Yet, when the other half of the mask fell and Qi Rong's entire face was revealed, it became obvious that he didn't look that much like Xie Lian after all. Their noses and lips were similar in shape, but their brows and eyes were quite different. Xie Lian's eyes were calm and peaceful. Qi Rong's brows were high and sharp, his eyes were also much more thin and slant. He was certainly still a good looking young man, but anyone could see just from his face that he wasn't one to be messed with. After having been beaten to a bloody pulp, he could finally squint open a slit of his eyes, and blearily noticed the one grabbing him had changed form, and dressed in red. Qi Rong had never seen Hua Cheng's real face, but the moment he saw the red robes he was shocked and furious, "It's you. IT'S YOU!"
Hua Cheng had changed back to this true form. "You haven't answered my question. How did Prince An Le die?"
Because of how frightening his eyes looked, Xie Lian rushed forward and cried, "San Lang!"
Humans and ghosts alike had all already cleared the cave, and Xie Lian ran to his side, "Are you alright? Don't be angry, please don't be angry, everything's fine. Just calm down, everything's fine..."
He gently rubbed down Hua Cheng's shoulders a few times, and his voice becoming soothingly soft. When Xie Lian was younger, whenever he got angry or upset, his parents would always stroke his back like this, and comfort him with their gentle voices, and thus he used the same method on Hua Cheng. Turns out it was quite effective; Hua Cheng's eyes were turbulent before, but after being soothed, his lips quivered for a second, and slowly but finally calmed, his eyes cleared once more.
Seeing this, Xie Lian let out a breath of relief. But suddenly, even before he finished exhaling, Hua Cheng swiftly reached out a hand and gently patted his shoulder once.
This pat instantly froze Xie Lian's body and rooted him to where he stood.
He hadn't prepared for Hua Cheng to do anything to him, which was why this was done so easily. He didn't know what Hua Cheng was up to, but he wasn't worried about himself, but rather he was worried for Hua Cheng, afraid that he might lose control again like earlier. He was about to open his mouth to ask, when he realized not only could he not move, he couldn't speak either, and felt he may have gotten into a rather difficult situation.
That Qi Rong may be weak in fist fights, but his mouth was certainly tough, and started cursing while still covered in blood, "You fucking crazy one-eyed snake! Did I fucking piss you off while eating in my own fucking house?!"
Hua Cheng smiled, then smacked his head down onto the ground again before picking it up, "How did Prince An Le die?"
"What the fuck does that have to do with you..." Qi Rong cried, and Hua Cheng bashed him down again, "How did Prince An Le die?"
This went on repeat for a while, and Hua Cheng kept his cool smile, dribbling his head like a ball, violently bashing it for over ten times. Although violent, Qi Rong couldn't die, and because he couldn't die, it was insufferable. Even a skull made of steel couldn't stand this kind of torture, and Qi Rong finally changed his tune, "If you're so free why don't you go read a fucking history book?"
Hua Cheng laughed coldly, "If history books recorded the truth, why would I come and ask a useless trash like you?" He lifted his hand again, and Qi Rong yelled, "IT'S LANG QIANQIU! HE WAS KILLED BY LANG QIANQIU!!!"
The daruma doll in Xie Lian's arms jerked, and started shaking vigorously.
It was shaking too hard and Xie Lian couldn't move to hold it down, so alas he watched as the Lang Qianqiu daruma doll fall out and onto the ground, madly spinning back and forth. Hua Cheng didn't turn his head, but he undid the spell. A blast of red smoke and Lang Qianqiu's form leapt from within.
He was royalty, high and mighty, and had never been wronged like this his entire life. He pointed at Qi Rong in rage, "How could you insult me like this and smear my name! An Le and I were friends! Who did you say killed him?!"
Qi Rong was also shocked to see him jump out, "You're Lang Qianqiu? Why the fuck are you here too?!"
Lang Qianqiu himself didn't understand why he was brought to this lair either, but was simply enraged by Qi Rong's accusations earlier, and felt compelled to clear things up, "Prince An Le died of illness, so why would you accuse me of killing him out of the blue?!"
Hua Cheng watched on coldly but stopped dribbling Qi Rong's head, so Qi Rong got pulled into the fight, "Died out of a fucking illness, only you would believe it. He died soon after the Gilded Banquet, so he must've been assassinated by you lot! If not you, then those old withering fucks in court."
He was muddying the waters and spewing garbage; Lang Qianqiu's face was growing grimmer, "No wonder everyone says the Green Ghost Qi Rong is vulgar and crass. Now that I've met you, you are indeed disgusting."
His offhand comment stabbed Qi Rong exactly where it hurts. After becoming famous, for so many centuries, all of heaven and hell taunted him for being boorish and crude and he hated it. His face dropped immediately, "I may be vulgar but it's still much better than your ignorance. Friends this, friends that, what peaceful relationship. Xianle and YongAn can be friends? Coexist in peace? You're as fake as your shitty parents, disgusting!"
Hearing him insult his parents, Lang Qianqiu was furious, "Shut up! My esteemed parents were sincere and genuine, not fake! I won't allow you to spit on their names!"
Qi Rong spat, "You're all nothing more than the descendants of some rebels, who gave you the fucking right! What sincerity? To donate titles and land to us, the people of Xianle? Shameless! You robbed what was ours then handed it back out like it's some sort of a gift? Everything you owned had belonged to Xianle!"
Lang Qianqiu was not skilled in arguing, and actually froze and stuttered, "You! You—"
Qi Rong saw how he stammered and felt a rush of satisfaction, and resolved to aggravate him even more. He laughed, "Even if you guys killed An Le, it was a profitable death. Xianle lost but one man, but YongAn paid an entire Gilded Banquet. Too bad we couldn't kill you too, and have you all taste what it's like to end an entire bloodline!"
Hearing this, Lang Qianqiu was bewildered, "...What did you say?"
Xie Lian mentally cursed.
He so desperately wanted to bash Qi Rong back into the ground the same way Hua Cheng did, and shut him up. But with this petrification spell, he couldn't move a single muscle.
"What do you mean you couldn't kill me too?"
Qi Rong only wanted to avenge himself on the 'vulgar' comment, and boasted, "Truly the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree; my lord's stupidity spans hundreds of years, my eyes are opened! Think, us Xianle are thoroughly disgusted with you YongAn; whoever doesn't hate you is unfit to be called a citizen of Xianle! Did you honestly think the royal descendants of Xianle would be friendly with the royalties of YongAn? It was all to infiltrate your guard, make it easy to plot, and wash your gilded birthday banquet with blood!"
Xie Lian was struggling to break free, and Lang Qianqiu was frozen to his spot. After a moment, he stammered, "...The Prince An Le, and the Guoshi¹, were, were on the same side?"
Lang Qianqiu was filled with anguish, thinking that his beloved teacher and friend had conspired against him together. However, contrarily, Qi Rong said, "Guoshi? That wicked Guoshi Fang Xin? Who the hell is on the same side as him?"
Lang Qianqiu heard his question and was baffled "You... you awash the Gilded Banquet with blood, but the one to do so was it not the Guoshi? Were you both not on the same side? I..." He was thoroughly confused.
"Who the fuck knows where that evil cultivator came from," Qi Rong replied, "It had nothing to do with him! Listen up, Lang Qianqiu: the blood spilt at your YongAn Gilded Banquet was all done by the people of Xianle! An Le had already planned to kill off every single fucking rebel blood at the banquet, but that fucking weirdo Guoshi of yours suddenly busted in. An Le had thought the plans failed and ran to me for help, asking me what to do if he was discovered, but who knew that very night it was announced the one who fucked everything was that Guoshi, and he became wanted in the entire kingdom."
It took Lang Qianqiu a while to process that information. "If that was the case, then why didn't you speak up??"
Qi Rong clicked his tongue, "Are you fucking dumb?? Why would I say anything? Was it a bad thing to have someone take the blame? Can you level me up to a 'Supreme²' with this lie?" He was relishing this more and more the more he spoke, "Yoooo, I get it. You couldn't believe it, right? I heard you nailed your own teacher in the coffin, HAHAHAhahahahah, what a fucking idiot! You killed the wrong person!"
Hearing that vile, hearty laughter, Xie Lian closed his eyes, and cursed again.
Lang Qianqiu was trembling with rage, "...YOU'RE WRONG!" He then whipped around and shouted towards Xie Lian, "If that was true, even if he didn't say anything, why didn't you?!"
Qi Rong spat out a broken tooth. "And who the fuck is that? What, are you all here to have a fucking party in my cave???"
Everyone ignored him. Lang Qianqiu demanded, "If you didn't do it, if you didn't kill, then why did you admit to guilt???"
Just then, Xie Lian's body became loose.
Hua Cheng had undone the petrification spell. However, it might have been too late.
Lang Qianqiu was waiting for his response, and Xie Lian stood up slowly, working out the kinks in his wrists and joints. After a pause, Xie Lian blurted the words, "Complete nonsense."
Lang Qianqiu had fully expected him to say "It's true, just as he said". Yet, the words Xie Lian uttered completely revoked his own relief of guilt from Qi Rong's recount.
Qi Rong was pissed. "Complete nonsense?! Says who?"
"Says I." Xie Lian said.
He looked down on Qi Rong and said, "All this fibbing and empty words, what proof do you have that the ones who spilt blood at the Gilded Banquet were the descendants of Xianle?"
Qi Rong was amused, "All the killed are dead, so what proof? Besides, it's been hundreds of years. What proof is left?"
"Which is why I say this is all complete nonsense." Xie Lian replied, "Xianle and YongAn are dynasties of the past, long lost to time. Is there any point to you stirring up trouble with nothing more than bits of history?"
The tone of his voice startled Qi Rong, and he looked as if he was remembering something, narrowing his eyes. Xie Lian turned to Lang Qianqiu and said in a calming manner, "I killed your father; you saw with your own eyes. This was during a time soon after my second banishment. I was filled with frustration and caused a great wrong. This is all my fault. There's no need to drag anyone else down with me. This man is full of deception; dragging the Prince An Le's name through mud was only to avenge himself of your comment on his vulgarity."
If any bystander was to listen in on this conversation, they would find it hilarious. A fight for the title to the true culprit of a murder case; one would think blood spilling at the Gilded Banquet was some sort of glorious deed. Lang Qianqiu was in turmoil and profoundly confused. He held his head and thought for a long while before speaking, "That's right... it was you, and no one else."
He had seen with his own eyes. That night, he ran to the Gilded Palace excitedly, only to see the black clad Guoshi pull out a thin, long sword from the chest of his father, splattering blood everywhere. And at that moment, his father, the king of YongAn had stretched out his hand towards him, still breathing. It was after he had rushed over that that hand was dropped limply.
Just then, Qi Rong who was lying on the ground suddenly spoke up, "Cousin Crown Prince, is that you?"
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Translator Notes:
¹ Refer to chapter 27
² Refer to chapter 46