Chapter 130: Smiling as Red Robes Fade

“HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?” Mu Qing muttered. “How can there be so much…?!”

To shatter cursed shackles with spiritual power alone—it was completely unheard of for anyone to manage such a feat!

Xie Lian was slumped on the ground, but Hua Cheng pulled him to his feet. “Gege, try fighting again!”

At the same moment, Jun Wu lunged at them with his blade drawn. Without thinking, Xie Lian raised his hand to slap it away.

Clang!

Zhuxin was almost sent flying.

This strike was something completely different.

Xie Lian stared at his hands, feeling a little dazed. It had been hundreds of years since he felt like this—indomitable, barely able to control his own strength, each step shaking mountains. One step to cross a thousand miles, one step to ascend to the heavens! He’d almost forgotten that he was ever like this.

He clenched his hand, then violently punched Jun Wu in the face!

Throughout their battle so far, Jun Wu’s face had remained untouched. When the punch landed, a drop of blood finally flowed from the corner of his lips. He thumbed it away and gave it a glance.

The next second, he threw Zhuxin aside with a toss of his hand.

He was going to fight Xie Lian with bare fists.

Xie Lian threw another punch, but Jun Wu caught his wrist and twisted it around. Agony spiked through Xie Lian’s arm as it dislocated with a crack; however, he instantly popped it back into place. He struck again, but his fist was again seized by Jun Wu. Seeing that things still weren’t going well, Xie Lian considered snatching up Fangxin, which had been tossed away. But Jun Wu predicted he’d try that and blocked his path.

However, Jun Wu had forgotten that Feng Xin and Mu Qing were still behind him. Although they were both so injured they could hardly move, they had hatched a plan to sneak around and grab Fangxin.

They moved extremely lightly and stealthily, yet it was as if Jun Wu had grown eyes on his back, and he sent a palm blast behind him. The bridge under their feet cracked and crumbled, and they both fell with it, plunging toward the lava stream!

At the last moment, a hand caught Feng Xin’s boot, and Feng Xin caught Mu Qing’s boot. When Feng Xin looked up, he cried, “What the fuck?! What the actual fuck?! State Preceptor, Your Elderliness, please don’t ever let go, all right?!”

It was, in fact, the state preceptor who caught them; veins were bulging violently on his forehead. “So you do know I’m too old for this?! Hurry and climb up, then!”

When Jun Wu smashed that section of the bridge, Xie Lian raised a hand to grab it and keep it suspended in midair. He wanted to lift it a bit further, but Jun Wu wouldn’t give him the space. And so the three of them were hanging a mere dozen meters away from the churning lava; they could even hear each bubble pop. Mu Qing especially was in a terrifying position—dangled at the very bottom of the chain, and worse, upside down. If they weren’t careful, his head would get a lava bath.

Steam had boiled Mu Qing’s face as red as a hot coal. “Quick, pull me up!” he cried. But the two above him didn’t even manage to yank on him twice before he shouted again, “Wait! Don’t pull me up!”

“Which do you want?!” The state preceptor cried in exasperation.

“Are you for real? Fine, I’m letting go!” Feng Xin yelled.

“What the fuck?! Fucking let go for real, I dare you!” Mu Qing cursed. He gestured below. “Look down! Look, the sword!”

Only then did they notice the black jade longsword that was slowly sinking in the heart of the lava stream right below them. It was Fangxin—the sword they’d been trying to steal before Jun Wu shook them off the bridge!

As if he desperately wished he were a gibbon, Mu Qing reached out and crazily swung his arms at the sword. But he couldn’t reach it, no matter how he tried. “Lower me down a bit more—just a bit more and I can get it!”

The veins on the state preceptor’s forehead were throbbing even harder now. “Don’t overdo it, you little pair of brats! I’m only an old sack of bones!”

As he said that, he lowered the boot in his hand, and Mu Qing’s face drew another notch closer to the surface of the lava. His hair slipped loose, and the ends were set alight.

“Fucking hell, your hair’s on fire! It’s all gonna burn!” Feng Xin exclaimed.

Thankfully, Mu Qing had finally pulled the sword out of the stream. He tossed the sword toward Xie Lian, sending splashes of lava along with its flight, and then began frantically slapping away the patches of flame on his hair.

“Xie Lian, catch!”

Xie Lian swung his arm upward and caught Fangxin by the hilt!

As for the state preceptor, he was at his limit. “I can’t do this anymore! Both of you, get up here, now!”

Feng Xin saw that the state preceptor was trembling and realized things were going bad. He yanked at Mu Qing and flung him higher. “Enough of all your yammering and dillydallying!”

Taking issue at being hurled around like this, Mu Qing was winding up for a major fit. But before he could begin, dozens of molten vengeful spirits lunged out of the lava pool!

Like fish leaping out of water, the molten vengeful spirits surged upward and caught Feng Xin around the chest; if it wasn’t for the spiritual light shielding his body, he probably would’ve been burnt to ash. Earlier, Feng Xin’s arrows had sent the spirits running scared, but with hearts full of spite, they had stealthily dived below the lava’s surface, followed him all the way here, and hid until they got a chance to drag him down. The state preceptor was also hauled forward by the sudden increase in weight and began to slip. It was now Mu Qing’s turn to be at the very top of the chain, and he caught the state preceptor by his boots.

Feng Xin was already injured, and there were still a few arrows in his body that he’d forgotten to pull out. Although he fought the vengeful spirits with his bare fists, he was mindful that the people above him might lose their grip if he fought too hard—and so it was a very passive bout. More and more molten vengeful spirits gathered down below, climbing atop and over one another as they clung to Feng Xin. It was almost as if they were having a tug-of-war against the state preceptor and Mu Qing. Both sides had significant strength, and Feng Xin would surely be torn in half if this continued!

“Can we just get this over and done with?!” Feng Xin roared.

“Shut up!” Mu Qing yelled back.

Suddenly, he felt the weight he was holding lighten. The vengeful spirits had finally let go, so he quickly pulled the other two up to safety.

Feng Xin panted harshly, still visibly shaken. The shrieks and roars of the vengeful spirits continued to echo from below.

When they looked down into the pit, Mu Qing and the state preceptor said in unison, “Feng Xin, it’s your son!”

“…”

Sure enough, a blanched creature was hopping among the red-hot molten vengeful spirits and crazily tearing at them with its teeth.

The molten vengeful spirits were all ancient ghosts, at least two thousand years old. Plus, they had banded into groups. Why would they be afraid of some little minion that wasn’t even a baby? Even as it continued to scratch and bite, the fetus spirit’s once chillingly white body was painted crimson red with burns and blood from head to toe. It was howling in a ghastly voice, not pitiful in the slightest and inspiring only horror, but Feng Xin exploded in outrage.

“A bunch of adults bullying a child; how fucking shameless! Cuocuo! Come here!”

The fetus spirit couldn’t defeat so many vengeful spirits, and fear had already sprouted in its heart. Hearing that someone was going to stand up for it, it let out a strange cry and jumped onto Feng Xin’s shoulder. With longbow in hand, Feng Xin yanked the arrows from his own chest and shot round after round, overturning the lava stream with their explosive impacts. As he did so, the fetus spirit hopped and screeched on his shoulder like it was jeering and cheering.

Xie Lian saw that they had escaped danger, and he finally relaxed. But just as he was about to focus on fighting Jun Wu again, he felt his chest tighten.

Jun Wu had seized him from behind, locking him in place. “Haven’t I told you before—where do you think you learned all your moves? I know everything about you!”

If Xie Lian couldn’t fight his way out of this hold, he was going to end up dead. But any move he could come up with to break free, Jun Wu would have already thought of too!

Just then, he heard Hua Cheng call out, “Gege, don’t be afraid! You must know a move he doesn’t! A move only you can use and he can’t!”

A light turned on in Xie Lian’s mind.

Did he have such a thing?

Yes, he did!

If he couldn’t break free, then he wouldn’t!

He turned in Jun Wu’s arms to face him and locked his own arms around his opponent. “I bet you don’t know about this!” he declared, enunciating each word.

Gripping Jun Wu tightly, Xie Lian carried him to the solid rock wall and slammed him against it with enormous force!

He put all of his power into the blow. Amidst the rumbling and crashing of rocks, he heard something breaking.

The sound had come from Jun Wu. His white armor had shattered!

At the same time, Jun Wu released him with a roar of outrage. “Get lost! Get lost—all of you, get lost!”

When Xie Lian saw it, a chill went down his spine. The things he saw—the things that just made Jun Wu go mad—were faces.

Those three faces had emerged once more!

Raising his sword, Xie Lian pierced Jun Wu’s heart and nailed him to the rock wall.

Blood spurted from Jun Wu’s mouth. Xie Lian had infused as much spiritual power as he could muster into the strike, and it exploded the instant Jun Wu was stabbed. No matter how strong their healing ability was, no one could recover from that blow!

The wall collapsed. Jun Wu had been pinned to it at first, but once it crumbled, he was brought to the ground with it and sprawled in the rubble.

Yet still he hadn’t given up. His hand seized Fangxin’s hilt, and he moved to write something upon the blade—some kind of spell that they had clearly better stop. But just as Xie Lian raised his hand, the state preceptor rushed over.

“Your Highness! Let it go, let it go!”

Xie Lian stopped. He wasn’t sure which one of them the state preceptor was calling for, or whom he was begging to let go.

Jun Wu coughed out another mouthful of rage-filled blood. “Get away from me!”

The state preceptor knelt by his side. “Your Highness, let it go. Really, let it all go. Continuing this fight is pointless.”

“You don’t understand anything! Get lost!” Jun Wu yelled.

“You’re right, I don’t understand,” the state preceptor said. “It’s been so many years. You’ve been a god and you’ve been a ghost king. Everyone who deserved to be killed is dead; all you’ve ever wanted is in your grasp. So why are you doing this to yourself? What exactly do you want? What do you want to prove?”

Hearing this, confusion flashed across Jun Wu’s face. But his daze didn’t last long, and he violently gripped the state preceptor by the neck.

“Stop trying to lecture me! You have no right to lecture me!” he snarled. “No one has the right!”

Little strength remained to Jun Wu right now, so breaking free of his stranglehold would have hardly been difficult. Xie Lian was about to save his master when the state preceptor waved, signaling for him not to move.

“Oh, Your Highness,” the state preceptor continued.

Jun Wu glared at him coldly, but his hand didn’t loosen. Even if Jun Wu didn’t have sufficient strength, wringing the state preceptor’s neck was still an easy task and he was still in considerable danger. However, he just let Jun Wu choke him.

“When I set out to teach His Royal Highness, it was never my intent to nurture a version of you who had never walked the wrong path or to use him to humiliate you. He’s his own person, and you are your own,” the state preceptor said. “You were different people all along, with different paths, and that’s the most natural thing. I’ve told you that before, but you didn’t believe me. How about now?”

Jun Wu stared at him, not saying a word.

“I just genuinely really miss Your Highness,” the state preceptor said. “I miss our old Kingdom of Wuyong, I miss everyone from back then. I miss the days before we ascended. That’s all.”

“…”

“It’s been so many years,” the state preceptor added. “Just watching you makes me tired. Very tired. How about you? Aren’t you exhausted?”

As the number one martial god of the three realms, Jun Wu’s appearance and poise had always been perfect and untainted by filth. Only now, when all the light had faded from him, did Xie Lian notice that Jun Wu’s complexion was overly pale, even without those three faces. His contours were much too cold and hard, and the faint dark circles below his eyes made him appear indescribably gloomy. There was none of the gentle kindness he’d emanated when spiritual light had illuminated his form.

But even if he looked sickly, he finally looked alive.

“Your Highness, you’ve been defeated. Now set yourself free,” the state preceptor said gently.

“…Have I been defeated?” Jun Wu sounded a little lost.

The forceful wave of spiritual power had broken through the domed ceiling of the rocky cave, and scattered rays of wan sunlight peeked in. A few faint threads of rain drifted down.

As Xie Lian stood over Jun Wu, who lay sprawled on the ground, he noticed a trace of relief on his face. Like a heavy burden had finally been lifted.

He couldn’t help but wonder—deep down, perhaps Jun Wu had wished for someone to defeat him. For someone to put these relentless eons of brokenness and madness to an end.A moment later, Jun Wu asked, “That move. What is it called?”

“…” Xie Lian raised his sleeve and wiped away the blood on the side of his face. “Shattering boulders on one’s chest.”

Jun Wu was briefly taken aback—it seemed that made him think of something. Finally, he chuckled and sighed as he closed his eyes. “Beautiful.”

He didn’t utter another word. Everyone could tell fatigue had overtaken him.

Xie Lian finally removed his hand from Fangxin’s hilt. He had no idea what to do next, so he unconsciously turned to Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng was still standing in the same spot—upon the only stretch of the Heaven-Crossing Bridge that hadn’t yet collapsed—and had been quietly waiting for him for a long time, arms crossed. Seeing that Xie Lian had turned to look at him, he met his eyes and smiled.

The state preceptor sat unmoving next to Jun Wu. “Your Highness, all of you should go now.”

He clearly didn’t intend to get up.

“Master, are you not coming?” Xie Lian asked.

The state preceptor shook his head. “I’ll keep His Highness company. After all, I didn’t stay by his side back then.”

The rain was coming down harder now. It scoured Jun Wu’s resting face, washing away the blood that flowed from his wounds. As it poured across his skin, Xie Lian thought that the three lesions on his face had faded somewhat. Maybe it was his imagination.

After a moment of silence, Xie Lian took the bamboo hat from his back and lowered it over Jun Wu’s face to shield him from the rain.

The cursed shackle on Mu Qing’s wrist had broken off on its own, and Mu Qing punted the thing into the lava with a swift kick before forcing himself back into his cool, calm demeanor. The fetus spirit jumped down from Feng Xin’s shoulder and crawled to Jun Wu on all four limbs to touch him cautiously. Its attitude was completely different than when it was stomping on Feng Xin’s face, and Feng Xin stomped his own feet in anger at the sight.

Xie Lian, however, didn’t care for anything else. With a battered face, he dashed straight for Hua Cheng like he had been reborn—in truth, he had only barely escaped death—and pounced on him.

“San Lang!”

Hua Cheng had just reached a hand out to Xie Lian when his tackle pushed him back a step. He wrapped his arms around him and smiled happily.

“Gege, you see? I told you that you’d win for sure, didn’t I?” He lifted Xie Lian’s face and carefully inspected it, then sighed. “You’ve gotten yourself all scraped up again.”

A tiny silver butterfly fluttered where his fingers caressed, and the cuts faded. Xie Lian smiled happily in response. “I’ll be more careful next time!”

Hua Cheng arched his brows, pretending to be cold and harsh. “There is no next time.”

After a pause, Xie Lian withdrew his smile and said seriously, “San Lang, back when we were inside Mount Tonglu, I said that I wanted to tell you something after we got out. Do you still remember?”

Hua Cheng smiled. “Of course I remember. I remember everything gege tells me.”

Xie Lian hung his head. It took a moment before he finally gathered his courage and began to tell him the truth. “Earlier, Jun Wu divulged some bits of information about this. To be honest, I should’ve told you a long time ago. I just could never find the nerve, because I was afraid of how you’d react when you found out—”

“Found out that Your Highness almost became the White-Clothed Calamity, right?” Hua Cheng continued for him.

“You…?” Xie Lian murmured in shock.

Hua Cheng didn’t answer him directly. Instead, he bent one knee and knelt on the ground before him. He raised his head to gaze at him with a broad smile. “How’s this? Gege, do you remember now?”

How could he not? Back then, the nameless ghost had always bent the knee to him just the same! A phantom image of that pale smiling mask overlapped with Hua Cheng’s current smiling face. Xie Lian’s heart quivered, his knees buckled, and he slumped to the ground in front of him.

“San Lang…it…it was you all this time!”

Hua Cheng let out a small laugh as he continued to kneel, and his remaining eye gazed deeply at Xie Lian. “Your Highness, I’ve always watched you.”

Xie Lian could still only utter one word. “You…you…”

He finally understood what all those seemingly unintentional words from Hua Cheng had meant.

So this was it. He had never imagined that Wuming was Hua Cheng!

He knew everything. He had seen everything. He had been there all along!

All at once, thousands of emotions and millions of words swarmed into his head. There was gratitude, there was shame, there was heartache, there was wild joy, but above all else, there was incurable love.

Xie Lian’s heart was so full it was going to burst, but he could not squeeze out a single word to express himself. He could only tackle Hua Cheng forcefully with a cry of “San Lang!”

It was as if that was all he knew to say anymore, and he cried it again, “San Lang!”

Hua Cheng fell over with the tackle. He sat with Xie Lian on the ground, embracing him and laughing heartily. All his fears and worries had been swept away. Xie Lian circled his arms around Hua Cheng’s neck tightly, laughing and laughing but feeling like he was going to cry.

But before his tears could fall, he suddenly noticed something was very wrong.

Although Hua Cheng was a ghost, his body had never been any different from that of an ordinary human. And yet, as Xie Lian held him now, his vivid red robes were going transparent.

Xie Lian grabbed him, demanding in alarm, “San Lang?! What’s going on?”

Hua Cheng still seemed at ease. “It’s nothing. I’ve just overdone it a little.”

“…Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Xie Lian asked in shock. “How can you call this nothing?!”

It was the spiritual power—all that spiritual power!

When Hua Cheng transferred his power to Xie Lian, he always gave without restraint—as if he were an infinite source, as if all of it were free for Xie Lian’s taking. He just kept smiling, ever cheerful, never treating it like a burden. But his spiritual power wasn’t as inexhaustible as sand carried in by the rolling waves, so it couldn’t truly be endless.

He wouldn’t blame Hua Cheng for failing to say anything sooner; Xie Lian could only blame himself for failing to notice.

Panicked and full of remorse, Xie Lian cupped Hua Cheng’s face. “I’ll return it to you,” he said, then he kissed him.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing had been on their way over, but when they saw the scene before them, they hurriedly backpedaled dozens of meters to give them the space to do what they needed to do.

The cursed shackles were gone, so Xie Lian desperately tried to transfer all the spiritual power he could muster to Hua Cheng in the hope that he’d recover soon. He kissed him for a good while, but when he let go, the sleeves of Hua Cheng’s red robes and his silver vambraces were still translucent—half-transparent, even!

Xie Lian was shaken, fear overtaking his mind. He unconsciously reached out to cup Hua Cheng’s face again, leaning in to kiss some more, but Hua Cheng cradled Xie Lian’s face with swift hands and gave him a small peck with smiling lips.

“Although I’m happy gege is so forward, there’s no need to give me any more spiritual power. But if gege isn’t just lending spiritual power—if he simply wants to kiss me—I don’t mind at all. In fact, the more the better. I welcome it with open arms.”

Xie Lian gripped him tightly, on the brink of falling apart. “What’s going on…?!”

“I’m just taking a little break, that’s all,” Hua Cheng replied. “Gege, don’t be scared.”

Xie Lian clutched his head. “How can I not be scared? I’m going to lose my mind!”

Hua Cheng was the sort of person who would never let Xie Lian see him like this if it wasn’t a serious problem—so serious he could no longer hide it!

Spiritual power so abundant it could shatter two cursed shackles—just how much would that be, exactly? It would hardly be an exaggeration to say it’d require power as bountiful as the sea. So how could Hua Cheng claim he was fine?

They went through so much hardship to sort out this mess and tie off all the knots. They’d reopened the lines of communication between him, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing. The cursed shackles that had bound him for eight-hundred-some years had been shattered. Everything he’d always wanted to confess to Hua Cheng had already been said.

Yet when Xie Lian turned to run into Hua Cheng’s arms with a face full of smiles, what greeted him was a Hua Cheng who was about to fade away. How could he not be scared? He was going to go mad with fear!

Noticing something was wrong, Feng Xin and Mu Qing called out from afar, “Your Highness? What happened?”

They jogged a couple of steps in his direction, but they paused halfway when they sensed that they shouldn’t interfere so carelessly right now.

In that moment, Xie Lian had stopped caring for anyone else. He wore an expression of pure terror as he gripped Hua Cheng, and his heart had almost stopped beating. “What do I do?!”

Hua Cheng sighed quietly and extended his arms, once again folding Xie Lian into his embrace. “Your Highness, I’ve always watched you.”

That was the second time he’d said it, but his voice was softer and gentler than before. Mind blank, Xie Lian clutched the red robes at his chest.

“I know, I know. But…what should I do now?”

Hua Cheng’s long, slender fingers gently combed through Xie Lian’s mussed hair. “Your Highness…do you know why I refuse to leave?”

Xie Lian couldn’t understand how Hua Cheng could still be so calm at a time like this—he, on the other hand, was panicking so hard he was trembling. Completely at a loss, he still blankly asked, “Why?”

“Because I have a beloved who is still in this world,” Hua Cheng replied quietly.

Xie Lian was slightly stunned.

He’d heard that somewhere before.

“My beloved is a brave, noble, gracious special someone,” Hua Cheng continued. “He saved my life, and I’ve looked up to him ever since I was young. But I wanted to catch up to him and become even stronger for his sake. Although he might not remember me well—we never really talked—I want to protect him.”

He gazed at Xie Lian. “If your dream is to save the common people, then my dream is only you.”

Relying on his memory, Xie Lian asked with a trembling voice, “But…you won’t…be able to rest in peace…like this…?”

“I pray to never rest in peace,” Hua Cheng replied.

In that instant, Xie Lian’s breathing completely stopped. Frozen in this moment, he could faintly hear two voices, one questioning and the other answering.

“If your beloved knew you couldn’t rest in peace because of them, they might feel troubled and guilty.”

“Then I just won’t let them know why I haven’t left.”

“If you meet too often, they’ll find out sooner or later.”

“Then I won’t let them know I’m protecting them either.”

That ball of ghost fire… The weak little ball of ghost fire he bought for a few pennies on that lantern night, long ago. The ghost fire who wanted to pull him up from the graves on a frozen winter’s eve. The ghost fire who tried to shield him from White No-Face and wouldn’t let him go near danger. The ghost fire who had screamed in torment on his behalf as a hundred swords pierced his heart!

“Your Highness, I understand your everything,” Hua Cheng said quietly. “Your courage, your despair. Your kindness, your pain. Your resentment, your hate. Your wisdom, your foolishness.

“If I could, I would have you use me as your stepping stone, the bridge you take apart after crossing, the bones you need to trample on your climb, the sinner who endures the agony of a million knives. But I know you won’t allow it.”

As he spoke, the maple red of his robes continued to fade away.

Xie Lian tried to grab hold of him with shaking hands. He never stopped trying to transfer spiritual power to him, but even that couldn’t prevent Hua Cheng from fading. His vision was going blurry, and his words staggered from his lips.

“All right…don’t say any more. I get it…but…but don’t be like this, all right? San Lang? I…I’ve borrowed so much spiritual power from you that I haven’t repaid. And I’m not done telling you all the things that I wanted to say; there’s still so much. It’s been so long since anyone listened to me talk. Won’t you stay? Don’t…don’t do this. I won’t be able to take it. Twice, it’s happened twice already—I really don’t want there to be a third time!”

Hua Cheng had already vanished from this world twice because of him!

But Hua Cheng only replied, “To die in battle for you is my greatest honor.”

Those words were like a fatal blow. Xie Lian could no longer hold back the tears in his eyes, and they began to pour. As if he were hanging on to the last thread of his life, he pleaded, “You said…you would never leave me.”

But Hua Cheng replied, “There is no banquet in this world that doesn’t come to an end.”

Agony constricted his heart and throat, and Xie Lian couldn’t speak another word. He bowed his head and buried it deep in Hua Cheng’s chest.

Yet soon after, he heard Hua Cheng say above him, “But I will never leave you.”

Xie Lian’s head shot up.

“I will come back,” Hua Cheng said. “Your Highness, believe me.”

Although his voice was firm, his pale face had also begun to fade. Xie Lian wanted to touch his cheek, but his fingertips only slid through air. Startled, he locked eyes with Hua Cheng once more.

Hua Cheng’s gaze was both gentle and blazing. His remaining eye was filled with love as it stared at him silently. He said something, but there was no sound from his lips. Refusing to give up, desperate to hear him, Xie Lian reached out with both hands to grab him and yank him deeper into his arms.

But before he could do so, the one he was holding, and the one holding him, disappeared.

In an instant, Hua Cheng shattered into thousands of silver butterflies right before Xie Lian’s eyes, transforming into a breeze of twinkling stars that he could neither embrace nor hold.

Even as his arms came up empty, he maintained that hugging position, not moving a limb. He couldn’t tell if he hadn’t come to his senses yet, or if his body simply couldn’t move anymore, but he stayed there, kneeling, amidst the dreamlike array of butterflies, his eyes wide.As they looked on from a distance, Feng Xin and Mu Qing had never imagined that this was how things would play out. Both their faces paled as they rushed forward.

“Your Highness!”

Feng Xin was the first to arrive. “How did things go so wrong out of nowhere?! Wasn’t he fine just a few minutes ago?! Was it because of the cursed shackles?!”

Mu Qing hobbled up right behind him. He couldn’t jump, so he instead yelled at the silver butterflies, “Crimson Rain Sought Flower! Don’t mess around; if you’re not dead, then come the hell out!”

Naturally, the silver butterflies did not answer him. They fluttered erratically, flapping their wings and rising toward the sky. Feng Xin reached out to pull Xie Lian up, but he remained weighted to the ground like a stone.

Feng Xin didn’t know what to do anymore. “Is there some way we can help? Do you need spiritual power? Can he be saved? What should we do?!”

Mu Qing, however, had already figured out what had happened. “Drop it; just shut your mouth! We can’t do anything at this point.”

The air was alight with a shimmering, twinkling glow. The butterflies’ wings sparkled, just as they had during their first reunion after eight hundred years apart.

A silver butterfly drifted over and lightly brushed the back of Xie Lian’s hand, his cheek, his forehead. Its actions were full of affectionate longing, as if it were whispering its goodbyes. Xie Lian numbly extended a hand and let it rest there.

The silver butterfly fluttered its wings in delight, and sure enough, it lingered for him. But it too couldn’t last. It wasn’t long before it scattered on the wind like the rest.

However, in the spot where it had perched on Xie Lian’s third finger, there was still a bright, vivid red string.

***

“And then?”

“It’s done.”

“It’s done?”

“It’s done.”

Pei Ming finally could hold back no longer. “That’s not possible. This can’t be all there is. Even an amateur like me can tell we’re not done yet.”

Mu Qing dropped the heavy bookkeeping report on the table. “This is my work, and it’s done,” he said coolly. “I can calculate all of it again on the spot; please listen closely, General Pei. Take away 8,880,000 merits, then add 6,660,000 merits, plus another 17,200,000 merits, then minus—”

“All right, that’s enough, you don’t need to count anymore,” Feng Xin interrupted. “The numbers are right, but there must’ve been a lot left out; it should’ve worked out otherwise!”

“That’s not my problem,” Mu Qing countered. “Either way, my calculations are right. Maybe you should find someone else to do the accounting? If I had known things were gonna be like this, I would’ve minded my own business.”

After the Heavenly Capital was destroyed, the scattered and scrambled heavenly officials finally assembled and set up a ward to establish a temporary Upper Court at the summit of Mount Taicang, a place no mortals cared about. Currently, the heavenly officials were in the heat of discussion about the construction of the new Heavenly Capital.

The enormous fire had very unfortunately razed the heavenly officials’ glorious golden palaces, forcing them to squeeze together in temporary tents as they conferred and rested. Furthermore, a great number of scrolls and reports were lost. Even as the bickering dragged on for days and days, they still couldn’t straighten out any of their accounts!

One of Pei Ming’s arms was hung in a sling, and the other hand rubbed his chin. “Is it my imagination, or is Xuan Zhen even more sarcastic these days?”

“Hasn’t he always been this bad? He’s just too lazy to hide it now,” Feng Xin responded.

Mu Qing rolled his eyes, and everyone pointed their fingers at him.

“Decorum!” they chided.

Mu Qing pointedly turned and left.

Quan Yizhen was in bandages from head to toe so he resembled a human-shaped zongzi.2 Only the top of his head and his messy curly hair could be seen. His words were muffled and unclear when he said, “What do we do now? Who’s gonna do all the math?”

Everyone exchanged glances, cleared their throats, and quietly backed away. No one wanted to take on such a difficult and thankless task.

Seeing this, Pei Ming sighed. “If only Ling Wen were here. All else aside, no one can complain about the way she managed things. There’d be nothing to be afraid of, even with the Palace of Ling Wen reduced to ash—she knows the ins and outs of this mess of accounts like the back of her hand. I’m sure she would’ve gotten it sorted within a day.”

After struggling on this godforsaken mountain for so long, most of the officials shared the same sentiment deep down—they just didn’t dare say it out loud. However, now that someone had taken the initiative to voice it, they all began loudly agreeing.

“Yeah!”

“I’ll never say the Palace of Ling Wen is inefficient again!”

“I already hadn’t said that in a while…”

Just then, someone from outside came in to announce, “Everyone, Lord Rain Master has arrived!”

The heavenly officials’ faces brightened at this, and they immediately went out to greet her. Pei Ming’s expression was unreadable. He hesitated for a moment and ultimately chose not to go outside with them.

Another voice called out. “Your Highness! You’ve come too!

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