Xie Lian was startled. Has someone powerful arrived? Then he thought, Well, who cares who it is. If they’re going to give me trouble, I’ll just go another round! I’m not afraid of anyone!
He was brimming with resentment and ready for a huge brawl. But when the crowd parted and the fashionably late arrival stepped forward, Xie Lian was absolutely stunned.
The newcomer was Mu Qing!
Mu Qing obviously wasn’t expecting to see Xie Lian like this either. The moment they came face-to-face, they were both dumbfounded. Xie Lian’s eyes went wide, and he completely forgot about the martial gods he had been fighting.
“Why are you here? Aren’t you…” he muttered. But after only a few words, he noticed something and fell silent—he understood what had happened.
Right now, Mu Qing wasn’t wearing his old, worn black robes from when he’d been with them on the run. Rather, he was wearing a uniform befitting a martial heavenly official of the Lower Court.
Feng Xin and Mu Qing had once been Xie Lian’s left and right hands. Their abilities were highly praised and caught the eyes of many. When Xie Lian was banished, some heavenly officials had thought it a shame that Feng Xin and Mu Qing were banished with him. Some even had approached them in secret to ask whether they were willing to transfer their loyalties and serve another palace. It was feasible that a heavenly official had pulled Mu Qing up to the Lower Court as a gesture of recognition and had him work in their service.
That had to be it. And he was clearly doing well for himself if he was tagging along with this group of heavenly officials to search for blessed lands in which to cultivate.
Xie Lian was still in a mortal body, but Mu Qing had already returned to the Lower Court. It was strangely ironic.
With great effort, Mu Qing finally composed himself and asked in confusion, “What’s going on here?”
The heavenly officials all fought to tell their tales. Xie Lian stood at a distance, his body rigid. He noticed that they weren’t telling Mu Qing about his robbery. What did that mean?
It meant Mu Qing had already heard about the incident. Mu Qing knew he’d tried to rob someone!
Drop after drop of cold sweat rolled down the side of Xie Lian’s face, and he backed up a few steps involuntarily.
The martial god who had been facing him earlier huffed in anger. “He wants to take this spiritual land all for himself and chase us out. Mu Qing, hurry and help us!”
Help? He wanted Mu Qing’s help in the fight against Xie Lian?
Xie Lian was tingling with rage, shocked to the core. He finally snapped back to himself and stammered furiously, “Y-you… All of you are lying about what happened! So shameless! It wasn’t like that at all! I clearly wasn’t doing all that!”
Mu Qing was still just watching from the side, and it was making Xie Lian anxious with rage. He charged forward with his branch again. The martial gods were having trouble defending against his attacks and could only retreat in defeat.
“Mu Qing! Why are you just standing there?!” they yelled again.
The other heavenly officials joined in on the hollering, but Mu Qing still looked hesitant, like he didn’t know whether he should attack. Xie Lian heard them urge Mu Qing to confront him directly, and wild fury blazed inside of him.
“Mu Qing isn’t like you. He’s my friend—he would never help you!”
He raged and raged and struck even harder. Another row of weapons was sent flying. The rest of the heavenly officials saw that he was growing bolder the longer he fought—that things weren’t going the way they should have.
“Mu Qing!” they cried urgently. “Are you just going to watch him make a mess of things like this?!”
Mu Qing’s expression changed erratically. He took a step forward, fingers twitching.
“Don’t just stand there, give us a hand!” a heavenly official near him called.
It just had to be that moment when someone commented sarcastically, “It’s understandable that Mu Qing doesn’t want to move—he was His Highness’s personal attendant back in the day, after all. Even if His Highness robs mortals and steals our spiritual land, he can’t help but be affected by the sentiments of their past relationship. It’s enough that he hasn’t teamed up with His Highness. How can we possibly expect more than that?”
On the surface, the words sounded like they were giving Mu Qing an excuse to stay out of things, but the comment was insidious. Veins crawled across Mu Qing’s forehead.
The air was growing delicate, and Xie Lian could tell this was about to go wrong. “Mu Qing…”
All he said was Mu Qing’s name, but a moment later Xie Lian’s hands felt light, then he heard a slashing sound.
Xie Lian blinked and looked down to find that his only “weapon,” the tree branch, had been sliced in half. When he looked up again, Mu Qing was holding a long saber—and the sharp tip was pointed directly at Xie Lian.
“Please leave,” said Mu Qing, weapon in hand.
Xie Lian stared at Mu Qing in silence for a long time, gripping the broken branch. Finally, he said, “I…didn’t want to rob anyone. And I wasn’t trying to take over this spiritual land either. I got here first.”
Mu Qing didn’t comment. Instead, he repeated blankly, “Please leave.”
Xie Lian gazed at him. After a moment of hesitation, he asked tentatively, “…You know I’m not lying, right?”
He was a little hopeful when he posed the question but also a little scared. A voice in his head was telling him, “Stop asking! Just turn around and walk away!” Still, he couldn’t help himself.
Before Mu Qing could respond, Xie Lian slumped forward and fell heavily to the ground.
The muddy mountain path was riddled with holes and ditches, covered in rocks and fallen leaves. Xie Lian lay sprawled facedown on the ground in a state of disbelief, his eyes bulging.
One of the heavenly officials had shoved him while he was standing there at a loss and made him take that hideous fall in front of so many eyes.
It was too humiliating. There were voices all around Xie Lian, high and low, filling the air and invading Xie Lian’s ears. He stared with eyes that couldn’t be wider at the blackened ground in front of his nose, then he slowly raised his head. Mu Qing was standing not too far away from him—standing among those heavenly officials, his head turned away, not looking at Xie Lian. Just like the rest of them, he had no intention of lending Xie Lian a hand to help him up.
And thus, Xie Lian understood. No one would lend him a hand to help him up.
He lay there prone for a long time before crawling up on his own.
The heavenly officials thought he was about to kick off another bout and were exceedingly wary, but Xie Lian wasn’t looking for a fight anymore. He fumbled around, head bowed, and once he found the little satchel the queen had packed for him, he picked it up silently and secured it to his back. Then, he turned around and headed down the mountain step by step.
As he went, his steps grew faster and faster. It wasn’t long before it turned into a mad dash.
Xie Lian held his breath and ran all the way down the mountain without resting for a moment. He didn’t know how far he’d gone, and he didn’t mind his footing, causing him to trip and fall once more. The breath he’d been holding was finally released, accompanied by a mouthful of angry blood.
Flustered, he didn’t even think to get back up, just sat on the ground panting. Once his breathing slowly returned to normal, he still didn’t think to stand up; he remained there in a befuddled daze.
Suddenly, a hand was extended to him. Xie Lian blinked slowly at it, and his eyes followed the arm up.
It was Mu Qing again. He was standing next to Xie Lian with his hand outstretched, looking a little ashen.
A long moment later, he asked stiffly, “Are you all right?”
