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But the moment before Ya does so, that anger, burning for a thousand years, finally slips away...

In Her reverie, Ya looks closely at the Sui that is no longer Sui, and then, Ya howls with laughter.

Haha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

The enormous vessel remains silent.

I do not know why you are so adamant on being tortured, or why you wish to bring this cursed Originium into your body.

All I know is that is what you want. You <i>want</i> to take this festering, swelling, ancient wound and have it thrust into you!

Very well. I will humor you.

For you are not Sui, but Wang, the Sui-slayer. And so, I shall help you!

I shall help you repay Its sins over endless time!

But, hah, in a vessel such as this, even the strongest of spirits will be worn away and assimilated, ultimately becoming just like It—

When that time comes, I shall return. I shall have my vengeance by slaying you with my own two hands!

But as for now... I do not wish to hear you prattle on about explanations and the like. I do not wish to hear you squabble with those insects.

All I want to do to this body, is have my unprecedented...

Vengeance.

One most fitting for we souls who have walked since the beginning.

Cutting away the seasons is not a power without a price—especially for a Feranmut on the brink of death, meddling with the most primal force of this land.

But Ya still does it anyway.

That piece of Originium, alongside the space it occupies, is cut away by Ya...

Then ruthlessly thrusts into the depths of Sui's body.

And then, all She sees is black.

Ya has already forgotten Her two kin She had trapped within illusion. With the fading of the last of Her strength, they break free. Now, they watch Her body slowly weather away, their faces lined with sorrow.

Oh my, an earthquake just as we have escaped those fiends?

Over here, Tianshi Lin! There are still people here!

Coming!

Lin Qingyan rushes over, dragging several bewildered geists out from the collapsing building, but the tremors get stronger, sending a falling roof beam straight to Mr. Pu's head—

Duck, you old bookbrain!

Thank you for saving me, O brave hero!

Zushi!

Yo. Everyone still alive? Not bad.

Alright, everyone's safe, and the earthquake's over. Get everything tidied up, then head back.

Is the chaos... finally over?

The childlike Tianshi narrows her eyes, looking out towards the Tomb of Sui. She has a rare somber expression on her face, a far cry from her usual cynicism.

This was your choice, you weiqi failure. Your calculation.

You must have foreseen what kind of disaster this piece of Originium would bring with it to think up of a solution like this.

It means nobody's going to dare mess with you... But you might as well be damning yourself to eternal hell this way.

You chose a bitter road to follow. I don't know if this counts as me helping you or hurting you...

'Plotting a great windfall for all beings in this realm.' You actually did it...

This game is yours, weiqi failure.

The enormous shadow, the crazed woman, the Originium's orange glare. Everything begins to fade from the True Lung's sight.

He finally understand what that proxy's ultimate plan was.

Feranmuts. Originium.

At the cost of near-eternal torment, Wang ascended the seat of Sui and accepted Ya's vengeance.

Bu Fan, or rather, the first Originium Yan has relied upon since the days of yore, is now buried within the deepest pits of the Feranmut's body and soul.

And with the disappearance of the energy it supplied, the secret chamber gradually begins to collapse.

The True Lung walks towards the exit and pulls upon its doors, only to discover they have been jammed shut by rubble.

But he does not panic.

He feels that to die here is not such a bad thing—

<color=#ff0000>Chi Xiao—</color>

For a moment, the True Lung believes himself to be hallucinating, for the one supporting him by the shoulder has an uncanny resemblance to his older brother.

...Yan Wu?

Don't speak. Follow me.

Like the room behind it, the blood-red hidden passage begins to crumble away in the wake of Bu Fan's disappearance.

The True Lung leans against Wei Yenwu's shoulder, doing his best to match his pace.

He still feels like this is all a dying dream, a meeting with his estranged brother that his feeble consciousness conjured up.

He tries to think back to his younger days, when he made mischief with his brother as they ran through the hallways of the palace.

What season was it... Was it autumn? No, it was not that cold, so it must have been...

It has been too long.

He no longer remembers it clearly.

The prolonged earthquake finally stops.

The panicking court mandarins look at each other, unsure what is to come next. At least, until a familiar face unhurriedly walks in.

You may all rest easy.

Supervisor, do you mean to say...?

The Sui menace has been... thoroughly resolved.

I ask you all to return to your posts. The chaos is over, but there are still many things in Baizao that require our attention.

The Imperial Guards standing behind her add a little gravitas to her declaration. After some hesitation, the mandarins tidy their clothes and hats before they walk out the doors.

Once the last of them have left, Chun nods at the Guards. They stand aside, but they keep their eyes locked onto her.

He did it.

Eliminating Sui and finding you. He did both of them.

The former Candleholder, the current Supervisor of the Sui Regulator, listens to the heartbeat of the Feranmut.

It is the rage that enormous creature felt against itself, but there is a gentle breath accompanying that pulse.

From within, she hears something not of that consciousness, far away from that vessel, gathered somewhere within Baizao. And it speaks of forgiveness.

Within the grand palace, there is now only a single withered old man.

Ever since the True Lung descended underground, he has waited here, listening to the reports from Yumen, the uproar in Baizao, and the declaration from the Sui Regulator to the entire city that all is now well.

His coughing has only grown more violent, his waist more stooped. By the time of the declaration, he can no longer support himself. He is forced to sit on the ground, leaning against the throne.

At first, he felt anger, then worry. But now, he only feels exhaustion.

Memories from near a hundred years ago, when he was instated by the current True Lung's father, force themselves to the surface.

It was midwinter, when the snow swirled through the air. The then True Lung was still far from being addled, happy to sit about the fireplace with the newly-promoted mandarin and discuss all great things happening under Heaven.

Contact between Laterano and Iberia, the war between Columbia and Victoria, Ursus's desire for conquest, the turmoil in Higashi, the mysterious weapons of Kazdel...

And Sui. As It was not excised the first time, the True Lung was resolute in having the second attempt come with no mistakes.

Yan would obtain the bones of Sui, and with near-double the amount of energy, and It eliminated, the Age of Yan will have arrived.

Their talks became so fervent that the emperor stood up and struck out barefoot into the snow, using his finger to brandish Chi Xiao as he spoke of what grand ambitions he had for Yan's future...

We both are exalted to distant thought, aspiring to the sky and the bright moon!

And then...

And then, he could no longer wait for the day that True Lung would blow the horn to call for Sui's eradication. He could only wait for that True Lung's mind to deteriorate until all had abandoned him.

And then, you also could not wait for the current True Lung's return.

You could not prove to him that all you have done was not for your own selfish reasons, but for the future of Yan.

Through his murky eyes, the old man believes the one standing before him can only be the emperor he has awaited for so long, but the voice his ringing ears catch says otherwise.

The entire court knows your cold is merely a pretext. The lingering illness that has plagued you for years could hardly be passed off as a simple chill, just as how we all know that your ironclad desire to eliminate Sui was not an idea you had on your own.

You once held great esteem and approval, but now the dust has settled. Those who followed you...

The old man can no longer hear.

His throat shudders. All he wants to do is to speak those words pent-up in his heart:

'Look here! The doddering old fool who started this chaos stands here, awaiting Your Majesty's judgment!'

Your words will not be heard by anyone.

Before he can shout these words at his liege like an unfortunate, misunderstood hero, life itself no longer wishes to remain within him.

He is dead.

Wow... This place sure has changed a lot.

Finally tearing down this eyesore of a tomb. Had the same idea five centuries ago.

Can't believe you're in the mood to talk like that... We still don't know what it's like inside.

Well it's obvious, isn't it? We're alive, which means he's not dead.

Wang, he... he definitely succeeded.