The Villainous State Preceptor, Gilded Banquet Awash in Blood
Feng Xin was the closest to the two, and he looked at Xie Lian with an unconcealed shock. Mu Qing on the other hand had glowing eyes, the schooled shock had a hidden layer of excitement. Shi Qing Xuan let go of Ming Yi and said, "Qian Qiu did you misunderstand something? If His Highness was that Guoshi¹ Fang Xin, how would you not recognize him until now?"
Another voice rang out the sidelines, "Qing Xuan, you don't know? Legends say the Guoshi Fang Xin was proud, mysterious, and cold. He'd always worn a white gold mask, having never shown his real face to anyone. His Highness Tai Hua must've never known his true identity."
The one who spoke had his arms crossed and stood far on the sidelines. It was Pei Ming. Just seeing his face made Shi Qing Xuan annoyed, and he swung his whisk, "If that's the case, then no one had seen what the Guoshi Fang Xin looked like. Why must General Pei make it sound like it's a sure thing that His Highness XianLe is the Guoshi Fang Xin?"
When in action, Shi Qing Xuan and Xie Lian were ridiculous and hilarious, but once in the heavenly court, they changed their composure, calm and poised, mindful of their behaviour. Just then, a snow white silhouette appeared from the back chambers.
The moment he arrived everyone calmed down. The chattering officials all stood in their place, silencing their gossip, and bowed, "Your Majesty."
Jun Wu raised his hand slightly and everyone straightened once more. He walked willfully, and as he passed by Xie Lian, he tapped on his right shoulder. The sleeve that was still dripping with fresh blood ceased immediately after the tap.
After taking a moment to look over Ming Yi, Jun Wu stated, "It's nothing serious. Settle the Earth Master in."
Thus, four famous medicinal heavenly officials came over to lift Ming Yi up and took him away. Shi Qing Xuan looked as if he wanted to follow, but seeing the current tension in the Great Martial Hall, he couldn't not worry and decided not to go after all.
With his hands behind his back, Jun Wu returned to the throne before speaking again,
"So tell me. What's happened now? Why won't Tai Hua let XianLe go, and why is XianLe bowing his head?"
Lang Qian Qiu glanced at Xie Lian, seeing that he was still silent, as they were surrounded by heavenly officials, there was no need to fear his escape, so Lang Qian Qiu released his hand and turned to Jun Wu in a bow, "My Lord, many hundreds of years ago, this man altered his name to Fang Xin, slaughtered my clan, and brought ruin to my kingdom. I request for a duel, and pray the lord will be our judge!"
Within the Great Martial Hall, even ones who had never heard of the name Fang Xin ran to research the name within the communication array. What was uncovered was an astonishing tale. Good thing Ling Wen was present to answer everyone's query: "The Guoshi Fang Xin was the saviour and teacher to the Crown Prince of YongAn, Lang Qian Qiu. He was named one of the Two Wicked Masters because of the infamous bloodbath that washed the Gilded Banquet of the YongAn monarchy."
"What was the Gilded Banquet?" Shi Qing Xuan asked.
"Lord Wind Master," Ling Wen replied, "This Gilded Banquet was first a tradition passed down from the nobilities of XianLe, and called thus because every cutlery, utensils, cups, and instruments were of the highest grade of gold, exquisite and luxurious."
After the kingdom of YongAn was established, at the beginning they announced to the
world they would not follow the culture of excess from the old kingdom, and put all their focus on their peoples. Yet, after a few decades, the old ways were relearnt, including that culture of excess."
Ling Wen continued: "On the night of the seventeenth birthday of the Crown Prince of YongAn, the palace threw a Gilded Banquet in celebration. That Guoshi Fang Xin... in that feast, with one sword in hand, slaughtered every royalty in attendance."
The golden goblets toppled and blood spilt like wine.
"Only the Crown Prince of YongAn escaped because of his late arrival to the feast. Otherwise he too would've been annihilated."
This coup d'etat was aimed at the building of YongAn, and if it wasn't for Lang Qian Qiu who had the people's heart and his hard work, there would no doubt be a riot. It was with great difficulty that the chaos was settled, and soon after, the YongAn monarchy released a bounty to pursue the fugitive murderer. At last when he was captured, Lang Qian Qiu killed the evil Guoshi Fang Xin with his own two hands, sealed the corpse within a triple layered coffin, before sealing it again underground.
However, the roots of the monarchy had been gravely damaged, and since then, it inevitably declined before it was overtaken by another clan in the end.
Lang Qian Qiu glared at Xie Lian, "I never understood why you did what you did. You said you couldn't stand seeing us on the throne, but I didn't believe it, and I never
thought you wanted to overthrow the monarchy to take our place. But now I finally know why."
The heavenly officials were eyes wide with shock, muttering to each other.
"This is revenge!"
"It couldn't have been anything else! The kingdom of XianLe had fallen, so he had to ruin YongAn too. YongAn killed his royal parents, so he had to murder the royal parents of the Crown Prince of YongAn. An eye for an eye. It's pure vengeance!"
"But the ones who wiped out XianLe wasn't Lang Qian Qiu's generation, this rage was unreasonable..."
"And here I thought the Laughing Stock of the Three Realms was a fool, but he's actually quite the aggressive character. Going undercover as a Guoshi in enemy state, slaughtering the entire monarchy in one go. Incredible..."
Xie Lian could feel Jun Wu's eyes on him, and closed his own. He heard Jun Wu say,
"Tai Hua, you firmly believe XianLe to be Fang Xin, but do you have proof?"
"The Guoshi Fang Xin was the one who taught me swordsmanship; how can I not recognize him the moment he strikes?" Lang Qian Qiu replied.
The gossipping poured in like tides.
"Nevermind making a mess of things, but isn't teaching the Crown Prince swordsmanship a little too extra?"
"No wonder after the third ascension we haven't seen him touch a single sword. He's afraid to show his tail."
Lang Qian Qiu stated: "This time I went to the Ghost City and fought with Crimson Rain Sought Flower..."
The moment he mentioned the Ghost City and Hua Cheng, many of the officials shivered again in fright, but Lang Qian Qiu continued: "When I was twelve, there was once when I was kidnapped during an outing. The kidnappers dragged me onto the streets and when the guards caught up they started brawling. A street performer was dragged in, and bruised as he was, he intercepted the fight with but a tree branch, and easily rescued me with but a few swings.
The kidnappers and the guards both suffered grave damages, and it was this street performer who escorted me all the way back to the palace. Out of immense gratitude,
his majesty my father and the queen my mother fervently tried to retain him and discovered his skills in swordsmanship, and so he was ultimately invited to become the Guoshi. He taught me the way of the blades for five years. I'm more than familiar with his style, how can I be wrong?"
"Your Highness Tai Hua," Mu Qing said faintly, "You're saying that what you saw was but a shadow, and other than you, no one else has seen it. So all of this is only by your words."
Mu Qing's argument sounded like it was in Xie Lian's favour, but it was actually more complex. He had already seen that Lang Qian Qiu wouldn't let this go, and the more he was questioned, the more he will prove himself, and not the least bit helpful to Xie Lian's situation. Sure enough, Lang Qian Qiu demanded, "Fine. Please bring me a sword!"
There were many martial gods within the hall that carry a sword, and hearing his call, there was immediately a sword thrown towards him. Lang Qian Qiu caught it and forced
it in front of Xie Lian, "Take it. We'll duel now without holding back, using everything we've got and see whether if we have the same style, and whether if I was taught by you!"
Everyone thought to duel in the Great Martial Hall was reckless, but with the Gilded Banquet, that a Crown Prince's entire family was slaughtered in cold blood, they could understand why he was this agitated. Xie Lian's injury was still on Shi Qing Xuan's mind, and he said, "Qian Qiu, His Highness blocked that attack from Hua Cheng for you, and injured his right arm like this, so how can he duel with you?"
Hearing this, Lang Qian Qiu suddenly extended his left palm, and smacked heavily upon his own right arm. There was a loud crack and a mist of blood spurted out from his entire right arm from the shoulder, bleeding profusely, and fell limply. There wasn't any need to check to understand that it was a heavy injury and everyone was shocked. Xie Lian was also taken aback and raised his eyes, "What are you doing?"
"The Lord Wind Master was right." Lang Qian Qiu said, "You did injure your arm saving me, and so I return an arm to you. But saving me is one thing, killing my clan is the undeniable truth. I know you're dextrous and can use a sword with either arms without lessening your skills. We'll duel with our left. Pick up the sword if you're a man!"
Xie Lian looked at the sword, then looked at him, and finally, shook his head slowly. "I've sworn many years ago to never kill with the sword again."
With those words, Lang Qian Qiu recalled that night when he finally arrived at the feast, the scene of that black robed man pulling out a longsword from the dead bodies of his parents, and his eyes reddened with madness, the sword in his left hand emitting a shaking, crackling sound from his left grip. Shi Qing Xuan swung out his whisk again and it wrapped around the sword to hold it down. "I think there might be some sort of misunderstanding here. If that Guoshi Fang Xin had always worn a mask, then anyone could've pretended to be him to commit murder. How does my Lord think?"
Everyone turned their gaze to the jaded throne.
"Xian Le." Jun Wu spoke.
"Yes, my lord." Xie Lian bowed.
"Do you concede to Tai Hua's accusations?" Jun Wu asked.
"I concede." Xie Lian replied.
The "I concede" was uttered in a frozen tone, very unlike Xie Lian's usual manner of speaking, and the faces of Feng Xin, Mu Qing, and Shi Qing Xuan all dropped.
Jun Wu nodded, and asked, "The Guoshi Fang Xin who spilt blood upon the Gilded Banquet– was it you?"
After a moment of silence, Xie Lian raised his head, determined, "That's right. It was me!"
Words of steel with no turning back. "So you admit. Very good." Lang Qian Qiu said.
As aforementioned, there were innumerous heavenly officials with mortal blood on their hands in the upper court. But truthfully, there hadn't been that many who had their blood debt escalate to this point. It might be because those mortals didn't have someone like Lang Qian Qiu in the family who could ascend and demand justice from the heavens.
Before Pei Su had General Pei as a shield, but in the end he couldn't escape exile. Xie Lian had no one behind him, so now it'd all depend on whether if Jun Wu still value past affections and hold the heart to protect him.
Yet, many still couldn't fathom what attitude Jun Wu held towards Xie Lian. The first ascension, the Crown Prince of XianLe was of course treated with the utmost favour; the second ascension, the two had a huge fight, and Xie Lian even stabbed Jun Wu a few times before he was defeated; and this third ascension, the two had been at peace with each other, as if the past conflicts had been forgotten, and Jun Wu even built a palace for Xie Lian in the nicest area of the heavenly capital. It was truly difficult to understand. Now, everyone had their ears attentive, waiting eagerly to hear how the lord will sentence Xie Lian.
However, before Jun Wu had the chance to pass verdict, Xie Lian spoke up first. "Xian Le has a presumptuous request."
"What is it." Jun Wu responded.
"I humbly ask the Lord to remove my godhood, and banish me to the mortal realm." Xie Lian said.
Some of the heavenly officials were astonished, and at the same time amazed. Of course no one wanted to be banished, it's not easy to ascend. To work so hard to climb so high only to fall, just thinking about it felt rueful. To dare ask for banishment from Jun Wu so straightforwardly, a lot of them couldn't do it. Some of the other heavenly officials
didn't think much of it. After all, at this point it might be better to back off than to fight to the death. Xie Lian had been banished twice already; a third time probably meant nothing to him, and maybe he's even used to it.
Lang Qian Qiu on the other hand, objected, "I don't need you to banish yourself. Ascension is because you have the skills. I only want a duel."
"I don't want to fight you." Xie Lian said.
"Why?" Lang Qian Qiu shouted, "It's not like we've never fought before. Life or death,
the outcome doesn't matter, let's just put an end to this!"
Xie Lian said plainly, "No reason. Fight me, and you will for sure die."
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Translator Notes:
¹Teacher of the State/Imperial Preceptor