Exhausted for the day, he grabs his chair. Slumping on it as he snatched random papers to read only to throw it again once his eyes landed on the first epistle.
"The ache of muscles and trembling body would wash away, before my fury. Years of endless frustration bubbling inside me like scorching melted magma - twice as deadly. Before that, no injury or words could shake this god."
↺
"I can't believe this."
"It's just for a d-"
"I can not believe this. You and him - no."
"We weren't doing anything that could put me in harms wa-"
"Yes! Such a marvellous idea to go with a man that just knocked his guard out! Very lovely!"
"Lan Wuxiu-"
"I'm not telling anyone. As long as you came back without missing a limb - but is dripping wet, it's fine."
Mu Qing snorts, rolling his eyes as he pats his back. "Call Chin Wei, bring robes for the two of us. I can't go back looking like this." He gestured towards his person then to the man casually laying on the grass, eyes closed, seemingly napping if it weren't for the lazy smile on his features.
"Who on earth told you to jump in a fucking water fall?" The latter grumbled, smacking the hand as he trudges on the other side of the wall. "I'm still not accepting the merits, your highness! Who knows where that came from!" Waving a hand, he closes the small door as Mu Qing shakes his head in amusement.
He was cold. Freezing cold as the chilly water finally seeped inside his pale skin not long after they left the stream. The only thing keeping him warm now was his outer layer and mantle Nan Feng mercifully did not include when he jumped but even then, he couldn't stop his shivering. Strolling towards a warmer spot, he sat down with a huff, pulling his knees to his chest and closing his eyes.
Now he had wishes the excruciating heat the sun lend him earlier was still here and not the cool air settling around them. One thing he had hated was he easily gets cold - both in the temperature and in sickness -, hence, he always wears thicker layers no matter the weather. Frowning to himself, he focuses on reciting numerous excuses in his mind for both his Guoshi and parents if they ever ask where he came from and why he didn't show up for his last day.
Lying to Guoshi was easier, as the master wouldn't really question that much and let it go if the prince was obviously fine and not in pain. Resuming their cultivation as though nothing happened but his parents were an entirely different story. The king would ask countless questions, trying desperately to get into the silverette's skin for him to finally voiced out the real reason and not some bullshit excuse.
Mu Liu knows a lie when he hears one after all. A trait Mu Qing could not understand how the king got it but he sure damn as well want to inherit it. The only thing he actually wanted from his father was the thing he couldn't even learn directly from the source.
Agitated, he sighed. Saying he forgot was obviously overused and.. perhaps useless as well. How could he forget it was his last day of visit when he had just conversed about the topic of visiting to his parents? His mother herself knows about his exceptional memory. Knowing full well he couldn't just forget about something like that.
There's a first to everything? It'll only trigger more worrying and more coaxing, thus, he'll have to endure more lectures if not scolding. He could live with that, he endured alot of yelling before what more of just a few thirty minutes?
He slaps his face, shaking his head. He wouldn't be having to think excuses if only he didn't follow the young man. If it weren't for that young man.
But it was also partially his fault. Considering that if he stopped on his tracks and said he won't continue then the man clad in black would only nod and mutely walk back with no complaint and yet he did not but chose to follow instead.
"You could just tell them the truth?"
"And risk not being able to have my small freedom? Pass." Mu Qing swats the other off, noticing he was now leaning on the tree. Also noticing how it was taking his attendant and guard so long.
Nan Feng pops an eye open, arching a brow. "Freedom? What you do here isn't really different from what you do inside your kingdom, correct?" He questions, closing his eye.
"Well atleast I'm-" Enjoying here. Scowling he shakes his head instead, remembering the latter couldn't see him, "I have more freedom to choose what I want to do outside."
"Must be suffocating."
Mu Qing eyes him warily. Pursing his lips in a flat line, "Perhaps it is." Hastily adding when he realized how it must have sounded terrible to hear you're suffocating in your own kingdom, "But I still prefer there of course." Lie, another lie. Not receiving any answer, he internally sighed in relief.
Yet the silence that had settled between them was no longer comfortable. Turned awkward and even more colder than before as Mu Qing bit his lip. He wasn't one to start a conversation, every word that leaves his lips just end up in them having an even more strained silence. As most of the time, he lets the others around him converse then he'll pipe in here and then. Fiddling with his wet sleeve, he forces himself to swallow it down and wait for the others to come.
Until the latter spoke, "I have done my research in the history of your family." Nan Feng opens his eyes. "Are you interested yet in listening about it?"
Mu Qing was ready to say a joke. What else would there be to listen about their history besides the infamous betrayal? But hearing the intriguingly serious tone, he lazily nods. "I suppose so.." He says, perplexed on where his sources even came from.
The man clad in black leans forward, crossing his legs on the grass as he hums as if to think of his words more carefully. "Prince Mu Lin was charged of treason and then murdered by the current king, yes?"
".. Yes."
"It wasn't him."
Mu Qing furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "Wasn't him? Like wasn't him that was murdered? What-"
"Your highness!" The both of them abruptly stood up, facing the other two that ran towards them with hurried steps. A distressed look painted in both the attendant and guard's faces as Chin Wei quickly helps Mu Qing with his robes. "We have to hurry!"
"What's wrong - wait - I'm not stripping naked here!" The silverette hastily leers, pushing the hands away as he removes his outer robe to which Chin Wei snatched and pushed the more dryer and cleaner layer. "What's wrong? Is someone dying or something?"
Lan Wuxiu's face turns solemn - the cause for Mu Qing to suddenly feel nervous -, grabbing the clothes that dropped on the ground as he threw the extra robes to the man clad in black that catched it with ease. "Someone erected a Nan Yang temple."
The silverette scowls at his appearance, drying his hair with a towel as he glances at his guard with an arched brow. "And? That's not the first time someone erected a temple for a god."
Chin Wei shakes his head, removing the wet crown and hair jewelries from both his inner robes and hair. "They erected the temple beside king Mu Liu's main temple without his majesty's knowledge. By the time they recieved the news, hundreds of incense were already burned for the General's name." He replies, dumping the accessories in a small box he brought.
"Someone erected a Nan Yang temple beside the royal capital?" Mu Qing questions in disbelief, trying to think of who has the audacity to even do such thing as the two immediately pulled him towards the kingdom. "Wait - what did my father say?"
"He's ordering execution!" Lan Wuxiu glowers, "Her majesty couldn't even speak to her husband and the Guoshi is nowhere to be found! If he kills the people that erected the temple now, who knows what kind of chaos will happen! We should hurry!"
"Ah -" Mu Qing helplessly let himself get pulled, glancing back to see an unreadable expression written all over Nan Feng's face as he, too, dried his hair with a towel, staring intently at the three of them with his lips pursed in a flat line.
⟐
"It's the Crowned Prince! The crowned prince!"
"Make way you stupid brat!"
"Your highness! Help us rid of these worthless people!"
"The disgrace of creating a temple for a different god beside the symbol of the king!"
Mu Qing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Seeing people shove each other to create a narrow path for him to easily maneuver his way towards the said temple they're arguing about. Eyes dropping to the ground momentarily to descry globules of blood on the pavement. His imperial guard scowling at the people that dares to grab at the prince as he finally sees a temple that reached just a few feet above their heads, a human sized statue of a man standing in the centre and ashes of incense scattered on the offering table with about thirty people standing on guard infront and five too busy praying and kowtowing. "What-" He withdraw immediately as the people that saw him quickly pulled out their swords and pointed it to him.
"They're threatening the prince!"
"How dare you point your weapon at a noble!"
"They must be punished! Punished for threatening the prince!"
One of the people hesitates, glancing carefully around them before he looks back at the prince. "Forgive us your highness, but, we will not let you touch the Nan Yang temple."
"I was not given word to touch any temple nor do I intend to punish anyone." Mu Qing nods, gesturing towards their swords to which they reluctantly lowered. "The question still stands, why here?"
One hand was raised hesitantly. "The king won't answer our own queries, your highness. Won't heed our desperate calls for the tr-"
"Mu Qing get away from there." Pulled back by his collar, the silverette snaps his head around to glare at his father. "You have no business coming here."
"I was told you ordered for execution." Mu Qing narrowed his eyes, fixing his already ruined robes. "Execution for their desire to worship a God? Father, there is no law to say they aren't all-"
Mu Liu angrily grabs his elbow, pushing him away from the crowd and towards the lined guards where they immediately cornered him with no question as the prince widened his eyes in question and surprise. "You don't know what you're talking about. You barely even read the politics, what would you know about the laws of Zhuliu?!" Then he turns to glare at the small group of people that had raised their own swords once again. "Step back now."
"You have no right to touch this temple!" The same man that answered Mu Qing exclaims, fear evident in his voice despite his sword pointed directly at the king.
To this, the silverette furrows his eyebrows, snatching one of his arm off one guard only to be grabbed by double the pair. "Fu'qin-" Yelping in surprise when he gets pulled once again, familiar white and golden robes wrapped around his arm as he looks up to see his Guoshi's mask. "Where did you come from?"
"Best to stay quiet." The latter answers, tone not leaving any room for arguments.
Mu Qing puffed a tedious breath, glancing back once again as he sees his father mutter something to his own imperial guard. Noticing the man pull out his sword from its sheath and immediately thrust it towards one of the thirty surrounding men, he unsheaths his own saber, the length perfect for their distance once he pushed it forward. Successfully throwing the poorly gripped sword from its owner's grasp and an angry glare shot by his father. "Do not interfere!"
"They did nothing wrong, fu'qin!" He breathes out as the arm held by his master was tugged in a warning action that he pointedly ignored. He was growing nervous and even more fearful for his people. "What good will execution do?!"
"To rid of people that clearly enjoys spreading false rumours!" His father retaliates, "You wouldn't understand."
"Clearly as killing innocent people would never be understood." Mu Qing seethes, earning a burst of whispers around them. Some not believing that the prince could talk so against the king. "Put them to jail and be off. No execution."
"What authority do you have?" Mu Liu arches a brow in challenge. Crossing his arms, "I'm the king, you follow my orders."
"Or what?" Mu Qing copied his stance, arching his brow higher. "Order me to death by the gallows?" He questions wryly. "The king murdering his own son, the crowned prince, for saving his own people?"
"Saving - er'zi what had gotten into you?" The king points at the defending people. "Stop meddling into this things. You don't know what you're doing. Lan Wexian." He orders as the guard picks up his sword once again.
Mu Qing makes a mental note to apologise to Lan Wuxiu before he swivels on his spot, flicking his arm to remove it from his master's hold as he rushes infront of the Nan Yang temple that had people cowering before it. "I will not allow this temple to be stained by its worshipper's blood." He raised the sharp edge of his blade to block the threatening blow of the guard's sword. Using the surprised pause to kick him in the stomach as the sword was once again threw in the air, catching it swiftly. He points it towards the king. "Nor will I allow you to execute the innocent." Glaring, he ignores the baffled gasps and whispers of horrors that pierced through the thick air.
"Mu Qing." Mu Liu snaps, raising a hand as if to call for more guards when he glances at the side. A moment of silence passed by and he lowers the hand, face dark and grim. "What are you doing?"
"There are no laws that prohibits people from erecting a different temple." Mu Qing muses, throwing the silver sword towards his own imperial guard instead that swiftly catched it despite being reluctant. "The location may be off and offensive, but the punishment of death penalty is even too harsh for people like them." He adds, careful not to suddenly curse or else the terrible situation would turn even more terrible.
"What would you know of the correct punishments?" Mu Liu sighed tediously. "My son, you don't even bother to read the royal monarchy of Zhuliu, its origins and its history. How would you even know what to give as punishment?"
Mu Qing purses his lips in a flat line, narrowing his eyes. "By observing the crime committed, fu'qin."
Another wave of silence passed through the thick atmosphere. The crowd sucking in their breath as the tension between the king and prince came bouncing on top of them. Some even dared to whisper how the prince would turn out like the former prince Mu Lin that betrayed the kingdom just by this action alone.
Mu Qing patently ignored those whispers.
Mu Liu sighed again. Nodding as he waved his hand, "You are still a prince and I am still a king. In exchange for this crude actions, you will be forced out of your cultivation for two weeks."
"Fu'qin-"
"That or you take their punishment in prison." Mu Liu cuts him off, shooting a pointed look at his son before casting a warning glare at the crowd that quickly scattered as he trudges back towards the royal palace, his imperial guard muttering incoherent words as he angrily snatched his sword back from his brother.
"Your highness." Guoshi calls, sighing in clear disapproval. "You shouldn't have spoken like that infront of the king."
Mu Qing could care less about it. Following his master to Yin Meigui Mountain as he sheathes his saber. "And what? Watch them die?" As if realising something, he turns around. Observing the now shaken group of people, he walks closer to them. "Move the temple in a different location." He orders, pointing at a different path.
"Of course, of course. Thank you, your highness." They simultaneously breathed out, inclining their head in respect as they start to pack the things and wrap the statue.
The statue itself was oddly perfectly carved. From the exquisite bow held in its tight grip to the stubborn confidence embedded in its face. No doubt carved by a talented sculptor. "You should know that no temple aside from the king's is allowed here."
"Of course, of course. Pardon for our intrusion." They hastily replies, repeatedly bowing their heads until they were lost in the crowd.
Mu Qing takes a deep breath, rushing towards Guoshi that stopped along as he ignored once again the amused look he had received. "They're humans like me. Living and breathing like me." He says, waving his hand dismissively as Guoshi chuckles.
"You'll grow up a fine king, your highness." His eyes formed into a crescent moon. "And I'll be honoured to be by your side when the time comes."