A Fathers Duty And A Son’s Moral

Clan leader Hai slammed his fist on his desk, exasperated with what he was hearing. Young master Hai had returned home after a three-day journey and told his Father everything that had happened while he was away. Everything except for the fact that he had abandoned the mindless men and the carriage of exhumed bodies, he himself was not even sure what had possessed him to do so.

"How dare they try to claim the life of my heir, my son!", clan leader Hai yelled.

"Father has clan leader Kang still not responded?", Hai Yin asked.

Calming himself and clearing his throat, clan leader Hai turned to his son, "he has."

"…", Hai Yin nodded, waiting for his Father to elaborate.

Closing his eyes momentarily, clan leader Hai took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Clan leader Kang apologizes for the delay in response, but he says that he is aware of what has happened. He assured me that the Kang clan has nothing to do with it and he is looking into the problem as we speak. This will be a joint operation that we will for now keep quiet from the other clans. I will set out this evening to meet clan leader Kang and his best cultivators tomorrow in the town of Pi, where we will meet with the groundskeeper. There was another report of bodies being exhumed."

"Pi?", Hai Yin thought, thinking that Pi was a town much further away from Xitang and Gu that were close together.

"Yes.", clan leader Hai responded.

"Allow me to go with you Father.", Hai Yin said as he bowed.

"No, you have been through enough, you will remain in Mount Grace for now."

"I have been to Xitang and Gu, don't you think I would be of some use?"

"A-Yin, I need you to remember that you are my son and future heir, it was a mistake for me to send you, thinking that this would be so simple.", said Clan leader Hai and his son nodded, letting out a sigh.

"Do you believe that they are innocent?", asked Hai Yin, picking clan leader Hai's brain a bit more.

Clan leader Hai sighed, "A-Yin, you know our clan's motto, however this is an extraordinary case, that I cannot go into blindly.", clan leader Hai responded.

"Father, I..", Hai Yin said firmly, but his Father cut him off.

"Do not worry A-Yin, I will remain neutral for now."

Hai Yin lowered his head, feeling quite uneasy. How could one prove they had nothing to do with this when it would be far easier to prove they had?

"Speak freely A-Yin.", said clan leader Hai.

Hai Yin exhaled heavily, "Should a clan prove to be guilty, but not everyone played a part, would they all still pay the price?"

"There would be no exceptions.", said clan leader Hai. The young master furrowed his brows, intending to protest, but his Father spoke again before he did. "Tell me A-Yin, will you question each clan member to find if they are at fault? If it means it would save their life, even brothers would stab each other in the back. There would be no way to tell the ones with ill intentions from the good."

"So, we kill them all?" asked Hai Yin, anger in his voice and clan leader Hai took note of the change in his sons tone.

"A-Yin, you will be clan leader someday, these are the decisions you will have to make, whether you want to or not. No one ever said the job of a clan leader was easy."

"Fath.."

"Have the servants draw you a bath and then rest, your journey has been long and I am sure that you are tired.", said clan leader Hai cutting off his son and closing his eyes. With one fist squeezed tight and the other clenching his sword Hai Yin nodded, standing, and quickly exiting his Fathers office.

After a bath, young master Hai made his way to his cliff side secret safe haven, ignoring his Father's advice to rest. Who would be able to sleep with the many concerns currently dwelling in his mind at the moment anyway?

After spending an hour to clear his head, Hai Yin made his way back to the manor.

"A-Yin.", said a sweet familiar voice. The young master looked up to see Madam Ji standing at the top of the stairs, a warm smile on her face. Smirking, the young master made his way up the stairs, stopping in front of his Mother and nodding, "Mother.", he spoke, his voice soft. Clicking her teeth with a smile, Madam Ji pulled her son into a hug and Hai Yin hugged her back.

"I am your Mother A-Yin, you need not be so formal with me.", said Madam Ji as she kissed her son on the cheek before letting him go. "Are you well? Your Father tells me you ran into some trouble on your travels", she said lifting her hand to smooth back her son's loose strands of hair.

"I am fine Mother.", said Hai Yin.

"So I see, however you are troubled."

Hai Yin raised his brows momentarily, before lowering his head, Madam Ji knew her son like the back of her hand, he wasn't a Momma's boy, but he was her boy.

"Even if sect rules are absolute, can they always be right?", Hai Yin asked.

Madam Ji smiled, "Follow what is in here, that is what is right.", she said poking her son where his heart was.

"A-Yin, I thought I asked you to rest.", said clan leader Hai coming up behind them. Cutting his eye at his Father, Hai Yin bowed, making his way inside the manor.

"Your son is angry with me.", said clan leader Hai.

Madam Ji let out a giggle, "it is because he is like his Father."

"Sometimes I wonder, but no matter. Shall we go for a walk my lady?", asked clan leader Hai with a smirk, holding out his hand for his wife to take.

"Certainly.", Madam Ji giggled and the two proceeded down the stairs for an evening stroll.

In the dark of his chamber young master Hai laid in his bed tossing and turning as his mind ran a million miles per minute. No matter who was the cause of this situation, the young master could not just sit back and let those who took no parts suffer, he wouldn't allow it, not when he became clan leader and not now.

***

Back in the Unholy Sect. young master Kang paced back and forth in his chamber, before stopping in front of his door. "Xing-ge! Let me out, I promise I will not cause trouble!", Kang Lei yelled quite agitated to the other side of the door that had been spelled shut.

"I'm sorry young master, but I cannot do that. Clan leader will return shortly, then I can undue the spell.", Kang Yixing responded as he stood outside the young master's door.

Growing impatient, Kang Lei roughly kicked the door, but it would not budge. Walking over to pick up a cushion, Kang Lei roughly tossed it onto the floor, plopping himself down in front of the door with a grunt.

"Why am I being held prisoner?", Kang Lei said in a softer tone as he had finally managed to calm himself.

Kang Yixing was quiet for a moment before answering, "You are quite the busy young master, your Father simply wants to make sure you are safe and sound upon his return." Kang Lei sighed; he had heard this story before. Clan leader Kang was simply taking measures to make sure that the young master wouldn't run his mouth to anyone about his findings, that was all and nothing more.

"You could at least tell me how Grandfather is doing.", said Kang Lei.

"Great master is well.", Kang Yixing responded without hesitation, but that was something clan leader Kang required everyone to say in order to ease Kang Lei's mind even if it wasn't true, but the young master was no longer a child, he could no longer believe such lies so easily.

The young master let out a sigh, "I often wonder when you lost your sense of moral.", said Kang Lei. "No clan leader, yes clan leader, right away clan leader!", Kang Lei carried on, acting as if Kang Yixing were nothing more than a "yes man".

A smirk made its way onto Kang Yixing's face, he was quite use to the young master's snarky comments, what were little brothers for after all? "You grow more and more like her every day. You have her eyes, her sharp tongue and her imprudence run's deep within your veins."

"…" Pleasantly surprised, Kang Lei's lips parted before turning into a smirk. By order of clan leader Kang, no one talked about Zhao Siqi, Kang Lei's Mother and woman with light blue-eyes that the young master had no memories of. Hearing nothing but silence, Kang Yixing's smirk turned into a smile, as he was proud of himself. Killing two birds with one stone was an easy decision even if it meant disobeying clan leader Kang, he could prove to the young master he wasn't a stick in the mud as well as shutting him up all at the same time.

"Disciple Kang Yixing, clan leader has returned, he requests that you bring the young master to his chambers.", said a servant. Kang Yixing nodded, and the servant nodded as well, taking their leave.

"Young master, your Father has returned, he wishes to see you in his chambers.", said Kang Yixing as he held up his index and middle finger, undoing the spell he had casted then opening the door.

Rolling his shoulders as he stood, Kang Lei walked through the door, making his way to his Father's chamber with Kang Yixing following behind. "Young master, be on your best behavior, won't you?"

Kang Lei squinted at Kang Yixing, before placing three firm knocks on the door.

"Come in.", his Father's deep voice rumbled on the other side of the door. Taking a deep breath, Kang Lei opened the door and exhaled slowly as he entered. As Kang Lei had fully stepped inside Kang Yixing bowed, cupping his fist and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Eyeing behind him for a second, Kang Lei quickly bowed before standing to get a glimpse of clan leader Kang who stood with his back turned as he looked out his window. With tight knit brows and the appearance of a frown, clan leader Kang turned around to his son, the blue-eyed boy's brows furrowed appearing much like his Father.

"You were given specific orders should you happen to run into another clan.", said clan leader Kang, his voice firm, but normal toned.

Kang Lei furrowed his brows further, "and what exactly would be the reason Father? Is there something that I should know about?"

Clan leader Kang raised his brows, "Speak A-Lei! You are a Kang, do not imply things that you mean to say!", he said raising his voice.

Looking down for a moment, Kang Lei exhaled heavily, "Do we really have nothing to do with the bodies missing Father?"

"What reason do I have to lie to the heir of the Kang clan? Shouldn't he know about our future endeavors?", said clan leader Kang, his voice stern.

"There were two faceless men, but they got away. One of them…", Kang Lei tried to explain, but his Father cut him off.

"A-Lei, if you have nothing that I can use then you have wasted my time and your efforts. Retire to bed for the night."

"But Fath.."

"Enough! I will meet with clan leader Hai tomorrow in the town of Pi to do away with this nonsense and you will stay here without causing me anymore trouble!", clan leader Kang yelled, silencing his son who was fuming at the seams. Bowing and roughly cupping his fist, the young master angrily power walked out of his Father's chamber. As the door shut, clan leader Kang closed his eyes and let out a heavy exhale. The young master had returned home with a mere laceration on the arm and was fine after all.

In his chamber once again, Kang Lei paced back and forth continuously. Why was clan leader Kang so dismissive? Shouldn't what he had to say have been deemed as important? Wasn't that the reason he summoned him in the first place?

Finally stopping and falling backward onto his bed, the young master growled as he glared at the ceiling so fierce a hole could have been burned it through. Closing his eyes for a moment, Kang Lei imagined the last moments he spent in combat with the man without a face. The young master had become too proud, losing his focus and sight of the second man without a face. Kang Lei had no chance to get out of the way in time as the sword was headed straight for his chest. As the young master played the scenario over and over in his head, he still could not bring himself to think of any reason why the man without a face had dropped his blade at the last minute. He could not accept the fact that the man was simply a klutz and had made the honest mistake of dropping his blade, not when he was so close to a kill. The man without a face was obviously a skilled cultivator to be able to hide his face for such a long period of time and possessing the ability to split oneself in two was beyond Kang Lei's own expertise. Kang Lei let out a growl, squeezing his closed eyes tighter, he could only come to one conclusion and that was that the man without a face had for some reason purposely spared his life. What reason did the man have to let him live, was it because he was also a Kang? Although he had never witnessed a Kang with the ability to divide, it would be no surprise if it had been hidden intentionally. Kang Lei sighed heavily, the Kang clan being involved would mean that the truce would be broken, all hell would break loose and there was no way he was going to let that happen.

Jumping up from his bed, the young master ran toward his window opening it. He held up his hand, raising his pointer and index finger, summoning his messenger raven. With a low screech, the ominous bird appeared, a dark aura swirling around it as it landed on the windowsill, puffing out its black chest and turning its head sideways while it glared at the young master. Closing his eyes, Kang Lei forwarded his thoughts to the raven, and sent it away to the only other person he trusted.

***

In the Sacred sect of Mount Grace, the night was quiet, and everyone had gone to bed at a respectable hour. Although his thoughts had been running rabid for quite some time, Hai Yin had finally managed to fall asleep, but that didn't last long as he suddenly felt an ominous presence close by. The young master's eyes quickly snapped open to see a raven sitting on his pillow glaring at him, a dark aura surrounding its entire body. Quickly getting out of bed, Hai Yin stared back at the bird, that remained quite still, seeming as if it was waiting for something. Realizing that the bird had not been sent to harm him, Hai Yin walked over to the raven, holding out his arm and the raven hopped on, letting out a screech as it landed. Closing his eyes, Hai Yin began to receive the message, it being from young master Kang.