Chapter 5: Beneath the Peach Blossoms
"Yes—I framed her. I did it! Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"She was never meant to have you! And yet... you chose her. Her, Brother Yao! Without a word, without ever asking how I felt—how I've always felt."
"Since father first brought you to the Clan, I followed you like your shadow, laughed when you laughed, cried when you were hurt. I thought... one day, you'd look at me not as your little sister, but as a woman."
"But you never did. You only smiled and patted my head like a child. While she—someone who knows nothing of your heart—stole the place I longed for!"
"Do you know what it's like? To watch the one you love offer everything you've ever dreamed of to another? To be left behind, smiling while your heart splits open day after day?"
"So yes—I destroyed her. Because if I couldn't have you… then she had no right to either. I'd burn the heavens before I let her stand where I should have been!"
Even though a stream of tears poured down her cheeks as she admitted her crime, the obsessed smile on her lips made Yao Zi think otherwise. Recalling Wan'er's pained expression while holding uncle Li and Aunt Li's corpse's, he became livid.
He had tried to attack her at the time, blinded by grief and fury, but instead of him succeeding...She subdued him.
But she didn't stop there... in the midst of regaining some bits of clarity from his turbulent emotions, She took the opportunity to destroy his dantain. Stripping him of his future.
And then, as he lay there, bewildered and confused, she had laughed with joy. With a voice as sweet as honey, she had whispered in his ear
"Without your dantain, you have no way to survive on your own. In the end, you'll come crawling back to me brother Yao."
The weight of those obsessed words had crushed him for week's.
But now... Now, he felt it, The once lost Qi, surging through his veins. The Dark red vortex coiling in his dantain.
His eyes were calm, not shedding a single tear. Even though he had cursed at her and blamed her for everything that had happened... Though he feigned a wrathful persona at the time, inside, Yao Zi blamed himself for what had happened.
He was the one who had nurtured Jiang Xue's obsession. Even if it wasn't intended, he still felt guilty for watching as she grew more and more prone to it.
Though she had gone to far, he still felt a strong reluctance when the thought of killing her came to mind... No matter what she had done, he still saw her as his younger sister. They had grown up together, eaten together, played together, slept beside each other, bathed together... Even trained in martial arts together.
Yet now that he had received this unfathomable power, Yao Zi felt as if the weight of his guilt was non existent.
It wasn't that he felt she was the one in the wrong but that he didn't see any reason to be angry in the first place. Wan'er had died because of him, and he had been suffering in grief because of it and had even committed suicide. Since that was all said and done.
To him... He didn't see why he should keep on living in the past nor risking his growth in pursuit of some dumb vendetta. Right now the most important thing to him was amassing his forces and resurfacing within the world to redeem his predecessor... By any means necessary.
Naturally he only thought this because his very personality and mind had been transformed after receiving the divine ability... In the end, it wasn't a blessing but a curse.
Yao Zi got up after awhile. He took a deep breath and began walking forward, his shoes sinking slightly into the cracked, barren ground that had once been the lake floor. The air was eerily dry, the scent of damp earth and decay lingering as if the lake's death had left behind its mourning breath.
He lifted his gaze to the towering gorge walls, sheer cliffs stretching endlessly into the sky. A bitter chuckle escaped his lips.
"There's no way I can climb my way out of here."
There was no way up, not without a rope, tools or even if he used his recovered strength. Shaking his head, he turned, deciding to follow the dried lakebed toward the mountain path.
Qing Mountain was vast, its ridges home to several powerful clans that ruled within it's domain.
Among these clan's were the Jiang, the Chen, the Shen, and the Mo clan. Each one had influence, wealth, and was composed of martial artists. But only one had stolen everything from him. Even then, he saw all the 4 main clans as nothing more than his future foundation in the pursuit of his predecessor's redemption.
His lips pressed thin at the thought of the 4 Qin mountain martial clans, it wasn't a lie to say that he was apprehensive towards them since each clan was filled with lots of martial artists, but his next step cut off his darkening thoughts.
Squish.
His foot sank into something soft, and before he could react, he lost balance.
' huh?!' With a crease of his brows, he slipped, crashing onto his back with a thud.
Pain flared through his spine, and he clenched his teeth, his fury bubbling. He pushed himself up, ready to curse whatever had caused him to fall, only for his gaze to land on a squished fish carcass. Its once-slick scales were now cracked and peeling, its gaping mouth frozen in a silent scream.
'That's just creepy...' Yao Zi sighed at the sight.
"When the lake and fogs vanished, they left quite a mess...." Yao Zi stared at the fish corpse with a hint of pity in his eyes.
He bent down and picked up the dead fish, bringing it close to his face and staring into its dead eyes.