This time, Hua Cheng's smile wasn't fake. On the contrary, it was even brighter. Guoshi was stunned, and he raised his hand, pointing at him, "...You you you, it's you? That child? You are that child???"
His finger and voice were practically shaking. Hua Cheng was cheerful and didn't speak, but his face was clearly written full of: That's right, I'm the Star of Solitude himself that almost burnt down the entire Mount TaiCang!
"..."
Guoshi turned over to demand, "Your Highness, what's going on? Explain a little?" Xie Lian opened his hands and shrugged, smiling shyly, "...It's... just as you see." Guoshi was completely shocked. He slapped the back of his right hand into his left palm a few dozen times, and it was a moment before he could finally speak, "You see, you see you see you see, I told you so! I told you Supreme Ghost Kings shouldn't be so easily provoked. He's been coming onto you from such a young age, such ghastly persistence! It's been what, eight hundred years? EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS! He's been stalking you for eight hundred years! Scary, too scary! My fortunes really are too accurate!"
"Please master, please drop it, let's not talk about this anymore..." Xie Lian pleaded. He thought inwardly, 'You haven't even seen the divine statues that filled the entirety of the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods.' If he saw it, he'd probably take Hua Cheng for a savage beast of the floods, some mad, insane ghost, and he'd stuff Xie Lian under his arm and run away. Guoshi still hadn't recovered from his shock, "No, he's too scary like this, this is such deep obsession and calculation! Your Highness, you must be absolutely careful, you'd be easily taken advantage of like this, be cautious of him deceiving you!"
"San Lang wouldn't do that." Xie Lian said.
Hua Cheng also said drily, "My lord* thinks too much. I'd deceive anyone but His Highness." Guoshi leaned over to argue, "You cunning young man, don't think I can't tell. Aren't you exactly using the fact that His Highness isn't too learned in this aspect? Why don't you tell me right now to my face how spiritual power is lent? How many ways can it be lent, and how do you lend it? What did you tell His Highness?"
"..."
Xie Lian started yelping and cried random noises, "HAHAHAHA, ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! LET IT GO, IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW AS LONG AS IT'S LENT, RIGHT? HAHAHA, IT'S ALL THE
SAME, ALL THE SAME!" If they continued the subject he was going to start flapping like a duck drowning and boiled. Xie Lian suddenly turned serious, "So, let's talk about serious business. Right now he's locked us up here and hadn't made a move, what is he planning?"
"Probably thinking of setting another riddle up for you." Hua Cheng said.
"How would it be done though?" Xie Lian wondered.
"That's hard to say." Guoshi said, "To be honest, anything is possible. Your Highness, don't change the subject! I'm giving you advice, don't let perversions confound your mind or be deceived by pretty words, I say he's..."
Just then, Hua Cheng suddenly said darkly, "Gege, someone's come."
"Don't think you can lie to me," Guoshi said,
"I'm not so easily deceived like His Highness..."
But Xie Lian said, "Ah, master, he's not lying to you, someone really is coming, let's hide first!"
Then, together with Hua Cheng, the two of them lightly pushed off with their feet and lightly leapt onto the beam on the ceiling, hiding away. It wasn't long before the sound of messy footsteps expectedly came from outside the chamber.
A man kicked the door open and laughed wildly in pleasure, "WAHAHAHAHAHA, THE HEAVENLY REALM IS NOTHING! DIDN'T IT STILL HAVE TO BE STEPPED UNDER THIS ANCESTOR'S FEET IN THE END!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
The moment the three heard this voice they all became speechless. A green robed man came swaggering in from the outside, and wasn't it indeed Qi Rong that
they hadn't seen for days! It seemed, not only did Jun Wu lock up all the heavenly officials, he'd also let loose all the monsters and demons. That those creatures could actually loiter and rampage the streets of the Heavenly Capital so freely, this was practically the toppling of reason, exceedingly bizarre! Guoshi didn't think it'd be Qi Rong either and he stiffened. Qi Rong pointed at him and yelled, "You friggin' Guoshi, friggin' old man, undying old man! Hehe! Remember how you looked down on me and wouldn't take me for a disciple? What do you think now? A slap in the face, right? It's karma, you deserve this kind of end!"
From behind him peeked a timid little head, it was Gu Zi. It was probably the first time Gu Zi had entered such a sumptuous building, and his eyes were widened, looking all over, like he wanted to secretly feel those jaded bricked but didn't dare. Qi Rong was proud and pleased, "Good son, do you see? This here is the heavenly realm, and now, it's me, your daddy's domain!" Gu Zi was shocked, "Really, dad? This place is so big..."
"OF COURSE!" Qi Rong exclaimed, "If you don't believe me, watch, P'TUI P'TUI P'TUI! I'LL SPIT WHEREVER I PLEASE AND WHO'D DARE TO TELL ME OFF?"
Guoshi: "..."
Gu Zi hesitated for a moment, but still whispered, "Dad, it's not very good to spit on the ground. It's so beautiful and clean here, you'll dirty it." Qi Rong was stumped.
Guoshi couldn't hold back any longer either, "Take a look at yourself, how are you teaching kids? How old are you now and you still don't know how to be a good role model? Even kids are more mature than you!"
To be lectured from both sides, Qi Rong's embarrassment turned into anger, and he jumped up, cussing, "YOU FRIGGIN' OLD MAN, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW! Pretending to be some elder, I WON'T ALLOW YOU BOTH TO DISCIPLINE ME! AND YOU! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO YOUR OLD MAN LIKE THIS, YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!"
Gu Zi got scolded and stopped making sounds aggrievedly. After Qi Rong was done yelling, he then very guiltily wiped away the spit he spat with his feet, pretending as if nothing had happened, and cursed and cussed as he dragged Gu Zi out. Before he left he even wrote a line in big letters upon the most conspicuous wall of the Palace of Ling Wen – "The number one Ghost King of the three realms the Green Ghost Qi Rong was here".
After Qi Rong had exited the Palace of Ling Wen, the blue daruma doll Xie Lian tucked away in his sleeve fell out, landing in front of the wall that was written with those big words and the spit mark Qi Rong messily wiped away, and it spun madly, like it was crazy with rage. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng also leapt down, and Xie Lian picked up the daruma doll anew. Guoshi shook his head, "Prince Xiao Jing truly is... A hundred years like a day, his taste is incredibly bad, I can't believe he hasn't improved at all."
Hua Cheng took a glance at the wall, and was too lazy to even show a disdainful expression, and only gave a one word comment: "Hideous."
Guoshi finally agreed with him, and he tucked his hands in his sleeves, "Extremely hideous. After so many years, other than that hellish mess of a set of verses on the doors of the Gambler's Den in the Ghost City, that writing was over ten times more hideous than this, I have never seen anything more hideous!"
Hua Cheng: ".........."
Xie Lian on the other hand, was desperately trying to laugh it over, "Hahahahaha, master I've also seen that set of verses you speak of, and I thought it was pretty well written? It's very full of style, I rather like it."
Guoshi was puzzled, "Your Highness, how can you say something like that? Your calligraphy was taught by world class masters, how can you not tell the difference between beautiful and hideous? That writing is totally the worst of the three realms, not even the best teachers can salvage it. What exactly do you like about it? Did your taste fall apart?"
Xie Lian "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAMASTER, PLEASE DON'T SAY ANYMORE!!!" Suddenly, Hua Cheng said, "Ge ge, Jun Wu is making a move. He's probably going to look for you. He's heading to the Palace of XianLe right now."
Guoshi jolted, "What! Then Your Highness you must hurry back! Crimson Rain Sought Flower, you hide yourself well too, absolutely do not let him discover you two have gotten together. My three friends' mountain spirit bodies are currently bound within the borders of Mount TongLu and are trying to break free. No matter what actions we take, there's more sure of a chance after they've broken free. Remember, do not act recklessly!"
Naturally, Xie Lian knew this. Having bid Guoshi farewell, the two left the Palace of Ling Wen, swiftly and stealthily flying past, evading countless guards and demons, and there were four more blocks before they reach the Palace of XianLe when just then, Hua Cheng spoke up again, "Ge ge, there's one more block before he reaches the Palace of XianLe."
Xie Lian: "!"
He touched that monitoring silver butterfly, and before his eyes flashed a scene. Sure enough, with one hand behind his back and walking by his lonesome, it was almost a hundred steps away before Jun Wu would reach the gates of the Palace of XianLe. What should they do?? Wouldn't this mean they would either get back after Jun Wu, or bump right into him? It must be known that the guards at the gates of the Palace of XianLe were still petrified by Hua Cheng!
Suddenly, the gates of the divine palace behind Jun Wu opened, and someone stood behind those doors, speaking up, "My lord."
Jun Wu paused in his step and looked back, "Rain Master? What is it?" The one who stopped him was indeed the Rain Master. It was probably because Jun Wu had given instructions that irrelevant figures must not come close to the Residence of the Rain Master so other than guards, there weren't any other demons or monsters visible. She said very politely, "My lord, I have something I've forgotten to give you. Might I ask my lord to stop in for a moment?"
Jun Wu inclined his head, "Very well." And sure enough, he turned back around. Xie Lian sighed a breath of relief, "Thank god for Lord Rain Master!" He'd decided after he returned he'd burn eighteen tall incense sticks for the Rain Master!!! Using this chance, the two dashed across the four blocks, and returned to the Palace of XianLe before Jun Wu. As they crossed through the doors, Hua Cheng casually waved his hand and released the spell on the guards at the gates. They were confounded for a moment and completely did not notice anything amiss. Xie Lian sprinted back to the inner chambers but before he had a chance to sigh in relief, his face changed again, since, the guards at the gates had come to announce Jun Wu's arrival.
Jun Wu had come so fast! It seemed the Rain Master hadn't stopped him for long. The two exchanged looks, communicating without words, and Hua Cheng turned to hide himself behind the curtains while Xie Lian hopped onto the bed pretending to be asleep, his back facing outwards. Just as he pulled the cover up, Jun Wu entered. He slowly came to the tableside and was quiet for a moment before he spoke up, "Xian Le, are you resting?"
Xie Lian didn't respond. Jun Wu seemed to have sat down at the table, and placed something that was in his hands onto the table surface, then poured himself a cup of tea. He said gently, "Xian Le, I made you stay here properly for your own good. There are many things that as long as you listen to me, the end result would be much better." Xie Lian didn't flip over and was still facing him with his back. Otherwise, having remembered all that Guoshi had told him, with his heart like the raging seas, he wouldn't know what expression he'd use to face Jun Wu who at this moment was still kind and gentle. The next moment, behind him, Jun Wu said languidly, "But, not only did you sneak out to play, you even brought someone back to hide in your chamber. It seems, you really don't listen to me anymore."
———
●Hua Cheng didn't actually address MNQ by title, I just wanted to show that both Xie Lian and Hua Cheng had been using the honorific "You" throughout their interaction with MNQ, as it's the only time in the book besides to XL that Hua Cheng used it.