Having heard him, Xie Lian felt as if he was slapped, and he turned to him, “Are you making fun
of me?”
“No.” Wu Ming replied.
“Then don’t say such nonsense! How can there be such a thing?”
After a pause, Wu Ming said, “It’s not impossible.”
“…”
Xie Lian couldn’t take it anymore and snapped back, “That’s enough. What are you trying to
say? Weren’t you a soldier of Xian Le? I didn’t rouse you from the battlefield to listen to you
speak for YongAn, you just need to heed my command!”
That flower on the ground pierced his heart and stabbed his eyes, making him feel unkempt all
of a sudden. Xie Lian charged forward and stomped it down, crushing it like he was venting his
fury. Yet after he was done, he felt baffled by himself. Why must he throw such a huge temper
against such a small flower? He rushed out of the Temple of the Crown Prince. It was only after
feeling the cool breeze did he gradually calm down.
Behind him, that black clad warrior also followed after and came out. Xie Lian asked, “You’ve
investigated this area. Have you found anywhere that appears unusual?”
“No,” Wu Ming replied.
“Are you sure?” Xie Lian asked, “In order to unleash the human face disease, there can’t be
anything amiss with time, fortune, or location.”
“I’m sure,” Wu Ming replied.
Xie Lian had nothing more to say, and he looked up to the sky.
After a moment of silence, Wu Ming asked, “Your Highness, have you thought of how to unleash
the pestilence of the resentful spirits?”
“I’m still thinking,” Xie Lian said.
He looked down at that black sword hanging off his waist. Millions of resentful spirits were
sealed within this black sword, but it could only keep them sealed for so long.
Just then, Wu Ming spoke up, “Your Highness, I have a presumptuous request.”
“Speak.”
The eyes behind the mask of that black clad warrior were watching him intently, “My beloved
had sustained grave injuries in this war, suffering a fate worse than death. I could only watch
with open eyes as they suffer this torment, struggling in agony.”
“And?” Xie Lian said.
“And so, I hope I could be the one to wield the sword and avenge them.”
His reason was very reasonable, but for some reason Xie Lian found it hard to trust him. He
narrowed his eyes, “I find you rather odd.”
He turned around and circled Wu Ming as he said cooly, “Based on what I’ve seen, you don’t
look like an avenger entangled in resentment and hatred. To ask this of me, is it really so you
can unleash the human face disease?”
While he might’ve said so himself, why else would Wu Ming request to unleash the human face
disease?
The nameless black clad warrior bowed his head towards him, “Your Highness, I wish for the
deaths of YongAn people more than anyone. Furthermore, I wish it’d be in my hands that they
perish. If you don’t believe me, I can go prove myself to you right now.”
“How do you plan on proving yourself?” Xie Lian asked.
The black clad warrior placed his hand on his sabre and slowly stood down. By the third step
back, Xie Lian suddenly realized just what he planned to do.
He was going to kill to prove to him he had a vengeful heart!
“Stop!” Xie Lian instantly called out.
Wu Ming stopped. After looking him over critically, Xie Lian said resolutely, “No. I will unleash
them myself.”
That black clad warrior bowed his head, and with the mask on, it was hard to tell what was the
expression on his face. Xie Lian didn’t care for anyone’s else’s reaction either, and he turned
around, speaking softly, “…However, before that, I have something else to do.”
He said as he raised that frozen jade-like black sword, and stared at the glistening blade in his
hand, a peculiar light flashing through his eyes. That black clad warrior noticed something was
off and exclaimed, “Your Highness, what are you planning?!”
He hadn’t even had the time to stop Xie Lian before the next second, Xie Lian turned the point
of the blade on himself, and lunged that black sword into his own abdomen!
The next day, on the streets of Lang-Er Bay.
The weather hadn’t been great lately, cloudy and gloomy with wild gusts suddenly blowing at
times, and nefarious rains fell at others.
Speaking of which, it hadn’t been peaceful lately no matter the place, and there had been word
that even the palace was caught in a fire, the king and the crown prince both down with illness
to the point where they could grant audience to no one. It was chaos everywhere, filled with
ominous signs, and the people couldn’t help but grumble, feeling ill at ease. Only ignorant
children continued to play and run around without a care in the world.
A wave of gloomy winds swept past, blinding the eyes. And soon after, there was a huge
BOOM! that suddenly sounded from the intersection of the street. The figure of a man had
dropped from the skies!
The crowd on the street were all startled by that sudden booming noise, and they all looked
towards the end of the street. On the ground there was a human shaped crater formed from the
crash, and within the hole was a person lying flat listlessly, his hair strewn and messy, his body
covered in blood, so much so that his white robes appeared particularly horrifying.
All of a sudden, everyone in the entire street came gathering, “WHO?!”
“My heavens, where did he drop down from? The sky??”
“IS HE DEAD??”
“I, I don’t think so, I think he’s still moving!
“I can’t believe he’d survive a fall like that!! Wait, what’s that on his chest? A SWORD???”
Once the crowd was close enough, the people finally saw that person’s appearance clearly.
While disheveled, his face was handsomely clean and white. Only, his eyes were gazing
towards the sky unblinkingly, unlike the living. But he couldn’t be said to be dead, since he was
still breathing, and that black sword piercing his abdomen, penetrating his organs, was still
rising up and down weakly along with his chest.
Just then, another person exclaimed in surprise, “Wait, isn’t this… isn’t this…. That, that Royal
Highness the Crown Prince?!”
Now that he mentioned it, everyone else started to recognize him too, “…It really is. It’s that
crown prince from the past, the Crown Prince of XianLe! I’ve seen him before from a distance!
“Didn’t they say that crown prince went missing?”
“I heard he ascended.”
“Why is he like this… what’s with the sword, is he really stabbed through? Scary…”
“Enough of that looking, let me through, will y’all let me through? I’ve got places to be!”
This end of the street was an intersection with the roads heading in two separate directions, and
since it was blocked by a crowd of people, the carriages that came afterwards couldn’t go
through, and so everyone descended their vehicles to check things out, causing quite the
commotion. Suddenly, someone called out, “Wait! He seems… to be saying something?”
The crowd quieted down, and everyone held their breaths to listen intently, trying to pick up any
voices. A moment later, no one on the outer edges heard anything, so they shouted, “What did
he say? Just what is happening? Did he say?”
The ones in the front rows called back, “No!”
“Then what did he say?”
“He said, “Save me”.”
Xie Lian laid flat on the ground, and after having uttered those two words, not another sound
escaped his lips. The people crowding around him all showed different expressions, with
varying reactions and various degrees of puzzlement. A chubby man who looked to be a chef
said, “Save him? How do we save him?”
Someone took a guess, “He probably meant to help pull the sword out?”
That chef looked to be fairly gutsy, and was just about to go up and give it a shot when he was
instantly held back by several hands, “Don’t don’t don’t, absolutely do not!!!”
That man was confused, “Why not?”
The bystanders explained, “You mustn’t! Haven’t you heard? Didn’t Xian Le lose the war? Why
did they lose the war? Because of that human face disease. Why was there human face
disease? Because there was a God of Misfortune, and that’s…”
“God of Misfortune?! Really??”
The moment those words came out, no one dared to step up recklessly any longer, and all
around that enormous human shaped pit was suddenly empty of people.
After all, no one knew just what had happened to the Crown Prince of the previous dynasty.
Was he a God of Misfortune? Would they contract that horrifying human face disease if they
came in contact with him? Or would they find themselves in utter misfortune? Besides, it
appeared that even if they didn’t pull the sword, he wouldn’t die for the moment. If he could fall
from wherever he fell from at such a height and crashing so loudly too without dying, then he
was beyond human.
A moment later, someone said timidly, “Maybe we should report this to the authorities…”
“Didn’t they say this Royal Highness ascended and became a god? What’s the use in reporting
to the authorities?”
“Then what should we do?”
The crowd chattered and babbled, but in the end, they couldn’t come to a conclusion, so they
still ended up sending someone to report the incident. Anything else was out of their hands.
You wanted to lie there? Then just lie there. Let’s leave him be.
Thus, Xie Lian rested like that in that human shaped pit, watching the curious heads of people
gradually decrease and slowly disappear. The carriages that were blocked detoured around
him, and the children who were playing around on the streets were all dragged back into the
house by their parents. There was still a person here and there who’d pass by but they’d be
further away in the distance. Xie Lian remained expressionless throughout, speaking not a
word.
There was a little water seller who couldn’t bear the sight, and whispered to his wife watching
the stall, “Will it really be alright to leave him like this? How about, I give him a cup of water?”
The wife of that little merchant hesitated for a moment and scanned their surroundings,
whispering back, “…Let’s not. If he really is a God of Misfortune, then no one knows what would
happen if you get too close.”
That little merchant was also hesitant, looking around, and a group of other merchants like him
at their stalls were all staring at him, their expressions nervous, as if he should approach, they
would all draw their lines and stay far, far away. In the end, he still didn’t dare to step out on his
own, and abandoned the idea.
And so, Xie Lian stayed like that from the thin mist of morning to the blazing sun of midday, then
to dusk, and he laid there until deep into the night.
In between that time, there were many people who saw him, but those who approached were
very few, and there certainly wasn’t anyone who would help pull that black sword from his
abdomen.
In the deep night, there was not a soul on the streets, but Xie Lian still laid there on the ground,
watching the skies above, and in the dark night, the stars twinkled, his thoughts wandering and
mysterious. Suddenly, a clear, crisp laughter sounded from above, “Hahahaha… what are you
doing?”
After so many visits from the owner of that voice, Xie Lian no longer reacted as violently as
before. And not having received his angry and panicky “welcome”, the owner of that voice took
the initiative to walk over himself and stood by Xie Lian’s head, bending down, and his voice
even seemed to sound a little disappointed, “What are you waiting for?”
That half crying half smiling mask was upside down and coincidentally blocked his entire vision.
They faced each other with only a few feet between their faces, and Xie Lian said coldy, “Get
the hell out of here, you’re blocking me from watching the sky.”
To be told to get the hell away, White No-Face wasn’t upset in the least, and laughingly
straightened up, sounding more and more affable like an elder who was tolerant of a spoiled
child, “What’s so good about the sky?”
“It’s prettier than you.” Xie Lian snapped back.
“Why the temper?” White No-Face asked, “It wasn’t me who stabbed you, and it wasn’t me who
left you here this time. You did this all yourself. Even if you haven’t gotten the results you were
hoping for, you still can’t blame me?”
“It’s none of your shitty business.” Xie Lian said.
White No-Face chuckled sympathetically, “Silly child. Did you think someone would come help
pull out the sword?”
———-