Land of the Tender; Body of Gold Hard-Pressed Against Desire 4

TW:‌ ‌Graphic‌ ‌Self‌ ‌Harm‌

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Xie Lian's left arm was bleeding profusely from the gash he'd created on himself, but at the end of the day, it was only self "harm", not "murder", and so the urge wasn't fully fulfilled. His mouth slackened and that stuffed piece of cloth fell from his lips. Xie Lian became more aggressive, and stabbed his left leg. It was a deep cut; the sound of the blade penetrating his flesh was clear. That young soldier couldn't stand back anymore and ran towards him. Hearing his hurried footsteps, Xie Lian backed away in terror. Even when his back was pressed against the wall, he continued to push backwards.

"NONONO! DON'T COME NEAR ME, DON'T..."

The second blood barrier by the entrance of the cave was drawn especially for Xie Lian to bar himself, but it couldn't bar that boy, so he still had a chance to return to safety. But the Tender Fragrance poison was about to enter the second stage; if that boy approached, Xie Lian could very well end his life right then and there, and spare him no chance of escape. He was terrified he'd kill that child by accident, and could only avoid him.

That young soldier heard the terror in his voice and called anxiously, "Your Highness..."

The urge to kill was boiling in his blood. He raised that worn sword with his shaking hand, and a voice inside his head screamed, "I WON'T DIE, I WON'T DIE, I WON'T DIE!!!"

The next moment, in a split second decision, the blade turned.

In the darkness, that young soldier could see a cold light flash, and he yelled, "YOUR HIGHNESS!!!"

The sword had struck, and it penetrated Xie Lian's own stomach, nailing himself dead onto the ground!

A sharp pain exploded from his abdomen, spreading throughout his whole body, dispersing the heat. Xie Lian's hands were gripping tightly onto the hilt, his eyes bulging. He choked a cough, a thin thread of blood flowed down from the side of his lips, his breathing stagnated, and he stopped moving. That young soldier was dumbfounded, and fell to his knees next to his body.

Just then, there was screeching and shrieking outside the cave.

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

The voices of the flower demons were delicate but shrill, and their shrieks piercing to the ears.

Yet, there was another who thundered louder, dominating over all of their cries:

"WHAT THE HELL!!!"

Hearing that angry roar, Xie Lian suddenly sucked in a breath anew.

Feng Xin!

Another muffled voice said, "It's Land of the Tender. If you don't want to get poisoned then cover your face."

That was of course the Mu Qing who already had his face covered. Feng Xin covered his face but then seemed to have seen something, and muffled an angry shout.

"IS THAT...YOUR HIGHNESS? YOUR HIGHNESS?? FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK!! WHAT'S THIS!"

Mu Qing also let out an "eh?" and noted, "What a disgraceful sight!"

But his tone wasn't as angry as Feng Xin's, more like the reaction of having heard someone utter a bad joke. Xie Lian laid inside the cave and couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could guess that those flower demons probably showed their naked selves before them, looking highly inappropriate.

Feng Xin was cursing uproariously. "HURRY AND BURN THEM! DON'T LET ANYONE ELSE SEE!"

Soon, there was a field of flames and the sound of burning. In that roaring fire, the shrieks and curses of those flower demons gradually disappeared.

"Make sure to burn thoroughly. That fragrance from those flower demons is poisonous, if there are any leftover seedlings they'll come back," Mu Qing said.

Xie Lian sucked in a breath, waited, then coughed weakly once; but the other two immediately heard his voice and charged to the cave, yelling.

"YOUR HIGHNESS, ARE YOU IN THERE?"

"...I'm here..." Xie Lian called.

Even though he tried to steady his voice, it was still weaker than normal. The two of them rushed over but were stopped by the barriers outside the cave's entrance. However, they were very familiar with the arrays drawn by Xie Lian and knew how to break them. Feng Xin ignited a palm torch, walked a few steps, and before the deepest of the cave was illuminated, he suddenly called out.

"Who's there?"

Mu Qing was alarmed too. "Is there someone else in the cave?"

"Don't worry. Just a little soldier," Xie Lian said.

The two dropped their guard and entered. The bright firelight brightened the entire cave with a warm orangey glow, and illuminated Xie Lian; who laid there on the ground, his long hair strewn about, his robes shredded, and a long sword impaled through his abdomen, nailing him to the ground.

The two were horrified by the sight.

Feng Xin leaned over. "WHO DID THIS?!"

"Me," Xie Lian replied.

Mu Qing was aghast. "What happened?"

Xie Lian shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it. This only happened because there was no other way. Hurry and free me from this."

Mu Qing approached and pulled out the sword with a frown, throwing it to the side with a clang; that young soldier retrieved it. Feng Xin helped Xie Lian sit up, covered him with an outer robe; only then did Xie Lian finally recount roughly the ghastly night with the Land of the Tender.

"You guys came faster than I expected. Where's Qi Rong?"

"Qi Rong got locked up by the king in the palace," Feng Xin said. "He's too overbearing in the markets, so of course he was an easy target. But he knew to find us after he got back, so not too bad."

So it seemed that as much as Qi Rong despised those two servants, he still acknowledged how competent they were. The two had planned to have one stay behind to guard the fortress, but Qi Rong was screaming and howling with a sword smeared in Xie Lian's blood, so they thought the danger might be more than they expected, and decided to both come together in the end. Beizi Hill was thick with the essence of evil, so it wasn't hard to find, which was why they were so quick in coming.

Although Xie Lian possessed an ascended body—normal blades could not hurt his essence, and a jab to himself like this wouldn't kill him—still, he had never really truly lost in a battle of life and death in his twenty years. This was the very first time he had gotten so heavily wounded, so he needed time to recover. And so, Feng Xin carried him on his back on their return to the royal

capital. Foreign pain stabbed at him from his stomach, making Xie Lian furrow his brows, but he tried to control himself.

"Did you guys bump into anything on your way here?"

"No," Mu Qing replied.

Xie Lian sucked in a breath and said, "Be careful, there are inhuman creatures about..."

He had wanted to tell them about that white-clothed being, but because he was really quite exhausted, and seeing from the peripheral of his vision that young soldier following behind with that bloody steel sword in hand, he finally relaxed, closed his eyes to restore his energy, and fell deeply asleep.

Since he had capriciously descended into the mortal realm, Xie Lian had not closed his eyes to rest for over a month; with stacking pressure growing, this whole ordeal finally crushed him, and he was comatose for three whole days. After three days he woke with a start and found himself inside his bedchamber. The ceiling above was glamourous and beautiful—it was the palace— and he immediately sat up.

"Feng Xin!"

Feng Xin was just outside testing his bow, and entered when he heard the call. "Your Highness!"

Xie Lian's stomach injury had long since healed, and he immediately jumped off the bed. "Was I knocked out for a long time? Did anything happen?"

"Relax," Feng Xin said. "It was only a few days. There were no enemy attacks. If there were, wouldn't I have already woken you up? Go back to bed, you forgot your shoes again."

Calmed, Xie Lian went back to bed. After a pause, he asked, "Where's Mu Qing?"

Just then, Mu Qing walked in too, holding the prepared robes in his hands. "Here."

He attended to dressing the Crown Prince, and Feng Xin spoke up beside them.

"However, even though we didn't battle in the past few days, we did find something out."

"Find out what?" Xie Lian asked.

"Didn't we say before that there's something off with Yong'an? That there might be reinforcements? We went to scout Beizi Hill and saw several people that were dressed like our citizens, but had a weird accent. They didn't look like they were from Xianle. I captured them,

and sure enough, there are other kingdoms supporting them from the shadows, secretly shipping supplies and arms."

Otherwise, with so many people of Yong'an squished on a barren hill, there was no way they could support themselves until now surviving on wild roots and weeds!

Feng Xin cussed. "Fucking fakers pretending to be all friendly, gotta stir shit up now, hoping Xianle would fall completely into chaos!"

The Kingdom of Xianle possessed a vast territory with bountiful resources, its wealth abundant, its production of precious jewels plentiful, and the nearby kingdoms had long watched with eyes green with envy. Xie Lian had expected this and shook his head gravely.

He recalled something else, and asked, "Where's that child?"

"Which one?" Feng Xin asked. "Oh, that little soldier? We were rushing you to the Guoshi that day, no one cared for him; he probably went back to his troop."

Dressed, Xie Lian lowered his arms and sat down with poise on the bed. "That child was pretty skilled; I think he's got really good potential with the sabre. If he's taught well, he'd definitely be spectacular when he's older. Mu Qing, remember to find him for me when you get a chance. Settle him well. He could be appointed."

Xie Lian was someone who loved those who were skilled in martial arts, and just had to appoint them to his side just so he could watch them everyday and soak in delight. This wasn't the first time he had made such a comment, but it was the first time it was directed to a child. Mu Qing heard him make those "really good potential with the sabre", "spectacular when he's older" remarks, and his expression turned unreadable. He scrunched up the hair band he'd just untied from Xie Lian in his hand, and turned around to throw it to the side.

Feng Xin, on the other hand, remarked, "That brat only looked to be about fourteen or fifteen, isn't that too young? What's he gonna do after getting appointed?"

Mu Qing spoke up too in a flat voice, "It's not proper. It'd be against military rule."

"A god can descend into the mortal realm, so what can military rule do to me?" Xie Lian said, then praised, "You guys should've seen the way he killed those binu! It was so good!"

Speaking of binu, that strange white-clothed being flashed before his mind.

"Your Highness, why have demons like those Land of the Tenders appeared on Beizi Hill? That's never happened before?" Feng Xin said.

Xie Lian rose to his feet. "That's what I wanted to tell you guys that day."

Finally free, he recounted his meeting with that one who bore the crying- smiling mask. The three of them talked it over, but didn't dare to be negligent; they decided in the end that it was better to report it to the heavens. Thus, once Xie Lian left his bedchamber, he briefly met with the king and the queen before hurrying to the Great Martial Hall on Mount Taicang.

If this was the past, Xie Lian would've gone to the Heavenly Court directly to tell Jun Wu face-to-face. Yet the circumstances had changed; he was the one who deserted the Heavenly Court, and that was like handing the keys back. Even if he wanted to go back, the doors would be locked. Plus, he'd left with such upset and spoke with such friction in the Great Martial Hall, that he was a little embarrassed to face Jun Wu. Thus, with great reverence, he lit a few giant sticks of incense in the Great Martial Hall, and passed on the message to the divine statue of the Heavenly Martial Emperor, hoping that he would hear it. However, the number of incense respects Jun Wu received were at least eight thousand to ten thousand; an overwhelming amount, with a number of big believers mixed in. Whether he would really hear his message would depend entirely on chance. Xie Lian didn't dare leave things be for too long either, and immediately returned to the battlefront to continue his watch over the fortress city.

Maybe it was because the damage inflicted in the first battle was too great and their reinforcements had been cut off secretly by Feng Xin and Mu Qing, but Yong'an seemed to have changed tactics and didn't recklessly attack again. After a few months, they fought a few small battles, but didn't lose too gravely. Compared to the first battle, those bouts were nothing. That strange white- clothed being didn't appear again, either. Thus, the royal capital of Xianle was growing slack, and Xie Lian himself found a rare chance to leave from the front lines, strolling through the royal capital to relax a bit.

He stepped onto a small stone bridge, stirring long twines of the weeping willow next to the bridge; he watched lively, red koi fish swish their tails, swimming happily through the coursing waters below, feeling envious. He was lost in thought for a while when suddenly he felt eyes staring at him from behind, and when he turned his head, there was no one there. Puzzled, but not sensing any malintent or killing intent, Xie Lian didn't mind.

After crossing the bridge, he strolled along the Martial Deity Avenue, and passersby on the road bowed to him excitedly or reverently or delightfully, greeting "Your Highness". Xie Lian nodded and smiled, and after walking for a while, he felt that staring gaze on his back again.

This time, he took it to heart, and whipped around without warning, catching the culprit. Behind a willow tree there was a flash of a shadow. Xie Lian walked up and was about to grab at the person when he realized with a start that it was that boy with his head wrapped in bandages.

"You're...?"

Even with bandages wrapped all over his head, that boy still raised crossed arms to cover his face, leaving only a bright eye peeking through his patched sleeves.

He stammered, "Y-Your Highness, I didn't mean to."

Xie Lian pointed at him. "You're from that night..."

He trailed off, recalling immediately what exactly transpired that night many months ago, and just how discomposed he was. Images filled his mind and he reddened, feeling slightly awkward, and hurriedly cleared his throat.

"So it was you. I was going to look for you a while back, but with so much on my plate I'd forgotten. Ahem, aren't you a soldier in the army? Why are you in the city?"

Hearing him, that boy was taken aback and replied, a little mopingly, "I'm not in the army anymore."

Xie Lian was bewildered. "Huh? Why not?"

That boy was even more bewildered. "I...got kicked out. Your Highness, did...did you not know?!"

Xie Lian was perplexed. "Know what?"

He had clearly told Mu Qing that that child was a good sprout, to be settled and appointed, so how did he get kicked out of the army after Xie Lian's specific instructions???

That boy looked to be both excited and happy, immediately dropping his arms. "So Your Highness hadn't known! I had thought...I thought..."

Xie Lian was becoming more and more curious. "Come, tell me, why did you get kicked out? Who kicked you out? Why did you think I would know? Also, what had you thought?"

That boy made a giant step towards him, but before he could speak, just then from the Martial Deity Avenue came a loud, horrified scream.

"AAAAHHHHHHH——!!!"

Xie Lian whipped his head around and saw a man holding his face, running and stumbling in his direction.

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MXTX‌ ‌Author‌ ‌Notes:‌ ‌Xie‌ ‌Lian‌ ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌serious‌ ‌martial‌ ‌arts‌ ‌otaku!‌ ‌–‌ ‌All‌ ‌the‌ ‌peeping‌ ‌flowers‌ ‌got‌ ‌burnt‌ ‌to‌ ‌death‌ ‌by‌ ‌the‌ ‌straight‌ ‌dudes.‌