"Yes. There are servants; there are family members who may not be cultivators themselves, for whatever reason, but must be honored by their children. Qishan Wen was as large as a city."
He draws his thumb along the rim of the cup.
"Jiang Yanli, my shijie, she had married into Lanling Jin. Already they did not like me much for my crafty tricks, but when I became the Yiling Patriarch, the head of this new clan made of what they believed to be vermin, they liked me even less. A group of them intercepted me on the way to see my nephew, believing I had cursed one of them -- I defended myself with a fierce corpse, and -- "
Easier to think of Wen Ning as simply a fierce corpse. Easier, easier.
(His voice has begun to tremble.)
"I lost control of him. I don't know how. He killed my sister's husband, Jin Zixuan -- the other one you saw in the inlet, all in gold. He killed so many others. I was able to subdue him and flee, but it was too late." He wraps his hands more tightly around the mug to keep them from shaking. "Instead of letting me defend them, the Wen remnants... one of them paralyzed me, so I would not interfere, and they gave themselves up to Lanling Jin. It was too late."
He draws a shaking breath.
"They strung them up over the gates of Nightless City. I will be truthful with you, Ninth: I do not remember very much after I arrived at the gates and saw their bodies. But I do remember one thing." He raises his eyes to her, and they are bright with tears, hollow with the embers of rage and terrible pain. "I thought, If all of you think me a monster, then I will show you a monster."
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branchandroot
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Date: 2020-09-18 01:22 am (UTC)He draws his thumb along the rim of the cup.
"Jiang Yanli, my shijie, she had married into Lanling Jin. Already they did not like me much for my crafty tricks, but when I became the Yiling Patriarch, the head of this new clan made of what they believed to be vermin, they liked me even less. A group of them intercepted me on the way to see my nephew, believing I had cursed one of them -- I defended myself with a fierce corpse, and -- "
Easier to think of Wen Ning as simply a fierce corpse. Easier, easier.
(His voice has begun to tremble.)
"I lost control of him. I don't know how. He killed my sister's husband, Jin Zixuan -- the other one you saw in the inlet, all in gold. He killed so many others. I was able to subdue him and flee, but it was too late." He wraps his hands more tightly around the mug to keep them from shaking. "Instead of letting me defend them, the Wen remnants... one of them paralyzed me, so I would not interfere, and they gave themselves up to Lanling Jin. It was too late."
He draws a shaking breath.
"They strung them up over the gates of Nightless City. I will be truthful with you, Ninth: I do not remember very much after I arrived at the gates and saw their bodies. But I do remember one thing." He raises his eyes to her, and they are bright with tears, hollow with the embers of rage and terrible pain. "I thought, If all of you think me a monster, then I will show you a monster."