The Zhang Family Household lived on one end of the village, behind it was all bamboo and grass. Which meant that on this very evening, there would be absolutely no witnesses to the gruesome and horrifying murder of Zhang Qian, the father of Zhang Feng and Zhang Jian.
Zhang Qian was at the bottom of the barrel when it came to cultivators of Spirits. He couldn't reap a Spirit since he hadn't reached Rank 2 middle stage yet, leaving him with only the pure strength of the second Rank and his Spirit technique. And even then, his Spirit technique was too weak and too taxing to use.
A failure, a pitiful failure. One who gets drunk every night and beats his wife and youngest child. That is the pitiful life of Zhang Qian.
Even then it would not be easy to beat him. Zhang Qian surprise attacked his son with a Spirit Energy coated kick, one that had his leg in a bright blue flame. Zhang Jian was sent flying through the wall and out onto the grass outside, coughing from the sudden impact, he got up.
"You, you are no son of mine." Walking through the Zhang Jian sized hole in wall, Zhang Qian stared at his son with rage and disgust. "I might as well dispose of you today, this family has no need for failures like you."
Zhang Qian planted his two feet firmly on the hardwood floor of the veranda. Raising his arms into a fighting stance, his right hand still flopping around limp. Light blue Spirit Energy coating his legs and left arm.
Zhang Jian was a bit dizzy, He stared back at his father. Not a word from his lips. He took a fighting stance as well, except his hand wasn't broken. Bright orange Spirit Energy coating only the two of his fists.
Zhang Jian charged, Zhang Qian hit a roundhouse kick charged with Spirit energy, Zhang Jian blocked or at least he tried to. Zhang Jian was knocked into one of the wooden pillars holding up the overhang, the back of his head hit the wood hard enough for it to start bleeding.
Father swiftly counterattacked, he was going to kick Zhang Jian in the head with enough force to crack it.
Zhang Qian had missed, his foot smashed the pillar and broke it into two. Zhang Jian rolled over into the grass a few inches below the veranda's floor. Zhang Qian jumped into the air, his right leg raised and ready to land a devastating blow. Again, he missed.
As soon as his right foot planted into the soft green grass, smashing it apart and uncovering the brown dirt underneath.
Zhang Jian, like a snake waiting for its ideal time to strike, shot his strong leg up and rammed his foot into Zhang Qian's crotch "Crack!"
Utterly destroying any hope of having children in the future for him.
Zhang Qian howled in pain, clutching his stomach, he fell over backwards. Rolling around in the grass, tears ran down his face as he cried. Zhang Jian stood up, he felt bad.
He drew out the Spirit energy, walked over to his father. He squatted over the crying man, the blood from the back of his head had spilt over his nape and back, now it was spreading to his face. With the side of his palm Zhang Jian hit Zhang Qian in the side of his neck, knocking him out.
The clouds seemed to be very dark, that was because they casted a shadow and the sky was the light. Now instead of a bright blue, the sky was a deep red, the dim light that managed to cross the horizon had filled the forest with a blood red hue.
Zhang Jian dragged his limp father's body by the leg. Zhang Qian's hair was disheveled, his topknot had come apart and hairpin lost, the hair collected dirt as he was dragged through the forest. Z
hang Jian felt lightheaded from the bleeding, he was going to end this quickly. The boulder was just in view, dried dark red blood indicated the same boulder that he tried to split just a few days earlier. He was almost there, just a few meters away when...
Zhang Jian's hand was kicked hard and he let go of the leg by reflex. Zhang Qian tried to get up by jumping backwards on his feet, he nearly fell over from the sudden jolt of pain near his crotch.
It seems he had temporarily forgotten the monstrous impact of that attack earlier. Zhang Qian's knees nearly buckled on the spot, he managed to hold himself up. Igniting his Spirit energy, he managed to put up a stance, albeit a bit pathetic.
Zhang Jian stood there, feeling the headache from the bleeding. It took a moment for him to register what had happened, Zhang Qian took the opportunity and struck his son clean in the center of his forehead with a blow from his functional left hand.
The powerful strike of Spirit energy threw Zhang Jian into the dirt, his head bleeding from the front now too.
"Hehe, in the end your just a pathetic nobody. All that talk for nothing." Zhang Qian cackled weakly, his voice hoarse from that crying and screaming session earlier. He walked over to his sons body on the ground, raising his leg as high he can- not very high, it still hurt badly- and coated it with Spirit energy.
"Crack!"
The sayings goes "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" well just that happened. The pain was unbearable and maddening, like an animal that broke its limbs he screamed. The only person who could listen, stood up.
Zhang Jian had blood running down from his forehead, it covered the entirety of his face and dripped from his chin. He stared at his father again before grabbing him by his dirty and disheveled hair.
"AH UAGH, HELP PLEASE!" Cries like that rang out, the pitiful rabbit screamed out. But nobody will help you if you crawled into the wolf's teeth of your own accord. In fact, some would say you deserve to be eaten if you behave so stupidly.
Zhang Jian's expression was lifeless and devoid of any feeling. His mind raced with all the possible consequences, futures and possibilities. In the end, it would not matter.
As they approached the rock, his father begged for mercy "PLEASE, STOP AUGH AAAH" Tears ran down his face because of the pain. And yet even though he was once so close to winning, he now stands at the brink of death. Well that was wrong, he was always at the brink of death, he was just too blind to notice it. Zhang Qian was dead the moment he beat his wife, the moment he beat young Zhang Jian. Nothing opens up a persons eyes more than pain.
"PLEASE SON! I BEG YOU AUUGH" Zhang Jian pulled him up by his hair and then gripped him by the back of his neck, he took one last looked at his pitiful waste of a father. "You want mercy? I will give it to you"
For a fraction of a second, hope had found its way onto Zhang Qian. Only to be taken away an instant later as he heard the ignition of Zhang Jian's Spirit energy. "WAIT-" Zhang Jian rammed his head face first into the boulder, breaking his nose and knocking out a tooth immediately.
And he did it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. More and more teeth fell out, more and more blood splattered out from Zhang Qian's face which covered the rocks and Zhang Jian's clothes. Over and Over, the boulder got dented, an imprint of blood on it each time.
And then, he stopped.
Zhang Qian's face was swollen, blood and tears mixed across it. "Spare me" he weakly said, with no teeth left in his mouth.
Zhang Jian moved his hand from the back of the neck to the back of the head. He lifted Zhang Qian up, dangling by his neck.
With the most Spirit Energy he would use all day, Zhang Jian smashed Zhang Qian's head into the top of the boulder with full force, leaving a crater and splitting the boulder in two.
at the base of the boulder, Zhang Qian's dead body lay headless, the head was smashed inside out and burst apart leaving bits of blood, bone and tissue everywhere.
Zhang Jian fell back in exhaustion "I did it... I won" He took a few deep breaths. Trying to calm himself down and plan his next move.
He got up and began walking back to the house, to get treatment. And to leave, leave the village and the Lan Tian clan for good. Zhang Jian has no possible future here.