What could Master Dashi know about Lan Zhan?

They all looked at the older man, hoping he would explain.

"Hold on, I'm trying to remember." Master Dashi said, closing his eyes.

"Eat another flower." Lan Zhan suggested, impatiently.

"My love..." Wei Ying bit his bottom lip, trying not to laugh.

Hongse threw an irritated look their way.

"It's okay, father. Take your time."

Wei Ying refrained from tapping his foot; he understood exactly what Lan Zhan meant.

Hui Gai made his protective bubble disappear and the children ran to their parents. Lan Zhan picked Rumi up, while Li XiWang climbed into Wei Ying's lap.

"That was so cool, father!" She whispered, excitedly. "How did you do that?"

"I'm not sure." Wei Ying gave a weak laugh. "At least we know the resentment energy still works. I can still use it to save you, my love."

Lan Zhan turned to face him.

His golden eyes were utterly serious.

"You have always saved me. You are the only one."

Wei Ying would have kissed him then, were it not for their children. But Lan Zhan continued to stare into his eyes, those golden pools filled with words that remained unspoken.

Wei Ying knew he was talking about so much more than this single moment, of wanting to save him just now.

They had always wanted to protect each other, no matter the circumstances, no matter which life. This was something that would remain unchanged until the end of time, for they both knew, there was no one without the other.

Neither could exist if either one perished...

"I've remembered!" Master Dashi suddenly exclaimed.

Lan Zhan tried not to snort.

"In those few years before they caught me...I was passing through a village in a rural county. I saw a beautiful lotus pond and although it wasn't the season, there were magnificent blue lotus flowers resting upon the waters. I went closer to inspect because I couldn't believe my eyes! In the middle of winter, they were fresh and bright, and before I could help myself, my fingers plucked a single flower.

"Immediately, a door opened in the hut next to me, and an old man came out. He saw the flower in my hand and said, "you have taken what does not belong to you. You must pay the price."

"He brought out a basin and filled it with a blue liquid. Then he asked for my hand and he pricked my finger. Three drops of my blood were added to the contents of that basin, and then he let go of me. We both watched the liquid turn from a darker blue, to a purple and then to red...and then it turned a milky white.

"He asked me to put my hand in and take out what I found. I was hesitant at first, because all of this was so sudden. Who knew that just by picking a flower, the most innocent act of all, it would lead me into such grave danger?

"And make no mistake, it was a dangerous game. I knew that my life was on the line."

"How?" Lan Zhan did not say it, but his tone suggested that Master Dashi was being overly dramatic.

"It might have been." Wei Ying defended. "I mean, they were both strangers and it could have escalated. Was he some kind of soothsayer? Fortune teller?"

"Scam artist." Lan Zhan replied, under his breath so only Wei Ying and the children heard him.

"He was known in those parts as the Oracle." Master Dashi looked seriously back at them.

"What did he look like?" Wei Ying asked.

"Taller than me, and I am by no means short of stature. He had long hair woven into aged plaits, and corn rows close to his scalp. Grey hair, and wrinkles all over his face...he was bare chested..." Master Dashi focused on the images inside his head. "He didn't look strong but I got the feeling of hidden strength. He was bony...skeletal almost...and his eyes...they kept changing colour. Piercing...intense."

"Doesn't that sound familiar to you, my love?" Wei Ying asked, tapping his nose. "Not the part of his changing eyes...that was the guy who gave us all those boxes...but..."

"Mn?"

Lan Zhan was finally interested in this conversation.

"Do you remember that Soothsayer? The one that introduced us to Hui Gai? Would that be the same person?" Wei Ying suddenly said, excitedly. Then he turned to Master Dashi. "What did he tell you? What did you find?"

"The liquid....for it was not water, glistened as if it was made from the stars. When I hesitated, he suddenly lunged for my hand and pushed it into the basin. The liquid was warm anyway, and then it became hotter as my fingers searched. The temperature increased and became unbearable, I could not even feel the tips of my fingers. I became desperate because there seemed to be only liquid running through my fingers, and I was sure my hand would come up scorched, but just then, when I was about to scream in pain, I felt something long and pliant.

"I pulled it out. It was a black feather."

"A black feather?" Wei Ying was sitting on the edge of his seat.

"Yes, and what was intriguing was that it and my hand were completely dry. And that feather wasn't completely black either. It was black, but it wasn’t."

"Master, surely you are speaking to us in riddles!" Hongbaoshi said, a puzzled look on her face.

"Let me explain. Do you know what the inside of a shell looks like? The iridescent colours shining, but the natural colour of the shell remains the same?" Master Dashi looked excited too, now.

"Yes." They nodded at him.

"In the same way, that feather was totally black, but its feathery bits were iridescent like the opposite of a shell. The shells would mostly be white, but this shone with a dark energy. Then he said, "you will meet great trials on your path, but when you come across the Light Bearer of the North and his Dark Angel, lead them to me. That is when I will return to them, what is theirs alone."

********

A/N

Dear lovely Readers,

What do you think?

More questions??

Haha!! I'm not laughing, just jubilant that I got another chapter out, unexpectedly.

Happiness and chocolate as always,

Charlie.