Chapter 123: A Blood Feud

What must come will eventually come. To this point, the stone coffins within the twelve ghost caves have yet to appear; the wooden raft bearing the daughter of that havoc-wreaking demon still drifts upon the water; and the full moon above remains a blood-red hue. Meanwhile, my elder brother has once again raised his drum, swinging the mallet with all his might to strike it.

With the beat of the drum, the water dragon encircling it let out a roar toward the City God’s boat and charged. The dragon, a totem of the Middle Kingdom, appeared formidable and fierce; this lunging strike carried the weight of thunder. Yet, the City God stood calmly at the prow. As the water dragon neared, he merely waved his hand, causing the creature to disintegrate and scatter into the river as mere spray.

My brother continued to beat the drum. No sooner had one dragon vanished than another took its place. These dragons were formed from water, and as my brother’s drumming grew more frantic, one after another, they coalesced around him. Counting them, there were eight. These eight dragons twisted and intertwined, transforming the eerie, ghost-ridden twelve caves into something resembling a celestial realm.

My brother placed the drum upon the altar, discarded his mallets, and leaped up to beat the drum with his feet. One by one, the water dragons shot toward the City God’s boat. The sight of eight dragons lunging in unison was enough to stir the soul.

Yet, before the City God, the eight lunging dragons met the same fate. With another gentle wave of his hand, a transparent barrier blocked his path. The dragons could not advance an inch, eventually dissolving into water and falling back into the river.

Fatty covered his eyes and remarked, "I truly admire your brother’s courage. He knows he is no match for him, yet he keeps at it. If it were me, I’d have given up. Is the grudge against one’s own grandfather really that deep? Can’t you see that your grandfather could easily make him unable to look after himself?"

I sighed. "If he were the type to quit just because he couldn't win, he wouldn't be my brother. Fatty, take me over there. I need to try to persuade them."

At this point, I could no longer hold back. Although they were locked in combat—and it was certain that the moment Grandfather fought back, my brother would be defeated, just as Grandfather had nearly claimed his life the other day—I could not bear to see either of them hurt. As the one closest to them both, I had to stop them.

Fatty nodded and scooped me up. The four divine beasts he had summoned with yellow talismans had long since vanished as the paper burned away. He dropped a fresh talisman, which grew larger as it touched the water. Fatty leaped onto it with me in his arms, ferrying us to the altar. He dumped me onto it and said, "Ye, don't push yourself too hard. They both know their limits. When gods fight, if you aren't careful and get caught in the crossfire, you’ll lose your life."

I nodded. "I have a sense of proportion."

My arrival did indeed bring a temporary calm to the two. I walked over, knowing that if this matter were to be resolved and the knot in my brother’s heart untied, Grandfather needed to provide an explanation—even if it were just a single sentence like, "I had no other choice." After my brother and I learned that Father had been skinned by Grandfather, all we had truly craved was an explanation. What I hadn't expected was that Grandfather would be even more detached and cold than my brother. Everything suggested his actions back then were a last resort, yet he refused to utter a single word of justification.

Reaching my brother, I knelt before Grandfather, who sat at the prow of the boat. "Grandfather," I said, "as your grandson, it is my duty to bow to you. This kowtow is to repay the debt of over twenty years of raising me. I know my brother is wrong to raise his hand against you, but you must understand what Father’s death meant to our family. If Father hadn't died, my brother wouldn't have been adopted away, and I wouldn't have been mocked as a fatherless child in my youth. I know that as a father, destroying one's own child must have been a last resort, but I beg you: give us an explanation. My brother and I both long for your return so our family can be whole again."

Grandfather stood at the prow, staring at me. He wore his mask, so I could not read his expression. With the flares extinguished, I could rely only on the red moonlight, which failed to reveal the thoughts in his eyes. He simply watched me in silence.

"Let me tell you," my brother said.

I looked back to see my brother staring coldly at Grandfather. He pointed at him and said, "Back then, he ordered Father to do one thing: to bring you back from the Shennong Mountains. Everything Father did was at his command. He knew full well that some things were forbidden by the Ghost Path, yet he forced Father to do them. And Father did it—he brought you back. Then, he ordered Father to retrieve another treasure of the Ghost Path, the Dragon Essence, from the twelve ghost caves. This move infuriated the practitioners of the Ghost Path. But when they came to settle the score, he shoved his own son forward to save his own skin, personally skinning him alive. Everything happened right here on this altar. He used a blade to peel the skin off his own child, inch by inch. His child died, and he walked away unscathed, preserving his status and his life. Ye, such a man does not deserve to be called your grandfather, and he is even less fit to be a father!"

"If Ye Tianhua hadn't died back then, I would have died, you would have died, and even Ye would have died," Grandfather said from the prow.

"Enough! No matter how you explain it, you cannot hide the fact that you are a coward!" My brother’s eyes were bloodshot. "Since you chose to do it, you knew the cost. When the Ghost Path came, if you and Father had fought together, you might have had a chance! But you didn't even resist; you just sold out your own son. I tell you, we would rather have died back then than have you ensure our survival in such a way!"

"You child, you are just like Tianhua. Do you understand that what is too rigid will easily break?" Grandfather looked at my brother, his tone gentle—the first time he sounded like an elder speaking to a child.

"Have you ever seen this drum?" my brother asked, caressing the instrument.

Grandfather shook his head slightly.

"Naturally, you wouldn't have. You didn't even have the courage to claim his skin back then," my brother said softly.

I was shocked. I turned to look at the drum in my brother’s hands, noticing the wrinkles on the drumhead. Did this mean the drum was actually made from my father’s skin?

Grandfather remained silent.

"After my grandfather gave me this drum, it has been with me all these years, constantly reminding me of a blood feud that remains unavenged. My father was skinned and hung on the tree at the entrance of the village. I will never forget how he used to carry me on his shoulders, and I can never forget the candy he gave me the night before he died. He told me he was leaving. I thought he was going out on business, but that very night, you killed him!" As he spoke, my brother began to drum again.

This time, the beats struck deep into my heart, causing me pain beyond measure. When Father died, I was still in my mother’s womb. My brother was already three. I had always assumed a three-year-old wouldn't have such memories, but it seemed everything was burned into his mind.

I finally understood why my brother was so quiet, why he rarely smiled, and why he preferred to be alone.

With a blood feud weighing on one’s soul, how could one ever be happy? Compared to my brother, I had truly done so little.

"Brother," I called out, looking at him.

He glanced down at me, his eyes shimmering with tears. "Ye," he said, "I had intended for us to find the murderer together, to skin him and slaughter his entire clan. But I never imagined it would be him. I know you can't bring yourself to do it, so I will. A debt of blood can only be repaid with blood."

"But he is our grandfather!" I cried.

"So what?" my brother sneered.