“Yang.”
“Yang.”
The words drifted through the fog of his mind.
“Chen Yang.”
“Junior Brother Yang.”
Yang felt a bitter taste on his tongue. He tried to spit it out, but a firm hand pressed over his mouth.
He thrashed instinctively, pushing against the hand before swallowing by reflex, letting out a grimace for a second at the intense bitterness, yet relaxing as he felt relief from the pain that seemed to be permeating his whole body. He blindly reached up with his trembling fingers to feel the spot punctured by the arrow on his neck, only to find smooth, unbroken skin.
His eyes snapped wide open, only for him to let out a groan and squeeze them shut at the bright, searing light that met his gaze.
Thankfully, he wasn’t a mortal but a cultivator. It barely took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the sudden light.
He opened them again and blinked up at the clear blue sky as he felt a sense of déjà vu as he was once again woken up to bright sunlight.
He turned his gaze towards the surroundings and noticed that he was lying on fresh grass with his head cradled in Senior Brother Qing An's lap while Senior Brother Fan Xiao was crouching beside him with a jade bottle in hand.
Upon noticing Yang's gaze, he immediately tilted the bottle to spill out a light green round pill into his hand before pressing it against Yang’s lips. Yang instinctively opened his mouth and swallowed it, feeling a cooling sensation pass down his body, followed by a surge of qi.
“Chen Yang.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao said as he examined his eyes closely. “How do you feel?”
“I am alright,” Yang said, pushing himself upright with Senior Brother Qing An supporting his back and noticing the rest of his Senior Brothers standing a couple of feet back. “What happened?” He asked, looking around. “How did we get out of that place?”
He really was curious; they were sitting in an open field of plain grass with small plants and flowering bushes interspersed through. It was completely different from any part of the remnant world they had seen so far. Too normal.
“That ingrate cultivator knew the way out.” A snide voice interjected, and Yang had to do a double-take as he saw Senior Brother Song Weilong speak. The tone was so unlike him.
“I remember you fighting him in the chamber. What exactly happened while I was dealing with the Statue?” Yang asked as he stood up, dusting off his robes. Senior Brothers Qing an and Fan Xiao followed suit and stood closer to him, Yang letting out a smile as he reassured them. “I really am alright, Senior Brother.” And he was. Physically. Mentally, He didn't have the capacity to process what had happened right now. Death was part of life, and he knew he would be living through many of them, both his and others.
It was Senior Brother Fan Xiao who answered his question. “After you went to deal with the statue, I was restraining them,” he gestured with his chin towards the others, “and keeping the phantoms from reaching you, but a minute or so in, they all got more frenzied. I was of course able to keep them in contr—”
“Can you please not talk about that?” Senior Brother Yuan Shen said with a groan as Senior Brother Qing An let out a chuckle.
“Now I am more interested in how you kept them in control than the evil statue.” Yang couldn't help but say to Senior Brother Fan Xiao as he cast a curious look at Senior Brother Yuan Shen.
“Ah, Junior Brother Yang. You missed an entertaining show while dealing with the statue.” Senior Brother Qing An said mirthfully. “Since Little Zhen Hao and Yuan Shen are weaklings, our dear Senior Brother Fan Xiao decided to truss them up like a chicken and hang them in the air while he fought off Weilong and me.”
“I don’t recall either of you putting up much of a fight.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao added dryly. Senior Brother Qing An pretended as if he hadn’t heard him.
Senior Brother Zhen Hao let out a scowl as Senior Brother Song Weilong added with an amused smile on his face. “It was a spell right out of Senior Brother Xiao Zhan’s books.”
“I must also apologize, Junior Brother, for trying to hurt you.” Said Senior Brother Qing An suddenly in a solemn tone.
“It's fine, Senior Brother.” Yang waved off the apology and added in a teasing tone. "You were hardly the only one.” Causing everyone to let out a wince and shoot a barrage of apologetic words at him.
“It's fine. It's fine. It was because of the statue. It was affecting everyone.” Yang assured all of them.
“Not me. I was not so weak as to succumb to its evil influence.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao spoke arrogantly. Clearly, he was in a good enough mood to needle the others. A rather rare occasion for him.
“Oh, spare me.” Senior Brother Qing An said with a roll of his eyes. “If you are so great, why did you need Junior Brother Yang to lessen its influence before you thought to destroy it?”
Senior Brothers Zhen Hao and Yuan Shen didn't forget to add their own two cents.
“Indeed, you were also influenced, if only to a lesser extent than us.”
“Why didn’t you deal with it as soon as we were there?”
“Enough.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao turned to Yang before reluctantly admitting. “There may have been a slight influence,” before casting a look at the others. “But at least I didn't try to murder our own brother.” The others made indignant protests at the statement before Yang interrupted them.
“I am truly grateful for that,” Yang said sincerely. “I don’t think I would have even managed to get within a meter of the statue, let alone stayed in touch as long as I did, if you hadn’t protected me.”
“I should be grateful to you instead, Chen Yang. Jokes aside, the statue's sinister influence was affecting all of us. Some more than others, but it was only a matter of time until we all were thoroughly corrupted.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao ended with a frown.
“Now back to your first question.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao continued. “Once you began siphoning off its power, it induced a frenzy in all the phantoms and Junior Brothers. I was able to keep them under control, and soon enough you weakened it enough to loosen its hold on Qing An, who then restrained and protected the others while I cleared off the phantoms. I had intended to let you continue siphoning out the energy for as long as you could.” His jaw tightened. “But suddenly the injured cultivator woke up and lunged at you before I could stop him.” His gaze looked chilled as he continued. “Fortunately, he only threw you to the side rather than attempting to kill you, and then he himself began syphoning off the energy from the statue.”
“He siphoned off the energy?” Yang blurted out.
Senior Brother Fan Xiao looked at him with a strange glint in his eyes. “Not for long before Weilong jumped him. After that, he was too distracted fending off Weilong’s attacks to be able to draw in the energy un—”
“Until Senior Brother Fan Xiao destroyed the Statue.” Senior Brother Qing An finished the sentence for him.
“Destroying the statue released the rest of its energy. He used some technique to draw it all in and condensed it into a crystal and fled with it while we were occupied with you,” finished Senior Brother Fan Xiao.
“At least he did manage to show us the way while running away,” muttered Senior Brother Zhen Hao. “Who knows how long it would have taken us to find a way out.”
“We would have figured it out eventually.” Senior Brother Yuan Shen countered dismissively. “Senior Brother Fan Xiao is in a higher realm than him.”
“I wouldn't be so sure about that,” said Senior Brother Fan Xiao, causing Senior Brother Yuan Shen to stare at him incredulously. “What? You are saying you wouldn’t have figured a way out if he hadn't turned tail and run?”
“No. I am saying I wouldn’t be so sure about calling myself the higher realm cultivator between the two of us,” he said dryly.
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