“Who would ever go to your side, you…monster!” he raged in a dark voice.
The ghastly, pale cry-smiling mask fell to the ground, and all the ghost fires in the air seemed shocked. They abruptly lost all semblance of order, dancing in a frenzy without pause, shrieking without sound. White No-Face, on the other hand, covered his face and started chuckling softly.
The laugh made Xie Lian’s hair stand on end. “What are you laughing about?”
White No-Face humphed softly. “You will come to my side one day,” he stated with certainty.
Xie Lian didn’t understand what he meant and said in disbelief, “What even is your side? You destroyed Xianle, but you still want me to go to you? Are you crazy? I think you’re insane!”
Xie Lian had never learned to cuss; even in extreme rage only those mild denouncements burst out of him. But if he had, he would’ve used the world’s most vicious, most vengeful words to curse that creature. White No-Face laughed out loud, and he held his head high as he covered his unmasked face with his hand.
“You will come. No one in this world will ever truly understand you, and no one will stay by your side forever—except me.”
Xie Lian was frightened, but he still tried to argue. “Get out of here! Enough with your self-righteous nonsense! That isn’t true just because you say so!”
One ball of ghost fire flew to his side and moved up and down like it was nodding in agreement. However, Xie Lian was surrounded by wicked wisps just like it, so Xie Lian didn’t notice that particular one.
“Oh? Is there someone?” White No-Face asked amiably. “Maybe there were people like that in your past, but do you really think they’ll be with you much longer?”
“What do you mean…? What are you hinting at?” Xie Lian demanded.
White No-Face didn’t answer. He only sneered and turned around like he was about to drift away.
“I will wait for you here, Your Highness,” he said softly.
As if Xie Lian would let him go so easily. “Wait! Don’t go! What did you do to them? Did you do something to my parents and Feng Xin?!”
He chased after the white-clothed man, reaching out to grab at him. Yet unexpectedly, the man snatched a ball of ghost fire with a light sweep of his sleeve. The motion wasn’t intended as an attack, but Xie Lian sensed a horrifying force coming at him and he was thrown high into the air, landing hard by slamming against a tree. With a loud crack, the giant, thick-trunked tree split and fell from the force of the collision.
In the past, Xie Lian wouldn’t have even batted an eye at crashing into and shattering ten trees. But he was mortal right now, and the impact made him feel like all the bones in his body were crumbling. He fell heavily to the ground and lost consciousness.
The final moment before his eyes closed, Xie Lian saw the white-clothed figure’s hand. A ball of ghost fire blazed in his palm.
White No-Face chuckled. “Spirit, tell me, what is your name? How very interesting…”
***
When Xie Lian regained consciousness, everything was gone.
His chest and mouth were steeped in the thick, astringent tang of blood. His head spun for a good while before he suddenly jolted and attempted to crawl to his feet.
“…Father! Mother! Feng Xin!” he muttered.
He had remembered everything that had happened before he passed out and didn’t dare to waste a single second. He ran frantically for dozens of kilometers, until he finally made it back to their hideout in the deep of the night, twenty-some days after he’d left with a satchel on his back.
Xie Lian was torn with panic and anxiety the entire way, scared that White No-Face had already murdered his friend and family. He slammed the door open the moment he arrived at the dilapidated cottage.
“Father! Mother! Feng Xin!” he blurted before even catching his breath.
Thank goodness—the house didn’t look as wretched as he had dreaded. There was nothing out of place either. It still looked exactly the same as when he had left.
Xie Lian had been frantically running for a long distance with a battered body; his throat was so dry that he thought it might start smoking. He relaxed a little, then swallowed and continued deeper into the house.
“Feng Xin! Where are you guys—”
He pushed a door open, and his voice died in his throat.
Feng Xin was inside, and when he saw Xie Lian had returned, he exclaimed in amazement, “Your Highness! Why are you back?”
However, Xie Lian wasn’t looking at him. He was staring intently at the one facing Feng Xin.
A black-clad man stood there. It was Mu Qing.
Mu Qing turned his head and saw Xie Lian. He pressed his lips together, looking grim. Feng Xin went around him and came over to greet Xie Lian.
“Didn’t you go train? How was it? I thought you’d be gone for several months at least. Did you come back so soon because you made good progress?”
Xie Lian stared at Mu Qing. “Where are Father and Mother?”
“Sleeping in their room. They’ve already gone to bed,” Feng Xin said. “Why are your clothes so dirty? What’s with the cuts on your face? Who’d you fight?”
Xie Lian didn’t answer. Only when he heard his parents were fine did he completely relax, and he turned to Mu Qing. “Why are you here?”
Mu Qing didn’t speak, so Feng Xin replied on his behalf. “He came to deliver some stuff.”
“What stuff?” Xie Lian questioned.
Mu Qing raised his hand slightly and pointed to the side, where there were several large, clean sacks that probably contained rice or grain.
Seeing Xie Lian so quiet, Mu Qing said softly, “I heard you need medicine. I’ll think of a way to get some later.”
“Sounds good,” Feng Xin said. “I’ll give my thanks, then. We do need all that stuff right now. Heavenly officials can’t give mortals private gifts, so you be careful too.” Then he shuffled over to Xie Lian’s side and whispered, “I’m pretty surprised that he actually came back to help. I’m the one who judged him wrong. In any case—”
“Don’t need it.” Xie Lian interrupted.
Mu Qing’s expression turned ashen for a moment, and he clenched his fists.
Feng Xin was puzzled. “What don’t we need?”
“I don’t need your help.” Xie Lian said each word slowly and clearly. “I also…don’t want any of your stuff. Please leave.”
When he heard the words “please leave,” Mu Qing’s face got even more glum.
Now Feng Xin noticed that something was wrong. “Just what is going on?”
Mu Qing bowed his head. “I’m sorry.”
They’d known Mu Qing for so many years, but this was the first time they ever heard him say those words—it was also his first genuine apology. But there was no more room in Xie Lian’s mind for surprise.
“Please leave!”
With that, he lost his temper and started throwing the sacks at Mu Qing. White rice spilled across the ground and made a mess of Mu Qing. Nonetheless, the black-clad man only raised an arm to block and held back from making any further move. Startled, Feng Xin held Xie Lian down.
“Your Highness! What’s going on? What did he do?! Didn’t you leave to cultivate?! What happened out there?!”
As he was held down, Xie Lian said with red eyes, “Why don’t you ask him? I did go to train…but why don’t you ask him why I’ve returned?!”
Their argument was too noisy, and the queen was startled awake in her room. She emerged after pulling on an outer robe. “My son, you’ve returned? What happened to you—”
“Nothing!” Feng Xin quickly assured her. “Your Majesty, please go back inside!” He forcefully pushed her back into her room and closed the door, then he demanded, “What did you do? Mu Qing, what did you do?! Your Highness, did the cuts on your face come from him?!”
Xie Lian’s breathing was growing increasingly frantic and erratic, and he couldn’t utter a single word.
“It wasn’t me!” Mu Qing exclaimed. “I didn’t hit His Highness—I only asked him to leave. Other than that, I didn’t say anything harsh, and I didn’t move against him! They were determined to take over that spiritual land, and it would’ve kept escalating if you didn’t leave!”
