Jiang Cheng deserves a break

Chap 5: Ghost Boy Reveals himself

Whoosh!

Jiang Cheng snaps to attention and whips his head around to look for the cause of the whoosing sound, only to regret it when his head started hurting and his vision blurred.

He groaned, rubbing the base of his palms into his eyes. He gets to his feet on wobbly legs when he hears another whoosh sound. "Who's there?"

"I-I can't believe it..." A distorted voice says from behind him. Jiang Cheng jolts and waves his cup at the person behind him, threatening them like the cup was actually his sword. A sober part of him knows he looks stupid right now.

"Young Master Jiang, it is you!" The ghost haunting Lotus Pier gasped. He walks over to Jiang Cheng, his footsteps silent like his feet were gliding over the surface.

"You." Jiang Cheng said, who was getting more sober by the second as his golden core churns and is flushing the effects of the alcohol out of his system. By the time he's able to stand up without wobbling, he's already whipped out Zidian, now in its whip form.

Ghost Boy halts. "You...are not you."

Jiang Cheng's brow furrows and he hesitates, "What?"

The ghost boy's misty coloured eyes stared at the Sect Leader straight on, boreing a hole the size of a ball into his soul. "You have changed, you are more broken."

Jiang Cheng's fists clench at his sides and his jaw tightens at the statement. Broken? I'm not--

"When did you get taller?" Ghost Boy suddenly interupts his thoughts. Jiang Cheng's frown lines on his forehead crinkle further, feeling even more befuddled by the situation. He puts away Zidian in favour of covering his forehead with his hand, "Oh gods give me strength..."

He sighs out a harsh breath. "You're clearly just a harmless spirit, but you're still a huge pain in my arse. I'd much rather have alcohol in my system than have to deal with you. So, I'm going to give you two options: either you leave Lotus Pier the fuck alone and I won't vapourise your arse with Zidian; or you tell me who you are so I can help you move on."

Ghost boy fidgets with his hands as he ponders over his options.

Please pick option 1. Please pick option 1.

"...Shi-xiong does not remember this disciple?" Ghost boy's face contorts with sadness. Jiang Cheng resists the urge to just rudely reply: Should I?

Ghost boy purses his lips, then he cups his hands in front of him in a salute and he bows. "This one is--or was *Jiang Jiao Yang."

Jiang Cheng flinches at the name. Why does that sound so familiar to him? Did he know a person named Jiang Jiao Yang?

And then his brain clicked. Memories of a boy younger than he was flashes in Jiang Cheng's mind.

He remembers: a bright, scrawny kid with a freckle on his right cheek, picked up from the streets of Yunmeng when the kid was eight. Jiang Jiao Yang--just Jiao Yang back then, became the Jiang Sect's newest disciple that year.

Jiang Cheng looks at Jiao Yang with disbelief in his eyes. "Jiao...Yang...? I remember you, what happened to you?"

"I got stabbed. Died." Shrugged Jiao Yang.

"No, you moron! Explain how you died!?" Jiang Cheng snapped. Jiao Yang's mouth formed an 'o' and he nodded in understanding.

He floats over to sit on a chair, and Jiang Cheng follows but sits in front of him so he could track his movements.

"It went like this..."
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(Flashback)

A male Jiang disciple tries his best to fight off the Wens, as Lotus Pier burns around him. The place he grows up in, trained in, made friends in, his second home. It is burning faster and faster.

He is at the docks, fighting off Wens with his sword. Behind him, a woman and her child escape onto a boat. He cuts the Wens down and turns to the woman and child before more Wens could descend on them.

"Hurry! Before more come!" He says, and helps them. The disciple picks up the oar. The woman screams and points behind him. "Watch out!"

The disciple turns quickly and uses his sword and the oar to block a strike.
However, his energy is already running low and as he tries to defend himself and the woman and child, he grows more tired.

A Wen manages to stab a sword through his shoulder. In shock, the disciple stumbles back. The same Wen kicks his form into the water, and the disciple slowly sinks.

His consciousness fades, and water forces its ways into his lungs. He is too weak to swim to the surface, and too tired to try. The last thing Jiang Jiao Yang sees was the water being stained with red.

Somewhere, at the back of his mind he swears to take revenge and kill all the Wens. Then, his vision fades to pitch black.
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"Hang on, but that doesn't make any sense." Said Jiang Cheng and after he had got Jiao Yang all caught up on the events he missed in the last decade. "You shouldn't have become a resentful spirit because you received soul-calming when you became a disciple."

"Ah, about that..." Jiao Yang scratches his cheek as a show of embarrassment, "...I didn't receive soul-calming?" Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at the un-assuring tone. "You see, on the day of the ceremony there were some complications. I couldn't remember what exactly, but all the seniors had to leave to go manage it so there wasn't anyone to perform the ceremony on me officially."

He looked away sheepishly to avoid the twinge of Jiang Cheng's brow, "And then, everyone--including me--just kind of...forgot about it..."

"And you didn't bother telling anyone!?" Jiang Cheng snapped at him and rose to his feet. Jiao Yang rose to his feet too, holding his arms out as a sign of defense. "I didn't know! I was eight! I wasn't aware it was such a big deal!"

Jiang Cheng reaches out to strangle him, only to have his hands grab air. "Ah, right." He chides himself for forgetting that Jiao Yang was a ghost, and sits back down.

"Well, if your dying wish was to kill the Wens, it's already been fulfilled." He says.

"The Wens have all been eliminated a long time ago." Jiang Cheng explains (he refrains from telling him about Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui. What Jiao Yang doesn't know won't kill him, again), to which Jiao Yang's face softens into a sad smile. "We won then?"

Jiang Cheng nods. "We won." Though at what cost?

Jiao Yang smiles down at his lap, "Good." He then looks to Jiang Cheng with a mischievous grin, which Jiang Cheng immediately frowns at. "But I'm not ready to leave yet, not before I do something."

Jiang Cheng glares at him, "Do you want me to vapourise your--"

Jiao Yang cuts him off. "--I'm not going to bother Lotus Pier anymore, or its residents. I just-Sect Leader Jiang, I hope you don't get angry at me for saying this but, you look...sad."

"You don't have to tell me why you're sad! I don't expect you to. Anyways, I want to help you." Jiao Yang looks at Jiang Cheng with the most sincere expression, free of mischief and playfulness. Jiang Cheng glances away and fights off a blush at the sincerity.

Defending his manliness, Jiang Cheng scoffs loudly, "I can solve my own problems. I don't need you to--" He stops himself when he realised that Jiao Yang had disappeared. He also realised that he's been talking to himself.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and rises to his feet, keeping away the wine cups and picking up the empty wine jars. He scrubs his face with a hand, "He better not do anything stupid or I'm going to kill him."
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A/n:

*no, Jiang Cheng and Jiao Yang are not related but if i'm not wrong if you become a disciple of some sect, when you get your courtesy name you are allowed to adopt the sect's name too.

Also, Jiao Yang 骄阳 means blazing sun

Shi-xiong--older martial brother