Chapter Text
You would doom Moling Su?
Jin Guangyao beheld the sect leader, mask of a smile covering his inability to respond. Was it a lie, was this all some ploy to see how deep his despair ran? Was Su Minshan capable of something so cruel?
“You’re bluffing.”
Su Minshan sneered, “I’m not like him.” Like Lan Xichen, he meant.
He wasn’t like Lan Xichen. He wasn’t slumped in a corner, shunning Guangyao’s presence. Su Minshan didn’t need his cultivation sealed; Guangyao never doubted the man until after he did what Lan Xichen never would.
Betray his sect.
Burned what could not be repaired.
Risk everything for the chance to help Guangyao live.
He felt foolish, erring so soon. Su Minshan never deserved the scrutiny Guangyao gave to others; there was no imbalance between the two, no clause that would ruin whatever bond they shared.
It was two notes, less than a handful of seconds. He could never be sure if Xichen clenched his jaw in frustration or if sealing one’s cultivation somehow fringed the nerves; Lan Xichen refused to speak whenever Jin Guangyao renewed the spell.
No matter how sincere Guangyao’s concern was, Xichen’s efforts always ended on the same two notes. It was no wonder the words I believe in you, A-Yao made the Jin feel cheated; Xichen didn’t believe in him, no matter how much he wished to.