Xie Lian hadn’t yet noticed the caution in his expression and thought, This idea is much too…
Although it certainly was an effective way to get to the root of the problem, just the thought of it was absurd and ridiculously debauched. To put it bluntly—were they really planning on suppressing the poison of desire by using the ghost king statue to take the virginity of his young divine statue?
Honestly, it was hard to even talk about!
Xie Lian was still at a loss for how to respond when Hua Cheng suddenly bent down on one knee in front of him. Taken aback, he quickly moved to pull him up.
“San Lang? What are you doing?”
“Your Highness, I have been disrespectful,” Hua Cheng said in a grave voice.
Xie Lian couldn’t get him to stand, so he crouched down as well. “How were you disrespectful?” he asked, puzzled.
Hua Cheng only stared at him. After a few moments, he drew in a soft breath and said in the same grave voice, “Please believe me, Your Highness. I only conceived of this ill plan because I could think of no other solution. I take full responsibility for sculpting that divine statue, but I have never meant any disrespect or acted with the intent to profane Your Highness’s likeness. If Your Highness feels this method is inappropriate, I will seek another solution.”
At last, Xie Lian finally understood why Hua Cheng was acting so solemn.
He’d secretly carved so many divine statues of Xie Lian, and it must have always worried him that Xie Lian found his motivations strange and his behavior offensive. And now, considering his proposed plan, he was probably terrified Xie Lian would think that his mind was filled with nothing but obscene fantasies and disrespect.
A smile crossed Xie Lian’s face, and he let out a sigh. He grabbed Hua Cheng with both hands and finally hoisted him to his feet.
“Of course I believe you. I know you’ve always respected me,” Xie Lian said.
However, Hua Cheng’s insistence that he’d never acted with the intent to profane was harder to believe. After all, ever since Hua Cheng had returned after dissipating into silver butterflies, the man was adamant about profaning his god almost every other day—and he was only growing bolder as time went on.
Xie Lian cleared his throat quietly. “This idea…there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s very good. Excellent.”
When he thought more about what the method entailed, his face grew hot—his words felt very immodest. But now that he’d received Xie Lian’s permission, Hua Cheng slowly regained his usual ease.
Xie Lian placed a hand on the ghost king statue’s shoulder. “Shall I give it my blessing?”
Hua Cheng blinked, and a smile slowly emerged on his face. “If gege wants to. That’s more than I could ask for.”
Xie Lian nodded. Soon after, the statue lightly arched an eyebrow.
As he withdrew his hand, Xie Lian couldn’t help but smile at the sight. “Now it really resembles you!”
Several figures had slowly approached the cavern—many of the divine statues had sensed something and come over out of curiosity, wanting to get a closer look at this new divine statue that was so different from them.
The ghost king statue also noticed them. It blinked, and its single arched brow arched higher. It seemed like it had some new idea and was searching for something.
It took some effort for Xie Lian to push his own statues out the door, coaxing and shooing them away. When he swept a glance back, he suddenly asked, “Where’s the Land of the Tenders?”
He was already using that name for the unlucky divine statue. Now, upon the stone altar, there was nothing but a sheer white sheet—before anyone could notice, the reclining Land of the Tenders divine statue had vanished without a trace!
Oh no! Xie Lian thought. Hua Cheng, who had followed him over with his hands clasped behind him, frowned.
“Let’s hurry and find it! The Cave of Ten Thousand Gods is massive; it shouldn’t be able to escape very quickly,” Xie Lian said.
“I’m afraid that’s not so,” Hua Cheng said. “Gege, look.”
He pointed at the ground, and Xie Lian had to go around to see the circle array that had been carved into the rocky surface by a powerful finger.
The teleportation array! It had somehow been able to draw a teleportation array with its bare hands—how much spiritual power had that divine statue drained from him?! Xie Lian was going to collapse on the spot.
That divine statue had been poisoned by the Land of the Tenders, you know! What if it escaped and offended passing mortal women? What sort of strange, lurid legends about him would spring from that?!
“When did it escape?” he asked. “Where would it go?”
“Don’t panic, gege,” Hua Cheng said. “Think. Back then, if you had been poisoned by the Land of the Tenders, who would you go to first?”
That actually wasn’t too hard to guess. Xie Lian wasn’t all that anxious in the first place, so he swiftly calmed down. “It would’ve been—”
An incoming line of spiritual communication interrupted him before he could finish. Caught off guard, Xie Lian raised his hand without thinking to answer the call.
Feng Xin’s voice immediately blasted in Xie Lian’s ears. “Your Highness! Holy shit, I just saw a monster that’s impersonating you!”
Just as Xie Lian expected! Back then, Xie Lian’s most trusted aides were Feng Xin and Mu Qing. They would’ve naturally been the first ones he’d seek if something like the poisoning incident happened!
Thank goodness the divine statue had gone to Feng Xin first instead of running through the streets. Xie Lian sighed in relief and quickly started to explain.
“No, no! That wasn’t a monster, and it wasn’t impersonating me either.”
Feng Xin was stunned. “What do you mean?! It’s not a monster or an impostor? What, it was really you?! That can’t be!”
“That’s not it either!” Xie Lian cried. “Anyway, how is it right now? Did you catch it? Don’t let it get away!”
“Too late,” Feng Xin said. “It already took off!”
“What? Oh no!” Xie Lian exclaimed.
“Yeah, ‘oh no’ is right. Running around naked—how outrageous! What if people saw?!” Feng Xin said.
“Wait, what?! Naked?! I’m not…I mean, it’s not wearing clothes?!”
“Pretty much!” Feng Xin said. “It’s wearing something, but not much. The little clothing that’s there is all tattered, like someone ripped it up. If it’s not a monster or an impersonator, then what is it? What’s going on? It looked like a divine statue—wait. A divine statue?!”
He was suddenly horrified.
“It didn’t escape from that place under the Kiln, did it? What were you two doing?!”
Xie Lian couldn’t really remember how much he’d been wearing when he was suffering from the poison of the Land of the Tenders. He had been in a horribly uncomfortable state at the time, so maybe he’d stripped everything off in his delirium.
“I’ll explain later!” Xie Lian cried. “I’ll be there soon!”
He broke off communication and turned to Hua Cheng. “San Lang, we need to make a trip up to the New Heavenly Capital!”