1513 Chapter 1506: Origins: Wei Si
"I was sent here to kill you."
They were just seven words. By themselves, they were nothing special in the world, and even together, they were very commonplace that many could say in their lifetime, such as Zuhei, Ying, Su Mei, or Wei Wuyin himself, but not in a thousand years, not in a billion years, not in the vast history of the starry skies did Wei Wuyin expect those seven words to be said to him by Wei Si!
His pupils constricting was an instinctive response brought about by sheer disbelief and chaotic confusion. Sent here? To kill? Within the three or so seconds of silence, Wei Wuyin's mental energy was consumed greedily by his mind as he formulated all sorts of ideas and possibilities. In the end, he received nothing.
Wei Si's thick fingers were embedded within the mountain's surface as he trembled with his head down. It was like soft clay to his fingers. Every twitch caused the mountain itself to shake.
"I'm sorry," Wei Si spoke again. His voice was laced with despondency, but the context of his words allowed Wei Wuyin, who was unable to grasp Wei Si's mental fluctuations with his senses, to understand all his earlier apologies. He wasn't just sorry for not meeting Wei Wuyin over the decades, he was sorry for his very existence!
Plop.
Wei Wuyin slowly reached out and placed his hand on Wei Si's lowered head. Wei Si's entire body quivered. Even if Wei Wuyin wanted to kill him here, even if his entire body and soul fought against it, he would definitely not make any move. He would allow it fully.
The cold feeling of anger and death was not there as that warm hand tenderly rubbed his bald head. There was only familial love.
"Didn't Auntie warn you not to put on such scrunched, ugly faces? You'll only give yourself more wrinkles in the future. She definitely wouldn't want that." Wei Wuyin chuckled as he removed his hand with a pat.
The tears flowing from Wei Si's eyes stopped abruptly as they widened in shock. He looked toward his silver-eyed cousin in shock. "Yo-you…Cousin Wei, I…"
"Enough about all that. Even if you were given a million years, you'd still be far too weak to deal with your big cousin. Didn't Uncle tell you that? I'm simply that great," Wei Wuyin laughed carefreely as if the statement earlier did not affect his mental state. Bai Lin watched quietly too, and her heart relaxed as well.
"..." Wei Si's eyes only grew softer and wetter as time passed by. He eventually just sat there in silence, sobbing and hiccuping. The giant of a man who could bring fear into the hearts of grown men with a single glance was releasing rivers of tears like a young child. And before his older cousin, he truly felt safe to act in such a way.
Wei Wuyin didn't forcefully demand Wei Si to explain or rush him in processing his emotions. While he didn't seem affected outwardly by Wei Si's words, he was considering every single angle of their relationship and interactions. However, not once was he able to deduce who could potentially send Wei Si after him. Moreover, he was just a child when Wei Si was found, similarly a child.
How did he develop enemies? Was it a type of Temporal Reincarnation or Temporal Regression of the timeline? Did someone send him back? However, Wei Si didn't seem to be out of place. He had visited the River of Time and sensed San Yongli's strange temporal aura, having felt the aura of those out of time, but Wei Si was not either. He was normal.
Moreover, if an expert was that powerful, why not take action directly? He was merely a child when Wei Si was found by the river by his Uncle. It would be a simple matter to breathe on a low-leveled Blessed like him and exterminate him entirely.
An entire sixteen minutes passed before Wei Si finally stopped crying. With a deep breath, he anxiously clenched his hands into fists. "I'll tell you everything I know."
Wei Wuyin's spine straightened a little as he sat up. "There's no restrictions? If you have to harm yourself to tell me, then don't." That gentle head pat earlier was Wei Wuyin's attempt to enter Wei Si's Sea of Consciousness and directly extract his knowledge, but he couldn't enter at all. He knew that even his true body would find no success. That mind was guarded by some unfathomable strength. Furthermore, it didn't seem foreign but innate.
"I don't," Wei Si shook his head. Wei Wuyin couldn't tell if he was lying or not by relying on mental fluctuations, a feeling he felt out of sorts to have, but just from his knowledge of Wei Si's facial expressions and tendencies when he lied, Wei Wuyin could tell he was being honest.
"..." Wei Wuyin waited.
After another three minutes, Wei Si finally began: "I didn't know who I was when I arrived here—in this world. Uhhh…I don't know where to begin." Despite trying to gather his thoughts, Wei Si was never the best at storytelling. He scratched his bald head with a silly expression.
Wei Wuyin chuckled amusingly. Regardless, Wei Si was Wei Si. This brought great comfort to him. "Let's keep it simple first. Who sent you to kill me?"
"Right…" Wei Si slowly nodded, "My people."
"Your people?"
"Huuuu!" With a sharp inhale, Wei Si expelled a breath of turbid air that caused the sky to surge. "Haaaa! Yes. My people. I was born far, far, far away from here. To people who believed in the absolute principles of fighting, war, honor, and death. When we're young, we're sent out into the unknown, with only the faint idea of a type of living existence. We're meant to hunt and kill that existence. Then, and only then, are we allowed to return."
"As an infant?" Wei Wuyin was stunned. Wei Si was nothing more than a child found by the river, barely a toddler, more of an infant. Not even his unique physique had manifested yet, he seemed no different than a normal
human, and his Uncle had taken him as an abandoned child by a struggling or depressed mother. He pitied him and took him in as his own.
Wei Si nodded, "As an infant. Until we complete our hunt, we can't return to our homeland."
"Did you always know this?" Wei Wuyin asked.
Wei Si shook his head. "I only awakened my core legacy memories after my body matured enough to rival the Mystic Ascendant Realm. I was only qualified then, and could only handle them at that time."
"..." Wei Wuyin's eyes widened instantly. Only AFTER the Mystic Ascendant Realm? There was only one type of existence that was similar to Wei Si's requirements in his entire life regarding core legacy memories.
"Magi," Wei Wuyin whispered.
BOOM!!! Suddenly, Wei Si's entire aura changed as his body emitted formless, crushing pressure. Wei Wuyin was largely unaffected except for his fluttering robes, but the entire realm was already shaking to its core. Fortunately, Si Yang had already taken the individuals away while Wei Si was sobbing and thinking earlier. The two were far too ferocious and uncaring of unleashing their great powers. If he left the cultivators here, they'd likely die from fright.
Wei Si's beady eyes enlarged within his sclera. Killing intent gushed outwards from his body violently. It took a long while for Wei Si to calm down. A long, long while.
Only then did Wei Wuyin quietly say: "I see."
The entire story was slowly told by Wei Si through various exchanges and continuously asked questions while carefully avoiding the trigger word: 'Magi'.
Wei Si awakened his core legacy memories in much the same way as Debonair Wei Wuyin after he entered the Mystic Ascendant Realm. Before that, he was an ignorant child with only some semblance of an idea. In fact, every time he challenged Wei Wuyin to a fight when they were younger, the constant acts of aggression by throwing a fist that later became almost tradition upon meeting were his innate instincts rising from within.
Those tight squeezing hugs that felt as if he wanted to snap Wei Wuyin in half were both filled with loving emotions and the urge to do so. Wei Si had always tried to suppress his instincts, but he couldn't stop the little things from leaking. Wei Wuyin was always stronger than him, so he was never given a position to fully act on his impulses.
"When a child of that 'existence' is born, a child of my people is sent to eliminate them as a rite of passage. Technically, I'm older than you. I'm older than the legendary King of Everlore, but I was placed in stasis until I needed to be deployed."
Wei Wuyin was continuously stunned by Wei Si's story, but he remained calm throughout.
Their familial bond was a matter of pure coincidence. His Uncle had, by happenstance, found a young, starving child who had lost his caretaker. The caretaker was the individual assigned to watch him grow and assist him in cultivating until he reached the age of seven. By that point, he would have been left to his own devices. Whether he succeeded or failed, lived or died, would have been left to fate. It was also why he was so weak.
However, that caretaker vanished abruptly, and not even Wei Si knew what happened or where he was.
Wei Si touched his broad chest. Hanging from his neck was a tiny, wooden plaque around a piece of silver metal. The metal was ordinary, but the plaque was extraordinary. While no one would have been able to notice the exceptional quality of the plaque in Red Dove City or the Myriad Yore Continent, Wei Wuyin could tell that it was made of material very similar to Essence of War. It was nigh-indestructible.
Wei Wuyin knew that this plaque was found on Wei Si's body when he was discovered by the river. It was often like plaques placed around an infant's neck so that they don't get mixed up.
It had common characters of the general Mortal language etched into it. Similar to how every Mystic Ascendant Realm expert could understand the Language of Mysticism instinctively, these characters possessed similar effects on Mortals. All deviations of mortal language originated from this language. Just two letters were etched onto its front: 'S' and 'I'. Meanwhile, the back had a long list of random numbers.
The plaque was why Wei Si gained his unique name. The surname 'Wei' for the Wei Clan of Red Dove City, and the given name 'Si' for the plaque that hung around his neck. Wei Si's adoptive father wasn't the decisive sort, and he had a bad habit with names, so he decided to choose this out of sheer frustration!
Rubbing the plaque between his large fingers, Wei Si's somber expression darkened.
"The 'S' and 'I' aren't characters in my true name." Wei Si confessed.
"What do they mean?" Wei Wuyin asked.
"It's nothing too complicated. It means…Spartan Infant. The 'S' stands for Spartan and the 'I' stands for Infant," Wei Si answered.
The name caused Wei Wuyin's pupils to constrict once again on a soul level. Even his true body, millions of miles away, felt the impact. It wasn't just affecting his soul but his True Soul!
"The numbers on the back," Wei Si continued as he flipped the plaque, "is the number I was assigned when placed in stasis."
Spartan Infant!
Wei Si kept explaining and held nothing back. Spartans were not a race, but a type of existence on par with the Magi. Unlike Magi, they were natural-born soldiers, defenders, and warriors. Meanwhile, Magi, the existence that they hunted down as a rite of passage, were more scholars, inventors, and creationists. Moreover, this hunt was not one-sided. Magi would slaughter Spartans too. Moreover, they were far more vicious. After all, Spartans had a far higher birth rate, considerably higher, so the number of deaths on their side was incomparable.
Wei Si also explained that there were many types of rite of passages. This one in particular was rare due to the birth rate discrepancy.
"Why?"
Wei Si had his core legacy memories, but he only knew of one reason. It was simple and it was very terrifying. "Naturally fated enemies; only one of us can exist in this world." The way he said it was cold and emotionless as if it didn't come from Wei Si.
"..."
"..."
"So you have to kill me to go back to your homeland or you're stuck here?" Wei Wuyin grasped this detail and couldn't help but glance at the vast starry skies.
Magi…Fuxi…Spartan…
In his alternate life's time, Wei Wuyin had awakened his memories of Magi very early on after rushing to the Mystic Ascendant Realm using ample alchemical products, but he had never met Wei Si again. Because those memories were stripped from Wei Wuyin by Fuxi, there was a strong chance that the Wei Wuyin of that time had killed Wei Si or…no, Wei Wuyin felt that no matter the timeline, no matter the circumstances, he would never, ever, ever do such a thing.
Since Debonair Wei Wuyin hadn't tried to use Wei Si to urge Wei Wuyin to ask questions he shouldn't in the River of Time, then that likely meant Wei Si wasn't harmed.
Wei Si shook his head. "I can go to my homeland…anytime. According to this," he gestured toward the plaque, "I've completed the hunt. I am officially a Spartan. A true Spartan." A tinge of pride was laced in his voice. It was hard to hide, but also the sadness accompanying it was distinct as well.
"Who did you kill?"
Wei Si took another deep breath, turned to Wei Wuyin, and said firmly: "You."
"..."
"..."
The two just stared at each other for a long, long while.
"When I heard the news of your death in the Scarlet Solaris Sect, my plaque just…succeeded. I went berserk. I inadvertently summoned my Spartan Idol and it sent me spiraling across the starry skies. I eventually found myself in an unknown world. It was only after I cultivated the Spartan's Cultivation Method that was within the plaque that I could reach this level and eventually awaken my memories. But I didn't understand how I was the one who killed you after I did. It just didn't make sense," Wei Si confessed.
"How do you know you killed me?" Wei Wuyin was intrigued by this.
"When we find our target, we intuitively mark them. Upon their deaths, our plaque activates its inherent formation and validates it. As long as we're responsible for it, it'll consider the hunt successful and we can return to our homeland."
"What's the parameters of 'death'?"
"I don't know…" Wei Si replied.
Wei Wuyin laid down flat on the mountain. This probably had something to do with his soul, Bloodline of Sin, or his strange series of mental episodes in the Eden Earth Sect. It could be any number of things. Whatever the case, Wei Si had inadvertently succeeded in his rite of passage by some loophole that even the Spartans hadn't considered.
"So you think you killed me?" Wei Wuyin laughed after discovering where the majority of Wei Si's guilt originated from. Or at the very least, why the loveable oaf didn't dare to meet Wei Wuyin for fear of verifying the plaque's announcement. "Did you think I was an imposter or something?"
"..." Wei Si nodded sheepishly. He truly did!
"What about now?"
"..." Wei Si stared at Wei Wuyin intensely as if inspecting him on a fundamental level. After a long while, he answered without the slightest doubt in his expression: "You're my cousin!"
Wei Wuyin smirked. "Damn right I am!" As for Magi or Spartan, he didn't care about either of those things when it came to family!
Bai Lin's eyes glinted excitedly.
If those from the vast world beyond knew that a Spartan and Magi sat upon a mountain proclaiming their familial bond proudly, the ensuing chaos would be no small matter.
Far off in a world entirely white, a lone figure was scribing away in a small silver notebook and a golden pen.
The figure looked up from his notebook and out into the vast distance. A faint smile hung on their lips that could placate the raging heart of a world-eating leviathan. "What an interesting development."
After saying just four words, they continued writing. Suddenly, the world's color changed entirely into magenta.
"Curious."
[Author's Note: Looking WAYYY back, Wei Si's plotline was meant to happen earlier, but man plans and the heavens laugh. You can probably tell based on all the info though. Anyways, I had to choose what to include and not include so the chapter isn't MASSIVE! But more about Spartans will definitely come!
Also, yes! SPARTANS!]
