Chapter 20 - Facing the Past

When Guo Yang woke up, he was in the main hall of the patriarch's pavilion. His entire body was wracked with pain, and the taste of blood was in his mouth. His spirit energy was in disarray, but he quickly calmed it through his neidan. He heard gasps as his spirit energy settled and noticed he wasn't alone.

"So you're all here," Guo Yang said indifferently as everyone stared at him. He glanced at his snakes, and they knew to leave to guard the poisonous herb garden. He took out the rainbow-colored gourd and drank the monkey wine.

"Yang'er, you went too far today. You actually displayed your might and bullied those below your cultivation. I can understand you did it to strike fear into the hearts of the third-year students, but you also attacked your brother and tried to kill the magical beast of the prince," Guo Feng said.

"So I wasn't wrong in what I saw. It still lives..." Guo Yang snarled.

"Yang'er! Why go so far? I know you hate avians, but you said revenge this time. Revenge for what?" Ji Ting asked.

"Is it because you reincarnated?" Guo Li asked, and everyone stared at the matriarch in shock.

"It's true?" they all cried as they saw the shock on Yang's face.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I am powerful, at the fourth stage of cultivation. I know that making poison practitioner arts of your own making is not difficult, but creating element practitioner arts is too astonishing. I also watched you over the past two years, and Jing has watched you grow up. It wasn't until today that my suspicions were confirmed," Guo Li answered.

"Reincarnated?" Guo Feng and Ji Ting gasped.

"Lin'er and Mei'er were meant to be twins?" Guo Feng asked, staring at his mother in shock.

"No. However, it is because of him that their talents are so high. Since the snakes respect Yang so much, I made inquiries through several friends of mine. Yang, you should be that snake that reached the immortal stage a thousand years ago. You would have been the first to ascend, but you chose rebirth," Guo Li said, Yang staring at her with his fists clenched.

"So this is why you never grew close to us, were friendly to snakes, and hated birds. No wonder your mother and I could not get close to you," Guo Feng said.

"It's not the only reason. We focused more on mediating Guo Mei's inferiority complex towards Guo Lin," Ji Ting snapped.

"So the truth is revealed," Guo Jing sighed. "No wonder your cultivation is so monstrous. You already knew practitioner arts and what kind of training would suit you. Still, why hate the Heaven Swallowing Phoenix so much?"

Guo Yang stared at the sky and said softly, "I was only a few days old. I had caught my first prey, a mouse, and appeared before my mother... three of those fucking phoenixes came and not only butchered my mother to feed their fucking children, but they also desolated my home and slaughtered all the snakes I ever befriended. I... closed my heart and pursued immortality. I... killed so many avian magical beasts only to fuel my hatred. Eventually, I slaughtered almost the entire race and thought only one escaped by ascension. Today, I learned I was wrong. Still, I slaughtered entire species of eagle, crow, vulture, and phoenix magical beasts. Even if a thousand years have passed, there should not be many of the other species."

"Slaughtered entire species?" Guo Feng gasped.

"Could it be you are that snake from legend? The Sand Feather-Maned Gold Tyrant Snake?" Ji Ting gasped. "You were the terror of the world for many centuries and indeed disappeared. You also destroyed many sects, academies, kingdoms, and empires."

"They attacked me and pursued me to attain my magical beast core," Yang scoffed. "A few hundred million is no loss to the world. Actually, many magical beasts were thankful as their populations were allowed to rise because of fear from me."

"To think the very snake that created the Snake Era was actually reincarnated as my grandson," Guo Jing realized. "Still, you are my grandson and you are not at the apex of power anymore. Humanity progressed during your absence, and you are very much weaker than they are. A lot can change, and did change, over a thousand years."

"You have a psychological problem. Your hatred of phoenixes sets aside your rationality. You need to learn to let go of the past. Don't run from it. Your hate is your means of escaping it. Embrace it. As a snake, killing must be all that you know. You probably never interacted with others. Humans live and thrive in societies. We also make more enemies. Should you not learn to control your rage and hate, your enemies can use it against you. They will know this if they had seen what you did today," Guo Li warned. "You can't keep closing off your heart. Evidently, it only increases the pain."

"How can you believe all this? Yang used to be a snake on the verge of ascension? How does that make sense?" Guo Feng cried.

"We have thought about this matter for a long time, me especially," Guo Jing shook his head. "You dwelt too much on the others, especially Guo Lin. If you had paid better attention to your youngest son instead of being frustrated about how to become closer by your own means, you would naturally reach the same suspicions."

"I... was wrong," Guo Feng sadly admitted and was startled as his father was right.

"I will leave my magical beast in the courtyard. You are to tolerate its existence and learn to let go of your hate. It will follow you everywhere, and you are currently not its match," Guo Li said to Guo Yang.

"It... what is it? It can't be..." Guo Yang began until he saw his grandmother's wicked smile.

"I have two magical beasts. Both are phoenixes. The Guo Clan is not the strongest, but that doesn't mean I'm not. It is just that my husband's clan has too weak potential," Guo Li grinned.

"Hey! It's not our fault that our talent is low at birth!" Guo Jing protested. He was sixty years old and had finally reached the Meteor Vessel Stage through his snake magical beast. Sadly, he was the first of the Guo Clan's bloodline to ever reach that cultivation stage. Guo Li had just married into it but entered the fourth stage over a dozen years ago.

"Face the past or be consumed by it. You decide. Go out into the courtyard. The rest of us need to speak to Guo Lin and Guo Mei about their misgivings," Guo Li ordered, and Yang's eyes seemed empty as he walked out.

"Face the past or be consumed by it..." Guo Yang muttered as he sat by the pond, staring at his reflection. "My past consists of several centuries. That human expects me to let such a long grudge go? Does that human realize how many I've killed? How many times my life was in danger? However, she is right about my enemies being able to exploit it. It seems I must make some covert efforts. Red Death, bring Red Shadow to me."

"Yes, Exalted Master," Red Death hissed and slithered off, returning with the large snake shortly after.

"Exalted One," Red Death dipped its head. "You summoned me?"

"It seems my rage went too far. I need to take preemptive measures. You must have known what happened in the arena, your master being Guo Jing. Tell me, how extensive is the city's water supply? How is it segregated?" Guo Yang asked.

"Exalted One?" Red Shadow hissed in confusion. "Well, the city has sewer gates that filter the dirt. There are several valves which open and close to distribute fresh water. Each human land has its own water tank where the humans extract their water. Exalted One, you can't mean..."

"Naturally, I must take action against those who plot against me. I have a poison that should be delayed until sunrise. That is usually when the water supply is drained for use. Well, poison is medicine and medicine is poison. Medicine, prescribed incorrectly, is poison. Poison, if applied correctly, is medicine. Alchemy and poison are one and the same, like yin and yang. I'll put medicine into the water supply, its content too much for a safe dosage. Some will live; many more will die. Find out the identities of the people who tried to attack me from the stands. There are many garden snakes in the city, tolerated as they scare mice away. Use them," Guo Yang ordered.

"Yes, Exalted One," the snake nodded and slithered away.

Later that night, Guo Yang learned of who and where the people who targeted him lived. Some of them lived in brand new houses, while others were forced to buy some of the poorly built houses as there were no inns or houses available.

Those people would be his main targets. Those areas were abandoned, even by the homeless because of Guo Mei. She killed a few here and there, but the numbers gradually reached a decree that even idiots would notice many gone. As more homeless mysteriously died or went missing in those areas, it was quite easy to kill someone in that area at night.

Guo Yang handed the garden snakes several small vials. In each vial was medicine made from his jade spirit energy. He

was forbidden from making elixirs due to the toxicity of his spirit energy, but that did not mean he could not make them. Spirit pills were powdered balls, making them easy to dissolve in liquid. He sneaked through the streets, using his Light Puppet Art on the guards or people near the wells.

He smirked as he dropped little green pills into each well in the area. By morning, the color would be blended into the water, and no one would be the wiser.

When morning came, many would wake up to a nasty surprise. Not only was the water tainted, but the air would be as well. There would be no spirit energy or smell detected until sunrise. If they awoke to survive the air, the water would finish the rest.

"Just like killing wolves and deer," Guo Yang rubbed his hands as he returned home, hearing Guo Mei arrive behind him as he heard footsteps.

"What were you doing outside during the dark?" Guo Mei asked.