Chapter 7: One Week

Shan could feel his wounds itching; he was speaking for too long. With a tired sigh, he sat down and cleared his throat. It was a long story but he had to tell it. Not for that brat, but for himself. He wondered how the kid felt right now. His expression was blank, was he shocked? Well, maybe, but who cares. It was only the beginning.

"Your father, right. I don't know who your mother was, but she's differently dead. You see, Xin, white hair isn't exactly normal, it's a sign of the great sickness called Inner Death. It is hereditary and can even skip several generations. But when it wakes, it swallows the current host from inside like a beast. You had it since birth, so your mother was already sick when you were born."

"But you are alive, still, and that is his fault. He brought you from a two-years-long expedition to the Unknown Regions, said your name, and hasn't explained anything else. Each day he had been feeding you expensive medicine, wasted so much just to keep you alive for several years more. There wasn't any cure, only temporary measures. You had three years at most. His brothers frowned at him, advised to give you a quick death while you haven't tasted life yet. I thought they were cruel, but now I know that everything is relative…"

"When we got the news about the destruction of the Clan, the family didn't wait for any last stand, no one sane would do that. Unlike with the Clan, there was no unexpected attack, by the Emperor himself, his strongest generals, and Royal Guard. No, we weren't of any importance. I guess your father told them that I was there, in the mainland, so his majesty didn't spare an eye for the Wei Family. It was to give us an escape route."

"And so we quietly left, right to this hidden mansion at the very edge of inhabited territories. No one could find us there, and no one could hear the screams."

"It happened at night. While everyone was sleeping, a swarm of terrible insects was realized. They were coming from everywhere. Drawers, shelves, walls, even the ceiling and the floor.

As if the entire place was long as their nest."

"It wasn't even a battle; two brothers-patriarchs were fighting bravely, but what surprise, someone had poisoned them. And then they were attacked from behind.

"I lasted even less. The Cultivation level of the Nine Stage of Qi Gathering wasn't of much use against an unusual enemy and without any real experience. Managed to faint almost instantly."

"When I woke up, I saw his face, a bit confused but full of determination. The determination to kill his family. First, he made a circle. His brothers were shouting at him, but soon their shouts lost words when he started breaking their bones to make a circle out of their bodies. A perfect circle. Their families, two wives, and two little girls followed after. Then it was servants' turn. I have to admit, he was a really good doctor. Or maybe specialist would be a better word. No one died in the process, not even a drop of blood was wasted. Only their shapes became weird. The kind that gives you the creeps when you look too close and try to imagine.

I was watching everything from the side, can't say what I was thinking, I don't remember. But what I can never forget is what followed next."

"It was a vision of death; he placed you in the middle, and then placed some red stone in your hand. Then he activated the formation. "Divine Sacrifice", how he called it, what a lofty name."

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"I saw a grown man age in mere seconds, wither, and die. I saw children dry and turn to ashes. Do you know what happened after? He cried, that bastard fell to his knees and cried. He took an urn and started hastily gathering the ash!"

"How he f*cking dared!"

Bam! A loud explosion followed his words. Shan's fist burrowed deep into the ground.

Sweetness filled his mouth, a fine line of red came from his lips.

"Yet you still wasn't cured, only got ten years more. He still needed me. A person with Twelve Meridians worth more than a hundred of Inner Sea Experts. However, you were too weak at that time. My vitality would have destroyed your body. Sadly, your father was awfully busy about something. He couldn't see you grow, so he decided to use me instead."

Shan caressed his nape.

"That curse, light or something. That made me into a slave. He put it on me, but I wasn't unconscious or completely brainwashed. I was there, in a cage without a will, without hope. Living in the shadow of death scheduled for your Awakening. There I was going to kill myself, and you were going to born anew.

"But no more, I'm free! Free, aha-ha-ha-ha!" Shan slowly was slowly becoming agitated as he was speaking, and finally, he started to laugh. For the first time in seven years, he was feeling free, for the first time in seven years, there was a future ahead for him, for the first time he was laughing…

"Thank you, young master, thank you for your stupidity, thanks for that bastard psycho-elemental. I'm alive, alive!"

After some time he calmed down, his face turned to the sky. He stood up and looked at Xin, at his lowered face.

"And you know, Xin, I won't kill you. Not because I'm a good person, far from it. But because there's no point. You are nothing, Wei Xin, a mere toy for Wei Zu, maybe just some experiment for him, maybe some kind of leftover from your mother. That person, that sentimental fool is incapable of holding anything dear, truly dear."

Shan smiled, excitement was burning inside of his chest.

"Well then, don't you dare run away. I still have some use for you."

He walked several steps but suddenly turned back.

"Oh, from that day make your own food, "young master". I'll be cultivating" He said and left, humming a cheerful melody.

The boy was left alone, in the shadow of the willow.

For some time, Xin was simply standing there, staring at his legs. Then he felt cold pricking on his arms. The wind wasn't warm anymore.

Slowly he headed toward the mansion.

...

The next several days Xin spent, or rather wasted, in a mindless state. Or a state when he desired to be mindless, to stop thinking and have a blank head.

He was sitting and staring at the wall, he was lying and staring at the ceiling, and at nights he was burrowing deep into the blanket and staring at the dark veil of his own mind.

Xin's world was broken, and so was he.

All that time Shan was sitting in the courtyard. He was holding him hostage, but Wei Xin didn't even dare to look at him, not to mention trying to escape.

One more day came to an end. Wei Xin slowly crawled on his bed.

Unknowingly, the sabre that was lying on the floor slightly vibrated. It realized a bleak purple radiance, shrouding Wei Xin's little body.

The following day he woke up unusually energized. It was still early morning. Slowly, he turned his head and looked at the window.

Today was his birthday.