The light was luminous that it transmit outside the  temple walls. It was immediately recognized by a man in black robes. He rushed to the temple. He saw two men inside,The man in blue robes was supporting the man in purple. He knew them by status but not by call. But what he saw next to the couple made him tremble. His eyes were wet when the dry blood dripped out of them.

He was there! in front of him! His Soulmate!

.

.

.

.

[Flashback ch 23- ch 30: Xiao Xingcheng and Song Lan first encounter]

"You have a beautiful form!" A young boy in white appeared in front of him. His long sleek  hair brushed against his frosted skin. The smile he carried mirrored the sun. The other boy was  in black robes, dancing with Fuxue on the broad grounds of temple.

It was very common for cultivators to visit the Baixue temple as the temple Curator was known for his excellent swordsmanship. Many cultivators approached him for his guidance hoping he could take them under his wings. But not many dare to talk to the boy in black robes. Intimidated by his his tall frame and upright posture.

Ignoring the sudden appraisal, the boy in black said,

"If you're here for Master Guang, then leave. Master does not take disciples." His tone was as unwelcoming as it could get. The boy in white simply smiled as he watched the boy swirl in the wind with his blade. 

He truly looked beautiful.

The sun was already kissing the ground and the boy in white was still there, silver eyes fixed on the boy in black. 

How long was he gonna stand there? 

Master Guang; who had gone to the downtown for some supplies returned. He chuckled seeing how Song Lan was uncomfortable but didn't say a thing to the boy in white. 

"A Lan, You're still practicing. Here, help me carry these bags inside. They are clean don't worry." 

Song  Lan  was exhausted by taking in  the constant stares of man in white. His all fatigue disappeared when he saw his master back. He ran to him and  took all of his bags. He was relieved to have him back. Now he could deal with the stubborn boy in white robes. 

The boy in white bowed to the elder,

"I am Xiao XingChen. " 

 He looked as gentle as the morning breeze. The howlight tassel dangled through his sleeves. He was of same age and the frame tall like him (SL). Song Lan had never seen someone so gentle yet persistent. 

Song Lan left the two and went inside the temple. He peeked at them through the temple halls. They were engaged in a long conversation. Song Lan wanted to hear what they were talking about but was stopped by a tug on his sleeves. 

"Gege,  A-Qi is hungry." 

"Go get the others, I'll prepare the meal." 

A-Qi ran happily and gathered all of her brothers; who were practicing scriptures. 

Master Guang had found orphans from the streets and raised them at the Baixue temple. Song Lan was the first he picked up and eldest of  them all. Out of all the 9 orphans Master Guang had brought up, Lin Qi was the youngest and the only girl. Lin Qi was only 6 when her parents were killed by the Yangui spirits. All of them had a story more terrible than the other.

Baixue Temple was the family of the broken.

They were all ready sitting on the table, waiting for their Master. Master Guang was taking his time to converse with the  Xiao XingChen. 

"Gege, A-Qi is really hungry." The little girl said placing her little hands on her little stomach.

"Can't you see we are waiting for Master? We are all hungry you know." Said the little boy, sitting next to Lin Qi.

"A-Yin! " Song Lan reprimanded him.

Before Lin Qi,  Ruo Yin was the youngest. And the youngest would always get more love and attention. But ever since Lin Qi appeared, his love was shared with her and it made little Ruo Yin jealous.

Master Guang had returned but with Xiao XingChen. Song Lan was not happy seeing the persistent boy again.

"A-Lan set another table for our guest here."

All the brothers were confused. Master never let any cultivators inside why this boy?

"Are you the Angel?" Lin Qi had never seen someone so bright before.

"Angel?" Xiao XingChen asked.

"Yes! The one Gege told me about in the stories." Lin Qi pointed at Song Lan; who almost stumbled with the food tray he was carrying. With the aura Song Lan displayed, it was totally unexpected of him to tell stories and of Angels at that.

"Maybe I am. " Xiao XingChen said to the girl but Song Lan knew it was directed at him, making his earlobes red.

If one thing Xiao Xingchen had learnt since he descent the mountain was that BaoShan Sanran was considered a celestial being. The elders would tell tales of her. Xiao Xingchen had never been told stories, he chuckled thinking that he might get to hear one now.

Unable to stay quiet any longer Ruo Yin roared,
"Who is this man Master? Why did you bring him here?"

"A-Yin!" Song Lan reprimanded him again and Ruo Yin sat down cursing under his lips. Master Guang was enjoying himself. Seeing  his kids chattering and bickering  filled him with joy.

"Hahaha calm down A- Yin,  Everyone this is Xiao XingChen. He's a young disciple of Baoshan Sanren."

They all gasped.
BaoShan Sanren! The great immortal!

Master Guang had told the children how he had met The Great immortal once and how that encountered resulted in Baixue Temple. 

"He'd be staying with us for few days, do not cause trouble for young master okay?" said  Master Guang.

"Okay!" the children said in unison.

"A Lan, you will show him around the Temple." 

Song Lan; who was serving the meal to Xia XingChen jolted on hearing this. He wanted to protest but when he looked up, he couldn't look away.

Too Close! 

Those Silver eyes reflected so much of the world he had never seen. Maybe it was the aroma of Camphor that hypnotized him? When he felt his breath on him, a shock wave woke him up form his daydream. Song Lan quickly returned to his senses, served the food and went to his seat. They ate the food in silence but Song Lan's mind was screaming. His red ear lobes were a proof of that. 

Master Guang put all the children to sleep. He stepped outside to look for Song Lan when he saw his empty spot.

"A-Lan, how long are you gonna stay up there?" 

Song Lan was meditating on the big boulder - on the temple grounds. 

"Master. Who is he? Why did you let him stay?" Song Lan asked without opening his eyes.

"I already told  you that he's a young disciple of The Great Immortal, A-Lan." 

"Why are you letting him stay?"

"It's only for few days, he will depart soon." 

"Why?" 

"Why what?"

Song Lang didn't  know what, he wanted to ask either. He was just not happy having a cultivator on board. After all it was a cultivator who deprived him of his parents. 

As Master Guang told him, he was young when a rogue cultivator attacked his house and killed his parents. Hadn't it been for Master Guang, Song Long would have died that day. And since the tender age, he hated cultivators.

after not receiving any confirmation Master Guang said,

"A-Lan, When a bird grows feathers it flies away." 

Song Lan couldn't understand what his Master was trying to say. Master Guang left him alone to ponder on the thing he had said.

The next morning was not normal at all, all the children were jumping around their Angel. 

They showed him their scriptures and things they had learnt from Master Guang. Xiao XingChen happily accompanied them. Xiao Xingchen played with them, He tumbled and fell with them,  he chased them and laughed with them. He looked so happy as if experiencing it for the first time. 

And he was! 

Everything was so new to Xiao Xingchen and was astonished by all the little thing he saw. All the things which were common to them filled him with excitement . His eyes were sparkling like the little star twinkling. Living in a secluded mountain was different. 

Xiao Xingchen looked so adorable. And precisely Song Lan stayed far as possible.

In the afternoon, Song Lan  practiced with his sword. The swing of his hand, the gem of the tassel along with shine of the blade formed a  beautiful rhythm. He looked as if he was dancing in the wind. 

"Gege is amazing, isn't he?" Ruo Ying  said. 

The children and their Angel were all secretly watching him from behind the big boulder. 

"Did Master Guang teach him that as well?" The Angel asked. The children nodded  in unison.

Xiao Xingchen had his eyes locked on him. He was hypnotized by his pulse. Xiao Xingchen stepped out from behind the boulder, unnoticed by Song Lan, he approached close to him. When Song Lan spotted him, he immediately stepped back and yelled,

"What do you want?" 

"Oh! I thought you were ignoring me." Xiao Xingchen noticed that Song Lan was purposely putting distance between them. 

"Why are you here?" 

"I need you." 

This startled Song Lan, he verified, "W-What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said, I need you." Xiao XingChen was smiling like an Angel, no wonder the children called him that.

Xiao Xingchen didn't know how the people in the cultivation sect conversed. So he decided to be as direct as possible, hoping his message would get through.

Song Lan was taken aback by sudden confession, he bumped into a rock and fell on the ground. Xiao Xingchen immediately grabbed his arm. 

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Song Lan freed his arm and spurt inside the temple. 

Xiao Xingchen was left dumbfounded thinking he had made a mistake. All the children approached him and comforted him,

"Angel, you can not touch gege." Said Lin Qi. 

"Gege  thought you're dirty." said Ruo Yin. 

"Gege forgot that Angels are very clean, they bathe in milk." Said Lin Qi. 

"Hahahaha! Enough play time now go back to your studies." Master Guang who had witnessed everything came forth. All the Children unwillingly went to their studies.

Master Guang showed him the big boulder. There were height markings on the boulder. 

All the children had their heights marked and it had even Song Lan's height marks, when he was younger. That Boulder was precious to Master Guang because it had all the memories of him with the children  imprinted on it. When they first learnt to write their names, they marked it all on the boulder. It had become a sacred stone for Master Guang.

Xiao Xingchen didn't know that humans could express their love through smallest things like that. He was fascinated by their bonds. Why  was this the  world Xiao Xingchen had been told to stay away? His search didn't go well at first but aside from that ever since he descent the mountain, he had seen beautiful relationships with bundle of warmth. He almost doubted the death of his Shijie and Xiongdi by mortal world. 

"When I first found him, he didn't even let me touch him." Master Guang laughed. 

"Why would he think I'm dirty?" Xiao Xingchen asked innocently.

Master Guang patted Xiao Xingchen, he reminded him of his children asking all sorts of innocent questions.

"You're not dirty Young Master. A- Lan has fear of dirty things."

"Why?" 

Why? Master Guang smiled again. After all He (XXC) was child himself and he didn't know much about the world beyond the mountains. Was it his curiosity that made him descent?

"It's the same kind of fear for A-Lan as the fear of spirits for common people." 

Phrasing it in a cultivation term made more sense to Xiao Xingchen, after all it was all he learnt from Baoshan Sanren. 

Song Lan had mysophobia. Master Guang tried his best to cure it but of no avail. It did get better but it didn't improve and on a busy days at Temple, Song Lan would stay far away from the crowd.

" I still remember that day like it was yesterday. He was tenacious. But he was the one who changed me." 

Master Guang encountered Baoshan Sanren when she descent the Celestial Mountain. It was after her second disciple Cangse Sanren died. She came looking for her child but her child was already taken in by Jiang Sect. 

Master Guang told children the one thing that Baoshan Sanren had said to him, 

"Every cloud has a silver lining."

Every life deserves a chance.

15 years ago, Before the birth of the Baixue Temple the land was haunted by Xisigui Spirit. The descendants fear for their lives as the spirit demanded sacrificial offerings. A Cultivator heard of the incident and decided to lend a hand. He unveiled that there was no Xisigui spirit. Their ruler  was misusing his core for the evil deeds. The sinner was captured and given to the LanLing Jin Sect for judgement.

 The Young cultivator was praised for his deeds, he fell in love with the women there and decided to settle on the land with her. They soon had a child and their lives were perfect until the sinner appeared again. They didn't know how he escaped the great Lanling sect. Like a blizzard the sinner appeared on a snowy day. He massacred all the people and even killed the cultivator. Soon there was not a single flake in white. 

"Do you know why snow falls so gently? because the cold is sad enough." 

The temple was named Baxiue.

-------------------------------------------------------------

*Yangui - spirits that kill people and absorb Yang.

*Xisigui -  Spirits only calm when sacrifices are offered to them.

*Baixue - Snow

{I'm sorry for confusing you all. All the new characters here are my OCs. I searched a lot on Baixue Temple but couldn't find much information.}

Thank you for reading.