Благословение Небожителей. Том 6 (ЛП)

That little figure was bloody red.
 
 
“…Is that him? Was that him?” Mu Qing murmured. “The little kid who fell during the Shangyuan Heavenly Ceremonial Parade? But how is that possible? I can’t believe it. Crimson Rain Sought Flower…was him?!”
Feng Xin patted Xie Lian and Mu Qing madly and pointed to one side. “There’s more in the back!”
Xie Lian walked over to the other mural and saw that it depicted a dilapidated little shrine. Upon the shrine’s altar there was a divine statue, which also glowed faintly with white light. It held a sword in one hand, and in the other it offered a red umbrella downward. There was an ugly little blood-red figure at the bottom of the mural. It cupped a small flower in its hands, which it was offering to the statue.
Xie Lian felt a sudden headache coming on. His hand flew to clutch his throbbing temple, but he didn’t look away.
The next mural depicted a battlefield. Large bands of soldiers were gearing up for war, and a little white figure floated in the sky overhead. It wielded a longsword in one hand and looked mighty and glorious. There was another little blood-red figure among the dense battalion below. Its head was raised to watch the one in the sky.
Xie Lian was absorbed in these paintings when Feng Xin’s disbelieving voice rang out.
“That red one, it’s all the same person, isn’t it? It’s all him?! They’re all Hua Cheng?! Holy fuck… He’s been following you all this time?!”
Mu Qing also looked incredulous. “He wasn’t just following, he was watching. Watching very closely. Very, very closely. He was everywhere! Look, this is the main street, Buyou Forest—what’s this? Beizi Hill? My god… Was he the one who carved all these divine statues?!”
Looking at the murals was giving Feng Xin chills. “My fucking god… Who the hell is he? He’s had his eye on you since eight hundred years ago?! And he’s still following you, even now? What the fuck?! This is terrifying! Is he bewitched? What the hell does he want? No normal devotee would go this far—so just what the hell does he want?!”
“There must be some plot…there must be!” Mu Qing exclaimed. “Let’s keep looking. I’m sure we’ll find a clue!”
Xie Lian was completely stricken. He stared at that little blood-red figure on the wall, unable to wrap his mind around it. It felt like countless memories were fighting to rush into his brain—he hadn’t forgotten, but they’d never taken root. They were pouring in so fast that his breath could barely keep up anymore.
Just then, Xie Lian heard the other two yell, and he snapped out of it. “What is it now?” he asked.
Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both standing before a stone wall, and it looked like they had seen something outrageous. When they saw Xie Lian walk toward them, Feng Xin quickly turned around and stopped him, pushing him away.
“Holy fuck, don’t look!”
“What?” Xie Lian was bewildered. “What was it? Why can’t I look?”
Mu Qing’s expression was dark. “Just…don’t bother. There’s nothing worth seeing here. Let’s get out of here as soon as possible!”
The two of them each grabbed one of Xie Lian’s arms and started to bolt once more. Xie Lian complained as he was dragged along.
“What are you doing? I wasn’t done looking at the murals!”
“There’s no need to look anymore! Things like that shouldn’t be seen!” Feng Xin yelled angrily as he ran. “My fucking god! I’ve never witnessed anything like that in my fucking life. Nor anyone like him!”
Xie Lian was baffled. “What have you never witnessed? What’s wrong with San Lang?”
“Why are you still calling him ‘San Lang’? Stop it!” Mu Qing admonished. “You can’t get away from him fast enough! Never go near him again—he’s not normal! He’s sick in the head! He’s crazy!”
Xie Lian couldn’t listen anymore. “Why are you two insulting him like this? None of us are all that normal, you know!”
 
“Stop asking!” Feng Xin cried. “You don’t understand! He’s not like us! He’s crazy! He… Toward you, he… He…”
“‘Toward me,’ what?” Xie Lian demanded. “Please let me go. Let me go back and see for myself, all right?”
One wanted to go back, but the other two were pulling him forward. They were stuck in that stalemate until suddenly, a bone-chilling voice came from ahead of them.
“Didn’t I say not to randomly put your hands on things in other people’s territory?”
The three of them froze, then slowly turned to look.
Before them stood a man dressed in red. Hua Cheng was leaning against the stone wall, blocking their way with a smile.
“If you do, who knows what will happen?”
While his mouth was smiling, his eye held not a trace of mirth but was instead dark and muddied. He hugged one of his arms, while his other hand idly fiddled with something small.
It was the deep-red coral pearl tied to his thin braid. The coral’s luminous red luster was as bright and dazzling as the red affinity knot on his pale finger.
Neither the hundreds of charmed talismans nor the heavy piles of boulders had stopped him!
Feng Xin and Mu Qing both reacted swiftly. Feng Xin shot a barrage of arrows as Mu Qing swung his saber to send an air-blade strike toward Hua Cheng, then grabbed Xie Lian and ran. Feng Xin employed his same old trick and struck wildly at the rock walls.
“What the fuck?!” he cried. “How did he find us so fast?!”
“How should I know?!” Mu Qing yelled back. “Wait—the red string! The red string! His finger is still tied with that red string!”
When it dawned on them, they both turned around to seize Xie Lian’s hand—as if he would let them. Xie Lian clutched the red knot on his finger to protect it and exclaimed, “You can’t!”
“Your Highness, he’ll find us as long as you keep that red string tied to you,” Feng Xin insisted. “If you don’t want him to catch up, it has to be removed!”
Xie Lian still held on, guarding his finger. “I’m not afraid of him catching up. I…want to ask him about this face-to-face.”
Mu Qing’s eyes widened. “You still want to talk to him? I don’t think you’ll realize how dangerous he is until he’s devoured you whole.”
“But I already know he’s dangerous,” Xie Lian countered. “You guys won’t tell me what that mural shows, and you won’t let me go near him. You won’t convince me of anything acting like this.”
“He’s a ghost king, and his behavior is abnormal. People would usually stay far away based on that alone! You shouldn’t need to be convinced of anything!”
Xie Lian raised two fingers. “Two choices: either you let me go back and ask him to explain, or you let me go back to look at that mural.”
Feng Xin and Mu Qing seemed to remember something terrifying. One’s lips began to twitch, while the other’s brow could not furrow any deeper. They both stood blocking him and yelled in unison, “We’ll allow neither!”
Thus, Xie Lian rolled up his sleeves. “Well, since you both said no, let’s solve this with our fists! Who’s first? Or will you come at me together?”
Mu Qing turned to Feng Xin. “You first!”
Then he backed away to the side of the tunnel.
Feng Xin didn’t seem confident that he could win against Xie Lian, but he was determined to give it his best shot to rescue this wayward youth. He gripped his bow.
“Very well! Your Highness, pardon my insolence!”
“Pard—”
Before Xie Lian could even return the opening courtesy, he felt something hot being stuck to his back. Someone behind him shouted, “Stay still! Don’t talk!” and he was rendered as stiff as an iron board. And not just his body—he also couldn’t move his mouth to speak!
Mu Qing darted out from behind Xie Lian. “Let’s drag him away. That talisman will paralyze him temporarily, but it won’t last long,” he said to Feng Xin.
Feng Xin was slightly dumbfounded. “Why did you ambush him? Didn’t we agree to go one-on-one?”