The Madman’s Path from Reform to Evil

Blurb:

A deranged, ambitious younger seme x a steady, upright senior brother uke (BE)

1.

When he was eight, Gu Zhan fled to the back mountain with the sect leader's infant son in his arms.

Arrows from the enemy pierced through the woods.

He ruthlessly abandoned the crying baby and took the medicine stone from the swaddling clothes.

For the first time, he understood that staying alive always meant giving something up.

After they escaped danger, his eldest senior brother stepped in front of him and took the beating from their father in his place,

then smiled and held him. "Don't be afraid, A-Zhan. I'm here."

That smile was so warm that he mistook it for something eternal.

2.

For eighteen years in the mire, those words, "I'm here,"

were the obsession he clung to.

Until the heads of his fellow disciples hung from the gate of the Gu residence,

and his eldest senior brother was tortured with poison in prison, left wishing he were dead.

He kowtowed to the man who had killed his father until his forehead was battered and bloody,

then turned around and delivered the sect's secret letter to the enemy camp, trading it for his eldest senior brother's life.

In the dark chamber, the candle went out. As he tenderly tended his senior brother's wounds,

he heard him murmur his name through the haze, and was utterly stunned.

3.

In the icy water prison, Gu Zhan watched the newly appointed sect leader trapped there,

laughing bitterly, his face full of hatred.

He had dragged his eldest senior brother down with him, made him die unjustly at this man's hands.

But the instant he resolved to kill,

Gu Zhan looked at his eldest senior brother, who had knocked the weapon from his hand,

and suddenly realized he had fallen into a trap.

There was no hatred in his senior brother's eyes, only a pain that cut to the heart.

"A-Zhan, why did it have to be you?"

The new sect leader struck Gu Zhan, grievously wounding him.

When he saw his eldest senior brother try to stop the attack, his eyes blazed with an almost terrifying light.

At a time like this, why are you still playing the good guy and protecting me?

In that case, why not go to hell together?

4.

Too clever for his own good,

he escaped the water prison only to learn that he had long been someone else's pawn.

Gu Zhan dragged his half-crippled body into the mountains and abducted his eldest senior brother,

demanding to know why he had forgotten their old promise and devoted himself to someone else.

As his fingertips pressed against his senior brother's throat, he actually wanted to crush that heart outright.

At last,

his eldest senior brother, eyes red, begged for an antidote for him, his voice hoarse as if scraped by sandpaper.

Gu Zhan took the porcelain bottle. The instant the poison took effect,

he looked at the panic-stricken face before him and suddenly laughed like a madman.

At least in this moment, he was the only one in his senior brother's eyes.

Theme: Cherish what you already have