Hourglass

XXVII

The whole cloud recesses had fallen victims to the the grieving parents. Blood spilled tainting the beautiful scale. Mourning howls and cries filled ever ears. Grieving heart had fallen silent embracing a now turning cold body of a child.

"Mercy!!! Lan Wangji! Mercy!!! It was Jin Guangshan's! It was the—aaaaah-----!"

"Insane!!! You've become insane!!! Lan Wan—gnnng!"

The cloud recesses was burned down. Burned by the sole disciple it raised to perfections.

"L-L-L—an—Wan—jiiii!!!!"

But the said person no longer recognized anything, his sword crying for blood, murdering every single cultivator in his way!

"Have mercy!!!!!! Ack!"

Heads fall, blood spilled, arms and legs fall out. Blood stained every door of the buildings.

Lan Qiren opened his eyes wide as he was momentarily stunned by Lan Wangji's sudden charge. With a satisfied expression, he unexpectedly turn to look at him.

"Lan Qiren... Let's see what you do... You hypocritical goodie two shoes." Lan Wangji growled, happy that he finally cornered the man inside the ancestral hall.

In Lan Qiren's viewpoint, the situation at hand was truly a problematic one. He cursed in his heart, having been forced into making a decision where neither choice would result in anything good. "You've gone mad, Wangji.." he needed to weigh down his beliefs and ambitions, what he had truly wasnt an easy thing to do.

"I am..." Lan Wangji said, "you broke me Lan Qiren..."

Lan Wangji felt his blood boil in anger, "I trusted you... Loved you... Respected you..." Staring at the old man, Lan Wangji threw the heads of the elders he killed, "you're the only one left... You all killed my son... I'll make sure you will accompany him to the next life..."

Lan Wangji, himself didn't like the direction this talk was going to. In his eyes, this man was his uncle, whatever happened, they still share the same blood. But... The child this man killed was his son... His son.

Lan Wangji wondered bitterly, torn between following his conscience and pursuing his goals. He had put a lot of effort into finding the culprit of his fall during the last thirteen years.

Yet, just as Lan Wangji was about to kill the man, his father stood before him, interrupted what he had decided to do.

"There's no need for you to go at him... No point in someone of such high wasting time... Go Wangji. Go to your family..."

Qingheng-jun softly said with a sad look on his face. He noticed how his son had a hard time making his choice. His son had already lent him some face and he was grateful, he didn't want to strain his hand anymore as he didn't feel the need for his Wangji to kill anymore.

Lan Qiren stood with his ever dignified poise. To be honest, he never would have thought his brother would have let him go. But the moment he tried to speak. Qingheng-jun stabbed him with his sword all while destroying his golden core.

No words were exchanged. Only Lan Qiren's death washed the sins of the ancestral hall.

The rules they upheld and followed had become the shackles of their imprisonment.

"You've destroyed everything more than you think..." Qingheng-jun whispered, "brother... This is enough..."

The resigned truth passed through Qingheng-jun's mind. He might have been a brother but he experienced the pain more than anyone else. He had seen their parents die, he had seen villages being razed to the ground. How a man broke down and had fallen prey to stress and panic.