CHAPTER 120: 120- THE PAST [2]

Fang Yuan stared at his parents dead body, his feelings numb.

Then he whispered, "You promised you’d come back."

He didn’t cry.

Instead, he clenched the jade ring his father had always worn and ran to find his brother.

He found Fang Tian in the courtyard, only eight years old, joyfully swinging a wooden sword, unaware of the storm that had shattered their world.

Fang Yuan walked over, embraced him tightly, and said with a trembling smile, "Tian, look at this ring. Isn’t it beautiful?"

His brother beamed in respond, letting go of the wooden sword.

"Yes, Brother! Can I have it?"

Fang Yuan nodded. "Alright then. It’s a bit too big, so I’ll make it into a necklace for you."

He took the wristband he had made by hand, strung the jade ring through it, and tied it around Fang Tian’s neck.

Then he knelt, looked into his brother’s eyes, and said softly, "Listen to me closely, Father and Mother... they just said they will be gone for a long trip. Of course they’ll come back one day. But until then, you will have to listen to me, is that alright?"

Fang Tian nodded. "Okay."

Fang Yuan never told him the truth about his parents. It was selfish of him.

But at the time, he believed it was right thing to do.

In the days that followed, others stepped up to support them.

His uncle, Fang Chen, fought fiercely to secure resources for their future.

His aunt, Fang Jingyi, quietly slipped him cultivation pills from the alchemy hall, pretending she didn’t know he noticed.

And Fang Yuan? He stopped hiding his strength.

He began asserting his presence, cultivating openly, and silencing opposition with results.

Two years passed after that.

He rose to become the next head of the Fang Clan.

The youngest Golden Core realm cultivator the region had seen.

He had not wanted the title.

But without it, he would not have had the authority to claim his parents’ legacy or protect what they had left behind.

Time passed and slowly, he began to heal.

Eventually, he also told Fang Tian the truth.

He had braced himself for heartbreak. For anger and even for betrayal.

But his brother simply said, "I already knew, Brother."

That moment became his closure.

But peace never lasted long.

As just when things seemed to have settled.

The same crushing weight.

The same corporate sin. The same broken bodies under indifferent stone.

The same faces of the bereaved, mirroring his own past devastation.

The memories slammed into him, the old grief and the new horror merging into one suffocating wave.

The cries of the mortals weren’t just accusations; they were echoes of his own past scream.

The apology wasn’t just duty; it was ripped from the core of his being, directed at ghosts both old and new.

He hadn’t just failed these miners; he had failed the memory of his father.

He had become the very thing he had raged against.

The internal blame was a vicious spiral: ’Your fault. You assigned her. You trusted her. You didn’t check. Your failed. Your vigilance failed. Your fault. Your fault. YOUR FAULT.’

The self-recrimination was a physical ache—a crushing weight on his chest.

Each whispered "I’m sorry" felt like the only breath he could draw.

But apologies alone would never be enough.

Fang Yuan stood before the mourning families, his voice steady but his heart in pieces.

"The clan will compensate you," he vowed.

"Not just with spirit stones, but with everything we can offer, protection, support, dignity. As much as the Fang Clan can give, you shall have. As much as I can give... I will."

And inside, where none could see, a colder vow was forged.

He would hunt down that elder. Personally.

And so he did.

Months bled away.

The families knew only that Clan Head Fang had vanished.

And then, when he returned, it was under a blood-red moon.

He staggered into the clan courtyard, robes torn and dark with gore that wasn’t entirely his own.

Cradled protectively against his chest, shielded from the grisly evidence staining his sleeves, was a small, unconscious girl, perhaps ten years old, her face pale and streaked with dirt.

Without ceremony, he entrusted her to his flirty but capable aunt.

The girl woke days later, eyes wide with vacant confusion.

All memory was gone, scoured clean by trauma or perhaps fate.

She remembered neither her name nor her past.

Fang Yuan looked at her silently.

She was the daughter of the traitorous elder he had slain.

That day, he made another vow, quiet, unshakable:

"The sins of the parent are not for the child to bear."

He gave her a new name, a name utterly foreign to this world, a fragment of a life buried deep within his soul:

"Felicia."

It was a clean slate, a promise. A name that didn’t originated from this world, a name that would remind him of earth.

A fragile hope wrested from the jaws of vengeance.

Felicia (present) watched, confused and concerned, as Fang Yuan leaned heavily against the wall, his face pale, eyes distant and haunted, lost in that decade-old nightmare that felt as fresh as yesterday’s blood.

The cheerful Clan Head was gone, replaced by a man forever shouldering the unbearable weight of two worlds’ tragedies and the silent burden of the mercy he had shown the daughter of his enemy.

"Clan Head?" Felicia’s soft voice broke the silence.

She tilted her head, brows drawn in confusion. "What are you thinking about so deeply?"

Fang Yuan blinked, the trance fading from his eyes as he turned toward her. "Hm... nothing important."

Then, with a slight shake of his head, he added, "Go find Fang Lian. She should be able to keep you company for a while."

Felicia blinked, then giggled. "Did you forget, Clan Head? You sent her out personally to assist Elder Fang Ruì with the Lin family escort."

Fang Yuan paused.

"...Ah. Right."

He let out a low chuckle, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

After a moment, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out two gold coins, handing them to her.

"Then here’s a mission for you. Go buy some snacks but not just for yourself. Get enough for the children in the west district too."

Felicia frowned, her lower lip jutting out in a pout.

"But Clan Head, they always tease me... They say my name weirdly on purpose."

Fang Yuan gave a small, indulgent smile. "Then teach them a lesson. I didn’t show you how to cultivate just so you could let bullies win."

She blinked.

"But first," he added, wagging a finger playfully, "try bribing them with food. Win their hearts, then smack them if they cross the line."

Felicia let out a little laugh and gave a mock-salute with a polite bow.

"Understood, Clan Head Fang. I’ll complete the mission with honor."

She turned and walked off, her steps light and elegant.

Fang Yuan watched her for a while, his smile fading into something quieter, gentler.

Then he turned on his heel and began heading toward his chambers.

"I feel like I haven’t slept in days," he muttered, his voice low and tired, swallowed by the halls as he disappeared into the quiet.