The hidden cave where Great Devil Liu resided was silent, deathly silent. A sort of silence permeated the air as if a funeral was in procession, not even the slightest tik. A kind of silence that made one pull their hair out and puke their insides if they brewed for too long in the air, a madness no doubt.
Great Devil Liu starred with bloodshot eyes at the elder in front of him, unable to understand the scene that had confronted him.
"Who are you?"
The elder merely gave another smile and remained silent for a brief moment.
"May I tell you a story?"
Unsure of what to say Great Devil Liu only nodded, goosebumps on the back of his neck.
"A long time ago, a long long time ago there was an old man. You see this old man had aching bones and cracking skin, he was very old indeed. This old man wanted to go to sleep, to take a long rest, but there was one problem. His house. Now this house wasn't in the best of conditions, it had seen better times now with its dusty windows and rotting wood, but it was still the old man's house. He remembered when he had first came by it when young, when the sun shined off it and children gathered to stare in envy. He couldn't just sleep, letting the forces of nature to eventually break it down. Luckily this old man had a son, a very smart boy. He was going to leave his son his house, so he could go and take his nap. Everything was set in place, except there was one thing the old man didn't account for. The old man didn't account for his child's feelings, who hated the house. The child, who at a very young age showed great potential for carpentry had bigger dreams. The child wished to sell the house, using the money to create a far bigger mansion on top of a hill, a new home. The old man couldn't let the house go, he just couldn't, so he made a mistake. He forced his child to take over the house, no matter his opinion, but he couldn't have predicted one thing. He couldn't have predicted how much his son ended up resenting him, hating him, so when he wants for his slumber and passed down what he had, the son shed his sheep skin. His child, all that was left of his bloodline, didn't sell the house like he worried, no, he destroyed. He wrecked it bit by bit, shattering the windows and burning the wood, leaving nothing left in its place."
Great Devil Liu froze, he was no fool.
"So it was you."
"Yes."
"You seem different."
"That's because I am, a man can't control the river of time's influence."
"No, you seem colder."
"What is your point?"
"What my point is that that's not how I remember how things happened."
"Oh?"
A torrent of sweat fell down Great Devil Liu's neck has he looked down his former teacher, his former master.
"I had to do it. The Soaring Sword Sect would have been destroyed anyway, there was no other choice. Most of our techniques were lost or broken and our only remaining Core Formation Master at the time, you, were at the end of your life…"
For the first time in the whole exchange, the elder lost his cool.
"Silence!"
Great Devil Liu coughed a mouthful of blood just from the pure pressure.
"Don't you dare excuse your actions! Sure you could have stolen the Spiritual Arts and Pills and Artifacts, but what you did was inexcusable! You rampaged, slaughtered and forsaken your entire family."
"No. Your family, it was never my family!"
"I said SILENCE!" Madness filtered through the elder's eyes, as he took large breaths, trying to calm himself down.
Great Devil Liu skin started peeling off due to the pressure, a grotesque sight that would chill one to the bones.
"No, you old bastard! Stop acting like your perfect! I'm the genius, one of the greatest talents our sect had ever seen, yet it took me thousands of years to reach the Nascent Soul Realm. How could you, at the end of your life gain the power to surpass me? I heard rumors that you reaching the Core Formation Realm was a great shock to the sect, now how is this possible? I'm the genius, I'm the one who should be stomping on you! I can't even imagine what lucky opportunity you must have come across, no wonder no one ever say your Natal Artifact, even when I thought I killed you all those years ago. You were always hiding something weren't you"
"SILENCE!" The elders scream echoed throughout a 100 mile radius, shattering even mountains. Great Devil Liu's body couldn't defend from power, his body and soul exploding on the spot.
Blood splattered everywhere, staining the old man crimson red. He had gone from looking like a village grandpa to a sinister devil, a look that probably better suited him.
Realizing what he just did, the elder went into shock, nearly fainting.
Staring at his bloody palms left him broken, "Lin Xun, what did you just do?"
Just as his sanity was close to shattering, Lin Xun heard a sound in the background.
"Waa, waah!" The sound of the baby crying momentarily took Lin Xun out of his state of shock.
'How did the child survive my Immortal Pressure?'
Lin Xun walked close to the baby, scooping it in his arms.
"Oh Little Liu, what in the world did you want with this child?"
For a moment, Lin Xun considered leaving the child to die in the cave, but quickly decided against it. This child would be the future, a chance for him to fix his past mistakes with his now deceased disciple.
Giant red lotus petals emerged from the ground, covering the two as they dissapeared from the cave.