Long story long

At first, he was staring at the boy, then at the black ceiling.

He was free now, who could expect? Seven years of torture, his spirit almost crashed, and finally, on the very last moment, a miracle came.

Still, Shan was calm.

After all that time, it was hard to upset him over anything.

The uplifted sensation in his chest gradually washed off. Once again he looked at the kid. He wasn't at fault, obviously, but that doesn't mean he will just let him off. Neither him, nor the "dear" Emperor, nor that man.

Shan made a bitter smile. He thought he was a calm person now; seems like he was wrong.

Some of his wounds opened, fresh blood covered his shoulder — so hard he had clenched his fist.

Well, that was a sign. He is tired, better to rest now. He will tell Xin everything tomorrow. At least that he has to do.

…

Morning came with sunlight, just like ever. Wei Xin, who had been using his palm as a pillow, twitched a bit once a sunbeam reached his eyes. Very wearily he woke up, then spring up. Memories of the previous day finally flashed in his head. Shan was…

Where? The bed was empty. Wei Xin was confused, then worried, and finally happy. A smile of genuine joy spread across his face. He quickly ran out of the room and to the kitchen. No one. He was lost at first but then saw the silhouette standing near the willow at the distance.

"Shan!" He shouted while running there.

"Shan…" He said while catching his breath. "Shan, are you ok? You need to return to bed, I'll be making food from this day and…"

He was speaking excitedly, but slowly his voice quieted down. Something was wrong. Shan wasn't looking at him, only showing his back while viewing the scenery of hills. The shadow of the willow was covering him whole, except for a bunch of flickering dots of light. What's more, his hair wasn't in a ponytail anymore. It was set wild, dancing in the wind.

"Good day, Xin." He said.

"Shan, I'm sorry I…" Wei Xin thought that Shan was angry at him and tried to apologize, but wait, Xin? Shan had never called him anything but Young Master before. What has happened?

"Shan… is something wrong? I…"

"Be silent." Shock ran through Xin's body, he felt numb and cold.

"Xin, do you remember all these tales I've told you, about the "last stand" of Wei Family, beheading enemy general, all that stuff? Of course you do. How many times you asked "Shan" to tell you this story. Well, it was false."

"F...false?"

"Yes, a carefully crafted lie… Wait, did I said carefully? It is bullshit made up by that bastard, Wei Zu. Beheading a general, alone, ha! He didn't even wield a sabre, preferred to breed his dirty insects."

Shan's voice was calm, even gentle, but Xin could feel a dreadful premonition within. As if he was standing on a sweet green grass just before an endless dark abyss.

"Let me tell you one more story, "young master". Once, too long ago, a boy was born in Wei Clan. A special boy, the grandson of the current Patriarch, the son of the future Patriarch, he had a bright future ahead"

"And indeed, it was bright. He was bright. A genius, praised and beloved. He became addicted to that praise and worked even harder to keep up with expectations. A little shiny star in the sky… until the day he turned into a ravaging sun."

Wei Xin's body was numb, he could neither think nor speak

He wasn't sure was it because Shan had made him so, or his brain had just shut down on its own. All he could do was to listen, until the terrible revelation.

"That day, my awakening ceremony… It was during the darkest hour of the night, according to the clan's tradition. No lights were lit, servants and clansmen alike, countless dark silhouettes, only a purple formation was shining in the middle of a large courtyard."

"Suddenly, twelve purple channels ran across my body, illuminating everything around, as if it was the middle of the day. How happy I was, and the first thing I did was to look at the faces around, searching the usual praise. But when I saw the eyes of my grandfather there was no happiness inside, only horror and madness. Next second a massacre began."

"Blood and gore, my father, grandfather, and uncle were slaughtering everyone around. No servant was spared, their heads were flying off and dropping and being crashed. Do you know how strong a warrior at the Peak of Crystallization Stage? What will happen if he will try to slaughter everyone around while standing in a middle of a crowd? Like a giant meat grinder…"

"Blood was everywhere, bones were flying around. At some point my Mother ran to me, trying to hug, to comfort, but too bad she hadn't noticed an eye hanging from her shoulder. Then I lost my consciousness."

"Next day I woke up to the sound of my father and grandfather arguing. The old man was shouting about how I'll lead the clan to glory! What glory, the glory of killing their own? The glory of being a monster? You know, Xin, many things have changed after the unification. If it was the Hundred Warring Clans Period I would have been brought up with a daily training of killing and torturing. But I wasn't, so I thought they were mad, everyone was mad! However, when you think that the world is insane, it's probably you who's abnormal. I was such a kid, just like you, Xin. I thought they were ruthless, but actually, they weren't ruthless enough."

"Have you heard the rumor about Emperor having twelve meridians? It's no more than that, a rumor. Commoners can't know, but Wei Clan has been around for a while; we saw him rise, this "genius" who had archived Synchronization Realm before the age of thirty and reached its peak in his fifties. He has only nine meridians. Of supreme quality, with a greater element as a base, but only nine. What would've happened if he heard about someone like myself, a direct threat to his rule?"

"As I've said, not ruthless enough. It's easy to kill a servant, but what about your own kinsman? "We were betrayed and saw how almost two hundred years of Clan's history vanished within the smoke in the sky..."

"At that time I was here, in the New Lands, send for an external training. A mere excuse to have me away from the dangers of the mainland. I had kind of depression at that time, and neither Wei Yang nor Wei Yin was paying much attention to me. They were really martial arts fanatics, training like mad, and who cares about some kid's worries."

"But Wei Zu, he was different. He was sharp, crafty, he saw something strange about my existence. He asked right questions and being a dumb and lonely kid over the time I've told him everything. Funny, right? Grandfather gave me an artifact to keep my cultivation level hidden, but what use if I reveal all by myself?"

"And so, he created his plan, designed a nightmare. Truly, what a monster your father is, Wei Xin."