Truth or Deception; Difficult to Discern 3

Xie Lian shouted, "Qi Rong, you shut your mouth!"

Lang Qianqiu turned his head angrily, "Why does he have to shut up? Because what he

said is the truth?? In that Gilded Banquet, you and An Le both struck; one killed my

entire family, and the other finished the blow to my father. You're all lying to me?!"

Xie Lian responded hurriedly, "Don't listen to–" Qi Rong cut in, "OF COURSE IT'S ALL

A LIE! You're so stupid, if not you, then who else do we deceive? If not for some rando

spoiling our plans, Xianle would've already taken your fucking life at the age of twelve,

instead of giving you the luxury to grow up and ascend!"

"Twelve?" Lang Qianqiu repeated. The biggest thing that happened when he was twelve

was that kidnapping, saved by Xie Lian. He demanded, "That year, the muggers who

intruded the palace to kidnap me was sent by the people of Xianle?"

"Duh!" Qi Rong clicked his tongue, "Did you think any ordinary assassins can just

kidnap the Crown Prince from hundreds of royal guards? Please. I was the one who

helped An Le on that."

Lang Qianqiu nodded, "Helped? Good. I understand. So my friends are all fake. The

people of Xianle never cared for our amity. Your Prince An Le never possessed good

intentions, and instead came for our lives."

He turned to Xie Lian, "So, everything you told me was false too."

Qi Rong pretended to look surprised, "Come, come, come, hurry and let me hear what

my saintly cousin told you!"

Lang Qianqiu ignored him and continued to address Xie Lian, "You said YongAn and

Xianle were but one nation at their roots; whatever conflicts the royals had with each

other had nothing to do with civilians. Both sides used to be one family, and under our

generation's rule, there could be changes for the better. As long as the people were

happy, it didn't matter what the royal house was named, and both sides could let go of

their grudge and unite in time. All that was false. All nonsense, bullshit, lies!"

This was what Xie Lian didn't want to hear the most. He cried immediately, "No! It's not

false! Think: under your rule, weren't there real changes?"

Lang Qianqiu closed his mouth, his breath held. Xie Lian continued, "Didn't you do

really well? Didn't the remnant citizens of Xianle integrate peacefully with the people of

YongAn? There were less and less conflicts and riots, so how could any of it be false?"

There was a moment of silence, and tears rolled down Lang Qianqiu's cheeks, "But...

but what about my parents? YongAn and Xianle uniting was their greatest wish, that's

why they granted the princely title "An Le" to your last royal bloodline. Their wish came

true, but what of their end?"

Qi Rong clicked his tongue, "What a whiny crybaby, just like my saintly cousin once

upon a time! You came crying for your old man, old hag; I haven't even fucking

harassed your ancestors for MY old man and old hag! Fucking uniting YongAn and

Xianle was their wish? What pretty words. An Le, An Le, settle first, joy after*; you think

I can't tell it means you YongAn dogs want to walk all over the heads of Xianle for the

rest of our lives?"

Xie Lian yelled angrily, "QI RONG, STOP YOUR MADNESS!"

Lang Qianqiu on the other hand, glared at Qi Rong, tears still falling from his eyes,

"You're the mastermind behind the massacre of my clan? And you're part of the plot

behind the Gilded Banquet too?"

Qi Rong snickered, "Yes, I'm part of it. An Le was part of it too. And your master! Us

three people of Xianle all made part. Hahahahaha..."

Suddenly, halfway through his laugh, Lang Qianqiu's longsword abruptly swung down

and struck. Qi Rong yelped, and his person was sliced into two!

It was an exceedingly gory scene, both halves of his bodies were rolling around the

ground, and his upper body cried, "IT' DOESN'T HURT! IT DOESN'T HURT! IT

DOESN'T HURT ONE BIT! COMPARED TO THAT PUNCH FROM COUSIN CROWN

PRINCE, YOU'RE NOTHING! HAHAHAHHAHAHA!"

Lang Qianqiu didn't say a word, grabbed him by the head and picked it up. Qi Rong was

still spouting insults, but Xie Lian had noticed something off with Lang Qianqiu's

expression and said hurriedly, "Qi Rong, stop talking if you value your life!"

Xie Lian always treated others with kind respect, yet Qi Rong was someone that

couldn't be faced normally; he knew this, so every time he faced him, Xie Lian didn't

want to be polite at all, and unconsciously became rude himself.

Lang Qianqiu dragged Qi Rong's upper body and came to the giant boiling, bubbling

cauldron. "Do you usually use this cauldron to cook humans?"

Having been dragged around, Qi Rong's bloodied carcass drew a thick trail of blood on

the ground, "Yea, so?"

Without another word, Lang Qianqiu let go of his hold.

"AAAAAAHHHH HAHAHAHAHA —"

It was hard to discern whether if Qi Rong was screaming or laughing, and the moment

he was dropped into that cauldron, his flesh was instantly burnt and boiled to mush. Xie

Lian had not expected this development; his pupils shrank and he blurted, "QIANQIU!"

Lang Qianqiu responded sharply, "What? How many people has the Green Ghost Qi

Rong eaten? We can't teach him what it feels like to be cooked? He's the enemy that

murdered my clan, am I not allowed to make him suffer???"

Of course he could. So, Xie Lian couldn't say anything, and he also had no right to say

anything. Yet, no matter as the Crown Prince of a mortal kingdom, or the martial god of

the east of heaven, Lang Qianqiu had never done a thing such as this. He had always

been straightforward in fights and never used any cruelty. These actions were far from

the Lang Qianqiu Xie Lian knew.

After being thrown into the boiling water, after a while when Qi Rong was fished up, his

body no longer retained the shape of human, and instead resembled a melted lump of

skin and flesh, bones poking out in some areas, terrifying to behold. Yet he seemed

quite pleased and was still guffawing, "Congratulations, cousin! Look at your good

disciple! His wings have hardened! He's cruel and knows how to torture now!"

Lang Qianqiu released his hold again, and Qi Rong was once again submerged into the

bubbling cauldron. This time when he was dropped, it seemed even his bones were

dissolved by the boiling liquid. Qi Rong didn't float up again, and only remnants of some

green cloths emerged on the surface. After a while, having still not seen his shadow, Xie

Lian couldn't help but call out, "Qi Rong!"

His younger cousin, who once upon a time couldn't shut up about his cousin the Crown

Prince, had idolized him and praised him for everything he did. However, after the fall of

Xianle, he had turned into a madman completely. He led the burning of his temples, the

desecration of his palaces, and commissioned the kneeling Crown Prince statues

everywhere, affixing them as thresholds. To make Xie Lian suffer, he could do anything.

Xie Lian had done his best to put up with that behaviour, and if it involved others, he'd

do his best to obstruct; until finally when he could no longer tolerate it, he could only

keep away and practice out of sight, out of mind.

Afterwards, they'd lost touch for many years, and Xie Lian thought Qi Rong had passed

away. Who knew that after so long he would suddenly meet a figure of the past and see

that face that so resembled his. He really couldn't tell whether if there was any feelings

of nostalgia or remorse. After all, the only ones left from the royal house of Xianle were

them two. But they hadn't even seen each other for that long before he died before him,

and he was even cruelly killed by a Lang Qianqiu who couldn't even use wooden rods to

punish. So much happened in such a short period of time, Xie Lian hadn't even sorted

the thoughts in his head, his heart a mess. Lang Qianqiu stood next to the cauldron with

his head lowered, unspeaking. Just then, Hua Cheng spoke up, "He didn't die."

Lang Qianqiu raised his head to look at him. Hua Cheng continued, "You don't think this

is actually revenge? You only killed one of his many clones. If you want to exterminate

him completely, you need to find his ashes."

"Thanks for reminding me," Lan Qianqiu said coldly, "I will definitely capture him with my

own hands and use his ashes to pay respects to my esteemed father and mother. When

that happens, I will come and tie things up with you. Guoshi, don't you dare think about

running away!"

As he ended his words, he gripped his longsword and struck, slashing the cauldron, and

turned abruptly to walk away. Boiling water spilled from the cauldron, and liquid filled

with slithers of bones poured onto the ground. Xie Lian wanted to chase after him, but

he knew that it wouldn't be of use.

He braked in his step and stopped, standing still, unable to speak. Hua Cheng

approached him, "He just found out the truth, so it's better to let him be by himself and

cool down."

Xie Lian was dumbfounded, "Why must he know the truth? Was the truth that

important?"

"Very important." Hua Cheng replied, "He needed to know what was done by you and

what wasn't, and why you had to do what you did."

Xie Lian whipped around in a fit and said coldly, "What's the use of knowing everything

so clearly? Would I be any more blameless if I killed less people? Would things be less

hard??"

Hua Cheng didn't respond. A burst of anger rolled up from Xie Lian's chest, and he

didn't even know who to be mad at. He blurted, "And what shitty hardship have I

experienced? His majesty the king father had always wanted to integrate the two clans,

did I not kill him? Prince An Le was the last to my family's bloodline, did I not kill him?

No matter what it's all my fault, so if all the blame goes to me what's wrong with that?

What's there to be afraid of? Whatever comes at me, I can't die anyway! I did this. I

bring misfortune. And now I've brought it to Prince An Le, to Qi Rong, and to everyone

in Xianle. Is it not better to hate one instead of all? Must he think that everything I taught

him was false, and nothing more than empty bullshit???"

Hua Cheng watched him quietly and didn't argue. The two stared at each other, and

suddenly Xie Lian covered his face with his hands, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, San Lang. I've

gone mad. I'm sorry."

"It's nothing. It's my fault." Hua Cheng said.

"No, you're not at fault. This is my problem." Xie Lian slumped to the ground, holding his

head, "What a mess. What a disastrous mess."

After a moment, Hua Cheng sat down next to him, "You weren't wrong."

Xie Lian held his head and said nothing. Hua Cheng continued, "The YongAn king was

killed to protect the remaining people of Xianle. Prince An Le was killed to prevent the

two clans from fighting. In the end, to die in the hands of Lang Qianqiu, the murderer

faced justice. Three lives exchanged centuries of peace, it's worth it. If it was me I

would've done the same. Listen to me."

His voice was firm with no room for doubt. "You weren't wrong. No one could've done it

better than you."

Xie Lian was quiet. After some time he finally said, "I just don't think it's right."

He slowly lifted his face, "I just don't think it's right for someone to have been kind but

received a bad end."

"Even if it's fake, I wanted Qianqiu to remember that his benevolence to Xianle would be

reciprocated. Doing the right thing will open endless paths. Not like now, where he

thinks everything I told him, everything he believed in, were all false, lies, deception.

That everything was goddamn bullshit! I just..."

He raised his right hand, and said while looking at it, "...I don't want to see anyone go

through what I've gone through."

Hua Cheng listened silently. Xie Lian felt self-conscious about the vulgar words he used

and apologized again, "I'm sorry. But look how incredibly silly things are in this world.

The first few generations of YongAn rule was filled with violence and cruelty, but none

died in tragedy. When it came to Lang Qianqiu's parents, all they wanted was to do

some good, do something great, but ended the way they did."

The king of YongAn honoured him as the Guoshi, and treated him with the utmost

respect. Even at the end of his life, he passed on without any signs of that trust

dispersing. Xie Lian's eyes looked far ahead but unfocused and whispered, "I really

can't forget... the look on his face when my sword penetrated him."

Hua Cheng said softly, "Forget about it. That was Qi Rong and Prince An Le's fault."

Xie Lian shook his head, and buried it between his knees, his voice exhausted, "...And

everything was going just fine too."

When Lang Qianqiu's father first ascended the throne, his first rule was to break the

culture of oppressing the people of Xianle. The people of Xianle and the people of

YongAn finally experienced peace among each other for the first time; there was finally

winds of change, finally a sign of integration, finally hope for leaving conflict behind, and

Prince An Le had to pick that time to awash the Gilded Banquet with blood.

That night when he escaped and found Prince An Le, he was originally going to warn

him never to stir up troubles again. Yet, after the last descendant of his royal house

discovered his true identity, he excitedly grabbed hold of him, and asked him to join his

grand scheme of revenge and recovery of their kingdom. His eyes were red with

passion, his voice high with excitement; he first swore to spill blood at the Gilded

Banquet, then annihilate Lang Qianqiu, and cause havoc in YongAn. They would do this

even at the cost of destroying the growing amity amongst the two peoples; at the cost of

all the lives that remain from Xianle; at the cost of dragging all of YongAn, royalty and

common alike, to the depths of hell.

But in the end, what was killed was killed, what was murdered was murdered. However

just the reason, however compelling the reason, the truth was he killed with his own

hands an honourable king who had truly wanted to eradicate discrimination, and the last

blood descendant of his family in this world.

So, he deserved all the blame.

————–

●An Le : means 'safe', 'peace', 'to settle'; means 'happiness', 'joy' –

Qi Rong was dissecting the words on their own and drawing his own meanings

from them