Bai Hua looked at Song Cheng, with a hint of softness and confusion in his eyes before he turned away.
"Fine."
Bai Hua inched towards Song Cheng. Hesitantly, he put his left arm around Song Cheng's waist, pulling him forward.
With the sudden touch, Song Cheng almost tripped in his steps.
In his arms, Song Cheng was thin and tender but the built was just an illusion to his strength.
Song Cheng's face was so close to Bai Hua's shoulders, that his heartbeat almost seemed audible. Song Cheng didn't dare look at Bai Hua's face, and only stared at his white robes.
With his right hand, Bai Hua formed invisible strokes over Song Cheng's chest, his touch a bit ticklish. In a moment, the strokes formed the word 'soul', hanging as a bulb of white spiritual light against Song Cheng's blue attire.
Raising his arm towards the sky, Bai Hua slammed it back to Song Cheng's chest. It wasn't as hurtful as it looked, only it disorganised Song Cheng's rythmic breaths.
In a glimpse, the temple ground was covered with a dome shaped barrier of blue spiritual light. It was just like spreading his soul out. If something had to penetrate this barrier and move in or out, they'd had to kill Song Cheng first, except they had a cultivation higher than his.
"It's done." Bai Hua spoke, withdrawing his hands from Song Cheng's body. His expression was unfathomable.
For a moment, it seemed as if he'd touched something utterly disgusting and the next moment, as if he was handling a rare treasure.
The expression seemed to come and go so quickly that Song Cheng thought he'd just imagined it.
Before Song Cheng could think further, a thick black mist crawled out of the Ghost Summoning Seal. The worst part of the Seal was that if once disturbed, it could backfire and harness every single soul to compensate itself.
Though a maiden, it seemed that Ling Rui's stolen powers had a high magnitude and disturbing that seal could likely kill them all.
The black mist formed a huge shapeless lump before dropping on the ground, spreading like water.
Small black figures began sprouting from the mist, and rose into full human shaped creatures, with four limbs and a head.
In a minute, the ghosts took their original form, with eyeless sockets, sharp teeth, and long ruby tongues.
Completing their evolution, they charged towards them four, while Ling Rui held the seal up, summoning more and more ghosts in number.
In a while, the temple was filled with black human shaped ghosts.
The ghosts rushed towards Yuan Jin, who quickly formed a flower wall, knocking the ghost off before it rushed over again.
With Hei Ying alive in his hands, Qin Su sliced the head off a ghost. With it's head falling behind, the ghost kept running and a new head emerged over it's neck.
As Qin Su stabbed the ghost again, it turned into black mist before disappearing and reforming behind him.
Meanwhile, Song Cheng and Bai Hua stood next to each other. Song Cheng hung Guang Sheng to his side. With Lan Tian ablaze in his hands, he gutted a ghost, who charged towards him.
In a moment, a small band of ghosts surrounded him and Bai Hua, their long tongues lunging towards them.
Bai Hua whipped Hua Shou towards them, it's flashing electricity catching the little ghosts, before they dispersed into thick black mist again.
"It's strange. They aren't trying to kill us." Song Cheng murmured.
"Imitators. They don't fight you at first. They learn your moves and imitate them against you. They seem harmless, but it's just like stabbing yourself." Bai Hua spoke.
"Xiao ge, don't fight them. Just protect yourself." He added.
Song Cheng nodded.
Soon, a little ghost came approaching Song Cheng, attacking him with it's ghostly arms. Song Cheng only blocked it's attacks and didn't retreat further.
Deafeated in it's attempts, the ghost tried to provoke him with continuous attacks but Song Cheng dodged away it's attacks effortlessly.
Disappointed, it disappeared into thick black mist again.
Soon, the ghosts left their sides and came together, gathering under the Ghost Summoning Seal. Joining their limbs, they transformed into a huge human shaped single ghost.
Clenching it's hands into a fist, it pounded it upwards towards the sky before hitting the Soul Lock, before jolting away from the power.
The ghost's hand dispersed into thick mist.
Ling Rui only frowned as she looked at the barrier. She climbed over to the head of the gigantic ghost, commanding it forth.
The giant ghost rushed towards Song Cheng now, in order to break the spell. Song Cheng held Lan Tian in defense, but the power crushing him was so great that even Lan Tian trembled before Song Cheng was sent flying away, hitting the messy ground in distance.
Yuan Jin quickly launched a flower band, wrapping around the demonic ghost but it escaped it in time and marched towards Song Cheng.
Song Cheng's head had hit something hard and it seemed to throb. He helped himself on his feet shortly.
Suddenly, both Bai Hua and Yuan Jin rushed towards the ghost. Hua Shou ran flashing towards Ling Rui but retreated as Ling Rui struck it with a ball of spiritual power. The flower band sent forth by Yuan Jin met the same fate.
In the distance, Hei Ying's light still flickered. It appeared that the wave of fire before had drained the energy Qin Su poured in before and to summon more energy, it was harder than ever in this mortal form.
The giant ghost continued walking towards Song Cheng and raising it's hand above, it brought down a fierce ball of demonic power down to Song Cheng.
Lan Tian glowed a threatening blue as it held itself against the ghost.
" Hmph!" A painful sigh suddenly escaped Song Cheng's lips.
Soon, a shriek left his lips as he sunk down on his knees. It felt like his soul was being pulled out of his body. His heart felt to be ripping into two.
Lan Tian was the only thing between him and that demonic surge of a power but his hands trembled.
CRACK! The Soul Lock seemed to have a fault. Even the Ghost Summoning Seal faded away.
Hearing the sound, Song Cheng's head whipped upwards. Ling Rui, also shocked looked at the same.
In his vision, a huge glow emerged from the sky.
It was so big that it could swallow the whole temple.
The Soul Lock broke itself, the blue condensing into a little light before it crashed back into Song Cheng's chest, leaving a small burn .
The glow revealed two elegant figures. One was a woman dressed in sapphire robes, in her hand was a four leaved clover, while her hair was held up by a golden hairpin.
The other was a man in green robes, a snarl dressing his face, while an elegant sword hung by his side.
Both emitted a heavenly glow.
It was Qing Fuhua and Xue Min.
The Soul Lock could be undone by a great heavenly will. It wasn't surprising that Xue Min would have done it. But it sure did astonish Song Cheng that wo gods would descend at once personally.
"Lord Xue Min. Lord Qing Fuhua." Song Cheng bowed.
"Lords." Qin Su followed suit.
Ling Rui looked back in surprise, as the two set their foot on ground. With a wave of his hand, Xue Min dispersed the gigantic ghost.
Before Ling Rui could do anything, he sent forth a bolt of heavenly light, sealing Ling Rui's limbs as well as her powers, and of course her mouth.
"Fuhua Jie!" Yuan Jin shouted.
"Shut up! I sent Ling Rui to your palace to shed away her plan and you- you couldn't keep an eye on what's going on inside your palace!" Qing Fuhua roared at Yuan Jin.
Yuan Jin's face grew small.
"Leave it be Fuhua! How many times have I told him to grow up and take responsibility! But he still remains a thickhead!" Xue Min spoke, eyeing Yuan Jin coarsely.
"If Fuhua Jie had told me earlier about Ling Rui then-" Yuan Jin spoke, behaving like a scolded puppy.
"Then what? What could you have done? Showered her with flowers?" Qing Fuhua spoke angrily, but suddenly realised her mistake. Yuan Jin's head hung down.
"General Song really must take his soul too casually." Xue Min mocked, finding a new prey for his remarks.
Since Song Cheng didn't answer, Xue Min only shook his head.
"Master Qin, for saving Yuan Jin, thank you." Qing Fuhua spoke to Qin Su, who only bowed.
"Lord Qing Fuhua. There's something I need to ask you." Song Cheng proposed.
Qing Fuhua looked at him blankly but nodded her head.
"Why did this Lord send Ling Rui to the Palace Of Flower God?"
"Why do you think?" Qing Fuhua questioned back.
"The answer may not please you. But from what I gain, Lord Qing Fuhua only wanted to restore her worshippers. Ling Rui couldn't have been terminated so lest be moved." Song Cheng spoke.
"General Song's help is appreciated. But the matters and reasons of heaven will be dealt by the Gods. There's no need for you to intervene." Qing Fuhua spoke coldly.
"There are mortals who have been harmed. Their heavenly energy has been guided out. Is there a way Lord Qing Fuhua thinks to repay them?" Song Cheng asked, firm in his stand.
"What's stolen cannot always be returned. When I transferred Ling Rui to Yuan Jin's palace, although I did want to restore my worshippers, it was mainly because of one reason. Ling Rui..." Qing Fuhua sighed, trailing off her words.
Song Cheng raised his brows in question.
"It wasn't Lord Wu Jing. Between me and Zhang Yue, it's not Lord Wu Jing's fault." Qing Fuhua spoke.
Song Cheng felt it was rather embarrassing and didn't want her to speak further. The whole situation was crystal clear.
It seemed that while all the heaven thought it was Wu Jing who was hugging Zhang Yue's thighs, it was actually Qing Fuhua.
And the only person who knew it and could destroy Qing Fuhua's reputation was Ling Rui, although she never did it.
Yuan Jin and Xue Min didn't show any reactions, hence they weren't oblivious of the truth. It struck to Song Cheng now the reason behind Yuan Jin's outburst before.
"Lord Wu Jing took it upon herself because she was afraid my powers would be affected. Whore of the three words-huh! It's not her, it's me!" Qing Fuhua spoke anyway, guilt and anger crossing over her face.
"General Song, it is right you think I was wrong but in this world, nobody is right, it's just that we're less wrong than the other." She added.
"Yuan Jin, come back with us. There are things Zhang Yue needs to hear." Xue Min spoke after a moment.
Yuan Jin nodded. Afterall, Ling Rui was a maiden at his palace. He looked back at Song Cheng and gave a little smile.
"It's a lie General Song doesn't like to speak much."
It was already evening when the gods left with Ling Rui. It now occured to Song Cheng that this whole while, Bai Hua was nowhere to be seen.
When had he left?
Song Cheng didn't even thank him properly.
Shortly, he and Qin Su climbed back out of the temple, dragging their exhausted bodies out.
Song Cheng felt particularly heavy, with his soul been used as a lock before.
Outside, a huge crowd of mortals had surrounded the temple in curiosity.
"Yah these Young Masters! What's happened to the temple, tell us?" A curious young man demanded.
"The evil energy of the temple is undone. As for since, every person can enter this temple." Song Cheng spoke.
"What temple? The whole ground and the statue has been crashed down. We all saw a heavenly light in the sky!" An old woman spoke.
"I suggest you all to build another temple here. The aura doesn't really support the worship of Ling Rui." Song Cheng said convincingly.
"This Noble Master is Master Bai Hua's companion. What he says must be true. We must build another temple here." A man from the crowd spoke.
The crowd agreed immediately. Surely, Bai Hua was deep etched in their beliefs.
"A temple of the Flower God fits the aura the best!" It was Qin Su who suddenly spoke.
"...Flower....God?"
***