Guoshi didn't answer him. He was now completely sunken into the indispelible terror that scene still brought him.
"Those faces hadn't seen light in a long time," He said, "So even the moonlight of the night was painful to them. When I suddenly removed the mask, it was as if they were shocked, and they squinted their eyes, their voices stopping. But after a moment, when they saw it was me, they began... to scream my name."
I was completely stunned. I've said earlier that I've never seen anything more horrific than millions of people falling from the skies and burnt alive in a sea of fire, but the scene before my eyes then was more horrifying than that by a million fold!"
"My hand that was holding the mask was shaking nonstop, and if it wasn't for my entire person already petrified and frozen still, that mask would've probably dropped to the ground and wake His Highness. Meanwhile, those three faces seemed to be anxious to tell me something, the opening and closing of their mouths became even more erratic, but still they suppressed their voices, like they were afraid to wake His Highness."
"When I saw their appearances I was both disgusted and scared, but I still couldn't help but be curious to find out what they wanted to tell me, so I bent down, held my breath, and leaned close to His Highness' face to listen."
"Coming so close, I could smell the thick stench of blood and rot that herbs couldn't conceal. I heard them say, quick! Run away! His Highness had gone mad!"
"Turns out, after the other three had left, they were still worried so they secretly returned to find His Highness. Yet unexpectedly, they just happened to run into His Highness taking a large number of people rushing towards the direction of the Kiln."
"Only then did they find out that His Highness had never abandoned the idea of sacrificing the living. In a fit of shock and rage, they went to stop him and started a fight with His Highness. Yet unexpectedly, His Highness actually bore and killed them, and threw them into the Kiln along with the other few hundreds of people!"
"The other citizens were of course burnt to dust and ashes after being thrown in, but the three of them were cultivated, and were also murdered by His Highness, so their resentful attachment was extremely deep, and their souls actually took his body as host, growing upon his person, and nagged at him in rage everyday, hoping to prevent him in all of his endeavours."
"As I listened, I felt horror and confusion, and I didn't know what to do at all. What was horrifying? I wasn't actually clear; was tHis Highness scarier or those three things on his face?!"
"Right then, I felt, a hand rest on my head."
"I stiffened and slowly looked up, and saw His Highness."
"I didn't know when he had woken. He and the three faces on his face, a total of four sets of eyes, were all staring at me!"
"The expressions on those human faces became even more exaggerated, as they twisted they tore the gashes on his face, and a lot of blood streamed down."
"He stared at me for a long, long time, then, he sighed: 'Haven't I told you not to come in here?'"
"Suddenly, I understood all the abnormal behaviours of these past few days."
"When His Highness discovered his face had grown three such creatures, he wasn't able to accept it, and he couldn't tolerate this inhuman, demonic appearance of himself in the mirror, so he smashed all the mirrors. The bleeding was because he wanted to use a blade to slice them off; the rotting smell was because the injuries wouldn't heal, and no matter how many times he cut them, they would always grow back!"
Guoshi covered half of his face, his pupils violently shrinking.
He said, "I... instantly fell to my knees at his bedside."
"His Highness slowly sat up on the bed and said, 'Don't be afraid. They became like this because they betrayed me. As long as you don't do the same, I will still treat you as before. As long as you are my loyal servant, nothing will change'."
"But how could I not be afraid?! And how could nothing be changed? Everything had changed!"
"His Highness was very smart. He had never had to watch people's faces, but after banishment, he had learned to observe expressions. He had guessed what I was thinking and asked me slowly: 'Are you leaving too, then?'"
"To be honest, I didn't know. If he had only thrown the 'fiends' he spoke of into the Kiln, maybe I could've pretended nothing had happened, and I did say I could've understood."
"But, he had personally killed and thrown our bestest friends into the Kiln too. We only had each other! This really was... madness. I... wasn't able to accept it."
"His Highness said to himself, it's okay, I had expected it, no one would stay after I've become like this. I can go on on my own. I understand now, I've always been alone!!! I DON'T NEED ANYONE!!!"
"His expression suddenly turned savage, and he eyed me unblinkingly as he strangled me with one hand, repeating nonstop: I can be on my own, all alone, alone, alone alone alone alone alone, I don't need anyone, I don't need anyone I don't need anyone I don't need anyone..."
"His Highness' strength is powerful, and if he really wanted to kill me my neck should've been snapped instantly without making a sound. But I didn't immediately die, and when he started to act up, my three friends all started screaming from his face, and, as if they've done something to him, he started yelling with an agonizing headache too, and I was also screaming. The five of us were all screaming wildly, yelling in madness, like we had all gone crazy. His Highness gripped his own head with one hand, and the other was strangling me harder. My vision was growing dark, I couldn't hold on much longer, but right then... I saw something underneath his pillow."
"Under his pillow was a sword. It was cushioned underneath when he slept, and it was a habit he developed after banishment. I caught hold of the hilt and pulled out the sword. The chilling light shimmered and His Highness laughed heartily, his eyes blood red, asking 'Are you going to kill me too? COME! STAB ME, QUICK! STAB ME RIGHT IN THE HEART! YOU CAN ADD TO THE COUNT! I'VE GOTTA SEE WHO WILL BE THE LAST TO DIE! YOU LOT, OR ME!'"
"Of course I didn't stab him. I only flashed the sword before him and cried with my everything, "Your Highness! Your Highness! Please come back! Look at yourself! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE BECOME!!"
"He had smashed all the mirrors and it had been a long time since he last looked at his own reflection. The blade of that sword was sharp and bright; it reflected his appearance then, and he also saw his own face."
"When he saw himself in the mirror, he suddenly stopped."
"The strength His Highness used to strangle me did not lessen, but, after who knows how long, he looked and looked, and suddenly, two lines of tears streamed from his eyes."
"When I saw his tears, I couldn't help but cry too. That reflection on the sword, such ugliness! Even with just a glance I found it disgusting, so why did I make him look at himself like this, to remind him that he was now such an ugly creature?"
"I still couldn't bear it, and the sword fell from my hand, dropping to the ground."
"In the end, His Highness threw me away forcefully and said, scram."
"I ran away crawling and stumbling."
Having listened to this point in one go, that breath held in Xie Lian's throat finally let go some.
Guoshi also lowered his hands, "I've run far away, and escaped the Kingdom of WuYong. And it wasn't long before the volcano of the Kiln erupted once again."
"This time, the entire Kingdom of WuYong was completely buried, not a single soul saved. An entire country, disappeared just like that."
"I escaped this calamity, but afterwards I've never heard any news of His Highness again. It was as if he was also buried along with the Kingdom of WuYong."
"I've trekked to the heavens before, and I've also cultivated on my own, so I've a small bit of achievements. I maintained the state of my body and drifted aimlessly throughout the mortal realm. I've served His Highness since I was young, and now that I didn't need to serve him any longer, I actually didn't know what to do."
"His Highness was gone, my three friends were also dead. I created three empty shelled fakes, and made the fakes to speak in their voices to talk to me, and play cards sometimes."
Having heard 'Empty-shelled fakes', Xie Lian's expression grew solemn. Guoshi continued, "Later, my magic improved, so I also instilled the skills of my three friends into the fakes."
Xie Lian asked softly, "Were they the other three Guoshis?"
No wonder he always thought the other three Guoshis were rather strange; they never acted on their own, and they never socialized with him one on one either. So they were fakes, and if they left Guoshi's side they would be exposed, Guoshi replied, "It's them. So, I suppose you are also the disciple of my three friends. Alas, I'm not them after all, and the most skills I could instill into the fakes were only twenty or thirty percent of their true strengths, so not much could be taught. And those three fakes that had kept me company for so long had also been long destroyed by him too."
"After another one or two centuries, the heavenly dynasty changed, and the heavenly officials of the past were all fading away. Gradually, a new batch of heavenly officials had replaced them. However, none of that was any of my business, and I was also just living shamelessly waiting for death."
"Until one day, in some Kingdom, a crown prince was born under the Ominous Star."
"That was you, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of XianLe."
It was here at last. The hands Xie Lian rested on his thighs clenched slightly.
Guoshi sat cross legged, and spoke, hugging his arms, "I thought it was quite coincidental, very much an affinity. But in truth, by then WuYong had been destroyed for many, many years. Of course there'd be one or two after some hundreds of years, so it wasn't really a coincidence at all. But still, with a feeling even I didn't understand, I casually made up a name and went and became the Guoshi of XianLe."
'I knew that name was made up...' Xie Lian thought.
"No offense to your XianLe," Guoshi said, "But to muddle in and get the Guoshi position was much too easy for me. There was only one problem, and that was people always thought "without a beard one is incapable", those who were young must be inexperienced and incompetent, and would be looked down upon. If I went to the interview with my current face, I might not pass, so I changed my face a little, added some ten, twenty years, and sure enough, I muddled right in. But to be the Guoshi, it meant I had to speak to the heavenly officials of the heavenly realm directly."
"Thus, I came to face with Jun Wu."
"Jun Wu's appearance and that highness I knew was completely different. Still, I was too familiar with him after all, so after exchanging words a few times, I've already had my suspicions. But they were still only suspicions."
"And even if I was suspicious, I didn't want to expose anything."
"He had already turned into someone else completely, and the faces on his face had also vanished. I thought the resentment of my three friends had dispersed, and if that was the case, then there was no need to bring up any old history and break this peace. So wasn't it fine if we both pretended not to have recognized each other?"
"If it was me, I would probably do the same." Xie Lian said.
"But we still couldn't pretend to the end." Guoshi said, "Because we both saw you."
"Your Highness, you must've guessed by now why I had such high hopes for you. You're very much like him. So, I had hoped you would become someone or a god he had wanted to become, and do what he couldn't do. You could use your perfection to remedy our regrets."
Hua Cheng however, said flatly, "You've been mistaken from the start. They're not alike at all."
Guoshi gave him a look and said, "Of course you'd say they aren't similar now, but back then they were very much alike. And the bad thing was, they were too much alike."
He turned to Xie Lian again, "That time with the God-Pleasing ceremony, you saved a small child fallen from the city wall, and I wasn't too pleased. It wasn't just because that incident stopped the ceremony, it was more so because that incident was too conspicuous. You had aroused Jun Wu's attention."
"Jun Wu started talking to me about you. He was very interested in you, and every time we spoke of you, I could vaguely tell there was something not right. But I could tell he genuinely likes you; it was the delight of having found a suitable good sprout, and was thinking of appointing you up. Only, every time I'd use all sorts of reasons to urge him not to do so."
Xie Lian also didn't want to believe that Jun Wu's attitude towards him was all fake, but when he heard Guoshi say so, his feelings became complicated, hard to describe.
"The turning point was Yi Nian Bridge." Guoshi said.
Having heard those three words, Xie Lian snapped back to attention. Guoshi said, "Do you still remember that ghost at Yi Nian Bridge?"
Xie Lian replied quietly, "That was my chance at ascension, of course i remember."