WangXian Forever 5

Chapter 33 Heartbreak

The problem with holding onto Wen Ning was that Wei Ying didn't have to think about navigation, or balance, or try to stop his mind from falling into bad memories. The concentration alone that sword flying took, would have occupied his thoughts in order not to fall, and ironically, the very thing that induced his trauma in the first place.

Hanging off Wen Ning,  the close proximity simultaneously comforted him, because this was his Soul Brother, a man who had been with him through the worst of times. Together they had crossed oceans of hurts and pains, and were still alive, though some might disagree in the case of Wen Ning. And it left his mind free to think.

His thoughts were spiralling into despair.

Lan Zhan did not trust him.

Lan Zhan had known about this village. About the corpses.

That meant, if he knew, then of course, so did his brother. XiChen-Ge had also chosen not to tell him. By default, this meant that XiChen-Ge also did not trust him. And if he knew, then Jiang Cheng must have known too. Three people that Wei Ying trusted more than anyone else.

He could not stop the pain, or the terrible fire of betrayal from scorching his insides, the burn engulfing his heart. If Wen Ning felt the scalding tears on his neck, he did not say anything.

His eyes hurt. That was the last thought he allowed himself to think, before they reached the village. It was on the outskirts of JinLinTai.

Evidence of disturbed grounds and shallow graves littered the path that they took. Jin Ling was already there, waiting for them when they arrived.

Wen Ning gently let go of him, holding him steady by his waist, until he could walk unaided.

Few buildings remained intact, most of the structures had been torn apart, debris littering the main road that ran through the centre of the village.

Even by the light of the half moon and stars, Wei Ying was able to make out the severity of the destruction. For a few seconds, he actually felt relief from his thoughts, because here, he could do his job. And he could do it well.

Wei Ying knelt down and placed his palm on the ground, where something had crawled its way out of.

Resentment energy always left traces of its origin, and this was no different. In the past, he had been able to detect traces of Yin metal, and then later, the Stygian Tiger Amulet. The latter more strongly, because that was his, borne from a deep desire to survive.

Many people made the mistake of assuming that he had cultivated and created the Stygian Tiger Amulet out of a desire to control the dead, however, that was just a by product of the final outcome. Thrown into the Burial Mounds, he'd had only two choices: drown and be consumed by the Resentment energy, or overpower it and survive.

Wei Ying had chosen to live.

So now, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

He ignored the three successive thuds on the ground he felt through his connection, and the consequent additions to their group.

This resentment energy was different. That was the first thing he noticed.

It was pure.

Hatred, malice, regret, woven into a braid of revenge, these corpses were raised by a powerful entity.

He thought entity, because there was no way a single person could muster up this much resentment. This power was all encompassing, flowing naturally, and without Yin Iron, or even a trace of his amulet.

No, this was far more powerful than that.

This was chaos, a spree of exaltation, a flexing of a fist to show the world what it could do. Testing the waters.

Wei Ying felt, his intuition kicking in, that this village and its destruction had been an experiment. The beginning.

And more would follow.

To what end, he wasn't sure.

When he opened his eyes, they were redder than rubies.

He saw his XiChen-Ge holding back his husband, in turn being held back by Jiang Cheng. Wisely, they had let him finish.

Wen Ning put a cold hand on his shoulder. The weight was familiar and grounding.

He blinked a few times, bringing himself back to the present, and in return, his eyes gradually returned to their original silver shine.

It was a unanimous decision to let go of each other.

Lan Zhan ran to Wei Ying, throwing his arms around his body. Alarmed when Wei Ying did not reciprocate, he let go reluctantly.

"Wei Ying?"

Hearing the hurt in the brother's voice, XiChen stepped forward.

He bowed first, causing them all to gasp.

Wei Ying was the first to recover, running to him and raising him up.

"Please, please forgive me, Brother Wei. WangJi only did not tell you because I ordered him not to. Both he and Jiang Wanyin wanted to tell you straight away, but it was me. I convinced them not to." His words were unflinchingly honest.

"Why?"

It was a simple word. And it held so much within its four letters.

Four cultivators knew without a doubt that everything rested upon the answer.

"We did not know, no, I did not know how you would react. You have a new core, more powerful than before. I was not sure what kind of an effect this energy would have on you." XiChen forced himself to face up to his doubts, to explain himself fully.

He owed at least that much to both his brothers.

Jiang Cheng wanted to hold his hand, touch him in some way, show him his support, but he knew that XiChen had to do this by himself. He had made the judgement, therefore this was his to bear.

"You could have asked."

Wei Ying did not wish to be brutal, not to XiChen-Ge. His XiChen-Ge.

But the flames in his chest were still burning, unextinguishable for now.

"How would you have been able to answer without first exposing yourself to this energy? This was our, no, my greatest worry. We did not wish to hurt you, nor for you to hurt yourself." Concise and to the point.

"You hurt me. I trusted you...but you...you do not trust me." The bitter words spilled out, the truth of his heart.

Lan Zhan came up behind him, embracing his now shivering body.

Wei Ying felt so tired, he thought he would collapse. The search for information, using his specialist skill took more out of him than he would have admitted. Like any skill, manipulation of resentment energy took practice, a honing of talent.

He had not done this in so long, he felt wrung out. He laughed internally. To get better at it would require more practise, and he doubted any of the three renowned cultivators would agree.

But he knew two things now.

One, he was stronger than before, way stronger. And two, his core, the complete opposite of what he would have to conquer again, would protect him, without fail.

He leaned into the warm body behind him and closed his eyes.

"Take me home, Lan Zhan."

"Brother Wei-"

"XiChen-Ge, I'm so tired. Please, can we talk about this tomorrow?" He mumbled, not even having the strength to open his eyes again.

He felt Lan Zhan pick him up before succumbing to the bliss of oblivion.