Within the rain, it was as if Zhanying had lost all his senses to sentiment. Had he really liked Bao Bao that much for him to say those words? In the palace where love was an impossibility, had he really held such worldly desires for her?
But his words that day were his. Amongst the countless maidens, he had lost his sense of reasoning because of her. After thinking through it, perhaps he would, for once, gamble in the game of love. Perhaps, his heart had been frozen for far too long that it was time for it to crack. And if he had to be honest, only she was a suitable choice to be his queen.
Besides he wanted to protect her. He was afraid that she would fall into Yihuai's palms and become a weapon against him. If he truly didn't love her, then why would he fear?
Zhanying didn't have time to ponder further. He didn't even have time to get angry at Jingrui for passing out on him when he was pouring his heart out for her.
The next day, the Heavenly Emperor requested his audience, and he had to obey the decree no matter how much he dreaded to.
He left the Floating Abyss Palace early that morning as he went to Yihuai's study hall. His heart was bleak, and any potential fire in it from the previous day extinguished. He returned to his adamant form, rid of all emotions. If Yihuai had requested an audience from him, it could only mean that he was giving him his last warning.
Yihuai's study hall was a castle in itself. Maids lined the path leading towards the towering door. The guards bowed at Zhanying before gesturing him inside.
Candles stacked up to form chandeliers, hanging like vines from the ceiling. Yihuai sat upon a large throne at the end of the hall. Pearl necklaces, diamond rings, and a golden crown adorned his body as he penetrated his gaze at Zhanying.
Zhanying walked up before him, and without looking at him straight, he saluted. "Your Majesty."
Yihuai held a wide smirk on his chiseled face as he shifted, clanking the silver and gold on his body. "Sit, little brother." He spat the word 'brother' as he gestured to Zhanying to sit.
Zhanying felt his way, stumbling as he took a seat on a guest table. "Why has Your Majesty requested for me?"
"I was thinking that you haven't reported to me ever since you returned from the Jade Dragon Mountain." His eyes gleamed as his voice darkened with rage. "You have had quite a leisure time at the Mountain, I assume?"
Zhanying took a deep breath and smiled. "Of course not. Your Majesty had sent me personally to obtain the fruit, how could I have leisure?" He summoned the Jade Fruit he had collected and waved it towards Yihuai. "Here is the Jade Fruit you had asked for."
Yihuai twirled the round Fruit in his palm. The glittering gold reflecting in his keen eyes. "Excellent." He put it down on the table before lifting his gaze. "I heard that the Phantom Lord is dead, is that so? And he also left you with a token. If it is not too much to ask, I'd like to have it."
Zhanying cocked his head to the side. He didn't know how Yihuai had heard of the internal affairs within the Jade Dragon Mountain. It was either that someone from the army successfully escaped the massacre or that he had a lucky guess. Zhanying sighed, knowing he couldn't give Yihuai the scroll nor reject the request.
With a wave of his hand, he summoned the Phantom Lord's emblem knife and tossed it towards Yihuai. "I have no use for it."
Yihuai caught it and examined it with a contented nod; he was always fond of collecting treasures. He grabbed a cup of tea that laid on his table and raised it towards Zhanying. "Excellent work, God of War. Have a toast with me."
Zhanying blindly reached for the cup of wine, spilling the contents. His jaw instantly clenched as the vivid stench of bloodroot and centipede blood wafted from the wine cup. He kept his expression soothe as he raised the cup towards Yihuai.
Yihuai's mouth curved up, and he brought it to his lips. "Cheers."
Zhanying sneered as he forced himself to sip down the bitter content. The way it burned down his throat, he had no more doubt. It was poisoned.
His face darkened. Even if Yihuai put doses of poison in his wine, it wouldn't be deathly enough to kill him. He had enough cultivation to stabilise his meridians. The poison would only give him temporary pain like in the past. It was the norm, a way of greeting between them brothers.
Yihuai placed his cup of tea down on the table as he wiped his lips with a handkerchief. His eyes gleamed as he observed Zhanying's expression for signs of torment.
The tea scorched fire in Zhanying's veins and attacked his cold flow of Qi as if a wild forest fire had been set ablaze within him. He breathed heavily as he kept his face straight and placed down the cup. "If there is nothing else I can assist Your Majesty with, I would like to excuse myself."
Yihuai held a hand up. "Not so fast, God of War. There are many more issues I must address. Besides. . ." Amusement took over his eyes. "I need your help. You are the revered God of War who holds substantial power. In the back garden of the Heavenly Palace, there seems to be evil miasma lingering by the royal graveyard. I'd like you to dispel it for me."
Zhanying's face darkened as he immediately knew Yihuai's intentions. Closing his eyes, he accepted the decree. "Of course."
Yihuai stood up and walked down from his throne. "Come then." He beckoned him to follow before vanishing with a whiff of light.
Zhanying sighed as he followed Yihuai.
Once they both arrived at the back garden, Yihuai clasped his hands together. He tilted his head towards the sky and breathed in the dried scent of the gloomy graveyard as if he were breathing in an air of victory.
Zhanying glanced over the graves that were lined in rows, engulfed in a thick, foul mist. Bare branches of trees stretched out like the skeletons buried below the dirt. Dried leaves and tumbleweed rolled passed the tombstones that were barren of fresh flowers.
Pain flooded over him, perhaps because of the poison in his veins, or perhaps because of the fact that in this graveyard laid his mother's tomb.
He swayed towards Yihuai, using the trees as pillars. "I cannot sense dark miasma," he said as he blindly glanced at the distance.
Yihuai smiled as he crossed his arms. "Of course you can't. This dark miasma is extremely capable of concealing its presence. The only thing it cannot conceal is its appearance." He waved at Zhanying to follow him.
They walked through the narrow gaps between the plates until they arrived by a large tomb built from the finest gold. Zhanying tensed up and his face darkened as he scanned the engravement on the tombstone.
Consort Chen of Heaven.
Yihuai circled him, observing his expression. "What's wrong, little brother?"
Zhanying inhaled the scent of the death, and he forced out a grim smile. "What is it that Your Majesty requires me to do?"
Yihuai nodded slowly with a raised brow. "You probably can't see, but right in front of you is the dark miasma. It has possessed this stone, I'd like you to. . ." His eyes flashed with wickedness, and a sinister laughter could barely be contained. "Destroy it."
Zhanying went rigid. It was the first time Yihuai was willing to take their game this far.
The reason Yihuai had never taken action all this time was because he had thought Zhanying to be a passive brother who was no big threat to his never-ending greed. Time to time, Yihuai would poison him to give him a light warning to step back in line. But since Zhanying had massacred the army at the Jade Dragon Mountain, Yihuai was threatened—terribly threatened that he must cowardly strive for an immoral act.
"So what about it, Zhanying?" Yihuai scanned him up and down with a triumphant smirk. "Will you obey my decree?"
Zhanying closed his eyes. He could sense an army of men surrounding the graveyard, and his initial thought of stabbing Yihuai right then vanished. He summoned his sword in his shaky hands.
Shaking. He, the God of War, was shaking.
He clenched his jaw as Yihuai coerced his piercing gaze on him. Hesitantly, Zhanying raised his sword towards the tombstone and his heart squeezed. The collected suppression of the poison in his blood broke into a mass of chaos. A steel taste filled his tongue.
He closed his eyes and let a light shoot from the tip of his sword and towards the tombstone. A loud explosion bombed against his ears, and the stone shattered towards his feet. The ashes within the tomb rose into the air, glittering gold and then wilted.
Unable to contain the amusement of the show, Yihuai burst out with a sardonic laugh. He clapped his hands. "Very well done, God of War." He placed his hand on Zhanying's shoulder and patted it. "Be prepared, Zhanying. At least you are still blind and know your place enough to obey my every word. But after what had happened at the Jade Dragon Mountain, I now know you indeed do have the gut to go against me. You can still fight as the God of War, I praise you for that."
With that, Yihuai laughed until tears sprung from his eyes as he spun away. It wasn't until his laughter couldn't be heard in the distance and the army footsteps receded from the graveyard that Zhanying dropped his sword to the ground.
Anger boiled in him, adding heat to the poison in his veins. As he glanced at the last ashes of Consort Chen flying into the murky clouds, he knew that soon he would not be able to suppress his long years of fury. His body churned with a hunger for destruction. He tilted his head back towards the sky, clenching his fists before dropping to his knees.
As he bowed low before his mother's broken grave, a murderous smile took over his anger. "Soon, mother, very soon. You will have your justice."