Chapter 313: Xu Qing's Past

"Little brother, don't cry."

The black-robed youth looked at Xu Qing's tears, raised a hand to rub Xu Qing's head, and spoke softly.

"Why are you still such a crybaby, just like when you were little?"

Xu Qing's body trembled, his gaze fixed on the face before him, a face that should have been familiar, but was now utterly strange.

The person before him was his older brother. In his memories, his brother had stood before him countless times, like a mountain. Every time Xu Qing cried, his brother would rub his head just like now, speaking the same gentle words.

This was the most cherished image in Xu Qing's memory, the deepest place of vulnerability and preciousness beneath his strong exterior, which had sustained him through difficult and cold times.

At this moment, that barrier collapsed.

The black-robed youth looked into Xu Qing's eyes, his voice gentle.

"Little brother, I had many siblings in my previous life, but I never experienced much warmth in the world. All I encountered was indifference and calculation, whether from my imperial father or my siblings, it was always like that."

"So, in this life, I cherished it. Whether it was our parents, or you... especially you, who always liked to cry." The black-robed youth looked at Xu Qing and spoke softly.

"But the moment I awoke my past life's memories, if I didn't immediately sacrifice an entire city to complete the ritual to the deity, I wouldn't be able to be reborn; I would wither and die."

The black-robed youth spoke calmly.

"At that time, as I was in the sky where blood rain fell, looking at you sitting in blood and corpses, crying helplessly, calling out for our parents, calling out for your brother, I was actually very happy that you were lucky enough to survive. I really wanted to walk up to you, rub your head, and tell you, 'Little brother, don't cry.'"

As Xu Qing listened to this, his mind, already filled with thunder, now roared anew. As heavenly thunder rolled, his body trembled violently, his mind churned with even wilder waves. A muffled roar emerged from his throat, but he couldn't fully vocalize it.

Ultimately, it turned into blood, which overflowed from his mouth and nose, dripping onto the ground.

The black-robed youth lowered his head, looking at Xu Qing with pity in his eyes. He placed the candied hawthorn skewer he was holding to the side.

"I saw this on the way and remembered you liked to eat them, so I bought it for you."

After speaking, the black-robed youth gave Xu Qing a deep look, then put on the mask of the partial deity face again and walked forward.

Sheng Yunzi and his son bowed their heads and followed silently, walking past Xu Qing.

The last one to pass Xu Qing was Night Raven, carrying Sixth Master's head.

Beside Xu Qing, Night Raven paused and spoke in a low voice.

"My name is Night Raven. I didn't expect you to have such a profound connection with my master."

After speaking, Night Raven walked away. Thunder echoed in the sky. Amidst the dense dark clouds, rain and snow mingled and fell together onto the earth.

Xu Qing's body trembled violently. He wanted to struggle, wanted to chase after them, wanted to ask questions. Just as his struggle reached its peak, the black-robed youth, who was walking in the distance, paused, and his soft voice drifted back.

"Oh, and little brother, our parents' bodies were buried by me on Mount Zhaoxia in Fenghai Prefecture. You can go visit them when you have time."

These words drifted from afar into Xu Qing's ears. They became the final, earth-shattering thunderbolt that drove him to collapse. The magnitude of this thunder surpassed all; its power could annihilate everything.

Xu Qing's body trembled to its extreme. His eyes were blood-red like a sea of blood. His aura was chaotic and boundless. The sorrow in his heart became as vast as the sky.

The next instant, Xu Qing's body jolted violently. He could move.

A desperate howl, unlike any before, erupted from his mouth. He wasn't someone who liked to howl, but at this moment, his sorrow and despair uncontrollably poured out of his mouth.

He spun around abruptly, unleashing his full speed, chasing after the black-robed youth and his companions with utmost fervor in the direction they had departed. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn't be rational.

Cold wind blew, and as the sky roared, snowflakes mingled with rain fell, soaking him as a bone-chilling cold invaded. Xu Qing continued to chase. He chased for a very long time, but before him, there was only vast emptiness, nothing at all.

Until the snow and rain intensified, Xu Qing's insides churned. He spat out a mouthful of blood, which mingled with the snow and rain as it splattered onto the ground. Xu Qing's body trembled, and he stumbled to one knee.

Snow and rain fell on his hair, shoulders, and face. It was impossible to tell if it was tears as it flowed onto the ground.

Finally, a bitter laugh escaped Xu Qing's lips. He raised his head, gazing at the sky, at the dark night, and at the flickering partial deity face within the darkness.

A piece of his past, which he had suppressed deep in his heart, now slowly surfaced before his eyes, in the most vulnerable part of his now shattered heart.

That was a memory from thirteen years ago.

Memories from that time had become uncontrollably blurred; this was the pattern of life.

But Xu Qing still remembered the feeling of having a home in his childhood. It was the warmth of his parents' companionship, the coziness of a family of four's laughter.

He remembered his father's calloused hands, remembered his mother's kind gaze, and vaguely seemed to remember the taste of home-cooked meals.

And all of it ended with the arrival of that day.

He could never forget that day. The partial deity face in the sky suddenly opened its eye.

Its gaze fell upon the city where he lived. In an instant... heaven and earth blurred, all things twisted. The entire city vanished; his parents vanished; his brother vanished.

Everything disappeared.

Only vast amounts of wreckage and blood rain remained, falling from the sky. Only he, a living soul, was left, crying helplessly in fear amidst the bloody mud.

He cried and cried until he fainted.

When he awoke, he thought it was just a nightmare, and that his parents and brother would reappear when he woke up. But the moment he opened his eyes, he saw that everything around him was still the same. This made him realize that the nightmare, perhaps, was just beginning at that moment.

At that time, he was only six or seven years old. He didn't remember how he left, didn't remember how he struggled to survive, didn't remember how much unpalatable food he ate, and didn't remember what life-and-death struggles he endured.

Gradually, he became a street orphan, covered in grime, and witnessed countless evils of human nature.

Gradually, he learned to fight with stray dogs for food, learned to bare his teeth, and also learned to endure and be wary. He began to prefer hiding in dark corners.

Gradually, he also learned to kill. And finally, in a slum of a small city, after killing a big man who tried to eat him, he slowly cut off his head and hung it on a tree, thereby securing his place.

Gradually, he began to yearn for life within the city. He envied the clean clothes of the people inside and longed to become a cultivator, to live a better life.

Gradually, survival became the only thought in his heart.

He shouldn't have been like this. It was this world that changed him.

Therefore, he held profound respect for knowledge.

Therefore, he was incredibly cruel to his enemies, seeking revenge for the slightest grievance.

Therefore, he was immensely grateful to those who had helped him.

This was also why he wasn't afraid during the catastrophe when the deity opened its eyes, even though he was in that small slum city. On one hand, his life was already so bleak that he wasn't afraid of death, so what was there to fear?

On the other hand, it was because... he had experienced it before.

But he always held a hope in his heart. He believed his parents weren't dead, and his brother was still alive. They just couldn't find him.

This was his secret; he hadn't told anyone.

When he first left the ruined city with Captain Lei's team, the temporary team members around him discussed the vanished city from several years ago. Xu Qing listened in silence.

When Captain Lei later informed him that the vanished city had been sacrificed, Xu Qing remained silent.

When Seventh Master told him about the secrets of the Purple Azure Empire and the death place of its Crown Prince in the Phoenix Forbidden Zone, Xu Qing still remained silent.

Just like now, as he shed tears in the snow and rain, he slowly stopped howling, slowly stopped trembling, and slowly sank back into silence.

He was mending his inner self. He was perfecting his high walls, further sealing away his bitter vulnerability and the tenderness he wished no one to touch.

After a long while, he took out the jade slip from his leather pouch. In the rain and snow, he carved two words onto it.

Brother.

He wrote these two words very carefully and with great force.

"One day, if I don't die, I will kill you, Crown Prince of the Purple Azure Empire."

Xu Qing murmured in his heart and closed his eyes. After a long while, he opened his eyes. He carved the names of Sheng Yunzi and his son, and Night Raven.

Standing in the rain and snow, he rose. He did not look back, walking further and further into the distance.

Suddenly, he no longer felt afraid of the cold in the wind and snow.

His retreating figure carried desolation and sharpness. Like a lone wolf, yet also bearing a maturity forged through hardship.

Xu Qing remembered Captain Lei saying that when one buries too many things in their heart, they become mature.

Xu Qing felt that, at this moment, he was already very mature.

He would return to his sect, and then, once he was strong enough, he would leave Yinghuang Province and find Mount Zhaoxia.

At the same time, he wouldn't just kill those whose names he had carved. Towards the organization 'Zhuzhao,' Xu Qing harbored an unprecedented murderous intent.

"Zhuzhao."

Xu Qing's voice was hoarse as he spoke softly. He took out his magical ship and stepped onto it. The next moment, the ship transformed into a long rainbow, speeding through the rain and snow directly towards the Seven Sects Alliance.

Inside the magical ship's cabin, Xu Qing sat in silence, meditating silently.

He let time pass, moment by moment.

Three days later, Xu Qing slowly opened his eyes.

He looked down, expressionless, at his storage pouch. After a long moment, he opened it, took out a flask of wine, and took a large swig. As the spicy sensation flowed down his throat, Xu Qing remembered his first time drinking.

At that time, Captain Lei had laughed, looking at him, saying he was still young and didn't understand the taste of wine.

After Seven Blood Eyes, Xu Qing understood. But today, he felt the wine wasn't strong enough.

After taking another large gulp, he stood up and walked out of the cabin, standing on the deck, looking up at the night sky. He felt the fierce wind from the sky. He slowly lowered his gaze, looking straight ahead into the distance.

After a while, Xu Qing took out a flute. He took it in both hands and brought it to his lips.

Gradually... melancholic flute notes reverberated within the magical ship, spreading out.

In their lingering echoes, they spoke of the past.

This piece was called 'Farewell Sorrow'.

At this moment, within Yinghuang Province, in the wilderness, the group from Zhuzhao continued their journey, no one speaking along the way.

The black-robed youth in front remained indifferent. The others behind him were silent.

After a long time, Night Raven looked up at his master ahead, and after hesitating, spoke in a low voice.

"Master, are you doing this to stimulate Xu Qing, to make him grow into the person you desire? Or is it... that he also has a past life, like you?"

The black-robed youth in front shook his head and spoke indifferently.

"You're overthinking it. I act as I please; I don't have a habit of provoking others. Little brother has no past life. He's just a child from an ordinary family. But the fraternal bond I felt in this life before my memories awoke became a connection after my awakening."

"Master, what would happen if I accidentally... killed him in Seven Blood Eyes?" Night Raven asked the question that was on his mind after hesitating.

"You would die." The black-robed youth didn't turn his head, his tone calm.

Night Raven fell silent; he understood. His master simply didn't care about Xu Qing's life or death. Otherwise, he would have surely stopped him when he made his move earlier.

Because he didn't care, anyone could kill him. He could watch and not intervene.

But because of the bond, he would personally strike down anyone who killed Xu Qing.

In essence, everything was left to its own fate.

Ultimately, in his master's heart, he was not Xu Qing's brother in this life. He was, from beginning to end, the Purple Azure Crown Prince, who had astonished the heavens, whom even sacred lands had repeatedly sought to take as a disciple, and who, before his death, had made a promise to the deity, granting him the choice of a second life.

"Master, if severing this bond would make your Dao heart more complete, Night Raven is willing to do it!" Night Raven lowered his head and spoke in a deep voice.

"I don't cultivate the Dao, nor do I seek a Dao heart. What I cultivate is godhood." The black-robed youth's gaze was calm as he walked further and further away.