A man in black stood amidst mountains of corpses. Only blood trailed behind his steps as he slowly walked towards a certain man. The said man was leaning against one of those mountains of corpses, his breath shallow. With his eyes, devoid of desire to live, he glanced at the black-clothed man who was approaching him slowly. Once the man stopped in front of him, the man said with deep hatred, “Li Songbai.”
No response. The dying man remained motionless, stubborn to maintain his state. He then continued, “Li Songbai, I detest you.” The black-clothed man unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards the man - Li Songbai - with a hint of malice. “I’ve hated you since that time,” the man clenched the hand holding the hilt of his sword, long nails - no different from that of a beast - digging into his own flesh, drawing out red crimson blood. However, what he felt at that time wasn’t pain, only rage. “That time when you took everything away from me!” The black-clothed man pressed the edge of his sword to Li Songbai’s chest, right where his still beating heart resided.
‘Just a little bit more and it’ll be all over,’ the man thought. However, just when he was about to strike Li Songbai with his sword, his hands began to tremble, making his sword falter. He gritted his teeth, ‘Just push and he’ll be gone forever! Your revenge will be fulfilled and you’ll finally avenge your master!’
But why? He had killed countless people before this and in front of him was only a man close to his death. Why was he hesitating? The hand holding the sword tightened as he stilled his heart this time.
His movement however, stopped just before he pierced the soft flesh of the dying man, hearing him, “My precious shidi1师弟, means junior brother of the same sect, I’m sorry.” Then his eyes met with his former shixiong - the senior brother he had always secretly envied for their master’s whole attention - who now was on death’s door.
Li Songbai, his shixiong, smiled tenderly at him, just like in the past. Before - before he betrayed their own master for his position. The happy memories before all that flashed before his eyes. Li Songbai gave him a gentle smile before closing his eyes as if he had given up his life to atone for his sins - as if he accepted his death wholeheartedly.
Li Songbai said with his weak voice, “Shidi, I’m sorry for not protecting you enough. It’s my fault for not explaining anything and letting you go through all that… “ His sentence was cut middle through as he coughed out some blood.
Li Songbai drew a sharp inhale and while trembling, “Shidi has become so strong he surpassed this incompetent shixiong. I really would like to see you grow up with my own eyes but before I knew it,” Li Songbai let out a cough again, with some lumps of his internal organ this time. “Ah, I see. It’s almost my time.” He still managed to say a few words more before completely unable to, “Shidi, my lovely shidi. Forgive this shixiong.”
During the time Li Songbai was talking, he held himself back from snapping at him. For the longest time already, he had wanted to hear the explanation from his shixiong directly. So many ‘why's' had always haunted him his whole life. And now… It’s not an explanation he got. Instead, he got anything but an explanation. ‘It’s not fair,’ he thought.
“It’s not fair…” Tears rolled down his blood stained cheeks endlessly. He let his tears flow, not wiping them as he yelled, “It’s not fair! You should’ve… just become someone I hate the most until I die. Why…”
CLANK—!
He dropped the sword in his hand, “Why?! Why must you be nice to me, apologize to me, someone who had hurt you?!” He fell onto his knees and started to howl like an inhumane creature. In complete grief, he didn’t notice the hand reaching out to his head.
Li Songbai, with his weak hands, touched the younger man’s head affectionately before heaving his last breath. Just before he lost his consciousness, Li Songbai sent out the last bit of his qi2气, Vital energy to him without the latter knowing about it. The man in black lifted his head a bit too late and watched the hand gently caressing his head fall onto the ground, he stammered, “S-shixiong?”
His breath became hitched, then He bit his lower lip as he slowly moved carefully to Li Songbai’s side. Right then, he could see clearly the expression his former shixiong had right before his death. Peace and relief painted his face even in death, as if Li Songbai had been waiting for this and was finally released from his wait. He had never seen his former shixiong like this, not even when their previous master woke up from a long coma. Why? Why was he so relieved?
In any case, if he still wanted an explanation, Li Songbai could no longer answer him. Not in this life at least. His hand trembled when he touched the no longer moving body. His mysterious ability was activated automatically once he touched a dead body, extracting that person’s memories. Meaning, his now dead-shixiong’s memories flew into his head. He never intended to do that. He never and he wouldn't dare.
The more Li Songbai’s memories were transferred into him, the worse his frown was and the more his heart ached. He gently wrapped his arms around Li Songbai’s motionless body and pulled it into his embrace. Li Songbai’s body eventually became cold to touch and he brushed Li Songbai’s hair from his ghostly pale face, caressing the scarred face carefully . Staring at the peaceful face in his hand, full with regret, he mumbled, “Shixiong, why didn’t you say anything?”
He knew Li Songbai couldn’t hear him nor could he answer him. Still, he held him close. He felt as if Li Songbai would disappear from him if he didn’t hold him any tighter. He stayed like that, ignoring the screams around him. Anyway, there was no one stupid enough to disturb the Demon Lord while he was exuding a murderous aura at anyone getting closer to him.
And even if one was so stupid they had pig brain for their brain and approached the Demon Lord despite that, their deaths would not look pretty.
After who knew how long, the Demon Lord let out a dark chuckle. His revenge now had no meaning. All his efforts were in vain. Using the abundant qi in his dantian3丹田, acupuncture point three inches below the navel, or the larger area of body three inches below the navel where one's qi resides, the Demon Lord called forth his sword. The sword which he had abandoned earlier, was vibrating, looking like it was happy to be called by its master again. However, not long after, it hesitated.
Sensing his sword’s hesitation, the Demon Lord called out its name, “Mo Xuan4魔璇, Demonic Jade!” With its master’s command, It could only reluctantly obey. It flew at great speed and not even a second later, it was in its owner’s hand. The black jade as its blade, somehow gleamed red under the sky and red mist akin to that of blood, followed. The Demon Lord used his other hand to put down the limp body he had been holding onto the ground.
The Demon Lord kneeled in front of his shixiong's lifeless body and bowed down a few times, his forehead touching the blood-stained ground.
Once he had done so, the Demon Lord glanced at Li Songbai for the last time and left his side. The red mist became a gale so strong it would cut anyone near it to pieces. That gale surrounded Li Songbai fiercely, protecting it from harm’s way.
The Demon Lord looked at the sword he was wielding and said, “Shixiong, I hope,” He sent out his qi to make his sword fly forward swiftly. “You won’t scold me too much in the afterlife.” The Demon Lord closed his eyes and directed the sword at himself. His sword flew past his neck with haste.
SLASH—!
The Demon Lord gazed at the red moon and slowly disintegrated into the air.
Just like that, only silence remained. Both the rumbling sky and the martial artists became silent as they just spectated the end of the greatest and strongest Demon Lord to ever exist in the mortal world.
That time, the only remain of The Demon Lord, Mo Xuan, vibrated and shone brightly under red moon.
ー End of Prologue ー
Thank you so much for the prologue! 🥰 I'm so curious to see what was the misunderstanding between Shixiong and Shidi, and what happened to their Shizun~
Thank you for enjoying it! (Ｔ▽Ｔ)/