Chapter 3: Devastation
Qing Shan laid on the ground, his whole body in agony. He had lost track of time and he could not tell what direction he was facing. He was writhing in pain, which caused the pain to spike up every moment. Qing Shan was truly living through the worst pain of his life.
Many hours later, when the sky had started to brighten, Qing Shan finally managed to open his eyes which had been clenched shut due to the pain. Qing Shan's body was still riddled with wounds, but he managed to regain his normally calm thoughts. He started to analyze his situation.
'Both my arms and one of my legs are broken. I have some motion capability in both arms above my elbow. There is nothing around for me to use as a splint, and I shouldn't expect for anyone to come here in at least a week…'
Qing Shan started to look around, hoping to find some medical herbs lying nearby. Unfortunately, he did not even have basic education when it came to different herbs and there functions, other than having a vague idea which ones were edible. Qing Shan looked at the garden, noticing that he was facing the part of the garden that faced toward his village. Qing Shan managed to painfully turn his head around, and saw the smoke that was usually noticeable during meal time. This smoke was much darker than usual, but this escaped Qing Shan's notice.
'That's unusual, I wonder who would be cooking right now…'
Qing Shan quickly set aside this thought, as he was far more concerned with his current situation. Finally, after going through every option that was currently available to him, Qing Shan found out that he had no choice but to try to make his way back to the village.
Qing Shan used his one unharmed leg to turn himself toward the village, before placing his face ear-down on the grass. He then dug his foot into the ground and pushed himself forward. Seeing that he had barely moved a tenth of a meter, Qing Shan found himself desperately hoping that his Father had sent someone to find him. He kept inching forward, enduring through the pain.
Soon, Qing Shan became numb to the pain. At this point, the day had already faded into night, and Qing Shan was stuck in the darkness. Not knowing if he was even traveling in the right direction any longer, Qing Shan kept digging his foot into the ground and shoving himself forward, his already battered body being painted with cuts and bruises as he moved through bushes and along the hard ground.
When Qing Sham was met by the sun at dawn. At this point, Qing Shan could no longer see the community garden behind him, and he could faintly make out the village, which again seemed to have smoke lingering over it, albeit smoke that was not nearly as dark as it was the day before. Still, Qing Shan was more worried with his own survival than he was with the village that may have a small cooking problem.
Qing Shan was at long last met by the sight of the outskirts of his village only a bit after darkness fell. He pushed himself forward one last time before succumbing to the pain and falling immediately into a deep slumber. At this point, Qing Shan's senses were so disgruntled that he could barely even see anything in front of him or feel the ground beneath him. He would not have even noticed if a skunk sprayed him in the face.
'They… They'll find me here…'
This was Qing Shan's last though before he fell into a well-needed rest.
The next morning, Qing Shan woke to a load roar of his stomach and the smell of charcoal. In the past days, Qing Shan's body had healed to a small extent, so he could now move on his elbows. While he was confused that no one had seen him lying right outside the village, he decided that he would worry about that after he saw his Father.
Qing Shan made his way to one of the stairways on the side of the village and carefully climbed down the stone structure. However, one thought was repeating in Qing Shan's mind, causing him to get a horrible feeling in his gut.
Qing Shan finally made his way into the village, but he felt as though he had been thrown into a hell worse than the one he had been living in the past few days.
The first thing that Qing Shan saw upon entering the village was the scorched earth. The second thing he saw was the dirt houses toppled into piles on the ground. Then he saw the corpses, the burnt husks that used to hold human lives inside of them. However, what Qing Shan saw next caused his whole world to topple over. There was one house still standing, and this house had large words written in characters so simple a monkey could read them.
These words said: "Those who offend the Huo Dynasty will be paid with the blood of their allies. They will follow their allies to Hell."
Qing Shan, who was already on the ground did not want to look away from those words. The reason for this was because he could faintly notice a body, lynched right next to these words. Qing Shan knew who this person was, but he did not want to acknowledge that identity.
After wrestling with himself mentally for what felt like an eternity, Qing Shan slowly turned his gaze toward the corpse.
He inhaled quickly, starting to hyperventilate.
He had faintly guessed based on the name Huo Dynasty, which was a name that he had always heard during his long-time recurring dream, but no one, even a monster, would be able to stay calm when seeing their Father lynched over a sea of ash.
At this moment, Qing Shan let out the first, and most likely the last, tears of his lifetime. His Father was the only one who had ever truly cared about him in the village, as even the nicest Uncle Luo would talk bad about Qing Shan behind his back. In fact, his father was the reason that Qing Shan never fought back when he was bullied in the village. He had always felt that causing trouble would get him kicked out of the village, and he knew that his Father would not let him go alone.
Qing Shan's eyesight was drowned in tears, his broken and battered body heaving up in down in the largest display of emotion in Qing Shan's life. Momentarily forgetting about himself, Qing Shan let his body collapse to the ground, his mind filled with all of the memories of his Father.
His body battered and bruised and his mind a mess, Qing Shan lay crumpled on the ground, no one knowing his thoughts except for himself.
At this moment, Qing Shan was thrown into a state of endless despair. He managed to face head-on that his Father was dead, but this acknowledgement only made him feel worse.
'Father… what did you do to deserve this?'
Thrown into a state of confoundment that even Qing Shan's superior brain could not help him come to terms with, Qing Shan currently only had one thought. He wanted to give his father a proper burial. Anything else could wait.
Unfortunately, Qing Shan was currently in no shape to do anything. He knew, as emotionally painful as it would be, that he had no choice to enter the one house standing in the village, his own Father's workshop, and patch himself up. He pulled himself forward, knowing that for now, he needed to survive at least until he could bury his Father.
Even though the gruesome sight outside had ruined his appetite, Qing Shan forced himself to eat and drink in some food. He could only force himself to consume a little before he collapsed again.
Once Qing Shan awoke, still with only the goal to bury his Father in his mind, Qing Shan managed to find proper materials and create himself a splint for one of his arms using his teeth and elbows. Qing Shan eventually managed to create similar splints for both of his other broken limbs before grabbing some more food and inching himself to the nearest bed before falling asleep.
In the next week, Qing Shan kept up this routine, but the food stores in his Father's house were starting to run dry. However, Qing Shan felt that he could make the supplies last until he had gained some mobility in his broken bones.
After another week and a half, Qing Shan had finally used up all of the food stores, and he could manage to walk a couple of steps with an extreme limp. Although this hurt to a point that Qing Shan was about to pass out from the pain, he managed to endure long enough to finally cut his Father down. He watched as his Father's corpse fell from the house and unceremoniously onto the ground. Watching this scene made him feel as though thousands of knives were digging themselves into his heart.
Qing Shan then grabbed an animal hide from his Father's workshop and carefully pushed the dried corpse onto it. He felt that this was at least better than dragging his father through the ashes of their village.
Qing Shan brought his father up and out of the village before starting to dig a shallow grave with his hands. Once he buried his Father, Qing Shan knelt beside his Father's messy grave for one whole night.
'Father, your son has been unfilial. I should have stayed in the village with you. Is it bad that I wish I died with you? Do not worry, I plan on accompanying you. I will not let anyone bully you in the afterlife, even if I have to sacrifice my soul to do so. Once I die, my spirit will protect you to pay you back for these years that you have protected me.'
Like this, Qing Shan prepared himself to die.
Qing Shan stumbled back to the house, wanting to tidy up the inside. He also wanted to grab the hilt that his Father said belonged to his mother and bury it next to his Father. He hoped that his Father would enjoy that.
However, Qing Shan could not find the hilt. He searched all over, repeatedly looking in the trunk that held his Father's belongings. After looking all around the house, Qing Shan kicked the now-empty trunk with his good foot in a fit of anger.
Thunk
Qing Shan clearly heard the sound of something moving within the trunk. He looked inside and seeing nothing, flipped the trunk over while holding his hand over the opening. Like he had suspected, a false bottom fell out of the trunk along with his Mother's hilt.
To his surprise, there was also a small journal in the trunk. Opening it, Qing Shan watched as a small piece of paper fell to the floor.
"Xiao Shan,
If you are reading this, than I have probably already passed.
I most likely never had the courage to tell you about your mother while I was alive, so I will now. Her name was Huo Xueyan, and she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen…"
'Huo?'
Seeing the name that had appeared in this journal was the same as the one that killed his Father, Qing Shan's heart shook. This could not be a coincidence!
Qing Shan continued to read.
"Unfortunately, my birth was not of noble birth, and my innate qi attribute was not compatible with hers. Xueyan was one of the Princesses of the Huo Dynasty, the most powerful force in our Forgotten Progenitor Country. Her family thought it unforgivable that she wished to marry a mere commoner. She managed to convince her family to let her marry herself to me in secret, but that was before they found out that my innate qi had the attribute of wind.
In this world, some things are not meant to intertwine. The main elements of our world, fire, water, earth, wind, shadow, and light are not meant to mix. A child conceived from multiple elements will have severe birth defects, the most notable one being a lack of cultivation. Once the Huo Dynasty found out that their princess was pregnant with one of these children, who they refer to as a bane child, an existence against the heavenly laws of our world, they ordered me killed. You are one of those children, but neither I or your mother loved you any less for that. However, you are the shame of the Huo Dynasty, a powerful force that could annihilate you with a mere ten thousandth of its power. They will not let you live if they know that you are alive, so distance yourselves from them as far as possible, and change your name."
The journal went to talk more about how Qing Shan's Mother had died, but Qing Shan primarily focused on the words from his Father.
This journal set alight a fire of rage within Qing Shan's heart, but he logically understood that thoughts of revenge were unrealistic. Upon finding out that the Huo Dynasty was truly so strong, Qing Shan's despair grew into a deep depression. Leaving the journal open on the overturned trunk, Qing Shan picked up the hilt that belonged to his mother and walked to his Father's workshop. Qing Shan grabbed a sharp knife and limped back to his Father's grave.
Qing Shan removed some of the dirt that covered his Father and placed his Mother's sword hilt in the cold hands of his Father before resealing the grave. He then laid down next to his Father's grave and pressed the knife to his throat, many thoughts flashing through the clear eyes of a child with wisdom beyond his years.
'Father, Mother, I am truly sorry. I wish I could gain revenge for the both of you, but I do not have that capability. I do not wish to live my life in vain if I am going to be plagued by sadness every waking moment of my life. I hope you welcome me in the afterlife even though I have disappointed you. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to speak with you there. My hatred runs deep for the Huo Dynasty as they have mercilessly killed the both of you, but I am crystal clear about my limits. Please know that I would not hesitate to devote my life to blood and war if I had the power to realize my revenge, but I am afraid I am worthless.'
A self-depreciating smile appeared on the face of the twelve-year-old boy that surpassed his age. At this moment, Qing Shan had an expression that would shock even the most ancient existences, for anyone could clearly tell that Qing Shan had repeatedly gone through Hell, just from this smile.
His mind made up, Qing Shan moved the knife toward his neck.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Yu_Starrunner
Yu_Starrunner Don't you love Cliff Hangers? :)
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