the truth untold

8

When the countdown finished, the screen went black for a second before it fades in to a teen resting on a boat. His face covered by a bamboo hat.

"A-Xian.", a gentle voice called. "A-xian.", she repeated.

Then he heard an angry stomp. "I'll release the dog if you don't get up." His tone was stern and harsh but not really angry.

Wei Wuxian immediately sat up and exclaimed, "Dogs?!"

The disciples in purple robes chuckled along with the two teens leading them. It was the Jiang siblings, Jiang Wanyin and Jiang Yanli.

"Oh... I-is that— T-that's Senior Wei?" Jingyi wasn't the only one surprised by the scene.

Even Jin Ling jumped a little on his seat. "...Jiujiu? And mother?"

A boy tilted his head and asked, "That's Wei Wuxian? The Yiling Patriarch?"

His senior martial sister nodded at him without looking away from the screen and munching on a piece of pizza.

"He looks nothing like the portrait shown in books...", the boy muttered.

"Of course he doesn't. He's depicted as some ugly demonic creature in those books. I heard Wei Wuxian ranked fourth among the young masters and Sect Leader Jiang ranked fifth."

This piqued the interest of the teen behind them. "Really? Then who are the top three?", he asked.

"I heard the first was Zewu-jun followed by his brother, Hanguang-jun, then third was Senior Jin Zixuan."

The teen took a glance in front where all of the mentioned cultivators are sitting and nodded. "Mm. They are really handsome."

"And powerful cultivators too.", the senior martial sister added.

"Jiang Cheng! Look you're so young!" Wei Wuxian yelled, his eyes twinkling in excitement. "And shijie, you're pretty as always."

Jiang Cheng was too shocked to even respond on his brother's usual teasing. He only gaped at the screen with his mouth slowly open. "...That's probably 15 to 20 years ago. Don't tell me were going to watch 15 years' worth of your memory?!"

Suddenly, a voice chimed in. The same guy who told them to shut up earlier. "No, dumbass. That is only a flashback. The unnecessary ones will be skipped, obviously. Only the important scenes will be shown."

"Who are you calling dumbass?! I'm gonna break your legs!" Jiang Cheng fumed. How dare this person disrespect me!

"Oh. I'd like to see you try, Sandu Shengshou." His voice was filled with sarcasm which angered the Sect Leader even more.

Jiang Cheng was about to yell again when he felt a light tug on his sleeve. "A-Cheng, that's enough."

At his sister's command, he stopped whatever words was about to come out of his mouth and threw a glare to his unseen opponent.

The Jiang sect disciples continued their way to the Cloud Recesses while the two boys were bickering, as usual, with Jiang Yanli between them.

"Alright, you two. This is not Lotus Pier. Behave properly.", she said.

A girl leaned in to her martial brother to whisper, "Madam Jiang is so graceful and well-mannered even when she was young."