The air within the VIP-lounge was heavy with tension, at least for the poor guide that was standing by the door. Liang Chen and Xiao Ping simply looked at each other in silence, golden pupils meeting dark grey as they observed each other. This may only be their third meeting, but they were still technically siblings so one would expect a meeting like this to be filled with at least a glimmer of joy. But there were hardly any emotions within the gazes they used to look at each other. On the contrary, Xiao Ping's gaze bore something that was far closer to hostility than familial love.
"I would love to get an answer to that very same question, but so far I have yet to receive anything. Take a seat."
Xiao Ping ended up retracting her gaze first, gesturing towards the two seats that had been prepared for the couple. A farce he called it, well she quite agreed with that description, this was all just a terrible farce that she couldn't bear to watch.
Liang Chen's gaze strayed to the seats for a moment before Yan Ling tugged on his arm, pulling him along as she sat down. As if planned in advance, Sheng Lian and Lan Yun hopped into place behind them, Sheng Lian holding the infant Ao Fentian while Yumao was curled up on Lan Yun's head. Among the group of four, only Sheng Lian looked anywhere close to solemn. Lan Yun was filled with nothing but childish curiosity while Yumao was simply looking forward to a show.
Once the couple had taken a seat, Xiao Ping's gaze returned to Liang Chen. Her pupils meandered about quietly while here eyes narrowed slightly, observing him like a snake that was about to strike. Was she choosing her words? Deciding what type of persona to put on? Whatever the case was, she ended up deciding to skip any sorts of formalities and jump straight to the reason she had been waiting here.
"The others seem intent, almost desperately so, to inter you as a Crown Prince. Hah, granting a title to someone who so casually killed one of our already dwindling elders, and who even did it in front of all the citizens? Hells, Shuya is even willing to let you kill more of our elders, he specifically sent out Elder Shouru Mang so that you would kill him, considering it a peace offering. Do you not think something like that is mad? I don't believe that you are necessary for the Sebettu, Liang Chen. No matter what everyone else here is trying to convince you of, we don't need you."
She couldn't understand them. The elders, the citizens, her brother. Why were they all so desperate to bring Liang Chen into their fold, why were they all willing to just turn the other way in favor of linking him with them? She could have understood if it was their parents, he was the firstborn son that they had lost so long ago so it only made sense that they would want to bring him close so that they could finally get to know him.
But even they weren't trying to have him join their race. They had met, he had said his piece about not being able to consider them his family, and they had accepted it. He had drawn a clear line, and they respected it because they recognized that he had grown up and become his own person. Just being friendly and seeing him from time to time would be enough.
So why couldn't the others just do the same? Why were they so desperate to prostrate themselves just to have him take a second look at them? The race she was proud of had not fallen so far that they would need to do something like that, nor would she ever allow them to fall that far now that she had reunited with them.
Liang Chen didn't even need to think about a response to her strong statement, his stance regarding the Sebettu had never changed since the time he found out that he belonged to them. Yan Ling opened her mouth for a moment to speak up, to somewhat ease out the tension, but Liang Chen was a step faster than her.
"What a pointless statement. I've already made it very clear that I have no desire to become a part of the Sebettu, you were even there when I made that declaration."
Liang Chen may have been born by the Sebettu, but he wasn't raised by them. Hell, he didn't even know about them until he was already forced to grow up and pave his own path. His true family had already been set in stone at that time so he couldn't feel any sort of bond with this origin of his.
Thus, when it came to his relationship with the Sebettu, he and Xiao Ping were actually in agreement, meaning that things should progress smoothly.
"Exactly. We don't need you, and you don't want us. Very simple, makes everything easy. I won't ask you to pay reparations for the elder you killed, but I want you to leave. Stop feeding the inane schemes of those who can't see the truth."
The elders who viewed him as their only hope, the brother that kept insisting that they needed him, there was no need to feed their mad schemes and idiotic dreams. All he had to do was leave and they could all keep going about their own lives. But what a shame it was that it wasn't that easy.
"I plan on, but not yet. I told Ren Shuya that I would come and at least allow Ren Shuren and Ren Yazhu to see my future wife. I am a man of my word, so I will not leave until I have done so."
Ren Shuren and Ren Yazhu, he couldn't even call them his birth parents or something similar, referring to them by name instead. He'd given his word that they would be allowed to meet Yan Ling, and he intended to honor that promise. Following through on his promises was something that could be considered one of his few good qualities. But naturally, in this situation, it created some issues.
"…"
Xiao Ping was silent for a moment, her gaze narrowing further after Liang Chen refused. Well, his refusal was part of the reason her eyes grew sharper. She knew their… her parents well. They had accepted and respected his decision, but having their firstborn son speak of them that distantly would hurt them nonetheless. But after a moment, she decided to put that thought aside and focus on what they were actually here for.
"Then I want your word that you won't kill any more of our citizens. Our numbers have already dwindled too much, I will not allow more of my people to die."
The Sebettu once ruled several universes, they even ruled a Major one when they were at their peak. But after they lost the great war, and all the wars after, their territory and numbers had done nothing but dwindle. They were now reduced to this one minor universe, with plenty of enemies still out there just waiting for a chance to tear into them. She could not allow her people to keep losing. But Liang Chen…
"I will make no such promise."
He could make a lot of promises, he could give his word on any number of topics. But this one, this was a request he could not comply with. He simply couldn't.
"Why not?"
Naturally, Xiao Ping's gaze only sharpened further after Liang Chen refused her peace offering. It was such a simple request, such a simple thing to do, just don't kill more people. But in the end, Liang Chen was a frighteningly simple person.
"Because if they deserve to die, then I will kill them."
That was all there was to it, the stupidly simple reason that he couldn't give his word. If they deserved to die, then he would kill them. It didn't matter who they were, it didn't matter where they were, he would simply kill them. Naturally, such an answer was hardly pleasing for Xiao Ping to hear.
"And what makes you think you have the right to simply judge and kill them as you please?"
Her eyes were sharp as she spoke, the finger that was resting on the table pushing down on it as her Qi leaked out. The air groaned quietly as the tension grew, the poor guide by the door faltering as she struggled to stand. But to Liang Chen it was nothing, his gaze clear and confident as he uttered the simple truth.
"Strength."
Liang Chen was strong. He was stronger than those he killed so he could judge them as wrong and kill them. As for those that were stronger than him, he had already judged them, it was just that he had to wait with killing them. And he would keep using his strength like that.
"…"
Once again, there was a slight pause in Xiao Ping. Her sharp gaze pierced into Liang Chen, seemingly trying to dig out his everything. The air only grew heavier and heavier, Sheng Lian making sure that Ao Fentian wasn't affected by the suffocating pressure. In the end, Xiao Ping flipped her hand, a dark red jade cube slipping out from her interspatial ring and landing beneath her palm.
"This here isn't your average communication jade. If I put in the smallest amount of Qi to activate it, I can use it to mark you as a mortal enemy of the Sebettu, it will be an order given by their second highest authority. Every last person will know you as a heinous sinner that must be killed at all costs, there will be no end to the attackers that will swarm you before you even leave this building. I admit, you may be able to escape for a bit before I manage to kill you, but with so many attackers bogging you down it won't be long before you reach the end of your rope. Is that what it'll take?"
Xiao Ping was still a Crown Princess of the Sebettu, the only people with higher authority were her parents. But they 'weren't here' at the moment so she was the highest authority, whatever she said went. And if she designated someone as their mortal enemy then the guards and soldiers would naturally move on her orders before listening to anything else. It would take less than three breaths for this place to become hell as Liang Chen was besieged on all sides. But still he sat there, looking straight at Xiao Ping with a calm and confident gaze.
"You're not going to activate that."
There was no doubt in his voice, no hesitation. He barely even spared the jade cube a glance. That thing would never be activated, she would never try to use that thing against him. Internally, Xiao Ping paused for a moment, but she still managed to put on a timely and confident smile.
"And what makes you so certain of that?"
Her fingers played with the cube, tracing its edges as Qi danced at her fingertips. The slightest movement, it wouldn't even take half a second and all the gears would click into place. But Liang Chen's golden eyes… They felt like they were digging into her soul, dredging up the very threads that formed the person known as Ren Xia Ping.
"Because I can see it, Xiao Ping. You're angry. You're furious at me. But your fear is deeper than your fury."
If there was one thing Liang Chen knew in this world then it was fury, unbound wrath that knew no end. He was weary, tired and worn from the life he had chosen. But he still burned with the same fire that swallowed his soul when he was just a child, and he'd keep burning until the end of time, until he was the only monster left.
That's why he could tell. The fury Xiao Ping felt ran deep, deeper than many things she'd felt before. But there was something that ran deeper still, and he knew very well where it came from.
"From here to the closest spatial array, how many kilometers are there? How many buildings, how many homes? You may think yourself confident that you'll be able to stop me, but how many citizens do you think will die in that time?"
Xiao Ping was confident in stopping him, but not confident enough to stop him instantly, especially not with Yan Ling at his side. Once they slipped out of this building, how many people would die before they were actually stopped? Liang Chen gave her that answer, or at least the lack of an answer that she had reached.
"You don't know for sure, do you? But you know that it won't be in the tens, it won't be in the hundreds, it won't even end in just a few thousand. If I really tried to, how many people in this city do you think will be left alive when the dust settles?"
She didn't know his full strength, was there anyone alive who knew how strong Liang Chen was currently? Probably not. And this lack of information was the only dent in her confidence. But still, while she lacked concrete information on his current strength, only having his cultivation to go on, there was something Xiao Ping knew about him.
"You wouldn't do that. You see, I've already heard a bit about you, hard not to when so many people are trying to paint you as our savior. From what I've heard, you never kill those you consider innocent, you even hold back your strength if you can so that no innocents will get hurt."
Liang Chen was someone who didn't shy away from massacring, he had more than just a few tens of thousands under his belt at this point in just confirmed kills. But he always drew a clear line when he murdered, those left behind after he passed through city, those he spoke to, they always agreed on the same thing, that moral of his.
But once again, Liang Chen didn't falter, his calm look betraying none of his thoughts.
"That's true. But Xiao Ping, I currently have my family with me. A wife and four children, the only family I have left. Tell me, what do you think wins when they clash, my family or my morals?"
Yan Ling, Ao Fentian, Lan Yun, Yumao, Sheng Lian. His wife to be and the four people he had picked up and come to consider as his own children. His family. Would Liang Chen kill innocents if his family was threatened? It was hard to tell, he had never been in such a situation before. But if he had to give an answer off the top of his head then he wouldn't be surprised if it was yes. He was already a hypocrite, murdering others for doing similar things to what he did, he wouldn't be surprised if he was even more of a hypocrite than it first appeared.
Faced with such a clear gaze and simple statement, Xiao Ping naturally paused for a moment, the two looking at each other in silence for a few breaths before she clenched the cube somewhat indignantly.
"…Why must you be so insistent on this? Have we not suffered enough to at least deserve a moment of rest in our own house?"
The Sebettu had already been reduced to such a pitiful state, forced to rely on the Nine Star Demon God just to hide them in their own universe. Their pride, their homes, their people, it had all been trampled into the ground and spat on time and time again, they had been denied all semblance of peace. Did they not deserve to at least be safe in their own homes?
Liang Chen looked at Xiao Ping, angrily clenching the cube that she could not bring herself to activate. For a moment his head couldn't help but tilt, was she really asking him something like that?
"Elder Shouru Mang, to get revenge for his son, laid waste to a city housing over a million people, just because the perpetrator and their family lived there. Every last person died in the attack, crushed within their own homes. Three thousand years ago, he brought about the ruin of a somewhat prosperous clan, over six thousand people were sold into slavery that day, while a further three thousand were reduced to alchemical ingredients. Living people, used as nothing more than herbs. Living people, reduced to cattle. If we go back another eight thousand years, back to when the Sebettu lost control of the planet that was then called Soundscape, we'll see that he, while fleeing and raging, incinerated a village that just so happened to be in his path. He could have turned and flown around it, but he did not because he was too angry to care. As a result, 792 people were reduced to ash."
The first thing Liang Chen did after he came to the Sebettu was to kill one of the elders they had sent to greet him. He used the fires of Purgatory to reduce him to less than ash, he made sure that his death was painful as he burned for his every sin. And it really was every one of them. Liang Chen had seen them all as he unraveled the elder's soul, dug through his entire life to judge him.
"Did any of those people get a moment of rest while in their own homes? Did anyone speak up for the ones who died those days? No, no one did. Of course not, the one who did it was an elder of the Sebettu, the ruling race within those areas."
Even in their decline, the Sebettu were not a race that could be disregarded. The people living within territories occupied by them certainly couldn't do so, they had to bend their heads and knees, ignoring what they did just so that they could live. So the dead died quietly, not even a whisper on the wind. But no more.
"Well, I'm speaking up for them, Xiao Ping. And as long as I'm alive, I'll keep massacring all who decide to engage in such acts. I'll kill and kill until I'm the only one left standing."
Liang Chen was the crack of thunder, the roaring wind. The people should have cried for the dead, but they couldn't. The heavens should have raged for the dead, but they didn't. So he did. So he would.
"People like that should never have been allowed to live to begin with, that's why I must be so insistent on this."
There was no heavens, there was no heavenly punishment, there was no justice. But now there was him. He would be the heavens, he would be the punishment that never came, he would be that cruel justice. And one distant day, he would be the last who deserved to suffer justice.
Xiao Ping drew in a long breath. Liang Chen spoke arrogantly, but the confidence, the cold calmness reflected in those golden pupils made it hard to rebuke him. He looked like someone who truly believed that they could achieve what they set out to do. And yet, she couldn't allow that very thing.
"And yet, I must make you stop, at least while you're here. Puts us a bit at odds, doesn't it?"
She naturally knew that the Sebettu weren't spotless. There were people like that elder, there were people who had been twisted by years of grief and war. But she could not let him kill them. They were her citizens, they were her people, and she was sworn to protect them and their happiness. She would make sure that they got to live long enough to put their grief and pain behind them.
Thus, it was inevitable that the two stood on opposing sides. The silence grew deeper again as they looked at each other, the air growing heavy as they did nothing but observe. They were like beasts just waiting for the chance to strike. But that chance never came.
"Alright, alright, that's enough now. Deep breaths, both of you. Come on, one after the other, deep and good breaths."
Yan Ling cut through the tension, ignoring it as if she couldn't even feel it as she gestured for them to breathe deeply. Her long cyan braid swayed slightly as she did so, sapphire blue eyes moving between the two people just waiting to make a move.
"Clearly, it's not going to be easy for the two of you to come to an understanding. Xiao Ping, as a leader, you naturally want what's best for your race. Little Freak, you want to do what you feel is right, which occasionally means going against what Xiao Ping wants."
Yan Ling had to do her best to broker at least a measure of peace between them. She was the reason Liang Chen had agreed to coming here to begin with. He saw no reason to reunite with this lost family of his, but Yan Ling knew how painful it was to lose family, and she knew how much Liang Chen had suffered thanks to how he chose to live his life. She wanted him to have a bit more family he could lean on, she wanted him to have what they both had already lost once. Thus, she kept talking.
"But rather than tear at each others throats here, in the middle of the city, leading to gods know what, how about we do it a little differently?"
She made a clear statement on their current position, she knew that neither of them wanted to fight here. Xiao Ping didn't want the citizens to get drawn into the fight, and Liang Chen didn't want innocents to die while they fought. Thus, this location was horrible for both of them.
"Xiao Ping, the Sebettu have a tradition known as Rahu's Judgment, no? How about we have the two of you engage in one such duel, wherein the loser has to abide by the winner's condition?"
Rahu's judgment, it was a fancy name the Sebettu gave to what was essentially a duel. But, as it had been named after the progenitor of their race, it naturally wasn't a normal duel. It was generally only reserved for the high-ranking members of the race, for when they disagreed on a matter. And as it involved the higher ranking members, the first rule of the duel was naturally that neither party could kill the other. They got a total of five moves, and if no winner had been decided in that time-frame, then a panel of judges would decide who the winner was. It was extremely simple, exactly what most people needed when arguing on an issue.
Naturally, in this situation it was evident what both parties would ask of the other so Yan Ling kept talking before either sides could even open their mouths.
"Don't even say it, Little Freak, I know. Neither of you can really agree to the condition of the other. So, how about we do it like this? Xiao Ping, if you win, I'll make sure that Little Freak and I don't leave our room while we stay here waiting for the meeting. He won't get to see anyone so there'll be no one that he can kill. And if Little Freak wins then you'll have to immediately call back his parents so that they can have the meeting, with us naturally leaving right after. Should be slightly more peaceful, no?"
The terms weren't strictly unfavorable for either party. Even if Liang Chen lost, she only promised that he wouldn't do anything while they waited for the meeting. After that, he would be free to do as he pleased, something he would certainly do. Well, not like her Little Freak would lose to an upstart like this.
As for Xiao Ping, all she would have to do if she lost was bring over Liang Chen's parents and speed up the meeting immensely, definitely something she wanted since Liang Chen was only here for it. Naturally, she could probably get his parents to come here right now, it was the logical thing to do to end this peacefully.
But it was just like her Little Freak said, she was angry. He had killed one of their elders in front of the citizens, she was furious with him. Thus, she naturally wanted to tear into him, she wanted him to feel the same pain as the elder. She knew that she couldn't kill him if she agreed to the duel, but she was still exceedingly confident in her victory so she didn't mind killing two birds with one stone.
"…I can accept those terms. But I will not allow the citizens to be present within the confines of the arena, the judges will also be hand-picked by me."
Still, no matter how confident she was in her victory, she would not let the citizens enter the arena and risk their lives. She would also have to pick the judges herself, lest her brother send another one or two of the elders that Liang Chen would want to kill once he saw them. Naturally, having one of the contestants pick the judges was highly irregular so she expected Liang Chen to raise a complaint, but he simply cast a glance at Yan Ling before nodding his head.
"Very well. When?"
He didn't mind the scenario. It would be best to avoid a fight in a place like this, especially since he was out with his family. And despite her fiery personality and demeanor, he had seen nothing in Xiao Ping's soul that condemned her to death so if he could get through this without killing her then that would be optimal.
With him agreeing so easily, it naturally became much simpler for Xiao Ping, who stood up from her seat. She wanted to get it done fast to cut down on the time Liang Chen could have to kill someone.
"Right now, and you must follow me to the arena. I don't want you wandering around massacring just because you got a bit of freedom."