The eting ca to an end. The elders filed out, murmurs of instruction already passing between them as they prepared to mobilize the younger generations.
Fang Yuan and Xiao Pei walked in companionable silence towards the Phoenix Soul Pavilion, the tension of the hall replaced by the tranquil sounds of the estate gardens.
They reached the serene koi pond, its colorful inhabitants gliding like living jewels beneath the surface.
Fang Yuan stopped, watching the fish. "Da Pang," he began, his tone thoughtful, "I intend to raise this family higher than it’s ever been. And not just us. I plan to bring in outsiders too, train them, help them grow. Build sothing... lasting."
Xiao Pei eyed him suspiciously, his round face scrunching up.
"Are you... trying to do what our first brother tasked you with?" he asked, his voice laced with doubt.
Fang Yuan actually startled, turning to look at Xiao Pei properly.
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed his features before he chuckled, scratching his head. "Hah! I’d... forgotten," he murmured.
"He did say I’d raise one of the strongest clans under heaven..."
A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Hah. So I’m just walking the path he foresaw after all."
Xiao Pei shook his head, a wave of lancholy washing over his expressive face.
He looked down at his own hands, then back at Fang Yuan. "Brother Shao Ge... look at . Look at you." His voice thickened.
"I’m just... stuck at the early stage of Qi Transformation. A beginner. And you? Nascent Soul realm! A giant among mortals already! I don’t even know why I’m sworn brothers with you two. First Brother... he’s probably soaring at the peak stage of Nascent by now, or even Hollow Spirit..."
Fang Yuan heard the raw sadness, the feeling of being left behind, in Xiao Pei’s tone.
They were brothers of three, bound not by blood but by a crucible of shared life and death.
The eldest had ascended young, a blazing star leaving Fang Yuan and Xiao Pei trailing in the dust of his brilliance.
But strength hadn’t erased brotherhood; their First Brother was also, in a sense, an oracle.
Xiao Pei sniffed, wiping his nose with the back of his sleeve. "First Brother told ... told you’d be in grave danger within a year. Told to... to steal everything I could from ho and get to you. No matter what." He shuddered slightly, rembering the frantic, terrifying urgency.
Fang Yuan stared intently at a particularly vibrant koi, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Your arrival was godly, Da Pang. If you hadn’t made it in ti... I would have already shattered. Gone mad from the guilt and the..." He trailed off with a hollow laugh.
Xiao Pei tried to laugh along, but it ca out as a choked sob. He wasn’t laughing.
The mory of Fang Yuan’s condition, the hollow eyes, the trembling limbs, the aura of near-death despair was etched into his mind.
It was nothing to laugh about.
Fang Yuan cleared his throat, turning back to Xiao Pei. His expression shifted, becoming purposeful.
"Brother Da Pang," he said, his voice regaining its steady warmth. "I have in my hand... a Bone Marrow Pill."
Xiao Pei blinked, confusion montarily overriding his sadness. "A... what pill?"
Fang Yuan held up a small, intricately carved jade vial. "A Bone Marrow Pill. It tempers and purifies the marrow, scrubs the channels clean. It fundantally enhances the body’s foundation for cultivation. A key to unlocking greater potential."
Xiao Pei’s eyes locked onto the vial. An audible gulp echoed in the quiet garden air. His earlier lancholy warred with sudden, desperate hope.
"N-no strings attached?" he stamred, suspicion warring with yearning.
"Hey!" Fang Yuan feigned offense, clutching his chest dramatically. "What do you take for?"
"A scamr! That’s exactly what you are!" Xiao Pei shot back, though his gaze remained fixed on the vial like a lifeline.
Fang Yuan chuckled, a softer, more genuine sound this ti. "You... just because I borrowed your family’s Star-Seeking Compass for a little while..."
"Borrow?!" Xiao Pei’s voice shot up an octave, indignation flaring. "You stole it! Vanished for a week! I took the bla when the elders noticed! Then you magically ’found’ it and returned it, and still I got thrashed for ’playing recklessly’ with a priceless heirloom! Borrow?!"
Fang Yuan held up his hands in surrender, his grin sheepish. "Okay, okay! I’m sorry. That was... my bad. Truly."
Xiao Pei crossed his arms, pouting dramatically. "If you felt really sorry," he sniffed, "you’d co with right now and apologize properly to my parents. Explain it was all your fault!"
"Hey! Brother Da Pang," Fang Yuan protested, then his expression softened into a knowing smile. He stepped closer, the jade vial held out aningfully. "Isn’t this why I’m giving you the Bone Marrow Pill?"
Before Xiao Pei could fully process the words, Fang Yuan swiftly pressed not one, but two small, glossy pills, deep crimson like crystallized blood and emanating a faint, potent warmth directly into Xiao Pei’s palm.
"Take these. And now that you and Aunt Jingyi have finally buried that old hatchet," he added, a hint of his usual mischief creeping back, "go visit her. Tell her you need a full dicinal bath regin to maximize the effects of these. She knows the best herbs."
Xiao Pei stared down at the precious pills glowing in his hand.
The pieces clicked together in his mind with almost physical force: Fang Yuan orchestrating the eting, forcing the apology, paving the way for this mont... for his advancent.
It wasn’t public humiliation; it was a carefully laid path to reconciliation and opportunity, disguised as Fang Yuan’s usual antics.
The realization hit him like a tidal wave. His eyes, already slightly red from earlier emotion, welled up instantly.
His lower lip began to tremble violently.
A choked gasp escaped him, followed by another. His shoulders started to shake.
"B-Brother Shao Ge..." Xiao Pei stamred, his voice thick and wobbly.
Tears spilled over, tracing hot paths down his plump cheeks.
He looked up at Fang Yuan, his expression a mixture of overwhelming gratitude, profound sha for his earlier suspicion, and sheer emotional overload. "I... I misjudged you! Sob... I... I completely thought... hic... you just wanted to see squirm... waaah!"
His words dissolved into proper, heaving sobs. Snot started to bubble slightly at his nostrils. "All this ti... you were... you were helping ! Making face Aunt Jingyi... so I could... so I could use this! Waaaah! I’m so sorry! I’m a terrible brother! Sob... hic..."
Xiao Pei, overwheld, lurched forward, arms outstretched, clearly intending to throw himself into a tearful, snotty hug.
Fang Yuan, witnessing the sudden, dramatic flood of tears and the impending clingy assault, took a swift step back, his usual composure cracking.
His eyes widened in genuine alarm. "Whoa! Hey! Hey hey hey!" He held his hands up, palms out.
"Da Pang! You’re an adult! A grown cultivator, for heaven’s sake! Control yourself! Haha!"
His laugh was a mixture of flustered embarrassnt and fond exasperation.
He gently, but firmly, pushed against Xiao Pei’s advancing, sobbing bulk. "Go! Go to Aunt Jingyi! Before you drown us both! Go on, shoo! Haha!"
He gave Xiao Pei a final, slightly desperate nudge towards the path leading deeper into the estate, relief mingling with amusent on his face as he watched his round, weeping brother waddle away, still hiccuping apologies into his sleeve.
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