Lu Chen gazed at the distant volcano as he sighed. Standing behind his folded-armed figure, Cho Yanshi had just finished setting up the final formation.
"Now that we have some breathing room... I have to ask..." Cho Yanshi started as she approached his back.
Lu Chen turned halfway, "Hm?"
"About what you said after that fiasco in the arena. That this was bigger than even petty squabbles. Do you truly believe that's all it was? That a petty squabble was capable of creating such a massive rift between us?"
Staring at her inquisitive, but volatile, expression, Lu Chen fell into a brief period of thought.
"I know that the circumstances that led to my expulsion were... unsavory, to say the least. However, it was barely an inconvenience to me, given my reasons."
Cho Yanshi shifted, one hand grabbing the other arm. "And what were those reasons? I never got to ask, and you never told me. You never even spoke to me after you..."
Lu Chen stared back at the volcano, a deep inhale following that action. In the consequent silence, before he exhaled exasperation, he closed his eyes.
"You were on your way toward a better life. Toward your dream of approaching the divine- of proving your culinary skills were worthy of Heaven."
He turned, fully this time, and stared her straight in her wary eyes.
"I could not face you, knowing that my actions robbed you of your dream. Actions that I do not regret and, in the same position, would do again. I felt like a horrible friend."
"You are," Cho Yanshi chuckled as her eyes filled with tears. "You are the worst friend I've ever had."
Her smile cut the bitterness, but did not replace it with sweetness as a smile should. It was a sad smile- but a beautiful one.
"However, even being so horrible, I never once doubted you. I knew you had to have had a good reason." She tilted her head as she smiled at him, wordlessly encouraging him to go on.
He laughed as he scratched the back of his head, turning away from her sight. "I did. One of the best reasons."
Cho Yanshi wiped her eyes and crossed her arms, "Well? Look me in the eye and tell me, Lu Chen."
He paused, his hand moving away from his head and falling limp at his side. His eyes found hers, and he swallowed.
"I overheard Yun Jiang talking to the old headmaster. You know I was always in and out of the office."
She nodded with a giggle.
"Yun Jiang wanted to take you with him when he ascended- that much was certain. I heard the way he spoke about you and, honestly, was about to die from the secondhand embarrassment."
"Before I walked away, though, I heard Yun Jiang say that his family was looking forward to your contribution... and that you would make a fine... cauldron..."
Cho Yanshi stiffened, even though she had heard the murmurs before.
"They valued you because of your inherent talent, and wanted to use you in some kind of breeding experiment. I heard Yun Jiang mention a bloodline irregularity." Lu Chen frowned as though the event in his memories was happening again.
"Not only were they going to subject you to life as an object... they would have then discovered your secret... and killed you anyway."
Cho Yanshi nodded, "Yes. In a scenario like that, it would have inevitably been exposed."
Lu Chen mirrored her actions, gazing at the sky as midday slowly faded past.
"If you had told me back then, I don't think I'd have believed you. I was so foolish- so young and ready to believe every word that Yun Jiang said. Over time, after seeing what happened once you killed Yun Jiang, I realized there was far too much I wasn't seeing."
Lu Chen paused, glancing back at her. "You were able to piece it together?"
Cho Yanshi nodded with a small smile.
"Then... why were you..." Lu Chen stammered a bit.
"Still mad?" Cho Yanshi blinked with a sweet and innocent smile.
He nodded.
"It's like I said. Did you really think something like that would have utterly destroyed our friendship? Did you think so little of what it meant to me?" Cho Yanshi came up to his side and bumped his shoulder.
"Didn't you just say you wouldn't have believed me even if I explained to you?" He scoffed.
"I wouldn't have... at first. You were still my only friend at the time... and our amazing Leader." She reached over and gently pushed against his head with her finger.
"All you had to do was convince me. Not run away without ever explaining. I thought for sure that they sent people to kill you after you got expelled, so imagine my surprise when I got the news."
Lu Chen gently rubbed his head; it did not hurt, but for some reason he just wanted to touch the spot she had touched. "News?"
"Of your 'Netherworld Company.' That was you, right? Not some other Lu Chen with an interest in the Netherworld?"
Suddenly sheepish, he looked away and cleared his throat. "I had a mind you'd be wondering. I just wanted to let you know I was okay."
She shook her head. "At least you finally acheived your dream: Leading a company of troublemaking cultivators. I'm surprised you decided to walk away from that and go back to the Academy."
Wiping his nose, he feigned indifference. "I just felt a shift in the universe. I knew you'd need me."
They stood together, staring off into the distance, and said nothing further for quite some time.
Meanwhile, inside the old house, Hei Shisan and Shen Wuyou were sitting at the table, deep in conversation. Qin Shuyue had gone up to sit with Jin Huang a while ago.
They both decided it was best to let her have that time.
"I think there's more to what's going on here," Shen Wuyou said as he stared at the dice in his palm. They were hovering mere inches above it, and spinning frantically in all directions.
"What more could there be? It's just shit luck, all around." Hei Shisan groaned, looking defeated.
"You weren't in our class. Besides, I'm tapped in to another frequency," Shen Wuyou said, half-jokingly.
"What're you on about?"
"It started from the very moment I met Jin Huang. His every action affected the dice in a way that I've never seen. At first, I just thought it was because he was my golden ticket into the treasure pagoda."
"After a while, I realized that being around him changed the way the dice work. I had to relearn how to read them, and while doing that I also saw how they acted around others."
Shen Wuyou closed his hand, gripping the dice firmly.
"The people in our class. Li Qingyu. Dao Yuan. Wu Shen. Even Qin Shuyue and I. We are all connected to Jin Huang in a way I still don't understand."
"Fates align, Wuyou. It happens," Hei Shisan's head dropped onto table as he shut his eyes and groaned again.
"This isn't fate aligning. Not the way you think." Shen Wuyou nudged him, and directed his attention to the dice.
"If you were fated to walk down the road one day and die, and I rolled the dice for you before that, they'd turn up the lowest number possible. However, if you were going to experience something fortunate, then the opposite would happen."
Hei Shisan nodded, "Pretty simple."
"If fate could be gambled on, that kind of certainty would be a massive gamechanger. However, what if that certainty is called into question?"
"What do you mean?" Hei Shisan asked, mildly interested.
"I rolled the dice for Jin Huang after he came back the first time. They never stopped rolling. I rolled them after you both got taken to detention, and they rolled threes. Then, when Jin Huang returned and stepped into the arena, they rolled nothing but sixes."
"When Lu Chen arrived, they rolled nothing but ones."
Hei Shisan frowned; Shen Wuyou paused and gulped.
"After Jin Huang passed out, I rolled the dice for him again and again. Then I rolled them for each and every one of us."
Shen Wuyou sent some energy into the dice, and they both hovered before continuing their endless spin.
"They haven't stopped since."
Hei Shisan straightened, eyes locked onto the endlessly spinning dice. "What are you saying?"
Shen Wuyou gazed upward, staring past the strong wooden beams.
"Jin Huang has been actively reshaping fate-- or at least the force that we identify as fate. I think these dice will only stop once he wakes, and decides how he's going to move forward from here."
Hei Shisan fell back in the chair, hands cradling his head as he, too, stared upward.
"Whatever decision he makes... no matter what number those dice eventually settle on... I'm going to fully support. I'm not ever walking away from this."
Shen Wuyou closed his hand, a single breath escaping his nostrils. "Our lives are no longer our own. We're entrapped in the vortex of Jin Huang's destiny."
"We couldn't walk away from this even if we wanted to."
Hei Shisan's grin came with a chuckle and immediate resignation. "I don't mind that."
"Now then," he paused, gesturing to the two people that had just walked in through the door.
Lu Chen and Cho Yanshi.
Hei Shisan continued as he pushed his chair back, "Time for answers."