Cultivator in a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Six - What Could Have Been

Curls of steam gentle billowed from the mug, which was a little chunkier, less delicate than the china cups of memory and the herbal scent was new to him, but not distasteful, however one thing remained the same. Ren Zexian sat upon his seat with a straight back and calm, amicable smile. Nostalgia swept over Bai Yan for a moment, before being swept away as the other man's eyes softened, altering shape after wandering to the side and beholding a young man, whose face was smeared with mud as he placed pots on the sills of his windows.

Bai Yan's expression soured. First he'd had to suffer with Chang Min being all lovey dovey with that man of his, now his old friend was also acting like a declawed tiger! He drank down the beverage in front of him, despite the high temperature of the water. It was... not bad...

"So Yu Zhang and Long Wanwan survived," Ren Zexian mentioned allowed. "This is good to know."

Bai Yan snorted.  "I am alive too in this world."

The curve of the other's eyes deepened a tad with amusement, though his smile remained unchanged.  "I can see this," he replied.  He lifted the tea to his lips, wetting them a little before placing the cup back down on the table.  "How long has it been since you awakened?"

Bai Yan looked thoughtful for a moment.  "I suppose it has been around two years by this plane's calendar," he calculated.  "I have only ever known this realm following the disaster that befell it."

"Around a similar time to my own awakening then," Ren Zexian mentioned.  "Chang Min advised me that he came to awareness at the beginning of the chaos in which previous era saw its end in this land, perhaps a lunar month or so prior to me."  He reached once more for his beverage as he considered the implications.  "And Yu Zhang, Long Wenwen?"

"Actually some months prior," Bai Yan advised him, before indicating the tea pot, seeking to refill his cup.  There was a hint of spiritual energy to this tea that sat comfortably in his stomach and had him longing for more.  "They settled as father and daughter in the land called China, coming aware of the undead rising around a similar time to the general populace.  I know what you are thinking," he added as Ren Zexian refilled his mug, "Yu Zheng considered the same thing.  However, there is no evidence of it."

Ren Zexian sighed with a hint of relief.  "The timing seemed too coincidental," he murmured as he rose to his feet and elegantly walked over to a cabinet drawer where he removed something from its shelter.  "And there is this..." He placed the small sphere upon the table.  It did not radiate much aura anymore and it had cracked overtime as spiritual energy seeped from it, leaking into the atmosphere.  However, Bai Yan could feel the familiarity of it. 

His voice cracked slightly.  "Lu Ting?"  Ren Zexian nodded.

"He had become one of the restless dead," Ren Zexian sighed, still wondering over the mystery of what had befallen their former comrade.  "His mind was no longer his own, I did not even recognise him as I dealt with his walking corpse.  Not until it was too late, for both of us."

"What do you mean?" Bai Yan questioned, his eyes widening and then further still as Ren Zexian rolled up the sleeve of his robe to reveal the bite-mark scar hiding beneath the cloth.  "He managed to wound you and you survived the infection?"

"En," Ren Zexian replied, sliding down the fabric before smoothing it out.  "There was a cost.  I am no longer the Cultivator I once was."  His smile did not falter nor did he move away his wrist as Bai Yan broke the boundaries of propriety and sensed the pulse of his energies. 

"Just Quaternary now?" His voice was strangled to a whisper of disbelief.

"Only just broken through again," Ren Zexian pulled away from Bai Yan to drain the last of the tea from the pot into his cup.  Bai Yan sighed heavily, yet as he stared at the other man, he was quick to realise that Ren Zexian was neither upset nor angered by the situation he'd found himself in.  He doubted he would have taken the matter so respectably.