Ch.179: Cave of Ten Thousand Gods; Faces of Ten Thousand Gods Revealed 5
“What is it?” Hua Cheng asked.
He turned around to look at Hua Cheng, “White No-Face. Why would he come to Mount TongLu?”
“Perhaps his powers haven’t recovered completely and wants to borrow the Kiln to be reborn into this world.” Hua Cheng replied.
“If that’s the case, that would mean the him now is not… a Supreme?” Xie Lian wondered.
“That’s not entirely impossible.” Hua Cheng said.
Earlier, White No-Face impersonated Feng Xin and Mu Qing and suddenly charged out, his abrupt appearance both shocking and terrifying. On top of that, Xie Lian’s first reaction was “he can’t be defeated, run away!”, so he grabbed Hua Cheng and fled. The two didn’t actually face him for too long, so, they weren’t able to gauge just what exactly was White No-Face’s current true strength.
Was it all just a bluff? Or was he stronger than he seemed? Exchanging rough blows for no more than the flash of a second, nothing could be determined. Xie Lian muttered, “I subconsciously thought he was stronger when I only saw those two fake skins, but maybe… he hasn’t completely recovered right now, and maybe he’s currently at his weakest? Otherwise why would he come to Mount TongLu? Maybe… I can give it a shot.”
See if he could take him down!
Hua Cheng immediately replied, “Good. I’ll go fight him”
Xie Lian instantly snapped out of it and hastily said, “No, don’t. Don’t face him straight on. Just me giving it a shot is enough!”
Usually, Supreme Ghost Kings would never face each other in combat so easily, just as how Ship-Sinking Black Water and Crimson Rain Sought Flower coexisted in peace. The Ghost Kings weren’t like the heavenly officials of the heavens where their strengths, how big their palaces, how many worshippers, the parameters of their powers were all well known by anyone who cared to keep track; they would hide their true strength the same way they hide their pasts.
Since they possessed no knowledge of each other’s strengths and no one knew what the consequences would be if two Supremes should start fighting, if things could be kept at a balance then they shall be kept that way.
“No need to worry.” Hua Cheng said, “Victory or defeat hasn’t been decided yet. Unless gege actually believes I would let you face him by yourself?”
“…”
Xie Lian shook his head, “It’s not that, San Lang, We’re not the same. He… won’t kill me, I can swear it.”
“Why?” Hua Cheng questioned.
After a moment of hesitation, Xie Lian still chose not to answer and only said, “You don’t know just how terrifying that creature is… “
Hua Cheng cut him off grimly, “Your Highness! – I know.”
Only then did Xie Lian remember that Hua Cheng had also joined the XianLe army once, and had experienced personally the XianLe battlefield, seen with his own eyes the tragedy of fields piled with corpses. But, Hua Cheng wasn’t like him. He had never personally seen that shocking battle between Jun Wu and White No-Face. He had also never crossed paths with White No-Face before.
Having thought this, Xie Lian shook his head with force, “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just, I just… I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Hearing this, Hua Cheng’s eyes twinkled. A moment later he smiled, “Gege, don’t worry. I’m already dead, so it won’t be so easy for me to die again. Besides, have you forgotten what I’ve told you before? As long as he doesn’t find my ashes, he can do nothing to me.”
Only with his reminder did Xie Lian recall there was such a thing and quickly said, “Wait! The other things aside. San Lang, your… are you ashes properly hidden away?”
“A long time ago.” Hua Cheng replied.
Xie Lian nodded, but after a pause, he still couldn’t help but double check, “Are you sure it’s properly hidden? That place is secure enough? It won’t be found?”
Hua Cheng answered leisurely, “To me, it’s the safest place in the world.”
Xie Lian however, didn’t think there’s anything that was absolute in this world and pressed, “You’re absolutely sure?”
Hua Cheng smiled cheerfully, “If its hiding place is destroyed, then, there’s no need for me to exist either. Of course I’m sure.”
Although Xie Lian really minded what “no need to exist” meant, but they weren’t situated in a safe place at the moment, and who knows if there were any ears listening, so it wasn’t the right place to go deeper into this subject and he stopped talking about it. But having talked thus far, Xie Lian really wanted to ask Hua Cheng – just how did he die?
He really wanted to know, but at the same time he didn’t know how to ask. When mortals die, the reason why souls could remain in the corporeal earth was all because of obsessive attachment. In most cases, anguish and resentment were the strongest of their fixation, and in order to become a Supreme Ghost King, their obsession would have to be even stronger than most. He was afraid that should he ask, Hua Cheng wouldn’t be able to handle it, like if a scar was stabbed. Xie Lian himself might not be able to bear it either. These past eight hundred years, just how had Hua Cheng endured it?
Having thought thus far, a horrifying thought suddenly appeared in Xie Lian’s mind and he was instantly covered in cold sweat. He immediately turned to Hua Cheng, “San Lang!”
“What is it?” Hua Cheng answered.
Xie Lian’s fingers were twitching slightly, “I… I’ve another question I want to ask you.”
“By all means.” Hua Cheng replied.
Xie Lian stared at him, “In the past eight hundred years, other than having met me in XianLe, have you met me anywhere else at any other point in time?”
“…”
Hua Cheng turned his head slowly, “Unfortunately, even though I’ve never given up and did my utmost to find you, I haven’t.”
Xie Lian pressed on, “Really?”
Hua Cheng looked him in the eyes, “Really. Why does gege ask?”
Xie Lian softly sighed a breath of relief and forced a smile, “Nothing, it’s just, in these past years, how I passed my earlier days wasn’t the prettiest sight, it was all muddled and very much a failure. I just thought if you had witnessed it it wouldn’t be good.”
Hua Cheng laughed, “How could that be?”
Xie Lian however, didn’t laugh at all, “It’s not a joke, I really was quite the failure.”
Hearing this, Hua Cheng withdrew his smile and turned solemn, “That’s okay too. Didn’t Your Highness already say it yourself?”
“Me?” Xie Lian was confused, “What did I say?”
Hua Cheng recited languidly, “To me, the one basking in infinite glory is you, the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is ‘you’, and not the state of you.”
He stared at Xie Lian and blinked meaningfully, cocking an eyebrow, “I feel the same way.”
“…”
Xie Lian was stunned for a good moment when suddenly he PA! and slapped his hands to cover his face, feeling his entire head burning up, “Did, did I say that?!”
“You did!” Hua Cheng said, “Gege, don’t deny it.”
Xie Lian used his arm to block his face, “I, I don’t think so!”
“Gege, do you want to watch it? I’ll find it for you.” Hua Cheng said.
Xie Lian’s head shot up, “??? You… did you… No way… San Lang, you… did you record everything?!”
“I’m joking, joking.”
“I honestly don’t believe you…”
“Gege, trust me.”
“I don’t trust you anymore!”
The two came to a fork in the road, and just then, there was suddenly a breeze and Hua Cheng tilted his body, blocking in front of him, raising an arm as if meaning to shield him.
The breeze actually wasn’t anything and naturally didn’t require any sort of blocking at all, but Hua Cheng’s action came completely naturally. As the wind passed, strands of hair fluttered irritatingly, and Xie Lian suddenly noticed that when Hua Cheng wasn’t looking at him, his expression and the contours of his face were all cold. Beautiful in his nonchalance, Hua Cheng didn’t even realize he moved without hesitation, as if protecting Xie Lian was an innate ability.
Xie Lian blurted again, “San Lang!”
Hua Cheng tilted his head to look at him, and only then did he flash a smile, “What is it, Your Highness?”
Xie Lian felt, Hua Cheng probably didn’t notice himself smiling.
A clear and powerful voice in his heart told him that this man really took him for a god.
Xie Lian’s fingers quietly clenched, “Once we’re out of Mount TongLu, there are many things I want to tell you.”
Hua Cheng nodded lightly, “Alright. I look forward to it.”
“Have Feng Xin and Mu Qing gotten out?” Xie Lian asked.
“They’re already out.” Hua Cheng replied.
“Then White No-Face?” Xie Lian asked, “He didn’t catch up to us and he didn’t go to stop them? Where is he now? How far is he away from us?”
Hua Cheng replied, “He’s…”
He hadn’t finished but his face changed, and he pressed two fingers lightly against the brow of his right eye. A moment later, he said “…He’s disappeared.”
Xie Lian was shocked, “How could he have disappeared?”
Hua Cheng was still rather calm and he searched with focus, “He’s disappeared into thin air.”
Even as a ghost it was impossible to just disappear in thin air within the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods surrounded by wraith butterflies!
Xie Lian blurted, “Let me see?” Then he gripped Hua Cheng’s shoulders with his hands and tipped his feet slightly, touching his forehead with his. Hua Cheng’s hand lowered to rest on his waist for a moment. There was a small hesitation like he was going to pull away, but in the end the hand remained and hugged him even tighter.
The scenes that Hua Cheng saw moments earlier swiftly flashed before Xie lian’s eyes. That white clad man came languidly before a stone cavern, and countless wraith butterflies once again rushed towards him, wrapping him into a shimmering human shaped cocoon. After a frozen moment, they were shocked away, silver light exploded, crackled, and the silver butterflies were blown into scintillating glitters. However, after that silver light had settled, he disappeared!
Following that, Hua Cheng’s right eye carried his sight and swept across the situation in countless many other tunnels but that white clad figure was nowhere to be seen. Xie Lian was puzzled and pulled away slightly, “Did he leave?”
But, others might not know, but Xie Lian was more than clear that if White No-Face saw him he would no doubt harass him persistently.
“Maybe our speculation before was right.” Hua Cheng said, “His first objective is to use the Kiln to regain his Supreme status so he left first.”
This voice was pressed right against his ear and only then did Xie Lian come to and realize Hua Cheng’s face was cupped in his hands and he had pulled him to bend slightly at the waist. Xie Lian quickly let go and cried, “Stop him!”
Their mission coming to Mount TongLu this time was to prevent any candidates that had the potential to become a Supreme. The two had been avoiding that white clad man the entire time earlier, but now that the situation had been cleared, they were now going through the countless divine statutes in search of him. It didn’t take them long before they came to the place where that white clad man had disappeared.
Sure enough, besides a few divine statues, there was no a single soul. Silver shimmers covered the ground, and the little silver butterflies that weren’t completely destroyed by the shockwave were fluttering their broken wings. Xie Lian bent down, and thought he didn’t know whether if it’d work, he still wanted to cup them up. Right then, he heard Hua Cheng’s voice coming from behind, “…Gege, come here by my side.”
That voice was laced with suppressed anger, but the rage wasn’t directed at him.
Xie Lian looked up and found Hua Cheng’s blazing eyes were staring at a divine statue ahead.
It was a divine statue that was covered from head to toe with white veil, unmoving, and its general contour could be seen. It seemed to pointing a sword and so, one end was protruded sharply.
However, at this very moment, at the sharp tip of the sword’s point, a patch of astringent red was exuding, spreading nonstop, staining and soaking that white silk.
There was blood on the sword!
Anyone who witnessed this sight could tell there was something strange with this divine statue.
Perhaps, at this moment, what was under the white silk was no longer the original divine statue but something else. Xie Lian leapt to his feet and stood side by side with Hua Cheng, the sword Fang Xin pointed at that divine statue. With a dark expression, Hua Cheng waved his hand, and that white veil was uncovered.
Xie Lian’s pupils instantly shrank.
Under the white veil was a divine statue of him. This was a God-Pleasing Crown Prince statue, a sword in one hand, flower in the other, smile hung on the face. Only, there was a trace of blood on that smile.
The source of that blood was the sword gripped in its hand. There was a youth pierced upon the blade, his head wrapped full of bandages, his body covered in blood. It was Lang Ying!
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