《Solitary Sovereign》2. Irreconcilable Fate
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One day after finishing his work early, Yun Fei decided to visit Sun Ming but as he was making his way to the spirit beast raising courtyard, he felt a strike on his back which made him tumble to the ground along with the food he made for Sun Ming.
"Hahahahaha" hearing the snide laughter behind him Yun Fei knew that it was just another person coming to bully him since he didn't have the ability to fight back.
"So you are the cripple that is being kept here to help the disciples vent out their stress!", a boy in purple robes hollered.
Although Yun Fei had a retort on the tip of his tongue, he didn't speak any aggressive words since he knew that he didn't have the power to protect himself in the outer sect anymore as his senior brother had graduated to the inner sect and Sun Ming was also just an old man in the later years of his life, Yun Fei could only passively swallow his anger and remember this debt.
"Break his stick so he can drag himself where he wants to go like the cripple he is, hahahahhahaha" after some time Yun Fei once again started heading towards Sun Ming's place, this time without his stick hopping with his one leg and sometimes tumbling to the ground.
Although Yun Fei was constantly being bullied and harassed, he never felt discouraged because he understood that this was the natural course of events and the only way he would ever be able to overturn it was by grasping strength in his hands so he could protect himself and take revenge for the injustices that he had to endure like gulping bitter water. He never forgot about the people who harassed him and carved their names inside his heart as debts that he had to repay in the future.
By the time Yun Fei reached the beast raising courtyard it was already close to sunset. Sun Ming's white teeth were shining in the evening sunlight and his eyes were bent into crescent moons as he widely smiled and greeted Yun Fei but that smile quickly turned into a frown as he noticed the disheveled state Yun Fei was in.
Sun Ming had always treated Yun Fei as his own grandson, he had watched over his growth since he was admitted to the outer sect by Yun Moxie. 14 years ago when Yun Fei was brought to the monastery, Sun Ming was responsible for his care till he grew old enough to take care of himself.
"What happened to you, did those kids mess with you again? Shouldn't you report this to the monk incharge of the scriptures?", Sun Ming said in an agitated tone.
"I don't really care, I can ask for help only from people who I can share life and death with like senior brother, Father and you. I am not comfortable asking for help from a stranger for something that was originally supposed to be solved by me. Although I am disabled, I want to live my life with pride and do not wish to owe others."
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Sigh “Do what you want to but take care of yourself, don't let them take it too far. Come on, it’s already very late, the roc is waiting to take you for a ride."
Once every week Yun Fei liked to go on rides on a spirit beast that was raised by Sun Ming.
Since Yun Fei was crippled, One of the things he liked the most was riding on a spirit beast and experiencing the winds and scenery from the skies. He would take a short round of the outer courtyard soaring through the clouds and around the mountains to clear up his heart of all the things that had happened to him in the week.
"Little Fei, it's not that I don't want you to cultivate now, it's just that your mental state has to sublimate, losing your naivete will lead to much greater benefits down the road…”, thought Sun Ming to himself as his eyes followed the figure of Yun Fei flying far away on the roc.
In these latter years of his life Sun Ming didn't have anything to do other than completing mundane tasks for this small monastery and raising little Fei. Although Yun Moxie was the one who brought Yun Fei to the monastery, he was far too busy and could only spend very little time with Yun Fei and it was Sun Ming who raised Yun Fei like his own grandson.
Sun Ming knew that this monastery wasn't anything too upright and also understood that Yun Fei had an extraordinary physique, but he had lost all of his cultivation base when he was chased by his enemies. He could display only a fragment of his power, that too for a very small amount of time after which he would have to bitterly leave this world. He was saving that for a truly important time and he could vaguely feel that trouble was brewing.
One month before the abbot was going to abdicate, Yun Fei was very happy today as his father had sent a servant to take him to the inner sect to meet him for some matter.
Yun Moxie was pacing around his room impatiently, the abbot was going to retire in just one month and even with his current cultivation and his sword which he started forging 14 years ago from the day he met that cripple he still wasn't sure of his victory which made him unsettled, so he had decided to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs to further the strength of his magical weapon in a last drive towards success.
Yun Fei kowtowed towards the middle aged man in white robes in front of him and respectfully greeted him. He had only respect towards this man as he was Yun Moxie who had saved him from the wilds preserving his life.
"Yun Fei, come here and sit down with your father, the food is already served. Since you are going to turn 15 soon, we can drink wine today, tell me about these past days."
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Yun Fei was overjoyed as he heard this and went with Yun Moxie as they sat down to eat the food.
"This, this is a 500 year old blood ginseng. Father... how can you treat me to something so precious..”
"Hahaha, this is to make up for everything I couldn't do for you, and for neglecting you since you were a child."
Yun Fei felt that this was the best day of his life as he poured his heart out to this person he admired and respected and also ate his fill of such delicious food, this was the first time he noticed that he could eat so much food and still not reach his limit.
He had eaten the portion of 5 or 6 normal people all of which was packed with energy that might make a normal mortal explode.
Slowly Yun Fei grew aware of his rapidly increasing drowsiness and blacked out.
"So you're finally awake." came an extremely familiar voice from far away, Yun Fei experienced a sense of weightlessness and it felt as if his eyelids were taped close while trying to open them.
Just as Yun Fei was finally able to focus his eyes on what was in front of him, a splash of water washed away all of his drowsiness.
"Yun Fei, your father has raised you since you were little, I was the one who saved your life or you would have been eaten by vultures that day in the Nan forest, I own you, I own the fate of your measly crippled life."
Yun Fei almost couldn't believe the words that he was hearing and the voice he was hearing those words in.
He was greeted with the sight of a white robed Yun Moxie standing in front of him with a crazed look in his eyes holding a very weird looking sword which faintly resonated with Yun Fei's very being.
"Well, it's not like you have a chance to refuse now, but I still have to tell you for my own satisfaction."
"Father, why are you doing this? What has happened to you? What do you want from me?" Yun Fei was shaken and almost couldn't recognise Yun Moxie in his current crazed state.
"Hahahahaha, since you are going to be refined alive, I might as well tell you what kind of monster you are to make your mind at ease.
I found you in the Nan forest battered, being eaten by vultures. The reason I saved you from there was not to do some charity or to uphold any ideals but because I saw your unprecedented vitality and how you did not die in such a perilous state and also the two towering horns on your head almost as big as your hands, those are the horns I used to make this flying sword and your blood is the nutrient I used to water it since 14 years ago."
"I am not a human...." As the words echoed in his ears Yun Fei felt as if the sky had fallen on him and kept repeating the same words with his eyes wide open as if in shock.
"Accept your fate! I am going to place this sword directly in your heart so it can absorb you cleanly. It can surely reach a level that would be coveted even by Gold Core level masters!", Yun Moxie stabbed the jagged looking sword directly in Yun Fei's chest.
After some time, Yun Fei suddenly broke into a laughter, this laughter was so grating to the ears and felt so crazed that if someone heard it they might be affected by illusions and feel themselves getting lost into it.
"I thought I was just a crippled person, lacking in fate but I still had a chance to cultivate with the help of my father but hahahahahahahahahhaha!"
Yun Fei started laughing again as if he had heard the most hilarious thing and with each exhale he felt pain in his chest from where the sword had been stabbed, although the sword felt painful, it didn't feel half as painful as the words spoken by his father Yun Moxie that kept ringing inside his head like large bells distorting and repeating.
"I was just like a chicken raised in a coop, waiting to be slaughtered, hahahahaha, I might even be worse than a chicken since a chicken may have inkling of it's inevitable fate but I was living in a dream, looking towards the future that didn't exist, worshipping someone who only thought of me as a material for his sword."
Yun fei laughed a lot, this was the first time in his life that he had laughed so much and then abruptly stopped as he could feel the suction in his chest absorbing his blood, he vowed that if there was ever something like reincarnation that this monastery preached about he wouldn't be such a weakling and wouldn't get extinguished without accomplishing anything.
This vow was so deeply seared in his psyche that he almost wrested away the suction of the sword that was wasting away his life source.
He closed his eyes feeling irreconcilable about his fate.
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