Liling

"Yea, I would like to believe that we are family now." Liling nodded her head, which made Zhangsun Shan smile even more. However, he tried his best to hold on to his excitement.

"I see. Now that we're family, why aren't you allowing me to grab that book?" He asked.

"Well, I said I believe that we're a family. However, we aren't a family just yet." She replied.

"What do you mean?" He tilted his head in confusion. She said that they were family and then denied it at the same time. He really didn't know what to believe at that point.

"We're going to the shrine tomorrow. Once you get the blessings of the elder, you will officially be a member of the Tao sect." She replied.

"Tao sect? Elder?" Zhangsun Shan never expected Liling to belong in any sect. So, this was entirely a new information for him.

"The elder of the long forgotten Tao sect. This book was his to begin with. We kept hold of it and passed it to the future generations. As for me, I didn't have any to call my future generation—until you came by accidentally. Maybe, it wasn't an accident after all. Maybe, it was fate—fate for us to meet. Anyway, tomorrow we'll be heading to the shrine. I'll give you this book after the ceremony." She replied as she gently stroked his hair.

#

Next morning. Zhangsun Shan was all excited about the event that was gonna happen today. He was gonna be a member of the Tao sect. However, that's when he was reminded of the Taiyi sect. He felt like he was betraying his sect. He felt sad doing so. However, in life, change is imminent. He believed that this was something that his seniors in the Taiyi sect would've approved of.

"Zhangsun Shan! Can you please go to the forest and pick some flowers for me? I think the elder would like a flower crown." Liling requested.

"It's a statue, Liling. It wouldn't care." Zhangsun Shan snorted.

"Cheeky boy! Are you trying to make me do the work? I'm old, you know?" She screamed.

"There you go again. Pulling out the old card when it's beneficial for you. Tell me, who's cheeky now!" He pouted as he spoke.

"Come on, now! Please pick the flowers out for me, will ya?" She tugged Zhangsun Shan's clothes as she spoke.

Albeit reluctantly, Zhangsun Shan agreed to it and headed towards the forest. He saw Liling smile, and that was enough to make him go to the forest. However, he didn't intend to spend much time over there. He thought of picking a few flowers from nearby and be done with it.

However, suddenly, he was reminded of Liling's sullen face. She wouldn't like it if he brought normal flowers—this thought riddled him as he ventured deep into the forest to collect different varieties.

After half an hour of searching, he found the perfect flowers. They were wild ones, so he wasn't aware of their names, however they looked really cute. There were different colored flowers, which looked aesthetically pleasing. Once he decided on it, he ventured back to his home.

#

Zhangsun Shan thought of shouting out his arrival, however, then decided otherwise since he thought that a surprise would be much better in this case. So, he slowly got in the house and creeped behind the shadow in the living room. However, upon further inspection, he noticed that it wasn't Liling. Hence, he stopped hiding and faced it head on.

"Who is-" He didn't utter another word—he couldn't. Before him stood three men who were looking down at the body of a woman—Liling.

"Eh? Who's this guy? Did this old hag have a child or something?" The man in the middle asked while picking his nose.

"Not that I know of, boss." The other guy spoke.

"Hmm, who's the brat then?" The boss asked.

"Oy, brat! Don't you hear what the boss just asked?" The man on the right went physical on Zhangsun Shan.

"Liling. What did you do to her?" Zhangsun Shan asked.

"Ah, the old hag? Well, she seemed to be well off these days, so I asked her if she could lend me some money. She denied it, though. I mean, we're acquaintances. We should be of each other's help, right? She was hiding something valuable, but never said what that was. So, we forced her to speak up a little. But, we could exert our full strength, you know—she kinda died." The boss shrugged.

"Acquaintances?" Zhangsun Shan asked calmly. The calm was unlike him—had an eerie atmosphere to it. However, the guys before him didn't notice it.

"You know, they used to give us money every week and stuff like that. No big deal!" He replied.

"So, you guys are bandits." He mumbled.

"Exactly!" The boss laughed.

"Boss, why are we telling this to him?" The one in the right asked.

"Well, the old hag didn't have any family, right? I bet he's one of us. He might've swindled her, you know. Maybe even knows the valuables around here as well. You know it, right?" The boss patted on Zhangsun Shan's shoulders.

"Bandits… Bastards... Killed Liling… My only family…" Zhangsun Shan mumbled yet again.

"Family? This bastard is the old hag's family! Okay, cool. Tell me about the valuables." The boss urged.

"Fucking bastard!" Zhangsun Shan didn't hold back. He grabbed the boss' throat and slammed him to the ground. When the two sidekicks tried holding him back, he threw them to the sides as well. He could've always used the techniques learned in the Taiyi sect on them, however he felt like they didn't even deserve to get hit by them. Instead, he took the kitchen knife, the same one he threatened Liling with back in the day and threshed it in their body.

It didn't give them deep wounds, but the pain was immense. Each time a substantial blood loss came by from any, he dragged them near the skill book and was healed enough that they didn't die of it. After ensuring this, he dragged them away from the book and stabbed them again, right before Liling's dead body. He had lost all his rationale. He became an emotionless man with no other task other than torturing those three men.

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