Threads of Long Life

The Liu family of Sunset Valley had guarded a piece of Returning Jade for three hundred years. On the night of his sixth birthday, Bai Yunkè knocked on their gates to demand the jade. An inside man sabotaged the formation, and flames engulfed the valley. His mother tied two long-life threads around his neck. "Two threads mean two lives. Take my life with you." Liu Yanzhou crawled out through a secret passage and lay at the cliff's edge, watching the whole valley burn. He did not cry. He pressed his father's words into his bones, one character at a time: "Guard this mountain, guard this clan, guard the people you ought to protect." For the next ten years, he was an orphan in Qingmu Town, an herb-drying errand boy at an apothecary, and the most inconspicuous servant in an immortal sect. He learned to identify herbs, draw in qi, and conceal his abilities. In his arms he carried half a piece of chipped jade, and around his wrist he wore a rusty iron shard. He knew where his enemies were: the Taiqing Sect, Zhou's Apothecary, and that Daoist surnamed Bai. He also knew his mother was still alive. The long-life threads trembled from time to time, as if someone far away had given them a gentle tug. He did not seek ascension or invincibility. He only wanted to protect those he ought to protect, then one day return to Sunset Valley and rebuild his home.