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Living on the streets involved more running for your life than Wei Ying would have thought. Well, to be fair, Wei Ying hadn’t thought much about what being a homeless orphan would have entailed in general while his parents were still alive.
But Wei Ying’s parents weren’t alive anymore.
It had taken the poor child a while to realize this, back when it had only been a few days since he had last seen them and the denial was still possible-- but Wei Ying could now be certain that his mother and father were never coming back.
If Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze were still alive, Wei Ying would not be running from slave traders.
“Fuck , how’d he slip out like that?”
“I told you the cuffs were too big!”
“Would you two shut up and help me catch the kid?!”
As it turns out, not only is there a good amount of running in orphan life, but running is also insanely painful when your throat is dry, your stomach empty, and your skin covered in bruises.
The shouting continued behind him, but Wei Ying ignored it in favor of gasping down painful breaths of cold air and desperately tried to map out the city streets in his head with each turn he made. Wei Ying had been on the streets of Yiling for what he was pretty sure was a few years now, and he silently hoped that his knowledge of the back alleys would be enough for him to shake his pursuers.
This wasn’t his first time encountering these sort of men, though this was the first time he had been really caught like that. Wei Ying was just grateful these ones didn’t bring hunting dogs.
Wei Ying could hear the men shouting threats and curses at him-- threats that didn’t use to mean much to him when he was younger, but now drove a spike of fear down his spine. Wei Ying was old enough to understand the cruel future the men were promising him.
Fear hadn’t totally taken hold of Wei Ying’s heart, however, until he turned a corner to find his path blocked by a pile of rotting wood that had collapsed into the street from the building above. Unfortunately, a common sight in Yiling. The buildings were old and no one had the money to fix them, and it seemed that the resentful energy that flooded the city rotted wood ten times faster than damp air. Locals were used to completely altering their routes every once in a while to avoid fallen buildings like these.
But Wei Ying couldn’t exactly alter his route right now, could he?
Shit, fuck, shit! The wood was not much more than a pile of rotted splinters and Wei Ying wasn’t confident that he could find a hole to crawl through it in a timely manner. Panic finally began to seize his chest, but a sliver of shadow caught his eye.
It was a narrow alleyway, one that Wei Ying had not yet explored. It was unfamiliar and Wei Ying didn’t know where it would lead, but the echoing sound of thumping footsteps and angry voices behind him pushed Wei Ying’s body into action before he had much of a chance to question his decision.
Wei Ying darted into the unknown alleyway and the world went dark around him. The walls stretched high up and shadows enveloped him, but Wei Ying had gotten used to fumbling around in the dark and continued forward without a second thought.
The shouting didn’t stop, though Wei Ying took comfort in the fact that the men seemed confused and weren’t approaching his location. They would probably notice his new hiding spot soon, though, so he couldn’t afford to stand around.
After only a few moments of blind fumbling, Wei Ying emerged back into the light-- his relief instantly turning to dismay.
It was a dead end.
The alley had opened into a small courtyard, occupied only by a garden of weeds and a small shack-like building that did not look as if it belonged in the middle of a city. The dilapidated building didn’t look big or fancy, and seeing as it was only accessible via a small alleyway Wei Ying guessed it didn’t see many visitors.
Wei Ying hesitated, considering doubling back and risking the debris pile after all, but the men’s shouts could be heard at just the other end of the alleyway, “Oi, there’s an alley here!”
Out of time and out of options, Wei Ying wasn’t thinking as he ran into the shack. Any hopes of there being a secret escape route or even a good place to hide were dashed immediately. The inside of the building wasn’t much better than outside, weeds having grown in through the gaps in the floorboards and the ground littered with scratches and animal feces.
The only thing to note in the sad little room was a single low table-- too small to hide behind-- adorned simply with a small wooden tablet and a rusty incense burner.
This was a temple, Wei Ying realized with a start. Or at least some approximation of one.
It made sense now to Wei Ying why this odd building would be placed in such a strange spot, and why it seemed abandoned. Yiling cared little for gods and deities, as the gods seemed to care little for Yiling.
Wei Ying wasn’t well versed in the history of his city, but he at least understood that Yiling was not a city that was appealing to outsiders. Under the shadow of the cursed Burial Mounds, Yiling was saturated in resentful energy and therefore saw little love from neither the cultivation world nor the heavens.
It seemed that after generations of prayers having gone unanswered, Yiling collectively gave up. Wei Ying’s generation didn’t see many temples, most having been abandoned and destroyed by tired and angry humans. These days, the only temples that stood were either held up by what few believers still existed in the city, or were simply lucky enough to be forgotten.
Wei Ying hypothesized that this temple fell into both categories. While it had clearly sat abandoned for years, it seemed to have been handmade. Someone had clearly cared enough about this god to not only build a temple for them, but to build it in such an isolated location that no one would bother to come tear it down.
Despite his precarious situation and the fear and adrenaline still coursing through his veins, Wei Ying took a moment to be awed by the small temple. Wei Ying had never seen a temple up close in Yiling, let alone been inside one. The only reason he even knew that temples had tablets and incense burners was from listening to the stories of gossiping old ladies and travelers.
Wei Ying hadn’t intended to take the time to read the tablet, but as his eyes ran over the engraved name he instinctively took in the characters.
Taizi Dianxia. Hua Guan Wu Shen.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Flower Crown Martial God.
Was this how gods were typically named?
Wei Ying suddenly remembered himself and his situation as shouts grew closer. Any awe or levity that came upon him in the temple was instantly drowned in fear. The slave traders were approaching, and Wei Ying had nowhere to hide and nowhere to run.
Wei Ying’s small head whipped around, not finding any secrets that may have eluded his initial once-over and confirming that this was truly an empty, useless room.
Moments before the men exited the dark alleyway and stepped into the courtyard, Wei Ying threw himself into the corner next to the door. Even with his arms and legs huddled against his body in a tight ball and with the shadows falling against his face, Wei Ying knew it would make no difference. Light poured into the small temple through the door and through the millions of cracks littering the wooden walls.
It would take a single glance in his direction and Wei Ying would be caught.
Taizi Dianxia , Wei Ying whispered silently in his head, heavy footsteps growing closer and closer, I’m sorry for intruding in your home. I know it’s useless to ask, but please, please don’t let those men see me.
A large, brown boot set down heavily in the doorway and a man’s shadow covered the floor of the tiny temple.
Taizi Dianxia, please hide me.
The full form of the man stepped into the room. Wei Ying recognized him as the one that had grabbed him in the first place, the one who had had his arms around Wei Ying’s tiny, thin neck. It took every ounce of the boy’s self-control to not let out a whimper.
The man’s head turned, starting in the corner on the other side of the door from Wei Ying, and moved in a steady half circle around the room. It felt like both an eternity and less than an instant for the man’s gaze to finally fall on Wei Ying’s spot on the floor.
Wei Ying froze, every muscle in his body stiff with fear. He had run from many slave traders over the years, but had never been backed into a literal corner like this. The tall, stocky man took up most of the doorframe, and even if Wei Ying managed to squeeze past his legs without getting caught he would still have another two men outside to deal with.
Fighting was the only option left, but it wasn’t exactly a good option. Wei Ying could take care of himself when he needed to, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could take on three grown men with his tiny, malnourished body.
‘There’s nothing to use as a weapon in this room ,’ Wei Ying’s thoughts flew by in a whirlwind, ‘ A punch or kick from me wouldn’t do much damage unless I land a good hit on his face or balls. I just need him out of the doorway.’
Mind reeling, muscles coiled and jaw ready to snap at any approaching limbs, Wei Ying waited for the man to make his move.
But the man didn’t make a move.
Rather than satisfaction, recognition, or rage Wei Ying expected to flash onto the man’s face, all he saw was furrowed brows and frustration.
His eyes were trained onto Wei Ying’s corner, but his gaze looked past him. Looked through him. The man didn’t see Wei Ying.
“Fucking kid’s not in here!”
The man turned away from Wei Ying without hesitation, scowling as he gave the room another cursory glance. His eyes roved over where Wei Ying sat for a second time, but once again seemed to pay him no mind.
“What do you mean he’s not in there? Where the fuck did he go?!”
Spinning on his heels and not sparing another glance for Wei Ying, the man angrily stormed out of the temple, “Why don’t you tell me ? You said he came down this way!”
“I didn’t say that! I just said I found an alleyway--”
“Then why the fuck did we come down here?!”
Wei Ying couldn’t see the men, but their shouts rang clear throughout the courtyard. Shouts that were getting further and further away. They were leaving, Wei Ying realized in muted shock. They hadn’t seen him and they were leaving.
“It was a dead-end, there was nowhere else for him to go!”
“Well, clearly there was somewhere else because he isn’t here !”
The third man finally intervened, “He must have gotten past the debris somehow. Shit, who knows how far he’s gotten.”
The yelling faded into the small alleyway and after only a few more moments, Wei Ying couldn’t hear them anymore. They were gone.
Wei Ying truly couldn’t believe it.
The man’s eyes had been right on him . Twice! There’s no way the shadows of the temple’s corners would have been enough to hide him from view.
‘Did he let me go on purpose?’ Wei Ying’s thoughts raced, relief flooding his bloodstream with a buzzing, fuzzy sensation but body still pressed into the corner, ‘No, he hadn’t even registered my presence… Was he visually impaired? How else…?’
Wei Ying’s mind shuttered to a stop as his eyes fell on the old, wooden tablet.
After waiting several minutes to be sure that this wasn’t a trap, that the men weren’t coming back, Wei Ying pushed himself up onto unsteady legs. Walking slowly up to the table, up to the tablet, Wei Ying hesitated.
Yiling was supposed to be a city without gods, a city forgotten by the heavens. And yet… how could Wei Ying deny that his prayer had been answered? What other explanation could there have been?
This god had hidden from his pursuers. Taizi Dianxia had saved him.
Standing before the tablet, Wei Ying was at a loss. What exactly did one do in a temple? Wei Ying distantly remembered something about offerings, but he had nothing to offer.
Suddenly struck with guilt at being unable to properly thank the god that had saved him, Wei Ying’s gaze drifted over to the incense burner sitting next to the tablet. Well… It’s gotta be there for a reason, right?
Wei Ying wasn’t sure how people normally lit incense in temples, but he ended up taking the time to start a small fire in the courtyard with sticks and rocks. It left his hand dirty and sore, but that was normal for him. Besides, it was probably the closest he would get to being able to offer something to Taizi Dianxia.
Wei Ying carefully lit an incense stick, making sure to snuff out his little fire, and brought it back inside to sit in the little metal pot thing. It smelled weird and made his nose itch, but Wei Ying ignored it. He had smelled worse.
Unsure of the proper procedure for temple worshiping, Wei Ying sat hesitantly on his knees in front of the tablet.
“I… Thank you, Taizi Dianxia,” Wei Ying felt odd, speaking to a wooden slab, but didn’t let that deter him from showing his gratitude, “Even though I intruded in your home, you saved me. Thank you.”
After a moment's consideration, Wei Ying bowed down to the floor, figuring that there was probably a lot of bowing in prayer, “I’m sorry I don’t know how to properly, uh, pray I guess, but...”
“I hope you hear my thanks, Taizi Dianxia.”
For the next couple of weeks, Wei Ying found himself returning to the little shrine. He didn’t burn any more incense, seeing as the decrepit pot only held so much, but he hoped that the god at least appreciated a ‘hi’ every once in a while.
On especially snowy days, or days when it was particularly hard to sleep on the cold ground, Wei Ying found himself tempted to use the old temple as a shelter. But he never could. It felt rude to sleep in someone else’s home, even if no one else really lived there.
Taizi Dianxia had already saved him from slavery, Wei Ying didn’t want to ask for anything else.
On the days when he would stop by and say hi to Taizi Dianxia, he sometimes found himself holding one-sided conversations with the silent tablet. It was mostly small talk, letting the god know of interesting things happening around Yiling. Wei Ying figured that if Taizi Dianxia was a god still willing to answer prayers in Yiling, then he might want to know about the goings-ons of the people.
Wei Ying admittedly doubted that Taizi Dianxia cared about how new stalls were opening up on the street where Wei Ying had been sleeping recently, or how the nice old lady that taught him to whistle was getting a new grandchild soon. It felt nice, though, to tell someone. Even if he was unsure if Taizi Dianxia was listening.
It was into his fourth week of visiting the temple that Wei Ying brought any sort of interesting news.
“Apparently some important Sect leader is visiting this week, Taizi Dianxia,” Wei Ying had long since forgone the stiff kneeling posture he had first adopted (deciding that Taizi Dianxia was probably too nice and cool to care how Wei Ying sat), and rather rested his arms and head on the table while he spoke, “Everyone’s freaking out, cause Sect leaders never come here. Cultivators hate us. Gods are supposed to hate us, too, but you seem nice.”
Wei Ying told Taizi Dianxia about the Jaing Sect, how their Sect leader was looking for something. He told Taizi Dianxia that everyone was either afraid or excited, afraid that the Sect leader would bring with him the wrath and fury of the righteous cultivation world and excited that maybe, for once, the cultivation world was sending help .
Wei Ying told Taizi Dianxia that he, personally, didn’t think much would come of it. Cultivators didn’t care about Yiling. The Jiang Sect would probably find what they were looking for and leave-- or not find what they were looking for and leave anyway.
That night, Wei Ying left the temple with a sweet and cheerful goodbye.
The next day, Jiang Fengmian found what he was looking for, having been pointed down a particular alleyway by a helpful stranger in white.