known for his violent impatience back then, a younger xue yang would’ve sliced that head off before its mouth finished asking any hard-hitting questions. of course no one listened to him ; few really do even nowadays. that’s why, after the ear-piercing scream of a defenseless child left to bleed on cold concrete in the middle of the street, he didn’t mind looking for another reasonable, fair strategy to go by. if others didn’t listen, 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 people pay better attention when they have the edge of a sword against their necks.
in spite of all logic telling him to lose the sect leader or stop chasing when he feels a shift in roles naturally assumed, given their circumstances, he stays in sight of the man between falling leaves & tall trees. he leads his pursuer deep into the forest like a sly canine still starved for more blood [ … ] one that knows what it’s doing, & where it’s going in a place undisputedly considered its home.
eventually, when eyes can no longer keep up with his speed & movements, he climbs, waits for the moment the cultivator stops right underneath his nimble form standing on a high branch. he’s chock-full of tricks, yes, but he’ll deny it with a straight face ; he’ll lie with an unbelieving little simper & a sweet-sounding malice dripping from his throat.
“ what tricks? ” though before he permits any pause for an answer, xue yang throws an explosive talisman below & hops down behind the robe-clad leader. “ there’s no such thing… unless they worked, is it? have you been tricked? ”
The explosion takes him by surprise, an annoyed grunt leaves his lips , and that in itself is a failure . To think that his composure could slip so easily. As dust and dirt kicks up , Shen Qingqiu thinks what a fool — but he supposes that idiot’s idea of fun would include being crushed beneath the old towering trees of the forest. Perhaps this Xue Yang has some sense of scale , or perhaps it is luck that they aren’t both flattened.
— but it lays in the fact that he has been tricked that causes Shen Qingqiu to don the role of Shen Jiu and in turn come to rely on one of his own TRICKS. He hasn’t brought it out in years , not since he was a child with fake tears in his eyes and a beggar’s bowl. The comforting weight of the golden coin in his sleeve transforms in an instant , a hidden blade , sharp like its owner .
It isn’t fast enough to stop his foe from dropping down behind him , but Shen Jiu in a word is vengeful . There is little that can compare to the sect leader’s tendencies of self-destruction. If he’s to die then he much rather them both bleed out on this forest floor , the vegetation feasting on their flesh as he dies and laughs at his enemy simultaneously.
It is another curious things , that Xue Yang can evoke so many old behaviors that he thought he had abandoned long ago. The words flows like rapid waters as he adopts a scolding tone , “Look at you — making a mess wherever you go. Are you so confident that you don’t bother to hide your trails , flaunting your crimes like jewels ? What will you do when you bring that trouble home — ? Even the streets will spit you out , troublesome rat. Instead of being smart you run around allowing useless cultivators to chase your tail. ”
