DIZION 5 Why Light A Lantern For The Wicked?

They stood face to face, Hao Xi was taller, so it was as if Yu Xiao looked up to him. The light coming from the window background highlighted his majestic features, and his monarch mien was incomparable, like that of someone who had ruled for centuries. During their first encounter yesterday, he hadn't had the chance to appreciate the heavenly bearing of this man in front of him, but now, he couldn't help but admire this fellow. Hao Xi was unmoving, so he leaned closer to smile at his face. Then he gradually withdrew his hands and slowly fled from the scene. However, the occurrence yesterday popped into his mind all of a sudden.

He might actually strike my neck this time!!!!!

Then he glanced back, the other party kept his stillness of staring at him intently without moving a limb. He thought the emperor wouldn't do anything corrupted, so he went back to approach him.

"Emperor, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.."

But Hao Xi questioned him again, "Who are you?"

Seeing his calm demeanor, Yu Xiao heaved a sigh of relief, then explained, "I told you, I don't even know who I am. But I swear, I have no idea how I ended up in this body!!"

Hao Xi turned his back on him, "If you finally remember who you are, tell me." He was about to walk away when Yu Xiao grasped his sleeve. The other party halted, he beamed at him before offering his company. "You're alone right? Yu Zhi kept on bulls.h.i.+tting me, can you take me with you just this time?"

The emperor was dumbfounded, "What do you mean?"

Yu Xiao shamelessly begged, "My lord, please don't leave me!"

He saw the emperor's eyes widened, either by shock or disgust, so he cleared his throat and disclosed his reason. "If you leave me, my brother is close to finding out already, he's going to kill me!!"

The emperor sneered, "You're already dead, right? Does it make any difference?"

Yu Xiao felt struck with lightning, he took his hand that held Hao Xi's sleeve and clutched his chest. His cheerful face went crestfallen on a spur of the moment, "I'm sorry."

Then he retreated and ran outside immediately. He wanted to depart from the place already, but his mother prevented him from leaving. They settled on a table to hang out with other high-ranking officials. It's mostly Queen Bao entertaining them, for their talks would be ninety percent politics. As the sun began to wave goodbye, people took out their balloons to light it as a welcome to nightfall. Yu Zhi noticed his brother had been holding his balloon with calligraphy written on it all this time, so he looked at it closely and enunciated, "For me… From me?"

Yu Xiao went back to reality after hearing his brother uttered the writings and held it even tighter. Yu Zhi got extremely baffled, "What the h.e.l.l is this?"

He twisted it and showed the name he wrote down himself, "That was a joke, here's the name!"

A man from the circle took heed of the writing and demanded, "Why are you offering lantern to that wicked empress?? Do you want your kingdom to be invaded as well?"

Yu Xiao was taken aback, "She's dead, she won't be able to do that!!"

The man extended his arm, "Give me that, throw it away.. That wicked monarch doesn't deserve a single lantern!!! Thrash it!!"

But Yu Xiao hid it behind his back and persisted, "I'm not gonna throw it away!! I bought this, I wrote the name myself. Are you kidding me?"

The man gritted his teeth and stopped chasing him, however, someone else from behind stole the balloon from his grip. He looked back only to see an old cultivator with his brows knitted. Yu Xiao demanded, "Buy your own, why are you stealing my.." He hadn't yet finished speaking when the old man lifted it to show to his peers. When the other people saw it, they became enraged.

"Why is someone lighting a lantern for that wicked monarch?"

"How vile! Only those that support the killings of innocent civilians would light a lantern for her!!"

"Burn that!! If possible, burn the one who wrote that as well!!"

The old cultivator turned to him and cautioned, "Every person of ZhongTian loathed the late empress. Why are you lighting this for her?" Then he burned it in his hands, without further ado, turning it to ashes. Later, a n.o.bleman walked up to the old man and handed him some larger balloons, "Sect Leader Cen!!"

Only then, the old man stopped messing with him and conversed with the n.o.bleman who just came, "Qian Zhou!! You're here!"

Yu Xiao felt displeased and disrespected by the act, but what could he do? He didn't even know just how evil the late empress was, that almost every person would clench their fists merely by hearing her name. His brother soothed him, "You shouldn't have tried."

He kind of understood it now, "Right. If that person really caused the deaths of many innocents, she isn't worthy to be commemorated."

The sun had finally set, people gathered outside the palace and lit up their balloons to ascend towards the sky. People displayed a solemn and relieved expression as they watched their lanterns soar up to the heavens as if it carried the hearts and spirits of whom they loved to be at peace. Yu Xiao, his brother, his mother, and other people who had no lanterns overlooked the event from the top stairs of Royal Palace.

However, as the lantern lighting happened, sentinels from the outside of the gates came rus.h.i.+ng towards the palace. They were so in a hurry that they paid no heed to any important person on their way and pa.s.sed by them without sparing a glance. Other influential men who cared so much about being recognized, frowned by their acts; meanwhile, Yu Xiao felt something was amiss, so he followed them and eavesdropped to what they're reporting to the emperor.

"Your Majesty!! There's a demonic beast in the palace garden outside the gates."

"Demonic beast?"