Chapter Text
All was well within the jurisdiction of the Five Greater Sects, each with its own domain of expertise. Qishan Wen, the greatest medical sect known to the cultivation world; Qinghe Nie, the military sect known for producing the greatest warlords in history; Lanling Jin, the most extravagant as it is the richest sect in existence; Yunmeng Jiang, the greatest and most resourceful sect; and Gusu Lan, the greatest disciplinary and musical sect.
Other than each of the Five Sects' renowned families, there were a lot of individuals that over time became household names due to their accomplishments or creditable invention, or simply because of how influential or affluent they were. An example of the latter was Jin Guangshan, the Sect Leader of Lanling Jin, a good-for-nothing manwhore. But he's rich.
Back to the former, these respectable cultivators were namely: the longest surviving ex-student of Baoshan Sanren, Cangse Sanren; the brutish warlord, Sect Leader Nie Huifan of Qinghe Nie; the "Violet Spider", Yu Ziyuan infamous for striking fear just at the mention of her name; the rogue cultivator, Huang Ju, "The Poisonous Beauty" of Gusu; Wen Rou, a miracle medic known for bringing back those near death, thus her nickname, "The Ghost Doctor"; the distant Sect Leader of Gusu Lan, praised to be a heavenly immortal descended on earth, Lan Juanru; the Sect Leader of Yiling Wei (a small yet significant sect in the Yunmeng Region), Wei Changze, known for his innovation; and other such incredible characters that may take the whole day to list.
Now the Cultivation World watch the next generation of these notable Lords and Ladies, as they slowly take shape and become their own fame.
Then it was that time of the year for the gathering of the five great sects, the Annual Night-Hunt Competition which was hosted by one of the Great Sects every year for five days.
On the first and second days, the youths from every sect and clan between the ages of fifteen to twenty were required to participate in the Night-Hunt while the others looked on and waited for their juniors' or seniors' winnings.
On the last three days, all Cultivators above the age of fifteen were to join and have as much fun with the event.
However, for the seven-year-old Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng, this was simply unfair, how long were they supposed to wait until they could join the night-hunts?
"It was like this last year too!" Wei Ying whined.
"And the other year." Jiang Cheng agreed.
"It's alright, A'Cheng, A'Ying, you only have eight years left." Jiang Yanli soothed them, but this seemed to make it worse.
"What a bunch of babies! You're all so impatient, you should watch and learn to prepare for the future instead of crying about it!" The First Young Master of Lanling Jin, Jin Zixuan piped up.
"Shut up!" The two friends barked at him.
"Jin-gongzi." Yanli was simply a contrast to her little brothers.
The Young Master Jin could do nothing but harrumph and avert his eyes from Jiang Yanli's friendly greeting.
The fact they were engaged even before they were born was well known to all of the Greater Five Sects, while Jiang Yanli was the sweetest soul, the Young Master Jin was certainly not pleased knowing his life was already promised to another before he even knew how to decide for himself.
And despite being three years apart, their mothers didn't seem to think it was that much of a big deal.
"What are you looking at, old lady?" The young master barked harmlessly.
The recently turned ten-year-old, Jiang Yanli only giggled at his childish comment, however, her younger brother and sworn brother didn't share the same sentiments.
"Take that back, tiny peacock!" Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng yelled.
Having been scared off, the boy scoffed and scurried off elsewhere.
"Look A'Cheng, A'Ying." Yanli beckoned the two, trying to distract them. "It's Young Master Nie, he's famous for his progress in his saber and is only eleven, he's also yet to participate in the game. I'm sure just like you, he also wants to join."
"Really?" Jiang Cheng looked on, the said young master stood tall for his age, he had a fresh face and sleek hair, donning robes and trousers in the colours of the Qinghe Nie Sect.
He appeared ready to join the hunt, but as Yanli said, he was still under the age of requirement thus he was here "playing" with kids his age.
Beside the young master was another slightly tall individual, wearing pure white robes covered in the insignia of flowing clouds from the Lan Sect, his hair was swept out of his face in a high ponytail, as a thin white ribbon tied around his forehead. His long lashes lay softly on his pale cheeks as he smiled so youthfully that it made even the most mature of adults envy him.
"He's pretty." Wei Ying voiced out the thought Jiang Cheng had ever since he laid eyes on the angelic youth.
"Don't point, A'Ying," Yanli gently place his arm down. "Haven't you met him before? That's Young Master Lan, we must address him properly."
"Yes, shijie. But Lan Zhan is prettier." Wei Ying said as Jiang Cheng looked down.
Yanli giggled.
Suddenly the younger boy ran.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Wei Ying yelled after him.
"A'Cheng?" Yanli called out in alarm.
But the boy was gone before anyone could stop him, when news reached his parents, there was only one thing Yu Ziyuan could say.
"That troublesome boy! If he gets devoured by a stray beast, whose fault would it be? So reckless, Fengmian, send out a search party!"
Albeit her harsh words, she was genuinely concerned about her son's wellbeing.
However, the very boy they were looking for, thought he had only hidden around the outskirts of the forest clearing, clueless to the fact that he was lost from the trail itself.
He sobbed and slowly came to a stop by a tree trunk, sitting on one of its protruding roots.
As a string of hiccups and wails died down, he finally realized how far he'd gotten into the forest.
"Jiejie? Ying-ge?" Jiang Cheng called out hesitantly, scared of acknowledging that he had actually gone and got himself lost. "Jiejie! 'Niang… waaah!"
He cried again.
Then he heard a gentle rustle of leaves on the ground, causing him to flinch and grab a loose bark on the base of the tree.
He cried even louder when he saw the outline of a shadow approaching, he squeezed his eyes shut out of fear.
However, the big scary monster he'd been expecting never came as he heard a kind voice speak, "Sorry… did I scare you?"
He looked up and saw a handsome boy a little older than him, then he realized that he had seen this person before.
"My apologies, I didn't mean to frighten you. You were crying so much, I thought it was better if you let it all out." He gave the teary boy an angelic smile.
It was Young Master Lan. Jiang Cheng couldn't understand why Wei Ying always compared the two brothers and end up deciding the other Lan brother was more beautiful, he thought that when he'd finally meet them both, then he'd understand.
But the one present before him was pretty as well.
"Lan-gongzi…" The snotty little boy attempted to greet him politely.
"No, it's okay," He knelt by Jiang Cheng's side, noticing how shaky he was. "Here, sit back down. Can you tell me your name?"
Of course, he knew the child's name, but he was trying to make small talk to calm him down.
"My name is Jiang Cheng." The younger pouted. "I'm from the Jiang Family of Yunmeng, the Cheng is of chengyuan (clear, deep water)."
Young Master Lan grinned at him, he could only think of how adorable the child was. "Ah, I see. What a nice name, mine is Lan Huan."
"What does it mean?" Jiang Cheng sniffed.
Lan Huan chuckled again, "It's not as interesting as yours."
"Why not?"
"The character of his Huan means 'to dissipate'." Another voice interjects, startling Jiang Cheng.
It was the Young Master Nie that was beside Lan Huan just earlier, they seemed to have followed him into the forest together.
"Sorry, if you didn't notice but I've been here the whole time too." Young Master Nie said flatly.
Lan Huan only smiled.
"Um…"
"Yes?" Lan Huan turned to the Jiang boy who was slowly calming down.
"…your name, is interesting too." Jiang Cheng mustered.
Lan Huan paused, before beaming at the boy, "Why thank you.
Now tell me, why would such a nice young master cry all alone in a forest like this?"
Jiang Cheng sniffed.
"I, um… wanted to join the competition."
"Oh? Well, I'm sure you will soon enough." Lan Huan comforted him.
"I'm seven!" Jiang Cheng held up exactly four and three fingers with both hands, "My jiejie said I still need to wait for eight more years."
"How about this? If you're patient, wait for eight years and you'll receive a gift from gege, alright?" Lan Huan bargained softly.
After a moment, the younger seemed to be considering this, then he nodded.
"Gege won't forget?" Jiang Cheng had already gotten fond of the eldest young master of the Lan Sect.
"Mn, gege won't forget." Lan Huan promised.
"A'Huan, we're not alone." Young Master Nie suddenly warned.
Lan Huan stood up, keeping a protective hand on the Jiang boy while he surveyed the area.
"You did bring your talismans, right?" Young Master Nie asked.
"Yes," Lan Huan responded dutifully. "I'll set the flare off now."
Just as he cast a flare talisman into the sky, something jumped to attack him, however, Young Master Nie was fast enough that there was only a thin cut on his sleeve, it ripped the white fabric to reveal a red line on his forearm.
"Huan-gege!" Jiang Cheng gripped his uninjured arm.
"It's okay." Lan Huan reassured, "Jun-ge, are you okay?"
"I snuck a sword with us, don't tell on me, it saved our lives." Young Master Nie blocked the ghost with the flat of the blade as it tried to claw its way toward the nearest flesh.
As sunset approached, the sounds of footsteps coming close compelled Young Master Nie to drop his sword and kick it away from sight.
"Gongzi!"
"Jiang-gongzi!"
A group of Lan and Jiang Sect disciples rushed toward them, and a few others from the other sects followed.
The Jiang disciples were quick toward their young master as the rest dealt with the ghost.
A Wen Disciple went to help Young Master Lan with his cut while Jiang Cheng was being dragged away to return to his parents, always looking back at Lan Huan worriedly.
"Lan-gongzi will be fine, it's just a small cut." They reassured him.
However, when they returned to the main tent set up for the Jiang Sect, Yu Ziyuan was already berating the boy.
"What? The Lan's Young Master was injured?" She was now even more displeased, "Hear that? If you hadn't gone off and ran away, Lan-gongzi wouldn't have gotten hurt! If not for the Young Masters, no one would've found you and who knew what would happen? If it wasn't dust left of you, it'd be a mangled body or a loose mind!"
The little Young Master of Yunmeng Jiang could only keep looking down at his feet as he truly felt guilty about the incident, and soon into the evening, he asked his sister to accompany him to see how the Lan's Young Master was doing.
"Alright, A'Ying already went to Auntie Wei so it'll just be the two of us."
As they neared Lan Huan's tent, Jiang Cheng hesitated, then they heard a voice.
"Xiongzhang, are you sure you aren't in pain?" The child sounded somehow soft yet indifferent.
But the voice that responded to him was not at all offended, "Of course so do not worry, it's too small of a thing to worry about." He said as he waved his wounded arm dismissively.
"Why did he run into the forest?" The younger inquired.
"Ah, it was because he was frustrated, he wished to join the competition." Lan Huan said with such a kind voice that made Jiang Cheng feel bad for lying to him.
Jiang Cheng had lied, he didn't want to seem childish or odd. But in truth he ran to hide himself crying, crying about the prettiest boy he's ever seen, crying about how perfect the boy was, crying how he may never even be considered his equal, crying because his first love came to him too early.
Jiang Cheng shrunk back, and Yanli looked at him in concern.
"Has he come to apologize yet?" The younger voice asked.
"It's fine, he doesn't need to." Lan Huan spoke benignly.
This was the last straw for little Jiang Cheng, he began pleading with his sister to go back to their tent in hushed tones and feeling bad, Yanli complied.
The two returned and went to their separate tents, Yanli as the Young Miss of Yunmeng Jiang, had her own tent while Jiang Cheng settled with sharing one with his best friend.
Wei Ying was fumbling with empty paper talismans when the younger boy arrived with a sullen expression.
Noticing the other's presence, Wei Ying jumped, "Who bullied you? Tell me, what did they do so bad that you ran crying?"
"No one." Jiang Cheng replied blandly.
"'Niang said Lan-gongzi and Nie-gongzi found you." Wei Ying frowned, "How did they find you?"
"I don't know," Jiang Cheng replied emptily.
Seeing his mood, Wei Ying changed his strategy. "Did you know I met the pretty Lan again!"
At this, Jiang Cheng's head snapped toward him.
Wei Ying's chest swelled proudly thinking he finally got his shidi's attention, "He doesn't come out often but I finally saw him today, his golden eyes are still the prettiest! Although he's kind of mean, isn't he? Doesn't matter, he's too pretty to be bad!"
Jiang Cheng shrunk again, Lan Huan didn't have golden eyes, and he wasn't mean, he must be talking about that Lan Zhan again.
Wei Ying had already met the Lan Brothers when he was five, that was when he decided that the Lan with golden eyes was the only one he'd ever call pretty other than his shijie and a'niang.
They hadn't met for two years, not even on the previous Annual Night-Hunts as the youngest Lan was simply never seen outside, but Wei Ying had retained his little obsession with the other's golden eyes, chubby snow-white cheeks and long raven hair that looked smoother than any surface of water.
"How can a seven-year-old be so strict with himself? So young and so frigid." Wei Ying complained. "I think even when we were five, he was already like that."
"He's older than you, you know." Jiang Cheng smiled, trying not to let out a laugh.
"Those are unnecessary details, it's just months, what's the difference?"
"I'm younger than you by a few months, you make a pretty big deal about it!" Jiang Cheng finally breaks from his gloomy shell.
"That's different." Wei Ying jokingly dismissed.
"Wei Wuxian!"
"You can't use that name yet!" Wei Ying was already creeping away from his few months younger shidi. "Wait until we're of age, then you can yell at me with it."
"You!"
The two children ran around inside their tent, trying to make as little noise as possible with their gleeful laughter.