Meanwhile, pandemonium was occurring within the Bai Clan, Xi Shen and the others had been invited into Yang Su’s home for tea.
Upon entering, there wasn’t much to see, only ordinary furniture and a layout that had one or two simple paintings of landscapes or some abstract image on the walls.
The room was lit by the fireplace in the living room as well as the various lamps in several other places in the house.
“Honey, who is it at this time of the night?”
The voice of a woman called out from the living room.
“See for yourself.”
Yang Su’s father said as he moved out of the way to reveal Yang Su and the others.
Seeing her son, the middle-aged woman showed a surprised expression as she asked, “Su’er is that you?”
Yang Su’s father laughed heartily and said, “That’s my thought when I first saw him as well. These are his friends he brought from the Academy with him, if you lot don’t mind you can sit on that sofa there, I’ll make some tea.”
Hearing that these well-dressed youths were from the Celestial Academy, Yang Su’s mother's expression showed a look of worry.
Turning to her son that had come to her side, she then scold him under her breath.
“How could you bring them here to our barely presentable home? Aren’t they going to think less of you now that they see it and us?”
Yang Su’s mother had on a frowned with a bit of concern mixed in on her face.
Xi Shen and the others had obviously heard her, as even if she was a few hundred meters away they could have picked up on what she had said.
Smiling reassuringly, Yang Su knelt beside the rocking chair his mother was sitting in and said in a normal tone of voice, “Mother, these are my close friends who I can call brothers, they won’t think less of me after seeing my village and you guys. Plus, I’m not embarrassed to introduce you guys to them, you're my parents after all and I love you both dearly.”
Yang Su’s mother’s expression relaxed when she heard his warm words, and she patted his head before she went back to knitting what looks to be a small shirt for a child.
Fang Chen, Bi Xiaofung, and Fei Yin were cramped into a sofa that was positioned to face the fireplace, while Xi Shen was casually sitting on a single chair next to them, sipping on the tea Yang Su’s father had passed to them.
Fang Chen and the others would glance at Yang Su’s father's strange color hair ever so often, that it became too obvious.
Smiling, Yang Su’s father turn to them and asked, “Are you curious about my appearance?”
Fang Chen and the others realize they were being too obvious and nodded embarrassingly.
“Hahaha, don’t worry about it, I got used to my unique appearance and the attention it brings long ago. It wasn’t easy looking so different from everyone else.”
“Is that related to the reason why you guys live so far from the village?”
Fei Yin was the one to ask that question.
Yang Su’s father who was in a seat of his own nodded his head in confirmation. He was going to open his mouth to speak, but footsteps coming from down the stairs interrupted him.
A small boy around the age of five sleepily walked into the living and looked around while rubbing his eyes. He was a bit surprised to see so many unknown people in his house, but when his eyes landed on his older brother beside their mother, he ignored everyone and headed for Yang Su.
“Oh, it looks like we woke up Sing’er.”
Yang Su’s mother said as she watched the little boy approach Yang Su.
After reaching Yang Su, the little boy mumbled some incoherent words before he wrapped his hands around Yang Su’s neck and rested his head on his shoulder.
Yang Su smiled before he lifted the boy up and said, “I’ll return him upstairs to sleep.”
Yang Su left the room, but Fang Chen and others remained silent with strange expressions. The cause was that the little boy’s hair and eyebrows as well as his eyes were red too. They were starting to wonder if it was something within the family for the father and son to have red hair.
Yang Su’s father then spoke up, “I don’t know much about the cultivation world, or about cultivators in general, but from the looks on your faces, I guess you haven’t met anyone with such distinct characteristics before. It’s been a family trait of mine ever since I could remember, and it was always past down to the next generation. I don’t specifically know what’s the cause, but my family has a story that mentions that one of our ancestors left the village to climb the mountain the villagers called their guardian. However, after disappearing for a year, he came back with these features. When he had kids he realized it had passed down to only his sons, but his daughter went without these characteristics.”
Hearing that, Xi Shen's thoughts went to the inactive volcano, this sounded like something worth checking out. And he was really getting the feeling that this might be related to why his Heavenly Physique was sending him signals of desire, even now it was trembling nonstop since he was so close to the inactive volcano.
After listening to that rather short story, Bai Xiaofung suddenly frowned before he asked, “Mr. Yang, you said these traits were only prominent in boys, so why is brother Su not showing such characteristics?”
When Yang Su’s father heard that he was taken aback, and he turned to look at Yang Su who had just returned and said, “You haven’t told them?”
Yang Su shook his head at his father's question.
Seeing this interaction between Yang Su and his father, Xi Shen perked up with curiosity.
Was Yang Su hiding something from him all this while? Well, it wasn’t like he was upset or anything, if it was something that was personal for him he didn’t have to say. Xi Shen didn’t need to know everything about him, he was fine with Yang Su just following his orders when he gave them.
After responding to his father’s question, Yang Su turn to Xi Shen and the others and said, “It wasn’t a secret exactly, but just that it was never something that came up in conversation.”
After saying that, Xi Shen and the others saw Yang Su’s hair from its root start to gain the color red along with his eyebrows.
When they completely turned red and finished their transformation Yang Su opened his eyes to reveal his bright red pupils. He saw that his father staring at him with a stun expression.
Fang Chen and the others were staring at Xi Shen with slight shock as well.
Yang Su could understand their reaction, but he frowned because he didn’t know why his father was surprised, even his mother as well, his father was the one that said he should keep it hidden so he wouldn’t draw attention to himself.
“Father, is something wrong?”
Yang Su’s father came out of his dumbfoundedness and said, “Something wrong? Why has your hair become so brightly colored? It wasn’t this deep shade of red when you had left.”
Yang Su hearing that, turn a glass window that showed the moon outside. There he saw his figure and his brightly colored red hair that was much redder than it was before. It even looked like it was glowing slightly.
Yang Su’s mouth dropped open in shock as he looked at his current appearance.
Meanwhile, Xi Shen was staring at Yang Su with narrowed eyes, and his expression had completely changed when his hair had transformed.
Currently surrounding Yang Su, Xi Shen could feel the Fire Laws slowing gathering as if they were being drawn towards him.
‘What’s happening? Why are the Fire Laws being so active? Is it just because Yang Su’s hair changed? If that’s the case how come I hadn’t sensed anything abnormal before?’
Xi Shen fully sat up in his seat and began examining Yang Su intensely.
Yang Su went to open his mouth to say something, but all of a sudden a massive earthquake rocked the two-story house and the village, and it lasted for a full minute.
By the time the earthquake was over most of the furniture and paintings were knocked over. Yang Su had immediately went next to his mother to protect her, while his father sat there slightly stunned but composed.
The sound of a small child crying could be heard and Yang Su’s father rush up the stairs to check on his youngest son.
Xi Shen and the others got up and piled out of the house to see what was the cause of such a massive earthquake.
In the night sky that was illuminated by the moon, they saw smoke pouring out of the once inactive volcano.
Screams and shouts traveled into their ears from the village some distance away.
Xi Shen was thoughtful for a moment before he chose to move towards the volcano. Fang Chen and the others followed his lead, as well as Yang Su whose hair had returned to normal.
*******
Word Count: 1542
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