In the dark of the night, a small inconspicuous carriage moved through a dark and isolated plain. By all means, it looked and sounded like a normal carriage, yet there was something strange about it. Its windows were painted black, while the horses that moved it looked real yet ethereal, their moves too fast and confident to be made from normal horses.
Only one passenger sat inside it. A young man with blonde hair and a long horizontal scar on his cheek, his eyes were fixated on the black window, as if he could see the scenery beyond the thick paint.
Sun stretched his legs, putting them on the opposite seat before resting his head on the side of the carriage. He had started to feel anxious about Liang Wei's new scheme, or as his superior had put it. Sun's new promotion.
He let out a fake yawn.
His team's resignation requests had been approved way too fast, and the rewards they had received had been far too generous in respect to their ranks.
Sure enough, a few days after his team was disbanded, his superior, Lord Ding, called him in generously giving him a chance to enter the Executioners.
Lord Ding had graciously presented it as an opportunity to grow and become an elite, but Sun knew the truth.
The Executioners were the lapdogs of the three organizations that ran the Rose Kingdom. They were an obscure and secretive branch of the army, handling the tasks that the crown and the two major families preferred to not do themselves.
Sun let out a small sigh, momentarily closing his eyes.
"Elder Liang Jin, I know you are there. There is no need to hide your presence."
Sun shook his head. He knew that the spectral horses were Jin's creations and that he needed to be nearby to control them.
"Well, at least you are doing better than before..."
He sighed again.
At first, he wanted to have a polite conversation with Elder Liang Jin, politely greeting him or even playing a few games of Go like the old times before sharing some news with him.
"Since you don't intend to have a proper chat, I will just talk to myself..."
He decided to communicate his intentions in a more theatrical manner.
He took out his sword, Tian Lao's old sword.
"First of all. I won't fight with a spear anymore. That kind of weapon doesn't suit me anymore."
He started caressing his blade, his fingers carefully emitting a sharp Qi, cleaning the surface from any kind of dust or oxidation.
"Second. I will fail the Executioners exam. I will join the Hunters. I won't become anyone's lapdog."
There was no reaction.
He continued cleaning his weapon.
"Third. After my sentence is over, I won't go back to the sect. The Skyward Pavilion isn't my home."
Still no reaction.
Sun continued, his finger slowly sliding along the blade's edge.
"Fourth. I renounce my surname. I am not Liang Sun anymore. When I form a golden core, my Qi will be blue, not golden."
This time, there was a reaction.
For a single instant, the speed of the carriage slowed down, causing Sun's finger to shift away from his weapon's edge.
He smiled.
Even if he couldn't see Elder Jin, he knew that his last announcement had shocked him.
With that single phrase, he had completely cut off his connections to his own family. The Liang family.
Now he had no way to return home. Even if the matriarch personally pardoned him, he still wouldn't be allowed to enter the Liang mansion.
His gaze filled with satisfaction as he cleaned off the remaining grime from his blade.
To the old Sun, this would be devastating, however, his present self didn't care about his origins anymore.
During his time spent at the border, he had met countless people. Some were kind, some were cruel, while others...
Others were inspiring.
Among them, he had found people that truly cared about him, people that fought alongside him, people that had risked their lives to save him.
They were his true home.
He no longer cared about returning to the Liang. All he wanted was to pay off his sentence and reunite with his friends. His true family.
"At last..."
Sun shook his head.
"I wanted to have a final conversation with you before renouncing my surname, but you didn't want to show up..."
Five minutes later, the carriage stopped. Sun had arrived at his destination.
Sun slowly got off the carriage, his eyes calmly scanning the dark surroundings.
The carriage had left him in the middle of a vast plain devoid of trees. He couldn't see anything odd or strange about it, however, Sun knew where he was. This was the Executioners' base. He couldn't see it, but it was here.
They probably set up some kind of invisibility or disorienting array.
Suddenly, a dagger came from the shadows, flying directly towards his neck.
Sun instantly got into motion, using his sword's metal sheath to deflect the projectile. He turned around, facing the opposite direction he got off.
"I'm Sun. I greet you, Senior."
There was a short silence before a rough-looking man came out of the shadows.
"Not bad..."
He made a sign with his hand, making the dagger fly back at him.
"From now on, you are recruit number seven. You will stay here for more than a month and you will undergo three life-or-death trials, one duel, and one final mission."
"If you fail any one of the trials, you will either die or get killed. Understand?"
Sun nodded. "Yes."
"Good. Now follow me."
The man returned to the shadows, forcing Sun to use his senses to track his moves and follow him.
Sun's expression darkened a little. Tracking others wasn't his strong suit. He could only sense the general direction of the man, but couldn't pinpoint his precise position.
Suddenly, a spear shot out from the ground beneath him.
Sun's pupils shrank in surprise, and he instantly moved out of the way. However, even with his fast reactions, he didn't manage to completely dodge the attack, receiving a shallow scratch on his shoulder.
The man's voice sounded from the shadows.
"You must follow my exact steps. This array was specifically built to keep intruders out. Even a Soul Wandering cultivator would find it difficult to survive its latter parts."
After saying this, the man started moving again.
Sun's expression instantly became serious, and he focused all of his attention on replicating the man's movements.
As he carefully moved forward, he couldn't help but let out a low murmur.
"Yun Qiang, I hope your life is better than this."
-Small village- South of the Rose Kingdom
Yun Qiang swung his spear in the air, his body repeating the familiar moves he used to train before becoming a cultivator.
It was a simple sequence: thrust forward, retreat, swing left, thrust, swing right, thrust.
Simple moves, useful to get used to moving a spear but useless for a battle or a duel. Only real fighting experience could improve someone's fighting prowess.
Suddenly, he stopped; two hours had passed. It was the end of his morning exercises.
Yun Qiang stretched his muscles.
"Should I add some weight next time?"
He moved towards his home. Even if he had trained for two hours, there was no trace of sweat on his body, no trace of fatigue on his face.
"But where can I find some extra weight..." He entered his house. "Maybe I ca—"
He interrupted his words. His house wasn't cold, and he could hear the lively crackling of fire in the next room.
Someone was here.
His body instantly tensed as he sneakily moved towards the kitchen, his mind instantly going to his desertion. Did they notice him? Someone had already arrived to capture him?
However, the moment he entered the room, his tension instantly disappeared.
A middle-aged woman was in the room, giving her back to him. Her hands slowly mixing a soup in the cauldron in front of her.
"Hello, Lady Su."
The woman turned around, her hands still holding onto the wooden spoon she used to mix the pot.
"Umph, don't call me Lady. I'm not that old yet. Call me like you used to before leaving."
Yun Qiang let out an awkward laugh.
"I'm sorry, but calling you Aunty feels weird now..."
Aunty Su put on an annoyed face.
"Man, all the same. Only a few years have passed, but you don't even want to call me Aunty. Here, have some soup. Even my son doesn't call me mommy anymore."
Yun Qiang took the soup and started eating it. Nostalgia flashed in his eyes. It felt like ages had passed since he had soup for breakfast.
"Thank you."
"How is Hin doing? Does he still hunt? If I remember correctly, he spent most of his days running around with his bow in the forest."
Aunty Su shook her head. She filled Yun Qiang's already empty bowl.
"Last year, he joined the Skyward Pavilion. That rascal has only sent us a letter. You should have seen my face when I read it. It was filled with complicated and nice-sounding words, but it basically said that he was living a good life."
She poured down some soup for herself and sat down.
"That rascal didn't even ask how his family was doing. He only wrote about what he learned and how strong he had become."
Yun Qiang smiled.
"It's normal. He is just getting used to his new life. I'm sure he will come back to say hi once he has time."
Aunty Su shook her head. She was still smiling, even if she clearly didn't believe Yun Qiang's words.
"Here, take another bowl. You eat like someone who has never touched food."
Yun Qiang gladly took another bowl. He didn't eat because he was hungry. He ate because he liked the memories that the soup's bland and common taste brought back to him. Yet he didn't say this and simply answered.
"It's because the soup is good."
Aunty Su seemed to like this answer because she poured him some soup before losing herself in a long chat.
It was a pleasurable chat. Aunty Su told him all of the things that happened while he was away, while Yun Qiang told her of the beautiful things that he saw outside, like the Sect or the various cities that he had passed while coming back home.
Then Aunty Su left him alone. She still had some things to do and didn't want to bother him too much.
Yun Qiang watched her leave before turning his head towards the calm village.
He sighed.
Are cultivators and mortals bound to stay divided?
Yun Qiang had noticed a saddening pattern in Aunty Su's news.
Of all the villagers that left to become cultivators, he was the only one that had come back. All of them limited themselves to sending back one or two letters before finally cutting off contact with the village.
He shook his head.
"I can't blame them. I did the same thing..."
A pang of regret settled on his heart. He had also spent three years far from home, yet he had never sent a letter to explain his situation or wish his parents well.
He had also abandoned this place like the others.
"I guess cultivators are bound to be divided from mortals..."
His gaze started moving towards the forest.
Before leaving, he wanted to leave Old Qian with enough food for the winter, and the best way to do it was hunting for food.
So with a steady pace, he started walking towards the forest. He would spend the rest of the day hunting for food.