Next to him, Hua Cheng had already collected the newly sculpted ghost king statue and transformed it into a tiny little idol, small enough to be carried in one’s palm.
“All right!”
With a few strokes, he drew an array, and the pair made their way directly to the New Heavenly Capital in no time. They made a beeline for the Palace of Nan Yang and saw Feng Xin as soon as they opened the door. When he came face-to-face with Hua Cheng, his eyes bugged out.
“Crimson Rain Sought Flower?” Feng Xin exclaimed in disbelief. “How come you’re here too? What are you doing up here?! Outrageous—a Supreme Ghost King strolling into the Heavenly Capital whenever he wants instead of staying in his proper domain!”
Hua Cheng ignored him. He listened intently for a moment before asking, “Where’s the announcement? The Upper Court couldn’t possibly be going back on its word now, could it?”
Feng Xin knew exactly what Hua Cheng meant by “announcement”—in light of his service in saving the Heavens and Earth, the Upper Court had been forced to proclaim and exalt Crimson Rain Sought Flower’s heroic deeds for an entire year. The veins on his forehead bulged violently.
“What announcement?! It’s the middle of the night!” Feng Xin exclaimed angrily. “People need to rest too, you know. The announcement only happens during the day!”
Hua Cheng gave a noncommittal “oh” that probably meant he wouldn’t pursue the matter further.
“Gosh, whatever!” Xie Lian said. “Let’s get to the point. Where’s the ‘me’ you saw? Where did it go?”
“It ran that way,” Feng Xin replied, pointing in a direction. “I was just about to give chase when the two of you ran in here!”
Xie Lian suddenly had a bad feeling about this. “Question. That direction couldn’t possibly be—”
Feng Xin answered simply. “Toward the Palace of Xuan Zhen.”
“…”
“Let’s go!” Hua Cheng said in a dark voice.
The two didn’t dare delay. They made a beeline for the Palace of Xuan Zhen, then broke through the front doors and charged inside. Mu Qing was sitting atop the divine altar, stunned, like he’d just seen something unbelievable.
Xie Lian went up to him and waved in front of his face. “Mu Qing?”
Mu Qing finally came back to his senses when he saw Xie Lian. Nevertheless, his expression remained shocked. It took some time before he could manage to demand, “Xie Lian, what were you doing?”
“What was I doing…?” Xie Lian repeated. “I…I don’t know. Can you please tell me?”
Mu Qing glared at him. “Why did you barge into my palace in the middle of the night in a state of undress?!”
Hua Cheng narrowed his eye, but Xie Lian only exclaimed, “…Don’t phrase it so misleadingly! No matter what you saw, it definitely wasn’t me!”
Mu Qing put this hand over his face, looking like he wanted to gouge whatever he had seen out of his eyes. “Even if it wasn’t you, it’s got something to do with you!” he rebuked with a steely expression. “It’s that divine statue from the cave, isn’t it? What are you two playing at, letting an indecent divine statue loose and allowing it to run amok in the middle of the night? Do you and Crimson Rain Sought Flower really need to play like that?!”
Hua Cheng scoffed. “What’s it to you?”
“What’s it to me?! It’s my palace!” Mu Qing cried angrily.
“Well, I played a part in rebuilding the Heavenly Capital,” Hua Cheng retorted leisurely.
“…” Mu Qing was speechless.
It was true. The Upper Court had suffered catastrophic damage, and plenty of heavenly officials had to secretly ask for help from the master of Ghost City. Hua Cheng made quite a significant contribution to rebuild the New Heavenly Capital, and that was a fact.
“We weren’t playing; it was an accident,” Xie Lian explained. “Where is it now?”
“It stole a sword from me and ran off to—” Mu Qing began, but Xie Lian knew where to go without him needing to say more.
Clanking metal rang out from one of the Palace of Xuan Zhen’s outdoor gardens. The little ghost king idol Hua Cheng carried with him hopped down on its own and hurried toward the garden in leaps and bounds.
Xie Lian rushed to the garden, and sure enough, the Land of the Tenders statue was standing atop the rockery!
The divine statue’s tousled clothing revealed large swaths of its smooth shoulders and chest. The clothing below the belt barely covered the essentials, making for an incredibly suggestive sight. The expression on the sculpture’s face was also quite a feat of mastery—its brows were tightly knit, and one could almost see the sheen of sweat and blush on its skin. It wouldn’t be a lie to say it had been wrought by the devil’s hands. It was using the sword it had stolen from the Palace of Xuan Zhen to stab itself with arduous effort, which was causing the loud clanking noises. It was trying to detoxify itself in the same way Xie Lian had attempted back then.
However, the Kiln stone from which it was wrought was formidable, so the sword couldn’t penetrate no matter how hard the statue tried. The blade eventually bent with its efforts.
As if it had lost all hope, the statue raised its hand—it was going to smash its own head to pieces.
“Calm down! Calm yourself!” Xie Lian hurriedly called to it.
The divine statue turned its confused, hazy eyes toward him, and Xie Lian leapt up to deliver a slap of his own. The statue tumbled inside a hollow cavity of the rockery structure and lay immobile, unable to get up. Hua Cheng darted to Xie Lian’s side and threw something down.
It was the ghost king statue!
Or, rather than being thrown, it had actually struggled free of Hua Cheng’s clutches as soon as it saw the statue of the young god. Once free of his grip, the ghost king statue transformed back into its tall, slender full-sized form as it sailed through the air, then it dropped to land atop the divine statue.
A surprised gasp came from below, and Xie Lian promptly jumped off the rockery.
“It’s too late! Sorry, we’re gonna borrow your sacred garden for a bit!” Xie Lian exclaimed as he pushed Mu Qing, who had rushed over at the sound of the commotion, back into the palace hall.
Mu Qing was shaken. “What were you guys doing?”
“I’ll explain some other time. Very sorry!” Xie Lian said.
“What’s there to apologize for?” Hua Cheng asked, slowly and leisurely. “You’ve saved this guy’s life how many times now?”
“No, you’d better lay it all out clearly, right now,” Mu Qing demanded. “I saw you throw another you down there. He threw another him down too, right? My eyes didn’t deceive me? So what are you two up to? What’s happening inside that rockery right now?”
Xie Lian was almost strangling Mu Qing in his attempts to drag him back inside the palace hall. “This is urgent! Really, Mu Qing, don’t go over there! Why must you push this?!”
“Xie Lian!” Mu Qing roared. “What are you two doing in my palace?! What the fuck?! What the actual fuck?!”
“It’s not us!” Xie Lian exclaimed. “It was only an accident. It’s really too late…and you’ve caught Feng Xin’s language again!”