V2C124

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When everyone left, the Purple Pavilion remained deserted, leaving behind just two people, the father and son. The breeze rested between the curtains, and the lingering fragrance of the precious censer made the atmosphere feel like the time had frozen.

“Twenty-three years.” The emperor murmured, “We… finally meet.”

As the supreme Emperor of Kongsang, his tone surprisingly contained a hint of shame and emotional sorrow. Shi Ying, on the other hand, simply lowered his head and looked at the Imperial Heavenly Divine Ring in his hand with a mixed expression – this ring, crafted by the ancient Xingzun Emperor and symbolizing the imperial power of Yunhuang, shimmered with beautiful magnificence between his fingers.

He even made an attempt to stretch out his palm and put the sacred ring onto his left finger. When there was just about an inch left to separate them, the sky above the Imperial Palace suddenly lit up with a burst of light!

“Look, it’s echoing you…” the Bei Mian Emperor gazed steadily at his firstborn son from his sickbed, his breathing taking a slow and subdued tone of emotion, “You are a direct descendant of Xingzun Emperor and Empress Bai Wei, and you have the purest imperial blood in you… ahem, powerful enough to be its master.”

But Shi Ying withdrew his finger in mid-air and refrained from turning the Celestial Heavens upon him – there was a heavy shadow between his furrowed brows, and although he was holding the world into the palm of his hand, he did not feel the least bit relaxed, as if he was holding a ball of coals in fire.

“Ying, you…” The emperor looked at his firstborn son for a long time before finally opening his mouth with difficulty, speaking one word at a time, “Was it you to kill your brother?”

In that moment, Shi Ying jerked his head up in disbelief and looked straight into his face!

The dying old man’s eyes were cold and sharp, looking squarely at his only remaining son without the slightest hint of avoidance. The corners of Shi Ying’s mouth twitched – he wanted to say he didn’t kill his brother, yet Shi Yu’s death was clearly something he was responsible of, regardless of how they were connected.

“Heh…” Seeing his sudden change of expression, the emperor smiled bitterly and murmured, “Indeed… Shi Yu, that miserable child, ahem… has been obliterated by you.”

“…” Shi Ying couldn’t manage to say a word, but his eyes gradually hardened.

The emperor retained him to have a private talk, could it be just for this reason? He wanted to take revenge for Shi Yu?

“Do not worry, I will not pursue the matter… at this point, ahem… should I have to kill my only remaining direct son in order to avenge him?” The emperor murmured, his eyes also filled with a cold grey emptiness, “Shi Yu was a good child… If I were to fault him, I could only blame him for having been born into the imperial family…”

Holding the Imperial Heavenly Divine Ring in the palm of his hand, Shi Ying felt nothing but a stabbing pain in his heart upon hearing these words.

A ruler, a subject, a father, a son, a brother who shows respect for his peers. These were all supposed to be the way of heaven and human decency, something which should be the natural order of things. However, in such an imperial family where the king is on top of the world, everything is reversed: the husband kills his wife, the elder brother kills his younger brother… This kind of scarlet earth is as good as hell.

Was this the place for which he had shed his divine robes and would spend the rest of his years in?

In a trance, the muffled words of the emperor reached again to his ears: “…You have returned to become the Crown Prince… that’s good. Next, choose one of those daughters of the White King… to make her your Queen. Stabilize the situation in Kongsang as soon as possible.”

What? Shi Ying shuddered and instantly raised his head to look at his father.

“What? Are you surprised?” The emperor observed his astonished expression, and a smile surfaced at the corners of his mouth, as his voice weakened, “The Empress of Kongsang through the generations has always been selected from the White Clan… This is a rule that has been passed down from generation to generation.”

“…” Shi Ying didn’t reply, he only felt as if the imperial ring in his hand has become a burning mass of coals.

“I will think about appointing a consort later.” After a few moments, he opened his mouth, speaking in a calm tone, “I have been a priest since I was a child, I am not interested in such pedestrian matters.”

The emperor scowled at him and fell silent.

What? Shi Ying lifted his head to look at his father, only to find the emperor staring at him with a strange penetrating and understanding expression in his eyes – the kind of expression that only a person of the most intimate blood could understand.

“You don’t want to?” The emperor whispered, “Do you have another love in your heart?”

For a moment, Shi Ying suddenly turned pale – could this dying old man be able to read his thoughts? But apart from the Grand Master of the Yunhuang Wasteland, there was nobody else with a higher level of magical cultivation who could read his mind…

“Ha… really worthy of being my son.” The emperor coughed and laughed with a broken, bitter smile as he looked at his son’s expression, “Do you know, Ying…? Over thirty years ago… when Father ordered me to marry your mother, I had the exact same expression… exactly the same!”

Shi Ying’s entire body shook, as if he had been stabbed in the heart with a knife, unable to say a word. So that is how he managed to read his heart?

“Back then, I was compelled to marry Yan…” the emperor murmured, apparently recognizing himself through his son in the distant past, “At that time, I had already met Autumn Water… it’s just a pity that she was only a shark and could never… ahem, never become the Empress of Kongsang.”

The Autumn Water Songstress!

The father was referring to the shark he had once hated with a passion – but for some reason, instead of the hatred he once felt, his heart turned to a cold, ashen pity. The pain of abandoning one’s heart, the struggle of not being able to get what the heart desires, the weight of a life-long pursuit, and yet always a thousand miles apart.

All of this he has grown to know and understand. And so, gradually, the forgiveness also grew.

“I loved Autumn Water immensely, ahem, and yet I still had to marry the royal princess of the White Clan in order to consolidate the throne… It wasn’t enough to just take a queen, I had to take a whole series of concubines one after another… in order to balance the power of the Six Clans.” When mentioning his past experiences as he was approaching his death, the emperor’s voice still contained a profound pain, “Alas… the harem is treacherous. I am the emperor of Kongsang, but still failed to protect her and could only watch her tragic death! Cough… The agony in the midst of all this cannot be described even by a million words.”

Shi Ying stared at his dying father and his fingers began to tremble slightly.

These were words he never expected to hear coming from the lips of this man – the father who had abandoned mother and son since his childhood, the emperor who towered over them but treated them as if they were nothing, he actually blurted out to him all these things before his death!

“I only hope that… what I have suffered during my lifetime, you will never have to experience any of that in the future.” The man spoke in a weak tone as he looked at his firstborn son, “What I have suffered, you will never have to suffer from it in your life.”

Shi Ying silently clenched his fists and suddenly spoke, “I was forced to leave my mother behind for more than ten years, and when I heard of her tragic death in the Cold Palace while myself I was confined in the deep valley, I can hardly describe in words how I felt and how difficult it was for me at that time.

The Bei Mian Emperor’s speech halted, panting violently as he gazed intensely at his son.

“I am aware that you will never forgive me…” For a long time, the emperor released a distressed laugh and murmured, “But when you will step into my place, perhaps… perhaps only then you will understand me somewhat better. Ying… you will learn in the future how much sacrifice is required in order to take charge of the throne of this empire – the sacrifice of yourself and also the sacrifice of someone you care for.”

“…” Shi Ying took a deep breath and managed to control his emotions.

Yes, how much sacrifice was needed? This he understood well enough. For his father, his mother, and even himself, were all expendable! The dying old man in front of him was about to be liberated, but what about him? What kind of unending journey was awaiting him?

Will that path be so much harsher, so much more painful, and so much more impossible to return from than the hell of ten thousand tribulations?

However, at this point in time, if he refused to commit himself to hell, who else should be able to submit to it?

“I… I don’t have much time left,” the emperor coughed, and his voice weakened, “The two Sword Saints used their spiritual energy to boost my vital essence and ahem… this have only… only allowed me to delay it until now. We have to hurry… first, cough, first let the White King and the Red King complete their marriage alliance.”

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