紫莲花/Zǐ liánhuā/ Purple Lotus

Chapter 2

The cultivation world had an unspoken rule: No matter which sect you choose to offend, you shouldn't offend the Jiang Sect, and no matter which person you choose to offend, you shouldn't offend Jiang Cheng.

There were multiple factors and occasions that led up to it. It could easily date back to the SunShot Campaign. But the most spoken of event that forced others to recognize him, remember him and fear him, where his name became a name that one should not casually mentioned at the tip of their tongues, where Jiang Cheng became known as Sandu Shengshou.

The Siege of LuanZang Hill along with the fall of Yiling Lao Zu.

They said, cultivation swords had soul, and they were representations of the person who wielded them. When his father- Jiang FengMian let him named his sword, it didn't take him long to come up with the name Sandu- Three Poisons.

Greed

Jiang Cheng had a bottomless greed. He preferred to call it ambition. He wanted to become the world best cultivator. He wanted YunMengJiang Sect to stand at the top of the cultivation world be it power, money, or status. But no matter how hard he tried, there would always that one person-no matter what-would always ahead of him. Wei WuXian.

Delusion

His dream was simple: to become the best cultivator in the entire cultivation world. To become the best Sect Leader that his parents would be proud of. To become world renown Jiang WanYin, the leader of YunMengJiang Sect, the top cultivation sect. He believed in the promise that the day he became Sect Leader, Wei WuXian would be right there as his subordinate. But turned out it was just him lying to himself.

Anger

"Sect Leader Jiang, that is enough. Let's us go home."

Enough? Enough of what? There were still more corpses to kill. He needed to kill them all, not a single one should be allowed to live. He needed to protect his loved ones, his home. His home...

"Home?"

A few years ago, he lost his father and mother under the hands of the damned Wen. At the time, it was painful, like his heart was stabbed by thousands and thousands of swords. He should had been the one that died, not his parents. The pain of losing his golden core was lesser, but the pain of feeling like a useless person forever, who could never meet the expectation of his deceased parents, who could never take revenge for their deaths drained his heart.

He thought fate hated him. So he didn't believe in anything else but himself. He single-handedly rebuilt YunMengJiang Sect from ground up. He-who was just fifteen years old, who had no choice but to be burdened with responsibilities too much for a boy his age. But looking back, he had his sister, he had Wei WuXian. He still had his family, his home.

And then he lost it all again in a short span of a few days.

His body felt heavy, his limbs refused to do as he said. His eyes were blurry and all he heard was noise of fires, clashing of metal swords, scream of monstrous corpses and the shredding sound of his heart. Like someone using sharp claws and shred it out like a piece of paper.

Just when he thought he finally able to start living again. Just when he thought he finally could deserve some happiness. Just when he thought fate didn't hate him. He was wrong. Fate was the most cruel. Fate took away everything he had, everything single thing that he had. His parents, his sister, and his home.

"Home?"

His ears went deaf, but he could tell how awful his laughs were. People could call him a madman at that time and he wouldn't care. Because he was mad, his anger, his pain, everything mixed together, pouring down hot like a bottomless pit of despair and he was the center of it.