2 - Black Scales Glare; An Unauthorized Figure Enters Shui Lian Peak

The forms of the forest trees cast heavy, dark shadows under the harsh moonlight. The array which loomed over the vast sea of trees created an environment devoid of wind, the air stood eerily still, a deathly silence taking the place of the rustling of leaves. Shenye Ai walked through what seemed like an endless forest.

The sun had long set, enveloping the immortal forest in a thick veil of darkness.

A faint light could be seen at a distance as Shenye Ai continued to approach casually, the still atmosphere weighed heavy on him, but he refused to rest.

Within the array, there were no signs of life beyond people and the occasional cicada in certain regions of the forest. While this stiffened the spine of those who grow paranoid, Shenye Ai found himself enjoying the peace the desolate environment brung.

A jagged stone stood before him, possessing a small base that then jutted upwards out of the ground at an irregularly tilted angle.

The stone emitted a faint blue light, acting as a sufficient landmark to those who traveled through the array.

The stone was a telltale sign that the array's edge was not far. From here, Shenye Ai was to head where the moon had risen, he peered at the seemingly distant moon through the thick canopy of leaves before plunging himself into the darkness of the forest once more.

Shenye Ai had always been by Su Qiuyan's side, in addition to being childhood friends, he and Su Qiuyan were considered family to the Sect Leader, possessing the privilege to study under any elder in the peak. Needless to say, they were the best disciples Shui Lian Peak had to offer.

Su Qiuyan was unexplainably gifted, though he often refused to put it to good use. The prospect of that much-wasted talent struck envy into the hearts of disciples and elders alike. He and Shenye Ai were twin flames, both equally talented in their own respective fields. Thus, in recent years, while they were still close, relations became strained due to their lack of contact and increased pressure as the Flowering Onion Competition drew close.

Even while being separated from his companion, Shenye Ai -by nature- was very opposed to meeting new people, which created an interesting dynamic whenever the two were together. Shenye Ai's aloof aura would attract the attention of nosy disciples who simply assumed the lonely Shenye Ai had no friends, but their general disdain towards Su Qiuyan's lackluster training habits kept them at bay.

As he walked further away from the forest's array, he couldn't help but wonder about Su Qiuyan.

Meanwhile, the latter was lounging about in the pavilion, after having replaced a sufficient amount of the booklets and scrolls he'd taken out. He decided to take a short break and fidgeted with his sword, gazing lazily at his warped facial expressions on the blade's glossy surface.

There was a knock on the door, Su Qiuyan jumped to his feet.

He sheathed his sword and headed for the door. The closer he got, the more he could hear the woman's voice.

"A-Yan! A-Yan! I've come to visit you A-Yan!."

His breath hitched and he hesitated before clumsily responding, "Linyue?"

The woman responded, "Yes it's me! Let me in already, it's cold out here."

As if on cue, Su Qiuyan swung open the door and allowed her in.

Linyue was not often keen on manners, but around Su Qiuyan, she developed a peculiar desire to be perfect.

She stood politely next to Su Qiuyan who was occupied with locking the pavilion door. He glanced over his shoulder at her, before laughing.

"Go ahead and sit down, actually, I don't believe you've been in here before." Su Qiuyan's talking paused as the door locked with a faint "click".

He spoke once more, this time facing her, "Feel free to look around, I'll brew some tea."

Linyue nodded, thanking Su Qiuyan.

She briefly wandered about but eventually settled on a small arm's length table on the second floor of the pavilion. She placed the small metal box on the table with a sense of pride as she waited expectantly for Su Qiuyan to appear.

Peering over the wooden railing of the second floor, Linyue could see Su Qiuyan who was also looking for her. As their eyes met, he gave her a wide smile and waved excitedly. Linyue waved back with equal enthusiasm.

She giggled as Su Qiuyan balanced a serving tray topped with a tea set in one hand. With his other hand, he sent his sword out of its sheath with a small burst of energy. The sword shot out with great force before obediently gliding back to Su Qiuyan's side.

Seeing Linyue's bright smile, Su Qiuyan's heart skipped a beat, his hand faltered as the tea set tottered. Linyue's eyes widened in worried anticipation as Su Qiuyan gallantly tossed the unbalanced serving tray up into the air. Tea spilled out of the pot before it began to fall downwards along with the rest of the set.

Su Qiuyan's sword flew underneath, gracefully catching the serving tray on its flat side. Su Qiuyan himself looked up, concealing the panic which promptly melted away as his gaze met with Linyue's happy expression which was accompanied by the faint sound of her giggling and clapping.

Su Qiuyan bowed and whispered accordingly to his sword, "Guijing"

Guijing, as if with a will of its own, swiftly flew towards Linyue with the tea tray.

Su Qiuyan felt nothing but pride for his Guijing as it weaved in and out of the pillars of the pavilion slowly rising in altitude towards the second floor while skillfully balancing the tea set on itself.

When it had reached the second floor, level with Linyue, it began making its way to her from the other side of the pavilion, across the large open space between the two sides of the circular balcony that wrapped around along the pavilion's interior wall.

Guijing flew with no sense of decelerating, by the time Su Qiuyan had noticed something was wrong, it was already too late to call for his sword.

Guijing sliced through the air with the serving tray still miraculously intact on its side, it continued its course as it got closer and closer to Linyue who was clueless about the danger she was in.

Guijing promptly stopped its bloodthirsty flight upon piercing the pavilion's wall and puncturing the sturdy wood which held up the pavilion for centuries.

Guijing collapsed to the floor with a loud clank, the tea set and tray went careening down with it.

Linyue collapsed to the floor alongside the tray, her robes stained by spilled tea which continued to drip off onto the first floor.

Su Qiuyan rushed to the second floor to help her up, toppling over piles of organized scrolls that he had yet to put back.

Amongst all the commotion, Guijing had propped itself against the table leg, not a drop of tea was on its glossy surface, an act of mockery towards Linyue whose robes no longer resembled the winter snow.

After reassuring himself that Linyue was not seriously injured, Su Qiuyan began apologizing profusely.

"I'm so terribly sorry I-"

With one strong tug, he propped her up, Linyue gazed fondly at the gentle hand supporting her own.

Looking down at Linyue, whose robes were stained beyond recognition, Su Qiuyan hastily retracted his hand out of guilt, only to worsen the guilt as he peered at the small bloodstain on his palm.

Su Qiuyan, "Linyue, your hand is bleeding? Hold on."

Su Qiuyan fumbled about his robe before pulling out a small roll of gauze. Gently, he gestured for Linyue's hand.

Very delicately, she slipped her hand into his own, remaining very still as Su Qiuyan leveled himself with her hand and delicately wrapped the large cut on her palm.

"Is the gauze wrapped too tight?" He looked up at her with a concerned look, as their eyes locked, Linyue hesitated for a brief moment before replying, "No no, it's fine, it's wrapped perfectly."

She smiled, a faint blush lining her cheeks.

Su Qiuyan's eyes widened in astonishment, he quickly let go of her hand, shot up, and went to retrieve his blade, not going an instant without apologizing.

No matter what or how much he said he said, however, his apology would always be somewhat lackluster as he himself was not entirely the one at fault.

*****

Guijing's blade was made entirely of a cloudy glass, forged by himself when he was young. After presenting the blade to the elders, it was given high praise and an appropriate hilt.

Despite being glass, the blade lacked all properties of such. The thin glass blade was notably very light; however, it proved to be uncharacteristically dense, being able to cut through the most durable of metals. Even while being so thin, it was absurdly absorbent of light, casting a dark brooding shadow while the blade itself had the appearance of being illuminated from all angles as long as there was some trace of a light source.

The most notable attribute, however, was the sword's emission of a faint red glow. Whenever in dark places, this glow allowed one to see their reflection on its surface.

When his sword was first presented to the elders, they and the disciples around laughed at Su Qiuyan ceaselessly.

The immediate thought of the people was that a sword made of glass would surely prove to be impractical and would never serve as a good material for a weapon much less pass the approval of the elders.

Countless onlookers mocked and cursed Su Qiuyan under their breaths,

"You think Su Qiuyan has finally pushed his luck?"

"What a joke, there's no way the elders will accept this."

"Look at how dirty his clothes are! The sect leader will surely knock him down a peg after today's disaster."

Su Qiuyan however, did not mind, he simply smiled as the elders evaluated his crudely shaped blade.

The entire sect gave out a gasp that day when Su Qiuyan walked off with the glass blade, which was now a full-fledged sword with the addition of a black jade hilt and some polishing.

Appropriately named, Guijing was abnormally compatible with Su Qiuyan's combative capabilities.

Some disciples would need lighter, sharper blades to compensate for a weak spiritual force, while others needed denser blades so as to not break every time they exerted their spiritual force.

Guijing however, was perfect; it was thin and sharp, suitable for lighter sneak attacks a weaker disciple may do, but still able to contain and utilize the abundance of spiritual force Su Qiuyan exerted. It is well known, however, that everything has limits and exceptions, Su Qiuyan knew whether by instinct or an elder's tip that if an object with enough force collided with the flat side of Guijing, the seemingly perfect miracle sword would shatter into a cascade of fine glass shards.

Unbeknownst to the elders and even Su Qiuyan himself at the time, Guijing had one more hidden quality. The sword was entirely in tune with Su Qiuyan's thoughts, which was not particularly unusual for the spirits of hand-crafted swords, but Guijing was able to go as far as to forge its own will, one of which was completely separate from that of Su Qiuyan's

It acted on its own but was often harmoniously in tune with Su Qiuyan. Sometimes, the sword simply did as it pleased. Things such as flying off in the middle of practice duels, ending up in random locations around Shui Lian Peak, and sneaking off in the middle of the night were not uncommon things occurrences with Guijing.

Su Qiuyan did not mind much, he gladly shouldered the embarrassment of "dropping his sword during duels" or "forgetting his sword in the mess hall", spilling tea all over Linyue however, was not something Su Qiyan could easily excuse.

He placed the shattered porcelain shards of what was a tea set in a small handkerchief before placing it off to the side.

He gave an awkward laugh, "I guess that trick took too much out of me, a thousand pardons on my part, I shouldn't have done something so risky. I could retailer your robe-"

Linyue silently walked off, Su Qiuyan promptly stopped speaking. He only watched dejectedly as she went down to the first floor, his guilt trickling down and slowly drowning him.

To his surprise, Linyue's footsteps circled back up the stairs.

There were two pillows in her arms, both were a dark inky shade, one had patterns that were lined with a beautiful metallic black thread while the other had a gold-thread embroidered border. Linyue tossed the gold-embroidered pillow to Su Qiuyan.

Linyue gave a forgiving smile before plopping herself down on top of her pillow at the table, she gestured for Su Qiuyan to do the same.

"It's okay, this robe was an old raggedy one anyways." Linyue laughed before continuing, "The food I brought is pretty light, we won't need any tea to enjoy it."

With that, Linyue pushed the metal box to the center of the table towards Su Qiuyan who was sitting across from her. The box radiated a faint warmth, Linyue slowly shimmied off the top lid, revealing two smaller wooden containers.

She handed a wooden container to Su Qiuyan and then took one for herself.

Linyue spoke proudly, "I remembered you liked rice balls."

Su Qiuyan couldn't find the words to respond, stiffly, he stared at the small wooden box in his hands.

Linyue opened her box, taking out a perfectly spherical rice ball about the size of her fist.

She glanced over at Su Qiuyan who sheepishly looked up from his guilty haze. She shot him a glance which he immediately understood.

Linyue began eating her rice ball while Su Qiuyan kept holding his in his hands.

The rice ball in his hand was significantly bigger than Linyue's and emitted a faint nutty aroma.

Su Qiuyan recognized the taste immediately.

He mumbled between bites, "Is this-" He took another hearty bite, "-sweetened peanut paste?"

Linyue smiled faintly, "Yes, I recall A-Yan enjoyed this dish when we went down to the town last time."

Su Qiuyan's expression brightened, "Thank you, I'll be sure to make your favorite snack next time."

Su Qiuyan looked at Linyue with a determined grin. He thought she was very beautiful, with a perfect soft face, friendly bright eyes, and a flawless pearly white smile. The more he looked, the further he fell away from the world around him, it was only her.

Guijing shook violently in its sheath, drawing both Linyue and Su Qiuyan's attention, the sword took flight once again, this time with its sheath still on. It jolted out into the air before falling over the balcony, echoey clash sounded as it hit the floor below.

Su Qiuyan's heart sank, after hastily stuffing the last of the rice ball into his mouth, he leaped from the balcony to his sword. Guijing lay lifelessly on the ground, Su Qiuyan carefully lifted it up in his arms, supporting it from the bottom as if it was a newborn baby.

He pulled the radiant glass blade out from its sheath, its semi-clear body glowed red with a determined resolve.

Linyue came running down the stairs seconds later to accompany him.

"A-Yan, are you okay? Is your sword okay?" Words spilled from her mouth as she balanced on the verge of tears.

She looked at Su Qiuyan who held Guijing's perfectly intact blade in his hands, then at the floor where Guijing hit the floor.

She noticed a strange black hole in the floorboards, approximately the size of a teacup.

Her worry grew, "A-yan! Are you sure your sword is okay? Are you hurt at all? Even the floor is slightly charred, are you sure you're not burned anywhere?"

A sudden realization flashed through Su Qiuyan's mind, he looked dumbfoundedly at the hole in the floor. With Linyue's arrival, there was no way he could have excused himself to fix it, now it had come back to haunt him.

He replied calmly, "I'm fine, I am very sorry for scaring you like that." He stood over the hole so that his foot was cleverly covering it.

Su Qiuyan, "As for the hole, I'll retrieve some wood from the western portion of the forest. I sincerely hope you won't mind the short wait."

Linyue shook her head in response, "It's no worry, just be safe, I know you and A-Yue are familiar with the forest here, but still-"

She paused and smiled at Su Qiuyan, while no words were spoken, they both understood each other's mutual concern for one another.

With that, he resheathedGuijing and headed out into the forest.

*****

The moonlit sky was dulled by the veil of fog that rested on the forest. Nighttime was peaceful, cicadas chirped along with one another, unaware of Su Qiuyan's presence as he quietly made his way toward the forest's outer edge.

Within minutes he'd reached the portion of the western forest just outside the boundaries of the array. He scouted around, eventually settling on a large cypress tree near the edge of the forest canopy.

With a quick and simple slice, the tree's thickest branch came falling down, landing on the grass with a quiet thud. From this wide branch, Su Qiuyan was able to carve out a total of five arm-length planks, discarding the rough bark below the old tree for any bugs or animals that wanted it.

A scratchy sound came from behind, it scratched at Su Qiuyan's ears, leaving behind a grainy residue.

Su Qiuyan stood still, while beasts were not common in or around the forest, he was still out of the array's protection and at the mercy of the unknown.

His hand went for his sword on instinct.

The noise sounded once more, even louder than before as if it was luring Su Qiuyan. He refused to budge, while his back was to the noise, his senses were still sharp to his surroundings.

He mentally debated with himself and ultimately decided the hassle was not worth it. His feet remained still, firmly planted into the earth.

The noise continued, only when morning drew near did it finally cease. However, to Su Qiuyan, the faint warmth of a soon-to-rise sun was no match for the chilling darkness of a sudden silence.

As Su Qiuyan tried to make sense of the strange noise that seemingly came and went at random, he began to feel a sense of unease wash over him. The sense of unease only worsened the longer he stood there.

As time passed by, the noise gradually crept back. Su Qiuyan began to feel light-headed. His attempts to shake off the feeling were useless as the sound in his ears only slowly got louder and louder.

The noise suddenly crescendoed.

Su Qiuyan could no longer stand it, he clutched his aching head in his hands as he collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by the weight of the sudden blanket of sound.

His vision grew foggy and his body went limp as he lay helplessly on the ground. The blurry sight of a morning's sunrise over the far-off mountains was the last thing he saw as he was carried off into the darkness by the sound of his own labored breathing and the far-off chirping of the cicadas.