There was definitely no way the robe could be burned now that it was being worn, lest Xie Lian be burned along with it.
"I'll just keep wearing it for now," Xie Lian suggested. "It's not like it can suck my blood, and Ling Wen shouldn't be able to give any more commands either."
A puff of blue mist blew by, and when it cleared, a blue budaoweng doll stood where Ling Wen had once been. It wore a very serious expression, and it even seemed to be holding scrolls in its arms. Xie Lian picked it up and tucked it away in his robes, and then the two crept out of the side chamber and into the main hall.
It wasn't just his imagination—the main hall of the Palace of Ling Wen really looked more somber than before. The mountains of report scrolls stacked from floor to ceiling now seemed perilous, like they were going to collapse at any moment and crush anyone below dead. They didn't run into any guards as they sprinted straight for a set of vermilion doors at the heart of the palace.
Before they even got close, Xie Lian heard a trembling, shocked voice.
"How is this possible…? How could this be?"
It was the state preceptor! Could someone have gotten to him before they did?
Xie Lian kicked the door down with a growl. "Let him go!"
Sure enough, the state preceptor wasn't alone inside the chamber.
Everyone turned their heads to look at the intruder who had kicked down the door. The shock on the state preceptor's face hadn't faded.
"Your Highness…?"
"…" "…" The state preceptor didn't look up at him for more than a moment before he lowered his head again.
"Just wait a second. How can this be? What kind of luck is this?!"
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng were both speechless.
The state preceptor and three other people had formed a full table inside the chamber and were in the middle of a heated round of cards, fully drunk on the game. Although previously stated to be three other "people," his opponents weren't actually alive; they were very crudely made paper dolls.
Who knew what kind of bizarre spell had been cast that allowed them to move and even play cards. But as for the state preceptor, his cries had only been laments about the hand he'd been dealt.
Xie Lian had expected the state preceptor to be a haggard sight to behold, that he might be suffering interrogation and torture. He hadn't expected the state preceptor to still be playing cards at a time like this. The whole scene instead filled him with bittersweet nostalgia, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
How could he not be nostalgic? During his days at the Royal Holy Temple, whenever he and Feng Xin went to look for the state preceptor, seven times out of ten he would be playing cards, cards, cards! Over eight hundred years had passed, but it was like no time at all as he once again watched the state preceptor play cards. Even the crazed passion on his face was exactly the same.
The state preceptor stared unblinkingly at the cards in his hand and spoke without looking back. "Your Highness, you've finally come. Let me finish this round first…" Xie Lian knew this was an old bad habit rearing its head—the state preceptor recognized no one in the midst of a game. After seeing the figure he cut at the Palace of Divine Might, this version of him was unbearably different. Xie Lian went over and tried to drag him away from the table.
"Master, what do you think is happening now? Stop playing!"
The state preceptor's eyes were red as he yelled, "No, don't! Let me finish! I'm almost done! Just this round! Let me finish this hand! It's almost done—I might win this time!"
"You won't win! You definitely won't win!" Xie Lian cried.
"…" Thankfully, the round did end fairly quickly. Although the state preceptor had sworn he was going to win, unsurprisingly, he did not. He withdrew the three paper dolls with a wave of his hand and finally regained his normal, calm demeanor.
As he sat with poise, he said solemnly, "Your Highness, I knew you would come. I've been waiting for you."
It certainly didn't look like you were waiting for me… Xie Lian thought. But of course he didn't say so out loud—respect for one's elders had to be maintained, after all.
"I'm sure you have many questions," the state preceptor continued.
Hua Cheng leaned against the doorframe. He almost looked like he was relaxing, but he was probably standing guard. Xie Lian sat properly before the state preceptor, matching his poise.
"Yes." After a pause, Xie Lian asked, "First, I want to confirm: Is Jun Wu… Is he really White No-Face, and also the Crown Prince of Wuyong?"
"There's no need for doubt," the state preceptor replied. "He is."
"I have no relation whatsoever with the Crown Prince of Wuyong, correct? Are we two completely separate people?" Xie Lian asked.
"The only connection you share with the Crown Prince of Wuyong is that he destroyed your home kingdom of Xianle."
"But…Master, you once told me that you didn't know what White No-Face was. And that you were certain he was born because of me," Xie Lian said in a low voice.
"Your Highness, at the time, I genuinely did not know what that thing was," the state preceptor replied. "And by the time I found out, it was already too late. However, I was not incorrect in saying he was born because of you."
"What exactly does that mean?" Xie Lian asked. "And the question remains: why did he want to destroy Xianle?"
The state preceptor looked him in the eye. "Because of that phrase you said."
Xie Lian was taken aback. "A phrase I said? What phrase?"
"Body in the abyss, heart in paradise."
Xie Lian was speechless for a moment. Then he asked incredulously, "…That's it?"
"That's it," the state preceptor said.
"That one phrase…?" Xie Lian questioned. "What was wrong with it?"
"Everything," the state preceptor replied in a low voice. "Everything started with that line of yours!"
Xie Lian could sense that he'd have a hard time swallowing whatever the state preceptor was about to tell him. He wanted to call for Hua Cheng, but before he could do so, Hua Cheng had already come to sit beside him.
"You saw those murals at Mount Tonglu, correct?" the state preceptor asked.
"I did," Xie Lian replied. "Were you the one who made them?"
"Yes, that was me," the state preceptor replied. "Every time Mount Tonglu opened, I snuck in to prevent a new ghost king from being born…and to do whatever I could to leave some clues, to tell others the story of the Kingdom of Wuyong and its crown prince."
"Why not just tell people directly?" Xie Lian asked solemnly. "Why use such a roundabout method?"
"Your Highness, why do you think almost no one in the world knows about the Kingdom of Wuyong?" the state preceptor asked.
Before Xie Lian could answer, Hua Cheng drew a conclusion for him.
"Everyone who knew has been disposed of. Right?"
"That's right," the state preceptor replied. "I would be in danger of exposure if the clues left behind were too obvious or if I spoke of the matter directly. Anyone who learned of it might be utterly destroyed. It wouldn't matter how many lives he had to end—he could level an entire city in three days. I'm sure you know that I'm not exaggerating."
Of course Xie Lian knew. And the ironic thing was, in the past he had been thankful that Jun Wu had ascended to godhood instead of falling to ghosthood—for if he had not, the world would have fallen into chaos.
"That is why I can't let him notice that there are still people in the world who know," the state preceptor continued. "But I also can't accept the fact that I'm the only one who really does. I told myself that the truth would eventually be discovered by anyone attentive and brave enough; since I cannot defy him, I should let fate take its course.
"I've been on the run for all these years, keeping hidden all the while.
He's never been able to capture me, except for that incident eight hundred years ago when I almost couldn't get away. He managed it this time because he discovered the murals I left behind in the holy temple within Tonglu's crimson forest and because you correctly guessed his identity in the Kiln. It occurred to him then that I might still be alive and that I had left behind many things he didn't want people to know about."
When they passed through the holy temple within Tonglu's crimson forest, he and Hua Cheng had found that someone had destroyed the last couple of murals—the most important ones. They both suspected that person was hiding inside the temple with them at the time, but they hadn't managed to find the culprit. Now that he thought back on it, there was a very real possibility that White No-Face was hiding in some corner of that temple.
"But Master, why do you have to stay on the run?" Xie Lian asked.
The state preceptor replied, "Of course it's because—" "Betrayal," Hua Cheng said.
The word was a little hurtful. The state preceptor shot him a look, but Hua Cheng's expression did not change.
"You betrayed him, didn't you?"
"Pretty much. That about covers it." The state preceptor turned to Xie Lian. "Your Highness, how shall I put this… Everything in the murals is true.
The Crown Prince of Wuyong was like the sun itself to the Kingdom of Wuyong. As glorious as you were as the Crown Prince of Xianle, he was many times more.
"My three peers and I were once his vassals. After the crown prince ascended, he appointed the four of us to the heavens, and there we beheld many celestial beings of all types of character. Without exaggeration, he was still the sun even in the Heavenly Realm, shining so brightly in the sea of gods that those beside him lost their color."
As the state preceptor spoke, an unintentional flash of a smile curved his lips. When he spoke about "His Highness," Xie Lian could see that he wasn't referring to Jun Wu or White No-Face, but to that young crown prince from two thousand years ago.
"I think you told me a similar story long ago," Xie Lian said.
"Did I? Your memory gets bad when you're old."
"You did. But you didn't tell me he ascended. You told me that he died."
"That's probably because I'd rather he hadn't ascended," the state preceptor said.
"Was it because Mount Tonglu erupted?"
The state preceptor didn't directly answer his question. He only said, "His Highness's spiritual powers were too strong.
"In a dream, he foresaw the future of Wuyong as a sea of fire. And so he started thinking of ways to save his people. If I knew then what I know now, I would have never let him do it, but none of us back then thought things would turn out the way they did. We simply believed that if people were going to die, what could be wrong with saving them?
"But things weren't so simple. It was impossible to stop the volcano from erupting, so the only option was to migrate if we wanted zero casualties.
But the affected area was too large; it wasn't just a matter of one or two cities. Nobles and commoners alike considered invasion the best method to claim new territory—otherwise, no foreign kingdom would allow such a great number of people from Wuyong to take up residence inside their borders. However, to His Highness, invasion wasn't an option at all. War would result in bloodshed, which would lead to bloodlust. People would turn cruel and lose their humanity.
"Still, the Kingdom of Wuyong dispatched troops. There was complete annihilation wherever the soldiers marched. Since the objective was to make room for future Wuyong migrants, the generals gave the order to massacre the citizens of other kingdoms, the more the better. Blood flowed like rivers;
corpses were piled high as mountains.
"When His Highness found out, he was very angry. As you saw, he descended upon the battlefield and punished the soldiers of Wuyong."
Xie Lian was intrigued when he realized that the one who did those things was a young Jun Wu—and thus also a young White No-Face.
"But he wasn't the only one who was angry," the state preceptor continued. "The whole affair also angered the nobles of Wuyong and some of the common people. Many went to the holy temple to question His Highness.
'We only wanted to survive. We needed more land, and we had no choice but to invade those other kingdoms. What's wrong with that?' "The impact of this incident was far bigger than we expected, and it only escalated further and further—some were already calling for the desecration of his statues and burning of his temples. But His Highness endured all of it. He said that he would die defending the kingdom if Wuyong was the one invaded—he would not allow the enemy to set a single toe across the border—but that we ourselves must never invade others. He earnestly implored everyone to abandon thoughts of war and to wait until he had finished building something: the Heaven-Crossing Bridge.
"If there was no more land in the Mortal Realm, then he'd send the people to take refuge in the heavens for a while," the state preceptor said haltingly. "Although it was an inconceivable idea, all four of us believed in His Highness absolutely; we were convinced that he could do it. Or rather, we would do our utmost to support him in any endeavor he attempted. Of course, the other heavenly officials didn't feel the same; the entire Heavenly Realm objected to it. But His Highness endured it all.
"He took on three burdens at once: the ignorance and complaints of the nobles and citizens of Wuyong, the incessant outrage of all the gods in heaven, and the enormous undertaking of the Heaven-Crossing Bridge."
Hua Cheng snorted. "The heavens objected? I assume it was more than simple disagreements."
The state preceptor nodded slowly. "If he'd faced mere opposition, it wouldn't have mattered. But…" Xie Lian could vaguely guess what had happened, but still he asked.
"But?"
"The bridge required an enormous amount of time and a staggering amount of spiritual power to build. His Highness couldn't be distracted at all," the state preceptor said. "He essentially stopped going anywhere else, stopped doing anything else, and stopped listening to the prayers of his believers. He could only focus on this one massive undertaking.
"However, a god who can only do one thing will never be able to keep their followers. The first day he took on the burden of building the bridge, the people were grateful to him and remembered him; the second, third, and fourth days were the same. After a month, two months, they were still grateful and remembered him. But as time dragged on, things changed.
"The volcano hadn't erupted yet, but His Highness didn't do anything but silently conserve his strength. The people couldn't help but feel that he wasn't as powerful as he once was, or even that he wasn't as dedicated. It was inevitable that they'd begin to worship a new god at a time like that.
"The Kingdom of Wuyong had a high population and abundant wealth, and its citizens were fervently devout. His Highness's impressive strength made that quite obvious. Many heavenly officials had long been salivating over his domain and the believers within it, so…" Xie Lian understood. "So…the other heavenly officials took advantage of this opportunity. The people of Wuyong resented their crown prince after he descended and forced the troops to withdraw, and the heavenly officials used that to tempt them. In doing so, they divided his believers and weakened the source of his spiritual power…right?"
"It's not that His Highness didn't know what they were doing. He just didn't know what to do about it," the state preceptor said.
Xie Lian inclined his head slightly. "He's a god, so of course he couldn't tell his devotees, 'I won't allow you to worship a god other than me.'" He would have scoffed at such a demand too.
"Naturally, you understand him very well," the state preceptor said.
"But it just had to happen when he couldn't afford to lose devotees or spiritual power lest it affect the construction of the Heaven-Crossing Bridge," Xie Lian added.
"That's precisely it," the state preceptor said. "It was up to the four of us to speak to the people and let them know what was at stake."
"And how did that go?" Xie Lian asked.
"It probably went nowhere," Hua Cheng said.
"Nowhere indeed," the state preceptor replied. "At least, it didn't go nearly as well as we'd hoped. Some people returned as devotees, worried that the construction of the bridge might fail. But a larger number thought that His Highness was being domineering—their prayers were not being answered, so of course they began to worship other gods who would listen to their needs.
They were free devotees, they could believe in whatever they wanted to believe—it was more than natural. It wasn't that he didn't want to please everyone, it's just that he…" Xie Lian sighed and whispered, "…He had the heart but not the strength."
The state preceptor continued his tale. "After His Highness learned of this, he told us to stop our efforts—that if they wanted to go, we should let them. They wouldn't be wholeheartedly devoted to him if they were kept by force. That was true, and even though we warned them over and over again, his devotees' hearts had already wandered. If they forced themselves to return, it would only be to placate us. Their belief would no longer be sincere, so its power wouldn't be as strong.
"He couldn't be angry at the devotees, and he refused to request the help of other heavenly officials," Xie Lian commented.
"Even if he did ask, the other heavenly officials would never have helped him," the state preceptor said. "If they had been willing to lend a hand, they wouldn't have been against it in the first place, and they wouldn't have tried to lure away his devotees.
"His Highness became more and more silent and closed off as he used his own powers to build and support the bridge. I watched him every day.
Although he said nothing, I could tell just how much he was suffering inside —suffering that he had to bear alone. No matter how much the four of us wanted to help, we couldn't lighten his burden.
"Finally, after enduring all of this for three arduous years, it was time —the volcano was about to erupt.
"The moment the news broke, the people fought to swarm the bridge.
As the four of us directed the frantic crowd, we worried about His Highness, as he was supporting the bridge all alone."
The state preceptor sighed. "Before that, we never would have worried that there was something he couldn't achieve. But at that time, we did. While the bridge was quite stable at first, it needed to be supported for longer and longer as the crowd grew larger and larger. His Highness's hands started to shake, and his face grew paler and paler.
"No one else could see him, only we could. I sensed things weren't right and told the people, 'Please wait a moment, give him a little bit of time!
Don't swarm toward him all at once, just let him catch his breath! He will definitely save all of you.' But the volcano was about to erupt, and lives were in danger—no one was willing to wait. They all rushed onto the bridge like mad—some were even trampled to death in the stampede. We couldn't hold them back!
"In the end, what we had feared most came to pass. Because we'd kept losing devotees over those three years, His Highness's spiritual powers were no longer as strong as they once were. Hundreds of thousands of people swarmed onto the bridge at once, celebrating their salvation. But as they approached the Heavenly Realm, the bridge collapsed under their weight."
Xie Lian's breath hitched.
The state preceptor continued to speak. "The heavenly arch was shattered, and a crowd of millions dropped from the sky in an instant, wailing and screaming as they plunged into a sea of fire and burned to ash right before His Highness's eyes!
"I was completely stunned at the time and didn't dare look at His Highness's face. The bridge couldn't be repaired, the people couldn't be rescued, and the fire couldn't be extinguished—there was no way to help at all! And there were many more who hadn't yet made it onto the bridge, left behind to be entombed in lava and sealed by flying ash. Screeching, wailing, cursing. That scene was truly too horrible…I have never witnessed anything more horrifying since."
Xie Lian tried to imagine the chilling display. The state preceptor continued his tale.
"The bridge collapsed. And the people of Wuyong went mad.
"They burned down His Highness's temples, toppled his divine statues, used blades to stab his heart until it was mush. They cursed him as a useless creature, a shit excuse for a god. He was a god, and gods should be mighty and strong. Gods couldn't fail. But he had. And so he could no longer remain on high.
"The officials in the Heavenly Realm had long been waiting for this moment. They said, 'We told you it was impossible. You've caused a serious mess. We have no choice but to ask you to return to the realm below.' "And His Highness asked a very foolish question: 'Why didn't any of you help me?' But why would anyone help him for no reason? And if they'd allowed him to triumph over this enormous tribulation for the Kingdom of Wuyong, wouldn't that mean he would never again have a match in the Heavenly Realm?
"That's why it had been a very foolish question. I imagine he knew this, yet he still asked. No one answered him, of course, and His Highness was banished.
"He fell back to the Mortal Realm, no longer a god and no longer a crown prince. We followed him and assured him that he would certainly ascend again, and he began cultivating anew. But it was much too difficult.
I'm sure you understand."
Of course Xie Lian understood.
The higher one stood, the harder one fell. After falling from the heavens to the Mortal Realm, only endless cold and malice awaited him.
"The volcano was still erupting, and the Kingdom of Wuyong had fallen into a crisis worse than it had ever seen in all its history," the state preceptor continued. "Refugees, rebellions, and invasions were incessant, and the people were at the end of their wits. Their attitude toward His Highness had deteriorated; it was entirely opposite from what it had been before. Even so, His Highness still wanted to help them.
"However, something else happened around that time—many other heavenly officials began to show their grace. Even though they hadn't been willing to help save everyone from the volcano's eruption, they were quite happy to grant little blessings, deliver a bit of medicine or food or other such things. Since His Highness was banished, his capacity to help was of course far smaller than those heavenly officials.
"It was as if the people of Wuyong had seized a lifeline or seen their parents born anew. He lost devotees even faster—though honestly, there weren't many left anyway. All the praise and adoration once reserved for His Highness alone was given to other heavenly officials, and only hate and rejection remained for him."
The state preceptor closed his eyes.
"At the time, we had a hard time coming to terms with it. We were upset with the unfairness of it all. Those other heavenly officials hadn't helped the people all that much, and they only appeared after the disaster was over. His Highness was the one who did the most; he gave it his all, and he should've been successful too. He just fell one step short! Why was he the one doomed eternally? Why was the one who had given the most ignored, while all the praise and gratitude was lavished on the ones who'd given nothing but trifles?
"That was also when my way of thinking began to change. I couldn't help but think about what might have happened if His Highness had pretended that he'd never seen the future in his dreams—if he had chosen from the start to sit back and observe on the grounds that the gods could do nothing to change the course of fate and granted blessings after the volcano erupted like the other heavenly officials. Surely the people would have cried those tears of gratitude for him instead."
"Did that thought only cross your mind at that point?" Hua Cheng interrupted, voice flat. "You should've known from the beginning. If you slice off a piece of your flesh to save one person, that one person will be grateful. But the more you slice, the more that person will demand of you.
Even if you cut yourself down to nothing but bones, they will still not be satisfied."
"I didn't dare tell him any of these thoughts," the state preceptor said.
"His Highness grew more and more somber. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, had no idea if his feelings were the same as my own.
"Days passed, and the eruption continued. The entire Kingdom of Wuyong was mired in terror, unable to escape. No one knew how to make it stop, how to end this nightmare. But one day, His Highness told us that he had found a way to calm the volcano. When he told us how, we had a huge fight."
"Let me guess," Hua Cheng said. "The 'how' was human sacrifice."
"Correct," the state preceptor replied. "His Highness said that we could use a group of wicked degenerates as a sacrifice—we could throw them into the Kiln to pacify its furious flames. The four of us each had different opinions about this, but the consensus was opposition—we could never do anything of the sort. In the beginning, His Highness didn't want Wuyong to invade other kingdoms precisely because he didn't want to use a life to save a life. How would sacrificing lives to the Kiln be any different? It'd be even worse, in fact. The ones who were most opposed to the idea began to quarrel directly with His Highness.
"The argument was so severe that fists were thrown. I was against it too at first, but it was harder for me to bear internal discord in the same way I did the constant attacks from the outside. You must understand, the four of us had always supported His Highness, but by that point we were his only support. And yet in the heat of the moment, blows were exchanged, and one of us even accused His Highness of no longer being the Highness of the past —that he'd changed, that he'd forgotten his heart.
"Those words truly executed his heart. I couldn't stand it. If even we opposed and berated His Highness, then there was no one left in the world who stood by his side. I didn't object to his idea in the end; I only told him to let it go and stop worrying about such affairs. The Heavenly Realm, the Mortal Realm, all the refugees—stop caring about all of it. It was just too tiresome.
"However, no one listened to me. After that huge fight, the other three left."
Xie Lian shook his head, not knowing what to say. He knew too well that leaving at a time like that was like adding frost to snow.
"Only I stayed behind," the state preceptor said. "His Highness didn't say much when I did. He simply asked me, 'Are you leaving?' "The former Highness's expression when he asked me that question… at that moment, I genuinely thought I'd understand even if he did sacrifice people to the Kiln. I said, 'Your Highness, I won't leave.' "His Highness still didn't say much, but he seemed to change his mind and never mentioned human sacrifices again. He set up a ritual site near the Kiln, and I accompanied him there every time, both of us enduring the curses and thrown rocks of the refugees as we conducted services to try to suppress the volcano's fury. I thought that would be the end of the story. But one day, I discovered something that chilled me to the bone."
The state preceptor's expression turned terrifying, as if he was once again seeing the same image that chilled him all those years ago.
Xie Lian's heart felt like it was being squeezed tight by an invisible hand. "What was it?"
"He… He suddenly started covering his face," the state preceptor said.
"…" "His Highness was handsome, and he'd never hidden his face before," the state preceptor said. "And there wasn't anything that could have injured him. It was the first time I'd ever seen him like that in all our years together, so I was perplexed. I asked him, 'Your Highness, what happened to your face?' He said he was accidentally burned. I didn't know when he could have suffered such an injury, and he wouldn't let me examine his wounds; he would only apply herbs on his own. After that, his whereabouts became unpredictable. That was unusual, but a wonderful thing happened that temporarily distracted me: the volcano began to calm.
"The Kiln gradually settled into stillness and did not show any further activity for a long time. Since His Highness had been the only one devoting himself to the matter, many people of Wuyong thought that he was the one who had suppressed the volcano, and some began to worship him anew. His Highness's path of cultivation also started progressing more smoothly. At least there weren't any more people jeering him or throwing rocks; they even gradually started smiling at him again.
"I still thought something wasn't right. There were many things that weren't right. While my three friends all had different personalities, I knew they wouldn't just leave and ignore everything going forward. Even if they were angry with His Highness, they wouldn't be angry with me too—at the very least, they wouldn't have cut me off entirely.
"What was most unusual was His Highness's face. He kept hiding it; at first wearing rags and cloaks, then later a mask that he wouldn't remove for any reason. I even began to wonder whether this person was really His Highness—sometimes I suspected an impostor, that it wasn't him at all.
Everything about him had completely changed: the way he spoke, his behavior, his personality. Sometimes he was kind and dear, sometimes he'd abruptly fly into a rage. There was an incident where he smashed all the mirrors in his room while he was alone. Everything was covered in blood; I didn't know where he had been hurt so terribly or what manner of wound could have possibly bled so much. But even more horrifying were the strange voices I'd often hear."
"Voices?" Xie Lian asked.
"Deep in the night, I could sometimes hear human voices coming from His Highness's room. It sounded like a few people whispering and arguing, but it was always just him in there when I'd go in to check. His Highness stopped allowing me inside after it happened a few times.
"One night, I heard those strange voices again—but this time, I noticed that they sounded like my three missing friends! I thought that they might have returned in secret, but why would they hide from me? I couldn't sit still anymore, so I got out of bed and ran into His Highness's room.
"Strangely, there really was no one there besides His Highness, who was lying on the bed, still wearing his mask. I stood there and listened for a moment, and I heard the voices again—they seemed to be coming from His Highness.
"Or, more accurately, they were coming from under his mask.
"I crept to His Highness's bedside. The closer I got, the more certain I was that the voices really were coming from beneath the mask. Was His Highness talking in his sleep? Could he have missed his friends so much that he'd learned to mimic their voices in his dreams?
"I hesitated for a long time, and while I waited there, His Highness did not move. I assumed he was asleep, so I gently removed his mask. And I saw what was beneath."
Unconcealable terror flowed from the state preceptor's eyes.
"My three friends. They had been the ones talking, not His Highness.
"His Highness's face was mangled, covered in jagged gashes that had been inflicted by something sharp, his flesh mangled and smeared with half-dried blood. And there were three more faces growing on his own, mouths moving, opening and closing—they were their faces!"
Xie Lian shuddered. "He…threw the three vassals who left him into the Kiln?!"
The state preceptor didn't answer. He was completely submerged in the enduring terror the scene still evoked in his heart.
"Those faces hadn't seen light in a long time," he said. "Even the moonlight was painful to them. When I removed the mask, they seemed shocked; they squinted and stopped talking. But after a moment, when they saw it was me, they began…to call my name.
"I was completely stunned. Earlier, I said that I'd never seen anything more horrific than millions of people plummeting from the skies and burning alive in a sea of fire, but the scene before my eyes at that moment was a million times worse!
"My hand shook nonstop as it held the mask; I probably would've dropped it on the floor and woken His Highness if I hadn't been petrified from head to toe, frozen in place. Meanwhile, those three faces seemed anxious to tell me something; the movement of their mouths grew even more erratic. But they still suppressed their voices, like they were afraid to wake His Highness.
"I was disgusted and terrified when I saw them, but I couldn't help but be curious what they wanted to tell me. So I held my breath, bent down, and leaned close to His Highness's face to listen.
"Coming so close, I could smell the thick stench of blood and rot that the medicinal herbs couldn't conceal. I heard them say, 'Quickly! Run away!
His Highness has gone mad!' "As it turned out, the other three had still been worried even after they left, so they returned in secret to speak to His Highness. But when they found him, he was herding a crowd of people toward the volcano's peak. That was when they found out that His Highness had never abandoned the idea of living sacrifices. Seized by shock and rage, they attempted to stop him and began to fight with him. Yet unexpectedly, he savagely killed them and threw them into the Kiln along with the rest!
"The ordinary citizens were of course burnt to dust and ash as soon as they were thrown in. But the three of them were cultivators, and they had been murdered by His Highness—their resentment and attachment to the world was deeply profound. Their souls took his body as their host and grew as lesions on his body, venting their rage and berating him constantly in the hope of stopping him from pursuing his terrible endeavors.
"My horror and confusion mounted as I listened, and I didn't know what to do. I truly couldn't tell what was more terrifying—His Highness or those three abominations on his face!
"Right then, I felt a hand rest on my head. I stiffened. With great apprehension, I looked up and saw His Highness.
"I don't know when he woke up. He and the three faces on his face, a total of four sets of eyes, were all staring at me! The expressions of those human faces became even more exaggerated, and as they twisted, they tore at the gashes on his face, causing fresh rivulets of blood to pour down.
"He stared at me for a long, long time. And then, he sighed and asked, 'Didn't I tell you not to come in here?' "All at once, I understood his recent abnormal behavior. When he discovered those three creatures growing upon him, His Highness hadn't been able to accept it. He couldn't tolerate his inhuman, demonic reflection in the mirror, so he smashed all of them. The blood was from his attempts to slice them off with blades; the stench of rot was from his wounds, which would not heal. But no matter how many times he gouged them from his flesh, they always grew back!"
The state preceptor covered half of his face, his pupils shrinking violently.
"I…fell to my knees at his bedside. His Highness slowly sat up on the bed and said, 'Don't be afraid. This happened to them because they betrayed me. As long as you don't do the same, I will treat you as I always have. As long as you are my loyal servant, nothing will change.' "But how could I not be afraid?! And how could nothing change?
Everything already had!
"His Highness is very smart. He'd never needed to change his behavior based on people's expressions before his banishment, but he had learned to observe them and do so since. He 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 sacrificed those 'degenerates' he once spoke of, perhaps I could've pretended nothing had happened—I did say that I would have understood. But he had killed our best friends and thrown them into the Kiln with his own hands. Now we only had each other! This really was…madness. I… couldn't accept it.
"And then His Highness murmured to himself, 'It's all right. I expected that. No one would stay now that I've become something like this. I can manage on my own. I understand now—I've always been alone! I don't need anyone!' "His expression turned savage, and he seized me by the neck with one hand and began to strangle me. He stared at me unblinkingly as he mumbled to himself over and over, 'I can manage 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 has incredible strength. If he had really wanted to kill me, my neck would've snapped in an instant before I could even make a sound. But I didn't die immediately. The moment he started to act out, my three friends began to scream on his face—they'd done something to him, and the pain in his head made him start screaming as well. I was also screaming. The five of us were all screaming wildly, yelling like madmen, like we had all gone crazy. His Highness gripped his head with one hand as the other strangled me harder. My vision was growing dark, I couldn't hold on much longer, but then…I saw something beneath his pillow.
"It was a sword. He always hid it there when he slept; it was a habit he had developed during banishment. I caught hold of the hilt and yanked it out;
the blade shimmered with chilling light. His Highness burst out laughing, his eyes blood red as he asked me, 'Are you going to kill me too? Come! Stab me, quick! Stab me right in the heart! You can add to the count! We can see who'll be the last left standing—you lot, or me!' "Of course I didn't stab him. I only flashed the blade in front of him and cried with everything I had, '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'd seen his own reflection. The blade was sharp and bright; it reflected his appearance, and he saw his own face.
"He was stunned by the sight of himself. The grip of His Highness's hand around my neck did not slacken, but he stared and stared. After staring for who knows how long, a line of tears suddenly streamed from one eye.
"When I saw his tears, I couldn't help but cry as well. That reflection on the blade—such ugliness! Just a glance had disgusted me, so why did I force him to look? Why did I remind him that he was such an ugly creature now? I couldn't bear it, and the sword fell from my hand and clattered to the floor.
"In the end, His Highness heaved me away and said, 'Get lost.' And I did, crawling and stumbling as I fled."
Having listened to that whole story in one go, the held breath in Xie Lian's throat finally released.
The state preceptor also lowered his hands. "I ran as far as I could and escaped the Kingdom of Wuyong. And it wasn't long before the volcano erupted once again. This time, the entire kingdom was completely buried, and almost no one survived. An entire country gone, just like that.
"I escaped the calamity, but I never heard any news of His Highness again. It was as if he'd been buried along with the Kingdom of Wuyong.
"I've traveled to the heavens, and I've also cultivated on my own, so I have some achievements to my name. I maintained the state of my body and drifted aimlessly throughout the Mortal Realm. I had served His Highness since we were both young, and I didn't know what to do now that I couldn't any longer. His Highness was gone, and my three friends were dead. I created three empty-shelled fakes and made them speak in my friends' voices to keep me company—and to play cards sometimes."
Hearing "empty-shelled fakes," Xie Lian's expression grew solemn.
"My magic improved over the years, so I later instilled the skills of my three friends into the fakes," the state preceptor continued.
"Were they the other three state preceptors?" Xie Lian asked softly.
No wonder he had always found those three so strange; they never acted on their own and never socialized with him one-on-one. Apparently, they had been little more than puppets, and would be exposed as such if they left the chief state preceptor's side.
"The very same. I suppose you are also my friends' disciple," the state preceptor replied. "Alas, my creations were a pale reflection of the real thing —I could only instill the barest portion of their true strength into the fakes, so they couldn't teach you much. And he has long since destroyed the three fakes that kept me company for so long.
"The heavenly dynasty changed after another century or two, and all the heavenly officials of the past faded away. Gradually, a new batch of heavenly officials replaced them. However, none of that was any of my business; I was just living, shamelessly cheating 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."
Here it was at last. Xie Lian's hands, resting on his thighs, clenched slightly.
The state preceptor sat cross-legged and hugged his arms as he spoke.
"I thought it was quite the coincidence, maybe even fate. But in truth, it wasn't really all that remarkable—many, many years had passed since Wuyong's destruction, so of course there'd be one or two more examples over the passage of centuries. But even so, driven by a feeling I didn't understand, I made up a random new name and became the State Preceptor of Xianle."
I knew that name was made up… Xie Lian thought.
"No offense to your Xianle," the state preceptor said. "But muddling my way into the state preceptor position was much too easy for me. There was only one problem: people always assume 'a man without a beard is incapable'—that those who look young are inexperienced and incompetent and should be disregarded. I knew I might not pass if I went to the interview with my current face, so I changed my appearance to add ten or twenty years, and sure enough, I quickly got the position. But being state preceptor meant I had to speak directly to the officials of the Heavenly Realm.
"And thus, I came face-to-face with Jun Wu.
"Although he looked very different from the Highness I remembered, I knew him too well. I had my suspicions after only exchanging words a few times. But they were still only suspicions—and even if I suspected him, I didn't want him to know that.
"He had become someone else completely, and the lesions on his face had also vanished. I thought that must mean that my three friends' resentment had dispersed, and if that was the case, there was no need to bring up ancient history and disrupt this peace. So wasn't it fine if we both pretended not to recognize each other?"
"I would have likely done the same, had I been in your position," Xie Lian said.
"But we couldn't pretend forever," the state preceptor said. "Because we both saw you. Your Highness, by now you must have guessed why I had such high hopes for you—you're very much like him. I hoped you would become the god he once wanted to be and do what he couldn't. You could use your perfection to remedy our regrets."
Hua Cheng, however, said flatly, "You were wrong from the start.
They're not alike at all."
The state preceptor gave him a look. "Of course you'd say that they aren't similar now, but they were very much alike back then. The problem was, they were too much alike."
He turned to Xie Lian again.
"I wasn't too pleased when you saved the small child who fell from the city wall during the God-Pleasing ceremony. It wasn't just because the incident stopped the ceremony, it was also because it was too conspicuous.
You had caught Jun Wu's attention.
"Jun Wu started talking to me about you. He was very interested in you, and every time we spoke about you, I could tell that something wasn't quite right. But I could also tell that he genuinely liked you; it was the delight of finding a suitable good sprout. He always wanted to appoint you to the heavens to serve as an official in his palace, but every time he brought it up, I used all sorts of reasons to urge him not to do so."
Xie Lian didn't want to believe that Jun Wu's affection toward him had been fake, but when he heard the state preceptor confirm that it was sincere, the feelings it brought up were complicated. It was difficult to describe.
"The turning point was Yinian Bridge," the state preceptor said.
At that, Xie Lian snapped back to attention.
"Do you still remember the ghost at the bridge?" the state preceptor asked.
"That was the catalyst of my ascension. Of course I remember," Xie Lian replied quietly.
"When you ran into that ghost, I already sensed that something was wrong," the state preceptor said. "It was haunting a broken bridge in the barren wild, clad in armor that had been shattered and torn by the countless weapons that pierced its perpetually blood-soaked body. Its feet burned with the flames of hell, and it left fiery, bloody footprints in its wake. Furthermore, those three questions it asked you… All of that made me very concerned, worried even, though I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong. And because you ascended so quickly after defeating the ghost at the bridge, I didn't have a chance to figure it out.
"Thankfully, Jun Wu's attitude toward you was as good as always after you ascended; he granted you favors and thought very highly of you, like nothing had changed. So I told myself not to overthink things.
"After that came the great drought of Xianle, the rebellion of Yong'an, and…the appearance of that creature, White No-Face."
Xie Lian held his breath and hung on to every word.
"I said as much before, but I initially had no idea what that creature truly was," the state preceptor explained. "Even as Human Face Disease broke out, I only had suspicions. Parasitic vengeful spirits aren't anything new; they'd just never been so widespread. I was also feeling resentful of the Law of Heaven at that point, so I thought White No-Face had been born of nature as heaven's punishment for you. But in light of many, many other things, as you encountered that creature again and again, and the epidemic spiraled more and more out of control, I was forced to consider the worst-case scenario."
"Many, many other things?" Xie Lian asked. "Like what? What do you mean?"
"The family of three who died at the gates of the royal capital of Xianle," the state preceptor replied.
Xie Lian stopped breathing. "That…was…?"
"I examined their corpses afterward," the state preceptor said. "I discovered they weren't human at all; they were empty-shelled fakes."
"But empty-shelled fakes are hollow!" Xie Lian exclaimed. "They don't have organs and can't bleed!"
"There was no need for organs," the state preceptor said. "A person's innards would be damaged by falling from such a height, so stuffing some mushed flesh into their bellies and pouring in some blood-like fluid would suffice. One of my three friends had been an expert in fashioning such unusual crafts; he was the original designer of the technique for creating empty-shelled fakes and taught it only to us. The method to make such things wasn't as widely known back then, and since my friends were dead, who was the only person other than me capable of making such realistic fakes?"
Xie Lian hung his head. His pupils had shrunk to pinpricks.
The family of three who died before the gates of the royal capital of Xianle was a direct catalyst of the war. Yet those lives hadn't been real at all —they were nothing but an elaborate trick!
"Then…why didn't you tell me at the time?" Xie Lian asked.
"I didn't dare to," the state preceptor said. "Considering your personality back then, wouldn't you have charged right up there for vengeance if I told you the truth of the matter? That wouldn't have saved you or Xianle; it would have only hastened your annihilation. Besides, even without those three empty shells, sooner or later there would have been…" Sooner or later, there would have been some other incident that sparked war—like that missing dog in the capital.
"Later, you were defeated, as was Xianle. I could hold myself back no longer. I first sent everyone at the Royal Holy Temple away, then I requested his grace inside the Palace of Divine Might. I unmasked him then and there."
This was the meeting that Jun Wu had mentioned before—their encounter eight hundred years ago.
"I had many questions for him, but he wouldn't confirm or deny anything," the state preceptor said. "Finally, I asked him, 'Your Highness, what exactly do you want?' "And he finally answered me. He said that he wanted you to become his perfect heir—if anyone in the world could understand him completely, it was you. Once he succeeded, you would never betray him!
"I understood what he was planning. We started fighting with our fists in the heat of the argument. I have no fighting skill whatsoever—I would die without a doubt in a physical altercation, and he could crush me without lifting a finger. But suddenly, his expression changed drastically, and he covered his face. I was quite shocked. And only then did I notice that the three lesions had surfaced again!
"As it turned out, they hadn't vanished at all; he had been suppressing them with his spiritual power! But they had managed to emerge somehow— perhaps it was because his emotions were running high or because of me!
Just like that, my three friends had returned to stir up a riot. His expression was terrifying as an agonizing headache shot through him. I once again used that chance to run away.
"I started drifting in the Mortal Realm once more, but this time I had to stay undercover. I began to wonder what had become of the former Kingdom of Wuyong. I returned to the area to take a look, but I never expected to happen upon another great discovery. For some reason, the land where the former Kingdom of Wuyong once stood was sealed off completely, isolated from the outside world. And after wandering for a long time in the sealed domain, I ran into my three friends again."
"Were they the three mountain spirits—Old Age, Sickness, and Death?" Xie Lian asked.
"Correct," the state preceptor replied. "The Kiln devoured their bodies, and the dust of their incinerated bones mixed with the volcanic ash, which was then blown out with subsequent eruptions. The residue built up over time, layer upon layer. Now that a millennium had passed, it had formed three large mountains, each containing a part of their souls.
"It took me a long time to find a way to communicate with my friends who were now mountain spirits, but once I succeeded, I learned many things.
For example, the heavenly officials of the previous dynasty hadn't faded away naturally—he had hunted them down and killed them all, one by one.
He…massacred the entire Heavenly Court, leaving no one behind!
"After washing the Heavenly Realm with blood, he returned to the Mortal Realm once again and patiently waited for an opportune time. He changed his name, forged a new identity, became a 'mortal,' and then 'ascended.' All of the old heavenly officials were dead, so no one knew who he was or what he looked like before. The backstory of the 'Heavenly Emperor' that is known in the Mortal Realm—his background, his parables, his anecdotes, his appearance, his character…it's all fake. It's all an intricate lie he fabricated!
"This Heavenly Capital is a new Heavenly Realm he created single-handedly, and it is under his absolute control. He mixed the ashes of the previous dynasty's heavenly officials into the foundation of this city so he could trample and step on them every single day. There might be someone beneath your feet right now."
"…" "Currently, he is the most exalted martial god of the Heavenly Realm," the state preceptor continued. "He looks glorious and scintillating on the surface, but an infinite darkness is suppressed deep within his heart.
Resentment, pain, anger, hatred…he must release those poisonous emotions to maintain his internal balance, lest he go berserk and slaughter everyone around him. That is the only way he is able to uphold his position as the ruler of all three realms.
"The former Kingdom of Wuyong had become hell, and the Kiln had been glutted with countless living souls and the souls of three former heavenly officials—it now recognized him as its master. He regularly releases his dark emotions into the Kiln, using the millions of Wuyong souls within as kindling to stoke the flames of hell and forge many malicious things."
"The method to forge those malicious things is different from the process of creating a supreme, right?" Xie Lian asked.
"Indeed," the state preceptor replied. "Supremes came later, since he… changed the refining method."
"What do you mean by that?" Xie Lian asked.
"The quality and quantity," the state preceptor said. He gave Hua Cheng another look. "Both of you must already know that a supreme is only born once a century—once every several centuries, even. Only one, every time. They are extremely rare and immensely difficult to create. That being said, a supreme's past life is an independent existence; the Kiln only provides an environment to expedite the process of their explosive birth. Those with the potential to be a supreme could become one anywhere—it would certainly happen sooner or later. In fact, the word 'supreme' was originally derived from the words 'unrivaled' and 'pinnacle'; it didn't have any connection to whether one had trained inside the Kiln. Still, enduring the Kiln's refining process would certainly make one into such an entity, since there aren't many capable of such a feat. Haven't there only been three up until now?"
Xie Lian stole a glance at Hua Cheng by his side—the man happened to be gazing back at him. Although he didn't know why Xie Lian had looked at him, he smiled.
"However, the Kiln's previous creations weren't like that," the state preceptor continued. "In the early days, he'd have a session every few years, and each time the results would be different—endless batches of dark beings poured from its depths. Perhaps that had something to do with his unstable emotions…it produced nothing but monsters forged from his hatred and resentment. There are probably a few familiar names among them—for example, the Reverend of Empty Words.
"The Reverend of Empty Words was born of the Kiln?!" Xie Lian exclaimed.
"Correct," the state preceptor replied. "Those creatures… Some have their own consciousness and break away from him; some don't and can be considered his clones. The Reverend of Empty Words had its own consciousness, and it even divided itself into many smaller clones after it left.
My three friends guarded the borders of the Kingdom of Wuyong to prevent the creatures from leaving the domain, while I spent my years in the outside world searching for any that escaped and trying to fix the problems they caused."
Xie Lian recalled the state preceptor's strange change of attitude when he saw Shi Qingxuan. "Master! Lord Wind Master… The skilled fortune-telling master who told Shi Qingxuan's fortune back then, the one who told his family not to host feasts—was that you?"
"Duh," the state preceptor said. "What other fortune-telling master could be so skilled and accurate? Or so idle that a bowl of congee could pay for a session?"
"…" "Initially, the Reverend of Empty Words had wanted to devour the young Shi Wudu," the state preceptor said. "But Shi Wudu—that little bastard was too vicious, too difficult to deal with even at such a young age.
Nothing could get to him, and he had no fear; his fate was so tyrannical that it couldn't be swallowed. If the creature had tried to take a bite, it would only shatter its teeth into a bloody mess. And so it could only turn to his ordinary little brother with a fate of wealth. Although it didn't manage to sink its fangs into either of them in the end, it also didn't suffer any losses—after all, it caused so much grief to the two siblings that they couldn't live in peace, and it eventually bit someone whose fate was originally godhood. It really bothers me that I didn't manage to kill that thing dead."
"It's already been killed dead," Hua Cheng said.
"Devoured by He Xuan, right?" the state preceptor said. "I heard. I was going to watch over the Shi siblings until everything blew over, but the Kiln was about to open its gates once more; I couldn't follow them for long before I had to leave. And things were already a mess when I got back. Shi Wudu had turned to wickedness and was causing such chaos—it was completely out of hand! It gave me such a headache that even if I wanted to care, I couldn't at that point."
It really did spiral into something that couldn't be fixed even if he'd had the mind to help.
The state preceptor added, "Truth be told, the Reverend of Empty Words wasn't even a particularly powerful specimen among the Kiln's monsters; it just liked to roam around and stir up trouble. It can't even be ranked on the same scale as the rest—it was a low-grade product through and through. But there were others, such as—" "Such as the ghost at Yinian Bridge, the soul who died in battle?" Xie Lian said quietly.
The state preceptor sucked in a breath. "…Right. Otherwise, why do you think I'd say everything started because of your phrase? The bridge ghost was a dark clone he forged in the Kiln; it had to go on the haunt and kill every few years to vent its hatred. But you just had to defeat it!
"He could sense that someone had killed the ghost at the bridge, so he descended immediately to see who had managed it. And he saw you. And you…you just had to say that phrase to his face: 'Body in the abyss, heart in paradise.' That was an insane mockery of him, a grave provocation that stabbed him straight in the heart… "That was the turning point of everything."