Remembering You For Eternity

2.42 The Returned Two

Sage Shen Zheng tried to stabilize his breathing as he continuously felt a stream of qi being transferred from a pair of palms to his exposed back.

It helped ease the pain somewhat, but soon his body was wrecked with coughs. He involuntarily spat a mouthful of blood, causing the person behind him to withdraw the qi and hold his body, to avoid him faltering towards the ground.

"Shifu, how are you feeling?" The younger man gripped his arms, expression laced with worry. Sage Shen Zheng managed to force a smile to form on his bloodless lips as he slowly fixed his robe. 

Still being referred to as a Sage was merely formality; Shen Zheng knew that he no longer had the qualification to be an expert of such caliber and revered by everyone.

"I am feeling fine, Ah-Wei. You should return to the Imperial City to help the others if you can." He paused,

"Though, if you could not help, running away would be good too, Ah-Wei."

Shen Wei's grip tightened, causing Sage Shen Zheng to chuckle,

"What is the point of fighting anyway? We have gone at it for more than a decade, but Zuo JinLong has turned mad. This madman is blind."

The old cultivator's eyes flashed with disgust as he recalled what he and everyone he knew had to go through for years. For him, it was adding insult to injury as he took it more personal; after all, Zuo JinLong was once a Wu Shan sect's disciple, one dubbed as an unsurpassed talent of his generation. He was considered as Shen Wei's senior as well. However, none of it seemed to matter to the current Zuo JinLong, as he unreservedly had been slaying his own fellow junior brothers and wounding hiselders.

It was a past matter for Zuo JinLong to had indirectly caused the death of Sage Shen Zheng's martial brother - who had been heartbroken after the latter's own daughter - Shuan Bing - forgo all familial ties to stay with the Emperor. Despite it being Shuan Bing's own decision, Sage Shen Zheng had always born a grudge towards the girl he used to think of as his own niece, and towards Zuo JinLong. As Shuan Bing was no longer amongst the living, he could only place his grievance towards Zuo JinLong.

It was also a past matter that Shuan Bing had died under Zuo JinLong's own care. At the very least, Zuo JinLong had always been a just ruler to the normal humans, the non-cultivators that the sects could not and were not willing to stick their noses into. After all, for those sects, nothing was more important than the path of Dao.

However, despite all that, Wu Shan sect had once been Zuo JinLong's home. Without their teachings, Zuo JinLong would not have been able to get the golden throne he had sat on for years.

And now, the mad man was willing to destroy everything on a woman's bidding - a woman that everyone thought had perished more than a decade ago at Hui Lin sect.

Shen Zheng let a trickle of blood escaped his lips, "That witch... is not Yun Ying. She is not the late Empress. We have told him so many times before, but he would hear none of it."

"Soon, malice will take over the world. Everyone has either gone mad or soon will be. Ah-Wei, if you could find a place where you can just live peacefully by yourself... . I ... cannot bear to lose you too. One Ah-Lei was more than enough." The old Sage's face was now ridden with wrinkles, his hair white and disheveled - a far cry than how he used to be in Shen Wei's younger days,

"I know I don't have much time left with my current state. I am living on borrowed time. Just knowing that you are living somewhere safe, will be enough to grant me peace on my journey to the underworld."