When White No-Face blew up the wave of silver butterflies that had surrounded him, he had used the distraction that the blinding silver light provided to hide himself under this divine statue’s white veil, then he’d transformed. If he could disguise himself as Lang Ying, it meant he must’ve seen the boy somewhere before.
“Where’s the real Lang Ying?” Xie Lian demanded.
“Your Highness, maybe there never was a ‘real’ Lang Ying,” Hua Cheng said.
If “Lang Ying” had never existed to begin with and was only White No-Face in his weakened form, everything would be easy to explain. But when Xie Lian remembered the girl Xiao-Ying who had died on Mount Yujun, he wished that explanation made less sense than it did.
Xie Lian swiftly thought of another possibility. “Or perhaps…he devoured Lang Ying.”
The “Lang Ying” before them was growing taller. His body stretched upward, and the bandages on his face unwrapped and dropped away to reveal the mask beneath. He lifted his head slightly when he heard Xie Lian’s guess and seemed to smile.
“You guessed right.”
So it was true.
After White No-Face was pulverized and dispersed by Jun Wu, all that was left of him was a wisp of a broken soul wandering the Mortal Realm. He drifted for who knows how long—and at some point in all that time, he met the ghost Lang Ying. He must’ve somehow coaxed or deceived Lang Ying into hosting him within his own body since his remnant soul might have been too weak to devour him outright. He had stayed glued to Lang Ying’s body and gradually recovered, and the end result was standing before Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. Ghost-devouring ghost—White No-Face had bitten the hand that fed him, his host Lang Ying. Just as He Xuan had devoured the Reverend of Empty Words, Lang Ying had become White No-Face’s slave.
It only took a few moments for “Lang Ying” to completely transform into White No-Face.
Hua Cheng eyed him. “Why would Lang Ying agree to lend you his spirit body?”
A request like that would be like a stranger asking a homeowner to open their doors and allow them to live there and eat their food. Lang Ying had survived as a ghost for hundreds of years—although he was timid and hesitant, he shouldn’t have been so foolish.
“I can of course provide an answer to your question,” White No-Face replied amiably. “But are you sure the one beside you wants to hear it?”
Hua Cheng looked at Xie Lian, whose expression was slightly strange. He surprisingly didn’t notice the gaze sent his way.
“Surname Lang, Yong’an, and he suffers from Human Face Disease,” White No-Face said. “Why did he agree to let me eat him? Can’t you guess?”
Xie Lian’s face instantly went pale. Veins popped on the backs of his hands, and he swung his sword with a shout of, “Shut up!”
White No-Face sidestepped and avoided the strike, but Xie Lian’s attack sliced through the sword in the hands of his own divine statue. Now he’d done it—he’d left the God-Pleasing Crown Prince statue wielding a broken sword, making the statue itself a ruined artifact. Xie Lian snapped out of his frenzy like he’d been drenched by a bucket of cold water.
The wraith butterflies seemed outraged and swarmed over. White No-Face appeared completely unbothered and gave a toneless laugh as he covered his face with his sleeve. In an instant, he vanished into the darkness, leaving their conflict entirely.
Xie Lian stared at the broken stone sword on the ground. “I’m sorry—” he murmured to Hua Cheng automatically.
Hua Cheng cut him off. “Isn’t it silly for Your Highness to apologize to me? He’s gone. Now what?”
Xie Lian pulled himself together somewhat. “Did he flee? We can’t let him enter the Kiln!”
The pair hurried out of the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods and back onto the snowy mountain. Right as they made it outside, they felt the earth quake and the mountain shake. Looking up, they saw even more waves of snow crashing down. This roaring avalanche was even larger than the one they had experienced before—it was as if something massive buried under the heavy snow was just waking up, and it was roaring and shaking off thousands of years of built-up snow.
“Can we still make it up there?!” Xie Lian cried.
Hua Cheng gripped his hand firmly. “We can if you follow me!”
They faced off against the crashing current of ice and snow. Their passage was grueling and perilous, and for every step forward they were forced three steps back, but they managed to avoid the most violent waves of snow and rubble and the countless pits as they blazed their trail up the mountain.
Finally, they reached the highest point. The volcano’s peak was coated in an unfathomably thick layer of ice. Xie Lian thought he’d slip if he tried going even a bit faster, but Hua Cheng led him by the hand and moved forward with steady, fearless steps.
The pair came before the volcano’s enormous mouth—a cavernous maw that seemed to snarl at the heavens. When Xie Lian peered into its depths, he saw nothing but complete darkness. Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought he saw a red light pulsing horribly in the deepest recesses. Sometimes it was there, sometimes not.
Xie Lian could feel himself starting to panic. He held his bamboo hat to his head to keep it from being torn away by the snowy winds. “Did he go in already?”
Hua Cheng glanced inside, and his expression turned grim. “Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“The Kiln is closing.”
That caught Xie Lian off guard. “What’s going on? Why is it closing so soon? Don’t there need to be at least a few ghosts inside before the slaughter can begin?”
“That’s usually true,” Hua Cheng said. “However, if the Kiln believes an entrant has an extremely high chance of breaking through, it will close upon their request.” After a pause, he added, “That’s what I did back then.”
“So is he a supreme or not?” Xie Lian asked. “What will happen if a Supreme Ghost King enters the Kiln again?”
“The same thing that happens to an ascended heavenly official facing another Heavenly Tribulation.”
In other words, his strength would increase exponentially! If they allowed White No-Face to pass this obstacle, the consequences were unimaginable—and once he emerged from the mountain, Xie Lian would surely be the first one he’d seek out.
After eyeing that infinite, bottomless abyss for a while, Xie Lian said slowly, “San Lang, I…I might need to go down there to resolve this.”
“Then go. I’ll come with you,” Hua Cheng replied quietly.
Xie Lian gazed at him. Hua Cheng looked up and met his eyes. He cocked an eyebrow and smirked.
“All we’re doing is heading inside to eliminate an eyesore, then breaking through the Kiln again. That’s it. It’s not like it’s hard.”
Seeing him so relaxed, Xie Lian’s tensed emotions loosened a little as well, and he smiled.
A moment later, Hua Cheng said, “However, there is one thing.”
Xie Lian made a curious noise and tilted his head. One of Hua Cheng’s arms suddenly snaked around Xie Lian’s waist and pulled him into his arms, and he lifted Xie Lian’s chin gently with his hand. And then, Hua Cheng enveloped Xie Lian’s lips with his own.
They kissed and embraced for a long time in the snowstorm before their lips slowly parted. Xie Lian was dazed for a good moment before he jolted out of his stupor. Flushed, he opened his eyes.
“Wh-what was that all of a sudden?!”
Although it wasn’t the first time they’d done this, they had always used grand, dignified reasons to justify their actions—things like “lending spiritual powers,” “transferring air,” or “it was simply an accident.” But now that certain things had been made clear, those excuses were exposed as falsehoods, and their actions were abruptly far more significant.
Xie Lian didn’t know where to put his hands—should he cling to Hua Cheng’s arms or push him away? Should he press Hua Cheng’s head down or block his face?
