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Wei Ying jerked as he felt something brush against his hands. On instinct, he turned towards the source ready to fight. Only, there’s nothing out of ordinary. It was just a human that passed him by. It was nothing unusual, considering he was standing still in the middle of a busy market.
Wait. Market?
He blinks in sudden awareness. What is he doing in the middle of the market? The last thing he remembered was the grabby hands of corpses, trying to get to him from all directions. Forcefully tearing him apart. His flesh, bit by bit.
NoNoNoNo It hurts Stop STOOP IT HURTS
Phantom pain began to could Wei Ying's mind. What started as a recall turned to a full-blown panic as he could not differentiate what is real and what is memory. He clutched his hands as if to hug himself, trying to protect himself from the corpses' hands.
He tried to breathe but it was so hard as if he never learned how to before. He vaguely realized that there are multiple people screaming around him. The sounds frightened him more, it was similar to the corpses' shrieking when they tore him apart. He didn’t know how long he was in that state before something cold washed over him. It was as if it was actually cold water that was thrown at him and he suddenly felt clarity.
In front of him was a man clad in red robes. His right eye was covered in an eye patch, but the left one was enough to convey his irritation. It was the last sight he saw before everything turn black.
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Hua Cheng was bored. He was in the Gambler’s Den, hidden behind the curtain, watching the ghost and occasional human and even god gambling. Yell and threats were shouted loudly, a few cries here and there as payment was collected in the form of limbs. He sighed, mourning the fact that he was here rather than scouring the realm to search for Dianxia.
Dianxia, my God, are you well? This lowly servant begs for forgiveness, this one is useless, wasting his time here instead of searching for you.
His praying, however, was interrupted by a sudden fluctuating evil energy in the market area. It was no threat to him, but it was powerful enough that the trashes would panic. He stood and make his way toward the market area.
When he arrived at the market, he expect to see a few scoundrels creating a disturbance or something. What he was not expecting was a ghost - a mangled ghost - that was in the middle of what seemed like a panic attack. And truly what a sight it was.
The ghost was mangled beyond what was possible without letting itself disperse, looking as if it was shredded and torn apart. Each and every piece of it reeked of resentment and evil. Even more, the resentment seemed to try to consume the ghost still.
Hua Cheng would be impressed by the ghost if it was not causing problems in his territory. As it was, he poured spiritual energy into the ghost, washing away the resentment. The amount of spiritual energy poured was not little by any means, yet even that was not enough to truly washed the resentment. Now Hua Cheng was definitely impressed despite the problems it caused.
As the ghost collapsed in front of him, Yin Yu appeared and offer to resolve the rest. Instead, Hua Cheng shook his head and order him to bring the ghost to Paradise Manor.
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Wei Ying jolted awake. Memories from before rushed into his mind, but unlike in the market, he didn’t immediately go into a panic. After some time to fully comprehend the memory, Wei Ying began to take a stock of his body. It was… in one piece? He was confused. Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?
“Oh, you’re awake.”
Wei Ying whipped his head towards the source. It was the man from before.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Hua Cheng, the master of this city you caused a disturbance in.” Hua Cheng answered in a slightly pointed tone. “Do you remember anything?”
Wei Ying nodded at the question.
“Do you know who you are?”
Again, Wei Ying nodded.
“Who are you?”
“... My name is Wei Wuxian.”
“Wei Wuxian? As in The Yiling Patriarch?”
Wei Ying flinched at the title. His eyes went guarded in seconds. His body tensed, ready to bolt or to fight, whichever is necessary. Hua Cheng took the change with amusement. He calmly walked towards one of the chairs and pour himself a cup of tea.
“No need to be so tense, I won’t do any harm as long as you behave yourself.”
Wei Ying still watch Hua Cheng warily, but he supposed he could trust the man. He was the one who helped him after all. Still, he won’t let his guard down just in case.
“Why did you save me?”
“Mostly out of curiosity. I never saw a soul so torn apart yet still not dispersed. What it is that still holding your spirit intact. What is holding you back from passing on? What is The Yiling Patriarch regret ?”
A sudden blast of resentment erupted from Wei Ying, his eyes tinted with red.
“ Regret ?” Wei Ying hissed, “I regret nothing. Those dogs spout righteousness with their mouth and trampled on innocent with their arrogance. I won’t regret killing those bastards. I will kill them again if I ever found their ghosts.”
Hua Cheng laughed at Wei Ying's poisonous words. His hand raised in front of him, casually blocking the wave of resentful energy.
“Kill even their ghost!” Hua Cheng laughed again, “Truly, The Yiling Patriarch is one of a kind.”
Wei Ying seemed to be enraged further by Hua Cheng's laugh. He whistled a low tune. Hua Cheng could feel it compelled something inside of him. It felt weak to him, like a gentle breeze trying to move a rock, but it was still there. With a startling realization, Hua Cheng realized that Wei Ying is more powerful than he thought.
“How about this? I let you recover here in my manor.” Hua Cheng smirked at the surprised look on Wei Ying’s face before it was replaced again by wariness.
“What’s the catch?”
“Nothing, just make a vow to never harm a person, directly or indirectly. If you unintentionally harm this person, you will stop once you knew, try your best and give your all to fix it, heal him and provide what this person needs to recover. Do not have any evil intent towards this person and if you knew someone who had you will either inform me or eliminate them directly and then inform me. You will try your best to make this person comfortable and taken care of if this person happens to meet you or be in your care. ”
Wei Ying looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
“... That’s a lot of protection for one person.”
“This person is worthy.” Hua Cheng said with such conviction it surprised Wei Ying. He looked at Hua Cheng as if he was seeing him for the first time.
“As long as they do not intend to cause harm to me and mine.”
Hua Cheng smiled and nodded.
“If you ever break this vow, your soul will never enter the cycle of reincarnation.”
This time, Wei Ying gave a solemn nod.
“Who is it?”
“Xie Lian, His Highness the Crown Prince of XianLe, Flower Crown Martial God, His Highness who Pleased the Gods.”
Wei Ying nodded and took the vow.