CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Snakes!

He could feel them as they slithered around him, their scales cold and their thick bodies heavy. His wide eyes look around the room,it was pitch black.

He thought of calling out for help but what if a snake takes advantage and goes in his mouth?!

He tries to lift an arm, the action making the snakes hiss and strike him making him yelp.

"H-Help" he weakly croaks out.

Wei Zixin fell off the bed in panic. He looks around and saw the cave still lit up with candles.

"It was a dream" he whispers. He stands up and heads outside for fresh air.

The moon was half tonight. No stars, just the half moon. A sigh escapes Wei Zixin's lips. He thought of his family. Did they miss him? Then he thinks of Jiang Ji. Did the young master already forget him?

"You seem troubled" Huli said. She had been watching the boy for some time now and it seems Wei Zixin was lost in thought.

"I want to go home. After being kicked out i thought I would make it alone but i was lying to myself. I miss my mother, i miss my little sister" he whispers. He doesn't want to do this anymore. He wants to go home!

She sighed. Wei Zixin's fate was sealed but that doesn't mean she had to keep him here. She looks at the young man before her.

"You're already in the process of transforming. Will you manage?"

He nodded. Although he didn't know what she was referring to, he nodded nonetheless.

"I will"

He watches the fox pull a sword from her sleeve. The weapon shoots up to the sky punching a hole in the mirror like arry.

"Climb the tree and jump out. You'll land on the lake bed"

He kowtowed to her three times.

"I'm sorry for abandoning you like this master"

Huli smiled at him.

"You calling me master is already enough gratitude. Go, go see your family"

She watches him climb the tree, before Wei Zixin could jump, she spoke again.

"Your species is originally paired with evil, prove them wrong"

Oh yeah, the whole being the snake king. Wei Zixin nods without a word and jumps out. The portal closes and Huli's sword flies back into her sleeve. Her fox ears twitch.

"Goodluck"

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The following morning, Jiang Ji was taking a bath. The steam filled room making him sigh as his mind takes him to Wei Zixin.

When did he really start getting attracted to that little menace?

"Brother....are you decent?" A voice suddenly said from the other side of the door.

With swift movement, Jiang Ji jumped out of the tub and wrapped a white robe around his naked body.

"Yes" he said.

The door slides open and Xin Ai enters. The two brothers lock eyes for a moment.

"How is the investigation going?" Xin Ai asks.

"I'm on a dead end, the people i want to see are nowhere to be found. So today we'll be going to Li Shizu sect and investigate"

Xin Ai nodded. He wants to ask about the boy his brother found but now wasn't the time.

"Alright. I'll tell Hua Ling to prepare what we need. The sooner you finish this night hunt, the sooner we can get home and have dumplings with mother"

Jiang Ji chuckled. Xin Mo sect is a very well guarded sect so having the army general leave casually is nothing new. Also no one dared to attack the place since they have not had an enemy attack since Jiang Ji was born.

"Okay okay, let me get dressed and I'll join you in a bit"

Xin Ai nodded and walked out. Jiang Ji sighed. It seems it's going to be a long day.

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He walked through the hot sun. His lips were chapped, the skin cracking to the point of bleeding. His bare feet covered in blisters since he had left without even thinking of putting on his shoes. He looks up ahead. It was the place where he grew up.

Zhang Jian sect.

He smiles and rushes forward.

As he got closer and closer he notices something, there was black smoke in the sky. His heart skipped a beat. His town was on fire!

Dust explodes as his feet pounded on the ground as he ran. Wei Zixin enters the town only to be welcomed by ruins. The houses burnt down, ash and smoke filling the air.

He hurries back home. The closer he got the more damaged the neighborhood was, Cleary he was getting closer to the source of the fire.

He stops in front of his home. The door was open, he looks inside and sees a figure. A smile forms on his face.

"Mother? Yao Ying?" He calls out, as he enters the house he gasped in horror.

He was back at that cave!

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"I must say, the Zhang Shi sect has quite beautiful maidens" Xin Ai says yet his eyes were on Chang Pei.

It's in the afternoon and Jiang Ji had decided to go to Li Shizu to find some leads, Chang Pei tagged along with Hua Ling and Lan Fei.

Chang Pei scoffed, she could feel the boy's eyes on her. So she says something unexpected,

"I'm a man"

Jiang Ji choked on his spit. Why would She joke about something like this? Xin Ai on the other hand was lost for words. He could've sworn Chang Pei was female.

"Young master, remember that where there is a hole. There is a way" Hua Ling said from behind earning a cold glare from his general.

"Shut up! That's what is on your mind these days. I wouldn't be surprised if you stuck your thing in a watermelon!"

Hua Ling's eyes widened in shock. Then he says,

"I never thought of that before. Is that how young master usually practices for the future?"

A hearty laugh from Chang Pei made the two boys blush. Why were they talking about such things in front of a woman?!

No one uttered a word until they arrived at their destination. Jiang Ji turned to the small group.

"Xin Ai and I will go inside the pavilion. You three head to the main city to find any odd things"

"Okay"

They go separate ways. Jiang Ji and his brother enter the Xingyun Pavilion. The floors were covered with dust, the sect flag of Li Shizu, the mystic cloud had fallen on the large wooden chair.

"This must have been a very powerful sect. That chair is made from the rarest wood." Xin Ai says eyeing the furniture.

Jiang Ji hummed and went towards the scrolls shelf.

"So about that boy" Xin Ai started. Jiang Ji sighed.

"Let's focus on this first"

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Inside the main city of Li Shizu. Chang Pei, Hua Ling and Lan Fei stood before a large statue of a woman. The concrete sculpture had something off about it.

Chang Pei climbed the statue and looked at it's eyes. They were crossed.

"You guys, i think i found a clue" she called out.

Hua Ling nods and says,

"Good, let us see it"

"The statue is the clue you idiot" Lan Fei replies and starts to climb as well.

"Ohh...."

Once they had all climbed the statue. Chang Pei used her sheathed sword to fix the lady's eyes. The earth starts to shake and the statue twists to the left three times, then to the right two times and finally it drops like it had been suspended on air.

"AHHH!!"

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Jiang Ji and Xin Ai ran out of the Pavilion once the ground started to shake, they then hear their friend's screams making the siblings to run towards the commotion.

"A bottomless pit?" Xin Ai asks. Jiang Ji shrugged.

"Only one way to find out" he says. Xin Ai turned to him in confusion.

"Wha-AHHH!"

After pushing his brother, Jiang Ji climbed to the egde and jumped in as well.