The Tears of Thirteen Years

Chapter 15

My version of the famous dog scene.

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The dog is a sacred and often cherished animal.

A Shar Pei was sitting not a foot from him, half hidden in the shadows of the room. It was only the second time he had ever seen such a dog, as animals not native to the area of Gusu were forbidden in the Cloud Recesses. The first one he remembered, was the beloved pet of Jin Zixuan, often left at the foot of Gusu Mountain while his owner was studying within the walls.

They are a compact dog in comparison to others he had seen and medium-sized. The wrinkly folds of bristly loose skin around it's head were light brown in color, it's face held a scowling expression and it's tongue was an interesting shade of bluish black.

Everything about it would have terrified Wei Ying.

It was always a disturbing thing, that such a man even at a young age was so proficient, daring and endlessly reckless, could be be so afraid of a creature that he could destroy in seconds. Especially at the height of his status as the Yiling Patriarch.

Resentful energy, years of high cultivation, remarkable reflexes and a prowess with weapons that few could achieve. Even, he thought at one hundred years of age, but skills present in a boy of fifteen. He invented talismans, controlled hordes of corpses and had an understanding of the world that Wangji marveled at.

All of that and he was still afraid of dogs.

The color was different, but it was very much the same as Jin Zixuan's pet he mused looking at it carefully. He could remember so clearly, the complete terror on that beautiful face. It hurt to think of it. That fear.

It made him wonder if his face had held that expression when his life was ripped away.

He bowed his head as pain made itself known, raw and aching at the thought. For five years now, he had wondered, dreamed and endlessly tormented himself with the possible ways Wei Ying had died. The stories retold sharing different elements each time, but one thing was consistent. Wei Ying had died in terrible pain. Ripped apart by his corpses, destroyed by the explosive breaking of the Seal or murdered by Jiang Cheng.

The dog moved attracting his attention away from the excruciating thoughts.

He sipped his tea but tasted nothing, the warmth and cheer of the tavern grating on his nerves, rubbed raw by the memories and the recent news that Jiang Cheng had captured several demonic cultivators. They were tortured and then publicly executed for crimes against the cultivation world.

What would he do to Wei Ying?

The Shar Pei bared its teeth as someone, a young man carrying tray of piu jiu who came a little too close to the table. The man didn't notice and hurried on, handing out cups and jars to the waiting customers.

Wangji frowned and sipped his tea once more. He had nothing against dogs or any creature of the living world. Each deserved a chance at life and fear was no reason to take life either, a lesson he had learned from the endless poems and stories in the old library. But, he had to admit he could see why Wei Ying had preferred rabbits.

The Shar Pei that night had been no different. Perhaps even more aggressive.

Wei Ying's reaction had been such a shock. He had been there at the time, waiting for Wei Ying, knowing that the other boy was sneaking back inside past curfew. He would never admit it even to himself, but watching Wei Ying perform such acrobatics was his main motivation for waiting, the way his body so fluidly moved, the graceful arc as he leapt into the air...