102 Fast growing cold (1/2)

Liu Sumeng had been told that as a baby he used to cry a lot. But after a certain age he simply had stopped. Liu Suye had theorized that Liu Sumeng cried out all his tears when he was young, saving none for his adult years.

But he was wrong.

Because Liu Sumeng was crying. No longer able to hold back tears, they tumbled freely down his face and he tried to keep his composure that threatened to shatter at any given moment.

In the midst of the rubble of the Wayward Wind Temple, he held Yuan Xuelan close to his chest. His one good arm around the younger's shoulder, his fingers in those wild black locks. His voice was choked, throat dry, ”No, Xuelan, you can't die. Stay awake. Stay with me.”

The blood was warm but his body was fast growing cold.

With a shaking hand, he took out the highest grade restorative pill he had on him, already knowing that it wasn't enough to mend the wounds on Xuelan's body in time.

But he was desperate! Anything, please, a miracle would do. He pushed the medicine past Yuan Xuelan's lips but it only fell out after.

Liu Sumeng was not the type to swear but in that moment he did. He refused to give up, even as Xuelan's life was slipping away in his very arms.

A second time.

This would mark a second time that Xuelan would die in his arms. His heart, his throat, his stomach went numb.

And this time…Yuan Xuelan who hadn't been terrible, who treated him kindly would die trading his life for Liu Sumeng's. How could he accept that? He couldn't!

Liu Sumeng put the medicine in his own mouth before clasping Xuelan's pale visage.

Xuelan's lips were chapped and dry and did not react under his touch. A breath so light it could easily be missed. Liu Sumeng pried those lips open with his own, and pushed the pill inside Yuan Xuelan's mouth with his tongue.

All he could taste was iron. Liu Sumeng did not give up and forcefully pushed that small, round pill down a weak throat that already had no more strength to swallow.

”Are you truly this stupid? You already know such a thing will not work.”

But he had to try, he had to, what else could Liu Sumeng do? He didn't want Yuan Xuelan to die. Not like this. Not again. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, supposed to be…

He couldn't let this end. Not like this!

”Be quiet, will you? Your thoughts are so awfully noisy. This divine one is still weak, sleepy and in a terrible mood. But I've taken a liking to you and even this annoying rude-boy you have raised so tenderly. So I will help you out. Stop crying now, let this Dajie of yours fix things okay?”

Tears did not stop flowing.

Not even when Huo Tang fell out of his robes and enveloped Yuan Xuelan with a divine golden light, her tiny body merging with his.

…

Xianlong was a sacred sword that eclipsed even Silei in power and magnificence.

Liu Sumeng always wondered why the emperor gave him this terrible sword. But his heart always knew what he had to do with it.

He could already hear the shouting as he approached. ”I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!”

Liu Sumeng was rushing down the pathway under the eaves but by the time he made it to the pavilion in one of the palace's many gardens it was already too late. There were already bodies. And when the servants saw General Liu approach, they dropped his feet, begging and pleading.

”Please speak to His Majesty! Only you can speak to him. Make him see reason, please…!”

These violent tantrums only became more frequent. Yuan Xuelan stopped thinking twice before torturing and ending the lives of his officials, and even those of his innocent servants.

What had been a beautiful garden that surrounded a quaint lotus pond was already dyed red and decorated with fire and gore. Emperor Taixu swung his sword wildly while yelling, ”How dare you look at me with those eyes!? Is that pity I see?! Fucker, know your place, you should know your place! I am not dependent! There is no one in this world that I need aside from myself, get out!”

No one knew who he was even shouting at. There was no one left standing around him. Even their corpses were beyond recognizable, left in bloody clumps and lumps of flesh.

The person who incited this raging fit was most likely dead already.

Liu Sumeng's hand traced Xianlong's hilt. He drew in a breath, sharp.

The small wooden bridge that the emperor was standing on had caught fire and his hair hung around his face, messy and disheveled. He was no different from a raging savage, a villain that saw no reason, kindness nor love.

'Ah,' Liu Sumeng lamented, 'Surely things didn't have to turn out this way.'

When the emperor caught sight of him, the first thing that Liu Sumeng noticed was the anger and rage that danced so vividly in his eyes. ”Sumeng.” The name was bitten through clenched teeth.

What was it this time? Did someone accidentally utter an off-handed comment? Did someone veer their eyes in the wrong direction? Or simply wore a color that displeased the emperor on this particular day.