the slab and hurried to the academy. Chen Hao was still awake in the dormitory. Seeing Long Tian's expression as he entered, he guessed part of what had happened and turned up the oil lamp. Long Tian told him what he had found at the well, and Chen Hao's brows drew together. "Someone from the Iron Guard?"
"Probably. They've already pinned the timeline of the theft from the fourth cabinet on me. If they investigate further and trace the route along the outer wall of the old archive building, sooner or later they'll find that sealed-up window opening. The area outside it leads to the old vegetable market, and if they follow it, they can find the old well." Long Tian took off his coat, hung it up, and sat on the edge of the bed. "They probably don't know Yu Jin is already out. They only know someone broke through the iron door. But if they keep investigating at this pace, in three to five days at most, they'll connect the well opening to the breach of the iron door."
"How much time do we have left, then?"
Long Tian was silent in the darkness for a while. "I'll go see Shen Mo tomorrow and ask him to hurry up and send the blocking item over. I'll pick Yu Jin up tomorrow night and get him out of Official Well Lane first."
Chen Hao nodded and blew out the oil lamp. In the darkness, they each lay down. The bedboards creaked once, then fell quiet. Outside the window, the moon emerged again from behind the clouds, casting the window lattice's shadow on the floor in cold silver-white light.
The following evening, Long Tian took a detour on his way to Official Well Lane, making sure no one was following before turning in through the gray door. Yu Jin was sitting cross-legged on the bed, cultivating. The mass of golden-black light and shadow floated intact before his chest, the two little dragons almost completely fused into one, with fine lines of gold or black only occasionally appearing at the edges. Hearing the door, Yu Jin ended his practice and opened his eyes. When he saw that Long Tian's expression was graver than usual, his gaze flickered.
"Someone went down the well today." Long Tian sat down in front of him and briefly explained the progress of the Iron Guard's investigation and what he had found at the well. "You're leaving tonight. I'll take you somewhere else."
Yu Jin asked no further questions. He stood and tied up the bundle of clothes Old Chen had given him, slinging it over his back. He could stand steadily now, and though he walked more slowly than most, he no longer needed support. Long Tian led him out through the gray door and west across the city by back alleys. They circled through more than half the city before stopping in front of a deserted earth god temple. Half the temple gate had collapsed, and the clay statue inside had lost its head. Dry grass and broken roof tiles lay piled in the corners. Long Tian settled him in a relatively intact side room behind the temple. The surrounding area was open and deserted, and he would not be easily discovered there in the short term.
When it was time to part, Yu Jin stood in the doorway of the side room, his small, thin silhouette outlined by a fine edge of moonlight in the darkness. He looked at Long Tian, his lips moving, but made no sound. Long Tian waved at him, then turned and stepped into the night.
After walking half a block, Long Tian stopped beneath a dead tree and looked up at the sky. Thin clouds covered most of the moon. In the distance, a few lights shone in the direction of the northern city garrison, like eyes peering from the dark. He reached up to feel the token against his chest, then turned toward Old Chen's Blacksmith Shop.
The forge fire had already gone out, and Old Chen sat waiting for him in the dark. When Long Tian pushed open the door, the old man rose from his stool, took the wooden box containing the locked-away bronze mirror from an iron chest, and handed it to him. "Take this with you too. It's no longer safe with me."
Long Tian took the wooden box. Pressed against its side, the heavy bronze mirror gave off a trace of lingering coolness. He hefted the box, wrapped it in the cloth bag inside his coat, and nodded to Old Chen before pushing open the door and walking into the night outside the shop.
Behind him, the blacksmith shop's wooden door slowly closed, and the last sliver of lamplight in the crack went out. Moonlight turned the snow in the alley silver-white. Long Tian walked farther and farther away, treading on his own shadow, his steps leaving two close-set rows of prints that wound through the snow and vanished around the bend at the mouth of the alley.