Parallel Yet Perpendicular |XICHENG|

I | The Night Is Rather Cold

The night was rather cold, or at least that was what Jiang Cheng's mind had been chanting for quite some time now. And though a much feared cultivator, a stony one at that too, and whose heart was flaming up with ice rather than fire and whose relationships are cold and distant, the sensation still numbed his fingers. The thickness of his outer jacket did very little to cover him from the gnawing chills of the night.

It was only just the end of summer however. It shouldn't be this chilly, especially in Lotus Pier. Then again, Jiang Cheng was very clear about the cold in his very heart. It was something that had been bothering him up until this time, and for whoever's sake, it was already past midnight! It couldn't be helped though. Staying up this late was something he usually did whenever his mind acted like a bitch and refused to let him sleep.

He downed his sixth cup of wine and the burning liquid slid down his throat like water. It was bitter and acidic, exactly like the boiling bitterness up his throat whenever he felt jealous, or envious, or unhappy. And the thought prompted him to down another, then another, and the last of the first jar.

It tasted particularly ugly tonight for a drinker like him, like the first time he had accidentally gulped a mouthful when he was only about 9 or so, but every cup was still oddly satisfying. It was as though he was choking on his own emotions, draining and swallowing them, hiding them in the depths of him from the judgemental eyes of the world.

He grabbed another jar and directly drank from it, like a sick person greedy for despair. He must have looked pathetic and he knew that very well. But it was fine because he also knew there was only him and his wine. No nosy hypocrites, no ridiculing whispers, no burning gazes. No one. Nobody but the reflection of the full moon on the still pond as his witness.

He was alone and that was what made the night cold, he finally understood. The coldness of loneliness. Should there be a remedy, it would have to be the warmth of another human.

He scoffed.

Why would he long for someone?

And whatever could he do about it if by any chance he really would? It wasn't like he was anywhere near love or infatuation. Not even friendship. The last one he had was agonizing enough. He'd be a fool if he still wanted to repeat something like that. Moreover, who in their right mind would approach a person like him?

The closest person he had was a brat called Jin Ling but even that kid had stared up to him with a look that he had trouble swallowing down. Jiang Cheng couldn't not feel a cold shiver up his spine when thinking about it. It was very discomforting and distressing.

He could understand though, a rare humane part of him, because he just made a sudden dramatic opening to Jin Ling's new path. He was aware that he had set up standards and loads of regulations that Jin Ling had been required to live by and to suddenly change all that in a single beat was too outrageous of him.

"Study in Gusu," he could remember telling that brat who, in turn, had gawked at him with big eyes before shouting words of refusal, as he would have expected.

Then he remembered pulling a collar out of his sleeves and handing it to Jin Ling. It had instantly shut the brat up and he had watched silently as the youth's face paled in realization, his body frozen but shaking as though he had met a demon and maybe he was right. Except, his eyes had clearly displayed an unhindered anger instead of fear which had reflected his own frame.

Jiang Wanyin, a monster to his own kin.

Not very surprising, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt his pride. After all, he raised that kid, fathered him when he himself needed one, hummed him wordless tunes when he couldn't sleep like his mother did that she thought he wouldn't remember, hugged him when the sounds of thunders roared above them like a raging dragon, kissed his forehead whenever he asked in which he himself had always wished his father had done. He'd done them all, wholeheartedly, because he was Jiang Yanli's son, and because they carried the same flesh and blood, and because he was his nephew.