Work Text:
When he didn't see Li Xiang Yi resurface after days of waiting, he knew the worst had happened.
The coward ran away, leaving in his wake a broken sect, unanswered questions, and an unfinished duel, all whilst abandoning a young disciple.
Di Fei Sheng would hear the boy cry out for his shifu, and something within him, the same something that had already begun to crack and crumble, finally shattered.
He did what any reasonable person would do. What Li Xiang Yi would have wanted him to do.
He grabbed the kid, and ran.
—
The young master simply appeared one day, out of nowhere it seemed, wheelchair and all.
None of the house maids knew where he came from. They heard from one of the guards that the head of the sect brought him in in the middle of the night, and from then on they had one extra mouth to feed.
This isn’t anything new. For all the oppressing aura and the maniacs lurking at the top of the sect’s food chain, most of the recent disciples and staff were all made of strays that the head of the sect picked up. Many were in similar conditions even. Beaten, broken, or deemed unacceptable in some capacity by jianghu.
However, the strays that showed up were never dressed in such fine fabrics, or had such free reign around the sect head.
There were no directions as to how the boy was to be addressed or treated, but every nonverbal cue from Di Fei Sheng was worth a thousand words, and very soon the sect had come to understand the importance of the new stray.
The young master would ask for a toy, and it would appear. Complain about the cold, and qi would be shared. Cry for his shifu, and Di Fei Sheng would whisk the young man away all whilst telling him stories of what was to be believed, the late Li Xiang Yi.
—
“Shao zhu you have to leave bed. Master is waiting on you.”
“Shao zhu, I plead with you, please get dressed. We really don’t want to be whipped.”
“Shao zhu, there will be no more pork buns if you’re late. You will only be left with white rice instead.”
“Nonono! Xue-jie jie I’m awake I’m awake! Tell Di Fei Sheng I’m awake!”
“...”
Aiya. The coaxing of the young lord lord gets a little much sometimes. But what can they do, really? The kid has got the entire sect wrapped around their finger.
The staff were originally skeptical of the boy, and even jealous. How could a crippled child catch the attention of someone such as Di Fei Sheng?
However, his puppy dog eyes and genuine child glee were hard to resist, and it didn’t take too long for the disciples and staff to realize that despite everything, the young master was a martial arts genius.
It seemed as if no time had passed for the young, sickly child to become the powerful, hardy young man that he is today. Those who are well-versed in martial theory would even note that the young master’s way of fighting is a lot more graceful than that of the grandmaster, but just as efficient and refined.
A sigh. “Get dressed quickly and in nice clothes. You’re visiting your mother in the afternoon!”
“Got it!”
Ah, how life goes by quickly. Xiao Xue promptly leaves Fang Duo Bing’s bedroom and goes to pick herbs and tea. The young master won’t be home all day, which will leave the grandmaster in a less than desirable mood.
—
“Di Fei Sheng.” The petulant thing addressed him with a tone of boredom and urgency all at once. Even with his eyes closed and facing away from Fang Duo Bing, Di Fei Sheng knows the exact face he’s making.
“What do you want, brat.” He says, eyes still closed and (mostly) meditating.
“Li Xiang Yi.”
…
“What?” Di Fei Sheng can’t help but turn around now.
Fang Duo Bing was dressed in his ever clean, ever pristine robes. He visited his mother a few days ago, so it is to be expected that he was given another new set of clothes. He looked like every other respectable young lord, although his face and the current pout he has on makes him look even younger than he already is. If you walked by him on the street, you’d expected him to be a soft, harmless little thing. Easy to swindle, easy to rob.
Di Fei Sheng knows from firsthand experience that those presumptions could be further from the case.
“What brought this on, Xiao Bao.” he tentatively asked. A few years ago, Di Fei Sheng would discuss Li Xiang Yi to all and any lengths, projecting his concerns, frustrations, and love for the man onto someone more than willing to listen.
Now, however, the name was rarely brought up, for Fang Duo Bing was older, and the hurt of Li Xiang Yi leaving seems to have hit harder than before.
“You said he’d come back one day. I want him back.”
Maybe Di Fei Sheng did spoil the young master a bit too much. “I can’t do that, you know it very well. If he does not want to be found, he will not be found.”
“Keep lying to yourself. You just don’t want to find him!”
…Oh, this is not great. Fang Duo Bing is close to having a full tantrum, and unlike what the rest of the public (and the sect) is made to believe, his tantrums are not cute, but generally bloody and extremely hard to clean.
A sigh. “How about you return to your family for a few days. I’ll see what I can do.”
Of course, in this mood, Fang Duo Bing walks away without a farewell.
—
The sect leader does not call for any meetings for the entire sect unless absolutely necessary. Even when he was going to war with Li Xiang Yi, not everyone was present.
This was how Qian Ming knew there was something wrong.
“Yue Guang, Yue Guang! The grandmaster called!”
Qian Ming quickly dragged his brother away from his bed to the grand hall. Thankfully, they were some of the earlier people to arrive.
Unfortunately, they were early enough to see the slight creases in Di Fei Sheng’s usual stone-cold demeanor to know something is very, very wrong.
A little while later, the entire sect was gathered in the grand hall.
Di Fei Sheng, then dramatically sits down, and with a single command, “Find Li Xiang Yi.”
Qian Ming, like the rest of the sect, is absolutely stunned. What does the grandmaster mean to find Li Xiang Yi? The man has been gone (dead) for a decade by now.
The whispers that travel across the grand hall grow louder and louder.
“The young master demands it,” and all noise dies down in an instant.
Ah. So Fang Duo Bing asks for it. It is an open-secret that the young lord was once the disciple of the late Li Xiang Yi. After so many years, especially since he’s all grown up now, it’ll make sense that the righteous young lord will want a proper burial for his former master.
Without further prompting, the grandmaster stands up with a flourish of his crimson robes, and leaves.
The rest of the disciples followed promptly after, all now scattering across jianghu to find traces of the infamous Li Xiang Yi.