"A core? " Song Lan knew what a core was but why would he have a core?   

"Yes. And it's quite strong compared to your age." Xiao Xingchen boosted him with a smile. But it was not well received by Song Lan,

" What are you talking about? I am not cultivating a core." All his life Song Lan had hated cultivators. It were either spirits or cultivators which deprived his siblings of their parents.

"Then how can you unsheathe Fuxue? " Xiao Xingchen was confused. He knew Song Lan wouldn't lie but why wasn't he aware of his own core? Did Master Guang not teach him about the the cultivation terms? Maybe because he hated cultivators? Then why was Master Guang trained him to cultivate a core? 

" It's my father's blade." Song Lan reasoned.

"Was your father a cultivator as well? " 

The thought had appeared time and time again in his mind, about his parents about his blade and about how he came to the Temple. Song Lan abruptly got up to look for Master Guang.

Since he went with Lin Qi, he was going to  take longer than usual. But Song Lan couldn't wait that long,  He ran to the downtown. it was the first time he had went there all by himself. There were cultivators, there were villagers, there were elders and children. 

He was looking and looking and looking but he wasn't searching. He was running, he was escaping. All the flashes of memories he had been having for couple of days started to bead into a string. 

He remembered!

Song Lan broke down in the middle of the street. People gawked at him as they passed. He bawled hysterically among the crowd. He didn't care, the realization was too painful for him. In the ugly state of his mind he heard a clear sound,

"A-Lan!" the faint sound came from behind. The white boy looked almost identical to the snow.

"A-Lan" Xiao Xingchen was breathless. Was he looking for him all this time? Xiao Xingchen leaped into Song Lan in the middle of the street. 

"I told you not to call me that." Song Lan said wiping his tears.

"You didn't tell me what I should call you either."  

When Song Lan immediately got up and ran outside, all the children startled. Xiao Xingchen calmed everyone assuring them that everything was alright. Ying Shu ushered him to go while he would look after the children. 

Xiao Xingchen was new to the place, he didn't know where could Song Lan go. The crowd was overwhelming but his eyes constantly traced him (SL). And there he was, in the middle of the street, broken like a child and lonely like the snow.

"Song Lan" he (SL) whispered. 

"Song Lan" he (XXC) followed.

Song Lan smiled through his cries. He bridged the gap between them and joint their foreheads. The time froze when the snow fell ever so gently.

                                                                                   . . .

The sky ceased the movement when the clouds showered snow and all it was, just cold.

Song Lan had been quiet. He didn't even pick up Fuxue since then. Lin Qi  showed him her very first scripture, she finally learnt how to write her name but Song Lan only gave her a smile. Ruo Yin saw how none of the brothers could make him talk. He called Ying Shu.

"What happened, Da-ge?" Ying Shu was the second eldest of the children. He was quiet, he was calm and he was always gone. Ying Shu had always wanted to be scholar so he spent most of his time in his room studying. He would only step out for family meals.

It was rare to see Song Lan stare into an empty sky. It made everyone worried. All Children pleaded Ying Shu for help. He was their last hope.

"A-Shu. Did you complete your scripture?" Song Lan was the one who persuaded Master Guang for Ying Shu when he claimed to be a scholar.

"Da-ge, What happened? " Ying Shu was not  someone to beat around the bushes.

Song Lan smiled. Even a blind could see the pain behind it.

"A-Shu, When a bird grows feathers, it flies away." Song Lan said and went outside as  the blanket of snow covered him. Ying Shu understood what he meant. 

                                                                              . . .

Master Guang had been worried ever since Song Lan became quiet even Ying Shu couldn't comfort him. For the longest time it were only Song Lan and Ying Shu together. The other children came years later. The two had a bond stronger than the blood. 

Master Guang's  last option was Xiao Xingchen, he pulled him aside, 

"Young Master, what is the matter with A-Lan?" 

"I think it might be my fault." Xiao Xingchen recalled the things he had said.

"What do you mean, Young Master?" 

"I told him about his core." 

The storm came too soon.

Master Guang took a deep breath and said, 

"It's not your fault young master, it's mine.." 

There was once a cultivator who roamed the lands. He had nothing but freedom to his name. He decided to settle on land with blessing of Tsai Shen god. The gluttony took over and he stole Yanbao of Tsai Shen. Thus angry god cursed him. Later on he did flourish enough to rule a land though small. He had everything, penny, women, health, but he felt nothing. His heart was barren. He felt empty. He was tormented by the endless cycle of desolation.

Once his subject came to him for guidance, his blade slipped through his hand and  killed the man. But that one moment woke his sleeping heart. Soon he begun to long for it, the excitement he felt when he saw the life drained out of the body which rattled with agony. He wanted more! He needed more! 

 He spread rumors about Xisigui spirits and used sacrifices as an excuse to excite his empty heart. it was delightful. it was refreshing.

 it was horrifying.

He was living in a bliss. 

He would cut their limbs or sew them with a grin. His blade didn't dim when he separated the quim. 

  Everyday was entertaining until a Righteous cultivator unveiled him in front of his subject. His rule was soon over and he was trapped in a cell in Lanling. His heart died when emptiness engulfed him. it was unbearable. he begun to hurt the following prisoners. When that didn't satisfy him, he inflicted pain on himself. 

Jin GuangShan was the ruler of Lanling Jin sect then. When he saw the batty man he said,

"You're pitiable!"

His infatuation would kill him one day, with that thought Jin GuangShan let him go.

He came back to the land he once ruled and when he saw the Righteous cultivator --happy with his family.  He lost the remaining sanity he had. He brought misery to everyone. He slaughtered them right and left, separating their limbs and gawking out their eyes. The red  and  white painted the land. He laughed and laughed and laughed but this time even  killing  wasn't satisfying. He killed till there was nobody left to die. 

There was just one child remaining. He trembled with cold. Covered in blood, he held a blade.

The Sinner raised his blade to kill him. The  child murmured 

 "Do you know why snow falls so gently?" 

Sudden question halted his movement. He let the dying child say his final words.

"Because the cold is sad enough."  Child answered. 

"Do you know why sunlight hits so sharp?" Child asked again.

"Because the happiness is taken for granted." 

The sinner dropped his blade. He didn't know what it was but something resonated with him. What was that he lost that day? What did the gods took from him? What was he longing for? He knelt down close to the child and raised his blood covered hand to touch his blood covered face. It was warm!

A tear escaped the sinner's eyes. The child who had just lost everything didn't shed a single tear. but there he was crying for the first time after so long.  

"I was going to take that child with me." A voice came from behind.

It was a women wearing fair clothes. Her face was covered with a veil. She had her own blade which meant she was a cultivator herself. 

"I was going to raise him as my own." She said.

"But now I will not." 

"Why?" sinner asked between his cries.

"Because you will be the one raising him." 

She disappeared like the gust of wind carrying the snow.

Xiao Xingchen  couldn't believe his ears. The mortal world which killed his Shijie and Xiongdi , it was more cruel than he had been told. How they deceived each other.

"You're that .. that  madman? and he.. he's that child? "  Xiao xingchen almost wailed pointing at Master Guang and Song Lan.

Master Guang nodded. 

Xiao Xingchen covered his mouth with his hands  to muffle the loud sob. Did he raise the children to compensate for his crimes? Did he took them in to hide his atrocity? Did he even love them? 

Xiao Xingchen looked at Song Lan. The snow made him appear even more distant. 

Song Lan pieced together his memories and figured out everything. How painful had it been for him? Who should he believe in, the man who raised him like a parent or the man who killed his parents? 

Xiao Xingchen dashed towards him and hugged his lonely back, tight. 

"What are you doi-" Song Lan swallowed his words when he saw those silver eyes drowned in tears.

"Cultivate with me!" Tears escaped his eyes and wet his snowy cheeks.

"What happened?" Song Lan was concerned. All the weeks they spent together, he had only seen his smile.

"Cultivate with me!" Xiao Xingchen cried as he hugged his (SL) frame. 

"Lets create a sect together! There will be no blood or ties just broken people like ours." 

Song Lan freed himself from his grasp and turned around. He Whispered, 

"Thank You." 

If only words were enough.

-----------------------------------------

*Tsai shen- god of wealth 

*Yanbao - gold bowl of god

Sorry for grammatical error and thank you for reading.