Благословение Небожителей. Том 6 (ЛП)

“White No-Face is blocking the path to the cave’s exit,” Hua Cheng explained. “If you think you can defeat him in your current state, then by all means don’t follow me. I won’t stop you. Go right ahead.”
Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both from Xianle, of course—and just like Xie Lian, that creature had left an indelible shadow on their hearts. They didn’t want to face him unless absolutely necessary.
Feng Xin gazed upward. “Can we punch through the top of the cave to get out?”
“The snowy mountain is above us. Do you want to start another avalanche?” Hua Cheng mocked.
Unfortunately, they had left the Earth Master Shovel with Yin Yu in case of emergency. Even if they did have it, none of them had studied how to use it, so they wouldn’t be able to dig an escape route without making a racket and drawing attention.
“Then why are we running around aimlessly?”
“As long as we run around aimlessly, he’ll chase us and we can lure him away from the exit,” Xie Lian explained. “And then you two can use that chance to escape.”
Mu Qing immediately caught the issue. “Wait… ‘You two’? You mean you want to split up? One group is the bait to lead him away, while the other group escapes on their own?”
“Exactly!” Xie Lian said. “The Emperor must be informed that White No-Face has reappeared in the world. Once you both escape, find a way to notify the heavens—”
“Wait, wait!” Mu Qing cut him off. “You’ve already decided who’s going to be bait and who’s going to leave?”
Xie Lian shook his head. “I didn’t decide. White No-Face did.”
Mu Qing understood and didn’t say another word—there was nothing they could do to choose who was pursued. Among their group, White No-Face would certainly be most interested in chasing Xie Lian!
“I will stay with you to face him,” Feng Xin declared without hesitation.
In an emergency, Mu Qing had always been the one Xie Lian sent back to make a report, and Feng Xin had always stayed behind to assist him. It seemed that ancient history was about to repeat itself. But then Xie Lian glanced at Hua Cheng.
“Thanks! But there’s no need. San Lang will stay with me.”
“How can he be the one to stay? He…” Feng Xin blurted.
Hua Cheng’s brow furrowed ominously, but Xie Lian only replied, “I trust him.”
Although his voice was gentle, he was firm in his stance. Feng Xin was stunned in spite of himself.
“Your Highness…”
Xie Lian patted his shoulder. “You two go together. Mount Tonglu has closed its gates, so it’s hard to say whether you’ll even be able to get out to spread the word. Besides, don’t you still need to search for…Lan Chang and the child?”
Feng Xin’s face turned glum at this reminder.
A wraith butterfly emerged from the engravings on the vambrace around Hua Cheng’s wrist. “Follow it,” he said.
The two looked at Hua Cheng, then at Xie Lian.
In the end, Mu Qing said simply, “You two watch yourselves.” With that, he turned and hurried after the silver butterfly down another tunnel. A moment later, Feng Xin followed.
The four thus parted at this fork in the road. As Xie Lian watched their retreating backs, another series of rumbling explosions echoed in the distance. The pair exchanged a look.
“He’s here,” Hua Cheng said darkly.
“Lead me,” Xie Lian said.
The white-clad man had come after Xie Lian, as expected. To ensure he was kept at a safe distance, Hua Cheng set up wraith butterfly formations at various points in the caves to monitor the situation and slow their pursuer down. Every time an explosion went off and the wraith butterflies shrieked, Hua Cheng's expression grew grimmer and Xie Lian’s heart ached. They wound around corner after corner until finally they reached a chamber.
Xie Lian couldn’t help but sigh. “I can’t believe it… So many silver butterflies have been lost.”
While the wraith butterflies didn’t have a good reputation in the Three Realms, Xie Lian saw them as nothing but sweet, adorable little spirits. He couldn’t help but feel for them—they ceaselessly launched their suicidal attacks just to delay the enemy a few moments more.
 
But Hua Cheng only snorted. His gaze seemed to penetrate the thick rock walls, and he said, “Don’t worry. If he kills one, I’ll make ten more. Fast and furious as a storm, I will never back down. We’ll see who’s left standing in the end.”
Xie Lian’s heart skipped a beat for some reason, and he thought, Oh no, this is bad.
Although Hua Cheng had only displayed it subconsciously, Xie Lian really was quite weak to his aggressive, rebellious confidence.
Another moment passed, and Hua Cheng slowed his pace, seeming like he’d received some sort of signal. He turned to Xie Lian. “He’s been led away. Those two are almost out.”
“Great!” Xie Lian said. “Now we can take our time to come up with a strategy.”
“Mm. There’s no rush now,” Hua Cheng said. “He’s been left far behind. We can hide here for a while and think of a battle plan.”
They both trailed off, and an awkward tension suddenly bloomed between them.
This wasn’t the kind of awkwardness that stemmed from embarrassment; rather, they were both feeling strangely shy. With the creature hot on their trail and Feng Xin and Mu Qing with them, the feeling hadn’t been nearly as obvious. But although Xie Lian had said, “Let’s talk later,” now that “later” had arrived and they’d caught their breaths, he had no idea what to say.
Xie Lian coughed lightly twice to clear his throat, then scratched his cheek with a finger. No matter what gesture he made, nothing felt quite right. He wanted to speak, but he worried that whatever he said would sound too abrupt, or too silly, or like he was trying too hard. In the end, he just hoped that Hua Cheng would say something first.
However, Hua Cheng’s expression was just as strained. On the surface, he looked like he might have been seriously thinking through their battle plans, but it was hard to say whether that was true. The hands clenched behind his back were trembling slightly.
They walked past one particular divine statue. Most of the carvings in this Cave of Ten Thousand Gods were about the same size as the man himself, but this one was rougher in craftsmanship and it was shorter by half. When Xie Lian passed it, he casually peeled off the veil covering its head, and his eyes lit up.
“San Lang, did you carve this one too?”
Hua Cheng looked over and fell silent. It took him a moment to reply. “It was from my beginner years. Gege, stop looking at it.”
That was clearly the truth—this divine statue was quite ugly indeed. Even though it was easy to tell that the sculptor had done his utmost to carve the perfect form he saw in his mind, his wish had been left unfulfilled due to the limits of his skill. While it wasn’t cockeyed or crooked, the little figure was disproportionate in scale and smiled like it was mentally challenged.
Despite all that, the sculptor had still managed to include every single detail without fault. Xie Lian could easily tell that this was a God-Pleasing Crown Prince statue; its ears even had red dots for coral pearl earrings.
Xie Lian silently covered his mouth and turned away. He rubbed hard at his face in an attempt to seem natural.
Hua Cheng didn’t know what to say, so he pleaded again as he tried to cover the statue with its veil. “Your Highness, please don’t look at it anymore.”
“Don’t misunderstand! I think it’s really cute!” Xie Lian hastily assured him.
But then he realized, wasn’t he the one Hua Cheng had sculpted? If he called this thing cute, wasn’t he basically calling himself cute? It’d be incredibly thick-skinned of him to lie so blatantly. Xie Lian couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Seeing him like this, Hua Cheng bowed his head and lowered his lashes as he started to chuckle along with him.