Chapter 42 - Shedding One's Self (3)

"I could not see past the hate, past the me who only saw the horrors and suffering of this world. I ruined many lives, taking their happiness away like mine was. I... am changing this country by being the old me. I am no fool. Shen Dong must have plans of his own. I even named you Red Death. I tame snakes, never making a magical beast contract. I am still alone. I see this now," Yang said, sighing and closing his eyes. Red Death's eyes widened as it felt a change in its body. "You are free, no longer tamed."

"Master, I have known you since birth. I think you freed me somehow, but I know not what to do," Red Death said.

"Bring a male human back from the kitchens," Yang commanded, Red Death nodding as it became its full size. It returned with a human who had a bump on his head and was unconscious.

"What are you doing?" Red Death hissed as it saw Yang inject his spirit energy into the man.

"Kill him," Yang said, and Red Death bit into the man's neck. The man woke up only to silently scream before dying.

"Go to the horde. You are at the Element Adept Stage. Those weaklings won't be able to kill you," Yang said and burned the body with poisonous vials, taking out a storage ring and putting most of his demon spirit coins and one of the five branches of the tree he obtained inside it. He also placed most of the supplies from the bandit village inside. He bound the storage ring, replacing the one on his finger. Yang placed his original storage ring onto one of the dead man's fingers after he unbound the ring. Finally, he placed the Moon Lotus Spear on his palm, his blood on the spearhead as he set it down.

"Are you faking your own death?" Red Death realized.

"I have changed. A snake isn't evil; it just is. It lays in the shadows, never in plain sight. Guo Yang is in plain sight. He is the chore of this group of participants. He is the most renowned in Gold Lotus City. The old me, before I lost my first mother, was never like this," Yang said, breaks in his skin appearing. Red Death stared in awe as he peeled off his skin, revealing new skin, and his hair had become more vibrant.

However, he did not look like Guo Yang at all. It was as if he had physically shed his identity. Yang coughed blood violently, spreading it all over the floor as a neidan appeared. It was not his jade neidan, but that of the snake he killed.

"I don't understand. Why do this?" Red Death asked as Yang turned to leave and saw Mei there.

"I knew something was wrong," Mei said, seeing her brother changed and leaving a note on the table.

"Why did you come down? You should all be sleeping," Yang said and noticed that she had black spirit energy radiating around her head in a thin layer. "Your control improved."

"Why do this?" she asked. "Did grandma's therapy truly work?"

"No," he said, attempting to pass her, but she blasted him back with her spirit energy, shocking Yang as she was at the middle Element Adept Stage. "You... hid your cultivation even from me?"

"Why did you change? How did you change?" she asked. "I heard everything. There is something you're hiding. What is it?"

"Don't mind it," Yang said, his hair now red and his eyes the color of sand. "Just let me go."

"No. What is it that makes your heart ache?" she pressed.

"My heart aches? My heart aches?" Yang laughed manically, tears streaming down his face. "That's right. My heart aches! I felt pain as I watched that son hug his mother. I felt pain as I looked into his eyes and saw the same fear I had when I was about to lose my own mother as he was scared for his father... I saw myself!"

"Yang..." Mei began.

"Me! I saw me! I saw a weak, scared little boy who relied on the warmth and protection of his parents. It was all he had, what I had. I lost it all! ALL! I spent years crying in misery, that pain and grief turning to rage and hate. It was not just toward the birds; it was to the whole fucking world!" Yang shouted, tears streaming down Mei's face as well.

"You must have been young and scared," Mei said, seeing Yang grab a chair and throw it against the wall, scattering the chair's limbs in all directions.

"I was alone! I was hunted. I was beaten. Parts of me were eaten as I fought for my life. The part of me explaining about the birds was how I almost died! It was how my mother would have died! Did you know? I thought having feelings made me weak. I forgot that hate and anger are also forms of showing feelings. It twisted my mind, letting me do whatever I needed to do to get what I wanted. I never saw the result of my actions," Yang shouted.

"You were just a snake. You didn't have to feel all that," Mei said.

"Exactly! I'm not a snake anymore! I was raised a human! My hate and anger showed signs of weakening, allowing my feelings to return! Since my Yin Yang Divine Tattoo changed, I started becoming like the old me. I was the World Serpent again. However, it did not feel like me. Did you know? I felt disgust for bandits. The old me would not even spare a thought. I felt envy and jealousy of the warmth between the mother and son. Something changed in me slowly and then suddenly burst, like a broken faucet!" Yang cried as he broke a table with a bang of his fist. He fell to his knees, crying. "Why? Why do I feel my old pains? Why? Why?"

"Yang," Mei said as she went to him, pulling his head into her arms as she knelt on both knees before him. "We humans are emotional creatures. We seek love. We seek affection from others. Whether it is their admiration or fear, love or hate, respect or envy; we seek it all. Our intelligence is on a higher level. Emotions, we always attempt to understand them. Sometimes, that emotion fades as we age. It is okay to cry. You haven't cried at all. Let it out."

"I can't. I feel like I am betraying myself as I keep crying. I have to stop," Yang said, tears still streaming down his face.

"Then let me cry for you," Mei said, her tears falling onto his head. "You're not alone. You have me, your sister. The note I placed on the table will make others believe someone killed you and took me away to be sold as a slave. It would mock the others for boasting how it made them all fall asleep and did all this under their noses. Let's leave the Pangu Continent and explore the world. I don't believe the Pangu Continent holds all the Fragments of Lightning. The Elemental Sovereign's body was shattered, right? It must be all over the world, unlike the Fragments of Darkness."

"You would leave the others behind?" he asked, stunned as they stood up and looked at each other. Mei discarded her Gold Lotus Sword and scattered some of her possessions on the floor to make it look like a struggle. Then, she turned to Yang.

"I know what I have inside me. Others will target our clan to possess me and take the Eye of Darkness for themselves. That's why so many experts came. However, no one knows the truth. As you said, the world is cruel. There are bound to be others who would even kill their own sons for power. You want to leave, so I will go with you. Let us see the world together," Mei said, holding out her hand. "Let's live the lives we should have before all the pain. We can return, one day. Are you ready, little brother?"

Yang breathed deeply several times and took her hand. "Alright. Where will we go first?"

"South. I heard there are vast lands where mages and practitioners live. We can learn magic and become true adventurers," Mei said as she dropped her guild card on the ground. "We are fifteen. We have our whole lives ahead of us."

"We must go to the capital," Yang said after a moment.

"Why?" Mei asked.

"The auction house. We'll need rare artifacts, and they should be sold in an auction house if it is based in the capital. Most of the merchants will take the northern path around the mountains. It will take three weeks, but we will arrive in the capital safely. By then, the tournament will be over. I am confident Guo Lin will succeed. My death and your capture will finally influence him to pursue cultivation. His mind is not fragile. He will not go down the path of vengeance with Shen Qing beside him," Yang said.

"We could also create an alias for yourself since you don't look like the old you. I'll have to change my appearance somehow," she said.

"No. No one has seen your face in the capital, and your spirit energy is in the midst of fusing with that of the Eye of Darkness. Otherwise, there would be no way you would be awake from my sleeping gas. When we apply for a guild card, we'll also accept a mission to the southern continent. In this way, we'll have a connection and an easier time traveling there," Yang said.

"We will do as you say, brother. I'll keep my name, though. I'm not so quick to adapt as you," Mei said. "Well, shall we go?"

"... thank you," Yang mumbled, Mei smiling and pretending

she didn't hear him as she led him outside. Red Death was watching silently. It smiled as it became small again and slithered toward the kitchens, planning to leave through a different path.

"This is how one sheds one's self. To finally leave the past and cast its pains aside to look forward. It seems master finally found what held him back in the Mortal Realm: a place to belong and be free of the pain that haunted him. The pain of loss and the fear of being alone. The World Serpent will return. This time, he will be a true king and not a lone tyrant. In the meantime, I will gather our brothers and sisters. The dragons and phoenixes remember the World Serpent. His rage and fury protected us and cared for us to the point of never hunting us, whilst he lived. Perhaps this time, he will lead us into a better future," Red Death hissed and slithered through an opening into the kitchen.