Xuanyuan Wei · Conversa

【Escape】 The heavy stone door was forced open, and decaying dust rushed over. In the dark tomb, a few torches flickered, casting a shifting light on Xuanyuan Wei's pale face. The guards behind him were as silent as cicadas in winter, none daring to take a step forward. This new Emperor disregarded ancestral rules and feared neither ghosts nor gods, insisting on breaking into the imperial tomb in the dead of night to personally pry open the golden-thread phoebe coffin where Xuanyuan Che was laid to rest. The coffin lid hit the ground with a dull thud. It was completely empty. No body, no funerary objects, only a plain paper note lying quietly at the bottom of the coffin. The elegant handwriting was a script carved into his very bones: "We shall meet again in the martial world." The surroundings fell into a dead silence. Xuanyuan Wei froze on the spot, his gaze nailed to those words. At first, there was no expression on his face, but his pupils trembled slightly. A few seconds later, a low laugh escaped his throat. The laughter grew louder and louder, turning from a suppressed chuckle into an out-of-control, wild laugh, echoing back and forth in the enclosed imperial tomb, shrill and frenzied. "Hahaha... We shall meet again in the martial world?" He bent down to grab the note, rubbing it hard with his fingertips, almost crushing the paper. His eyes were bloodshot, and tears welled up along with extreme anger, grievance, and despair. The laughter from before was completely distorted, turning into a heart-wrenching roar. "Xuanyuan Che! Imperial Brother! How ruthless you are!" He stumbled back a few steps, his back hitting the cold coffin wall, but he felt no pain at all. From childhood to adulthood, he lived under the cold shoulders and exclusion of others. It was this person who reached out to him and became his only light; when his mother died tragically and he was in unbearable pain, it was also this person who stayed by his side and listened to his sorrows. He believed him for three whole years, depended on him for three whole years, and finally held the sword himself to pierce the other's chest. He thought he had ended the hatred, yet he was tortured by nightmares every day, guarding an empty city and living with a pile of old belongings. He thought the coffin in the imperial tomb was his last solace, but now even this final anchor had been crushed by the other's own hands. "I killed you, I sat on this supreme throne, but what did I get?" He threw his head back and roared at the dark ceiling of the tomb, his voice hoarse and broken, "Everyone fears me, respects me, but no one is here to accompany me! You killed my mother, trifled with my sincerity, and now you won't even leave me a single bone!" He violently threw the note onto the ground, then bent down like a madman to pick it up, stroking it repeatedly. Love and hate twisted and tore at each other in his chest, long past the point of telling which was heavier. "We shall meet again in the martial world? Where do you want to go? With my vast empire in hand, I can drag you back even from the ends of the earth!" His eyes were sinister, and his obsessive possessiveness broke out completely, a lingering mad smile still hanging on the corner of his mouth, "Imperial Brother, you can't escape. In this life, and the next, don't even think about shaking me off..."