152. Arrogance
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The evening after the Caoyang massacre, Sky Palace released a Resounding Edict which flew to every region of the Sky and Mortal Realms, and the edict proclaimed Yin Xiaolong guilty, accusing him of being the Demon King Incarnate.
This Edict was accompanied by a collection of memories...
The memories of witnesses who first saw Bailong transform into a Black Dragon in the Out Worlds, and then the memories of the witnesses who saw the Black Dragon attacking the Sky Empress.
In one particular memory, the black dragon had flown right towards the heavily pregnant Empress.
All but a few shut their eyes as the heavily pregnant Empress clutched her stomach, trying to run, but the black dragon crashed into her, sending her flying.
She brutally smashed into a stone wall and fell to the ground, vomiting blood.
But before she could rise, the dragon unfurled and shot straight for her again.
She stood up while trying to cast a feeble seal, then sighed in relief when Zhurong Fen appeared, descending to stand before her, facing the black dragon.
Zhurong Fen fought against the dragon for a while, but it was clear to all that she was outmatched, and soon, the dragon claimed her life, drawing gasps as she fell from the sky to the ground.
By now, the floral immortals around had fled and a few were still running away. But the dragon did not go after them. Instead, it went right for the still weak Empress again, brutally rushing at her...
The Immortal's memory ended there as he used the opportunity to slip away.
But this was the memory Tianlong and Fei Yun had seen that day in the Floral realm.
Seeing the brutal deaths had been too much for them to bear, especially Tianlong who had lost three people all in one...
Wife, child, and sister.
The only family he had left.
And this had been the final spiral against Bailong, leading to the cold-blooded attack on Caoyang...
As for the Immortals, they were also convinced that the Black Dragon could only be Yin Xiaolong.
The black dragon in that memory was clearly after the Empress...
"Hmph! Who doesn't know that the Empress opposed Yin Xiaolong everywhere?!" They gossiped.
"Wasn't the Empress one of those insistent that the Snake Clan be destroyed? Didn't that make her Yin Xiaolong's enemy?!"
"And how many dragons in Sky realm can defeat the great Zhurong Fen so easily?!"
"Which other dragon is powerful enough to blind the stars?!"
They had judged him on their own...
And as for the Mortals, they simply listened and believed in what the Immortals said.
In the end, without any form of trial, Sky Realm had deemed Yin Xiaolong guilty of being the Demon King Incarnate, and the respect and admiration once held for him, had turned into fear and hatred...
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Meanwhile, earlier at dawn of that same day, Bailong had set Caoyang in a decent form of order.
Then he vanished silently when no one was looking.
Sky Realm was still sealed, so he found a secluded spot to meditate, raising a water clone in the East Sea.
First, he directed the clone to Four-Petal garden. There, he dismissed everyone within, giving each one chests-full of rare treasures, and then he sealed the garden off for good, freezing the seeds, plants, and herbs in a timeless state.
Next, he directed the clone to the ruins of the former East Sea Palace, bowing to the two hidden memorial stones he had once erected for his father and brother.
After that, the clone spent most of the day appearing at his more important ventures, ensuring his most loyal servants were taken care off, before shutting things down or leaving it in capable hands.
It was a little after dusk that Tianlong's Resounding Edict appeared in the skies, and with it, the proclamation and accompanying memories.
Through his Clone's eyes, Bailong watched in shock as the black dragon killed Zhurong Fen, and then the pregnant Sky Empress.
The mortals around were beginning to eye the clone with fear and distrust, so Bailong quickly ended the technique, making the clone dissolve into a pool of water.
But he had seen enough.
And as his eyes opened in Sky Realm, he was shattered afresh.
The deaths of Feng Yuexia and Zhurong Fen were surely the reason his friends had turned against him so completely...
But knowing why didn't make this poison any easier to swallow.
Bailong could certainly understand their hurt...
...but he could not understand their actions!
Theirs was a friendship which had withstood trials over thousands and thousands of years.
Even blood brothers might be envious.
Was it so easy for Tianlong and Fei Yun to believe he was capable of such a thing?!
Memories could easily be manipulated...
Were these memories really enough to convince his friends that he was guilty?!
Even if the memory was to be believed, how had they readily believed he was that same black dragon?
How could they believe he would kill the women his friends loved so much...? That he could even kill an innocent unborn child?!
And Tianlong's child no less!
Of the two, it had always been clear that Bailong favoured Tianlong most of all, sometimes putting him even before himself.
In fact Fei Yun had joked about it at Bailong's wedding, declaring that Tianlong had been demoted to a 'less-favoured concubine' like himself!
This had sent all three friends and most of the guests into several shades of laughter.
It could be argued that those were past times, but even with their recent rifts, Bailong mostly acted for Tianlong's own good, and Tianlong himself knew it.
Which was why it was always easily resolved afterward...
How then could they think he would ever harm Tianlong's child...?
And how could they believe all this without giving him the littlest benefit of doubt?!
Without hearing a single word of explanation from him, they had struck at Caoyang, harming Liwei and slaying thousands of innocents...?!
And now they had blackened his name like this, making him an enemy in both realms...
It was indeed heartbreak upon heartbreak, and near-unstoppable tears rushed down his face, falling onto his robes.
He felt like a thousand arrows pierced his heart as he finally faced the grief of losing so many, and the guilt of being the sole reason it happened.
"I was arrogant!" He wailed in anguish. "I was too arrogant!"
It didn't even matter whether he was guilty or innocent.
His dearest friends had been the ones to kill his people, but the death of those people was ultimately his fault.
Even before all this, the Empress and Immortal Jin had targeted Caoyang and the Snake Clan merely to get at him.
Tianlong and Fei Yun had attacked Caoyang to punish him.
The reason Liwei had let Fei Yun in that day was also because of him- because of his trust in Fei Yun.
And even looking back, his father and brother had surely died because of him...
Countless Immortals had always said he lacked arrogance, but he was surely the most arrogant of all.
He had spent his life arrogantly defying Fate, trying to save as many lives as possible.
But Fate had balanced out that loss with the lives of those right by his side.
He had arrogantly believed he could protect all he set out to protect, but even those had slipped through his fingers.
Like fine sand drifting away... Exactly like Old man Bao had once said they would...
But the height of Bailong's arrogance was trusting in his friends, believing nothing could shake them.
Believing nothing could ever come between them in such a way...
He had really been the most arrogant of all!
And that arrogance had led to so much bloodshed...
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With the Resounding Edict, Bailong was now a fugitive, so he could no longer tie up all his lose ends.
In fact trying to help his friends might only put them in danger.
"It's just as well..." He whispered, rising to his feet. "I should go and rescue Weiwei..."
He held up two fingers and instantly disappeared, reappearing in front of Sky Palace.
Tianlong must have expected Bailong to retaliate in some way, so he made certain that no one, not even Bailong, could teleport or reverse-summon into the Palace.
Bailong simply sighed and stepped forward.
"Yin Xiaolong has appeared!" A guard recognized him and instantly raised alarm, making thousands of soldiers appear to surround Bailong.
"Let him through!" Tianlong's voice rang out in trembling force, and the soldiers parted, making way for him.
Bailong calmly and quietly walked through the giant doorways like he had done so long ago, when the previous Sky Emperor had first summoned him to Sky Realm...
The irony wasn't lost on him.
Back then, he had been filled with adventure and wonder, on a quest to better the world! The Sky Palace was certainly the center of their world, so coming here might be the first step of many grand adventures!
And it had indeed been such a place for many years.
But now, he felt nothing as he passed through the Palace.
The soldiers and guards stationed around the long hallways had tripled in number, but none dared approach him till he finally reached the familiar throne room which had now lost any sense of warmth.
The instant he stepped in, the doors behind him were shut and soldiers blocked the doorways.
Tianlong sat on the throne and Fei Yun stood by his right, and Sun Liang stood on his left... a spot that had once been Bailong's.
This had been an inside joke after Tianlong's coronation.
As the strongest among them, Tianlong naturally asked Bailong to stand at his Right Hand, the most obvious place of honour!
...but Bailong had joked that if he ever offended Tianlong, it would be too easy for Tianlong's 'right hand' to reach him!
In truth however, Bailong had done it for Fei Yun...
Back then, Fei Yun held no position outside his advisory role, so by letting him remain on Tianlong's right, no one would dare look down on him openly...
At the moment however, such memories were empty to Bailong and he numbly walked to the front of the hall.
Besides Tianlong and Fei Yun, there were nearly a hundred Immortals present- Deities, High Immortals, Grand Immortals, and even three High Grand Immortals which included Immortal Jin.
Their stares were filled with everything from triumph, to disdain, to hatred, to fear, but what Bailong noted almost at once was a glaring absence of any Immortal that might have firmly stood on his side.
It was indeed like walking into a nest of scorpions...
But he felt a mild relief.
It didn't matter whether those individuals were absent because they were too loyal, or because they were too ashamed to face him.
He was simply grateful their faces were not amidst this den of enemies.
As Bailong walked toward the throne, he could feel Tianlong and Fei Yun's cold glares, but he wasn't bothered.
In fact, he welcomed the cold and hateful glares.
After all, guilt or innocense, he was indeed a sinner.
So he numbly walked forward, linked his thumbs, and bowed.
"Paying respect to the Sky Emperor, ruler of two realms..."
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