Chapter 9: Fang Zheng

The young disciple didn't budge after Fang Yuan said to forget about the conversation between him and Firesmith Dragon Chief. He stood there with a pouty face, distressed and in denial of what he had just heard.

"Lord Fang Yuan, please don't go to Myriad Dragon Dock. Immortal Crane Sect needs you."

Fang Yuan tapped his fingers against the fox's red fur, looking at the disciple's face while softly humming. He didn't say anything at first, but instead patiently sat there. After a moment of thinking he spoke.

"Do you know why I joined this convention?"

The disciple didn't expect such a question but he answered it with a response that his teachers always gave for why the heroes of old did what they did.

"To show the power and glory of Immortal Crane Sect to the world?"

Fang Yuan smiled. "No. I came to this convention because it is a chance for me to grow. At my stage in life, it is difficult for me to progress and grow. It is only in an environment like the convention where I can form new contacts and open my future to bigger and better things."

Fang Yuan patted the young disciple on the head and lowered his mask, showing an exact replica of Fang Zheng's face. "I joined Immortal Crane Sect at an earlier part of my life because it was the best way for me to advance. Now that it is the burden holding me back, I must leave it behind and move on. I hope you will one day do the same."

The adoration that the young disciple had for Fang Yuan quickly faded and an angry face replaced it. "You're abandoning Immortal Crane Sect just because it's inconveniencing your growth? Cultivation isn't all that matters in life. What about your family? The people you'll leave behind? Is it worth throwing that all away to pursue cultivation?"

Fang Yuan silently looked down at the disciple, then he looked behind him, into the face that looked so much like his own. "I never had a family to speak of. No mother, no father. I came into this world with only one other person at my side that I could trust. I was brought up by my uncle and aunt, relatives who didn't care for me or my brother."

"When I realized this at a young age I decided to study to the best of my ability, portraying myself as a supposed genius. This made my clan think of me as a prodigy, someone with exceptional talent for Gu cultivation. But I was only a C-rank talent. When this revelation came to light I was thrown away like a broken toy by my clan, my relatives, and most importantly, my brother. The only other person I really cared for in this world."

"It was on my darkest day that I realized other people will always be dissatisfied with you, no matter hard you try to satisfy them. People's perception of you will always be greater than what you actually are. When I realized I could never be the genius of the clan, the favorite nephew, the strong elder brother, I decided that I would abandon every moral and virtue I held close to my heart."

Fang Yuan walked past the stunned disciples and right up to the shaking Fang Zheng. With every step Fang Yuan took towards him Fang Zheng took one step back. "You! You were the one who betrayed me. You were the one who killed our aunt and uncle. You were the one who destroyed our clan."

Fang Yuan nodded. "I did. So what?"

Fang Zheng's memories of the past resurged in his mind and Fang Yuan's image turned into an insurmountable mountain. This was the person who had killed the love of his life, who had killed his only living relatives, who had killed every friend and acquaintance he had every made. Why did this person have to be his brother?

Fang Yuan raised his hand and placed it on Fang Zheng's quivering head. "I remember that day very clearly Fang Zheng. For a long time afterwards I thought about it everyday. How you were deemed fated for a smooth path of cultivation and how I was destined to be your stepping stone. I remember how much I hated you, how much I wanted to kill you."

Fang Zheng looked into Fang Yuan's emotionless eyes and felt the same cold chill he had when he saw his brother slaughter his aunt and uncle. But then he heard his brother laugh. It was a gleeful chuckle, like a child finding a fun toy to play with.

"Come with me Fang Zheng. After so many years, don't you think we should catch up?" Fang Yuan didn't wait for a response. In a punch faster than Fang Zheng could see, Fang Yuan knocked his brother out cold. His body fell right into Fang Yuan's arms and he carried him back onto the fox.

"Wait!" Old Man Yan Tang snapped out of his confusion and ran to Fang Yuan in a panic. "You can't take him. As a subsidiary force of Immortal Crane Sect you cannot abduct an elder of the clan."

Fang Yuan rolled his eyes and flipped the old man off. "If you want my brother back you're welcome to tell the supreme elders about this but I doubt they'll care. Make sure to reserve my spot in this round I don't want to have to wait in line."

Before Yan Tang could protest Fang Yuan rode his Autumn Wind fox into the sky.

"Elder Yan Tang, what was Elder Fang Zheng talking about when he said that his brother destroyed their clan?"

The old man sighed. "I'm not too sure on the subject. Most of the information of what happened to the Gu clan of Southern Border is classified. All I know is that a great tragedy happened and that Fang Yuan had a part to play in it's cause."

"But none of you need to know that. I have to report back to the supreme elders so just stay here and don't go anywhere."