"I already sensed something was wrong when you ran into that ghost." Guoshi said. "This ghost haunted upon the broken bridge in the barren wild, was donned in broken armours, the flames of karma beneath its feet, and blood and sharp weapons covered its body, leaving footprints of blood and flames behind with every step, and those three questions it asked you – all of that made me very concerned, worried even, and I couldn't quite put my fingers on what was wrong. And after defeating that ghost at the bridge, you ascended so quickly, I didn't have the chance to figure things out."
"Thankfully, after you ascended Jun Wu's attitude towards you was good as always, granting you favours, thinking very highly of you, like nothing had changed, and so I also told myself not to think too much."
"And then, it was the great drought of XianLe, the rebellion of YongAn, and – the appearance of that creature, White No-Face."
Xie Lian held his breath and was hanging on to every word. Guoshi said, "I've said so before, but at first I didn't know what that creature was at all. And even if the Human Face Disease had manifested, I only had suspicions, since parasitic resentful spirits wasn't anything new, it's just never so widely spread before. Plus, I was fairly resentful towards fate, so in the beginning, I thought White No-Face was borne of nature, that it was the heavens that wanted to punish you."
"But as you came more and more in contact with that creature, and the Human Face Disease was going more and more out of control, plus many, many other things on top of that, all of it was forcing me to think in the worst case scenario."
"Many, many other things?" Xie Lian asked, "What do you mean? Such as?"
"That family of three who fell to their deaths at the gates of the royal capital of XianLe." Guoshi replied.
Xie Lian stopped breathing, "That... was...?"
"Afterwards, I examined the corpses of those three people." Guoshi said, "And I discovered they weren't human at all, but three empty shells."
Xie Lian exclaimed, "But empty shells are hollow, they don't have organs and they can't
bleed??"
"There wasn't any need for organs." Guoshi said, "Falling from such a height, the innards would of course be damaged. Just stuff some mushed flesh in the belly of empty shells and pour in some bloody fluids would've been fine. Among my three friends, there was one who was an expert in creating such crafty things, and something like empty shelled fakes was his creation from the start. He had only taught the skill to us, and the method in creating empty shelled fakes wasn't as widespread then, so since they were all dead, who do you think could make such realistic empty shelled fakes other than me?"
Xie Lian hung his head, his pupils shrunken.
That family of three who fell to their deaths before the gates of the royal capital of XianLe was the direct catalyst of war. And, those lives weren't real at all, they were a trap!
"Then why... Didn't you tell me at the time?" Xie Lian questioned.
"I didn't dare to at all." Guoshi said, "If it really was him and I told you, then with your personality back then, wouldn't you have charged right up for vengeance? That wouldn't have saved you or XianLe at all, and would only hasten your annihilation. Besides, even without those three empty shells, there would sooner or later be..."
There would sooner or later be some other incidents that'd spark war. Just like that missing dog inside the capital.
"Later, you were defeated. Xian Le was also defeated."
"I really couldn't hold back any longer, thus, I first sent away everyone at the Holy Royal Pavilion, then requested for his grace inside the Great Martial Temple. Then, I unmasked him directly."
This was what Jun Wu had mentioned their meeting of eight hundred years ago. Guoshi said, "I questioned him on a lot of things, but he wouldn't admit nor deny anything. Finally, I asked him: 'Your Highness, just what exactly do you want?'"
"He finally answered. He said, he wants you to become his perfect heir."
"If there was anyone in the world who could understand him completely, it was you. Once he succeeded, then you would never betray him!"
"I understood his intention. In the heat of argument, we started fighting with our fists. I can't fight at all, and if I should then I would die without a doubt. He could kill me without moving a single finger. But right then, his expression suddenly changed and he covered his face."
"I was startled, and only then did I notice that upon his face, those three faces surfaced again!"
"Turns out they didn't vanish at all, and he had been suppressing them with his spiritual powers! And now, for some reason, perhaps it was because of his high emotions or because of me, they had come out again!"
"And just like that, my three friends came out to stir up a riot, causing him agonizing headaches, his expression terrifying, and I once again used that chance to run away."
"I started drifting in the mortal realm once again, and this time I had to hide all over the place too. I wondered, just how were things at the Kingdom of WuYong of back then? Thus, I returned to look."
"What I hadn't imagined was this time when I returned, I made great discoveries."
"For some reason, the land that belonged to the past Kingdom of WuYong was sealed completely, isolated from the outside world. I walked for a long time in that land, and ran into my three friends again."
"Were they those three mountain spirits, Old Age, Sickness, and Death?" Xie Lian asked.
"Correct." Guoshi replied.
"The Kiln devoured their bodies and the ashes of their bones that were burnt to nothingness mixed with the ashes of the volcano, and was then blown out. Along with time, more and more residues layered, and after a thousand years, they transformed into three large mountains in the end with parts of their souls resting within."
"Finding ways to communicate with the them who had become mountain spirits took me a long time, but after I succeeded, I learned many things."
"Turns out, the previous dynasty of heavenly officials didn't fade away naturally. Instead, they were killed slowly, one by one, by him. He... slaughtered the entire Heavenly Court, leaving no one behind!"
"And after awashing the heavenly realm with blood, he returned to the mortal realm once again, and patiently waited for a time, changed to a new name, forged a new identity, became 'a mortal man', then 'ascended'. All of the heavenly officials of the entire heavenly realm were dead, no one knew who exactly he was, and no one knew who he looked like before. The widespread backstory of 'The Heavenly Martial Emperor' in the mortal realm, his background, his literary references, his interesting hearsays, appearance, character... it's all fake. They're all intricate lies he fabricated!"
"This Heavenly Capital is the new heavenly realm he single-handedly created that's completely under his control. As for the corpses and ashes of the heavenly officials of the previous dynasty, they're all mixed in the soil of the foundation of this Heavenly Capital, trampled and stepped on by him each and everyday. Right now, perhaps there's also someone beneath your feet."
"..."
Guoshi continued, "The him now is the number one martial god of the heavenly realm, looking glorious and scintillating on the surface. However, in his heart, an infinite darkness is suppressed deep within. Resentment, pain, anger, hatred... those things needed release. Only then could he maintain balance within himself and continue to be the number one martial god who ruled all three realms without murdering everything."
"The once Kingdom of WuYong had been turned into hell, and the Kiln was fed countless number of the living and three former heavenly officials, so it already recognized him as the master. Thus, he would regularly release those dark emotions within the Kiln, using the millions of deceased souls of WuYong as kindle to start the flames of karma, and forged many malicious things."
"The method in forging those malicious things is different than creating a 'Supreme', right?" Xie Lian asked.
"Indeed." Guoshi replied, "'Supremes' were something that came later, since he... changed the refining method."
"What do you mean by that?" Xie Lian asked.
"The 'Quality' and 'Quantity'." Guoshi said.
He gave Hua Cheng another look, "You both must know already that a Supreme is only born once every hundred years, several hundred years even, so they are extremely rare, and the difficulty in their creation is also immense. And, the past life of the Supreme is an independent existence. The Kiln only provided an environment to increase the process of their explosive birth. Those who can become Supremes can become Supremes anywhere, and would become Supremes sooner or later."
"In fact, the word 'Supreme' was extracted from the meaning of 'Peerless' and 'Top'. It doesn't have much connection with whether if one was trained inside the Kiln. Still, to be able to endure the quenching of the Kiln would certainly make one such an entity, since there aren't that many who could suffer through in the first place. Up until now, aren't there only three?"
Xie Lian glanced at Hua Cheng who was right next to him, and it just so happened Hua Cheng was also looking at him. Although he didn't know why Xie Lian looked over, he still smiled.
Guoshi continued, "However, the earlier productions of the Kiln weren't like this. In the early days, there'd be a session once every few years, and each time the results would be different, as batches and batches poured out. Perhaps this had something to do with his unstable emotions. Everything produced were monsters forged by his hatred and resentment, and there are probably a few familiar names among them. For example – the Reverend of Empty Words."
"The Reverend of Empty Words is also something born of the Kiln?!" Xie Lian exclaimed.
"Correct." Guoshi replied. "Those creatures, some have their own consciousness and broke away from him; some don't, and they could be considered as his clones. The Reverend of Empty Words had its own consciousness, and after it left, it'd even divided itself into many smaller clones. My three friends guarded within the borders of the Kingdom of WuYong to prevent those things from leaving the ward, while I spent my years in the outside world
searching for those creatures, trying to fix the situation."
Xie Lian suddenly recalled the strange attitude Guoshi had when he saw Shi Qing Xuan, "Master! Lord Wind Master... the skilled fortune telling master who told Shi Qing Xuan's fortune back then, the one who told his family not to host feasts, was that you?"
"Duh." Guoshi said, "Other than your master, me, which other skilled fortune telling master could be this accurate? Which fortune telling master would be so free? That a bowl of porridge could pay for a session?"
"..."
"That Reverend of Empty Words had wanted to try and devour the young Shi Wu Du at first," Guoshi said, "But Shi Wu Du that little bastard was too vicious, difficult to deal with even at such a young age. Nothing could get to him, and he was afraid of nothing, his fate so tyrannical it couldn't be swallowed, and if it tried to bite forcibly it might just crack all of its teeth in a bloody mess, so it could only turn to his common little brother with a fate of wealth. Although it still didn't manage to bite, but it caused so much grief the two brothers couldn't live in peace, plus it bit one who originally had the fate to ascend, so it wasn't aggrieved. That I didn't kill that thing dead really gets to me."
"It's already been killed dead." Hua Cheng said.
"Devoured by He Xuan, right?" Guoshi said, "I've heard. I was going to watch over the Shi brothers until everything blew over, but at the time the Kiln was about to open its gates, so I couldn't follow them closely before I had to return to the Kiln. And by the time I came back, things were already a mess. Shi Wu Du turned to wickedness and caused a huge havoc, completely out of hand! It gave me such a headache, even if I wanted to care I couldn't at that point."
It really did turn into something that couldn't be minded even if he wanted to. Guoshi added, "But truth to be told, the Reverend of Empty Words wasn't even considered anything powerful among those monsters, it just likes to go out to stir up trouble. Strictly speaking, it could only be considered a defective product, not even rankable. There were more, such as..."
Xie Lian said quietly, "Such as... the soul of the dead who died in battle at Yi Nian Bridge?"
Guoshi sucked in a breath, "...It's him."
"Otherwise why did you think I'd say everything started because of your one phrase? That ghost at the bridge was a black clone he forged out of the Kiln, and every so many years it had to come out to haunt and kill to vent its hatred. But, you just had to defeat that monster!"
"He could sense that ghost at the bridge was killed by someone, so he descended immediately to see, and he saw you. And you. You just had to say that phrase to his face – 'Body in abyss; heart in paradise'. This was a mad jab at him, a fatal blow..."
"This, was the turning point of everything."