Yunchen looked at the leaves that were starting to fall. Sitting under the tree, he tried to let go to the anger gripping at his heart. The last few years were difficult for him. The previous pampered young master of the Wei family was starting to realize that life meant more than just fun and games. Since his grandfather left in one of his journeys to find a cure for him has been more than three years. Since then no word came back o his whereabouts. He was almost fifteen now. But lacking the protection of his grandpa woke him up to the reality of day to day life. And to the cruelty of being stabbed in the back and then being thrown to the side.
When the first signs of him starting to awaken his senses to the cultivation he was almost seven. Three months later he stunned everyone by entering the first rank. A Novice at seven was quick. Usually the ones that started on their way needed about a year to prepare their body or the work ahead. But he managed to do it in three months and stunned his grandfather when he tested him. Six months later he entered the middle stage. That's when the things started to go sideways. Instead of advancing, he felt all his efforts were for nothing. He kept taking the pills and teas and baths his grandfather prescribed, but nothing worked. Instead, they seemed to make it even worse. Then when he was ten he entered into a coma due to the exhaustion. The physicians called to take care of him struggled to bring him out of it. They succeeded, but he was not capable to cultivate anymore. All his earlier accomplishment vanished overnight. His grandfather left soon after to find a way for him to recover. That was the last time he saw or heard from him. After that, everything went downhill for him. Everyone else was starting to ignore him or in some cases, even worse, to avoid him completely.
As for his parents, he slowly started drifting away from them. Their reactions hurt him the most. As if the most important thing in life was to cultivate, ignoring everything else. So he gave back the same as he received. Even his grandma ended up receiving the cold shoulder. He rarely went to see her anymore and that was only when he had no choice. Soon he found himself a stranger in his own house.
He started getting used with everything until early in the morning of the present day. He passed by the kitchen and saw his cousin Danxuan walking out from there. At first he wanted to turn back and leave, but thought better of it and kept walking. When he tried to pass by him, he found him stepping in his way. Figuring he was simply confused, he stepped to the side and kept walking, trying to ignore him, but he got in his way again. He might have vented his frustrations on him, but it felt good feeling his nose break under his fist. He might also have sucker-punched him, but he had no other chance of doing it otherwise. Danxuan, being the son of Dongyi, was accepted as a personal disciple of the great elder of a sect Yunchen didn't care to remember. And by the look of things, he was pretty good at what he did there, because three years later he reached the late stage of the Adept realm. Perhaps it was Yunchen's lucky day because Danxuan didn't have his spear at him. He witnessed once him training with it and Yunchen was impressed at his proficiency with it.
But even if he didn't have the spear with him, Yunchen still ended up lying on the ground after a couple of fists to the kidneys. While being on the ground in fetal position, he listened to his ranting about him being a cripple not worth the food he was eating. Yunchen starting to laugh at the time didn't help the matters an more kicks to the kidneys made him stop laughing. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was Danxuan laughing at him saying he deserved everything he got for how he disrespected his, Danxuan's, father all those years ago.
When next he awoke he found himself on a bed in an unknown room, a girl sitting in a chair next to the bed with her eyes closed. Seeing the girl, he simply stood and walked out the room and left or the place that made him feel better to think things through. That's where he was now.
He heard shuffling of feet coming closer to the place he was sitting. Without even looking at the girl that approached him he simply let out a sigh.
"Taotao, what is it that you want now? Hasn't your family done enough already?"
The girl's voice trembled as she let out a torrent of words meant to make him feel better. But he simply didn't care enough to listen to her. He heard only the noise of her voice, but the words were lost on him. When he felt her trying to come closer, he finally snapped at her.
"Seriously, what is your problem? Danxuan and your father had done enough to humiliate me recently. I don't need you to come here and try to make me feel better. I know you're a good human being, but you're your father's daughter at the end of the day. Just let me enjoy my privacy in peace. I don't need anyone around me right now and have things to think about. You'd better walk back to your family."
He stood finally looking at her and saw the tears falling down her cheeks, but he simply didn't care. Her father managed to ruin his life and now he wasn't feeling like comforting his daughter. Her voice was soft, as if lacking the energy to talk louder. She wiped her tears while sniffling.
"I truly am sorry about how my brother hurt you today. But I don't know what you mean by me being my father's daughter. Did he do something to you? Even if they did make your life difficult, I am not them, nor do I have the power to stop them from doing what they want. Keep that in mind before accusing me of something I'm not guilty of."
"I'm sorry, but things are complicated right now. But thank you for ruining the last place where I could enjoy the last shreds of dignity I had left. Now it's all yours. Enjoy it!"
He turned and walked towards the wall surrounding the garden. He didn't stop as he climbed it and then jumped on the other side. The mountains always covered in snow could be seen in the distance and the forests surrounding them were dense and were teeming with scary beasts by the way people talked.
But as he walked in that direction he thought nothing he met there would be worse than what he was leaving behind. After all, he had nothing else left to lose except his life. Nothing worth much, in his opinion.
As he got closer he started hearing noises and howls he never heard before in his life. He was beginning to rethink his earlier decision as he grew closer and the noises got closer too, but he still kept advancing towards the forest.
It took him about two hours of fast paced walking to reach the edge of the forest. By then, the night was upon him and he looked around for a tree to take shelter on top of. After ten minutes he was sitting on a branch ten meters on top of the forest floor, feet dangling over the abyss beneath him.
As the darkness became denser, he tried closing his eyes to get some sleep but the noises of wild nightlife kept him awake. That and his stomach that started hurting from hunger. After all he didn't eat since yesterday. He endured it and finally he managed a fitful sleep.
When he opened his eyes the next day, the first thing he saw was the ground far below him. It seem to glow in the moonlight. He dragged himself to sit back on the branch. He closed his eyes again, only for a moment, he promised to himself. His entire body was hurting, but he ignored it as he drifted back to sleep.
It was late morning when he finally woke up. The noise made by his stomach awoke him.
He got down the tree and started looking for something to eat. He found some berries that looked edible. At least he wasn't feeling as hungry as he started walking again deeper inside the forest. He picked up a club made from a heavy piece of wood for protection. Not that would be a lot of help, but it still felt better than him being empty-handed.
Soon the forest engulfed him as he kept walking.