139: 4.4 Shan Duoyin

4.4 Shan Duoyin

[Banzai, your ass.] Lu Yizhou pinched his brows in exasperation. Okay, so he was supposed to die today under the vicious hand of the Black Demon but for some reason, he didn't die and the so-called Black Demon fell unconscious in his arms instead? Well, that was…fine. Lu Yizhou had found out that the world's plot had always been inconsistent depending on the action he took. He only had to find out the reason behind this change. [And then, what happens after I die?]2

[666: You mean, after Jingxue-Jun dies…]

The entire world was plunged into chaos. Not only the cultivation world, but also the mundane world. Monsters popped up everywhere, leaving death and purgatory on their wake. Lingyan Sect was mourning the death of one of their brightest pupils and in exchange, vowed to hunt Heimo down and they wouldn't stop until they had his head hung on the tree branch of Jingxue-Jun's tomb! The small fights escalated into full blown war and they fought with the sole purpose to kill!

Lingyan Sect was gradually joined by many small cultivation sects throughout the world but ultimately, they were still at a disadvantage. They cared too much about their pristine image when the Demonic Sect had no qualm to play dirty! The balance tilted and more and more cultivators lost their lives due to this war.

At the time of Jingxue-Jun's death, the male protagonist, Shan Duoyin, was already an inner disciple in Linyan Sect. 

Like every other hero, Shan Duoyin started from the bottom rung of the society. He was born from a maidservant of a middle rank family that didn't practice cultivation. It was an open secret that his father was the Master of the family but who cares? That despicable man didn't even want to acknowledge Shan Duoyin and his mother. Shan Duoyin was born from a servant, thus his status was fated to be a servant.

"It's okay, Little Duoduo." His mother always said. Her calloused hands caressed his hair gently. "We will be okay with just the two of us. Mother would always be with Duoduo."

From a tender age, he was often bullied, starved and beaten by the Young Masters and Young Missus. He bore it all, Shan Duoyin had always been a strong and resilient boy. And everytime he returned to the shabby storage room where he lived with his mother, he always lied and said that he played too excitedly, causing him to fall and roll on the ground often. Shan Duoyin guessed that Mother knew the truth because he had coincidentally woke up when she muffled her cries in the middle of the night, whispering her apology to him over and over again.

Why, why sorry? It wasn't her fault, no? It wasn't her fault that she was defiled by the Master, it wasn't her fault that she got pregnant, it wasn't her fault that she insisted on giving birth even when everyone told her it was better to just abort the pregnancy. It was never her fault. She was the innocent party from the beginning.

Oftentimes, Shan Duoyin got the urge to fight back against whoever bullied him and his mother. He even felt like he could win if he did yet in the end, he always curbed the impulse. His mother would get into trouble if he did that and that was the last thing he wanted to do for his mother was the last and only family member he had. 

Shan Duoyin was ten years old when he first heard of Lingyan Sect and the excitement that surrounded the cultivation world. Longing and admiration took root on his chest right at that moment. They were so cool, brandishing swords, attacking with spiritual energy, flying in the air… 

One day… he also wanted to be a cultivator, he wanted to make his mother proud and then he would bring her out of that family so that she didn't need to be treated like she wasn't even a human being inside that house anymore. Shan Duoyin had dreamed of it all. He quietly tucked it to the deepest recess of his heart, letting the hope bud and grow into a large tree.

He started to plan. When Lingyan Sect's recruitment opened four years later, he would try to sneak out and take the test. Shan Duoyin had never told anyone — not even his mother, but mostly because he wanted to give her a surprise — but actually, when he was passing by the market on his way home after going on an errand for the Second Young Master, a kind bearded old man had beckoned him over, told him that he had a great fate ahead of him and gave him an old book that would change his life. 

Shan Duoyin's eyes widened as he saw what the book was about. The Cultivation Method for Beginners! It was a book on how to start a path toward cultivation! Even in the black market, books about cultivation were rare and obnoxiously expensive because their number was few and far between, most of it could only be found in Linyan Sect's private library. He gasped sharply and tore his eyes away from the book with difficulty, intending to offer his immense gratitude for the old man like how his mother had always taught him to, but then the old man had vanished. 

No matter how hard Shan Duoyin searched, he couldn't find him. It was as if the kind old man had disappeared into thin air. Shan Duoyin was flabbergasted. He would have thought that he was dreaming if not for the book in his hand. Shan Duoyin snapped back to his senses and hastily shoved the book into his inner robes, clutching it tightly for dear life.

From that day onward, he started to meditate as per the instruction and found that he could sense spiritual energy in the air around him! Didn't that mean that he had a natural aptitude toward cultivation? This was so cool! He had a very, very bright outlook toward his future but then, all of it was burned into the abyss when he was twelve. It was one peaceful morning when a scream of pain echoed through the residence. The tranquil atmosphere plummeted into chaos and servants ran back and forth, their faces pale and helpless.

The youngest mistress whom Master had just brought home, his favorite who was currently bearing his child, had miscarried. 

And to Shan Duoyin's surmounting horror, all fingers pointed toward her mother. His innocent mother.

"My mother didn't do that!" He kneeled in front of the Master, Madam and the pale face concubine who was crying her hearts out miserably. Pleading, begging, insisting on her innocence. "She wouldn't hurt anyone, ever! I can swear my life on it! Please… Please trust me!" Shan Duoyin banged his forehead on the floor until his skin tore open and blood oozed down his face. His mother sobbed nearby, desperately reaching out to him only to be held back by the guards. 

The Madam barked sharply. "Trust you? Why should we? You said your mother is innocent, then what about the poison that I found in her room, hidden under her bed?!"

"T—That…" Shan Duoyin directed a panicked gaze toward her mother yet she only shook her head, crying. Why… Why wouldn't she deny it? Why wouldn't she claim her innocence? There was no way — there was no way her mother would harm another person, moreover, an innocent baby who hadn't even been formed yet! "T—There must be some kind of misunderstanding here. My mother must have been framed, Madam!"

"Framed?" The Madam snorted as if Shan Duoyin had just told a joke. "Then, if your mother is indeed framed, who is the real culprit? Me? Concubine Lan? The Young Masters? Young Missus? Or Concubine Yang herself?!"

As if on cue, Concubine Yang fell on her knees and wept, tears trickled down her delicate face. "Master, Madam, this concubine begs you to redress the injustice! This concubine's unborn son… This concubine's unborn son is an innocent victim in this despicable scheme! This concubine knows that…" She glanced at Shan Duoyin's mother before hurriedly lowering her gaze with fear apparent in her eyes. "She has always been jealous of this concubine. Ever since this concubine bears Master's child in her womb…"

Every word that fell from her lips caused Shan Duoyin to pale further. His tongue failed him and his lungs felt too small to contain air. He was only twelve, how could he understand the intrinsic scheme of the women who vied for the Master's favor? 

Tears blurred his vision as he failed to defend her mother's honor. In the end, she was to be flogged two hundred times. Two hundred. Just a mere ten was enough to bloom bruises; fifty, broken bones. What about two hundred…? His mother would lose her life for sure. This was no different than a death punishment!

He had so, so many questions. Why? Why did this kind of thing happen to his mother? Why did everyone insist her mother was guilty? Why did nobody trust him? Why… when her mother was flogged, blood trickled down her mouth and eyes bloodshot, did she meet Shan Duoyin's eyes past the people condemning her and mouthed to him 'run' and 'I'm sorry'?

Shan Duoyin's breath caught in his throat and in the next moment, he did the thing he had no idea whether he would regret in the future. He obeyed her mother's words, turned his back and fled from that place. He ignored the shouts of the guards behind, he ignored the dripping curses. He ran, ran and ran like he had grown wind beneath his feet. Dust filled his mouth and tears disappeared into his hair. He had never run this fast before. His legs shook and his chest protested from the lack of air. Yet he kept running without even looking back, leaving everything behind, leaving his dying mother behind.

But he had nowhere to go.

The Lingyan Sect's recruitment would only be opened two years later and he had nothing on him except his tattered, dusty robes and… the cultivation book that never left his body. He didn't even have a single penny enough to buy a single bun. Despair and helplessness overwhelmed him and for a while, he let himself mourn for her mother's fate and the crashing guilt for abandoning her. He curled into a ball in a small alley where a few people — older than him. Beggars, he realized — were also taking shelter, shoving his fist into his mouth to muffle his sobs. Just like how her mother often did. He thought that this would be his fate now, to roam the street, to steal and risk his life just to obtain a mouthful to eat.

He couldn't be more wrong. 

"You hold a great future in your hands, little boy," the kind old man had told him.

It was at that time he met the Young Lady of Lingyan Sect, the one and only daughter of the Sect Leader as well as the female protagonist of this world, Ling Chuwei, a sheltered and curious little girl who was four years younger than him. Her big eyes blinked as she crouched down in front of him. "Why are you crying, little gege?" She asked innocently.

And behind her was the man he had always heard of everytime the name Lingyan Sect came up. The Sect Leader's favorite, the talented senior disciple who looked down at him with impassive silver eyes, wearing his signature light blue robes with a white sword strapped to his back. He was so cold and beautiful at the same time that Shan Duoyin thought an immortal had descended in front of him.

That man was Jingxue-Jun. Courtesy name[1], Lu Yizhou.

It was their first encounter, one that Shan Duoyin failed to erase from memory until the day he died.

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[1] Courtesy name is different from birth name, it is given by someone close to you either your parents, sibling or in this case, master. In this arc, I use a few references from mdzs *cough* so everyone will be known with their courtesy names. But then, we will only refer our MC as Lu Yizhou even though he has other birth name as this world's Jingxue-Jun. Too many names are confusing, I know QAQ I hate coming up with names the most

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