The young man turned out to be Ye Chen’s lackeys, one of the four who usually followed him around everywhere. He easily gave in to his pain and revealed everything without much resistance.
After hearing the rejection from Song Liangxue, Ye Chen was furious. He couldn’t understand why Song Liangxue would choose Ye Jun over him, which made his anger rise even more.
He had ordered his subordinates to find ways to harm Ye Jun at any time. He wanted Ye Jun to suffer in the worst possible way without getting himself affected by the clan.
But there was little they could do to Ye Jun aside from beating him and further humiliating him, but they had already done that many times before.
That was when they noticed Ye Jun leaving the Ye Manor. Ye Chen then ordered the young man to find Ye Jun’s weakness and destroy it to make him suffer endlessly.
’Two innocents died because of one arrogant man’s jealousy and inferiority complex.’
Ye Jun’s inner emotional side was raging in anger, wanting to tear apart Ye Chen and the whole Ye Clan. It was getting harder to keep it down after everything that had happened so far.
’The Soul assimilation with previous Ye Jun is making my emotional side stronger. What a mess!’
Looking down at the young man who begged him to let him go, Ye Jun just scoffed and picked him up by his throat. He stepped forward towards the burning cottage and said, his voice low and devoid of emotions.
"You made their home a grave. Now you can share it."
"N-No! Please! No! I told you everything!"
But Ye Jun didn’t hear anything. He simply stood closer to the scorching flames and threw the young man into it. It didn’t take long before he heard loud screams and wailing coming from the fire.
He closed his eyes, knowing well this didn’t mean anything. It wouldn’t bring the lost lives back, but perhaps it would soothe their souls knowing Ye Jun had taken vengeance for their deaths.
’Maybe not.’
He listened to his screams like a sweet melody for a while, but his emotional side was slowly taking over again.
Opening his eyes, he sighed and quickly cleaned up his tracks. Then, he ran outside the city walls with his hands shaking. He barely managed to control his desire to let out a loud scream to vent out his grief and pain.
He wanted to give a proper funeral to them, but knew it was impossible. The City Guards would soon discover the commotion and come to investigate the situation.
’I need to leave. I need to be away. I can’t handle this.’
His emotional side and rational side clashed violently. The former just wanted to let out its overwhelming emotions, while the latter wanted him to survive at all costs.
’Survive!’
...
Back on the scorching field, Meihui appeared out of nowhere, her hands tightening into fists so hard that her nails were drawing blood from her palms.
She checked around and muttered, trying to keep her voice steady, "He didn’t leave any tracks. Good...good!"
Turning towards the east, she silently swore to tear down the Ye Clan if Ye Jun couldn’t do it himself. She now hated them more than anything, as they reminded her of the world she had run away from.
’One day...you will all scream in this fire too.’
Then, she turned towards the direction Ye Jun had left, and complicated emotions rose in her heart. She wanted to run and hug him tightly to comfort him, to lessen his grief, but knew it would just produce the opposite effect right now.
’He must be questioning the world itself. He needs some time alone.’
Then, she took off again as she followed Ye Jun into the Black Wind Wildlands. Even if she didn’t meet him directly, she wanted to protect him from the shadows. Especially since he was now in dangerous territory.
Her eyes teared up as she thought about the tragedy that had fallen on Ye Jun. ’I hope you don’t shut yourself off from the world. Please!’
...
Ye Jun didn’t know where he was or where he was going by running so fast without direction. All he knew was that the world was collapsing around him, as memories of the past flashed through his mind, both Weaver’s and Ye Jun’s.
’Even if I have changed worlds, the people are the same,’ he thought, his eyes turning red but he let no tears come out. ’Weak, pathetic humans. Always choosing the cowardly way.’
Before long, he was forced to stop as a lonesome howl brought some clarity to his muddled mind. His instincts kicked in as his cold, rational mind began to shift towards victory in its battle with his emotional side.
He jumped back as a wolf with silver-tainted fur leapt out of the bushes, a yellow ring shimmering in its predatory eyes. Its fangs were dripping with saliva as it growled and began to circle around him slowly.
’Mid-Stage Tier 1 Silver Wolf!’
Ye Jun stared back at the wolf, and then he burst out in mad laughter. "How ironic! Haha! You beasts are actually better than us humans. Much better!"
His shouts only provoked the wolf as it lunged at him with its mouth wide open, ready to tear his flesh apart, but Ye Jun used his Footwork technique to slip to the side.
His eyes were fuming with dark amusement and cold rage that was ready to burst out at any moment.
"You see your enemies and fight them no matter what. Such a simple way of battle. But humans are cowards. Pathetic creatures who see their weakness and don’t dare to fight."
He laughed wildly as the wolf once again tried to slash his chest with its sharp claws. It was also faster than before, so Ye Jun barely managed to dodge, yet his laughter didn’t stop.
He couldn’t stop. It was either letting out these emotions through laughing or crying and screaming in grief. He much preferred to laugh rather than show weakness to the world.
"They know they can’t do anything, but their ego wouldn’t let them accept defeat. So they choose a cowardly tactic of harming people close to their enemies instead."
He took out the dagger dripping with crimson, warm blood, and after another dodge, he tore into the Silver Wolf’s hind leg.
"Why! Just why is this world so damn pathetic!? Why can’t you just fight head-on? Why!? Why harm the innocents?"