v4c16 alternate ending (Patreon)

Some Patreon only content! This was originally going to be the ending to the previous chapter. I still think its pretty good, but I was just unsure of putting it in right there, and taking the focus away from Xiulan.

Chapter will most likely be tomorrow.

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A man without a leg hobbled his way through the town of Green Grass Valley. It was a place firmly under the influence of the Verdant Blade Sect. Three years ago it had been devastated by Sun Ken.

The town had mostly recovered from that attack—especially with the influx of new people who had come after they had learned of the bastard’s death. It was a vibrant, bustling place that had an undercurrent of sadness to it.

There were many widows who lived in Green Grass Valley—and many men like him.

People directed pitying looks at the man as he hobbled along, his face locked in a perpetual scowl, and the scent of alcohol around him.

But they knew better than to help him.

The man paused in his daily walk to look up at the statue of Cai Xiulan, the Demon Slaying Orchid. He raised a bottle in a mocking salute, then spat to the side.

Sheleftustodie! Jing Ri growled, his half face staring at him from the corner of his eye.

It had taken him two years to get home, after he managed to crawl his way out of that cursed valley. Missing a leg and missing an eye, clinging to life. Sometimes he felt like a revenant. Fueled only by his hatred, and a determination to see his home again.

He had given everything to the Verdant Blade Sect. and what had he rated?

Wewerejustfodder! Theynevercared! Ming Po muttered, from where he was torn in half.

A bit of coin for all his trouble. That's all they were worth, while the Demon Slaying Orchid got songs and statues. The woman had probably forgotten about them the moment the battle was over.

He could barely sleep these days. His fellows cried out for vengeance from beyond the grave. They clawed at his mind and haunted him every time he slept.

And in the absence of Sun Ken, they called out for the one who had abandoned them.

He still remembered her—running off as the boulders fell.

The man angrily took a swig of his drink, and grimaced.

He started hobbling away when he noticed a commotion at the front gate.

“Young Mistress!” somebody shouted. “Cai Xiulan has returned!”

The name felt like a punch to his gut. The world went all hazy, as he staggered around to look towards the entrance.

Sheleftustodiesheleftustodie! Lie Quan snarled, his chest caved in by a rock.

The man glared, as the bitch fairly floated into the town. As the people clamor all around her, and as she drank up their praise, that stupid little smile on her face.

The same stupid smile she had watched them with, when she had sat out near her tent. She had watched all of them. Like they had been curious animals that did strange things.

She hated all of us, held us all in contempt! Xi Xing moaned through his torn out throat.

The black hate boiled in his gut.

The ghosts screamed in the back of his mind.

He staggered back to his shack, and dug into his secret hiding place. He pulled out the vial of poison that was hidden there. It was nasty stuff, the seller had said. It could even kill a cultivator.

His hands shook. He shoved the vial into his belt, and staggered back out into the town. Cai was still talking to people and pointing to other cultivators, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying over the blood pounding in his ears.

He watched her every move, as she walked through the town, and as she started buying incense and alcohol.

And then… she started walking to the shrine.

He saw red, as she had the gall to stand in front of it,the shrine to his comrades—and place her offerings.

He sneered at the pageantry. The Perfect Young Mistress displaying her virtue for all to see.

“May I have some privacy?” Cai Xiulan asked. The others bowed and scraped, as they dispersed, but he stayed. He stayed, hidden behind a tree.

Avenge Us! The ghosts screamed.

He fingered the vial of poison again. How could he do this? A dagger? No, in her drink?

Would that stop the voices?

He grit his teeth, as Cai knelt down in front of the small shrine to the warriors who had died fighting Sun Ken. What insult was this cultivator going to offer them?!

The woman took a deep breath, and then began.

“I’m sorry for taking so long until I am able to talk to you like this,” Cai Xiulan whispered before the monument. “Lie Quan. I finally went gambling last year. I can see why you liked it so much—but you should have held yourself back a bit more.”

The man felt like he had just been stabbed in the gut. The howling spirits froze.

She… she—

“Ming Po. Your duck made it home, you know? Your daughter takes good care of him.”

Names.

She… remembered their names?

“Jian Yuan. Your son got married last year—he's doing quite well for himself, from what I can see.”

The names kept coming. Lu Hin, Xi Xing, Mao Hun…

“Hi Shin. I’m sorry you never got to become a great general. But a braver man I’ve rarely known. I saw you at the end, fighting against three others to defend your comrades.”

The Young Mistress of the Verdant Blade Sect got on her knees, and pressed her forehead to the ground in front of the memorial.

“Thank you. All of you. I swear—on all my ancestors—that what I am to do is in honour of you.”

Her voice was so sincere, the man staggered, coming out from behind the tree.

Cai Xiulan bolted upright, her eyes furious—and then she saw him. A man without a leg and only one eye.

“Hi Shin?” she asked.

The ghosts, for the first time in three years, were silent.

And remained silent, as the woman pulled him into an embrace, tears in her eyes, as she told him how glad she was he was alive.