Yao Shen is almost as shocked at Gao Wu by Tan Liansi's words.
The two of them remain rooted to the spot as she walks across the room only to come to a stop in front of the painting of Gao Wu's ancestor teacher.
She raises her hand towards the face of the stoic Master and then lets it drop with an anguished sigh.
"So this is what became of you, Shuang-er," she says, her voice no louder than a whisper.
Yao Shen immediately understands what's happening. He points at the painting. "She was Mei Shuang? Yan Shuyi's first disciple?"
Gao Wu's frown deepens, he raises the horsetail whisk horizontally in front of his chest. "So you're one of them too. I should have known."
He doesn't wait for an explanation before whipping up a cyclonic wind around himself with the whisk.
Yao Shen ducks to the floor protecting his ears from the howling wind. All of his attention is focused on the cell in the corner of the room, and its three motionless occupants. They can't defend themselves against whatever Gao Wu throws at them.
Tan Liansi swipes one of her arms in a wide arc in front of both her and Yao Shen and a giant ice wall rises up from the ground. She aims the palm of her other hand towards the cell door, and a block of ice freezes up the bars, protecting Xin Hulei, Jincan and Heimao inside.
The wind Gao Wu whipped up towards them meets the ice wall and can move no further, eventually losing strength until finally dissipating.
Tan Liansi takes advantage of a moment of distraction to shoot and ice shard towards his hand, knocking the whisk out his grip and opening up a large gash on the back of his hand.
He staggers backwards, clutching his injured hand to his chest. "If something happens to me other peo-"
Tan Liansi sighs, lowering her arms, but keeping the ice barriers up. "I'm not doing anything to harm you."
It's obvious that Gao Wu doesn't believe her. He stumbles a few paces away until his back hits a wall. "Demons always try to persuade you of their harmlessness, all the better to sink their fangs into you when you are unaware."
Yao Shen gets up from the floor with a grunt. "That's rich coming from the guy who attacked us first."
"All you heard were the second-hand accounts passed down through generations," Tan Liansi says, her eyes glued to Gao Wu. "I was there."
It's obvious that Gao Wu doesn't expect that, even though he must be aware of demon immortality.
"Then...do you know what happened to my grand ancestor's sect?"
"What happened that day was orchestrated by the Underworld, the ghost kings of Youdu used one of their own to muddle my ge's mind, and have him set up an explosive instead of the key we were promised." Her eyes narrow in hatred. "The fire from the explosion wasn't natural, and it spread through every building like it was carried by invisible wings. Everyone tried to put it out, including me, but I outed myself as a demon by doing it."
"She never forgave me." Tan Liansi raises her chin towards the painting. "She thought it was something that I, Xin Hulei and Xie Huan had been planning since we joined Frozen Peak."
Gao Wu's eyes widen almost comically, his injured hand trembles against his chest. "Then, the drama...it's all real? You were there, seeing it happen?"
Tan Liansi makes a sew-saw motion with her hand. "More or less, the drama and the novel aren't 100% accurate, as I'm sure you know. But yes, Xin Hulei and Xie Huan did join Frozen Peak to try and get the sect's relic to stabilise Youdu's protection wards. I went later to remind Xie Huan of the betrothal contract our families signed, and of the urgency of getting the relic as soon as possible."
Her eyes drift towards the painting on the wall. "Of course, that didn't go according to plan, for any of us. Fate makes fools of us all in the end." She lets out a bitter laugh. "Or maybe we were punished, for putting our own selfish desires ahead of Modu's fate."
"It was easier to treat the human realm like our personal playground than to remember the despair waiting for us at home." Her eyes fill up with tears again. Yao Shen wishes they weren't in this situation and that Xin Hulei could have explained everything that has changed in Youdu.
It's obvious that Tan Liansi's hard shell hides raw, open wounds, that a thousand years haven't managed to heal.
"It was all organised by the ghost kings of Youdu, in conjunction to Frozen Peak sect elders, and a few elders from other sects, who would take advantage of the situation, unbeknownst to Frozen Peak," Yao Shen says, casting a look towards Xin Hulei and the two unconscious figures at his side. "I've seen it for myself."
Gao Wu looks between the two of them with a look of utter confusion. It's clear he doesn't want to believe either of them, but his conviction is faltering.
"Mei Shuang never believed that the three of us had nothing to do with the attack." She shakes her head. "She couldn't forgive Yan Shuyi's death, and I couldn't forgive her inaction, and refusal to help while Xie Huan was tortured despite barely clinging to life." Her throat moves up and down, as if swallowing down her grief.
"We were estranged after that. The last time we spoke was when she told me Xie Huan had died. I cursed all of her ancestors and all of her descendants for a thousand generations, and called her all vile names I knew."
She laughs bitterly and points at Gao Wu. "I guess she thought my curse was real, and that's why she never had any children of her own, and instead took on your ancestor as a disciple to pass on her knowledge. She must have thought it would work as a loophole" She shakes her head. "In the end, it seems I've only cursed myself."
"Fate makes fools of us all," Yao Shen says, echoing her words, his eyes fixed on the little cell hidden behind a wall of ice.
"W-why would I believe any of that?" Gao Wu asks, but his hand keeps shaking. It's obvious that Tan Liansi's account has struck a chord within him.
She glares at him. "I don't give a fuck what you believe or not!" She raises her hands again, her fingertips freezing over with little ice crystals. "After that, I had to do everything I could to get Hulei out of there, and take care of him too. He was in so much pain, so swarmed by grief that I thought his mind would cave under the pressure."
The icicles on her hands grow, becoming sharp blades pointed at Gao Wu. "So frankly, I don't give a fuck what you think. I lost everything, because people like you thought we were monsters. Maybe I should prove you right."
Gao Wu cowers against a wall as Tan Liansi ready's herself for an attack, her eyes blazing with hatred.
Yao Shen places a hand on the inside of her elbow and slowly lowers her arm. "Let's think this through."
She shakes him off with a hard jerk of her arm. "You idiot, he'll kill us both if we don't attack first."
Yao Shen gives Gao Wu, a long, narrow-eyed look. "You know something about her story doesn't make sense too, right?"
His words shock Tan Liansi so much that the crystals on her fingertips start receding back into her skin. "What are you trying to-"
Yao Shen doesn't give either of them time to go on. "How were you able to escape unscathed, and even talk with Mei Shuang, if all the sect elders suspected you of being demons?"
"That's-" Tan Liansi starts, but can't find an explanation, her eyes drifting from side to side inside their sockets.
Yao Shen smiles sadly at her, and then at Gao Wu. "You needed help. Mei Shuang was the one who helped you."
He can tell that they're both digesting his words by the heavy silence that falls over the dank room. Gao Wu's bleeding hand continues to drip down onto the floor, while his gaze is unfocused and distant.
Slowly, Tan Liansi lowers her hands.
"I think Mei Shuang did think you were somehow responsible for what happened to Frozen Peak, but neither was she able to completely ignore the feelings between you, or the time she spent as Xie Huan's and Xin Hulei's shijie."
He takes a deep breath, feeling immense sorrow for all that happened back then, and the many lives that were ruined.
"I think that maybe some of the original meaning of her surviving writings has been lost to time, or altered by the next generations of disciples." He sighs. "I think she never got over everything she lost on that day."
He looks into Tan Liansi's eyes, rimmed with red and overfilled with tears. "And I think that includes you."