Chapter 40 | Love And Hatred

While speaking, he showed some sympathy, "Han Ji forced you to enter the palace to execute the plan for him and made you, the distinguished son of a member of the Privy Council, become a mantress. How could a proud man such as you accept pleasuring another man, even if it's the Emperor of Cang He? But you endured it. Although you tolerated it, you still have hatred in your heart, so even if Han Ji is captured, you don't feel moved. You want to kill me to make Father feel miserable, and you also want to kill him in order to take revenge for being favoured."

The more he spoke, the more Han Ziqi's expression showed emotional ups and downs. Supposedly, the feelings in his heart were stirred because of Qi Mingyue's assertions. He said word by word, "Yes, I hate him."

Han Ziqi's originally handsome appearance had become somewhat distorted. At this time, the barrier in his heart seemed to have been broken through. Love and resentment, all sorts of complex emotions that couldn't be found on his face in the past, surged up together. The more expressive his face became, the clearer his tone was. After saying that, as if he wanted to hide something, he suddenly lowered his head, then raised it again, revealing his face that reverted to an indifferent appearance. Leaning against the wall, he said to Qi Mingyue, "Your Second Highness, kill me. When all my blood runs out, I will die anyway. If Your Highness wants to take revenge for poisoning you, this is a good time."

"It seems you want to die." Qi Mingyue said so and unhurriedly released Yi Hu from his waist. From the corner of his eyes, he caught An Ruolan moving slightly.

Han Ziqi watched An Ruolan wake up with a bitter smile, "Yes, I was completely defeated today, so what if I die? Ultimately, it was because of my selfishness that I used her." He said somewhat guiltily, but no longer looked at Qi Xutian.

Hearing his words, An Ruolan suddenly had a reaction. She stared at his face intently, as if recalling something, and called out, "Ziqi, Ziqi ge... Ruolan wants Ziqi ge." As she spoke, she walked towards him. The cell door had already been damaged earlier, she stepped out of the door and halted a short distance away from him.

Knowing that she had long become a bit foolish, Han Ziqi couldn't comprehend how he was feeling at the moment as he looked at her. He shouted at Qi Mingyue, "Kill me! Otherwise, I will trigger Lianxin gu and let you die together!"

Qi Xutian looked at him without any expression, "Since you are determined to die, I will fulfil your wish." Liu Yi was about to make a move upon hearing his words, but Qi Mingyue spoke to deter him, "Father, let me do it."

It wasn't known what Qi Mingyue discovered, but slight surprise and a hint of realisation flashed past his eyes. Then, he lifted Yi Hu and spoke, "I will fulfil your wish and take your life so you won't have to feel pain anymore. You don’t love my Consort Mother but you loathe Father Emperor so much, I'm afraid it's because of another reason besides the ones mentioned earlier, however, you don't dare to admit it."

Because of his words, Han Ziqi's chest undulated violently and his scarlet blood kept dribbling down constantly from the corner of his mouth as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Finally, he couldn't help but spurted out blood and his voice turned hoarse. He seemed to have guessed what Qi Mingyue was going to assert and shook his head in strong denial, "I hate him, I want him to die!"

As he approached him slowly, the sympathy in Qi Mingyue's eyes became increasingly clear. Looking at Han Ziqi, he sighed and said, "You are in love with Father."

His tone was gentle but Han Ziqi was hit hard, his body leaning against the wall slowly slid down and blood overflowed from his mouth unceasingly as he heard Qi Mingyue continue, "If you don't want to admit it, I will not force you. If you want to die, I will do it." For Han Ziqi, falling in love with Father Emperor was his sorrow.

With cyan sleeves that were slightly raised and the translucent Yi Hu in his hand casting a cold, sharp shadow on the wall, silently struck his chest with gentle speed but it was still not slow. With Han Ziqi's current injuries, even with a light touch from the sword, he would die easily.

All the hatred he'd always had, just because he didn't want to admit it? How could he actually have feelings for Qi Xutian? At this moment, the entanglement in his heart was broken by Qi Mingyue and it suddenly dawned on him that no matter what the feeling was, it didn't matter...

Han Ziqi looked at Yi Hu in a daze and through its blade, he saw Qi Xutian's figure; his eyes were focused on Qi Mingyue with such gentle and deep eyes, it was a look Han Ziqi had never seen him make before. Whether he loved or hated Qi Xutian, it hadn't left the slightest trace in his heart. In Qi Xutian's eyes, only the figure of the young man standing in front of him while holding a sword existed.

Even if he discovered earlier why such obsession, attachment and concern existed in his heart, it was useless... So what if love and hatred existed? He could only let go... With an inaudible sigh, Han Ziqi closed his eyes and waited for the pain of death to come.

Outside the palace, explosions and fires broke out one after another. The wails of imperial concubines and the frightened cries of the princes and princesses sounded, it was a chaotic mess. It was at this overwhelming time that they heard someone had broken into the dungeon. Guards were guarding the palace. The ministers who survived the disaster hurriedly rushed into the palace with their hair dishevelled and their clothes scorched black along with their escorts, intending to take this opportunity to show their loyalty.

A few of those people entered the dungeon, soon followed by a few more ministers who hurriedly returned after discovering the accident while hunting. Their clothes were neat, but those standing in front were stained with soot and their faces were hard to recognize, however, the panic in their eyes was obvious.

The people who arrived later were unaware about the happenings inside, subsequently, they looked inside the prison and saw that under the cover of the flickering light from the torch, the entire dungeon was shrouded in a strange and mysterious atmosphere, appearing to be a foreign land separate from the world. Compared to the roar of flames outside the palace, it was terrifyingly quiet inside with only the unnatural sound of a viscous liquid slowly falling down audible. There was a lingering bloody smell in the air and the heavy scent of rust made people feel sick.

In the flickering darkness, they could see the figure of His Majesty standing still and Chief Liu also stood next to him with an impassive expression, as usual, however, if examined closely, tension can be spotted in his eyes but no one paid attention to this. They only saw the Second Prince Qi Mingyue holding a sharp weapon in his hand; its length was stained with a scarlet liquid that trickled down like a long and slender thread of haunting red silk and gradually dripped onto the ground.

The translucent silk-like blade had sunk into the human body as if adding a strand of gorgeous silk to it, it looked as if it had been soaked in dye, and gradually, it turned into a blood-red colour akin to a bright crimson brocade wrapping the pair of silhouettes cast on the wall.

There was bloodied man against the wall covered in ardent red, but there was another on top of him, weakened and slow as they whimpered something inaudible in a low voice, it wasn't known what that person said, however, that person turned and revealed half of their face. The ministers standing behind that came later clamoured in alarm, their expressions of horror were similar to their colleagues standing in front of them that came foremost.

That was Consort An! The biological mother of the Second Prince! At this moment, the sword in the Second Prince's hand was impaled into An Roulan, his Consort Mother!

An Ruolan slowly slid down from the blade, still murmuring, "Roulan... won't let Ziqi die, Roulan won't..." Her voice gradually weakened until finally, it was completely gone.

Han Ziqi was waiting for death with his eyes closed, however, he felt something heavy fall on him. When he opened his eyes, he saw An Ruolan lying on him with a naive smile on her face, as if she was still just a little girl that was a few years old. Her chest was dyed crimson and the wet blood stained her clothes dark as blood continued to flow and the bitter smell of rust permeated the air. Her body gradually slipped down and as he looked at the breathless An Roulan, Han Ziqi's mind suddenly went blank and the words "Ziqi ge" echoed in his ears.

Qi Mingyue controlled Yi Hu and stood there firmly, seemingly unaware of the ministers standing at the entrance of the dungeon. The blood-stained blade reverted to being as soft as silk and hung flaccidly in his hand like a piece of gorgeous silk, without the slightest variegated colour. He stood in place blankly and without much expression but his eyes were empty and desolate.

He hadn't expected that An Ruolan, who stood foolishly on the side, would suddenly rush to Han Ziqi. He had hurriedly tried to withdraw the blade but it was too late, Yi Hu's considerable and rigid sharpness was determined and there was no freedom to hesitate at all. He only felt the burst of qi rush out of control as the sharp blade sank into her back, killing her and leaving no trace of blood.

The silver thread made of silk adorned his inky, smooth hair forming a clear contrast, however, at this time, everyone only felt that the silver colour blending in with his dark hair revealed only a sense of suffocating coldness. The Second Prince stood by himself and seemed like a demon god, his whole body was overflowing with a strong cold murderous momentum, much like the aura of a sovereign, entirely similar to His Majesty when he got angry. It made people feel as if they were in hell, their hands and feet turned cold and all of them fell mute.

It wasn't known who shouted, however, he fully expressed the fear in everyone's heart, "Killing his mother, this... this is the matricide the Grandmaster spoke of!"

Matricide! Alien! It turned out that the alien star was actually the most favoured Second Prince!

An Ruolan's corpse was still on the side with a smile on her face. Under the flickering illumination of the torch, her face appeared unusually pale and unnatural, it was terrifying.

However, it wasn't the corpse that made everyone fearful, it was the words foretold by Tan Wu; the alien star would come into this world and bring chaos to Cang He, His Majesty had been deceived by the alien star and ended up favouring the demon, it seemed that Cang He was in danger!

With anxious and expectant eyes, they all looked in Qi Xutian's direction but didn't dare to speak callously. Who knew what His Majesty was thinking? Nonetheless, in their hearts, all of them hoped that His Majesty would take down this alien star immediately. It would be best to kill him immediately so as to not endanger the country.

Qi Xutian didn't say anything and remained motionless, he just stared at Qi Mingyue's figure that was standing still with a worried look in his eyes.

Qi Mingyue opened his mouth as if he was about to say something. An Ruolan just fell down a short time ago, and at this time, his heart began to churn as if all his blood was flowing backwards through the meridians; he actually got affected by Lianxin and was unable to hold Yi Hu anymore. His body softened and fell into a familiar embrace.

---

Previous | Project Page | Next