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Li Xiangyi had very high expectations for his soulmate.
His soulmate would be brilliant in martial arts, of course. Benevolent. Righteous. Important. And of course, very good-looking.
The characters of his soulmark appeared on his skin when he was 5 or so, not long after his shifu rescued him from the streets. When he first heard the name Di Feisheng spoken out loud at the age of 14, connected with the emergence of the devil cult called the Jinyuan alliance, Li Xiangyi doubted that it could be the right Di Feisheng. He was supposedly brilliant at martial arts, and he was certainly important, but he didn't seem to share any of the other values Li Xiangyi held so dearly.
Anyway, although Di wasn't exactly a common surname, there were lots of possible characters for fei and sheng. It didn't necessarily mean anything.
By the age of 19, Li Xiangyi had mostly forgotten about his expectations of benevolence and righteousness. There was just so much to do to bring order to the jianghu, and it was consuming every bit of Li Xiangyi's spirit. When he saw Di Feisheng write his characters for the very first time, on the peace treaty between the Jinyuan alliance and Sigu sect, Li Xiangyi stared at them for a moment before he recognized the import.
It was the same name written on the skin over Li Xiangyi's heart.
"What's wrong?" Di Feisheng wanted to know, as Li Xiangyi stared at the peace treaty with a hand on his chest, swallowing hard.
"Nothing," Li Xiangyi said quickly. He couldn't just tell Di Feisheng they were soulmates, could he? How did one say that kind of thing out loud?
He signed his own name to the treaty with a flourish, but if he expected Di Feisheng to betray any sentiments on seeing Li Xiangyi's characters, he would have been disappointed. Di Feisheng had no reaction at all.
Li Xiangyi didn't quite follow how, but everything quickly fell apart after that.
When he was 20 and battling Di Feisheng on his ship in the east sea, if Li Xiangyi missed a few optimal moves in order to tear Di Feisheng's robes down to look at his chest, Di Feisheng did not seem to understand what he was doing. He grunted and countered the moves like they were ordinary martial arts moves. And Li Xiangyi caught the barest glimpse of one of the characters on Di Feisheng's heart.
The strokes at the top of the last character of the name were not that dissimilar to yi, but it was also certainly not yi.
Li Xiangyi's heart would have stopped, but for whatever impossible reason, it kept beating.
Li Xiangyi lost the east sea battle, and lost his sect, and almost lost his life but for Monk Wuliao fishing him out of the sea and doing his best to heal him.
"I cannot totally cure the Bicha poison," Monk Wuliao explained to him. "You must seek help from your sect."
"No," Li Xiangyi said, indifferent and exhausted. He was never going back there.
"Then find your soulmate," Monk Wuliao suggested. "Dual cultivation with your soulmate is said to cure any ill."
Li Xiangyi laughed. He laughed until he choked on a mouthful of blood.
"My soulmate is the one who did this to me!" Li Xiangyi cried, spitting out the blood and gesturing wildly at the wound made by the sword thrust into his shoulder, then tracing a hand over his neck to illustrate the veins turning dark from the Bicha poison. "And have you ever heard of such a thing as non-mutual soulmates?"
Monk Wuliao looked baffled.
"My characters aren't on my soulmate's heart," Li Xiangyi said, in utter despair. "Doesn't that sound broken to you?"
"I don't think it's a thing that can break," Monk Wuliao said doubtfully, but his voice trailed off weakly at the end of this sentence.
"Forget it," Li Xiangyi said, standing up and coughing up a bit more blood. He wiped his chin off with his hand, and stared at the art on Monk Wuliao's wall. "If my current life is broken, then I need a new one."
***
Fang Duobing always knew who his soulmate was.
He had never not known. He couldn't remember a time when these characters were not written on his skin. He grew up bribing the servants to sneak him novels about the great martial arts hero Li Xiangyi, and always stayed up too late reading them. There was never, never any doubt in his mind that this Li Xiangyi was the same as the Li Xiangyi on his heart.
When he was 10, he met his soulmate for the first time. He didn't know it, at first. He was doing his best to practice his martial arts the way his uncle wanted. He didn't know who tossed him the wooden sword, promised to teach him if he learned enough moves, and walked away eating a piece of candy.
But then he looked down at the wooden sword. It was right there. Li Xiangyi. This was his soulmate's sword! His soulmate had just promised to teach him martial arts!
Fang Duobing looked up in excitement, but Li Xiangyi was gone. Fang Duobing stood up, pushing himself out of the chair, and took a step before he collapsed.
"Li Xiangyi!" he cried. "Li Xiangyi!!!"
But Li Xiangyi did not come back.
His uncle came back, and was furious about the story and the wooden sword. He tried to confiscate the sword, but Fang Duobing threw it away into the woods rather than hand it over.
When his uncle was not around, he returned to that patch of woods with a couple servants and spent days combing the area. He found the wooden sword again, and he followed Li Xiangyi's advice: he practiced with it over and over and over again.
He would not fail his soulmate.
By the time he was 12, he could walk and he could begin to practice real martial arts. The world said Li Xiangyi died, but Fang Duobing knew better. The characters over his heart hadn't faded. Li Xiangyi was still alive, somewhere out there.
Fang Duobing trained even harder, every day for the rest of his life.
When he was 20, he pretended to be Li Xiangyi's disciple to gain entrance to Baichuan court as a detective. He did not mention that he was actually Li Xiangyi's soulmate. That was between him and Li Xiangyi.
He didn't mention it to his new friend Li Lianhua, either. Although he confessed the truth about the story of the wooden sword and his certainty that Li Xiangyi was not dead, it was not the same as confessing something so personal as the characters written on your heart. Li Lianhua did not seem to care about Li Xiangyi or appreciate the importance of his story, anyway.
So Fang Duobing made a new friend, the most important friend of his life, but he held back on this small thing.
***
Di Feisheng didn't believe in soulmates.
Sure, he had characters written on the skin to the left side of his chest that had appeared when he was 12 or 13, but they didn't have any more meaning than the mole above them on his left shoulder.
He'd seen and experienced nothing that supported the concept of souls fated to be together in every lifetime. If there was anyone whose destiny was fated to be entwined with his, it was Li Xiangyi. And Li Xiangyi's characters were not written on his skin.
It had been so long since he thought about or cared for the concept of soulmates, he wouldn't have registered the characters of his soulmark as significant even if someone had spoken them out loud. The characters didn't even read like a real name, in Di Feisheng's opinion. The whole business was just not worth his time.
So Di Feisheng was not prepared for the Medicine Demon's latest creative suggestion to cure Li Lianhua's Bicha poison.
"Dual cultivation with your soulmate!" the Medicine Demon exclaimed after the snake pit failed to do anything for Li Lianhua. "It cures all ills. It wouldn't work right away, but it would stimulate his body's reaction and encourage his body to start purging the poison naturally."
"Soulmates," Di Feisheng repeated with skepticism. He had always had a high opinion of Medicine Demon's intellect and skills. Could there possibly be any truth in this?
Slumped on the ground, bleeding from all the snake bites and looking miserable, Li Lianhua was also shaking his head in an instinctual negative reaction.
"Let's look and see if we can find your soulmate," the Medicine Demon said, and he bent down to pull Li Lianhua's robes to see his chest.
Li Lianhua reacted instantly and violently, shoving the Medicine Demon away—it looked like he actually used his inner power to do so!—and clutching his robes in place over his chest protectively.
"It won't work," he spat. "It's broken."
Di Feisheng frowned. Something didn't add up about that, but he didn't want the Medicine Demon investigating it. He would look into it himself.
"It's not worth it," Di Feisheng told the Medicine Demon. "We'll try something else."
After leaving Li Lianhua, Di Feisheng found some privacy and examined the soulmark on his own chest for the first time in a very, very long time.
The characters, upside down though they were, meant something horribly familiar to him this time. It seemed to be a name he'd come to know quite well in the past month.
***
Li Lianhua's life was spiraling out of control. Just a month or so ago, he'd been a carefree physician traveling the jianghu, without anything tying him down and no one to depend on him but Hulijing.
Now he was not only involved in all sorts of complicated jianghu plots, he found himself actually caring about someone. Possibly more than one someone.
"Stop it!" he yelled as he came back to Lianhua Tower to find Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing fighting. They seemed to be fighting in earnest this time, Di Feisheng using all the considerable strength of his restored inner power. Li Lianhua grabbed Fang Duobing and steadied him before he hit the ground after one of Di Feisheng's blows.
"I'm fine," Fang Duobing said, standing up and dusting himself off. He glared at Di Feisheng.
But Di Feisheng was just standing there, rather than pressing the attack.
"What do you want now?" Li Lianhua asked Di Feisheng, exhausted and bleeding and hurting everywhere it was possible to hurt.
"I came to ask him a question, but he refused to answer."
"You came to threaten his life to get to me," Li Lianhua corrected. His indignation was rising, the kind he seldom felt anymore. In that moment, he felt like Li Xiangyi again, ready to challenge this devil for the sake of a person he cared about.
Di Feisheng did not try to refute this. He walked towards them, and stopped when he was just within arm's reach of Fang Duobing.
Fang Duobing brandished his sword angrily. "I'm ready for round two if you are!"
"Don't be absurd," Di Feisheng said. "You can't take me and now you know it."
Li Lianhua continued to give Di Feisheng an angry glare. Di Feisheng, however, was ignoring Li Lianhua. What a funny feeling—to be ignored by this person who usually made him the center of his entire focus.
"I'll ask you again," Di Feisheng said, addressing Fang Duobing. "Is your name really Fang Duobing? Are your characters really... duo bing as in diseases?"
"What's it to you?" Fang Duobing asked aggressively.
Di Feisheng didn't answer. He lifted a hand and splayed his fingers over his own chest, like he was in pain. He continued to stare at Fang Duobing, shaking his head.
Li Lianhua did not say anything, either. He did not know why the conversation was taking this turn.
"I was born sickly," Fang Duobing answered grudgingly, because of course silence was the most effective interrogation technique on him. "My parents didn't think I would live, so my milk name stuck forever."
Di Feisheng continued to stare. Then he lifted his eyes to the sky.
"This person?" he asked nobody in particular.
He stepped forward and jabbed at Fang Duobing's chest, too fast to avoid. He dragged Fang Duobing's robes down and away from his neck, revealing the characters written on his skin.
From where he was standing, Li Lianhua could see them as clearly as Di Feisheng could.
His jaw dropped.
Fang Duobing's soulmark characters were li xiang yi.
Li Lianhua cursed, rather more colorfully than usual.
Di Feisheng let go of Fang Duobing's robes.
Fang Duobing carefully tugged his robes back into place. He didn't seem remotely embarrassed. If anything, he seemed a little smug. The pampered little lord! No wonder he'd been so sure, so authoritative in his possessiveness when discussing Li Xiangyi.
Di Feisheng laughed. He had a beautiful laugh, Li Lianhua thought distantly. It was animating and lively in a way his usual manner was calculatingly, deliberately not.
Then Di Feisheng whirled and pointed at Li Lianhua.
"The only way this makes any sense is if you have my characters as your soulmark," he declared.
Li Lianhua clutched his robes protectively over his chest. His heart started racing. He hadn't expected to be confronted about this today. Or ever.
He did not want Di Feisheng to know about his soulmark.
"Look," Di Feisheng said. "Look!"
He tugged his own robes away from his chest and displayed his bare skin. His chest was streaked with scars, but clearly etched over his heart were the characters fang duo bing.
"Oh," Fang Duobing and Li Lianhua said in unison.
"Oh," Di Feisheng agreed, resettling his robes back into place.
Li Lianhua looked at Fang Duobing. He looked at Di Feisheng. This was too much. Too many entanglements. People wanting too much from him. The sudden implications were suffocating. And Di Feisheng could not know the truth.
He decided to make a run for it.
He only got five steps before Di Feisheng crashed into him, hard. He tackled Li Lianhua to the ground and pinned him down using his body. Looking alarmed, Fang Duobing hurried over—but he just stopped and didn't actually make a move to help Li Lianhua. The brat.
"You coward," Di Feisheng said. "We're right here. The answer to your problem is right here. You don't even want to try it?"
Li Lianhua swallowed. He avoided meeting Di Feisheng's eye.
It was not that he wanted to die. He didn't want to die. But he refused to live by being a burden on others. He had vowed he would never do that again, and he meant to stick to that vow.
He didn't know how to get out of this situation, though. Running away wasn't working, and he was all out of ready lies.
"Try what?" Fang Duobing asked suspiciously.
"I never believed in soulmates either," Di Feisheng said, his voice going gentle. "But if this is coincidence, it's one hell of a coincidence. Let's try it."
"Try what?!" Fang Duobing demanded again, louder.
"Dual cultivation," Di Feisheng answered promptly. "Or, in this case, triple cultivation."
Fang Duobing went red and made a little choking sound. It was cute and funny, but Li Lianhua was too busy dying of mortification himself to appreciate it.
Di Feisheng grabbed Li Lianhua's robes and pulled them down. Li Lianhua couldn't muster the strength to fight him off. Resigned, he stared at the sky behind Di Feisheng rather than have to see the look on his face as he read his own name written on Li Lianhua's heart.
"Hang on," Fang Duobing said. "Does that say Di Feisheng? Demon boss of the Jinyuan alliance Di Feisheng?!"
"It certainly does," Di Feisheng agreed. Li Lianhua reluctantly focused back on his face to see that he was smiling. A real smile. That, too was a good look on him.
"Triple cultivation," Li Lianhua muttered, disgruntled. "What a mess."
"That's all very nice," Fang Duobing said, in a tone of voice that made clear he didn't think it was nice at all. "But is someone going to explain to me why anyone needs to practice dual, I mean triple, cultivation?"
Di Feisheng's smile faded. He stared at Li Lianhua with a very sober look. "I gave you my word that I would keep your secret," he said, his voice gravelly, almost hoarse. "But I think it is time for you to confess."
"It has nothing to do with you," Li Lianhua said, his heart aching. "I want you to go away. I am not interested in dual or any multiplication of cultivation with you."
"That's a lie," Di Feisheng said with a snort. "You want it, and I think you always have wanted it, you just think it's something you can't have. Would it help if I were to swear that I did not have Shan Gudao killed?"
"Wait. It's you! A-Fei! You are Di Feisheng!" Fang Duobing exclaimed theatrically, pointing his finger at Di Feisheng.
Li Lianhua and Di Feisheng both ignored him. Li Lianhua blinked up at Di Feisheng. His brain didn't seem to want to process his words.
"You didn't kill him?" Li Lianhua asked tentatively.
"I did not. I took his body because I didn't believe the story about his death and I wanted to investigate it. I don't think anyone in the Jinyuan alliance did it. If you help me find the three kings, we can confirm it for sure."
"Oh," Li Lianhua said. He could feel tears gathering at the edges of his eyes. He struggled to sit up. Di Feisheng backed away and gave him space to do so.
"I see," Li Lianhua said.
"You believe me?" Di Feisheng asked warily.
"I believe you," Li Lianhua said. "You've never lied to me."
"Someone better explain to me what's going on, right now," Fang Duobing said, sounding belligerent.
"Oh, it's just...." Li Lianhua started to say, but for once in his new life, his brain blanked on an acceptably glib falsehood.
"Tell him," Di Feisheng said, closing his eyes as if in pain. "He's got Li Xiangyi's characters on his heart. He deserves to know."
"You're only saying that because you have his characters on your heart," Li Lianhua grumbled, but it wasn't a very energetic grumble. He ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Even if you get your way about this cure, I still won't be able to give you that fight you want."
"We'll see," Di Feisheng said archly, but these words were accompanied by a rather gentle smile.
"Are you going to explain already?" Fang Duobing pressed.
"Fine, fine," Li Lianhua conceded, his voice shaking slightly. "It's like this. Ten years ago, Li Xiangyi was poisoned with the Bicha poison. He didn't know it, and raced off to fight the Jinyuan alliance, because he thought they'd killed his shixiong and stolen the body."
"Bicha poison," Fang Duobing repeated, appalled. "But that's impossible. It's impossible! That poison is fatal within one month, and Li Xiangyi is still alive."
Li Lianhua made a face at him. "You're interrupting my story."
"Fine, fine." Fang Duobing gestured for him to go on.
Li Lianhua swallowed. "He lived for many years by using his internal skill method to suppress the poison and keep it away from his organs. But it's a losing battle. Yangzhouman consumes too much inner power. It's been ten years. So, this person is dying soon."
Fang Duobing stared at him. His eyes darted from Li Lianhua to Di Feisheng and back.
"But all ills can be cured by dual cultivation with your soulmate," Li Lianhua finished. Then he couldn’t help but add, "Supposedly."
"Are you saying... you are Li Xiangyi?" Fang Duobing asked slowly, marveling. He looked enchanted, like a child hearing a fairy story for the first time.
Li Lianhua looked away. He could not bring himself to either nod his head or shake it in denial. He simply had to look elsewhere for a while.
"Prove it," Fang Duobing challenged. "If you're Li Xiangyi, you should have the Wenjing sword."
Di Feisheng visibly perked up. "Oh, is this your secret hidden soft sword? I want to see it when you're not trying to slice off my face with it."
Li Lianhua grimaced. He didn't want to be Li Xiangyi. Why should he have to provide proof of being someone he didn't want to be?
Ever so slowly, like he was pulling it painfully out of his own flesh, he drew out Wenjing, its blade bare, and displayed it by laying it across his lap.
"Oooh," Fang Duobing said. His eyes were wide with awe. "It's gorgeous."
It was gorgeous. Li Lianhua loved it. He missed the person who gave it to him so much. Should he take Di Feisheng up on his offer to investigate the truth of his death, together?
"Well, everything makes sense now," Fang Duobing said, grinning and crossing his arms over his chest in an arrogant posture. "We all have each other's soulmarks and all you need is a few good sessions of triple cultivation and everything will be right as rain!"
"Will it?" Di Feisheng growled, his face very close to Fang Duobing's. "Tell me, do you even know what dual cultivation is?"
"Of course I know," Fang Duobing blustered, but his face was going pink again.
With no warning, Di Feisheng grabbed Fang Duobing by the robes and pulled him closer. He planted an aggressively intense kiss right on his lips.
Fang Duobing made a little squeaky noise, but didn't struggle. After a moment, his hands came up to cautiously rest on top of Di Feisheng's shoulders. Li Lianhua thought he might actually be returning the kiss.
Di Feisheng pulled away, looking smug. Fang Duobing looked appropriately dazed.
"You're still the demon boss of the demon alliance, though," Fang Duobing said. "After Li Lianhua is cured, I’m definitely arresting you and taking you to Baichuan court."
"I'd like to see you try," Di Feisheng said, and kissed him again.
Li Lianhua stowed the Wenjing sword away, and felt a surge of fondness as he looked at both of them, together like that.
Maybe it would be okay if he didn't run away this time.