Ch.220: The White Emperor Sets Life and Death Riddles in Secret
Xie Lian clenched his fists, his breathing going erratic.
A phrase. It sounded so unbelievable, laughable even, but he couldn’t laugh at all.
Guoshi said, “There’s more besides those monsters. Your Highness, do you remember that child you saved at the bottom of the city walls and how I was so shocked after you brought him up to the Royal Holy Pavilion?”
“…”
Xie Lian instantly snapped back and swiftly stole a glimpse at Hua Cheng, “I remember. What’s with that child? You said he was…”
“A Star of Solitude!” Guoshi exclaimed.
He said darkly, “At the time, I only felt that small child was covered too heavily with the essence of evil, too incredibly abnormal. It was only after I’ve confronted the other three at the Kiln before I learned that not only could the Kiln produce monsters, it could also curse. Just as you could disperse your fortune, the Kiln could also dispel the misfortunes it’s accumulated, and after they’ve been released they would rampage everywhere.”
“That small child’s birth was already extremely perilous; if his fate was fortunate then it’d be the best of fortunes; if it was vicious it would be the worst of misfortunes. The day he was born, he probably absorbed all the dispelled misfortunes, which was how he became so terrifying. The moment he came up the entire Mount TaiCang was almost burnt to the ground by him!”
The more Xie Lian listened the more alarmed he became, and he slowly turned his head, gazing towards Hua Cheng. They were clearly discussing his own affairs, but Hua Cheng’s expression didn’t change, but instead gave Xie Lian a smile.
Guoshi continued, “Based on normal circumstances, the parents of that child must die early, and if they don’t, then they would be disgusted with or abandon that child. He would suffer endless abuse, so it’d actually be better if his parents are dead. And, he wouldn’t live past eighteen, and would also cause those around him to die, to separate, to suffer misfortunes, as if Disaster itself was reborn. That’s why at the time I told you to quickly get rid of him, not to get close…”
Xie Lian couldn’t listen anymore, “Master! …Please don’t say anymore.”
Guoshi nodded, “I’ll stop. I was just giving you an example, telling you just how scary the Kiln is.”
Xie Lian didn’t know what to say, but Hua Cheng chuckled, “It’s not as scary as it seems, but, Guoshi really is quite accurate in his readings.”
“…”
When Xie Lian thought Hua Cheng probably really didn’t live past eighteen, his hands trembled lightly. Just then, a hand came reaching forward, and gently covered the frosty back of his hands.
Both of their hands were equally icy, but after they were stacked one over the other there was warmth.
“He had always been setting riddles for you to test you,” Guoshi said, “The Human Face Disease of XianLe was the first question. Based on his answer, as long as you chose to unleash the Human Face Disease against YongAn back then, then you would’ve passed. Not only would he not have banished you, he would even help you cover up, and truly turn you into his trusted heir, taking one step to reach the top of the heavens while taking two steps against it. But you’ve answered wrong.”
“The period when you were banished, he should’ve set another riddle for you, but you still didn’t give him a satisfactory answer, so the moment you ascended, you were immediately beaten back down.”
A pale, smiling mask appeared in Xie Lian’s mind, and after a pause, he said quietly, “It was actually my own request.”
Hua Cheng spoke up, “Gege, trust me. Even if you didn’t request it he’d have thousands of ways to send you back down.”
“But, White No-Face was beaten by him too.” Xie Lian said.
“But he didn’t die.” Hua Cheng said.
“Then why go through all that trouble?” Xie Lian asked.
“Of course ‘White No-Face’ could kill you,” Guoshi said, “But, what he wanted wasn’t to kill you. In fact, I already said, he really likes you, and didn’t want you to die at all. He only wanted to turn you into someone he wanted you to become.”
Hua Cheng also added, “Killing you won’t achieve that end. If you died in that state, then you would never change, and he’d be able to accept that even less. But White No-Face had no reason to let you go so easily, and what’s a better way to solve this than to have the Heavenly Martial Emperor descend to the mortal realm to dispel evil and save you from the brink of danger? With this, you would also become even more trusting and grateful of him. But he failed twice, he must’ve been extremely vexed.”
“The second time you were banished and drifted in the mortal realm, he had countless opportunities to slowly ‘educate’ you, slowly wait until you’ve changed your mind.” Guoshi said, “Based on my observation, he was already calmed down at first, but this calm was disrupted recently.”
“The reason being your third ascension.”
“If you were a puddle of rotten mud, then whatever. But you, even after you’ve become like that, completely ignoring everything he’s planned for you, you actually were still able to ascend for the third time, and still the same as before, completely unchanged… I don’t know what he thought when he saw you, but I felt he would definitely set out more riddles to test you.”
“It’s obvious seeing all that he’s done afterwards.” Hua Cheng said, “Gege, think back well, what’s all happened after you ascended for the third time?”
Xie Lian quickly got into gear, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, “The first incident was Mount Yu Jun. Taking down the female ghost Xuan Ji. At first I didn’t find the Ghost Groom, and it was the fetus spirit who guided me halfway through with a nursery rhyme. I imagine that was under his instructions. But I thought he was helping me with that case.”
“Helping you finish the mission, that’s all.” Hua Cheng said, “The direct consequence was the seizing of the female ghost Xuan Ji, but what of the indirect consequences?”
Xie Lian ventured, “…Stabbing the beehive that is General Pei’s old flame, and brought him some small troubles?”
“This could be considered a small riddle, I think.” Guoshi said, “If you had known you’d offend Pei Ming, would you have managed this case of the Ghost Groom differently? For example, inform Pei Ming secretly to have him suppress the affair, let Xuan Ji continue to keep causing small troubles in a small area, and not let things get out of hand, or something.”
Xie Lian sweated, “Well… To be honest, it was a long time after before I learned this had something to do with General Pei. At the time, the female ghost was taking hostages, and with so many people present, the arrow on the bow had to shoot. There was no time to think about whether if anything would offend anybody.”
Hua Cheng smiled, “Gege, you were already making a decision then.”
He continued to analyze, “The second incident, an empty-shelled cultivator came to PuQi Shrine, and lured you to the Banyue Pass. Let’s skip on who sent that shell first. What was the consequence of this case?”
“General Pei Junior was kicked out, and one of General Pei’s arms was snapped.” Xie Lian answered.
“Gege, you see, after those two incidents, you helped him greatly weaken Pei Ming’s strength, and you thoroughly offended Pei Ming at the same time.” Hua Cheng said, “He didn’t show his face at all; all the grudges came to you, and you had to be grateful to him still.”
“…”
Hua Cheng added, “If I’m not wrong, in these eight hundred years, he didn’t slack on watching you. Gege, he probably also knew that you were once a Guoshi in YongAn and also taught Lang Qian Qiu, yet he still sent Lang Qian Qiu on a mission with you. From my point of view, this was done purely out of malintent.”
Guoshi was surprised, “Wait a second? Your Highness, you went to YongAn and took up the position of Guoshi? You’ve taught Lang Qian Qiu before?”
“Yea…” Xie Lian replied.
“You were the Guoshi Fang Xin???” Guoshi questioned.
“En… Is something the matter?” Xie Lian asked, and he gave a brief account. Guoshi replied, “If he knew about this, then he must be furious with you.”
Hua Cheng continued, “The case with the Reverend of Empty Words, gege you didn’t want to be involved at first, but in the end you were still pulled in, thankfully not too deeply. The hundreds of fishermen in the South Sea that were dragged into the Heavenly Calamity wasn’t Black Water nor Shi Wu Du’s doing, but besides those two, who was the most capable in doing so?”
Only after each incident was laid out in the open did Xie Lian realize, that every step he took after his return was perhaps under the close watch and push by Jun Wu.
Hua Cheng crossed his arms, “I’m assuming that he’s doing this because on one hand, it’s because of that perverted mentality that he kept throwing riddles at you to test and see what path you would choose, hoping you would go down the road he paved for you; on the other hand, it was also probably for using you as a sword to cut down on the powers of those heavenly officials.”
“The heavenly officials of the previous heavenly dynasty must’ve left an extremely dark psychological shadow in his mind. He’s extremely vigilant, needing absolute control over everything, permitting none to threaten his power and status, and allowing no heavenly officials to catch up to him. And, I think…”
Xie Lian was also thinking over the same points, “What?”
Hua Cheng said, “That Shi Wu Du changed Shi Qing Xuan’s fate, and that Black Water had infiltrated the heavens to investigate, could he really not know anything about it?”
Xie Lian also thought this.
Could Jun Wu, who sat on the highest chair, really knew nothing? Not very plausible.
All the reports and scrolls that passed through Ling Wen’s hands could be directly examined by him, so if there were any forgeries, could he really not notice anything amiss?
Perhaps, he had noticed from the very beginning, only, back then the status of the Water Master hadn’t yet threatened him, so nothing was exposed. If it was exposed early on, and Shi Wu Du was banished, then a new Water Master would ascend. The new Water Master might not have such a huge hold and transgression to be seized.
The Water Master committed such a heinous crime, almost deceiving the world but lived peacefully for many years, yet it just had to be when he started domineering the Heavenly Court that he was exposed, his head plucked by He Xuan.
If Jun Wu wanted to get rid of the Water Master, he didn’t need to use his own hands at all. He only needed to watch quietly as the Water Master became more and more outrageous, arrogant and fearless, and when Shi Wu Du breached the line of his tolerance, the affair with switching fate was leaked to He Xuan.
Of course He Xuan would go and avenge himself and his deceased family.
Hua Cheng said, “As for him gathering millions of ghosts in the Kiln to birth a new Supreme, it was probably because…”
Xie Lian came to and said, “…To create balance.”
“Yea.” Hua Cheng said, “On the one hand, he was probably delighted to see a malicious Supreme born to cause havoc in the mortal realm; on the other hand, as long as there are creatures causing havoc in the mortal realm, there will be people praying.”
As long as there are devotees praying, then the spiritual powers of a god would become even stronger!
Guoshi sighed, “Every time the Kiln opens its gates, us four would go to stop it, but we were successful every time. This time it’s even more… things have gotten even more out of hand.”
“Those resentful spirits of WuYong, he killed a small part, sent the majority away with the Distance Shortening Array, then sent everyone else away while he himself remained behind to inspect and destroy some things. He figured I would go find you, so after taking care of Mount TongLu he rushed over, and sure enough he captured me first.”
“I thought, things can’t go on like this anymore. The Kingdom of WuYong had resurfaced, and with his high caution, it was most likely time to change dynasty in the heavenly realm again. If you all continue to suspect nothing, then sooner or later you would all be buried under the Heavenly Capital as foundation. It just so happens Feng Xin that little brat brought HongJing, so I gave it my best shot. Originally, his spiritual powers had grown stronger and stronger, and HongJing could no longer reflect the things on his face. But since he had only just battled with those three mountain spirits, the human faces were activated again.”
“I’ve pretty much covered everything. Do you have anything else you wanted to ask, Your Highness?”
Xie Lian was still pensive when Hua Cheng spoke up, “I do. Guoshi, do you still remember your WuYong tongue?”
“The Kingdom of WuYong had long been forgotten, and no one uses its words or language anymore, so myself and my three friends had long learned something new, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to fathom what His Highness was planning to do, and dealing with that mess of monsters and demons would be a pain too. The language is still remembered, just very rarely used now.” He said honestly, “I don’t really want to use it either.”
Xie Lian remembered, and turns out at the time, when Guoshi told the mountain spirit “His Highness is beyond saving”, “Almost awakened”, it really wasn’t referring to him, and was referring to the White No-Face who was possessing Lang Ying, killing as he went to suck in powers to recover.
For the Corpse-Eating Rats that spewed human words, there really was a hit in the number of possible candidates who infected him with their memories, it was in fact two hits: Jun Wu and White No-Face.
And within the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods, to make fake skins of Feng Xin and Mu Qing was most definitely not anything hard for White No-Face, because of course Jun Wu knew them very well!
“He… seemed to always want to lead me to believe I am the Crown Prince of WuYong himself, or that I am a part of his soul.” Xie Lian said.
“Of course he does.” Guoshi replied, “Since the existence of WuYong could no longer be hidden, anyone who saw the Crown Prince of Xian Le and the Crown Prince of WuYong would think the two were very alike, so it was the perfect solution in leading it all to you. Besides, as long as you start doubting yourself, doubting your true heart, your actions and objectives, then it’d be easy for him to lead you in the direction he wanted.”
“If you thought: ‘I am the Crown Prince of WuYong’, the possibility of you repeating his fate would be greater. He was leading you proactively, hoping to make you walk the same paths he did, so it wasn’t that your paths were somehow destined to be similar.”
“He couldn’t tolerate how similar you both were, but walked different paths.”
A long while after, Hua Cheng spoke up, “I already said, they aren’t alike at all.”
Guoshi turned to him, “You, young man, what’s wrong with you?”
Xie Lian was startled and thought, ‘What’s wrong?’
It was as if Guoshi couldn’t hold back any longer, and he rolled up his sleeves, speaking to Hua Cheng with a somber and heavy tone, “I’ve been wanting to say this since earlier. You young man, how come your smile isn’t sincere at all? Don’t think just because you’re a Supreme Ghost King that you can be impolite towards me. Sure, Supreme Ghost Kings are rare, but do you know how old I am? Of course it’s an elder like me with such an age who is the more rare.”
“…”
Hua Cheng raised his brows.
Xie Lian rubbed his forehead, “Ah, master, it’s not that San Lang is impolite, he’s just…” He was just too used to smiling fakely at others.
Guoshi made a hand gesture at Hua Cheng, telling him not to come over, before pulling Xie Lian aside and said seriously, “Your Highness, I saw it.”
“Huh?” Xie Lian asked, “What did you see?”
“On top of that giant divine statue.” Guoshi said.
That giant divine statue? What happened on top of it? Xie Lian thought for a bit before suddenly, his brain buzzed.
He had borrowed spiritual powers!
Xie Lian coughed nonstop, “No.. that was only borrowing spiritual powers… no, actually it wasn’t just borrowing spiritual powers, in any case it’s just…”
Guoshi’s voice became even more somber, “Your Highness, what’s going on? Could it be, that because you’ve been cultivating for so long and avoided women that you’ve… changed your ways???”
“…” Xie Lian waved his hand crazily, “IT’S NOT ANYTHING LIKE THAT!”
Guoshi was doubtful, “Then… could it be… a trait from birth? Well… I never noticed. Hm… alright, this part of you certainly isn’t like him…”
Xie Lian, “??? WAIT!? THAT’S NOT IT EITHER!”
Guoshi puffed a breath and sighed, “Don’t be afraid, Your Highness, I wasn’t going to lecture you on anything. I won’t guide you on something I myself aren’t an expert in. Besides, you’ve already come through after so much, what’s there left to worry about? Men or women it doesn’t matter, as long as you yourself are happy.”
Xie Lian rubbed his forehead so much it was very red, and he said in a small voice, “En… I’m very happy.”
However, Guoshi added in glum confusion, “…But after searching for eight hundred years, how did you end up finding a Supreme Ghost King?”
Xie Lian was taken aback. Guoshi said, “I’m not saying you’ve got bad taste, it’s not bad, I’m sure big girls and little maidens all like your type. But a Supreme Ghost King is very aggressive, I’m telling you. Your Highness, you gotta think things through, alright? Once people like that cling onto you, you can forget about ditching them.”
“Uh, master, hold on…”
“I’m absolutely right on this. I’m telling you, by the looks of this Crimson Rain Sought Flower, I can tell his fortune must be twistedly, contortedly fierce, each mountain higher than the next, the essence of evil smotheringly suffocating, it’s practically like…”
Hua Cheng was right behind them, and said lazily, “Practically like the Star of Solitude, right?”
Xie Lian was already desperately trying to stop Guoshi from talking, but he still didn’t succeed, so he covered his face and silently shuffled back behind Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng smiled and circled his arm around him, raising his brows, “My smile certainly is quite insincere, but, to tell to the face of the man himself that he is the Star of Solitude, Disaster reborn, worst of misfortunes, his parents both dead and can’t live past eighteen – it’s not very nice, is it.”
“?”
Guoshi’s eyes slowly widened, “…You, are?”
———–
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