Chapter 139:
Extra 4
Oh Goodness! The Cave of Ten Thousand Gods
LAUGHING, Xie Lian pushed Hua Cheng off him—his crushing weight was making it hard to breathe. The heat and passion had yet to subside when something suddenly occurred to him.
“Oh yeah, San Lang,” he began offhandedly. “About the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods…”
“Hmm?” Hua Cheng replied lazily as he settled his arm over Xie Lian’s chest. Once something in particular was in his clutches, his fingers began to twiddle and toy with it. “What about it?”
“Nothing,” Xie Lian said. “It just suddenly occurred to me—are the divine statues inside that cave all right after Mount Tonglu’s eruption?”
It would be such a shame if anything happened to them. After all, every statue in there was the product of Hua Cheng’s blood, sweat, and tears, and Xie Lian loved them all.
“They’ll be fine,” Hua Cheng said. “I set up a ward a long time ago; the cave would remain intact even if the entire mountain collapsed.”
“Really?” This piqued Xie Lian’s interest. “They must be fine, then. What a relief. I want to go and take a look at them—is that okay?”
Hua Cheng’s expression seemed to falter for a moment before he quickly painted over it with a smile. “Sure, gege,” he agreed. “You can go if you want to. What’s stopping you?”
“Let’s go tomorrow,” Xie Lian exclaimed. “The Tonglu area is open now, so we can head out anytime we want.”
Hua Cheng quirked an eyebrow. “Tomorrow? All right.”
He didn’t object to the suggestion, nor did he speak more on the subject. A moment later, however, he flipped Xie Lian onto his stomach and climbed on top of him again.
Maybe it was Xie Lian’s imagination, but Hua Cheng seemed to work him even harder and more aggressively the second half of the night. It wasn’t even two more rounds before he was forced to cry “Gege, help me!” and woozily pass out.
He might have slept soundly until the next morning, but not two hours later, Xie Lian felt a void next to him, even deep in slumber. He opened his eyes a slit and peered at the spot beside him—only to find the man that was next to him missing.
Surprised, Xie Lian sat up at once, any drowsiness leaving him completely.
After quickly making himself decent, he slowly rolled out of bed. As he pushed the door to head out, he wondered, Where did San Lang go?
This was the first time Hua Cheng had ever gone missing halfway through the night. Xie Lian searched all of Paradise Manor but found no sign of him. Suddenly, he remembered that there was a room in the manor used for teleportation. When he went there, sure enough, the door of the room had been left ajar.
The array on the door wasn’t the same as the one he remembered from the last time he’d come here, and the cinnabar of the new array had yet to dry. Xie Lian went in without a second thought, and when he emerged, it was no longer Paradise Manor—instead, there was nothing but darkness.
Xie Lian closed the door and ignited a palm torch to illuminate his surroundings. When he took in the sight before him, he was shocked.
The teleportation array was connected to an enormous, eerie cavern—it was the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods!
Why had Hua Cheng come here alone in the middle of the night? Didn’t they agree to go together the next day? Why had he made this trip alone, in secret?
Xie Lian shook his head. With torch in hand, he started to slowly walk the dim, chilly tunnels.
His footsteps echoed hauntingly. The light silk veils covering the divine statues had been removed, so countless silent faces that mirrored his own stared out from the encompassing darkness. It was a somewhat terrifying sight, if he thought about it. When Xie Lian passed a cavern and glanced in absentmindedly, he saw a divine statue of the God-Pleasing Crown Prince. Its expression was gentle and its form graceful as it stood there, flower in one hand and sword in the other.
There were hundreds of divine statues here, if not thousands. Who knew how much time and effort it had taken to carve them, or how much time had been spent in this silent darkness.
As he thought of that, Xie Lian let out a sigh. Approaching the statue, he inclined his head and murmured, “It must’ve been lonely, huh?”
He was talking about the sculptor, but the statues as well.
The God-Pleasing Crown Prince statue nodded.
“…”
Well, that was terrifying.
Xie Lian remained frozen stiff for a while before he realized what had happened. Because he had been recharged with spiritual power very recently, the brimming abundance of it coursing through him had most likely affected the statues and made them move.
He quickly reined in his spiritual power, but it was too late—the God-Pleasing Crown Prince had already taken a step forward. Although Xie Lian’s overflowing spiritual power had affected the statue, he’d made no attempt to issue it any commands, so its movements were slightly awkward. It tripped and fell with a thud.
“Careful!” cried Xie Lian as he rushed over to help it stand.
After being helped to its feet, the divine statue’s smile did not falter—it even lifted its chin with lofty dignity and nodded to him to express its thanks. Xie Lian couldn’t help but find its haughtiness funny, but he held back his mirth.
“Did you see Hua Cheng?” Xie Lian asked.
Divine statues can make simple sounds but cannot speak, except for representations of the silver-tongued gods who govern speech-related arts. When the God-Pleasing Crown Prince heard his question, slight confusion colored its face, as if it didn’t know who he was talking about. Xie Lian understood immediately—he hadn’t met Hua Cheng yet at the period in his life depicted by the statue.
Xie Lian reworded his question. “Have you seen a man dressed in red?”
Only then did the divine statue produce a full smile, accompanied by an aloof nod.
“Do you know where he went?” Xie Lian asked.
After all, he wasn’t familiar with this massive cavern and was afraid of getting lost.
The statue thought for a moment before pointing him in the right direction.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Xie Lian said.
After walking along a stretch of road for a bit, he looked back. The God-Pleasing Crown Prince statue had mastered the essentials of walking quite quickly, and it had started performing a sword dance right there in the road. Its form was divinely graceful, as though it were center stage at the Shangyuan Heavenly Ceremonial Procession, dancing above a captivated crowd. Too bad there was no audience to appreciate its efforts.
Not long after, Xie Lian hit another fork in the road. Without pausing, he entered the nearest cavern, ready to ask for help from another one of his statues.
When he entered, he saw a figure sitting on the stone altar hugging a liquor jug and vigorously chugging its contents.
Xie Lian was speechless for a moment, then he dashed forward to snatch the jug away.
“Stop!” he exclaimed.