Xie Lian looked at the sword, then looked at him. In the end, he shook his head slowly. “I swore many years ago to never kill with the sword again.”
His words made Lang Qianqiu remember that night, and the scene that greeted him when he arrived at the banquet: that black-robed man, his eyes frighteningly bloodshot, pulling a longsword from the dead body of his father with his left hand. The sound of it was like meat being butchered.
Shi Qingxuan swung out his whisk, and it wrapped around the sword to hold it in place. “I think there must be some sort of misunderstanding here. If that State Preceptor Fangxin always wore a mask, then anyone could’ve pretended to be him to commit murder. What does My Lord think?”
Everyone turned their gaze to the jaded throne.
“Xianle,” Jun Wu spoke.
Xie Lian bowed. “Yes, My Lord.”
“Do you concede that Tai Hua’s accusations are true?” Jun Wu asked.
“I concede,” Xie Lian replied.
The “I concede” was uttered frostily, the complete opposite of Xie Lian’s usual manner of speaking, and the faces of Feng Xin, Mu Qing, and Shi Qingxuan all changed colors.
Jun Wu nodded. He then questioned further, “The State Preceptor Fangxin who committed the Gilded Banquet Massacre—was that you?”
After a moment of silence, Xie Lian raised his head, his expression one of determination. “That’s right. It was me!”
His answer was loud and clear and left no opportunity to turn back.
“So you admit it. Good,” Lang Qianqiu said.
As was previously explained, there were innumerable heavenly officials with mortal blood on their hands in the Upper Court. But truthfully, not many had their old blood debts escalate to this point. After all, most killed mortals didn’t have descendants of Lang Qianqiu’s caliber in their families, descendants who could demand justice from the murderer from the position of an esteemed heavenly official.
Pei Xiu was under the protection of General Pei, but in the end, he still couldn’t escape exile. Xie Lian had no one to stand behind him. This would all depend on whether Jun Wu still valued his past affection toward Xie Lian and whether the Emperor had the heart to protect him.
Many still couldn’t comprehend what sort of feelings Jun Wu held toward Xie Lian. During his first ascension, the Crown Prince of Xianle was of course treated with the utmost favor. But the two had a huge fight during his second ascension, and Xie Lian even stabbed Jun Wu a few times before he was defeated. This third ascension, the two had been at peace with each other, as if those past conflicts had been forgotten. Jun Wu had even built a brand-new palace for Xie Lian, located in the nicest area of the Heavenly Capital. It was truly difficult to understand. Thus, countless pairs of ears perked up, waiting to hear how the Emperor would sentence Xie Lian.
Unexpectedly, before Jun Wu had the chance to pass a verdict, Xie Lian spoke. “Xianle has a presumptuous request.”
“Speak,” Jun Wu responded.
“I humbly ask My Lord to remove my godhood and banish me to the Mortal Realm,” Xie Lian said.
Some of the heavenly officials were shocked, and at the same time somewhat amazed. No one wanted to be banished, after all. It wasn’t easy to ascend, and to work so hard and climb so high only to plummet… Just thinking about it made one want to sigh in lament. There was simply no way they’d dare ask for banishment from Jun Wu so straightforwardly.
At the same time, some of the other heavenly officials couldn’t care less. In this sort of situation, it might be better to give up than to vehemently deny everything. Xie Lian had been banished twice already—a third time probably meant nothing to him. He should be used to it by now.
Lang Qianqiu, however, objected. “I don’t need you to banish yourself. Ascension is based on ability alone. I only want a duel.”
“I don’t want to fight you,” Xie Lian said.
“Why not?!” Lang Qianqiu 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. But fight me and you will surely die.”
Chapter 19:
Enraged Nan Yang, Fistfight with Difficult Xuan Zheng
ALTHOUGH THE WORDS were said casually, gasps could be heard from all around. Many of the martial gods had the same thought: You’re nothing more than a powerless rubbish god! How could you be so shameless as to tell Lang Qianqiu, the one Martial God of the East, “fight me and you will surely die”？ What arrogance! It was like he asked to be banished because fighting Lang Qianqiu was beneath him. Absolute bullshit.