Xie Lian stared at him with empty eyes and didn’t speak.
Mu Qing averted his gaze; perhaps the chilling stare was making him uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he kept his hand outstretched. “Come on.”
But he had reached out too late.
Xie Lian didn’t take his hand, and he didn’t get up either. He just kept staring at him with unblinking eyes.
The two remained at a standstill for a long time, and Mu Qing looked more and more upset. Just as he was about to pull his hand back, Xie Lian grabbed a handful of mud and flung it at Mu Qing. It hit him with a loud splat!
Mu Qing had never expected him to do something like that, and he didn’t know whether to call it rude or juvenile. Filthy mud splattered on his chest and spots scattered onto his bewildered face. Anger rolled up a moment later, but he forced it down.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he said in a low voice.
He truly didn’t. He had been getting along so well with all those heavenly officials, and they might have thought he was on Xie Lian’s side if he just stood idly by and watched his colleagues get pulverized. And that would have made his life so much more difficult.
It was as if Xie Lian had forgotten how to speak and could do nothing but hurl mud at him. Mu Qing blocked a couple of shots but couldn’t keep up with his pace.
“Have you gone crazy?! Didn’t I just tell you that I didn’t have a choice?” he cried furiously. “Didn’t you rob someone because you didn’t have a choice?!”
Scram! Get out of here! Leave! Those were the only words echoing in Xie Lian’s mind, but he couldn’t utter a single sound, could only crazily grab at anything nearby he could throw. He didn’t care who he hurled things at either. Finally, Mu Qing couldn’t take it anymore. With a gloomy expression, he left with a sweep of his sleeves. Xie Lian panted harshly for a bit and fell back down, spacing out once more.
He sat in that position until nightfall.
Once the skies turned dark, a crowd of phosphorescent flames approached and floated around him, dancing hauntingly about. But it was like Xie Lian didn’t see them—he didn’t bother mustering the strength to look. As if the phosphorescent flames were annoyed that they hadn’t been noticed, more and more gathered around Xie Lian. He still ignored them.
That is, until a humanoid figure emerged from the assembly of flames.
The arrival of this man was always accompanied by a feeling of immense foreboding. When he sensed that ominous feeling, Xie Lian slowly lifted his head.
A white-clothed man was standing about ten paces away amidst the countless floating phosphorescent flames. Half of the mask on his face smiled eerily.
“How are you, Your Highness?” he greeted pleasantly.
Chapter 99:
Warm Words of a Cold Ghost Beguile the Lost Child
IN THE DARK NIGHT, Xie Lian’s pupils instantly shrank to tiny dots. His voice quivered.
“It’s you…?!”
White No-Face!
The hairs rose on Xie Lian’s neck, and he leapt to his feet, groping for his sword—but there was nothing there, and only then did he remember that he’d pawned all of them. Even the branch he’d used as a weapon earlier had been broken. He was facing this creature without spiritual power or weapons!
Years ago, when Xianle fell, White No-Face had quietly disappeared. Xie Lian had never bothered to search for him back then, and he never considered searching for him now—he only prayed that he would remain missing and never reappear. Who could have expected that the creature would find him so suddenly?!
The white-clothed figure approached languidly. Cold terror filled Xie Lian. He couldn’t help but back away a couple of steps, but then he immediately shook himself out of it. He couldn’t back away—fleeing was futile anyway!
“What do you want?!” he cried sharply.
White No-Face didn’t answer, just continued to approach with his hands clasped behind his back. Xie Lian was shaking from his fingers to his toes; even the white puffs of air from his lips seemed to tremble.
He forced himself to recall the jeering, the indifference, and the mocking laughter of the thirty-some heavenly officials, and the sight of Mu Qing turning his face away. With those images in his mind, he forgot his fear and shouted as he struck out with a hand chop.
However, before his strike landed, he was hit by a wave of excruciating pain. The creature had predicted Xie Lian’s move and was a step faster, flashing behind Xie Lian to kick him in the back of the knee!
He was too fast!
Xie Lian dropped heavily to his knees, and, for the first time, a terrifying thought entered his mind—this creature was moving faster than he could even think!
The very next moment, Xie Lian felt something even more horrifying—a freezing hand, its fingers stretched wide, was gripping the top of his head!
He started screaming. The creature easily pulled Xie Lian’s entire body up by the head. With strength like that, Xie Lian had no doubt his fingers could easily crush his skull should he curl them inward, turning his head into a pulp of bloody flesh mashed between bone. He also had no doubt that White No-Face planned to do exactly that!
Xie Lian drew sharp, erratic breaths, thinking he was dead for sure, and squeezed his eyes shut. Yet unexpectedly, the creature seemed like he wasn’t planning on exerting any more force, and instead he withdrew his murderous intent with a soft sigh. For a long time after that soft sound, the creature stayed perfectly still. Surrounded by the dead silence, Xie Lian reopened his eyes little by little.
Ghost fires filled the air, dancing in wild joy. Each ball of flame was a spirit of the deceased cackling in uproarious laughter as they watched the show. However, most of the ghost fires did not dare to approach them—they appeared to have been cowed by something. But one ball of ghost fire, blazing abnormally brightly, was hanging above the two of them, using its flames to crash against the creature behind him again and again. It was impossible to tell exactly what it was trying to do, but for all the effect it was having, it might as well have been an insect fighting a tree.
And then, Xie Lian abruptly froze.
White No-Face was hugging him.
As Xie Lian tilted and fell to his knees in a slump, he had been captured by a pair of cold, powerful arms that pulled him into a lifeless embrace. At some point, White No-Face had sat down on the ground with him.
“So sad, so sad,” he murmured. “Your Highness, look. Look at what they’ve done to you.”
He whispered softly as he stroked Xie Lian’s head, his hands gentle and full of pity. It was like he was petting a wounded puppy or his own gravely ill child on the brink of death. The smiling half of the crying-smiling mask was hidden in the darkness; the moonlight revealed only the half that was crying, looking like genuine tears of grief shed for Xie Lian.
Xie Lian remained stiff and curled in on himself, moving no further. The man in white behind him raised his fingers to wipe the filthy mud from Xie Lian’s face. He sensed a peculiar kind of loving compassion in the man’s touch. Like the embrace of a close friend or a dear family member, it miraculously returned a bit of warmth to Xie Lian’s shivering body.
He never expected that this sinister creature would be the one to finally offer him compassion.
Choked sobs escaped from the depths of Xie Lian’s throat, and he trembled harder and harder. The ball of ghost fire flew near his heart but didn’t press close—it was like it wanted to warm him but wasn’t confident that it could help chase away the cold.
White No-Face helped wipe Xie Lian clean of mud. “Come to my side,” he beckoned.
Xie Lian’s voice trembled. “I… I…”
Instead of finishing his sentence, his hand flashed out and went straight for White No-Face’s mask! His attack was successful and smacked the mask high into the air. Xie Lian leapt to his feet and flipped meters away, his earlier terror now completely absent.
