Chapter 69 - The truth

Lu Sheng shook his head slightly as he spoke. “It’s ridiculous. The only reason your uncle Rong Jin realized who you were was because he got a sense of dejà vu from the rebel army’s leader, the Green Ghost, when we fought all the way to the White Rose Palace. If he hadn’t sent someone to find me and tell me the truth, I might not have known what happened until I helped you take over the White Rose Palace and watched you become the Emperor.” He let out a low and miserable laugh. “From the very start, when you took me from the slums, it was just because of my psionic power, that’s all. You lied to me for so many years. Where are the ‘ideals’? Where are the ‘new world’s? Where did ‘everyone is born equal’ go…? In reality, you just wanted to use me to help you reach that position—the highest position of the Empire. To think I actually fell for all your lies, it’s pathetic.”

Fu Yucheng looked at him calmly. “Lu Sheng, you colluded with Rong Jin in secret back then, and you suddenly surrounded me in the last siege, leading to a total defeat. You arrested our teacher, killed Yu Jingqiu, and left our senior brother disabled for life…” Having said that, Fu Yucheng paused and then added softly, “If you hadn’t changed sides, maybe we would have achieved our ideals and built a whole new world. Except for… except for that identity that I rejected a long time ago, I never lied to you.”

“Senior, you’ve always been the same. Your words are more beautiful than a song.” Lu Sheng smiled. “However, you’re clearly powerful. Even though you were exiled to the Earth, not only did you not come back begging, but you even found an S-level manipulator, a powerful little monster, and tried to use him against me.” He stared at Fu Yucheng and slowly added, “Back then, you were willing to befriend someone from the slums like me in order to take advantage of me. I never imagined you’d manage to make a comeback after being defeated, paying an even greater price for it… to think that you can actually go and seduce that little monster like that. Tsk, such a noble prince. I admire you.”

Fu Yucheng couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. “I have nothing to say to you.”

Lu Sheng whispered again, “Actually, I can give you the power and position you want. You see,  there hasn’t been anyone one by my side for ten years… It doesn’t matter how unpleasant your situation has become, I’ve still kept that position open for you.”

Fu Yucheng frowned and said, “You know very well that it is impossible.”

Lu Sheng glared at him angrily. “Why is it impossible? Why is it possible for others but not me? What’s more, your little monster is probably dead by now… Don’t count on him to deal with me.”

Fu Yucheng sneered. “Lu Sheng, you don’t really believe that you can kill him simply by relying on your few Dark Knights? He’s very talented, and not easy to deal with.”

Lu Sheng was silent for a while before he spoke in a quiet voice. “’You have extraordinary talent. You’re one in a million…’ Senior, you used to praise me like that.”

Fu Yucheng stared at him and suddenly sighed. “But you gave up your talent to receive the transplant. In order to destroy me, you also destroyed your past self. How did you deal with the meld these past few years? Was it worth it just to get back at me?”

“Of course it was worth it.” Lu Sheng gritted his teeth and continued, “Alyosha and the rest of you, tie up this man and throw him on the bed of the Prince’s chambers.”

At some point, six knights in white armor had appeared behind Lu Sheng—the Light Knights.

Lu Sheng slapped Fu Yucheng to insult him. “After I deal with that little monster, I will settle accounts with you tonight. You’d better start thinking in advance about how to please me and how to cry to me for mercy…”

He paused, then whispered, “In the past, I worshiped you and followed you like a lapdog. Later, I did not force you even if it was shameful. I kept waiting for you to beg me and admit your mistakes… I even imagined how I’d comfort you… But now I’ve realized that, no matter what I do, it’ll be useless. Your heart is cold like ice, unable to feel warmth.”

“Whatever you say,” Fu Yucheng answered lightly.

Lu Sheng looked at him and suddenly snapped, “Why haven’t you taken him down yet?!”

The six Light Knights slowly walked towards Fu Yucheng obeying Lu Sheng’s psionic field.

Fu Yucheng sighed softly and closed his eyes.

Out of nowhere an immense, yawning psionic field slowly rippled like the endless waves of a turbulent ocean. The intense yet soft intimidation made everyone feel so weak that they almost fell to their knees.

Lu Sheng was shocked, and he stammered, “Wha– what’s going on?! You…” He only froze for a moment before asking, suddenly out of breath, “You– you recovered your psionic power?!”

Lu Sheng reacted very quickly. Almost as soon as he understood the situation, he suddenly jumped a few meters back, ordering sternly, “Everyone, take him down! Now!”

Fu Yucheng raised his eyebrows, taunting him. “Lu Sheng, you still want the Light Knights to take me down after figuring out that I recovered my psionic power? You’ve always been so smart, how come your brain suddenly stopped working today?”

Lu Sheng was dumbfounded.

Fu Yucheng said indifferently, “All of you, stand down.”

Instantly, the six Light Knights stood still.

They could all feel that two extremely powerful, royal psionic forces were competing ruthlessly with each other, battling for control over their chips, and they couldn’t help but look at each other with astonishment.

Yao Ning bowed deeply first and stepped aside. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Under the pressure of Fu Yucheng’s pure royal psionic field,the other five Light Knights could not help but bow deeply and quietly retreat to the side as well.

Lu Sheng’s face gradually turned pale. “So that’s how– that’s how it is… You’ve been holding back until today because your psionic field has a limited range when controlling the chips. The Light Knights usually guard the Tower of Light and the Imperial Prison, and since you were worried something might go wrong, you waited patiently until everyone was present…”

Fu Yucheng smiled. “At least you get it.”

Lu Sheng gritted his teeth and said, “In that case, why don’t you make these guys all attack me together to deal with me?”

“Because… there’s no need.” The corners of Fu Yucheng’s lips went up slowly, his eyes still cold. “Junior brother, you used to always pester me and ask me to teach you. Today, as your senior… I’ll teach you properly.”

…

Bai Mo said coldly, “Excuse me. If you let me go back now, I can spare your life.”

The young man shook his head. “Mo, it’s true that you are powerful, really powerful. However, this space is very dry, dry beyond your imagination. There is no water for you to use, and… there’s five of us.”

Bai Mo muttered, “60 to 70% of the human body is made of water.”

“Bai Mo, don’t scare people.” Xie Ling, next to him, smiled. “Yes, you’re good at manipulating the three states of matter using water, steam and ice. However, you can’t directly use the water in living objects.” Xie Ling walked towards Bai Mo slowly as she talked.

Somehow, the void around them had become a huge ancient building that looked just like the ancient Colosseum in Rome. And the six Dark Knights were all in the center.

Suddenly, Xie Ling was right in front of Bai Mo!
Like Alyosha, Xie Ling was a light controller as well. However, while Alyosha was good at creating illusions, Xie Ling would hide her location by manipulating light and shadow.

Just a second earlier she seemed to be still far away, but in the next instant, she was already in front of him!

Her figure looked almost like a ghost, and the snowy, light blade in her hand resembling a willow leaf suddenly slashed towards Bai Mo’s neck!

Bai Mo quickly leaned back, avoiding the thrust!

In that flash of light, two little twin girl knights had already set off and attacked him from behind, coming at him from the left and right sides at the same time!

One of them stretched out her right hand while the other stretched out her left hand, and two fine vines quickly grew out of their palms. The two thin vines converged in the middle and quickly twisted into a strong, thick green vine.

This vine was covered with gleaming thorns. Faster than it could be described, the twins swiftly closed in from behind, attempting to surround Bai Mo with the vine.

Bai Mo leaped back and forth, and dodged the vine that whistled past him.

After waiting for a while, Reid, the electricity manipulator, covered himself with flashing blue-violet electrical flashes that crackled with energy. Sneering, he made a fierce gesture with his hand, and blinding lighting shot directly towards Bai Mo.

The lightning struck Bai Mo’s arm, producing an extremely unpleasant burnt smell. Bai Mo clenched his teeth tightly and waved his arm without thinking.

""

But no ice blade appeared.

Liang couldn’t help but chuckle. “Like I said, this space is completely dry, you’re basically unarmed.”

Bai Mo knelt on the ground, giving the other a cold look while panting quietly.

Liang frowned and said, “Don’t look at me like that. Aren’t you already aware that you made the Prince unhappy? By the way, your little lover is probably already in the Prince’s hands. I wonder if he’ll shed a tear when you die?”

Bai Mo closed his eyes and suddenly jumped back.

In an instant, two poisonous vines narrowly swept past his chest and abdomen! The two vines behaved like living creatures, climbing up his legs, throwing him up in the air, and dropping him to the ground ruthlessly.

At the same time, Xie Ling fell from the sky and slashed at Bai Mo’s neck!

Bai Mo dodged slightly to the side, but he didn’t avoid it, blood gushing from the found.

Xie Ling breathed a sigh of relief, turned her head and looked at Liang. “It’s done, we…”

The Dark Knight’s words suddenly stopped, and she slowly lowered her head.

A scarlet icy edge was sticking out of her chest.

She trembled slightly and suddenly fell down, her beautiful eyes still open.

Bai Mo stretched out his hand to cover the wound on the side of his neck and coughed quietly. Warm blood kept gushing from between his fingers. “Turns out that blood, after it leaves the body, is also a good weapon.”

Liu stared at him as if he were a madman and stepped back without thinking.

Reid mumbled, “Bai Mo, do you want to use your own blood as a weapon? Are you not afraid of death?”

Bai Mo held his neck with one hand and put the other one on the ground, standing up. His stance was still a little unstable, “Reid, you forgot again. I really can’t use blood from something living. But from something dead… it’s a different matter.”

As he spoke, he beckoned with his hand gently.

With that gesture, a stream of blood gushed out from Xie Ling’s chest!

The bright red blood drops hovered chaotically in the air, quickly condensing into a long scarlet whip that crushed the two poisonous vines when they struck again.

Then, like a living thing, this blood whip suddenly curled around one of the little girls’ neck, twisting it around.

With a loud snap, the little girl’s head drooped softly, hanging from her slender neck.

After her death, her body quickly returned to its adult appearance. Her large almond eyes lost their luster, and the whites of her eyes appeared heavily bloodshot.

Reid swallowed lightly as if he wanted to say something. Liang had already turned around and started running.

Bai Mo whispered, “It’s too late.”

""

…

Bai Mo carefully wiped the blood and gore from his face, and said quietly, “Liang, take a look, is my face clean? I don’t want him to see me like this.”

Liang was lying on the ground, staring blankly at the mess of blood and gore that seemed like it came straight from hell, and his teeth clattered beyond his control. “I–I will let you out… please, don’t kill me…”

“If I kill you, I’ll get out,” Bai Mo muttered. “And I don’t want him to know… what happened here. I’m worried he’d be afraid of me.”

Bai Mo stretched out his hand and simply squeezed Liang’s throat.

As Liang’s body went limp, the space around them distorted.

Bai Mo slowly opened his eyes and found that he had returned to the sky above the Rose Square, and he was surrounded by a large swarm of black bats. They were circling frantically in the air, screaming in panic, as if something major had happened.

Bai Mo grabbed a large bat nonchalantly, the swarm of bats hiding his body.

On the Rose Square below, the master of ceremonies recited loudly, “His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, may he live for a thousand years—”

Following this clear singing, the entire Rose Square, all the nobles and knights, involuntarily knelt down towards the high platform. “His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, may he live for a thousand years—”

Bai Mo could not see what exactly was happening below. At that moment, he had only one thought: Rong Yuan dared to touch him, he even allowed a bat to attack him to use him as bait… I’m going to kill Rong Yuan, I want him dead, not even his full corpse left behind…

He closed his eyes, and his cold and powerful psionic field spread out, condensing in the sky with sharp, transparent ice prisms—

The man on the high platform seemed to feel something and slowly raised his head, saying in surprise, “Little Mo?”

His voice was very soft, but Bai Mo could hear it clearly, like a thunderous shout.

In an instant, the young man’s mind suddenly went blank. Before he had enough time to figure out what was going on, he withdrew his psionic power without thinking.

The sharp icy prisms dotted all over the sky turned into a soft rain, shrouding the entire White Rose Palace in a pitter patter of cold drops.

“…It’s raining?”

“What happened?”

Everyone muttered in surprise and then looked up to the sky.

The recoil from suddenly withdrawing the psionic power caused an indescribably painful shock to Bai Mo’s internal organs and a strong sweet taste suddenly surged from his throat.

Darkness covered his sight, and suddenly, his body began to fall through the cold rain, like a puppet with its strings cut off.

…

Surprisingly, instead of the cold impact against the ground that he had been expecting, he fell into a warm and reassuring embrace.

Fu Yucheng caught him.

Bai Mo stared at the other in a daze, looking at those familiar yet unfamiliar eyes.

Those dark eyes, tinted a faint green, reflected his own silhouette. Those eyes, so deep and beautiful, and yet so inscrutable.

This was the man he trusted with his entire life, the man he admired the most, and the one he desired. This was also the man that made him toss and turn in the middle of the night, who let him know the taste of jealousy and loss, lust and love…

This man had rescued him, abandoned him, promised him and deceived him… Not too long ago, this man had even promised him to help him take out the Imperial control chip and set him free.

And at that moment, this man was looking down at Bai Mo wearing a luxurious, intricate, ink-black cloak with a dark gold rose—the symbol of the Prince Regent.

Author’s note:

The reputation of Chengcheng as a liar is completely established hahaha