Текст книги "Благословение Небожителей. Том 6 (ЛП)"

Автор книги: Мосян Тунсю

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 20 страниц) [доступный отрывок для чтения: 8 страниц]

“Are you still going to tell me I’m wrong?” Mu Qing said coldly.

With much effort, Xie Lian finally squeezed out, “…Why would one of my divine statues be here?”

“One?” Mu Qing replied. “Not just one. Look closely.”

Then he yanked the veil from another divine statue—it too had a face that was undoubtedly Xie Lian’s!

He pulled the veils from the faces of five or six more divine statues. They were all identical!

“This certainly is a Cave of Ten Thousand Gods,” Mu Qing said. “But there’s only one god worshipped here!”

Only Xie Lian!

He was surrounded by endless copies of his own face. It was like Xie Lian had fallen into a bizarre, hallucinatory dream. His mind spun for a good while before he abruptly realized something.

“Wait. Mu Qing. You didn’t get a chance to see these statues’ faces earlier, right? You were going to remove the veils, but he stopped you.”

Mu Qing humphed. “I don’t need to see the statues’ faces to know that you’re the subject.”

“How would you know?” Xie Lian asked.

Mu Qing rolled all the silk veils into a ball and tossed them to the side, his veins popping slightly. “How would I know? Because all your clothes, accessories, and daily living needs were my responsibility back then. I washed for you, I mended for you—and every item in your wardrobe was unique. These statues are too detailed—everything is there, exactly the same, completely! When I saw those clothes, of course I knew whose face they would have!”

Xie Lian fell silent. He put a hand over his forehead and thought back on Hua Cheng’s odd behavior along the way.

Next to him, Feng Xin said, “He wouldn’t let us look at those statues, which proves he knows exactly what’s weird about them. That whole excuse about how we all dropped in by accident after the avalanche was bullshit. He must know what this place is.”

“Not just that. I bet he was the one who threw us into that pit of silk webbing,” Mu Qing added. “He was serious about killing us.”

“But…why are these statues like this?” Xie Lian wondered.

The statues had all been carved with such precision that they seemed nearly alive. The details were more than detailed, almost to the point of being frightening. It was clear to see just how closely the sculptor had observed their subject. Xie Lian didn’t think even the work of Xianle’s most renowned sculptors had reached this level of detail. It was as if the sculptor’s mind was filled by Xie Lian and Xie Lian alone, as if his eyes saw nothing else.

The three of them were surrounded by countless statues that all bore the same face, and Feng Xin shuddered violently.

“Honestly, what the fuck. Too creepy… They’re too fucking realistic.”

And there were so many.

“I suspect these statues are components for some wicked spell. Let’s destroy them,” Mu Qing said.

He moved to shatter one with a chop of his hand. Xie Lian’s mind was instantly pulled back to the present; he stopped him.

“Don't!” he cried.

Mu Qing looked at him. “Are you sure? The spell could be aimed at you.”

Xie Lian pondered it, but in the end still said, “Let’s not act recklessly. I think the chance that it’s a wicked spell is very small.”

“I think it’s very large,” Feng Xin said. “Honestly, what the fuck… Doesn’t the sight of these things scare you?”

Mu Qing stared at Xie Lian, who stared at him right back. “And what are you basing that off of?”

“Nothing,” Xie Lian said. “But these divine statues are quite nice and very meticulously sculpted. If we destroy them before we find out about them, we might regret it.”

After a pause, he added, “San Lang…might have lied to me about something, but I truly don’t think it’s anything that would harm me.”

Mu Qing couldn’t believe his ears. “…Did he cast some spell on you to bewitch your mind? I think if he wrote ‘suspicious’ on his face, you’d suddenly forget how to read.”

While they were talking, Feng Xin snapped to alertness, like he was about to face a dangerous foe. “Watch out!” he cried.

Xie Lian and Mu Qing both tensed and demanded, “What is it?”

“That spider silk is coming at us again!” Feng Xin exclaimed.

The palm torch illuminated the stone walls ahead; they were covered with large patches of dense white silk. The three cursed mentally, gearing themselves up for another clash. Yet unexpectedly, this white silk wasn’t as aggressive as the silk in the pit; it neither moved nor attacked. It was acting like a gecko lounging on a wall.

After they had waited for a while, Xie Lian observed, “These silk nets don’t seem alive.”

“If they’re not alive, then what are they for?” Feng Xin questioned.

Xie Lian had an answer in mind, which he confirmed when he went over to study it. “I think they’re covering something.”

All three of them stood before the stone wall. Xie Lian gave the white silk a tug and pulled off a large section. As expected, the strands were tough and difficult to tear down, but he could manage it with effort.

The veils had concealed the identity of those divine statues. So what was being hidden on these stone walls?

The other two joined him in tearing down the webs, each taking care of different areas. Soon, a section of the wall was revealed on Xie Lian’s side.

“It’s a mural!”

The webs had been hiding a giant painting. The entire surface of the wall was densely packed with lines, colors, and little people. The mural was divided into smaller pieces, each with a different style: some were coarse and wild, some elegant, some exquisite, some peculiar.

After studying it for a while, Xie Lian stated, “…He painted this.”

“He?” Mu Qing echoed. “Hua Cheng? Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Xie Lian said softly. “There are words on here, and he’s the one who wrote them.”

He pointed at a little blood-red person on the wall. Right next to it, there were a bunch of messy, twisted, indiscernible characters—it looked like they had been written in a state of delirium or scrawled to vent the author’s feelings during a period of extreme suffering. Based on those characters, Xie Lian could guess that the little blood-red person painted there was Hua Cheng himself, but for some unknown reason he had depicted himself as extremely ugly and disfigured.

Feng Xin glanced at it and couldn’t help but comment, “That handwriting…it’s so ugly I’ve gone blind. I bet even I write better than him.”

Handwriting uglier than Feng Xin’s was truly beyond saving. Xie Lian was dazzled; there was so much to see that he didn’t even know where to start looking. Now that he’d confirmed this was Hua Cheng’s work, it was like he had discovered a treasure trove. His fingertips began to tremble slightly.

Mu Qing seemed to have discovered something nearby and called out. “Your Highness, come quick! Come and see!”

Only then did Xie Lian snap out of it. “What is it?”

Feng Xin and Mu Qing were already rendered speechless and could only point at one of the images. This piece was considerably larger than the other ones depicted. Right at its center was a tall tower connected to a city wall. Below, a sea of people surrounded a magnificent stage. The lines were simple, yet they captured the scene perfectly with only a few strokes.

Mu Qing pointed at the center of the mural. “So…that…that was him?” he said with a trembling voice.

Xie Lian was also staring at that section.

This piece was mostly colorless; only two figures had been colored within it. There was a small figure at the bottom that had been painted pure white; it seemed to be glowing. The figure was looking toward the sky with hands outstretched. It was about to catch another little figure who was falling from the tower.

That little figure was bloody red.

“…Is that him? Was that him?” Mu Qing murmured. “The little kid who fell during the Shangyuan Heavenly Ceremonial Parade? But how is that possible? I can’t believe it. Crimson Rain Sought Flower…was him?!”

Feng Xin patted Xie Lian and Mu Qing madly and pointed to one side. “There’s more in the back!”

Xie Lian walked over to the other mural and saw that it depicted a dilapidated little shrine. Upon the shrine’s altar there was a divine statue, which also glowed faintly with white light. It held a sword in one hand, and in the other it offered a red umbrella downward. There was an ugly little blood-red figure at the bottom of the mural. It cupped a small flower in its hands, which it was offering to the statue.

Xie Lian felt a sudden headache coming on. His hand flew to clutch his throbbing temple, but he didn’t look away.

The next mural depicted a battlefield. Large bands of soldiers were gearing up for war, and a little white figure floated in the sky overhead. It wielded a longsword in one hand and looked mighty and glorious. There was another little blood-red figure among the dense battalion below. Its head was raised to watch the one in the sky.

Xie Lian was absorbed in these paintings when Feng Xin’s disbelieving voice rang out.

“That red one, it’s all the same person, isn’t it? It’s all him?! They’re all Hua Cheng?! Holy fuck… He’s been following you all this time?!”

Mu Qing also looked incredulous. “He wasn’t just following, he was watching. Watching very closely. Very, very closely. He was everywhere! Look, this is the main street, Buyou Forest—what’s this? Beizi Hill? My god… Was he the one who carved all these divine statues?!”

Looking at the murals was giving Feng Xin chills. “My fucking god… Who the hell is he? He’s had his eye on you since eight hundred years ago?! And he’s still following you, even now? What the fuck?! This is terrifying! Is he bewitched? What the hell does he want? No normal devotee would go this far—so just what the hell does he want?!”

“There must be some plot…there must be!” Mu Qing exclaimed. “Let’s keep looking. I’m sure we’ll find a clue!”

Xie Lian was completely stricken. He stared at that little blood-red figure on the wall, unable to wrap his mind around it. It felt like countless memories were fighting to rush into his brain—he hadn’t forgotten, but they’d never taken root. They were pouring in so fast that his breath could barely keep up anymore.

Just then, Xie Lian heard the other two yell, and he snapped out of it. “What is it now?” he asked.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both standing before a stone wall, and it looked like they had seen something outrageous. When they saw Xie Lian walk toward them, Feng Xin quickly turned around and stopped him, pushing him away.

“Holy fuck, don’t look!”

“What?” Xie Lian was bewildered. “What was it? Why can’t I look?”

Mu Qing’s expression was dark. “Just…don’t bother. There’s nothing worth seeing here. Let’s get out of here as soon as possible!”

The two of them each grabbed one of Xie Lian’s arms and started to bolt once more. Xie Lian complained as he was dragged along.

“What are you doing? I wasn’t done looking at the murals!”

“There’s no need to look anymore! Things like that shouldn’t be seen!” Feng Xin yelled angrily as he ran. “My fucking god! I’ve never witnessed anything like that in my fucking life. Nor anyone like him!”

Xie Lian was baffled. “What have you never witnessed? What’s wrong with San Lang?”

“Why are you still calling him ‘San Lang’? Stop it!” Mu Qing admonished. “You can’t get away from him fast enough! Never go near him again—he’s not normal! He’s sick in the head! He’s crazy!”

Xie Lian couldn’t listen anymore. “Why are you two insulting him like this? None of us are all that normal, you know!”

“Stop asking!” Feng Xin cried. “You don’t understand! He’s not like us! He’s crazy! He… Toward you, he… He…”

“‘Toward me,’ what?” Xie Lian demanded. “Please let me go. Let me go back and see for myself, all right?”

One wanted to go back, but the other two were pulling him forward. They were stuck in that stalemate until suddenly, a bone-chilling voice came from ahead of them.

“Didn’t I say not to randomly put your hands on things in other people’s territory?”

The three of them froze, then slowly turned to look.

Before them stood a man dressed in red. Hua Cheng was leaning against the stone wall, blocking their way with a smile.

“If you do, who knows what will happen?”

While his mouth was smiling, his eye held not a trace of mirth but was instead dark and muddied. He hugged one of his arms, while his other hand idly fiddled with something small.

It was the deep-red coral pearl tied to his thin braid. The coral’s luminous red luster was as bright and dazzling as the red affinity knot on his pale finger.

Neither the hundreds of charmed talismans nor the heavy piles of boulders had stopped him!

Feng Xin and Mu Qing both reacted swiftly. Feng Xin shot a barrage of arrows as Mu Qing swung his saber to send an air-blade strike toward Hua Cheng, then grabbed Xie Lian and ran. Feng Xin employed his same old trick and struck wildly at the rock walls.

“What the fuck?!” he cried. “How did he find us so fast?!”

“How should I know?!” Mu Qing yelled back. “Wait—the red string! The red string! His finger is still tied with that red string!”

When it dawned on them, they both turned around to seize Xie Lian’s hand—as if he would let them. Xie Lian clutched the red knot on his finger to protect it and exclaimed, “You can’t!”

“Your Highness, he’ll find us as long as you keep that red string tied to you,” Feng Xin insisted. “If you don’t want him to catch up, it has to be removed!”

Xie Lian still held on, guarding his finger. “I’m not afraid of him catching up. I…want to ask him about this face-to-face.”

Mu Qing’s eyes widened. “You still want to talk to him? I don’t think you’ll realize how dangerous he is until he’s devoured you whole.”

“But I already know he’s dangerous,” Xie Lian countered. “You guys won’t tell me what that mural shows, and you won’t let me go near him. You won’t convince me of anything acting like this.”

“He’s a ghost king, and his behavior is abnormal. People would usually stay far away based on that alone! You shouldn’t need to be convinced of anything!”

Xie Lian raised two fingers. “Two choices: either you let me go back and ask him to explain, or you let me go back to look at that mural.”

Feng Xin and Mu Qing seemed to remember something terrifying. One’s lips began to twitch, while the other’s brow could not furrow any deeper. They both stood blocking him and yelled in unison, “We’ll allow neither!”

Thus, Xie Lian rolled up his sleeves. “Well, since you both said no, let’s solve this with our fists! Who’s first? Or will you come at me together?”

Mu Qing turned to Feng Xin. “You first!”

Then he backed away to the side of the tunnel.

Feng Xin didn’t seem confident that he could win against Xie Lian, but he was determined to give it his best shot to rescue this wayward youth. He gripped his bow.

“Very well! Your Highness, pardon my insolence!”

“Pard—”

Before Xie Lian could even return the opening courtesy, he felt something hot being stuck to his back. Someone behind him shouted, “Stay still! Don’t talk!” and he was rendered as stiff as an iron board. And not just his body—he also couldn’t move his mouth to speak!

Mu Qing darted out from behind Xie Lian. “Let’s drag him away. That talisman will paralyze him temporarily, but it won’t last long,” he said to Feng Xin.

Feng Xin was slightly dumbfounded. “Why did you ambush him? Didn’t we agree to go one-on-one?”

Xie Lian was shocked as well that Mu Qing would immediately go back on his word. He wouldn’t have been deceived so easily had it not been for his wholehearted trust in both of his once-subordinates.

“Who has the time for you to go one-on-one right now?” Mu Qing said. “He’s doing it on purpose; it’s easy to see that he’s dragging things out to give Hua Cheng time to catch up. Do you see the state he’s in right now? Completely enchanted! No matter what you tell him, nothing will get through. Once they meet, Hua Cheng will probably only need to charm him with a few lies and he’ll believe him, just like someone who’s under a fox spirit’s thrall.”3

Feng Xin considered this and decided that what Mu Qing said made some sense. “Your Highness,” he sighed, “we didn’t intend to deceive you, but his behavior toward you is really…unseemly. I can’t even speak of it! Please, just come with us.”

“Let’s go,” Mu Qing said.

Mu Qing’s words weren’t a suggestion or a plea—they were a command. He must have stuck a Command Talisman on Xie Lian’s back, drawn in his own blood. A Command Talisman could ostensibly make its target obey the spellcaster’s every whim, but in reality it could only realize simple commands like “do not speak,” “walk,” “stop,” “run,” and so on. More complicated commands were harder to execute, and the talisman couldn’t confound the target’s mind. Only powerful ghosts like the Brocade Immortal could manage such things.

The two hurried along with Xie Lian in tow again, but they were stopped by a pile of rubble blocking the way.

Feng Xin saw that their path had been cut off and wondered aloud, “Why are there rocks blocking the way? We can’t go any farther.”

“Weren’t you the one who knocked them down? Why are you asking me?” Mu Qing said.

“You were the one leading the way, so you’re the one who messed up. Why are we somewhere we’ve already been, anyway? Why would you circle back around?” Feng Xin questioned.

Mu Qing refused to be questioned. “What a joke. I don’t know the roads here, so how could I possibly lead? Haven’t we been running around randomly all this time?”

Sensing that they were about to get into another argument, Feng Xin waved it off.

“Never mind, it’s not worth wasting my breath on you. Let’s just dig through this!”

Hua Cheng was pursuing them from behind, so they could only go forward—retreat wasn’t an option if they wanted to avoid running into him. Blocking roads was easy, but digging through that blockage was much harder. They made Xie Lian stand obediently in a corner while Feng Xin rained down random punches on the boulders, and Mu Qing, with bulging veins, swung his mighty zhanmadao to shatter the rocks. They cleared the path in no time; rubble rolled and dust clouded the air. But just as they were about to call Xie Lian over, they saw a red-clad figure standing in the now-open passage amidst clouds of settling dust.

Xie Lian’s eyes instantly lit up. It was Hua Cheng!

The ghost king’s gaze was cold. He stood silently with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Why won’t you go away?!” Feng Xin blurted.

This man was the very definition of persistence. They had left him in the dust, so how had he managed to appear ahead of them? How long had he had been standing there, waiting in silence as they cleared away the obstacle blocking their way to deliver themselves right into his hands? He was frighteningly tenacious and sinister.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing quickly backed away, putting some distance between them. Hua Cheng didn’t look at them. His gaze moved to the side of the tunnel, and he took a step in Xie Lian’s direction. Feng Xin and Mu Qing realized why he was here and rushed to Xie Lian’s side in a flash to guard him.

“Don’t come any closer!” they both shouted at once.

Hua Cheng’s expression turned extremely dark.

Normally, if someone dared to tell Crimson Rain Sought Flower to stay away, he wouldn’t give a damn; he’d simply laugh and approach anyway. But at that moment he seemed genuinely wary, not daring to move recklessly. He paused in his step.

After a moment, he finally spoke. His words came slowly, and his tone was calm. “What do you two mean by this?”

Feng Xin, however, cut straight to the point. “You don’t need to pretend anymore! We know this is your old lair. We’ve already seen what those divine statues are, and the murals too—we’ve seen everything!”

Hua Cheng wasn’t directly facing them; he stood at an angle. The hands tucked behind his back seemed to jerk at Feng Xin’s words, and two of his fingers curled stiffly inward.

“His Highness…saw it too?” he asked softly, inclining his head.

His voice was very, very quiet. While he still sounded unfazed, his voice was slightly cracked and obviously strange.

No! Xie Lian cried mentally.

The truth was that he hadn’t seen much, but at that moment Xie Lian could neither move nor speak. He could only lean dutifully against the wall in the corner—which made it look like he was hiding behind the other two. It must’ve seemed like he was afraid to face Hua Cheng and refused to speak with him.

Feng Xin drew his bow. “That’s right. We now understand your…intentions. With respect for your position as a ghost king—if you still know self-respect and conduct yourself with any dignity—we ask that you don’t come near His Highness again.”

Xie Lian’s feelings were like a cottage on fire, black smoke roiling heavy and thick. Hua Cheng should’ve noticed that something was amiss, and Xie Lian could only hope that he would question him directly to find out what was wrong.

But Hua Cheng’s current state seemed to render him unable to notice a thing.

“Don’t go near him?” he said coldly. “What right do either of you have to say that to me?”

Not waiting for their response, Hua Cheng’s eye flashed dangerously.

“But you’ve reminded me that we have unfinished business to settle!”

The moment he finished speaking, countless shrieking silver butterflies shot forth toward them. In the face of such an attack, a spiritual shield was the only option. Feng Xin and Mu Qing cried in unison, “Shield!”

The butterfly deluge was blocked by the formless spiritual shield and shattered into shimmering silver light, which rapidly recrystallized into new silver butterflies and attacked once more. The onslaught was completely unstoppable—Feng Xin and Mu Qing gave ground slowly as they kept their shield up, and Hua Cheng steadily advanced step by step. The whirling winds raised by his spiritual aura stirred his raven hair, and it danced wildly with every gust. The mad fury and violence in his eye was on full display under the blinding light of the silver butterflies.

Defending alone wouldn’t get them anywhere. Feng Xin and Mu Qing exchanged a look, silently agreeing to go on the attack. They maintained the spiritual shield as they charged forward; then, with weapons flashing, the three began to fight in the narrow stone corridor. Feng Xin battled the wraith butterflies while Mu Qing faced Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng flung out an arm, and the scimitar Eming appeared in his left hand, ready to strike!

This was the first time Xie Lian witnessed Eming fighting seriously. The scimitar was long, slender, and chillingly murderous, and it gleamed with threatening silver light—it was truly a wicked blade overflowing with evil!

The battle was truly thrilling to behold. Hua Cheng stood his ground even when fighting two against one, and Xie Lian watched unblinkingly with bated breath. With a flick of Eming’s blade, Mu Qing’s zhanmadao was knocked off course and into the rocks. Although Mu Qing still had a grip on the hilt, the blade was stuck—he couldn’t yank his weapon out. This only shocked Mu Qing for a moment, but Hua Cheng’s fist was already swinging right into his jaw. The punch sent Mu Qing flying through the air, and he finally lost his grip on his saber’s hilt.

Meanwhile, each arrow Feng Xin shot at the butterflies was snapped by their sharp wings. The sheer number of butterflies was ultimately too difficult to deal with!

At this point, both victory and defeat were a foregone conclusion. Countless white silk tendrils slithered from the corners of the corridor and wrapped Feng Xin and Mu Qing into giant cocoons once more. The more they struggled, the tighter their bindings became.

Mu Qing tore at the silk as he yelled. “I knew you were the one who threw us into that pit!”

“This isn’t spider silk!” Feng Xin exclaimed. “This is…!”

It dawned on Xie Lian as well. It was butterfly silk!

Butterflies emerged from chrysalises, which they wove from their own silk. This strange white silk was completely of Hua Cheng’s making, and it was probably linked to his aggressive wraith butterflies!

With the match decided, Hua Cheng sheathed his scimitar. “I threw you in to save you from disaster. Otherwise, you would’ve never had a chance to find this Cave of Ten Thousand Gods,” he jeered. “And it was your yelling that caused the avalanche. Why don’t you thank me for saving your puny little lives?”

Hua Cheng had probably planned to wait out the avalanche at first, getting Xie Lian out once the snowy mountain quieted down and leaving Feng Xin and Mu Qing behind. But unexpectedly, the pair had gnawed through the chrysalises and made enough noise that Xie Lian had discovered them, which led to all the trouble afterward. If not for all that, Xie Lian might have really just followed Hua Cheng straight out without looking at a single divine statue.

But the worst-case scenario had come to pass. Every secret had been torn out and exposed under the sun.

Despite the anxiety roiling under the surface, Xie Lian’s body still sat obediently in place. Hua Cheng’s gaze was growing colder and more intense as he stared condescendingly down at Mu Qing.

“It seems I’m the one with the real talent for sabers. Not you,” he quietly stated.

Mu Qing’s throat was bound by a few bands of white silk, and his face changed from blue to red and back as he was strangled. Blood leaked from the corners of his lips, and he choked out, “You! You…? I see, I get it…”

Feng Xin gritted out through his teeth, “What…do you…get?”

“I get…why this bastard…hates me so much now…” Mu Qing said. “He probably hates you…for the same reason!”

“Wh…why?” Feng Xin demanded through his coughs.

“Because he’s insane!” Mu Qing said hatefully through his own coughing. “Have you forgotten what was in those murals? He was that…that young soldier His Highness wanted to promote after he returned from Beizi Hill. His Highness had said…his swordplay was good…and that he was well suited to the saber…”

“Why’d that make him hate you?” Feng Xin questioned.

Mu Qing didn’t reply. Bam! Hua Cheng landed another punch on Mu Qing’s face.

Hua Cheng gave a chilling smile and answered on Mu Qing’s behalf. “Because he kicked me out of the army.”

To think Mu Qing had done something like that!

Feng Xin was astonished. “What the fuck…?! Why’d you do that? How’d he piss you off?!”

Mu Qing’s face was covered in blood. “I just made him go home—it’s not like it’s good to fight in a war! How could I have known he’d wind up being this crazy and holding grudges all this time—”

Hua Cheng cut him off with another punch, so forceful that Mu Qing’s face almost contorted when it landed. Bam!

Hua Cheng smiled. “Did you think I couldn’t guess why you kicked me out? Hmm?”

Mu Qing looked away, and Hua Cheng snickered.

“I guess it’s clear which of us is actually useless trash, hm?”

“…”

Mu Qing spat out a mouthful of blood and grimaced like he’d been stabbed where it hurt. He replied, spitefully slowly, “Thank goodness I kicked you out. If we’d kept you in the army and let you get closer to His Highness, were you going to watch him all day with your mind full of unspeakable filth? Disgusting!”

Xie Lian’s heart squeezed violently. Hua Cheng had his fist raised at first, but it froze in midair when Mu Qing spat the word “disgusting.” Veins bulged on the back of his pale hand. The fingers clenched and loosened, loosened then clenched.

A long moment later, Hua Cheng said icily, “For now, I won’t argue with you on that point. But tell me one thing, and tell me honestly: your argument before the avalanche—is that true?”

Mu Qing looked to Feng Xin with eyes wide; Feng Xin looked back, his own eyes round and bulging. Neither of them knew how to respond.

“My patience is limited,” Hua Cheng said sharply. “Answer me on the count of three. One! Two!”

Such a rush for an answer!

An idea struck Mu Qing within his panic. “Your Highness, run!” he cried.

The moment the command was issued, the damn spell stuck to Xie Lian’s back forced him to bolt. Hua Cheng swung around toward him, and two bands of white butterfly silk shot from the corners of the cave to bind Xie Lian. He fell to the ground before he’d even managed two steps.

To an observer, it looked like Xie Lian had been frozen in terror this whole time—or perhaps that he’d been struggling to accept the truth about Hua Cheng or had simply decided he didn’t want to intervene in their fight. Now it looked like he’d finally decided to flee but had failed. The truth was, though, he had never even considered running away!

Xie Lian’s hands and feet were tightly bound by the thick white silk. He lay sprawled on the ground with his black hair and white sleeves splayed out around him. His bamboo hat had rolled off to one side. Hua Cheng slowly turned to him, paused for a long moment, and then made his way to Xie Lian’s side.

He’d only taken a few steps before Feng Xin could no longer hold back a desperate shout.

“Hua Cheng !”

Hua Cheng paused in his step and tilted his head.

“Let…let His Highness go!” Feng Xin forced out a plea. “He’s suffered enough. Don’t…to him…”

Hua Cheng didn’t reply. He came to Xie Lian’s side and, with one hand on his back and one hand under his knees, swept him into his arms.

Xie Lian lay against Hua Cheng’s chest. Even though they were sealed in those giant white chrysalises, he could see Feng Xin and Mu Qing’s expressions. Feng Xin looked like he was watching a lamb entering a tiger’s mouth, as if Xie Lian was going to be ripped apart and devoured, and he started yelling. Mu Qing had started tearing at the white silk with his teeth again, but the awkward angle meant his struggles came to nothing.

Hua Cheng knew the pathways of this Cave of Ten Thousand Gods like the back of his hand. After many forks and turns, the two figures and their voices soon disappeared.

Carrying Xie Lian in his arms, Hua Cheng moved deeper into the darkness of the cave’s innermost dens.

The only light around them came from the gently fluttering silver wraith butterflies. Xie Lian couldn’t see the expression on Hua Cheng’s face, but he could feel the tension in his body.

Hua Cheng had held him like this in the past, but it was obvious that something had changed—he wouldn’t even touch Xie Lian’s neck or hands directly. Xie Lian kept eyeing Hua Cheng’s face, trying to blink hard enough that he’d notice, but Hua Cheng kept avoiding his gaze.