Capítulo 131: Chapter 131 - Three fates.
Wu Lei walked through a decrepit slum, passing a few narrow alleys and emerging in a hidden quarter of the Clay Nest. It was dark and he wasn't familiar with this part of the city, but a faint lantern and a bit of street smarts were more than enough to not get lost.
He soon entered the place his contact told him about, a warehouse storing house plants and other decorum for sale. There was only one person by the counter, a woman whose face he couldn't see.
"At last, we meet. Please, come in." She approached an old wooden door, opened it and pointed inside. Lei followed.
"That's… It?" Lei walked through a sit corridor, sat down on a guest bench and looked at the woman's face, unveiling under the lantern's dim light. She looked as if she was in her early thirties, and carried herself with a warm presence. Her bright green eyes were especially disposing, but Lei knew not to fall for her warmth. That's what comes before you get stung.
"What did you expect, a parade?" She smiled and poured him a cup of tea.
"Master Xiaodan always says this. I should tell you about him some time. Except he says 'fucking parade', not a regular one. Hehe."
"Swearing is not funny, young man. Please mind your manners in front of your mother," she said, her voice as warm as ever. Lei felt his blood start boiling.
"Is this what I get, after all these years? A lesson in manners? Hypocritical, don't you think? Teaching me how to behave, after what you did to me." No matter what I told myself, I didn't manage to restrain the urge to stab her, after all.
"Lei… My son…" She sighed. "You know how much I regret what I did, but this was the best choice. They'd hurt you otherwise. Still, having to abandon you, not even giving you an explanation, don't you think I am as much of a victim as you are?"
"What? Such blatant hypocrisy. Do you know how much you've hurt me? How much you've hurt dad?"
"What about him? I tell you one thing, son. You never knew him. Not a single person could bear him, not even he himself! So he went out and got killed, couldn't even do it by his own hand, chose an easy way out. Is this what you wanted to hear? Did you need this truth?"
"The truth? I don't recognize my mother! You were always so warm and gentle, at least to me, and then chose to make me broken. Forever. And now you have the gall to pretend that it was for my sake? Bullshit."
"My son… When you grow up, you'll see what I mean. The thing you fear the most, the thing you hate the most — it becomes you, and you perpetuate it. Will, talent, smarts, no matter what you arm yourself with — this is a battle you're bound to lose. Our lives are doomed to be a tragedy, no matter how much we struggle, the only way out is to learn to laugh through pain."
"I see now. You aren't responding to me, just ranting. It's all about you and your delusions, your sick ambitions and your twisted feelings that dictate everything about you. You act impulsively, then use all of your smarts to justify it afterwards. Pathetic."
"Everything that you just said, it applies to you. Funny, isn't it? That's what I am saying, there is no escape. And you aren't listening, you little retard."
"Retard? What's wrong with you? To do all these things, then to insult me? You'll be lucky to walk out of here alive!"
"To threaten your own mother like this, isn't it unhinged? You're unstable. Dangerous to yourself, and to your loved ones. You survived a war, Lei, but the warmth you cherished was left behind. Lost forever. You're scarred, and these scars can never get healed."
Lei paused for a moment, then squinted and leaned forward.
"When I was a kid, and you taught me alchemy, didn't you say that scars don't need healing? That scars are our story, and we are a story, not the letters? This can only mean one thing."
"No… Please don't kill me, Lei."
"Sorry. You aren't my mother."
"Fine." She raised her hands, accepting her fate. "You win. But you aren't Lei, either, are you? Or rather, why are you Lei?"
***
Rui Ming woke up after a long nap, his trusty sword sheathed at the belt. He lived in a camp at the bottom of one of the rocks of Last Gale cliffs, and had to fight for his life daily. It didn't seem like combat was a problem, though, as he slew the elementals and bandits alike in droves.
His bags of holding filled with loot, with a new set of expensive dao shards, he knew that he was one of the strongest Foundation stage cultivators in the world. To this day, no peer has matched his fencing skills. He saw the worried faces of his masters as they marginally beat him before, and he knew what came next. The plotting.
Stop giving him these manuals, slow him down!
Don't show him this stabbing technique, he'll humiliate our chosen prodigy in the next month's tournament, the voice whispered.
Don't give him this dao shard, he'll get too cocky. Wait, what? Not giving him dao shards only improved his qi control, and now he invents techniques all the time? Absurd.
Rui Ming paid them no attention, completely detached.
Big fish in a small pond, sounds fun at first, but it can drive a man crazy. He walked through a rare, diminished forest, past the ten corpses of the bandits he killed and looted yesterday, until he hit a familiar trail.
Let's talk to the man.
"Please come in. You brought the goods? Ready to trade, eh?" The old man asked, writing something down in a ledger with an ink soaked brush.
"Trade? More like get ripped off, given our last transaction. You have to do better than this."
"You have to consider your social standing, young man. How about you spend a few years proving yourself, then we can talk bargaining."
Rui Ming shrugged.
"Don't know where I'll be in a few years. In fact, I don't know if I'll be."
"Your grim demeanour is bad for digestion. My belly is rejecting the afternoon prunes as we speak. Let's hurry up, before I bloat and explode."
"The prunes? You're too old for these, consider chicken soup. You can afford it, given how much you ripped me off the last time."
"Oh, you are quite a prune yourself. One weird fruit, anyone ever tell ya?"
"All the time. But it's a tolerable condition, just need to hang out with the other weirdos."
"Spare me your life story, kid. Open your bags."
"Sure… Let me see."
Rui Ming tried untying the bag, but the knot refused to budge. He was tired and felt like his fingers were too soft and thick for it.
"Oh, give it to me!" The man grabbed the bag from his hands, annoyed, then poured out its contents. "Tell me about these."
"Oh. That's a bunch of different dao shards. These are water path, and these two are sword path. That's what the bandits had on them."
"And that little thing here, what's that?"
Rui Ming leaned closer, then picked it up. It was wet, but firm to the touch.
"I think that's my tooth. I don't know why I put it here." He became awkward and nervous, and felt like he made a massive blunder. He knew that he was going to get scolded now, and the anticipation was driving him crazy.
"You stupid half-breed. Don't you worry, I never expected more from you. When two incompatible things are combined, the result is shit. You were lucky to be born the best version of shit, but you are still shit. Go gloat about your skills and talents somewhere else, all I see is a guy who can't open the bag! I'll take the items. Fuck off."
Rui Ming stared at his feet, then walked away hastily. He didn't want the trader to see his eyes get wet. He walked some more, and sat down on a park bench, surrounded by orange lanterns. A young woman sat beside him. She was wearing a red, fiery dress, and wore expensive heeled shoes, ornamented with gold.
He was too embarrassed to look up at her face.
"What a nice night, huh? I enjoy this city." Her voice was upbeat, which cut like a razor tonight.
"It's not a city, it's a bunch of cliffs. Bandits roam here."
"What bandits? No bandits ever attacked me here. Maybe you should try looking friendly, like I do?"
"What's the point? You don't have to try. Spend all this effort, become a worse version of you? Why? Forget it, it's all pointless."
"What do you mean?" The girl's voice sounded upset now. Rui Ming was sorry for opening his mouth, all he did was ruin someone else's evening. She genuinely wanted to help, just couldn't.
"We are born, do things then die. That's it. One could say that it means we should have fun and enjoy our lives, but it's also stupid. You should just do whatever. Or don't. It doesn't matter."
"That's a sad outlook. You see that butterfly over there?" She pointed at a machaon that landed on a lantern across the street. "It's just a butterfly. None of that ruminating, it's born, lives a few days, flies around and dies. Isn't it beautiful?"
"It is, but it doesn't…" Rui Ming was about to finish his phrase, but the butterfly crossed its wings and fell on the floor. It clinged to the light till its last moment.
"I think it mattered. Are you still worried about him? His life not mattering."
"My father? This came out of nowhere, you tried to make it natural, but you failed. Is this why you sat down here in the first place? To talk about my father?"
No response.
"Fine. I guess I am still not over it. Everything that he was was stolen from him. His language torn from his memory, all the loved ones from his previous life forgotten. He died, and was forced into a second life as a cruel joke. Then got himself killed, and I am just a byproduct of this story. I know my fate is not the cruellest, but I still ache, even if some like Lei or Xin had it worse."
"How so?"
"Well, Lei's mom died when he was a kid, and he never met his dad. Mine loved me, he just couldn't cope with his inner demons, and took a slow way out. Still gave me a years of being a good father.
Xin… It's not just his mom leaving, he also seems broken. Fundamentally. These two, they keep struggling, like frogs in the well beating the milk with their failed jumps, making it into butter. Me? I've lost this edge. It feels like I'll break if the wind gusts the other way."
"Worry about Lei, Xin will soon run out of steam, I promise."
"You think so?" Rui Ming frowned. "I always looked up to him. He lifts those around him up, but can't lift himself. I still commend him for this."
"He'll snap when he realises this. Then he is a goner."
Rui Ming stared at his feet, confused. Does it matter if they catch up to me? Is she right about Xin? He touched the empty tooth gap with his tongue, and felt the exposed nerve. It shot up in sharp pain.
***
Xin felt as if he had crossed the line. Too awake to snap back into the dream's clutches, too sleepy to wake up. Stuck in limbo, his head heavy and aching, he felt like he'd die if he opened his eyes. At least there was a warm body to his side, must be Erdeni.
He tossed and turned in the bed, his breath uneven. At least the morning wood was there, a trusted companion in his twenty years of life. He pressed it at Erdeni's thigh and squeezed her butt with his hand.
So soft, so big. Too soft. Too big. Wait. Too massive, too fat, too soggy!
Xin opened his eyes and jumped up, his shaft and pointing finger both pointed at the person opposite of him. Her image doubled, but he was sure that it was an old woman.
"Aggh! Fuck! What the fuck?!" His voice broke as he let out a pathetic scream. His martial spirit rose up, even if his head was still spinning from standing up suddenly.
Is this the Moss Bush Demoness?!
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