章 2: Gu Yue's Twin Fangs
During a certain night, an incessant rain fell upon the Gu Yue clan atop the Qing Mao Mountain.
Inside a certain bamboo house in this clan, in a room stood the teenaged Fang Zheng with a stunned expression.
"The world was ending. Fang Yuan was refining it all!" He thought. "In this gu cultivation world, having reached the pinnacle of power; having become a rank 9 immortal venerable, Fang Yuan decided to eliminate every creation in order to obtain immortality for himself. The cruelty of his then surpassed every evil thing he had done over who knows how many lifetimes?
"Fang Yuan had first refined a legendary immortal gu worm- 'Spring Autumn Cicada' that allows its user to burn their life force, gu worms, accumulated dao marks and experience to travel upwards in the legendary river of time, and go back in time!
"Fang Yuan thus reincarnated several times, dodging death, adversities, and even the designs of the Heaven's Will, and committed numerous crimes, and got powerful enough to climb to the top of the world!
"To think that even he who outsmarted the heavens and the earth, and defeated more than one immortal Venerables, could actually perish at my hands!
"But here I am; alive, and for sure I do not own the spring autumn cicada. Fang Yuan must have used it after I self-detonated to take him down with me.
"Although it could just have been because of some other killer move of Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, peace be upon her. And Heaven's Will definitely had a hand in it. It has, in everything that happens.
"I have certainly been chosen to stop Fang Yuan from destroying the world. I can… no, I must stop him from killing all the countless people that he did in his past lives, and more. I am the only one who knows his future and the threat that he poses to the world.
"Should I go kill him right now? Can I? I am currently a mortal. Even my primeval aperture hasn't been awakened, and I clearly remember how many times Fang Yuan beat me with his bare fists and kicks alone." Fang Zheng thought with some embarrassment.
"No. Killing Fang Yuan will have to wait. Then again, he might be thinking the same right now. Although logically, he won't try such a thing as he isn't motivated by thoughts of destroying the world. Fang Yuan is a cold, calculative demon. As long as people don't get in his way, they can go aside and scram. He doesn't need to care about them.
"It wasn't until the battle between ancestor Gu Yue and lord Sky Crane, that Fang Yuan fully revealed his demonic nature and slaughtered our remaining clansmen to raise his cultivation aptitude through a blood path gu. I thus have more than a year on my hands to deal with him."
***
Fang Yuan was gazing at the raining sky standing by the window and a shower of raindrops was drizzling upon him. He was deep in thoughts; smiling faintly.
Creak…
The door of his room opened and Fang Zheng entered.
"Brother, why are you standing in the rain by the window side?" Fang Zheng asked.
There was silence in the room as the twins stared at one another. The two immortals had traveled back in time in their younger selves' bodies. The animosity between them was deep but when Fang Yuan looked at Fang Zheng, he felt absolutely nothing. And when Fang Zheng looked at Fang Yuan, he felt an indescribable mixture of reminiscence, shock, fear and hope.
Who knew how many times had this scene repeated itself?
"It's you huh? My twin little brother." Fang Yuan said, raising his eyebrows but maintaining a cold expression.
Fang Zheng stared into his eyes. He wasn't afraid of Fang Yuan like he used to in his previous life. Now he was even more afraid, but brave as well.
To stare in the eyes of death is one thing; to stare at the abyss is another. Right now, Fang Zheng was staring at the abyss of the demonic path. Fang Yuan had inherited, absorbed and assimilated it into himself. The frigid iciness of his mature soul was unparalleled.
Fang Zheng felt pressured and lowered his eyes before snapping them up again. "No! We haven't even fought yet. I am not the same Fang Zheng anymore. I will be better, stronger and more confident. Only I can stop Fang Yuan!" Fang Zheng thought.
Decades long life and numerous adversities had humbled him, but also refined his soul and character. He did not 'wish' to defeat Fang Yuan. He 'knew' that he must defeat him. How could he show weakness thus even before the battle had begun?
"I noticed that your window wasn't shut so I came over to close it." Fang Zheng lied. "Tomorrow is the Awakening Ceremony. It's so late at night and you still haven't gone to bed yet?"
"You may leave." Fang Yuan said coldly after some thought.
"Hmph, then I'll see you tomorrow." Fang Zheng said and left.
"If he realized that I've also been reborn, he didn't show it in his expressions." Fang Zheng thought as he walked in the darkness.
"One cannot be sure, as Fang Yuan is too good at acting. But it seems he either hasn't realized or simply doesn't care. Right; so what if I was a rank 8 gu immortal? Rank 9 is the real deal. They sit at the top of the hierarchy and even all the rank 8s of the world combined cannot hope to harm a rank 9 immortal.
"Regardless, I'll play pretend and hope he doesn't realize my reincarnation, because then he might still consider me a threat and kill me if I let my guard down. I might not get enough chances to deal with him either if he's suspicious of me." Fang Zheng thought and retreated to his room.
"Tomorrow is the Awakening Ceremony. Things are going to change drastically and in my favor for a year. I must make good time of it." Fang Zheng thought and went to rest. He could not possibly sleep, knowing that the most dangerous demon of all time was under the same roof, but he still gave his body rest, though his mind swam into the numerous memories of his previous life.
***
As the morning arrived, the spring rain subsided, leaving the Qing Mao Mountain with a picturesque scenery of mist, wet flora, and carried the fragrance of wet soil, woods and flowers.
Fang Zheng looked out from a window and gazed at the natural beauty, inhaling deeply.
"Beautiful…" He murmured. This was his home. His birthplace. He felt nostalgic and happy to see it again. The houses of Gu Yue village were made of wood and green bamboo. The numerous houses created another traditional aesthetic beauty on their own. All these houses had at least 2 floors; the ground floor was made of wooden stakes and pillars, and the first floor was the living area. The uneven terrain of the mountain was the cause of it.
A year from now, this mountain would be turned into an ice sculpture and everything would die off.
Thinking of that dreaded future, Fang Zheng frowned.
"There's one more person to take care of." He thought. "Bai Ning Bing must be slain."
Bai Ning Bing was another demon that threatened the world, although not at the same level as Fang Yuan. Even if that person wasn't as threatening, Fang Zheng would have thought of dealing with them in accordingly the best way because both Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing were from the demonic path in the gu cultivation world, while Fang Zheng represented the righteous path.
Since the beginning of cultivation, these two paths had conflicted with each other. These weren't gu paths but ways of life.
Demonic path was the path of uncaring brutality, of selfishness, ruthlessness, anger, hatred and inhumanity.
Righteous path was the path of kindness, friendship, love, compassion, progress and humanity.
Or so the people believed. There were enough demonic path gu masters whose values could put the righteous path to shame. An example would be Feng Jiu Ge who rampaged throughout the central continent as a demonic gu immortal when his friends were slandered by the righteous side, and defeated everyone before a truce was formed and he was gradually pulled into the righteous path where he shined just as brightly as in the demonic path.
Similarly, there was no lack of evil righteous path gu masters or immortals who committed crimes, backstabbed their allies, and bullied the weak, while keeping up righteous appearance.
Fang Zheng himself had gone through the motions of life in different ways. Originally he was a depressed self conscious child who bullied his weaker elder brother Fang Yuan. Then in the next life, due to the changes brought over by Fang Yuan's reincarnated demonic self, Fang Zheng was full of resentment but was righteous as best as he could; eventually maturing after numerous difficulties; truly becoming a good person.
In this life…
Different situations compelled people to act differently. This was where their core values came into play. A monk might end up becoming a gangster in a ruthless world; but when facing a situation where he could save an innocent child by sacrificing himself; he would not need to think twice.
Core values were crucial; and they were difficult to determine in teenagers who were still evolving as humans. In their previous lives, Fang Zheng and Fang Yuan acted differently as their core values weren't established.
Now however, after having lived such long lives and gone through numerous experiences of different kinds, their values had finally been established.
Fang Yuan's core value was- no value. 'To hell with values. If becoming a Buddha will make me immortal, then I'll become a buddha. If killing Buddha will make me immortal, I'll kill him.' Fang Yuan would say so.
Fang Zheng's core value, on the other hand, was- justice. He believed in justice. He craved justice. Justice for his beloved who was butchered by Fang Yuan. Justice for his family and clan members. Justice for his friends, his allies, the world in general. He had tried tenaciously to stand for justice and to uphold it as best as he could.
It was not easy. A demonic gu master/immortal might be freer than a righteous one to ensure justice. The latter one would be heavily pressured by the rules and regulations, the corruption of the clan/sect, the limited authority of lower ranks, the glaring priority for the majority, would make it difficult for a righteous gu master/immortal to stand for justice.
It was laughable. Fang Zheng's hands were dyed in blood too. He too had murdered countless variant humans for sake of upholding the said righteousness, preserving humanity; enforcing Heaven's Will and to do the overall the better good by committing lesser evil. But he still fought for justice.
Fang Zheng rubbed his face and mussed his hair, groaning.
"I should have been better. I should have done better. I should have gained more power. Power is the only thing that can help one make a difference in this brutal world." He said to himself. "Were I powerful like an immortal Venerable, I could force those pitiful variant humans into submission and wouldn't have to kill them. With enough power, I could have upheld justice for the bullied weaker gu masters and immortals. I could have even protected the mortals. And most importantly, I could have stopped Fang Yuan!
Power VS Justice. That was yet another topic to ponder over but Fang Zheng realized that time was nigh to set out and attend the Awakening Ceremony.
After the usual morning routine, Fang Zheng exited his room and went to Fang Yuan's. He needed to keep up appearances and play with his brother's mind games too, while gaining enough power to kill him and get away with it too.
His line of thought was broken as he heard a familiar voice. His steps slowed down as he entered Fang Yuan's room and saw a beautiful girl caressing the folds of Fang Yuan's shirt lovingly.
"…" Fang Zheng's heart leapt to his mouth at once and he felt unable to utter anything. Before him was the girl he could never forget.
The love of his life- Shen Cui.
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