Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 2(61)
Hua Cheng replied leisurely, “Prince An Le.”
Xie Lian felt the Lang Qianqiu budaoweng doll in his arms jerk once.
Prince An Le was a descendant of Xianle royalty from the same generation as Lang Qianqiu. He was even said to have been friends with Lang Qianqiu.
Qi Rong’s derisive laugh could be heard from under the mask. “Prince An Le? I think you’re seeking your own death! Who told you to start shit in front of me? The person who sent you didn’t teach you any history? Prince An Le was the last of the royal family of Xianle, and that family died out with him! Who are you to pretend to be Xianle royalty before me?”
Hua Cheng raised his brow. “Oh? Died out? How?”
Qi Rong shouted, “SEIZE HIM! SEIZE THAT WEIRD GUY!”
At his command, a large number of little green ghosts poured in from all around the cave, yelling. In the midst of that pandemonium, Hua Cheng only smirked faintly.
His expression had been nonchalant, but in a moment it was like a layer of frost had fallen upon his face. His form suddenly flickered and disappeared, then reappeared in a blink behind Qi Rong.
He grabbed the back of Qi Rong’s head with one hand and smacked it down hard like a child playing with a ball.
“And who the fuck are you to be so insolent before me?!”
A loud BANG, and that magnificent throne was suddenly hidden by flying debris, with dust filling the air. Xie Lian tugged the young child behind his body to shield him and blocked a few small flying rocks.
When the dust settled, Qi Rong had disappeared. But on closer inspection, he hadn’t disappeared; rather, his entire head was deeply embedded in the ground after Hua Cheng’s strike.
Humans and ghosts alike screamed and dispersed.
“Don’t run away!” Xie Lian shouted.
If the people alerted all the ghosts within the cave, they’d be killed for sure! But of course, as always, no one listened to him. Xie Lian dropped his hands helplessly.
In these circumstances, he had no time to worry about others. Across the cave, Hua Cheng slowly knelt down; he used one hand to grab a fistful of Qi Rong’s hair and pried his bloodied head out of the large hole in the ground. With that motion, the body was extracted along with it. After a brief moment of observation, Hua Cheng seemed extremely amused and burst out laughing.
Although he was laughing, the light in his eyes was off by a million watts, eerie and terrifying. Ruoye flew out and struck away a few of the little green ghosts who were trying to cut down the escaping humans. Xie Lian then turned his head, his instincts telling him that something was wrong.
“San Lang? San Lang!”
Qi Rong’s mask cracked, a few fragments falling. He spat up a mouthful of blood and yelled, “SOMEBODY STOP HIM! ALL OF YOU! COME AND STOP HIM!!”
Hua Cheng had been violently bashing him about earlier, but now he seemed at ease, ready to have a chat about anything and everything.
He snickered. “Oh, didn’t you know? There are some things in this world that are unstoppable. Like, for example, the sun setting in the west. Or an elephant squashing an ant. Or me—taking your damned life!”
By his last line, his expression was unabashedly savage, and he raised Qi Rong’s whole body high before smashing him to the ground once more!
Another loud BANG. Qi Rong’s body was splayed on the ground, pulped into something worse than mush. With a soft crack, the mask on his face shattered into fragments, revealing half his face.
If anyone were to see that half, they’d discover a shocking fact…
The Green Ghost Qi Rong and the Crown Prince of Xianle—one ghost, one god, the difference of hell and heaven—looked astonishingly alike!
Chapter 22:
What Is True and What Is False, An Irresolvable Situation
BUT WHEN THE OTHER HALF of the mask crumbled and Qi Rong’s entire face was revealed, it became obvious that he didn’t look that much like Xie Lian after all. Their noses, lips, and the contour of their lower jaws were similar in shape, but their brows and eyes were quite different. Xie Lian’s eyes were serene and gentle. Qi Rong’s brows were high and sharp; his eyes were also much thinner and more slanted. While he was certainly still a good-looking young man, it was easy to tell from his face alone that he wasn’t one to be messed with. After having been beaten to a bloody pulp, he could finally squint open his eyes and blearily see that the one who had seized him had changed form into what appeared to be a youth dressed in red. Qi Rong had never seen Hua Cheng’s real face, but the moment he saw the red robes, he was both shocked and furious.
“It’s you. IT’S YOU!”
Hua Cheng had changed back to his true form. “You haven’t answered my question. How did Prince An Le die?”
Because of how frightening his glare was, Xie Lian rushed forward and cried, “San Lang!”
Humans and ghosts alike had already cleared out from the cave, and Xie Lian ran to his side.
“What’s wrong? Don’t be angry, please don’t be angry, everything’s all right. Calm down, everything’s all right…”
He gently rubbed Hua Cheng’s shoulders a few times, his voice growing soothingly soft. When Xie Lian was younger, whenever he got angry or upset, his parents would always stroke his back like this and comfort him with their gentle voices; thus, he used the same method on Hua Cheng. It turned out to be quite effective—Hua Cheng’s eye was turbulent before, but after being soothed, his lip quivered for only a second before he slowly but finally calmed, and his gaze cleared once more.