CH 69

Chapter 69: Dog Tag (IV)

"Speak." Xuanmin still stood with his back to Xue Xian, and his words were as simple and direct as always.

The soldier seemed not to have expected them to agree so readily, or perhaps he was simply confused. He paused for a while, then said, "Could I... could I please trouble the two of you to bring me to my home?"

Stunned, Xue Xian peered out from behind Xuanmin and asked, "Your home?"

"Yes." The soldier nodded and slowly explained, "Earlier, I heard you mention Dustpan Mountain. My home happens to be on the sunny side of Dustpan Mountain –– a small village at its foot."

That really wasn't very far at all: all they had to do was leave the hollow and go around the mountain.

But...

Didn't you just say that, as soon as you became conscious, you heard us say we wanted to leave?! But now it's changed! When did you hear us say Dustpan Mountain? When did you become conscious? Xue Xian screamed in his head. He'd wanted to scream it out loud, but had decided that it was best to keep as straight an expression as possible. He straightened his back and no longer wanted to peek out at the spirit anymore.

"My parents and wife are still there. I thought... if you could bring my dog tag to them, they can at least have some closure," the man was saying. Thankfully, he was in a melancholy mood and did not notice Xue Xian's reaction to his previous words. He concentrated on speaking to Xuanmin, telling the story of how and when he'd come to join the military, and how many years it had been since he'd been home. He rambled, but it was not the irritating kind of rambling.

Xue Xian pressed his hands against the table, listening, initially, to everything the spirit was saying, but soon, with his eyes fixed on Xuanmin's back, he began to zone out again.

Then he suddenly realised that this was the first time he was studying Xuanmin's back in this way.

Before, he had still been a paper man and was always hanging off the side of Xuanmin's hip. All Xuanmin could see of him was the top of his head, and when he looked up, he mainly saw the bottom of Xuanmin's chin. Then, he'd become a golden marble and had had far less opportunities even to peek his head out of the pouch. Then he'd gotten his original body back, but he had been either a tiny creature coiled around Xuanmin's wrist or an enormous, mountain-sized beast coiled in turn around Xuanmin. And even when he was human, he was usually carried in Xuanmin's arms, and had often covered his face with a black cloth. And after he'd gotten a wheelchair and become able to go around by himself, he'd always insisted on being at the front of the group...

All in all, as he looked back now, he always regarded Xuanmin from all sorts of odd angles, and never so normally as now. Indeed, it was instead his back that Xuanmin often saw.

He had to admit, this was an excellent angle: no matter how uncontrolled the expression in one's eyes was, the other person would never be able to see, which meant one did not have to worry about awkwardness.

Xuanmin's shoulders were very wide, and, beneath that thin white robe, they appeared sturdy and muscular. He was even taller than Xue Xian had assumed: he was able to completely block someone behind him and inhibit their entire line of sight.    

A back like this gave Xue Xian the strange urge to get closer.

Xue Xian's hands on the table twitched, but before he could raise them, he heard the soldier finish his story and say to Xuanmin, "I beg you to allow me this final request. When I return to the earth, I will become your servant––"

"No need," Xuanmin said coolly, interrupting the man. "You have not yet entered the resurrection cycle, and mustn't speak nonsense."

The soldier thought that Xuanmin had denied him. He became panic-stricken and began to blubber.

Xuanmin said, "We will tidy up here, and then bring you back."

The soldier thanked him profusely.

Xue Xian placed his hands back onto the table. Because there was nothing awkward between them when he was only staring at Xuanmin's back, some of that unease from before had also diluted. He asked, "You're just taking that one book?"

"No need. I've memorised the contents." Xuanmin glanced at him, then suddenly turned around and walked over. "It's almost 3am. By the time we take this soldier back to his home, it will be sunrise."

Now that they were face to face, that stupidity that had riddled Xue Xian earlier began to return.

Xuanmin avoided meeting his eyes. As he reached out to take Xue Xian into his arms again, Xue Xian even automatically complied, although his entire body had become tense and as stiff as a board. 

But as soon as he came into contact with Xuanmin's robe, he suddenly realised: "My legs have healed."

As he said this, he'd abruptly raised his head, and now there was a thud as he bumped into Xuanmin's chin.

Xue Xian hissed unhappily, and before he could do anything else, a hand came down onto the part of his head that had been bumped, and its thumb even gently rubbed that spot.

"A dragon's head isn't so easily cracked. I was hissing for you." After the nonsense that had occurred before, now was the aftermath: every slight touch from Xuanmin was now impossible to ignore. Xue Xian did not move his tense neck, and he allowed Xuanmin to pat his head a little longer before he stiffly said, "Did you bite your tongue?"

"It's fine," Xuanmin replied. He lifted his hand and stepped away, his gaze falling on Xue Xian's legs swinging down from the edge of the table. "Did you say your legs had healed?"

Xue Xian nodded. "Earlier, you gave me your copper coin pendant for me to heal with. At some point in the evening, when I came to, I had actually successfully healed them, but I didn't... get the chance to say..."

Damn his reckless mouth. Before he'd realised what he was saying, he'd already given most of it away, so had had no choice but to finish his sentence.

Didn't get the chance to say...

And why hadn't he had the chance to say? Because the night had taken an indecent turn.

You really know exactly the right thing to say, don't you? thought Xue Xian.

He looked away and casually said, "So basically, first of all, my legs are fine now, and second of all, I'm going to shut up now. So there." He pursed his lips tightly, as though he wished he could simply rip off his entire mouth.

Xuanmin hummed in agreement, signalling that he had heard him.

Before that weird atmosphere could rise back up again, Xuanmin was already walking back toward the praying mat and putting the books he'd flipped back onto the bookcase.

Xue Xian stole a glance at him, then quickly looked away. He gritted his teeth and pressed his hands against the table, then tried to move his legs. 

He could move them!

Of course he could move... he'd already moved earlier, when he had pulled Xuanmin's body between his knees.

As Xue Xian cursed himself, he brought his feet down to the ground and pushed himself up from the table.

Obviously, a pair of legs that had spent half a year completely paralysed and that could now move a little could not necessarily hold up the entire weight of a person. 

Xue Xian's knees immediately buckled and he almost crumpled to the ground in a most humiliating manner. But as he fell, one hand instantly shot out to grip his wrist. The hand's palm faced up so that it steadily supported his weight. The grip was strong and firm, and held him so tightly that the knuckles on the back of the hand protruded in smooth curves. 

"Weren't you tidying the books?" Xue Xian said, shocked. "Do you have eyes on the back of your head now?"

Xuanmin did not answer that question at all. Instead, he frowned and said, "How could you fall?"

"I could fly into the sky fine. Why are there so many obstacles to walking on the ground?" Xue Xian muttered unhappily.

As he leaned against Xuanmin, he tried to direct more energy into his legs. Those legs, which had not felt anything for six months, now slowly began to feel a tingling numbness, like countless fine needles had been stuck into each and every one of his pores.

It was a highly uncomfortable feeling, but Xue Xian was overjoyed. Because as the prickling feeling gradually disappeared, those legs that had slumbered for so long were now truly awake.

"I can walk again," Xue Xian said to Xuanmin, looking both amazed and at a loss.

He used Xuanmin's hand as a support to lift each of his legs and twist his ankles, removing the last of the numbness. Then, he tried to take a step.

"I really can walk again." As Xue Xian spoke, he sounded as though he were in a dream –– part of him could barely believe it, as though he had been gifted something extraordinary.

A divine dragon who was naturally arrogant and stubborn, who was used to flying high into the sky to frolic among storm clouds, was now utterly taken aback by something so small and simple –– it really was rather unbelievable.

As he raised his head to look back at Xuanmin, he saw that, for some reason, Xuanmin's gaze had long shifted look into his face.

"What's wrong with my face?" Xue Xian demanded. As he dragged himself out of that state of wonder, he touched his face. "Do I look stupid right now? If someone had broken your legs and made them paralysed for half a year, your reaction would probably be even worse than mine..." he said, half in self-deprecation, half in mocking. 

As Xuanmin realised that Xue Xian had noticed, he slowly moved his gaze away again. "Take a few more steps," he said. "I'll support you."

Xue Xian was so invested in the joy of getting his legs back that he did not notice that rare layer of warmth in Xuanmin's tone.

It was clear now that the dragon's physicality was indeed different from humans'. Those legs that hadn't moved for half a year needed only a few more steps to regain some more strength, and soon began to move as though they had never been paralysed at all. Only Xue Xian himself knew that, inside his body, there were still bones missing, and that this had all been thanks to the golden threads drawn out by Xuanmin's pendant.

But those threads were ultimately still prosthetics, and would not last very long. If he wanted to fully heal, he still needed to find those missing vertebrae...

So what? At least now he could walk, and he could run. Just this small fact made Xue Xian happy. This feeling, as though he had finally been relieved of an impossibly heavy load, was enough to bury all other emotions.    

He had even forgotten all about the awkwardness. Steadily, he walked up the stairs and returned outside, where he pointed at the wheelchair and jutted his chin out at Xuanmin, saying, "I'll gift this to you. Perhaps in fifty years you'll need it."

Xuanmin sighed. If he continued to let the beast roam all about the room with nowhere to expend his newfound energy, Xue Xian was bound to start saying even more absurd things. Xuanmin did not delay: he brought the dazed soldier's spirit with him and walked out of the mountain hollow with Xue Xian.

The two were not afraid of the poisonous fog, and the soldier was not even human, so naturally was not afraid either.

So they were out of Dustpan Mountain in no time. They followed the foot of the mountain and headed toward the village on the south side.

Although the mountain hollow was covered in fog, the other side was in fact clean and clear. On that rare night without any rain nor snow, a curved sliver of silver moon hung above the mountain peak and cast a white glow all across the land. 

When Xue Xian walked, his steps were subtle and steady, neither hurried nor too slow, and made no noise at all. It was highly different from his usual troublesome personality, and in fact far more similar to Xuanmin's.

As they walked along the mountain road, that thin white robe of his rippled lightly in the breeze and sometime glided over the long grass growing in the soil. Half of his lanky silhouette was outlined by the white light of the moon, and the other half was, like his robe, submerged in the inky darkness of the night.

As he walked alongside Xuanmin, they were one white, one black, and both looked ghostly. The soldier felt a sense of unease at the sight.

By the time they arrived at the village gate, half of the villagers had already stirred awake and the soft din of a crowd could be heard beyond.

They had a hungry ghost with them, and, although he was a frail, wispy thing of a ghost, they were still bound to scare the villagers. So before they entered the village, in order to avoid unnecessary hassle and delay them further, Xue Xian cast a spell on the three of them so that no person or animal could see nor hear them. They were hidden.

"Where's your house?" Xue Xian asked.

The soldier pointed a finger ahead. "If we follow this street, there is a pond over there, and we can follow it around. My house is behind it." 

"Let's go, then," Xue Xian said –– but suddenly he heard a gloomy sighing noise somewhere close by.

That sudden sigh was highly startling, especially in contrast to the peaceful streets of the village.

Next, someone in the village screamed, bringing more shouts and murmurs along with it as people rushed over. Amid the chaos, someone's dog also began to bark furiously, and was quickly joined by a chorus of other dogs.

Yet, that melancholy sigh was not at all unfamiliar to Xue Xian.

He looked up and scoffed. "You really know how to pick a time."