Chapter Text
Everyone scrambled left and right, screams heard in the ever so peaceful Four Seasons Manor. Blood everywhere, Qin Huai Zhang, the lord of Four Seasons Manor, a confidant of the king, and a fierce soldier, dead just like that. The "flowers in all seasons" Four Seasons Manor, white due to the snow now all colored in red. But the massacre didn’t stop till dawn. The screams finally silenced forever in the Manor with a few ladies and children held hostage by the ghosts of the Qingya Mountain.
Suddenly, a rage-filled voice echoed in the Manor, “WHERE is the KEY? You foolish ghosts, couldn’t even get the location of such a small thing but killed the only person who knew before he spilled it? Good, very good.”
“Who was interoggating Lao Qin? WHO?” he thundered. It was none other than Wen Kexing, the most infamous chief of the Ghost Valley known for his ruthlessness, who was cruel and without mercy, one who had torn off his father’s flesh and eaten it in order to survive, skinned the former Valley Master alive, and hung his head as a decoration at the gates of the Valley. Who would want to take the blame for this? The thing he had been looking for so crazily, almost within his grasp but snatched at the last second.
He ordered the ghosts, “Okay then. If they don’t give me what I want, why should I care about their kin and family. I’m no saint. I order that no one here leaves alive.” He sat, and watched as the ghosts tortured the women and killed the children adding to the blood spill on the manor grounds. “T he world has abandoned me, so i shall kill them all”, he thought.
Zhou Zishu, hiding in the antrum of the Manor, aware that he longer had a shifu, heard all the yelling and the screams as they became silent one by one, all in the search of the damned key of the treasury. He wondered, what even was hidden in that treasury, was it worth wiping out his whole sect. He ran out of the antrum. He couldn’t watch all of them dying for something they had no use of.
He ran out only to see blood and dead bodies, his family lying lifeless on the snow. He trembled, feeling angry at himself for being so useless to even fight with them against the enemy. Instead, he had been sent to the antrum, even to which he had to be escorted safely. He had watched his shidi, Jiuxiao die in their hands before entering the antrum. The repressed emotions finally burst out of him.
Here, Wen Kexing had calmed down when he heard a tenor voice shouting, “I know where the key to that wretched treasury is.” He looked up to find a trembling … man? He was amused by the ‘act of bravery’ of the pretty man. But the remaining hostages were not. They paled. One of the oldest looking lady who was counting her breaths asked, “A-Shu, why did you come out?” to which Wen Kexing mused, “Oh, if it isn’t the vase disciple of the valiant Four Seasons Manor?” He was a beautiful fox spirit was Wen Kexing's first impression of him.
Zhou Zishu heard the almost whisper voice of his Aunt Lu and turned his head to look at the man who had massacred his people and was sitting there smiling slyly at him. Oh how he wished he could slap that wicked smile off that face. He ignored the quip of the ‘vase disciple’ as he was one of the worst ones his manor could have had and he was the chief disciple of these men who are…. were 1000 times better than him in the skills. He walked right up to the fearsome Ghost Valley Master and repeated, “Yes, it is me, Zhou Zishu and I do know where the key for the treasury is but I have my terms and conditions before handing over the key to you…” “Wen. Wen Kexing.” “Wen Guzhu.”
“oh,…. is that so? Fine, let’s see these ‘terms and conditions’ of yours.” “First condition, let the remaining people of my manor go… ALIVE. Seco-” “I order the ghosts to leave them alone at the moment. Next.” Zhou Zishu was baffled but he went on, “Second – empty the manor and let them stay here. The key is not here I can assure you that.” Suddenly, the air went cold in the Manor. Everyone feared for their lives especially the life of their chief disciple. No one dared to breathe or squeak a word so as not to incur the wrath of the Ghost Valley Chief. Even Zhou Zishu felt the sudden change but he was adamant about it. No key, if these wretched ghosts don’t walk out of the Manor. Wen Kexing suddenly laughed, “No wonder Lao Qin had appointed you as his chief disciple. Fine, we walk out but you leave with us. GHOSTS OF THE QINGYA MOUNTAIN, WE HEAD BACK TO THE VALLEY. You are coming with me.” He picked up Zhou Zishu by his waist and left the Manor with his army. Everyone was still comprehending what had went down in the Manor. “Did our Chief Disciple Zhou get kidnapped just like that, right under from our noses?”
Here, Zhou Zishu who had been ‘kidnapped’ by Wen Kexing was wondering the same. He hated the guy to his core but he had to accept the fact that his martial abilities were top tier. It was no easy feat to carry a man equivalent to his weight at such speed. His qinggong1 was well trained and practiced. But he put that thought to the back of his brain, as he did not know where the key was for the treasury. Only his shifu and that corrupt king knew about it. Well, we will cross that bridge when it comes. Right now, he was being taken to the Ghost Valley, the lair of his enemies and he had no Kungfu to defend himself if found out. What is going to go down once Wen Kexing, this merciless killer man realizes he has been lied to?
To be continued…