Times Have Changed [MDZS]

Chapter 15: Sect Leader Nie《OG Timeline》

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Chapter Fifteen

《OG Timeline, 14 Years After Wei Wuxian's death》

XuanZheng era, year 38. The sky was full of stars, the moon exceptionally bright. A man cladded in grey traversed the path leading to a place where no one would dare to wander, especially, in the middle of the night. The delicate silvery thread of his brocade robe reflected the brilliance of the moon like a luminous pearl against the darkness of the night. But no matter how bright, he was still like an illusion that gradually faded amidst the black miasma surrounding his destination.

The figure in grey raised his head with his eyes scanning the surrounding as though it was a picturesque scenery.

From a moonlit town to a starless sky. The Burial Mounds was indeed an anomaly, a land of the dead among the livings, a drop of yin in the ocean of yang. But this sinister place had a different allure to someone like him who had a purpose.

He took a deep breath. His feet, determined and practiced, took a step one at a time as though he had done this multiple times before. But his every step echoes the thumping of his heart, a chaos of excitement and fear, a blood rush numbing his mind.

This was the day that would give him the reason to smile again, a smile not of a Sect Leader, and definitely not a nervous smile he used as a façade to lure his enemy. He supposed many would be surprised if they saw a usually cowardly him walking alone in this kind of place, realizing that he's more than what he showed on the surface.

Sect Leader Nie, the 'Head Shaker', a sect leader who didn't know anything. He was no better in his youth. He was once a Nie Huaisang, a mediocre in cultivation, an idler relying on his sect, and which smarts was used in things such as painting fans, searching for birds, and skipping classes.

Until his brother died, leaving him with no sturdy shoulders to rely on, without the person who was so strict it once choked him but who's strictness he knew was also for his own good.

When his brother died and unceremoniously passed him the mantle of being the Qinghe Nie sect leader, the innocent Nie Huaisang also died, sinking underneath the ocean of his conscience.

In the surface he was still Nie Huaisang, a person who appeared more of a wealthy idler and the useless sect leader of Qinghe Nie. But the truth was behind this mask all left was a vengeful spirit who's only purpose in life was to take revenge for the death of his brother.

Nie Huaisang unconsciously slowed down his pace, hearing a sound of zither from a distance which notes brought about a different kind of hollowness in his heart, reminding him of the events that had happened in the past years that led him to tonight's decision.

In the past years, Nie Huaisang dedicated himself to a single-minded conviction of taking revenge. He indeed succeeded. He managed to kill the murderer of his brother with a borrowed knife, a knife held by that murderer's most trusted person. It's much painful, wasn't it? To be killed by the person you least expected, your sworn brother. It must have hurt. It should be. Because his brother also died in the same way. His brother died in the hands of a once trusted aide, a sworn brother.

LianFang- Zun, Jin Guangyao, Meng Yao! Just a thought of this person could make his stomach churn.

Nie Huaisang tightly clenched his hands into a fist to the point that his knuckles already turned white. The music was still playing in the background, strangely calming his mind even though he very well knew that it wasn't its purpose.

Nie Huaisang slowly unclenched his hand, his eyes dimming as though it had lost its life.

In the end...

After everything that he did for the sake of his revenge, did he still have the right to loathe that person? Could he still hate the murderer of his brother when he himself became just like him?

He manipulated people, caused the deaths of those that were innocent, and pushed his brother's dearest friend to be broken to pieces and atone to the crime that Nie Huaisang was the true mastermind.

When taking the road of revenge, you should dig two graves, they said. Nie Huaisang hadn't expected that he would pull many innocent people as his death bed.

Was it worth it? Or was what he did all worthless?

He really didn't know. All Nie Huaisang knew was there's no happiness in this revenge. How could he feel happiness? Could the death of Jin Guangyao bring his brother back?

Instead, it only left him with nothing but an empty heart, a hollowness that only his brother could fill.

He thought that what all he needed was revenge. The truth was he only needed his brother to be by his side.

He was so pathetic to let himself be eaten by his hatred. If his brother was here, he would surely chase Nie Huaisang with his saber and hack him to pieces for his sinister deeds.

Nie Huaisang let a soft chuckle to escape from his lips. If his brother was here... his brother could go hack him to pieces all he wants. As long as he's here...

No. Nie Huaisang's dead eyes suddenly flashed with a glint of determination.

He could still have his brother back. It's his purpose for coming here, wasn't it? With great resolve, Nie Huaisang strode deeper in Burial Mounds.

A moment later, the famed Demon Slaughtering cave came into his view with the familiar melody sounding from its within. It was Nie Huaisang's destination, but when he reached the entrance of the cave, he thoughtfully did not advance any further.

There's a person sitting in the middle of the cave, not minding the dirt against his pristine white robes, ignoring the traces of blood on the tip of his pale slender fingers as he strummed his guqin.

Nie Huaisang had realized, that was the very same place were the wronged Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian, had died. In the past years, this person had cleared the name of Wei Wuxian. But same to his brother, Wei Wuxian would also never comeback.

It might be the person's last effort. A remnant of the hopes that pushed him to hold on up until now. He was asking the spirits the question that he repeated over and over again for the past fourteen years, but this time it had a different weight into it.

The last lonely note of zither echoed in the deathly silent night like the person's last hope left in this world.

There was still no answer and this itself was the answer for the person playing the guqin.

"Hanguang-Jun, it's time," Nie Huaisang spoke with tension.

Two well known figures of the cultivation world and yet both had long since lost their reason to live. They lost it ages ago when the people dearest to them left with no way of coming back. There's nothing left that was tying them to this world, and if the only way to be with their loved ones again was to go back in time, they would take the risk even if they die in the process.

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[HIATUS-WILL RESUME UPDATING BY APRIL]

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Author's Note

I will be in a four-month-hiatus. I was supposed to take my board exam last year, but due to covid, it was cancelled. So here I am, going to review again. I'll be back. I promise!

Anyways, XuanZheng Era was an actual but fictional era as far as I can remember. The real XuanZheng Era only lasted for a few months before Emperor Wu died. Given this, please let me have the liberty to use the era 60 year cycle continuously without the emperor dying and changing the era name which is much of a hassle. If I'm historically wrong, please do inform me.