A Song For A Summer’s Night - Chapter 104

“Can you help me?” Xun Zichen asked the old man.

The man frowned, cruel and sharp. “I didn’t think there would be a day when a Xun bowed before my feet,” replied Long Yuntian, low and gruff.

Xun Zichen knelt, facing Long Yuntian, the head dragon, directly. “I am desperate,” he admitted warily. “I fear that my uncle, Xun Yaozu, will harm my family if he challenges me.”

“All this time, you were with the Song family?” Long Yuntian asked.

Xun Zichen frowned. “Yes.”

Long Yuntian barked out a harsh laugh. “The lost son of Xun, the rightful heir of the infamous Flock, hidden within the Song family.” He kept laughing. “I should have known; noted that they are known for taking in little lost, misguided souls into their litter. But, the Song family had weaved their way in with the Longs.”

He said it as if it were a bad thing, Xun Zichen thought.

“Does my grandson know you’re here?” Long Yuntian asked sharply.

“No,” answered Xun Zichen. “He doesn’t know I am not Su.”

Long Yuntian’s lips curved. “You know that Xun Yaozu will harm your family, but would he do it before or after you’re dead? That’s the question.”

“Did the Song family do anything to offend you?” questioned Xun Zichen.

“No,” replied Long Yuntian. “But, they’re not good at minding their own business, and for that reason, it could be their downfall.”

Now, it seemed as if Long Yuntian somewhat cared. But Xun Zichen couldn’t tell.

“I don’t wish to tell them, at least not now, not until I cut out Xun Yaozu,” he replied.

Long Yuntian remained silent, staring at him with his cold ice-blue eyes. He stood up, using a cane to support his posture, but he was still tall and fit. Xun Zichen could see the resemblance in his eyes, of Long Jie. Xun Zichen didn’t know Long Jie all that well, but he still liked to consider him as a friend.

Long Yuntian stood in front of him like a tower, as Xun Zichen remained kneeling.

“Why should I help you?” he questioned coldly.

“Not long ago, I helped save your son when they took him,” Xun Zichen replied. “And it’s not that I want the favour returned. I think I can help your family, too, from all of this.”

Long Yuntian smiled cruelly. “I never considered my son man enough to claim him as my own; he was always so sensitive. I’m not surprised something like that happened to him.”

Xun Zichen clenched his fists into white knuckles. He watched Long Yuntian walk back to his chair before he stood up swiftly. “What about your grandson? Do you really not care about blood?” he questioned loudly.

Long Yuntian turned around, narrowing his eyes. “I was forced to kill my brother when I was eighteen years old. That stuff sticks with you. In the black society, you must harden your heart, or you won’t survive.”

Xun Zichen didn’t believe in that. He didn’t want to harden his heart, or he will end up as miserable as the old man before him.

“Please,” Xun Zichen begged. “I need to learn how to defeat him; this is also for the sake of your family, especially Long Jie.”

Long Yuntian paused, considering it. Every time Xun Zichen mentioned Long Jie, he seemed to hesitate, revealing a hint of weakness inside of him.

Long Yuntian turned around entirely. “It’s ironic that our symbols follow such gentle myths and legends. But, I knew the Xun family very well. There’s a saying that you often see a phoenix with a dragon, as they both represent a balance of forces that harmonize the world.” He stepped forward to Xun Zichen. “But, we’re not harmonizers, we’re the ones who inflict chaos. But, perhaps, you can change things, Son of the Phoenix, for better. Can you do that?”

Xun Zichen nodded, “I can,” he said.

“Your uncle is a cold one. The number of lives he took is more than what I’ve witnessed before. His sister Xun Xiaoli was supposed to change things,” Long Yuntian continued.

Every mention of his mother’s name still stung, but Xun Zichen had to learn to live with it.

“Will you help me?” Xun Zichen asked him for the last time.

“I will do what I can, but first, you must learn how to defend yourself.”

He then whistled, murmuring something to his butler. The butler left, and Long Yuntian guided Xun Zichen to another room, through a moon gate.

They approached a glass case at the end of an empty room. It held two long swords, and the pommels were carved in the shape of fierce, barred-teeth dragons. Xun Zichen’s eyes widened at how beautifully intimidating they were.

“I want you to learn the balance of the swords, feeling the weight of it, adjusting your body and anticipating what move to make when you wield it,” Long Yuntian told him.

Someone entered the room.

A man with untidy black hair and coal-black eyes approached them. He bowed in the presence of Long Yuntian.

“This is my new follower,” Long Yuntian introduced the man.

“Cloak,” said Long Yuntian’s follower.

Xun Zichen’s eyes widened. He then bolted forward, wanting to strangle him for threatening Su Xiang, but Long Yuntian stepped in between them.

“If you want to learn, young Phoenix, then you must get along with him. He will be your sparring partner,” Long Yuntian told him.

Xun Zichen gritted his teeth. “You told Xiang that you were staying in a shabby place.”

The Cloak smiled. “Being cooped up with an old man isn’t shabby?” he replied.

Xun Zichen glared at him. He then thought maybe it was a good idea that the Cloak was his sparring partner. He needed to release all that anger welling inside him.

Long Yuntian then sat down at a chair, while the Cloak grabbed two long wooden swords for practice.

He passed one to Xun Zichen, stepping next to his side. He explained to him the positions of their bodies. The first move they would learn is to strike.

Xun Zichen followed the Cloak’s movement. He kept his right foot back, his left foot forward. He kept the hilt of his sword at shoulder-level, swinging his sword forward in a swift, fluid-like motion, stepping forward with his right leg.

He kept practicing it over and over until his arms went sore, and his body drenched in sweat.

He took a break, and afterwards, he took Long Yuntian’s real sword, holding each end with his hands outdoors with his legs crossed.

He held it only for a few minutes until his arms grew tired. But he knew that he had to persist, and eventually, find a way to hold it longer.

When he finished training, sweat-slick, flushed, with minor cuts on his hands, he went to see Long Yuntian.

“Return whenever you have time, you must keep practicing,” Long Yuntian informed him.

Xun Zichen nodded. “I will,” he said.