The Nine-tailed Fox sleeps for a long time

Wu Yun realizes he's walking down a dirt path carrying a bamboo basket filled with berries in his arms. The last thing he remembers was jumping in front of Xie Xiu's blade, so he must dreaming. That must mean he's not dead, at least not yet.

Ling Yan is whistling a song to himself, his steps are lighter and he's wearing heavier robes than before. The air smells crisp, and a wan winter sun brightens the early morning. There's some lingering snow covering threes and low bushes, but the dirt path he's trailing has been cleared. He realizes then that he isn't in the Heavens anymore. Nothing shines with the glimmer of crushed stardust and the harsh light of the sun throws everything in sharp relief, showing all of nature's imperfections and chaos.

Ling Yan doesn't notice anything odd about his surroundings, and continues to whistle that unknown song.

He turns around a bend in the path, and sees a body lying down on the ground halfway beneath a bush. He drops his basket and runs to the unconscious person.

Ling Yan places his index and middle finger against the man's inner wrist and lets out a sigh of relief. The pulse is faint but there.

He places those same two fingers against his middle and pulls out a thread of what looks like blue energy. He connects it to the space between the unconscious man's eyebrows and flinches when the energy transfer causes him pain. To Wu Yun it feels like having a very thin strip of skin unwind from around his body. When the thread connecting the two snaps Ling Yan lets out a pained gasp.

The man's eyelashes flutter like dark crescent moons against his sallow skin and eventually he opens a pair of brilliant yellow eyes. Wu Yun reels at seeing those eyes again, on a face that belongs to neither Lan Tian or Shu Luan.

The man has strong sharp features, a wide chin and high nose, his cheekbones look cut from stone, there's a severity to his handsomeness. He doesn't resemble either Lan Tian or Shu Luan despite the colour of his eyes.

His bowstring lips open on a surprised gasp when he sees Ling Yan.

"I'm so glad you're alive. I'm going to take you back to my sect, my Shizun has great healing abilities, he'll know how to help you better than me," Ling Yan says, draping one of the man's arms over his shoulder and trying to get him to stand up.

The man groans getting up to his feet. He spares Ling Yan's profile a confused look. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ling Yan, who are you?"

The man opens his mouth but no answer comes out.

Ling Yan gives him a questioning look.

"I...I don't remember," the man says, shaking his head.

"That's alright, Shizun will know how to help you," Ling Yan says.

Wu Yun sees the man nodding, but the look of distress never leaves his face. Ling Yan is about to say something else when the world spins into a dark blur and everything disappears.

---

There's someone wiping down Wu Yun's face with a wet cloth. Their touch is tender but firm. They're saying something that Wu Yun doesn't understand, it's as if his ears are filled with cotton.

He wants to open his eyes and see who's touching his face so sweetly, but his eyelids are made of led.

Just before he loses consciousness again, his hearing clears up enough for him to make out, "Please, come back."

---

He's Ling Yan again, and he's sitting on a swing under a weeping willow, but he's not barefoot like in his other dreams. The long hem of a jade green robe almost covers the tips of his booted feet. The ground around him is covered in snow.

He hears footsteps approaching him, and turns around to see the mysterious man wrapped in a soft cotton cloak with a thick fur collar, approach him.

"Aren't you cold out here?" The man unties the cloak from around his neck, and drapes it around Ling Yan's shoulders. Smoothing the fur down around his neck.

Ling Yan touches the soft fur and smiles. "Thank you. How are your memories?"

The man shakes his head. "Still not back."

Ling Yan sighs, "It's been a week now, you need a name."

The man sits down on the wide swing next to Ling Yan and kicks the ground to set it moving. "Do you have something in mind?"

Ling Yan doesn't really like it when other people sit on his swing, especially not when he's already on it. It was a gift from his shizun, and he treasures it. But the man with no memories has been very dependent on him ever since he brought him to the Immortal Mountain sect. Ling Yan supposes it's only natural since he was the first person the man saw when he woke up with no memory of who he was, or how he ended up unconscious on the side of the road.

"How about Xue Jin? Xue because I found you on a snowy day, and Jin because of your gold eyes?"

Xue Jin smiles, and rubs his chin. "Gold uh? I like that, it's an auspicious name, maybe it will bring me good luck and fortune."

Ling Yan laughs, he personally likes the snow better than gold, even if he always feels cold.

"If I find out I'm a rich young master I'll come back to take Ling Yan away," Xue Jin says, his gold eyes boring into Ling Yan with fierce intensity.

His arrogant words make Ling Yan feel uncomfortable, but he laughs them away. "Why would I leave? I love it here in Immortal Mountain."

"That shizun of yours watches over you like a jealous mother," Xue Jin says, his eyes dark. "He always tells me to leave you alone when I ask for you."

"Shizun just wants me to focus on training my cultivation." Ling Yan wishes they could change the subject. He doesn't want Xue Jin to badmouth his shizun. He loves causing trouble, and Shizun scolds him more than any other disciple but he's still nice to Ling Yan and always looks after him.

"You don't need to train anymore, you're already the strongest here! Even I can see that."

Ling Yan flushes under the compliment. Despite his kindness, Shizun is never so ready with his praises.

Xue Jin continues, "Don't you want to get out of here? Explore the world?"

Ling Yan would like that. All other disciples have left the sect on missions and have always come back with exciting tales to share. Of his age group Ling Yan is the only one who has never left. Shizun always finds some reason as to why he's not ready. Ling Yan would never want to leave forever, he just wants to go on missions and come back to share his adventures with his sect brothers and sisters.

"It would be nice to see the world," Ling Yan says, distractedly.

"Then it's settled, I'm going to show Ling Yan wonders from all the lands and seas."

"Then I'll be able to tell Shizun all about what I saw," Ling Yan says, indulging in a fantasy of clear lakes and trees as tall as the eye can see.

Xue Jin remains quiet, and Ling Yan doesn't see the calculating glint in his clear, golden eyes.

---

Wu Yun comes back to his own body, but the world is still dark. He hears more voices now, and can sense movement around him.

"How long will it take for him to wake up?" a voice filled with worry asks. He recognizes it at once as Lan Tian. "It's already been a week."

A gentle hand wipes away the hair strands from his sweaty brow. The fingers feel cool and soft on his heated skin.

"I don't know. I never used my whip on a human before. His reaction is unpredictable."

Wu Yun wants to open his mouth and scream that he's still there, that he can hear them. He wants to take Lan Tian's long fingers in his and hold his hand, to feel teetered to reality.

He hears Lan Tian gasp. "His eyelids moved."

"That's good, he's recovering," Bai Xiaoli says.

Wu Yun wants to open his eyes, but a bone-deep fatigue falls over him like a heavy blanket and all the sounds of the world disappear around him with the hum of a cicada.

---

Wu Yun opens his eyes and is almost blinded by the brilliant glare of the sun. He's in Ling Yan's body again and swimming in crystalline river waters. The day is so warm that even in the cool waters he can feel the sun's heat beating down on him.

"Ling Yan," someone calls to him.

Ling Yan finds his footing in the riverbed and turns around. He's completely naked, and the water barely reaches his waist.

Xue Jin is standing on the river margin watching the path of the water running through his chest and abdomen.

Ling Yan ties his wet hair up in a queue to get it out of his face, and smiles at Xue Jin. "Have you come swimming as well?"

"I've got my memories back," Xue Jin says, his handsome face set in stone.

"That's great, it's been six months already, it was about time. Are you a rich young master like you wanted?"

Xue Jin doesn't return his smile. "I'm the son of the Heavens."

Ling Yan laughs, but it dies down in his throat at Xue Jin's serious expression. "What?"

"My father is the current Jade Emperor, my mission on the earthly realm was to investigate if one of the mortals we suspected of being ready for ascension was worthy. In our months together, I know that you are."

Xue Jin starts walking towards Ling Yan getting into the river in his robes. He's wearing the thin summer robes of an Immortal Mountain disciple, but even such light fabrics should slow him down when drenched. Xue Jin doesn't seem to notice, and advances on to Ling Yan like an unstoppable tide.

Ling Yan tries to run from him, but unlike Xue Jin, his gait is unsteady in the strong waters. Xue Jin catches him before he has the chance to get away more than a few zheng.

The arm Xue Jin wraps around Ling Yan's naked waist is heavy like a brand. He grips him tightly and pulls him against his chest.

"Stop this, Xue Jin, let me go," Ling Yan says, struggling to free himself.

Xue Jin looks down at him with a cold gaze. "That's not my name, and I'm taking Ling Yan with me."

"Taking me where?"

"To the heavens. You'll be a god like me."

Ling Yan struggles more harshly, trying to dislodge Xue Jin's arm from around his waist, but it doesn't budge. Xue Jin had never been particularly strong when they sparred before, but now he seems as immovable as a mountain. "I don't want to go! I don't want to be a god."

Xue Jin looks into Ling Yan's dark, panicked eyes. "There's nothing you, or I, can do against the will of the Heavens."

---

Wu Yun comes to with a gasp and a burning cry stuck in his throat.

He feels suffocated all of a sudden and starts ripping away the sheets on top of him.

Lan Tian runs to his side and tries to still his frantic hands before he hurts himself.

"Wu Yun, stop, stop, you're safe." Wu Yun realizes that what he's feeling is an impression of Ling Yan's own panic as Xue Jin took him.

Why does he keep having these dreams? Is he supposed to get revenge on Ling Yan's behalf?

"I'm so glad you woke up," Lan Tian says, and runs his fingers from Wu Yun's eyebrow down to his eyelid, as if he doesn't believe his eyes are open.

Wu Yun is confused by the wavering lilt of his smooth voice. "How long was I asleep?"

Lan Tian's answer makes his head spin. "One month."