Can People Really Change?

Years ago, in the Fang Clan's territory of the Blazing Sun City, a ragged youth stumbled onto the doorstep of the Fang Clan's Grand Elder. A sword wound ran down the youth's back as a sigil made from Metal Qi that empowered his body enough to move dispersed. The youth lay helplessly in front of the residence as his eyes were filled with despair.

The memories of his family's slaughter and the silhouette of the ungrateful scum who poisoned them was still fresh in his mind as the innocence and naivety that came with young age slowly disappeared from his eyes, leaving behind a husk of his former self.

"Little brother, what's wrong?" A boy of similar age walked towards him while eating a desert off a stick. The food of the Azure Sky Continent was similar to the interventions of the Heavenly Sect known the Stone Mountain Turtle Sect.

Unlike the Arctic Ocean Dragon Sect that focused more on recruiting female talents, the Stone Mountain Turtle Sect in the North was more diverse in every conceivable way possible. The former earned their way of living through helping Dao Seeking Martial Artists reach the realm of Heaven Combatants before allowing those who were willing to give up their Colourless Bloods for more tangible and long lasting benefits while the latter made their living through refining Spiritual Medicines.

Other than that though, the Alchemists of the Stone Mountain Turtle Sect also cooked and recorded recipes as a way to relax and get away from the tedious nature of refining pills. The delicacies of the Azure Sky Continent's northern region quickly became one of the most well known attractions that made even those who weren't Alchemists to want to travel to become part of their Sect.

The desert stick the ordinary-looking boy held was called a Gem Candy, a warm but sweet delicacy that was hard for average people to afford. The ragged youth instantly knew the well-dressed youth wasn't of simple origins.

But the fact that the well-dressed youth had Gem Candy wasn't what annoyed him the most. What was most infuriating was that despite the ragged youth definitely looking older, the well-dressed youth still referred to him as 'Little Brother'. There was even a hint of shame on the well-dressed youth's face as he seemed unwilling to use any other form honourifics to refer to him.

"Seems like you're not quite the talkative type, are you? My name is Fang Yun, you can refer to me as Big Brother if you like." Even after the ragged youth ignored him, he still wasn't discouraged as he decided to introduce himself while sitting down next to him. To the talkative youth, the ragged youth was a strange one to lay down next his grandfather's residence.

"Just leave me alone." The ragged youth said tiredly as his eyes seemed to lost in despair. He felt like his existence was so insignificant when thinking about how he couldn't protect anyone...

When his father sacrificed himself to write a sigil on his back, all he could do was run and hope that he would one day return to seek justice for his murdered siblings and parents. But it was only after calming down did he start to feel that revenge wouldn't be able to bring back his loving family and that he would never see them again...

Fang Yun sighed as he looked at the ragged youth with innocent eyes. He didn't know what happened to the ragged youth, but he felt the 'Little Brother' in front of him was quite pitiful. Usually, when he go off calling others his 'Little Brother', the other person would at least try to defend themselves and give him some attention. However, the ragged youth seemed too sad to even bother arguing.

"Little Brother, I don't know what you've gone through but I can at least guarantee that nothing bad will happen to you from now on." Fang Yun tried to cheer him up before taking quickly one of the soft 'gems' of his candy stick and shoving it in the ragged youth's mouth.

The ragged youth had been running for an entire twenty-four hours with the empowerment of Metal Qi, so it was only natural that he wouldn't even try to resist when Fang Yun treated him to a delicious sweet. The 'gem' of candy melted in his mouth and warmed up his body that was being frozen by the cold weather surrounding them.

"Thank you." The ragged youth said in tears as he really didn't expect anyone to help him in darkest moments of his life. Fang Yun smiled as he didn't expect his one action could cause the ragged youth to have such an intense reaction. He started to like the feeling of being able to help others in need.

"You don't have to tell me what happened if you want to keep it a secret, but can you at least tell me your name?" Fang Yun spoke as he helped the youth up, yet was shocked to find the injury on his back. He panicked a little when saw the long wound which stiffened his back in empathy. Even though he didn't know how it feels to be cut in such a way, he could imagine the pain the youth must be feeling.

"My name is Lou Meng." The ragged youth wasn't surprised by his reaction and said while wincing a little from the searing pain he felt from being forcibly moved by Fang Yun. Lou Meng didn't even have strength to lift a finger after collapsing on Fang Yun's doorstep.

"I'm taking you inside to get you fixed up. Don't try to struggle, and remember... you owe me for this." Fang Yun said with a pale face. He had never experienced such situations where he would have to treat others yet and could only ask others to help him.

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Ever since Lou Meng has been taken in by the supposed 'failure' of the Fang Clan, he had lived a stable life without many conflicts and watched as Fang Yun grew from an innocent child to a sixteen-year-old teenage physician.

Fang Yun had always been a somewhat arrogant but good-natured individual who acted older than he actually was. If it wasn't for Lou Meng knowing of his young master's true personality, even he'd have been tricked by how mature Fang Yun acted on the outside.

Whenever Fang Yun was treated like an outsider by the adults of the Fang Clan or looked down on in pity by his many cousins and relatives, he'd go back to his room to tantrum like a child. Lou Meng believed that if it wasn't for his young master being such a carefree individual, they both would have lived in a more depressing way considering Fang Yun's family history of tragedies.

"Young master, you're over-exerting yourself again. Go rest." Lou Meng spoke to his sleep-deprived young master who was still reading a book about different recipes to cure diseases.

Although the Azure Sky Continent was a place devoid of Heavenly Treasures that Cultivators would bet their lives to obtain, that didn't mean there wasn't any Mortal Treasures that could be used to various ways for many effects.

For one who treads the path of the Medical Dao, knowledge was something that took time and effort to learn. It may be less difficult than the Pill Dao, but the Medical Dao was also vast for those determined to learn it.

"I'm fine, just give me a few hours." He didn't even turn his head towards Lou Meng because he knew the dark-circles under his eyes would worry him...

A Physician needed vast resources to be nurtured. However, talent and effort was also a factor in how far one would walk on the Medical Dao. Fang Yun wasn't a genius nor was he a great talent when it came to the Medical Dao but the drive and determination he showed to study was exceptional.

"Go rest." Lou Meng repeated himself while forcefully closing Fang Yun's book. It was only then did his young master reluctantly give up to go sleep.

Lou Meng sighed as his young master had ceased to laugh the older they grew. Fang Yun may be intelligent but he knew that the incorruptible attitude his young master had towards the world would one day trip him up in life.

Most of the world consisted of Mortals whilst Cultivators were fewer. Only joined organisations that could accommodate them, meaning that the cynical mentality they induced from their way of handling certain matters didn't matter much to them currently.

However, Lou Meng still had an ominous feeling that things couldn't go on like this. When the old mortal servant named Old Qing asked for help the next night, he also didn't hold back his thoughts and informed Fang Yun that he felt something was off.

"You worry too much. No one would bite the hand that feeds them." Fang Yun said while not being able to believe Lou Meng's words. He was sheltered and spoiled by his grandfather due to his exceptional behaviour, plus it was mostly due to the fact that Fang Yang had no other grandchildren except him.

This decision to allow his young master to be as careless as he wanted became Lou Meng's biggest regret. If he could go back in time, he would do everything in his power to stop his young master from going through the trauma that practically changed Fang Yun's personality. He didn't know if it was the shock of betrayal or the Medical Dao that gave his young master's life meaning ended up leading to them almost being killed but he really missed the Fang Yun of the past.

He may call his young master 'Brother Yun' now but he hid the guilt he felt in his heart because he felt that Fang Yun's change was all his fault.

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Fast forwarding to the current circumstances, Lou Meng paced around his young master in worry as he felt a more tangible regret from actually worsening Fang Yun's condition. At first he believed that a Spiritual Medicine like Colourless Blood was used for healing and irresponsibly thought that maybe it could help his young master wake up.

The results of his carelessness made everything worse as his young master struggled around in pain after the Colourless Blood was administered into him. He knew he wouldn't be able to help his young master due to being unfamiliar with the Medical Dao and knowing only basic knowledge of Spiritual Medicines, making him unable to think of a rational solution.

It was only after remembering the strange ice woman that gave him the Spiritual Medicine did he realise that the best way to help his young master was to beg her for help. Only Bai Lingyun, who had more knowledge regarding the Spiritual Medicine he was given, would know of a way to help his young master out in this situation.

'Damn it! I messed up, the Spiritual Medicine she gave isn't of the healing category. I need to get her help!' He thought inwardly before deciding to put Fang Yun on his back and bringing him to Bai Lingyun. They both rested at the same in so it would be easier to ask where her room was located before bringing Fang Yun to be saved by her.

He wasn't the brightest when it came to handling things and was a little too impulsive sometimes, but he knew when to bow his head when asking other people for help. He let go of the animosity he had for her and braved himself to talk to the person who was even able to beat his young master.

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Within sea of consciousness of Fang Yun and Alex Stuman, the face-off between the two split-personalities raged on with violent waves. Alex didn't want to take on Fang Yun the old-fashioned way and sinisterly used his Demonic Aura to trap his opponent in a world of illusions. Fang Yun could only see visions of his grandfather, his best friend and the love of his life leaving him due to his incompetence.

'You'll never be able to step out of my shadow.' A demon appeared before him as he looked at what he'd become.

He became vain and cowardly, twisting what he believed to be the influence of Alex's memories to protect himself. He remembered the fear Han Fenglin inspired within when he saw how vicious Martial Artists could be and how vain his efforts of becoming a Physician to help others actually was.

The day Fang Yun was almost killed by Old Qing was when his vision of the world took a great shift. He became as cynical as a regular Cultivator and even tried to rid himself of the responsibility by running away from his own Clan.

When Alex saw how Fang Yun was slowly falling into an abyss of total despair, he felt a little comfort. In his past life, he tried his best to become someone he wasn't. He tried to be 'good person' despite his upbringing as a tool for war but failed miserably.

Now, watching a 'good person' turned trash like Fang Yun be destroyed by his own hidden guilt, he felt like perhaps his decision to kill his 'father' wasn't a wrong decision. Right now, he believed that although people could change, the change only made people grow worse.

'I'm really a good person.' In Alex's distorted ideology, he could be considered worthy of a second chance at life for trying to be a good person despite his inclination to murder anything that was to block his path. He believed that the patience he showed towards John before his final moments was something others would definitely be unable to replicate in his shoes.