Back still facing San Lang, Xie Lian said, "Crimson Rain Sought Flower?""Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince." San Lang replied.Xie Lian finally turned around with a grin, "That's the first time I've heard you addressme like that."The red-clad youth sat on the mat, and adjusted his legs, also grinning, "How does itfeel?"Xie Lian gave it a thought, and replied truthfully, "It feels... a little different than whenothers call my by that title.""Hm? How so?" Hua Cheng asked.Xie Lian tilted his head, his eyes squinting a little, "It's hard to say, it's just..."When others called him 'Your Highness', it was either emotionless, and all business likeLing Wen, but most of the time, when people called him 'Your Highness', it was lacedwith a sense of disdain, an intentional address like calling an ugly woman a beauty,somewhat sarcastic.Yet when Hua Cheng called him 'Your Highness', those two words were uttered withgrave sincerity. So, while it was hard to describe, Xie Lian felt when Hua Cheng calledhim 'Your Highness', it felt different than when others called him 'Your Highness'.He continued, "That night at Mount YuJun, the groom who took me away was you,right?"Seeing Hua Cheng's meaningful smirk, Xie Lian realized his words may have meantsomething else, and corrected himself, "I meant, the groom in disguise who led meaway was you, right?""I wasn't disguising as a groom." Hua Cheng replied.Technically speaking, Hua Cheng wasn't wrong. The young man at the time never saidhe was the groom or anything; in fact, he didn't say a thing at all. He only stopped infront of the marriage sedan and extended his hand. It was Xie Lian who went with himwillingly!"Fine. Then, why did you appear at the time?" Xie Lian asked."This question only has two answers," Hua Cheng said, "First, I came especially for YourRoyal Highness; second, I was passing by and was free. Which do you think is morebelievable?"Xie Lian counted the number of days Hua Cheng had spent with him, and repliedearnestly, "Which is more believable I can't say, but you really do seem to have a lot offree time."With his left arm holding his right elbow and his right hand propping his chin, Xie Liangave Hua Cheng a once over and nodded. "You're quite different than what the rumourssay."Hua Cheng changed his sitting position but still with a hand propping up his cheek,watched Xie Lian and said, "Oh? And how did you find out I'm me?"The images of that umbrella dripping with blood, that gentle clinking silver chain, andthat cold silver vambrace filled Xie Lian's mind and thought, 'It's not like you were tryingvery hard at hiding yourself.' But when words dropped from his lips, they becamesomething else. He said in a serious voice, "Even after all the probing you gave nothingaway, so you must be a 'Supreme'. You're dressed all in a red like the maples, likeblood, and seem knowledgeable of everything, capable of everything, and knew no fear.Such a disposition, other than that 'Crimson Rain Sought Flower' that even all in heavenfears, there doesn't seem to be any other candidates."Hua Cheng laughed, "Shall I take those words as a compliment?"'Can't you tell they're compliments?' Xie Lian thought."Sparing so many words, how come Your Royal Highness doesn't question my motivesfor coming close to you?" Hua Cheng asked, his smile curbed somewhat."If you don't want to say anything, if I asked, would you tell? Or you might not tell me thetruth." Xie Lian said."That's not necessarily true. Besides, you can always boot me out."Xie Lian replied, "You're so powerful; if I booted you out now, if you really wanted to dosomething bad, wouldn't you just change skin and come back?"The two were staring at each other, grinning, when just then, a small knocking noisebroke the temporary silence in the shrine. They looked to where the sound came fromand there wasn't anyone, only that small, black clay pot rolling on the ground.It was the same pot Ban Yue was tucked in. Xie Lian had placed it next to the mat, butsomehow it had tipped itself over and rolled to the door. Blocked by the wooden doorbuilt by Hua Cheng, it started hitting the door by rolling to it repeatedly. Xie Lian wasworried it might break itself, so he opened the door, and the little clay pot rolled itself tothe grass field outside.Xie Lian followed behind it, and saw that once the little clay pot made it to the grassfield, it stood itself up. Even if it was only a pot, it gave the sense that it was gazing atthe night sky. Hua Cheng also emerged from the shrine, and Xie Lian called out to thepot, "Ban Yue, are you awake?"Good thing when they returned from the Gobi it was already deep into the night,otherwise if anyone should see Xie Lian ask how a pot was doing they would probablythrow a fit.A moment later, the sulky voice of a young girl came from the pot, "General Hua."Xie Lian sat down next to it and soothed, "Ban Yue, have you come out to stargaze?Why don't you come out?"Hua Cheng was leaning against a tree next to them and said, "She only just left theBanYue ruins. Probably best if she stays in there for a while longer."Xie Lian thought that advice was sound. After all, Ban Yue had been stuck in BanYuefor two hundred years; to suddenly change pace might be hard to adjust to. "Then youbest stay in there and heal. This is where I cultivate, you don't have to worry aboutanything. Don't think about those soldiers and that general anymore."The pot shook twice as if trying to say something. After chewing on his words, Xie Lianspoke up, "Ban Yue, the incident this time actually didn't concern you. Your scorpionsnakes were...""General Hua, I couldn't move at the time, but I heard everything," Ban Yue saidgloomily.Xie Lian stopped. Only then did he learn that Pei Su only sealed Ban Yue's movement,but not her senses. "Just as well."Since she heard everything, then just as well.The clay pot asked, "General Hua, what will happen to General Pei Junior?"Xie Lian crossed his arms in his sleeves, "I don't know. But, mistakes will always bepunished."Another moment of silence, and the pot shook twice, and Xie Lian finally understoodthat it was nodding in agreement."General Pei Junior is actually not a bad person." Ban Yue said."Is that right?""En." Ban Yue replied, "He's helped me before."Somehow, Xie Lian's mind was suddenly filled with many more things.Ban Yue often received beatings, and using the words of other YongAn children, shehad the face that "asked for it".It was a long time after Xie Lian had known her before he learned of it too, since nomatter how much beating Ban Yue received, she wouldn't tell anyone. Until one day, XieLian saw a group of children pressing her face into the mud that he learned where allthose bruises on her face came from.But after a while, when he asked her about it, she only remembered that she had towash the handkerchief that the boy who pulled her out of the mud pit before returning it,and she recalled nothing else.She remembered no one who beat her, but the ones who had saved her once, sheremembered for a lifetime.Ban Yue continued, "Although Ke Mo always scorned that he confounded my mind, thatI was completely used, but whether if he used me or not, it was my own will to open thefortress gates."Xie Lian didn't know what to say anymore, but somewhere in his heart, he felt it go soft.A moment later, he patted that clay pot, "Alright, it's all in the past. Oh, by the way. BanYue, the name Hua Xie is fake, and I haven't been a general for a long time. You don'thave to keep calling me General Hua anymore.""Then how should I address you?" Ban Yue asked.That was actually a good question. If Ban Yue also called him 'Your Highness' seriously,it'd feel weird. Xie Lian didn't really care about his address either, he just wanted tochange the subject. "That's up to you. I suppose it's ok if you keep calling me GeneralHua." Only, there's another one here named Hua, so that might cause some confusion.But then he thought, 'Hua Xie' was a fake name he took from the first word of the title'Flower Crowned Martial God', so 'Hua Cheng' may very well be a fake name too? Thatthey both coincidentally picked the same surname was rather amusing."I'm sorry, General Hua." Ban Yue said again.Xie Lian turned back to look at her and said woefully, "Ban Yue, why are you alwaysapologizing to me?" Did he really look that sorry to people?From within the pot, Ban Yue stated, "I, want to save the world."Xie Lian: "........""General Hua, you said that once." Ban Yue said.Xie Lian: "???"He hurriedly pressed down on the clay pot, "Wait, hold on a sec!""Wait for what?" Ban Yue asked.Xie Lian took a peek at Hua Cheng who was still leaning against the tree with his armscrossed, and said in a low voice, "Did I really say that?"Those words were his favourite saying when he was only ten something years old. Inthe many hundreds of years thereafter, he shouldn't have uttered them at all; he couldn'tbelieve it. But Ban Yue was firm, "General, those were your words."Xie Lian still wanted to struggle, "I don't think so..."Ban Yue told him sternly and coldly, "Oh, no, you did say them. There was once, youasked us all what we wanted to do when we're older. Everyone answered, and after youalso said: 'My dream was to save the world; the common people'.""..."So that was it. Xie Lian used his hand to cover his entire forehead. "Um. Ban Yue. Whywould you remember so clearly something so randomly said?"Ban Yue was confused, "Random? But General Hua, I had thought those words weresaid very earnestly."Xie Lian raised his head to gaze at the night sky, feeling helpless. "Haha... really?Maybe. I don't remember whatever else I might have said.""You also said, 'Do what you think is right!'" Ban Yue told him."'Nothing can block yourway!' 'Even if you fall into rotten mud a hundred times you must get up withdetermination!' There's a lot, like this.""Pfft."He didn't need to look back to know that it was definitely Hua Cheng under the tree whoheard and laughed.Even smothering the pot now wouldn't help, and Xie Lian thought inwardly, '....what...nonsense! ... Why did I keep saying those kinds of things... I'm nothing like that at all...am I??'"But, I don't know what's right anymore." Ban Yue said.Xie Lian froze."I wanted to do as what General Hua said and save the people." Ban Yue said, "But inthe end, I destroyed the Kingdom of Ban Yue."Her voice was lost, "And it seemed that no matter what I'd do... the results were allhorrible. General Hua, I know I didn't do things right, but can you tell me, where did I gowrong? What should I do in order to do as you've said and... save the world?""..."Xie Lian replied, "I'm sorry, Ban Yue. How to save the world, the common people.... Ididn't know the answers to that question back then, and even now I still don't."Ban Yue was silent for a moment, then said dejectedly, "General Hua, to be honest, itfeels like the past two hundred years, I've no idea what I've been doing. What a failure."Hearing her, Xie Lian became more depressed, thinking, 'Doesn't that make me more ofa failure? That I've lived eight hundred years for nothing?'Xie Lian left Ban Yue the little ghost in the pot to stargaze alone to calm down, and wentback inside PuQi shrine with Hua Cheng.After closing the door, Xie Lian suddenly spoke up, "Ban Yue remained at the BanYuePass willingly. It wasn't because she became a 'Savage' that she was trapped there."She had always remembered that it was her who opened the fortress gates, and hadnever used any such just excuse like she was doing it for the people. It was to help theBanYue soldiers to vent their resentment so they could leave this world sooner that sheallowed Ke Mo to lead them to murder her over and over.Xie Lian shook his head, "If General Pei Junior really didn't want to leave those BanYuesoldiers behind and didn't want the heavens to find out either, he could very well send aclone to secretly descend to take care of them. Why did he have to use that method?""Clones don't have the same amount of power," Hua Cheng said, "You saw how PeiSu's clone A-Zhao was? He couldn't take care of so many BanYue soldiers, so feedingthem the living was the fastest and easiest way to disperse their resentment.""Why did it have to be so fast?" Xie Lian wondered."Maybe it's so your little friend Ban Yue wouldn't hang so painfully as many times." HuaCheng replied.Xie Lian was silent for a moment, "Then what about those mortals?"Hua Cheng replied quietly, "They're heavenly officials. Of course a mortal's life isnothing but ants in their eyes. Pei Su is a classic high ranked god. As long as it wasn'tdiscovered, killing a few hundred people was no different than stepping a few hundredinsects to death."Xie Lian glanced at him, and recalled that when San Lang jumped into the Sinner's Pit,he wiped out all the BanYue soldiers in a flash. He turned to him and said, "Clones don'thave the same amount of power? I see your clone is pretty powerful."Hua Cheng arched his brows. "Of course. But I'm the real thing."Xie Lian turned to look at him, surprised, "Eh? This is your true form?""One hundred percent authentic." Hua Cheng declared.If anything must be blamed, it would have to be how Hua Cheng looked as if he'swelcoming Xie Lian to test it out himself, and without thinking, Xie Lian raised a fingerand poked Hua Cheng's face.After poking, Xie Lian came to in shock and yelped 'oh no!' in his head.He was only curious to see what a Supreme Ghost King's fake skin would feel like, but apparently his body moved faster than his mind and poked him! What a disgrace!To have someone suddenly poke him, Hua Cheng looked somewhat shocked too, buthe was always calm and collected, so his expression cleared instantly. He didn't sayanything, but his raised brows went even higher, as if waiting for Xie Lian to explain, andthe laughter in his eyes remained. Xie Lian couldn't explain himself; he looked at hisown finger, hid it away, and casually said, "...Not bad."Hua Cheng finally burst out laughing, and crossed his arms with his head tilted, "What'snot bad? Do you mean this skin?""It's really well made," Xie Lian said sincerely, "But...""But what?" Hua Cheng asked.Xie Lian stared at his face and studied it for a moment. Then finally, "But, can I see yourreal face?"This time, Hua Cheng didn't respond immediately and dropped his arms. Maybe it wasall in Xie Lian's head, but Hua Cheng's eyes darkened slightly, and Xie Lian's hearttightened in spite of himself.