*Senior Brother is here, Senior Brother has come to save me. Senior Brother has not forgotten about me, all those times I helped him pass his exams in the academy, all those times I helped him escape teacher’s wrath, finally it will all be repaid. After all Senior Brother is my friend!*
Lord Cao Mao Li however raised a single eyebrow and smiled cruelly.
“Haaa? Save you? Why on earth would I do that?”
*Senior…brother*
A sickening laughter erupted in the dim hallway, the noble visage of Lord Mao Li slipped revealing a hideous face twisted with malice. His eyes glittered with barely disguised greed as he gloated over his helpless junior.
“Oh Zang, you who were once the great genius of Chang’An academy, you who were once the 'One in Hundred Thousand' prodigy of the Tang Empire, you who were once destined to one day become the greatest hero of this land, how does it feel to be so powerless?”
Zang was stunned into silence he stared up dumbfounded at the man he had once considered his brother.
“All those years of you gloating your genius prowess over us, all the times teacher used to praise you, YOU. A filthy commoner from some unknown village, tutored by some unknown practioner who lives in the mountains like some wild animal. The thought of you lording over us proud sons of Chang’an nobility was so disgusting to bear, yet I bore it, swallowed it all like a venomous pill…all for this day.”
He looked down hoping to see more tears from Zang, however Zang could no longer match his gaze.
“Ho genius Zang, no witty retorts this time, perhaps your genius has been dimmed by this…grey fog of oblivion as you call it?”
“Brother!”
Head still lowered Zang spoke, his voice was clear and resounded like a clap of thunder across the stone walls of the prison hallway.
“I never knew what to expect when I came to Chang’an. Though my master tried to warn me but I…I still tried my best. Honestly I did ill-treat my brothers at the academy, I took teachers praise as a license to bully those less gifted than me but I never really cared for anybody in the academy, except for you brother. You offered me help when I needed it, you supported me even against the Crown Prince of Silla, I thought the rest of them were trash but you brother…I thought you were truly noble.”
For a moment Lord Cao was taken aback by this genuine outpouring of emotions.
*Tch, such naïve words but I must be on guard, his spirit is still not broken. Today I must break you Zang Xuan. Break you so that you can never even dare to cultivate your qui again.*
“Ohhh, are you appealing to my emotions little brother, I admit I am not wholly cold to your discomfort, but your past offences to the nobility of Chang’an deserve punishment…tell you what, this prison is so filthy that my boots have become dirty, if you can lick them clean then perhaps I can forgive you your trespasses and maybe pull some strings to get you out!”
On his knees, hands folded, Zang Xuan the proud smiling sage of Tien’Shan quivered with rage. The Iron of revenge was forming up inside his soul. Anger hammered it into its distinct sword like shape, rage fanned the flames of his heart’s furnace. Around him even the naturally sickly qui of the prison momentarily gathered and swirled about in a vortex. In that moment it seemed like Zang Xuan would break his chains of iron and strike straight at Cao Mao Li. The two bodyguards tensed up, hands quickly moving to their sword hilts. But the moment passed and he breathed out a sigh, the qui dissipated. He looked up, a desperate pathetic grin pasted on his face.
“Of course, Senior Brother, I would naturally, happily, clean your boots. I would be greatly honored to do so, so please…please find it in your heart to rescue this poor fool from his unfortunate fate.”
“Hahahahahahah good very good, it is good you know your place little brother…go ahead, lick it clean. Lick it all clean…”
With that Zang set about licking the boots. He didn’t care about the taste, after all leather tastes only slightly different than toughened dried meat. He didn’t care about the filth, as a rural bumpkin dirt and filth had been his earliest companions. Right now the only thing this proud sage cared for was finding a way out of this cell. A way to escape this hellish prison so that one day he could unleash his heavenly vengeance on these ignorant prejudiced fools who had wronged him so, this pathetic Senior Brother and all the pathetic nobles of Chang’an. And when that day arrived…
“…then again, it could not be that you are just licking my boots right now so that you can escape your fate and enact your vengeance upon me, could it?”
Zang froze in sheer terror, like a rabbit caught in a tiger’s golden eyed predatorial gaze. Could it be? Had Senior Brother divined the technique of reading one’s mind?
“Hahahaha you were, weren’t you. You sick little pervert. Don’t worry fool I haven’t discovered how to read minds yet, but your killing intent was so strong right now who would be fooled by your little playact at being submissive. Hahaha you truly have fallen far little brother.”
Before Zang could react Lord Cao kicked him square in the jaw and sent him flying back into his cell.
“Know your place knave, to even dream of vengeance upon this noble officer of the Emperor of Tang. Did you truly think yourself capable of such strategems against me? Fool who was it that suggested the Red Hat Inn to you one your day of escape from the academy, are you truly stupid enough to not recognize the architect of your demise?”
Lying there sprawled on the cold stone floor, bleeding from his cut lip, Zang’s head might have been hidden from view, but his eyes were wide with shock and horror. Senior Brother’s words came back to him from that ill fated night. How Senior Brother had dangled the bait of the Inn and it’s sensual pleasures in front of him, how he had leapt at the chance of bedding a woman after his months of chaste scholarly living. Just like a moth, drawn to the flame of death.
Zang tried to rise up but only managed to get halfway there before his shoulders slumped in dismay and his legs buckled under his weight. His spirit was crushed. Any thought of vengeance evaporated from his mind.
Tears once again streamed freely down his face.
“Hahahahahahaha fool. You are indeed pathetic young Zang Xuan, I hope you are wiser in your next life and better able to recognize your station. Dare you not reach beyond the station bestowed on you by Heaven. Trash like you belong in the dirt beneath the heels of your betters. Now I shall depart, gaze at the glorious dragon on my back and know that a lowly tadpole like you can never become the dragon you foolishly claimed yourself to be.”
With that the noble Lord Cao Mao Li departed, leaving behind a crushed broken shell of what had once been a proud and noble sage. In the cold darkness of his cell Zang sobbed softly for a long time. Then as the night wore on, sleep began to overwhelm his senses and he fell silent. Slipping in and out of a fever dream like stupor. In this half asleep, half awake, half dead dream like state he heard a strange voice whisper in his ear in a foreign accent.
“Young Lord”
At first he dismissed it as another dream vision of his broken mind, but the voice persisted.
“Young Lord, it would seem your taqdir has been cruel to you, young lord would you not like a chance to change your taqdir?”
------------------
“Oi, wake up already young lord, fucking hell what a lazy young lord you are.”
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