Xiang Yu followed Nie Huang to the second floor in a bad mood. Even seeing that she didn't know which room to turn too couldn't cheer him up. He only walked up to her with a gloomy expression and extended his hand, pointing at the door to the room where Xin Lan was waiting. He didn't even bother to explain. Hmph. He'd like to see that fake dragon explain.
Nie Huang looked at Xiang Yu in a daze. How come this person knew where she was supposed to go? He wouldn't be here to meet this person she was supposed to come to see too, would he? She wanted to speak up but looking at his expression she felt that it was better not to say anything at all. In the end, she nodded and gave him a smile before hurrying away.
Xiang Yu pursed his lips. How stupid! Did she believe she was anything special to him? She wasn't, obviously. This guy would change his mind about who he loved like he changed his robes. If he tired of wearing one, he'd slip out of it and put on another. If there was a dirty spot or maybe even a hole somewhere in the fabric, he might even burn the robe to ashes! He was that type of guy! It really was too stupid to hope for anything from him.
Xiang Yu silently followed Nie Huang to the door. That fake dragon … he was a horrible person. Tian was right. He was no good. He wasn't worthy. He could find somebody much better than him.
It was just … since the day he was born this was the second person that had that type of feelings for him. No, actually, he was the only one. His husband … his husband had never loved him, after all. He had only been …
He watched through a veil of tears how Nie Huang knocked on the door and opened it, stepping in with a pleasant smile.
"I was told to —" Her voice stopped and she froze before she had stepped completely inside. "Bai … Bai Mu?"
Xiang Yu tilted his head. Bai Mu? Had he not even told her his real name? How pitiful … How … eye-opening. Maybe there was no man in all three thousand lower, middle, and higher realms that could be trusted. Maybe … that thing called 'love' didn't exist at all. Maybe … Tian was wrong for once and only blinded by his own illusion.
"Bai Mu."
"Nie Huang."
Steps sounded and finally, a strong pair of arms pulled Nie Huang against an equally broad chest.
Xiang Yu wanted to turn away when he glanced at the face of the man. Eh? No mask? That wasn't …
Bai Mu looked up when he felt someone staring at him. He froze when he saw those black eyes and the equally black mark between those brows. That was … "Fallen … fallen god."
"Fallen god?" Another voice sounded from the room and Xin Lan rushed to the door, looking at Xiang Yu incredulously. The fallen god he had searched for … had shown up on his doorstep on his own accord? "You —"
Xiang Yu furrowed his brows and pointed at Xin Lan's nose. "You're not allowed to love me!"
"Ah?"
"You're … not allowed to love me." He wouldn't let him. This guy had waited here where two lovers were supposed to reunite. He was intruding on somebody else's heartfelt reunion and had even let him believe that he was meeting a woman! Someone like that really was no good!
"I …" Xin Lan shook his head. What was this lunatic talking about? Ah, never mind that. "We need to talk."
"No! You can keep your confession to yourself! I don't need to hear it!" Xiang Yu turned around and reached out, his nails ripping space apart once again.
Xin Lan jumped forward and tried to grab Xiang Yu's shoulder but those nails aimed for his arm next. He pulled back but didn't stop his pursuit. He finally had him. He couldn't let him leap through the gate and vanish.
"You stay where you are!"
When Xiang Yu turned to step through the gate, he lunged at him, grabbed onto his waist and tackled him to the ground. Xin Lan smirked. This guy might be a fallen god but he had been born long after Tian's curse was spoken. To him, he was but a child. And this particular child had obviously never learned how to fight.
Xin Lan watched with satisfaction as the gate to the High Heavens closed. Only when the spatial tumult had died down did he lift his torso. "Have you …" He stopped and raised his brows. The fallen god below him had frozen stiff. Don't tell him he had smashed into the ground that hard? But that was absurd. He was a fallen god. If something like that could hurt them, then nobody would fear them. No, hurting a fallen god was much more difficult. "You —"
"Ah!" Xiang Yu's spiritual energy burst forth and threw the person on his back off, catapulting him through the window and right across the street. The rooms next to them weren't spared either, the doors ripped to shreds and the furniture inside overturned.
Xin Lan didn't have time to worry about the person that was supposed to help his Master at this moment. He couldn't even stop his own flight. He crashed into a stall on the other side on the street and groaned.
Ah, he should have known this would happen. Pinning a fallen god that had lost his sanity over a failed love trial to the ground in such an ambiguous posture … What was that if not asking for death? He could be happy that he was strong. Anyone else might have been worse off.
In the destroyed upper floor of the restaurant, Xiang Yu finally leaped to his feet. He pointed across the street at Xin Lan's sorry figure, his whole body trembling. "You can't love me!"
Xin Lan sighed and closed his eyes. Could somebody tell him how he was supposed to calm down a crazy fallen god? Especially if that fallen god was under the impression that he had somehow shifted his affections to him since they last saw each other? Ah, he really … really wished life could be easier at least once.