Mother...Father....farewell

Xing Kai’s eyes cleared of the blackness that covered them, and blood started to slowly suffuse to his skin, returning it to a pale tanned colour. His throat was torn extremely badly, and his internals suffered horribly by losing so much of his Heart’s blood.

I swear I will get revenge for all of you. I refuse to live as a weak person in this world anymore.

Xing Kai lowered his head and saw the village square, the pool of blood he was in and the ashes scattered about the destroyed homes.

How did I get here?

A bewilderment expression appeared on Xing Kai’s blood stained and pale face. But he shook his aching head, and stood up slowly. He looked around at the broken remains of his village and its people.

This time, instead of tears, a rage entered Xing Kai’s eyes. An all-consuming rage bubbled up from his heart and filled his mind. This strange new feeling felt comfortable, as the shroud of anger covered his eyes and blanketed over his mind.

Xing Kai made feral grunting and growling sounds deep in his chest, and took slow steps out of the square. There were all kinds of strange weapons on the ground, but Xing Kai picked up a sword from among them.

It did not fit well in his hands. It felt far too heavy and unwieldy. Never the less he held on and dragged it across the ground beside him, snarling and grinding his teeth as he walked. He left the village square and followed the widest street out of the village. There were many pairs of bloody footsteps on the cobbled ground, all leading out to the woods in the distance.

Memories flashed through his mind as he walked over the footsteps of the destroyers of his home. Memories of Song Ping, Zhang Lei, Gang Wei and Lo Yanmei flitted across his mind, making him sink further into despair. He couldn’t cry, or make much sounds other than grunts and growls, but his face twisted with sorrow, and increasing rage.

It was only now that he consciously faced the disaster that had befallen his peaceful and happy life. He could only just about hold onto his sanity as the images appeared again and again. He could not bear to go back and give them a funeral, but neither could he stop the torment that racked him as he imagined their rotting corpses.

He felt he would surely go insane if he went back to cremate them, but he knew he would forever be tortured by the regret if he did not.

If I must suffer for the rest of my life with this torment, then so be it. As long as I can crush all those that have hurt me and my loved one…then I will endure the pain.

Xing Kai fuelled himself with more anger to distract himself from the sense of duty he felt to cremate the villagers; he convinced himself that getting revenge was more important, so he didn't have to go back to that painful place. Just collecting wood that he could use to burn all the villagers would be impossible, and he would not burn them raw. He didn't have the strength to, so he simply focused on his revenge.

Xing Kai dragged the tip of the long steel sword along the cobbled ground. The clattering sound accompanied his growling in the night. His red rimmed, vein filled eyes stared ahead, as if already seeing his nemeses, miles away in the distance.

He followed the bloody trail through the forest doggedly. He was hungry, thirsty, his mind splitting with ugly thoughts, his heart aching and his body racked with pain. Each step felt like he was shouldering the entire village on his back.

The tracks became thinner and patchier until eventually, Xing Kai noticed that he was lost and there was no trace of the tracks to be seen.

No problem...I will still find you...you cannot hide from me

Xing Kai continued to walk through the woods randomly, determined that if he spent enough time that he would eventually encounter them or their tracks again. For an indeterminable amount of time he spent dragging the hefty sword around and not finding a thing. The woods were a cold and foreign place, in the night.

Xing Kai eventually stumbled through a ring of densely packed trees, and onto the small blue pond he had shown to the others. Xing Kai winced sharply in pain as he remembered the scene of them playing together by the water. But he still fell beside the small healing pond and cupped water into his mouth veraciously. He then lay down beside the water, having almost drank all of it. He panted and rubbed his aching chest, feeling a weak itching sensation.

Xing Kai could not stop himself from remembering how excited he was to find this place. He was eager to share it with his friends, since it was sheltered by the large sweeping trees easy to climb, and had a pool. It had felt really warm and safe, but now it felt cold and haunted, as if the trees were invaders coming to snatch him, or jailors standing together to imprison him.

A faint rustling sound could be heard beside him, and he looked over to see a strange nest of leaves... A blue little bird poked its head out from among the leaves and chirped weakly but cheerfully.

Xing Kai narrowed his eyes and felt contempt in his heart as he looked at the little bird. The longer he looked the more he loathed the weak but happy little bird. It was weak and would have died had they not come to help it.

I am also too weak and have lost everything because of it, while you…you luckily had us to save you. You’re weak just like me, but you lose nothing, while I lose everything. How is that fair?

Xing Kai snarled and felt great injustice that he suffered while it didn't. He raised his sword before he had a moment to doubt his decision, and swung it down on the bird in a fit of rage, and jealousy.

Xing Kai lifted his sword up to look at the crushed bird. He salivated as he saw the exposed red meat and the warm blood dripping down the bird. He felt a savage glee emanating somewhere from within his mind for killing the bird. He felt disgusted with its weakness and inability to defend itself, so he simply chose to take its life from it. He grinned at the dead bird with contempt and superiority

But it was innocent...even if it was weak, did it really deserve death?

This thought rose up from within his mind also and clashed with his anger and contempt. He felt the hatred for the bird quickly fall away.

I cannot become like them...forgive me little bird, I did not think before I acted, I have committed a grave mistake

Xing Kai tightly shut his eyes and slapped his forehead 3 times, leaving a very red mark. He then picked up the little blue bird and buried it, without another thought of eating it. As he worked he painfully reminded himself that he and his friends had worked to care for the bird. Yet he had killed it in a fit of self-loathing and anger, to satisfy his own arrogant desire for superiority and the feeling of power.

Xing Kai’s old beliefs and thoughts still held greater sway than the new thoughts he had of the world.

Xing Kai left immediately afterwards, longing to leave behind the feelings of guilt that he felt swelling up again. He ran through the dark foreign woods still pulling along the slightly bloody sword. It was not long before he was deep into the forest again and charging about blindly in anger.

Xing Kai happened upon a trail left in a mud patch and followed it with renewed determination.

After a few hours, he finally set his sights upon those that destroyed his home. All were of different ages, but all were men. They wore blood stained clothes of higher quality than the poor linen that the villagers wore. They also carried high quality steel weapons and even high quality steel and leather armour. All blood encrusted and slightly dented from constant use.

They were cheering and singing merrily in a distant clearing around a large camp fire. Xing Kai could only make out a few figures vaguely from so far, among the bushes.

At least one will die here tonight...and I make sure that one of you are among those numbers

Xing Kai realised, as he chased their trail, that he stood almost no chance of winning. Yet he also knew bitterly well that he couldn’t just train and hunt them down later. He simply did not have the methods to preserve his life in the forest, let alone become stronger. As for going to another village or some town…he didn’t even know where to begin looking for them.

So Xing Kai resolved himself to killing as many as he could in exchange for his life. At least he wouldn’t die as a coward and he would have honour enough to face his family and friends.

Xing Kai crept closer carefully in the dark, from bush to bush. He could see a few sentries that stood near the bright camp edge. The guarding sentries were very lax, drinking alcohol and joking about with the other men, but still standing in a very well-lit area. Xing Kai crept to a safe distance and watched the men.

“They were hardly worth the effort”

“They may be poor but they had some women so there was a bit of fun there”

“Bah the women were all brutish and not fit for anything more than birthing foot soldiers”

The men’s loud discussions and unrestrained laughter spread all the way to Xing Kai’s ears.

“Actually, there was this one little girl with...”

Xing Kai moved away, refusing to hear anything else. The more he heard the more he felt like he would lose what little control he had. He gritted his teeth, and with shaking hands crawled away. He lay in waiting for one of the men to leave on his own, rather than charging at them, as he felt he absolutely must kill one of them. Charging at them now, his mind still understood, would fail quickly.

Xing Kai watched the men gesturing and roaring in laughter. They belittled the lives they had taken and the way they tormented them so much that Xing Kai was beginning to feel that there was something fundamentally wrong with these men.

How many people must they have killed, to think so little of the massacre they created? Killing innocent people is fun? Or are villagers worth less than livestock to them?

Xing Kai could only grind his teeth and clench his hands into small tight fists. His outrage shone from his eyes, and they began turning red again. Feelings of hatred and blood lust rose up inside of him and he felt an uncontrollable desire for killing. He let it wash over him, and drown out his painful thoughts; Xing Kai did not care why they destroyed his home with such impunity, he just wanted to get his revenge.

However Xing Kai was not entirely without luck, as the person who first emerged from the camp was the very man who grabbed Lo Yanmei and directly brought about her death. The chuckling man loosened his belt as he walked and after entering not too deep into the woods, lowered his trousers and relieved himself against a tree.

As the man moaned in relief Xing Kai stealthily creeped closer, while holding the sword half way up the blade so he could control it easier. Without the brutish man even noticing, Xing Kai had already slipped behind the man.

Fortunately, the trees concealed the man from the camp sentry's sight.

Xing Kai could hear the man sigh in relief and his pupils dilated as he focused on him. The man before him had pulled Lo Yanmei, as she kicked and screamed. She begged to be released, but they forced her to the ground. Xing Kai narrowed his eyes and silently crept even closer. He was surprisingly agile, making barely a sound.

Lo Yanmei’s eyes appeared in Xing Kai’s mind. That moment she locked eyes with him. The next when she screamed with all her strength, as she was held down on the ground.

Xing Kai roared in his mind, releasing a growl from his damaged throat unintentionally.

Bastard, I won’t let you off no matter what

Xing Kai’s raging growl startled the man, who turned around expecting a bear. Instead he saw the flash of cold hard steel, and an icy pain shoot into his chest. The sword had not gone far at all, and was not a fatal blow at all. He started, as he looked down to see small, bleeding, trembling hands holding the sword that was in his chest.

Look me in the eyes! I want you to know that it was a lowly villager that finished you

Xing Kai drilled the man’s skull with his glaring eyes, and the man felt the sword sinking in slightly further. He looked up incredulously at Xing Kai’s merciless, enraged, red eyes. For a moment he thought Xing Kai looked like a demon, with such a pale but bloodied appearance, wearing blood stained clothes and an evil expression filled with fierce killing intent.

The man snorted in anger after a moment and prepared to swat the boy he saw before him, when he felt a painful jerk to his soul. He immediately focused inside his body, and felt his Heart’s blood being separated from his blood and rushing to his wound.

The man’s face whitened instantly. He trembled and looked again at Xing Kai. The same cold stare bore into him, as if he wanted to communicate something. The Heart’s blood was pulled straight out of the man’s body while he was still alive. As soon as all the drops came out, his soul was severed from his body, and the man died.

He died a tragic and an unthinkably excruciating death.

The strange pull on the Heart’s blood did not stop and pulled the blood straight through Xing Kai’s skin. It travelled up his Jingmai, his meridian channels, to his mind and his void like soul fragments. There the Heart’s blood gathered together before the soul fragment ring, as if being judged by an almighty King’s court. The Heart’s blood trembled before this dark force that pulled at it.

Xing Kai watched within himself in astonishment as the blood was refined by having the man's Will stripped from it and then condensed by strangely converting it between a blood mist form and then liquid to solid and then back to liquid state. Then this condensed liquid state refined Heart's blood was cycled back through his Jingmai into his body. He immediately felt his injuries heal slightly and his body strengthen. It was such a blissful feeling, like he was dipping into warm honey and he felt energy flow through his body. Neither his strength nor injuries had changed much strangely, but the refining and cycling process felt invigorating.

What was that?

The strange comforting sensation faded away slowly. Xing Kai noticed a warmth on his feet, and looked down to see blood trickling out of the man’s chest. Xing Kai pulled the blade out and hesitated. His eyes had dulled in their red colour and the shroud around his mind had retreated slightly under the effects of cycling the refined blood.

He squatted over the man who lay dead on the ground. He was one of the men, who hurt Lo Yanmei, but now he was dead mere hours after. Xing Kai felt his eyes water slightly and a powerful sense of justice and retribution permeate his body and mind. The anger and guilt in his heart, however, only strengthened. Since he managed to exact a small amount of revenge he would not hold back.

I know this vile, bastard’s life is not equal to yours, but at least he will no longer walk the earth Mei-er

The hatred and anger he suppressed when he killed the little bird and heard the men’s mocking words were completely unleashed, and he shivered with a thrill passing through him. The shroud that had subsided for a while had fallen again, but even heavier and more pressingly.

Do not think I will leave you in such a good shape after what you’ve done

The bitter snarl on Xing Kai’s young face, turned into a cold smile. He lifted the blade and let out the anger he felt for his father’s poor death.

Xing Kai was determined to leave the man’s corpse a hundred times worse than what he saw of the villager’s. What right did this man have to a proper sending off for reincarnation, when the innocent villagers he slaughtered did not receive one?

Having spent several minutes hacking and punching he fulfilled the regret of the villager’s by the smallest amount. He could feel the strange shroud of hatred and anger falling deep into his mind, as he mutilated the corpse. Most of his actions still remained his own, however.

He quickly pulled some leaves and branches over to cover the mess, and then retreated again. The unbridled rage in Xing Kai’s mind could not be stopped by him now and he gave into the emotions completely. His eyes darkened to a deep red now.

Xing Kai stood still and stared at the camp of cheering men. Men that had crushed dreams and ended the lives of hundreds for humour. The men were sharing fine alcohol and eating expensive meats from the village, while recounting the violence and cruelty with which they killed. They were boasting and congratulating one another.

Xing Kai could not bear it a second longer, and under the shroud of anger that bubbled up within him, sprinted forward straight to one of the sentries.

The sentry noticed him too late and could only gasp as Xing Kai swung the blade at the man's throat, his eyes glowing with his determination to exact his revenge. He would not show mercy, and he did not have the strength to care for chivalry.

Blood gushed out, but several drops of Heart's blood also appeared. These drops flew imperceptibly into Xing Kai, and straight to the soul fragment ring. It was refined and cycled around the body in a few moments, recreating the same indescribable, blissful feeling.

Xing Kai charged forward, and buried his sword in a drunken man who lay on the floor. The man gasped and suddenly felt unbelievable pain as his Heart's blood was pulled out.

A few people had noticed what was happening and warned the rest. No sooner had Xing Kai’s sword been buried into another drunk man beside the first, that men had gathered to attack him.

Even drunk and caught off guard, the men reacted with lightning speed.

Arrows whistled through the air and struck Xing Kai’s legs, shoulder and stomach. One narrowly missed out on tearing his pale cheek open and left a gouge instead as it flew past.

Xing Kai fell to his knees as pain filled his mind. Two more arrows hit him and went straight through his back and out through his sides.

Xing Kai erupted out a fountain of fresh red blood, and dropped the sword from his bleeding fingers.

He could just make out a couple of men with pig like faces, and a couple younger men besides them, sitting around a crate of discarded bottles and bones they were burning.

THEY…THEY MUST DIE WITH ME

Xing Kai roared in his mind and stood up with every bit of strength he could muster. His rage towered as he saw his parent’s killers not too far away him.

I WILL NOT BE A COWARD

Xing Kai howled furiously with his torn throat and staggered forward.

Suddenly a spear punched through his stomach and pushed straight into the ground meters away... Xing Kai lay on his back draining his blood into the dirt. All the anger in his mind billowed to such an extreme point that he felt his mind was splitting all over again.

One of the men came closer and sneered as he loomed over Xing Kai.

“The little village bastard must have tried to get revenge”

The twin pig faced men also sauntered over to stand above Xing Kai. They had the same vile look in their eyes as they did when his father begged them to kill his mother.

“He looks a little like that whore wom—” started the smaller pig faced man with a sneer.

“AAARRRGGG”

Xing Kai roared and threw a fist of dirt in the air. He broke the shaft of the spear in his stomach, with his arms, and swung it at the pig faced man, with every fibre of his being. The blow struck the man’s cheek with a light pat.

The two pig faced men were cultivators, not ordinary men. If he didn't rely on surprise, he would have been unable kill any of these men. In pure strength Xing Kai was still only an 11 year old, and vastly weaker than these men, who could twirl swords with ease that he could barely lift off the ground.

"Brat, are you that desperate to taste reincarnation?"

Xing Kai was pulled off the spear and casually slapped across his chest, before he could even bend his finger, by one of the men. He was sent flying, several meters away, retching several mouthfuls of blood and flesh. He could see with his fading vision that the camp was still in disorder. It only occurred to him now, that he should have been covered in arrows like Zhang Lei. Otherwise how could he have possibly survived so long?

Then he noticed the rumbling in the ground.

“....COMING...THE WEST”

“A ...OF T...NDRED...”

The voices faded away, as did Xing Kai’s vision.

I came so close...so close damn it...if I was strong none of this would have happened...weakness is my greatest sin

Everything became dark and quiet, and his mind slipped away into sleep.

His inconsequential Heart’s blood speck, with his crystalized defiant Will...had grown by half in size.