124 Xiang Feng, The Scarred King (2)

On the day of her death, Xiang Feng massacred everyone inside the castle.

Those who attended the coronation, not a single one was left alive. Everything was splattered with blood, from the walls to the floor, from north to south, east to west. Every furniture was smashed to dust, every object that could be broken was broken, anything that could be spilled was spilled.

Destruction and chaos.

That was what Xiang Feng had done after she died.

The first year after she died, Xiang Feng locked himself inside the tower. The Keep was the only thing that he had not destroyed. He transferred a large mass of soil there, broke the roof, and planted a garden of red roses. He buried her body there, among the smell of flowers. He talked to the flowers as if he was talking to her.

No one dared to go inside the castle. Everyone said that a mad spirit lived there, and anyone who entered was slaughtered.

The fourth year after she died, a young woman entered the castle, as she wanted to pick a rose. The roses there bloomed beautifully, with large petals and almost thornless stems. She wanted to give it as a birthday gift to her father. She had successfully plucked one only to be caught by Xiang Feng. His eyes were scarlet, and when she held up the rose, it was as if he had seen his lover. His eyes turned gentle and he lightly kissed the rose.

That day, the young woman's life was spared by Xiang Feng, but her heart was caught.

The seventh year after she died, Xiang Feng reconstructed the castle. He hired officials, changed the reforms to be identical to those of the south, and abolished the religion in the kingdom. He crowned himself as King and since he worshipped the Golden Princess, everybody should worship her.

Anyone that resisted this new religion would be banned as a heretic, and be put to death.

Xiang Feng married his queen in a grand celebration. It was the young woman who sneaked into the castle three years prior. The two of them retired to their chambers, and began the last ritual to complete the ceremony.

Afterwards, when the queen lay peacefully sleeping in his arms, Xiang Feng got out of the bed to take a bath.

There was a newly-built hot spring inside the castle, and this was located not far from the royal bedchamber. Xiang Feng sank into it and sat down, and for a long while, his whole body stood frozen, his eyes blank, seemingly staring at nothing. It wasn't until dawn arrived, making tendrils of sunlight creep up on the surface of the water, that his pitch-black eyes finally stirred.

He looked at the figure of the girl not far away from him, her eyes blue like the sky, her hair as golden as the sun. She stood there, shimmering, as if she was made of air.

"Jia...." the young king called out her name hoarsely.

However, the girl only continued to smile, and did not respond.

"Jia, come to me...."

He reached a hand out, wanting her to come and take it. As much as he wanted to drag her into his arms, he knew, from the countless times that he saw her and failed, the moment his skin touched hers, she would disappear. Maybe if she came to him on her own volition, she would materialize into bone and flesh, and he would be able to touch her again.

"Jia...."

But the girl did not move, and only continued to stare at him. Xiang Feng gradually lowered his arm, and his expression sank into sadness, his lips curving down into a depressed frown.

"Jia, why won't you come to me? Touch me, if you touch me, I'm sure I won't feel dirty anymore."

However, the girl only continued to smile, and did nothing else.

Xiang Feng became silent. After a while, he continued to take his bath, but he could feel her eyes on him. The heat that was absent while he was making love to his queen earlier suddenly filled his body, and the young king trembled. He groaned in a low voice, calling her name.

"Jia...."

"Jia...touch me..."

The girl that was made of air still did not move, but she continued staring at him.

"Is it because you think I'm dirty that you don't want to touch me?"

Xiang Feng's eyes turned dull, like black gemstones, devoid of life.

"Jia, I want to die and follow you, can I?"

The girl only continued smiling.

Xiang Feng burrowed his face into his hands, shoulders shaking, and for a long while, his voice was not heard. Then he abruptly stood up, his eyes bloodshot, and strode out of the hot spring. He picked up a small dagger that was left by the maidservants to cut the fruits, and aimed it as his face. In one quick slash, a long cut opened up on his cheek, dripping blood.

Xiang Feng's black irises swirled with red.

"Jia, if I'm ugly to the point that she wouldn't want to touch me, you can't blame me for not fulfilling the promise, right? She's the one at fault, not me."

While he was speaking, he cut another long slash on his right cheek. His heart pounded with excitement, as the more blood spilled from his veins, the more he felt closer to where Song Jia was.

If only he could kill himself, that would be great...

The queen finally woke up in her chambers. Seeing that Xiang Feng was not beside her, she frowned.

"Where's Feng?" Her voice was soft and sweet as she asked the maidservant waiting outside the doors.

The maidservant carefully lowered her eyes to the floor. "Answering the queen, His Majesty left to take a bath in the hot spring."

The queen's forehead creased. "How long has he been there?"

"It's already been half an hour, Her Majesty."

The queen frowned. Wanting to check on him, she followed the maidservant to the hot spring. Because the hot spring was only reserved for the royal couple, the maidservant stayed outside.

The queen entered alone, feeling uneasy for some reason.

When she pushed open the beaded curtains and saw the tall figure standing in the middle of the room, her mouth reflexively opened to call his name.

However, a terrified scream escaped instead.

"Ahhh!"

She collapsed to the ground, her legs shaking, her eyes wide and horrified. She turned her head to the side and vomited. The sight was so repulsive that she could no longer bear to look at him.

"Feng...Feng, what..."

Xiang Feng turned around, and seeing that it was only her, he quickly lost interest and continued sharpening the knife against his flesh. His whole body was covered with blood, and from head to toe, there was not a single piece of skin that was left unscathed. His eyes red, he continued mutilating his own body, only wanting to see more blood...

As he was doing this, his gaze was filled with excitement, obsession, and a desire to destroy anything and everything.

Xiang Feng's breath quickened, and when he closed his eyes, he could pretend that his hands were hers, exploring his body, touching him.

Each burst of pain, was getting him closer to her.

Each drop of blood, were his tears of plea to see her again.

For the longest time, the young king stayed in the hot spring, until he nearly fainted in blood loss. Because he promised Song Jia that he wouldn't follow her to death, he threw away the dagger on the floor and obediently followed the team of pale physicians, each of them wearing a ghastly and repulsed expression.

Xiang Feng scarred himself until he became repulsive, so repulsive that no one would dare to touch him again.

...

He threw himself into the battlefield.

Even before the main cavalry could clash with their opponents, Xiang Feng would ride his horse first, charging into the enemy line with no care for his life.

He battled fiercely, wounds appearing one after another on his body, and the more his enemies couldn't hurt him, the more he used his sword to hurt them.

His body had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. The physicians would always surround the young king after a battle, wanting to treat him, but he would refuse each and every one of them. He would only cradle the rose, the symbol of the Golden Princess, and whisper words of love to it.

Everyone knew that he was crazy, but because his eyes were too desperate, they couldn't help but feel sympathy and leave him be.

Thirty* years after her death, Xiang Feng finally became so old that the enemy had a chance to kill him. The rose that he habitually carried had fallen off, and as he bent down to pick it up, a sword pierced through his back, straight into his heart.

Xiang Feng's eyes went wide, his blood spilled on the rose he clutched to his chest, and he looked at the sword that skewered his chest with dazed eyes.

And he suddenly laughed.

Everyone was terrified by his sudden laughter. Not only the enemy, but even the generals and soldiers under his command felt their scalps turning numb in fear. Xiang Feng laughed and laughed, looking extremely gleeful.

"Jia, I lived extremely well, I found another girl, and I lived a long life! I died in battle, this isn't my fault, you can't blame me!"

He fixed his eyes to the blue sky above them, the sunlight giving his hair a tinge of gold. And although his face was crisscrossed by scars, his eyes were soft and tender.

"Jia, I can follow you now, right? Wait for me..."

He opened his mouth wide, showing them his teeth that were stained by blood. He stared at his soldiers, and a malevolent aura exploded out of his body.

The enemy soldiers reflexively stepped back. Even though the man in front of them was fatally wounded and didn't even wield his sword, the chilling fear they felt came straight from their bones, telling them that this man was a predator, and they were his natural prey.

Xiang Feng didn't bother with them and only looked at his soldiers. He hooked his lips into a wicked grin.

"Whoever gives my Queen a child will become the next King."

Daring to pluck his roses, she shouldn't have a quick death. Xiang Feng had given her infertile medicine when they drank their crossed-cup wine, and her womb was sure to be barren for a long time now.

He made their kingdom prosper until even the other kingdoms were greedy for a small piece of it. He had made his people admire him until each word that came out of his mouth had become a sacred law. For the succession to the throne to be determined like this...

Hehe, afraid that as long as his Queen had a breath left, they would never stop.

Xiang Feng caressed the rose that he was holding with a look filled with obsession. He lightly kissed its petals, and when he finally closed his eyes, he saw himself in a garden full of red flowers.

Red roses and red lotus flowers, his Jia and his Jia'er...

Ah. It seemed that he was really a step too late.

However, he could still chase her to the next life.

Chase her and chase her, until he finally catches her and she would no longer be able to escape.

So Jia, wait for me...

Wait for me to catch you again.