*Viewer's discretion advised. Contained gory details. Definitely at least R-rated. I'm reading the novel as I translate and did not expect this so I apologize if the novel is rated anything below R. Please do not read if you are not comfortable with gore.*
"You know now that he was your Empress? What were you f*cking doing before?!" the man wasn't satisfied even after the heavy punch. He rushed forward and grabbed Qin Yunshen's collar. His widened eyes had a thin layer of mist dancing before it. Shen Liang, who watched with tears, recognized the man as his cousin Wei Xu. Such a scene may truly be a continuation of what conspired after his death. It was just that he had died and never knew about it.
No one knew if it was because he had grown muddy after the beating. The corners of Qin Yunshen's lips were bloodstained as he fell into silence. It was only after a long while before he said hoarsely: "I.... regret it."
"Ha! Regret? Do you even know regret?" Wei Xu sneered and threw the man away disdainfully. He pointed a finger at Shen Qiang, who was in an equally miserable state and roared: "He accompanied you for ten years and you couldn't see the goodness in him. You never allowed him to live a single day of happiness. Your reputation, your throne, your empire, which of them wasn't something he obtained for you? Those b*stards from the Shen Family, other than stealing the medical scriptures from him, what have they ever done for you? Without him, do you think my Wei Family would allow you to sit on the throne. Qin Yunshen, you don't even have the qualifications to regret!"
"I..." Qin Yunshen opened his mouth. He had no intentions of defending himself but wanted to say something. However, he found himself unable to even say a word. His bloodshot eyes relayed blatant and naked remorse. Perhaps some people were just like this. It was only after losing everything that they remember to cherish and treasure what they had. No matter how priceless a treasure was, when it was placed before such a person's eyes, easy to grasp, free to hold, they didn't think to cherish it. Only did nothing remained did they realize even remorse was futile.
"Shen Liang's body. It should be inside your Imperial tomb." Pei Yuanxian's voice suddenly interposed between them. Qin Yunshen stared at him deeply and everyone present knew immediately that Pei Yuanxian had guessed right.
Wei Xu bowed, "Your Majesty, please allow me to take him away from the Imperial tomb and have my cousin's remains returned."
"No. You can't! He is this emperor's. He is this emperor's..." when he heard Wei Xu's words, Qin Yunshen began to struggle frantically. However, no one bothered with him. The current him was nothing more than a prisoner.
"The members of the Shen and Liu Family have also caused you a great deal of harm. See them off first before heading over to the Imperial Mausoleum. It won't be too late even then," Pei Yuanxian didn't spare the dog man and woman another glance as he tapped his foot and immediately flew up to the execution tower.
The rest had been arranged in an orderly manner near the execution grounds. "Prepare for execution!"
"No. Please! Spare my life, Your Majesty!"
"No!"
"I don't want to die..."
Accompanied by the order of execution, more than a hundred well-trained archers entered the platform in unison. They drew their bows and aimed it at the people tied to the wooden stakes. Horrified screams and cries for mercy sounded out one after another. At this time, Huo Yelin held his son's hand and headed forward: "Back then, Shen Da died from a torrid rain of arrows piercing through his heart and body because of you. Today, I will return the favor and allow you to have a taste of how it feels like to die such a way. Release your arrows!"
"No..."
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
More than a hundred arrows fired at them, intertwined into an airtight net as they rushed towards the prisoners tied to the wooden stakes. The sharp arrows pierced through their skin and grinded through their muscles and tendons, immersed in their pained screams. Before they could recover and their screams could cease, a second wave and rain of arrows were released. Several waves ensued and when it stopped, those who were tied on the stakes had been drilled with arrows and were covered by a myriad of gaping, bloody holes that pooled out their innards, like blood dyed hedgehogs. No one noticed the streams of tears that quietly streamed down Huo Yelin's cheeks.
"Pass the Imperial decree!"
Without sparing the dying people another glance, Pei Yuanxian waved his arm and a eunuch hurriedly stood up and slowly unraveled the royal yellow edict scroll. "By orders of the Heavenly disposition, relayed by the Emperor's decree, Qin Yunshen as ascended the throne for three years..."
"Hence, the emperor has judged Qin Yunshen death by three thousand cuts. The demoness Imperial Concubine Shen Qinag will have her limbs severed and made into a Meiren Zhi, placed in the downtown region for the common people to vent their anger. Stated by His Majesty, the emperor himself!" *Meiren means beauty. Zhi has several meanings but can mean furniture. Viewer's discretion before reading the rest of what Meiren Zhi means. In the Chinese ancient scriptures, there was such a story in which ten prostitutes crawled out of bed naked and stretched out their necks. They opened their small peach blossom lips before the wealthy clients and accepted being spit on. Afterwards, these prostitutes had to lick their lips and swallow the spit with a smile on their lips. Such was what a Meiren Zhi was.*
After the series of deliverances, the eunuch finally finished relaying the Imperial decree. Back then, Qin Yunshen had once sentenced Shen Liang to death by a thousand cuts. Pei Yuanxian returned the sentence to him. Shen Qiang severed Shen Liang's limbs and gouged out his eyes. Pei Yuanxian returned the treatment twofold. Shen Liang choked and gasped before he finally couldn't restrain himself and let out a sharp cry of anguish. Regardless of whether this was real, he was willing to believe that this was what happened after his death. All of those people who had once harmed his eldest brother and the Wei Family, each and every one of them had paid the price for it.
"No. No. I was wrong. I shouldn't have forced him to his head. Ah..." What ensued afterwards was a gory scene. The executioners walked up to Qin Yunshen and Shen Liang respectively. Qin Yunshen seemed to have suffered from a traumatic blow. Even when his gown was pulled off and he was wrapped in a fish net, he didn't respond in the slightest. Shen Qiang was different. She screamed frantically and desperately but the executioner still raised the heavy executioner's knife and threw it down, severing off her limbs mercilessly.
The execution process took more than two hours. Shen Qiang had both her feet and arms severed, her facial features cut off, her tongue removed, and her eyes gouged and placed into a jar with preservatory solutions. Afterwards, what remained was directly carried out for the rest of her sentence. As for Qin Yunshen, the fish net tightened and cut into his flesh. As the executioners continuously tightened the net, the thin and sharp threads drove through his flesh and muscles. At certain parts, bloody innards pooled out until only a bloody skeleton remained. However, his eyes still moved and the executioner had no choice but to deliver a final blow.
Shen Liang felt overwhelmed. Just as he found himself unable to shed any more tears, the scene changed once again. This time, there was no bloodshed. There were no killings. There was only the giant coffin Pei Yuanxian and others carried out from the Imperial Mausoleum. As the coffin was pried open, a rotten smell immediately permeated the air. When it finally subsided, the Wei Family were amongst the first to rush forward.
"Liangliang!" the missing limbs of the body lying inside the coffin was evident with one glance despite the blood-red Empress's gown that covered the body. It was clear that the body had been given the full spectacle and glory befitting of an Imperial Empress, which was quite ironic. The Wei Family members wiped away their tears but Shen Liang couldn't feel anything but indifference and sarcasm. He originally thought that when he died, his body would be thrown into a mass grave and he wouldn't even have a coffin. He never expected that he would be buried as an Empress. Then, gratitude stained his eyes as he turned to Pei Yuanxian, who couldn't see him, and gave the man a deep bow. Qin Yunshen's Imperial Mausoleum, he truly couldn't afford to sleep weel there. Neither would he be able to sleep restfully there. If he remained there for the rest of eternity, then Shen Liang suspected that he would never rest in peace!
"Do you still blame him?" Pei Yuanxian and Huo Yelin did not follow suit and step forward. Rather, they stayed behind obediently.
When Huo Yelin heard Pei Yuanxian's inquiry, he turned to look at him with indifference, "If I think about it carefully, he is also a pitiful and innocent person. If Shen da were to know that I blamed him for so many years and didn't even take You'er to see him even once, he'd undoubtedly be very upset."
So, Huo Yelin has always blamed him?
The corners of Shen Liang's eyes felt sour. Then again, if it weren't for his foolishness, how could his elder brother die so suddenly and without proper reasoning? Had he been just a bit more intelligent in his previous life, at least not fall in love with Qin Yunshen so desperately, perhaps the ending would have been different.
"He is innocent, but also foolish. If one wants something, it is best to be created and earned through one's own hands. If one depends on other people's benevolence, then everything could be lost sooner or later," Pei Yuanxian spoke as he headed forward. He stood over the coffin and looked down at the body covered in the Empress's gown. Pei Yuanxian's eyes were inexplicably cold as he said: "In the next life, don't be so blind and give up everything for just that little amount of subtle warmth. Your life, it originally could have been filled with glory and prosperity!"
Had he been smarter, stronger, and persisted until Shen Da's return, even if he remained such a hopeless fool, just based on his identity as Shen Da's younger brother, his life could have been filled with glory and luxury. It was a pity that he sunk himself into the meager warmth Qin Yunshen bestowed upon him. In the end, he paid the price of the lives of everyone he loved as well as his own life.
"Pei Yuanxian..." Levitating midair, Shen Liang looked at the figure donned in royal purple with a complicated gaze. Perhaps it was because he sensed something, but Pei Yuanxian suddenly raised his gaze. Their eyes met with each other. Of course, it was impossible for Pei Yuanxian to notice his presence, but Shen Liang was startled. With that, the scene gradually dissipated, and his dream came to an end.
"Liangliang? Liangliang..."
"En..." a voice continuously called out to him beside him. Shen Liang, who was in deep sleep and had his eyes closed groaned impatiently. His eyeballs moved beneath his eyelids and the moment he opened them; he was greeted by a pair of concerned and worried phoenix pupils. How similar it was to the gaze he met with in his dream? Shen Liang felt dumbfounded and found himself unable to respond. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
"What are you crying for? You've been crying nonstop in you dreams since. You're even crying now that you're awake. Isn't this lord still alive and well?" The handkerchief Pei Yuanxian had in his hands cleaned away Shen Liang's tears naturally and with familiarity. Pei Yuanxian's features were still pale, but it was undoubtedly much better compared to before.
"Pei Yuanxian?" no one knew how much time passed before Shen Liang called out tentatively in a hoarse voice. His gaze never moved away from Pei Yuanxian's.
"En? You can't even recognize this lord after sleeping? Or is it that this lord's current image paints too frightening of a sight..."
"Pei Yuanxian!" finally aware that he had woken up from his dream and returned the real world, Shen Liang immediately propped up his body and wrapped his arm around Pei Yuanxian's neck. He buried his head in Pei Yuanxian's shoulders and sobbed unceasingly. Every cause will have its own effect. If his dream wasn't just that but rather an image of his previous life, then his fate with Pei Yuanxian's would inevitably be intertwined. Because this was what he owed Pei Yuanxian!
"Thank you..." Thank you for helping my Ge. Helping the Wei Family. And helping me exact vengeance for everyone who died because of me. Thank you.
It proved impossible for Shen Liang to express the extent of his gratitude but he still couldn't suppress himself as his "thank you" pooled out of his mouth. Perhaps Pei Yuanxian never deliberately intended to help exact vengeance for him, but what he ended up doing was irrefutable. He owed this man a "thank you."
"Did you sleep yourself into a fool?" Pei Yuanxian, who was suddenly hugged by Shen Liang, sensed his abnormality, especially after Shen Liang's "thank you." However, he didn't question Shen Liang, but instead, whispered to Shen Liang in a teasing manner. He raised his hand to caress the back of Shen Lian's head as his pale face displayed a faint smile filled with distress. He knew that Shen Liang must have experienced something but was unwilling to share. He wouldn't ask either. The only thing Pei Yuanxian cared about was the present and their future.
"I... What are you all crowded in here for?" Shortly afterwards, Shen Liang finally managed to stop his tears. When he released Pei Yuanxian, he finally realized the crowd grouped around the bed, each and every one of them with expressions filled with interest and amusement. His reddened face from crying immediately turned black. These people, don't they know to give other people their private?
"Tianshu!"
"Yes. Yes. Yes. This subordinate knows, knows..."
With Pei Yuanxian's solemn chastise, Tianshu immediately started to drive out the crowd with a giddy grin, including but not limited to the Old Lin who had a anticipatory smirk on his face.
"Aiyo, my goodness. Doesn't the Wangfei care about our family's duke too much? We can forget about him crying the entire time he was sleeping but he had to hug and cry on our duke for quite a while even after awake."
"Isn't that right? And there's also the duke. Isn't he indulging and doting on the Wangfei too much? The moment Wangfei's expression changed, he immediately had us chased out. Which one of you believes that he didn't notice our presence from the very beginning?"
"Oh, you group of rascals! Is it anything worth all of your fuss? Inexperienced people."
"Aiyo, Old Lin, it can't be that you're jealous? With your appearance and age, I suspect even in your next life, you won't be able to find a beauty like our Wangfei?"
"Fart! You should know that when this old man was still young, I was someone who had a heavenly appearance.."
They sure did leave but their conversations still continuously drifted into the room. It was rare for the commanders of the Ironclad Guards to gossip like this. Shen Liang's face darkened as he sat up on the bed. Pei Yuanxian, who should have been awake for a while now, had covered himself with an outer gown and leaned against the head of the bed. His pair of seductive phoenix eyes locked onto Shen Laing with a half-smile. The two of them didn't speak a word as the ambiguous atmosphere between the two of them grew more intense and saturated.