.
.
.
"You never needed to do something like this, how could you slaughter the innocent clan members just because one is a bad apple?" The child replied.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Tian Ye continued to shout in anger as he sent flying slashes made with spiritual qi towards the child but it just went through the child.
The child walked forward, looking at him with a calm smile, saying, "It's useless, you know that. You've acknowledged my existence but you still haven't answered my question. Are you okay?"
"I said fucking shut up!" Tian Ye yelled, his voice reverberating throughout the 3rd district from inside the Xiong clan's manor.
Soon, sounds of explosions rang, one after another, as he continuously waved his hand and sent clumps of spiritual qi flying that exploded upon contact to anything it touches.
"Are you okay? What's so difficult about answering the question? Yes? Or No?" The child asked again.
Tian Ye's hands trembled, his eyes red from anger, and his face flushed as he remembered the origin of this child.
"Shut up!!!!!!!!!!" Tian Ye sent one big clump of spiritual qi, a bigger version of the Flowing River Sword Technique, Turbulent Wave into the child.
Boom!
A large explosion fell into the child, 20-30 meters in diameter, smokes flowing to the sky along with the appearance of a huge fire due to his spiritual qi attack having the element of fire.
The child, not being affected by the explosion just continued to insist in his question, "Are you okay? You've already used the clan's extermination as an outlet to acknowledge my existence. What's wrong with answering the question?"
"Stop talking to me and disappear! Go back to where you came from!" Tian Ye's eyes were wet but he didn't know where it was coming from so he continued to attack the child but he just couldn't touch him.
With the surroundings filled with dead bodies cut in half, pools of blood from the bodies, burning buildings from his fire spiritual qi attacks, craters from his angry attack towards the child.
As the child walked out of the fire he created unharmed, Tian Ye knelt before him and said with his lips trembling, "I admit it, I'm not okay, can you disappear now?"
He knew this child, it had been with him since 9 years ago, 1 year into his seclusion, it appeared out of nowhere, a child version of himself that repeated every day, every hour, every minute, every second, asking if he was okay.
"Let me go…" Tian Ye begged meanwhile the calm patted his head and said, "I don't know what you were trying to achieve by massacring the clan but do you see the similarities between those elders and yourself right now? Instead of exterminating a clan, why couldn't you just admit it earlier?"
"Disappear… Now…" Tian Ye muttered, gritting his teeth. He doesn't know whether it was from anger but he felt incredibly helpless.
The child just shook his head and replied, "You've been asking for help all these years in your heart right? Even if no one hears you, I hear you. I am the manifestation of yourself helping yourself."
"Helping me by driving me to insanity by asking me if I'm okay every second?"
"That's right, it's the only way to keep you alive." The child calmly replied then continued, "Who in their right mind, after witnessing their sect being obliterated in a single instant goes into seclusion? Furthermore, you destroyed the entrance to bask in darkness. Even if you're me, you're a little stupid."
"I had to become stronger…" Tian Ye whispered.
"By letting your logical mind forcefully take over?" The child shook his head as he looked at Tian Ye gently.
"I still have to become stronger, it doesn't matter how, I just did."
The child retorted, "It matters. You almost died. Do you think you're some protagonist from some novel that you'll magically get stronger? How long did it take you to achieve the 9th layer? 10 years? And it's only the 1st major layer. Your sect got attacked by a great cultivator and you couldn't do anything about it. Did you get plot armor where a great elder in seclusion helps you defend? Does that sound protagonist-like? This world… no… this area, do you think it's high level? I certainly don't think so. In other realms, there are children who were born at the peak, you have to take it more cautiously and take care of yourself and look at things long term."
The child then ruffled the kneeling Tian Ye's hair and said, "You're on the stable path, you'll reach it but you won't get plot armor, this has already been proven since the beginning. You didn't have a system, a heavenly treasure or heavenly talent since birth, you can only rely on strategies to rise. Unlike a protagonist who has the heavenly dao's support, in other words, plot armor. We, can really only go against the heavens and rise from a mortal to an immortal."
Tian Ye had always been self-aware, he knew that he asked for help deep inside him but he didn't voice it out.
One's mental health is naturally difficult to understand, and this was also the case for Tian Ye.
He knew that his mind was getting worse and worse, but he couldn't do anything about it.
He was dying, not in a physical sense but he couldn't heal it and simply continue to increase his cultivation. The sole reason that was keeping his mind logical is becoming stronger.
Tian Ye raised his head, looking the child in the eyes.
The child who had a calm expression smiled and said, "Why are you suffering so much? Didn't you just say that there's still a cycle of reincarnation? As long as we reach it, we can still meet them again."
Tian Ye then chuckled and replied happily, "You cheeky bastard."
"We've always been cheeky." The child grinned.
Tian Ye then laid down on his back stretching his limbs all over, "Ah! I feel better!"
The child then nodded in satisfaction but replied in dissatisfaction, "Right? Why couldn't you admit that you're not okay earlier? This meaningless massacre wouldn't have happened."
Tian Ye sat up and summoned a wine jar from his spatial ring and took a sip before replying, "No, I did find that young master annoying. This massacre, maybe it wouldn't have happened but I would definitely kill that young master."
"Is that so?" The child replied, tilting his head before reaching out to the wine jar, "Give me some."
"No. Kids are not allowed to drink." Tian Ye teased.
The child got angry and said, "We're the same age! Although I have the appearance of a child right now…"
Tian Ye then closed his eyes and opened it again, looking at the child's eyes with understanding, "You can go now. Even if I'm not okay right now, I'll be fine."
The child version of himself opened his eyes wide in slight surprise but then nodded, "Then, I'll go first. You're the kind of person who's afraid of taking the first step. To you, the first step is more difficult than the journey of thousands, millions, or even more years. I know you'll be okay because you're me and I understand you better than anyone."
"Um. Thanks." Tian Ye replied meanwhile the child with a calm smile on his face slowly disappeared starting from his feet.
The child waved his hand in goodbye while Tian Ye raised the wine jar he was holding as he sat cross-legged on the ground, acknowledging the child or thanking him for his help… to be precise, thanking himself for helping himself even if his ways are twisted.
A few moments later, the child disappeared and Tian Ye drank the last liquids on the wine jar and began to recuperate the spiritual qi he had consumed from the last move he didn't by slicing everything in half and attacking the child version of himself irrationally.
Although the intoxication from the alcohol would also disappear due to the hastened regeneration of the body due to the circulation of spiritual qi through his body and was somewhat a little annoying, his mind was now clear.
He was reaching for the heavens so that the tragedy from the past wouldn't happen again. The past where he could only watch his every connection disappear right before his eyes.
Due to his high cultivation, his compatibility with spiritual qi was greater than ever, the spiritual qi in the surrounding visibly got absorbed into his dantian like a vortex and even the fire in the surrounding got absorbed as they were filled with fire spiritual qi.
After an hour, what remained within the Xiong Clan's manor was the dead bodies, pool of blood, and ruined charred building structures.
Meanwhile, Tian Ye who had refilled his dantian, opened his eyes calmly and saw the people standing at the entrance of the Xiong clan.
In front was Zhao Meng who had a fearful expression, meanwhile behind her were three old men with similar expressions. One had a resemblance to Zhao Meng in terms of appearance so it must be Zhao Meng's father. As for the other? Tian Ye didn't know.
.
.
.