Yunchen stood beside the stream for a time to gather his thoughts. Finally, still unable to find the reason behind his transformation, he started on his way once more.
He barely started moving when he heard noises coming from behind him. For a moment, he thought he heard his name. Turning his head over his shoulder, he didn't see anything except trees, leaves and grass. And the occasional passing animal.
He started walking again, when the noise grew closer, this time his name clearly being spoken. He stopped and turned around. A shimmering silhouette appeared in front of him. He snorted seeing his father's holographic body in front of him. Once in front of him, it started talking without giving him any time to interfere.
"Chen'er, where are you? Quickly come back home. Our house is facing extinction and you're the initial cause. Stop behaving like a brat. It's time for you to grow up and assume your responsibility and save your family from disaster."
Yunchen stared at his father's face with his mind gone completely in circles. He couldn't believe what his father has just said. Nor the cold way he said it. It was new low, even for him. The Wei family has met with some danger and yet somehow that was his fault. Not only that, but he had to pay for that himself so the family could still be around to enjoy their lives. Yeah, fat chance of that ever happening. Why should he go back to save a bunch of assholes just because somehow they shared the same family name? He raised his shoulders and grinned.
"Well, good luck to everyone in the Wei family! I'm just a cripple, what can I do? I can barely keep myself alive and you want me to risk it just because we're family? Sorry, but I'm not that kind of idiot. Besides, you're a bunch of Venerables, while I'm not even able to cultivate. What could I accomplish if even you can't handle the problems over there? So the answer is no, I'm staying right where I am, enjoying my life. Good bye!"
The hologram turned frantic and tried to grab him, but it's hands simply passed through him.
"Damn it, boy! How can you be so selfish? Don't you understand every last one of us is facing a greater danger than you can imagine? Get your head out of your ass and get back here this very instant!"
Yunchen stared at his father's ghostly figure. Was this a new way of begging he wasn't accustomed to? He never heard these kind of words from his prim and proper father. The fire must be really close to his ass in order for him to resort to these kind of words.
Yunchen started laughing.
"Sorry, but my head stays right where it is at the moment, where is pretty comfortable. As about any of the Wei family, I honestly don't care what happens to them. I've had enough of you along the years. As I've said before: good luck!"
"What about your mother? Grandma? Grandpa? Uncle Dongyi and his kids? What about me? None of us matters to you?"
"Honestly, not really! My mother? I would have cared for her if I were six years old again. But, not anymore. Not after she ignored me for almost a decade. Grandma and grandpa are maybe the best of the Wei family, but I still wouldn't risk my life to save them if that means I will save the rest of you along with them. That's how much I started to hate that family, that even the dearest persons to me are not worth saving if that means rescuing the rest of your worthless lives. As for Dongyi and that pompous son of his, you can shove them up your ass and go to hell together! Now are we done here? I'm getting sick of seeing your face! I am where I am now just to escape from seeing you and I sure as hell won't return until I'm sure you're all gone. Maybe in a month or two I'll return. Let's hope those who come after you won't do a sloppy job and allow any of you to survive."
With that, he punched the hologram and this time, it shattered in tiny lights and started drifting through the air.
Unable to contain his frustration, he started punching a tree. He felt no pain as his fists started to grind the trunk to dust. Soon, the tree was falling to the ground, sending wooden shrapnels in all directions. A piece pierced his left cheek, but he didn't feel the pain. Only when he felt warm saltiness in his mouth, his tongue found the piece that ended up in his mouth. He spitted it out with a mouthful of blood. He pressed his hands on his cheeks in search of the hole where it pierced through, but he found nothing. His cheeks were as smooth as a baby butt.
Finally able to calm down a bit, he sat on the stump of a fallen tree and tried to think things through. What could have happened that made him responsible for ruining the Wei family? And if it really reached that point, could he really sacrifice his grandparents' lives just to get a petty revenge? Were they all irredeemable in his eyes? He remembered the tears from that girl's eyes stemming from being wrongfully accused and now he started understanding her frustration. He could relate to that feeling. He cursed as he stood and he started walking.
He started cursing at his indecisiveness as he started walking on the way back to Weishan City. He was advancing at a frantic pace and when darkness arrived he was almost half-way back. Too tired to care about taking a shelter up in a tree, he simply lean against a tree and closed his eyes, falling asleep immediately.
But as soon as the moon appeared up in the sky and the first ray touched his body, his skin started shaking and glimmering before flames started engulfing his entire body, first from where the moon's light touched him, then extending rapidly from there until his entire body was burning.
Yunchen jumped screaming in pain, trying to extinguish the flames, but, as in the previous night, he failed in doing so.
But, different from the night before, this time the flames didn't consume his flesh. A black liquid started oozing to the surface of his skin from deep inside his body under the suppression of the flames. Once it reached the surface, the flames intensified, burning it until it turned into vapors that started drifting up towards the sky. The pain of the flames lessened when less black liquid started coming out, finally stopping when no more liquid came out.
Yunchen monitored all this, his mind clearer as time went on and the flames incurred less pain than at the beginning. Even though he didn't understand what happened, he felt it was a good thing him getting rid of that black stuff, whatever that was.
Finally about two hours before the dawn, the flames stopped burning entirely, receding back inside his body. As Yunchen felt no more discomfort, he drifted back to sleep, leaving his body do whatever it wanted.
The same as the previous morning, when he finally awoke he was already ingulfed in sunlight. He felt better than before and full of energy, even if he didn't eat in more than a day. Remembering that fact, he was surprised he still felt no sign of being hungry. Actually, he felt quite the opposite, as if he just finished a great meal.
Shaking his head in puzzlement, Yunchen decided it was better to just let it go. No point in wasting his time in trying to get to the bottom of things he did not understand.
When he stood, he found that once again he was naked. Laughing at his predicament, he turned to his shirt once again. Looking at the remaining ten scented herbs, he decided to use them all at once. After all, he thought he would not be in danger after tonight, already reaching the edges of the forest by then.
The herbs turned soon in the paste and, after he smeared it across his body, he enveloped his groin with the remains of his shirt. The menthol coolness of the paste had already seeped inside his body and he was enjoying the pleasant sensation after the heat of the flames.
Passing his hand through his hair, he gathered it in a bun on top of his head to keep it from getting tangled. Then, he started in a run heading back to the city. Once again he was surprised to find out the lack of fatigue after running for the most time of the day.
About an hour before the dusk he reached the edge of the forest.