Royal Road
Chapter 199-200
Chapter 199-200
Book 5: Heaven Official’s Blessing
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Ch.199: Dominate Heaven and Earth; Divine Being Breaks Through the Kiln
Xie Lian laid on that cold ground, his face still covered with that half crying half smiling
cry-smiling mask, and White No-Face was next to him, seeming to be admiring this appearance
that looked exactly like his.
That cry-smiling mask was pressed tightly against Xie Lian’s face with some sort of peculiar
force, and he couldn’t pull it off no matter how he tried. White No-Face said, “Just keep it on.
Stop wasting your strength on pointless struggles. You want to leave this place? As long as you
follow my directions, you can easily break out of the Kiln.”
Xie Lian pretended he didn’t exist.
White No-Face always sought contempt from Xie Lian and he wouldn’t give up. He sighed, “We
could’ve become the strongest master and disciple, and the bestest of friends, why must you be
so rebellious?”
Xie Lian finally stopped what he was doing and replied in disgust, “Stop using that tone like
you’ve been through all the vicissitudes of life and have seen through the hearts of men. I really
don’t want to have a teacher and a friend the likes of you.”
His repulsion was undeniably obvious, and White No-Face sneered, “I know, in your heart, the
only ones who can guide you are Guoshi and Jun Wu, am I right?”
His tone was odd, full of disdain and ridicule. Xie Lian didn’t care to tangle himself up with that
subject and decided to ask something else, “Lang Ying, was he the first Crown Prince of
YongAn?”
Lang Ying was from YongAn, had contracted the human face disease, and that little crown
prince was the only one Xie Lian could think of who might be a possibility. White No-Face
replied, “That’s right. He was that crown prince you knocked out and ditched in the Palace of
YongAn then set fire to after having butchered Lang Ying’s corpse to millions of pieces.”
That Crown Prince of YongAn was Lang Ying’s only nephew, so it was probably then when the
remains of that human face disease infected him. Xie Lian then asked, “Why didn’t his disease
affect anyone else?”
White No-Face replied, “Because the people at the Palace of YongAn discovered he got
infected. In order not to have anyone else affected, the order was given to suffocate him with a
blanket in secret, but he struggled and fought back, then fled.”
And then YongAn announced to the outside world that both the King of YongAn and the Crown
Prince passed away from illness. Through whatever internal conflict, another one of Lang Ying’s
nephews was established as the Crown Prince, and that was Lang Qian Qiu’s ancestor.
“How did you manage to deceive him?” Xie Lian asked.
“I didn’t deceive him.” White No-Face replied. “I only told him the truth, of who was the criminal
responsible for him becoming such a monster. As long as he lent me a bit of him, I would help
avenge him.”
“You call that “a bit”?” Xie Lian was incredulous, “You swallowed all of him as nutrients!”
White No-Face replied quietly, “With his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat
him with sincerity, so staying in this world is suffering in itself.”
Suddenly, Xie Lian said, “Your Royal Highness?”
“...”
In that instant, Xie Lian could tell, that creature probably wanted to answer to that address, but
he held back.
Thus, Xie Lian tried again, “You. You’re the Crown Prince of WuYong, aren’t you?”
Once the words left his lips, he could feel the stifling heat within the Kiln had solidified.
The moment Xie Lian had fallen in he had been considering this question.
The reason why he could understand the language spewed from the mouths of those Corpse
Eating Rats must be because among Jun Wu, Guoshi, and White No-Face, someone had
transplanted a part of their memories and feelings unto him. Which also meant, someone
among the three of them, at least one was from WuYong. Jun Wu was born later than the fall of
the Kingdom of WuYong, so Guoshi and White No-Face were the most suspicious.
Why was Hua Cheng shunned out of the kiln? It wouldn’t be because he was a Supreme,
because Xie Lian had confirmed it with him that even Ghost Kings who had become Supremes
could re-enter the Kiln, just as how a heavenly official could go through another Heavenly
Calamity after ascension. Yet, he still vanished halfway. The most straightforward explanation
Xie Lian could think of was this Kiln obeyed the command of White No-Face!
Then, what was White No-Face’s identity the most likely to be?
A moment later, it was dead silence within the darkness, and Xie Lian repeated with certainty,
“You are the Crown Prince of WuYong.”
Finally, White No-Face was no longer silent.
He lunged towards Xie Lian, his palm blasts sharp and powerful, and this time, it was Xie Lian’s
turn to dodge. He leapt up, and asked as he dodged, “Your Highness, I’ve got a question for
you. How come you never show your true face to anyone?”
White No-Face said darkly, “Your Highness, I’m warning you not to address me with that title.”
“You call me “Your Highness”, so why can’t I address you the same?” Xie Lian rebuked, “You
won’t answer, so I’ll have to guess myself. There are only two reasons why you don’t want
anyone seeing your true face. Either, you are someone I know, or someone I don’t know, but
once I see your real face I could easily figure out who you are; or, your true appearance is
exceedingly ugly, so ugly you can’t stand it yourself! Just like...”
Two whizzing sounds later, a sharp pain charged up his arm, and it was White No-Face who
had forcefully seized him, “My dear crown prince, is it because I’ve been a little too friendly that
you felt there’s no longer a need to fear me?”
This voice was brimming with frost, and while in pain, Xie Lian still hung on to his
consciousness. White No-Face seemed to really have been angered, and he picked up that
black sword, forcing it towards Xie Lian, “The name you gave this sword is Fang Xin?”
Watching with unblinking eyes as that chilling blade came closer and closer to his own throat,
Xie Lian’s expression remained hardened, “Is that a problem?”
White No-Face humphed, “You don’t know how to give names. Listen well, the original name of
this sword is ‘Zhu Xin’*.”
Suddenly, Xie Lian widened his eyes, “WHO’S THERE?!”
However, White No-Face didn’t bother to look back, “You want to use a child’s trick to fight me?”
Xie Lian was perplexed, “You... didn’t notice?”
“There is nothing, so what is there to notice?” White No-Face said coldly.
He didn’t notice, but Xie Lian sure did.
Earlier, Fang Xin’s blade reflected the firelight on the ground, and that firelight flashed past the
stone wall above them. It was in that instant that Xie Lian saw a face.
Xie Lian could swear he wasn’t mistaken in what he saw. He definitely saw a human face, a
gigantic human face!
White No-Face’s cultivation could only be stronger than Xie Lian’s, so how could he possibly not
notice?
Unless... it was something more terrifying than White No-Face!
The time he took to look at that face was too short, but the vision remained in his memory; that
face had all five features, and... it looked familiar. Xie Lian felt a slight chill down his back,
“There’s something else inside this Kiln!”
However, White No-Face replied, “Other than you and me inside the Kiln, there are only rocks
and lava.”
Xie Lian was about to say more when suddenly, he thought to himself, ‘Wait... Rocks? Face?
Familiar?’
Lights turned on and it dawned on him, and Xie Lian figured out just what it was he saw.
So that was it!
Once he knew, Xie Lian’s hands instantly started forming seals rapidly behind his back. White
No-Face noticed his movements and said, “It’s pointless, even if you...”
Yet unexpectedly, before he finished, a huge cracking noise came from behind and above them.
At the same time, rocks and earth came plunging down like a storm!
White No-Face sensed something was coming for him, and swiftly flashed away to dodge the
attack. He certainly blitzed fast enough, no one could be faster than him, and he should’ve
dodged perfectly. Only, unfortunately, the thing attacking him was too gigantic.
It was a giant hand, its fingers balled into a fist and it came crashing down heavily – right over
White No-Face!
This hand was a giant hand made of stone.
It really was too big; just a single fist could rival a mansion, and the firelight on the ground could
only illuminate this part. Everything above the wrist were all still soaked in darkness.
Amidst the cracking sound of rocks, it flipped over its hand and opened its palm up towards Xie
Lian. While gigantic, its fingers were long and slender, the joints exquisite and delicate, able to
hold flowers and wield swords. Xie Lian seized the sword, stumbled as he crawled up from the
ground, and leapt onto the heart of that palm. Just as that hand was about to hoist him up, Xie
Lian suddenly remembered he forgot something and cried hastily, “WAIT!” Then he jumped
down to grab his bamboo hat before leaping back up. Then, that giant hand lifted, leaving
further and further away from the firelight. Xie Lian could also sense they were going higher and
higher, and his hands formed seals once again, “BREAK OUT!”
With that command, he could feel a slight falling sensation, as if the giant holding him had bent
its knees and was preparing. The next second, he felt his entire body plunging all of a sudden;
that giant launched toward the sky and went straight to crash against that sealed mouth of the
volcano of the Kiln!
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Along with violent tremors, Xie Lian heard the extremely obvious sound of cracking.
That was the sound of stone rocks unable to handle such violent crashing, and were about to
shatter!
Soon after, a string of white light came leaking in from above.
He had broken out!
The sealed top of the Kiln was broken through, and an immense blinding white light came
pouring through as whirlwinds twisted in, shrieking and howling.
Xie Lian stood in the palm of that giant, a hand pressing onto the bamboo hat on his head while
another blocked the snowstorm that came blowing onto his face. The stifling hot air was swept
away completely, and Xie Lian inhaled deeply a mouthful of freezing and fresh air before
shouting, “SAN LANG–!!!”
His first syllable was still echoing when in an instant, he was pulled into an embrace from behind
by a pair of hands. Xie Lian stiffened at first and looked down, but when he saw it was red
sleeves and silver vambraces circled around his waist, he relaxed. A deep, forlorn voice came
above his ears, “...I was going crazy!”
Hearing this, Xie Lian hurriedly turned around, and cupped those cheeks with his hands and
soothed, “Don’t go crazy, don’t go crazy, I’ve already come out!”
It was Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng’s black hair was mussed up, his eyes a little lost. That
cry-smiling mask Xie Lian couldn’t remove no matter how hard he tried was easily pulled off by
him and tossed away. Xie Lian didn’t know why he had to use his hands to cup Hua Cheng’s
cheeks, but he did so subconsciously, probably so he could comfort him, but also because Xie
Lian was afraid Hua Cheng’s face would be frostbitten by the snowstorm. After all, however long
Xie Lian had stayed inside the Kiln must have been however long Hua Cheng stayed guarding
the mouth of the volcano.
They went in together perfectly fine, but one was suddenly thrown out, and knowing nothing of
what was going on inside, of course he was going to go crazy!
Hua Cheng hugged Xie Lian tightly, and said despairingly, “...I couldn’t go into the Kiln no matter
what I did, and you had to come breaking out of it on your own! I’m really so fucking...”
Xie Lian quickly said, “San Lang, it’s okay, it really is alright! Besides, I didn’t break through on
my own!”
Hua Cheng finally calmed down a little and asked, “What? Gege, how did you come out?”
“You helped me break through.” Xie Lian replied, “Look.”
He said as he pointed upwards, and Hua Cheng gazed towards where he was pointing.
Amidst the snow and winds, a giant sculpture of a man carved by the stones of mountains stood
with frost flying about its face, vaguely looking as if it was holding up the heavens and standing
down on the earth. And in that moment, the two of them were standing in the heart of the palm
of that giant statue.
The contours of the face of that statue was gentle and beautiful, long browed and elegant eyes,
the lips refined and its corners curved upwards slightly, like it was smiling but not, affectionate
but not frivolous, expressionless but not unkind; it was a face of compassion and beauty.
– It was Xie Lian’s face!
Xie Lian raised his head to look at its face, and said softly, “Is this the one you told me about?
The best divine statue you’ve sculpted?”
“...”
Hua Cheng gazed up at it too, and it was a long while before his eyes fell back to Xie Lian who
was beside him, “En.”
This giant stone divine statue must’ve been sculpted when Hua Cheng was trapped inside the
Kiln, when he was severely hammered down and in intense suffering.
Over the centuries, it had always been hidden inside the deepest darkness of TongLu, and even
a part of it was still covered with ivy. The Kiln was its natural and perilous cavern, and it was this
most spectacular cavern’s only god.
It and the Kiln were of one body, made up of the same material. Otherwise, if it was a divine
statue carved from ordinary rocks, it wouldn’t have been able to break out of the Kiln at all, and
would only shatter into pieces; and if it wasn’t Xie Lian himself, or, if before they jumped down,
Hua Cheng hadn’t given Xie Lian enough spiritual powers, Xie Lian wouldn’t have been able to
summon and move this divine statue.
Xie Lian turned to Hua Cheng, “So, San Lang, I’ve come out. We’ve broken through together.”
————
●[芳心] Fang Xin means “Affections of a Young Woman”; [誅心] Zhu Xin means “Intent
to Execute” OR “Executed Heart”
————
Ch.200: Dominate Heaven and Earth; Divine Being Breaks Through the Kiln 2
Just then, the two suddenly felt a wave of tremors at the same time, and both their smiles faded,
replaced by tension and on guard. Xie Lian wondered with a bit of nervousness, “What’s going
on? Is it this divine statue that’s shaking? It’s not going to collapse, is it?”
The sealed top of the Kiln were million tonned rocks filled with evil after all, and if this giant
stone statue was going to fall apart because it broke through the entrance, then he was going to
feel awful.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine. It’s the mountain that’s shaking.” Hua Cheng said.
Sure enough, below them, a heavy layer of snow collapsed like a torrent, and some areas
already had the body of the mountain exposed. It seemed, something was about to break
through of the Kiln.
Hua Cheng shielded in front of Xie Lian, and Xie Lian remarked, “It’s White No-Face.”
Of course he didn’t believe that a punch by this giant divine statue could knock White No-Face
dead earlier, and at most it would make that creature falter for a moment, so Xie Lian was on
high alert. However, not a moment later, both of them could sense scorching hot air come
blowing in their faces.
That scalding air erupted from the mouth of the volcano with a bottom that couldn’t be seen, and
there was the smell of sulfur. Xie Lian instinctively sensed that danger was approaching, and
Hua Cheng also said darkly, “Gege, leave!”
Xie Lian formed a hand seal, then soon after, with Hua Cheng in tow, they leapt onto that giant
divine statue’s wrist and ran up its arm, stopping and standing their ground at its shoulder. That
divine statue obeyed his command and took off with a wide giant step, going along with the
rolling current of snow. One slide was several miles, and its snow waves crashed around its
body. Because both its arms were open, even though it was a body of a million tonnes, it still
maintained good balance. However, they only slid to halfway down the mountain before the
entire mountain was quaking even harder, and that divine statue also looked like it was
staggering from the tremors. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng gazed up, and heard a giant rumbling
sound. At the peak of the Kiln, a pitch black pillar of black smoke blew out!
This giant sound shook the heavens and the earth, plus that apocalyptic smoke pillar, Xie Lian
was entirely dumbstruck. It only took an instant before the entire sky was enveloped by a thick
black cloud of smoke. Within those sun-concealing black clouds, countless human faces, arms,
legs, and other limbs were tumbling and entangling, exceedingly horrifying. Xie Lian had only
ever witnessed a scene like this hundreds of years ago, and now, he was seeing it again!
“That’s?” Xie Lian gaped.
Hua Cheng replied solemnly, “The souls of the dead from the Kingdom of WuYong.”
It seemed, every person of WuYong who were buried alive by volcanic eruption were all there.
Suddenly, Hua Cheng alerted, “Gege, down below, about ten meters away!”
The words only just left his lips before Xie Lian had already directed that giant stone statue’s
right hand to smashed down.
About ten meters below in the snow, in that field of white, there stood the figure of a white
clothed man, and it was White No-Face. He seemed to have melded into one with the snow, but
he still couldn’t deceive their eyes. Heavy, thick layers of snow blew like a giant white tsunami
from that smash, but the strike did not hit its target.
Since he had already fallen for this move in the darkness once, White No-Face was naturally
prepared. The white figure flashed away, and in the next second, its form appeared at the knee
of that giant divine statue. That giant stone statue didn’t hesitate before it smashed at its own
kneecap. However, the slap was still midway before Xie Lian snapped to, and gritted his teeth to
exert force, forcibly pulling it back, thinking, ‘Whew, that was close!’
The sealed top of that Kiln was forcibly broken through by this giant stone statue, so if Xie Lian
allowed it to smash against its own kneecap, if he didn’t control the strength well then it just
might lose a limb. Perhaps, that was the reason why White No-Face intentionally hopped on.
Xie Lian instantly braked on this side, while on the other, Hua Cheng languidly pulled out the
long and slender silver scimitar as he ordered White no-Face, “Get the hell down.”
White No-Face looked up towards them. Hua Cheng said coldly, “This divine statue isn’t for you
to taint.”
Suddenly, Xie Lian exclaimed, “SAN LANG!!!”
He pointed to above the summit of the Kiln. There was something behind that pillar of black
smoke that was also blown out. Something crimson and gold, flowing and burning.
Lava!
That crimson gold lava rolled and mixed with the black smoke, enveloping the skies and the
earth, and flowed downwards from the mouth of the Kiln. Using this chance, White No-Face
leapt abruptly and disappeared in the snow. Xie Lian didn’t have mind to catch him either, and
shouted, “RUN!”
That giant divine statue heard his order, and took off in large steps, DONG! DONG! DONG!
Thumping as it roaringly jumped down the Kiln, landing flat on its feet at the foot of the
mountain. The ground moved, the mountain shook.
However, it might be fast but the speed of that lava and black smoke weren’t slow either, and it
was practically following right at its tail. After landing. Xie Lian didn’t dare to stick around either,
and directed that divine statue to stand up and continue to run while carrying them. As they ran,
Xie Lian felt its speed seemed to be slowing down. While feeling dread and puzzled, just as he
was wondering if he was just imagining it, Xie Lian suddenly felt his body pause, then along with
the divine statue, he started plunging downwards. That divine statue actually stopped obeying
his command and stopped, bending one knee on the ground.
After kneeling down, its body was also slowly falling forward, like it was physically exhausted
and was about to faint. Xie Lian’s heart instantly jumped to his throat.
Oh no! It was going to collapse!
And that fiery torrent of black smoke was going to catch up!
Just then, Xie Lian suddenly felt something tighten around his waist. With a simple yank, Hua
Cheng pulled him over easily, a hand hugging his waist, raising another hand to lift his chin
before he pressed his chilled lips against his.
“...”
Xie Lian’s eyes bulged as a rush of cool and refreshing air instantly filled his lungs, flowing
through all of his limbs, like his entire person had liven up again. This kiss was very short, and
soon after, Hua Cheng parted his lips, “Gege, try standing up again!”
Xie Lian instantly snapped out of it and reformed the hand seals, and right before that stone
statue was about to fall face flat onto the ground, its arms forcefully reached out and supported
itself off the ground.
Then soon after, it rose to its feet again!
Turns out, it wasn’t that this giant stone statue appeared to be physically exhausted, it was that
it really was physically exhausted. In order to control such a gigantic divine statue, the spiritual
power required was insane, and that bit of spiritual power Hua Cheng lent him before had
already been burnt out, so naturally it’d slow down and sway like it was going to collapse. Now
that new spiritual powers were injected, it became ‘alive’ again. And this time, it ran faster than
before, its movements also more agile. However, Hua Cheng said, “Gege, run faster!”
Xie Lian also wanted to run faster, but at the same time he was afraid this controlling spell
exhausted too much spiritual power, and he said uncertainly, “Will it be able to hang on if we go
faster? What if spiritual powers run out??”
However, Hua Cheng said next to his ear assuredly, “It won’t, you just focus on running! Don’t
ever be afraid, I’m right here beside you!”
Hua Cheng only stood there behind his person, his hands supporting his waist steadily, but with
just this person, it felt as if the entire world was behind him. Xie Lian inhaled deeply and closed
his eyes, “Alright.”
Then, he extended his arms forwards and unleashed all of his spiritual powers, offering up the
strongest of hand seals and shouted, “–RUN!”
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
That giant divine statue ran wildly, each step taking several miles, crossing over gullies in one
step, flying over hills with another step, and sure enough, it left that black cloud and lava far
behind in the distance. It really was a gigantic object that couldn’t be ignored; with every step
rocks fell and boulders tumbled, exciting waves of strong tremors.
Countless monsters and demons scattered throughout Mount TongLu all felt the ground shaking
like crazy and were all terrified. When they looked up, many could see the black cloud swirling
and spreading in the sky, and while a little amazed, they didn’t really care for it. They were in
Mount TongLu after all, so whatever bizarre sights that’d appear weren’t anything rare. Weren’t
those resentful spirits inside the black clouds anyway? They themselves were creatures similar
to resentful spirits, they’d seen it everyday, so what was there to be afraid of? Yet, when they
saw that giant divine statue of a martial god stomping past, they were all petrified–
WHAT WAS THAT THING??
Instantly there were howling and wailing from all around, “WHAT A GIGANTIC MAN,
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!”
They had never seen such a huge statue before. It really was too terrifying!!!
Xie Lian had wanted to detour around the royal capital of WuYong at first, in case his divine
statue trample those old houses with two thousand years of history into ruinous wreckage, but
then he remembered something and asked, “San Lang, are General Pei, Lord Rain Master, and
the others near here?”
“Yes.” Hua Cheng replied.
Xie Lian quickly called out, “Come back, come back, something’s been left behind, let’s pick
them up and carry them away!”
Thus, that giant stone statue that had run past the target retreated a few steps. Just as it was
about to turn back, Xie Lian suddenly felt his body shake. He lost his footing, and his entire
person was thrown into the air.
Only in mid air did he realize what had just happened.
The divine statue had tripped and fell!
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng landed steadily on the chest of the divine statue, and Xie Lian looked
over as he tried to direct it to stand back up. What made this giant divine statue trip wasn’t him
but something else.
A majestic mountain.
Of course, this big mountain was far from the size of the Kiln itself, but compared to this giant
stone statue, it was still much bigger. Xie Lian recalled clearly when they first came, they had
never crossed through such a mountain. Thus, his sight went past this mountain, and gazed
towards what was behind it.
Sure enough, behind it stood two other big mountains of similar size. Three large mountains
blocked before this giant stone divine statue.
Hua Cheng spoke up, “Gege, be careful. They are the ‘guards’ of Mount TongLu – “Old Age”,
“Sickness” and “Death”.”
———–
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