Pyo Kang the Deviator

Anger is a motivator that must be touched lightly.

Anger when used properly, not in outrage or in spite, can bring someone strength beyond their limits.

Anger when used improperly, however, brings someone several times more strength when it is controlled. The downside being that you lose your way, you start to lash out at everything and everyone around you.

Pyo Kang was in the midst of both sides of anger, his training with Ryu Il and his brother, Pyo Yong, kept him from falling completely into the dark side of anger.

But the loss of his brother, and the resistance his now deceased mother had given him kindled the dark side of his anger. The death of his mother by his own hands and the burial of his brother had only quenched his anger partially.

Even as he walked from town to town, only stopping to eat, sleep and take care of any other essential business, his anger kept flaring as if an active volcano was erupting in his heart.

'It was my fault...' Pyo Kang thought over and over, not paying attention to where he was walking or those he would occasionally bump into.

He had watched as his brother's severed head hit the ground from a distance, yet his grieving led to delusions, delusions of being able to save his brother from death.

The neatly paved stone road he walked on didn't help his depressed thoughts either, as every time he looked down, he began seeing the head of his brother roll underneath his legs with each step.

Every time the hallucinations began the people walking around him would morph into the cultists fighting those Violet Dawn clan bastards, the sky turned red from the flames he imagined, and Pyo Kang's slow walk came to a halt.

Even those who were experienced in combat were able to get PTSD from war, especially a war where only you and twelve others survive. Every time he had these hallucinations he would have to hide in an alley until he calmed down.

Pyo Kang didn't understand what was happening to him, and he knew of only one person who might know what was happening to him. Ryu Il knew so much about everything that Pyo Kang could run around the world twice before Ryu Il was done explaining everything he knew.

But despite the hallucinations, there would be the occasional time where crazy bastards decided to cause a ruckus because of something so trivial as being bumped into.

But Pyo Kang didn't respond to the squabbling fools, he merely held back his rage and continued his slow walk. Giving off the vibe of someone who if messed with, would bring death to everyone.

'It was my fault... Why did it have to be him?'

---

A month had passed and Pyo Kang had not returned.

The executives under my tutelage were steadily progressing in their training. However, my training with the left-handed blade style was progressing rather slowly, but this was to be expected.

As the morning sun rose and the executives began their morning training, I stepped out from the cult leader building and watched from afar.

Every day that Pyo Kang hadn't returned was another day my fear for his safety. Even a Supreme Realm martial artist has to be wary when in Jianghu, and I'm not sure if he left in the right state of mind to be so wary.

If he didn't return in the next three days, I'd leave the executives to train in the forest while I went and searched for him. But for now, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and let him return on his own.

Well, it's going to be a few hours before the executives get done running, so I'd best start my training for the day too. I quickly leapt off the ground and started drifting through the air towards the forest where I trained my blade skills daily.

Although, the area of the forest I train in had become more of a crater of fallen trees. As through each day my blade skills got progressively stronger, and more and more trees would get cut down from my increasing skills.

Today was a good day though, I have this feeling that today I'll finally have a breakthrough on my first left-handed martial art technique. Even if the power behind it isn't great, it will be a step closer to forming the ultimate left-handed blade art.

However, as I approached the treeless patch of forest where I normally trained, I sensed a human presence standing in the center of the clearing.

But it was weird, the qi I felt from the mysterious person felt familiar, but it also didn't. Maybe it was someone I knew who had achieved a realization?

It didn't matter yet though; I would find out who it was once I arrived. I simply sped up my pace to cleanse the curiosity I had over this unknown person.

As I arrived at my training spot in the forest, everything had become clear to me. The person who stood in the center of the clearing was none other than Pyo Kang, but something was amiss.

His energy signature had changed, it used to be just like his brother's since they both were using the Cloud Origin Force cultivation technique, but now his energy felt corrupted.

"Pyo Kang!" I exclaimed while walking toward him, "You finally came back! What took you so long?"

"Master... Help..." Pyo Kang murmured as his hands slowly shook towards the sword at his waist.

"Pyo Kang, what's wrong?" I asked as I took note of his hands movements.

"The b-battle... I c-can't stop... S-seeing it..."

Shit! This was bad, if he can't stop seeing the battle, and his current qi state, he had definitely fallen into Qi Deviation during the month he was gone.

Pyo Kang had drawn his sword by the time I tried to speak to him again, leaving no room for me to talk with him. If he was seeing the battle over and over, it must have been torture for him. But fighting it might be a way for him to overcome it, so I have to let him win without him actually hurting me.

I drew the dragon horn blade from its scabbard and clashed it against Pyo Kang's sword. Sparks flew off the two weapons as they clashed together, neither weapon moving forward or back. A true standstill.