Zhang Qi Ling was the God of Death who was tasks to collect souls and guide them to the afterlife. He was able to kill a mortal with a simple touch.
However, for some unfathomable reason he wasn't able to collect Wu Xie's soul.
Wu Xie was a mere mo...
On the highest peak of the coldest mountain in the world, a God of Death, Zhang Qi Ling, stood for three weeks. His hands hung limply at his side and his head was bowed forward while his black hair whirled chaotically around his face in the whipping wind. His body didn't shake despite the frigid weather even as the smallest drops of ice clung to the thick, black lashes that lay against his cheeks.
Regardless of the extreme elements beating on Zhang Qi Ling's outside, nothing compared to the turmoil that raged inside.
When Zhang Qi Ling left Zhang Rishan's office, he intended to go directly to Wu Xie. He would demand that Wu Xie open the bond. He would tell Wu Xie he had to because he was lost to Heaven, that they couldn't look after him, protect him, if he didn't, but it all would have been a lie.
In the next moment, Zhang Qi Ling was on a mountaintop telling himself the truth. It wasn't because without the bond Wu Xie was lost to Heaven, it was because without the bond, he was lost to Zhang Qi Ling.
He understood Zhang Rishan's unspoken words and knew what Heaven expected him.
Fix it.
Wu Xie was a problem no one would take responsibility for and yet, until now, no one had to. Wu Xie's impossible bond to Zhang Qi Ling assured that until such time that someone figured it out, Wu Xie was covered.
Now he wasn't and Zhang Qi Ling should be good little god and make sure Wu Xie opened the bond once more.
But still, Zhang Qi Ling didn't move from his spot. For the past twenty years, he had been in control of their bond. Even though Wu Xie didn't know it existed, Zhang Qi Ling did, and he chose when to come and go. Wu Xie might not have felt the bond, but he felt the effects of Zhang Qi Ling ignoring it.
Wu Xie had been living with these emotions that now swirled in Zhang Qi Ling's mind since he was six-years-old. Wu Xie had struggled to understand the feeling of loneliness and betrayal... the cold chill of being cut off from something essential to his being... without ever knowing what he was part of and that he had no control in the situation.
In this whole 'incident' with Wu Xie's soul, Zhang Qi Ling was beginning to see that Wu Xie was an unsung victim. While Heaven scrambled to point fingers and pass the buck, a precious soul was being crushed under the weight their indecision with no say in the outcome.
Wu Xie had only been given one chance to make a choice in all of this. With that choice, he had looked at Zhang Qi Ling with hurt, weary eyes and told him to leave. Zhang Qi Ling wouldn't disrespect Wu Xie's decision.
It would hurt, it would hurt more than holding off Wu Xie's cries. The emptiness Zhang Qi Ling felt was nearly all consuming. The fear that something might be happening to Wu Xie, that he could be hurt, scared, or happy without Zhang Qi Ling knowing was like a constant ache in his chest. But Zhang Qi Ling had turned away when Wu Xie begged him to stay. Zhang Qi Ling knew he didn't deserve to ask Wu Xie to respond any differently.
No, Wu Xie deserved to move on, and Zhang Qi Ling had no choice but to watch from afar. He knew now that he couldn't just walk away. Even in all those years he thought he was, he still unconsciously held Wu Xie and their bond close to his heart. Now he would know what it felt like to be Wu Xie and to know that something wonderful was out there and beyond his reach. So he would watch Wu Xie, protect him to the best of his ability, and let him be happy.
And, like Wu Xie for all those years, he would hope that someday, the person whose name he whispered into the darkness would, one day, whisper his name back.
As for Wu Xie being lost, Zhang Qi Ling wasn't concerned. Heaven might have lost Wu Xie, but Zhang Qi Ling knew the Ultimate hadn't. The Ultimate kept tabs on his children through love. Zhang Qi Ling finally understood and appreciated how powerful of a force that was.
After three long weeks, Zhang Qi Ling slipped to his knees, the soft snow breaking his fall, and prayed.
'Please watch over Wu Xie. Please... I-I love him. I love him...'
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