The sudden moment, Xie Lian's eyes opened wide.
In this life, he had never been treated like this by anyone. For one, no one dared to, and second, no one could. But this person moved like a ghost, appearing too quickly for him to defend himself, and he found himself in such a situation, flustered and clumsy.
He tried to push the other away forcefully, but ended up swallowing several mouthfuls of water, "bubble bubble," a string of crystal-like bubbles emerged from his mouth. This was a taboo underwater.
Thus, the other person held him tighter, their bodies pressed closer together, and the hand he attempted to push away was firmly held against his chest, unable to move. His lips were sealed tightly, and the kiss deepened, as a gentle, cold stream of air passed over him.
In the midst of his confusion and submissiveness, Xie Lian recognized the eyes of the person—Hua Cheng.
The moment he realized it was Hua Cheng, he stopped struggling. A flurry of disjointed thoughts surfaced in his mind, like: so it’s Hua Cheng, no wonder it's so cold. Ghosts don’t breathe, yet they can pass air to him. But wouldn't a ghost sink in water?
At that moment, Hua Cheng suddenly opened his eyes.
As their eyes met those close-at-hand dark eyes, Xie Lian froze again, struggling like a clumsy duck drowning in water. Yet this struggle was effortlessly resolved by Hua Cheng, who held Xie Lian's waist and quickly floated upwards. Soon, they broke through the surface of the water!
The water underneath was cold, and so was the air, yet at that moment, Xie Lian's entire body was burning hot. As soon as he surfaced, he wanted to turn his head away, but the menacing black smoke still hovered over the water. The moment someone surfaced, it immediately locked onto them.
Xie Lian barely turned his head when Hua Cheng held the back of his head, turning him back. Their lips hadn't separated even for a moment before they tightly closed once more. Xie Lian's lips were so kissed that they hurt and went numb, almost losing feeling.
If it were anyone else, he would have already stabbed them with a sword, but it happened to be Hua Cheng, and he had no idea what to do, almost brought to tears in frustration. At that moment, beyond Hua Cheng's face, he saw countless Silver Butterflies break through the water beside them!
With a sharp whistle, the rain of butterflies shot out from below the water like a barrage of steel bullets. Their wings reflected cold blade-like light, instantly causing the child spirit to scream and scatter the black smoke, fleeing in all directions. However, the butterfly formation filled the sky, locking it in the center, crashing without breaking free. Without lifting his eyes, Hua Cheng held Xie Lian and submerged once more. After a while, their lips finally parted.
As soon as they parted, Xie Lian spat out a stream of bubbles, while Hua Cheng freed a hand and tossed out a dice. The dice spun rapidly even in the water, creating a violent swirl, and finally settled. Shortly, they floated to the surface once again.
This time, the shore was not far away. Hua Cheng carried Xie Lian over. It was unclear whose shore it was, as there were lights and voices, seemingly near yet distant. Behind them, the water surface, the butterfly formation carrying the mass of black smoke shot up to the sky, heading towards the faint lights, leaving only the child spirit's long and piercing cry: "Mother—!!!..."
The two got ashore and sat heavily on the ground, facing each other. Only then did Xie Lian clearly see Hua Cheng's appearance.
In truth, they hadn't met for just a few days, yet Xie Lian felt as though they hadn't seen each other for a long time. Each meeting, Hua Cheng looked different, more handsome than before. This time, he seemed one or two years older than the last.
His features were naturally handsome, even more striking after coming out of the water. His hair was extremely black, and his skin was extremely white. A thin strand of hair on the right side of his face was braided into a small braid, with a red thread intricately woven into it.
This was the first time Xie Lian noticed a small beauty mark above the center of his forehead, making his face even more exquisite. The black-covered eye added a touch of murderous aura, balancing this exquisiteness, achieving a near-perfect harmony.
Hua Cheng furrowed his brows, seemingly holding something back, and after a few soft breaths, he finally spoke in a noticeably deeper voice than usual, "Your Highness, I..."
From his hair to his body, water dripped continuously from Xie Lian. His lips were swollen, eyes vacant, dazed for a moment before he stammered, "I... I... I..."
He stuttered for who knows how many times before suddenly blurting out a senseless sentence: "I'm a bit hungry."
Hearing this, Hua Cheng was taken aback.
Xie Lian hadn't recovered from the shock and mumbled again, "No. I... I... I'm a bit sleepy..."
He turned around, backing Hua Cheng, placing his hands and knees on the ground, fumbling as if searching for something. Hua Cheng asked from behind him, "What are you looking for?"
Xie Lian instinctively didn't dare to look at him and babbled, "I'm looking for something. I'm looking for my bamboo hat. Where's my bamboo hat?"
If someone else saw this scene, they would definitely cry out: "It's over, he's lost it!" But in truth, Xie Lian had never experienced such a matter, and the shock was too great at the moment, causing him to lose control a bit. On hands and knees, he crawled a few steps on the ground, mumbling, "...I, I can't find it. I need to go home for dinner... I need to collect junk..."
"..."
Hua Cheng said, "I'm sorry."
Sensing the voice coming closer from behind, Xie Lian jumped up and shouted, "I need to go!"
His shout was like crying for help. Hua Cheng said, "No!"
Xie Lian hastily tried to run, but after only a few steps, he stumbled again. Looking back, a trail of blood marked his path, the needle piercing his foot had completely gone in. Hua Cheng caught his ankle, his voice changed, and said, "What’s wrong with you?"
Xie Lian quickly retracted his foot and said, "Nothing, nothing, nothing, I'm not in any pain, it's okay!"
Hua Cheng said with slight anger, "How can it not hurt!" As he spoke, his hands moved to remove Xie Lian’s boot, scaring Xie Lian into crawling ahead while shouting, "No no no, don’t!"
As Xie Lian crawled forward, Hua Cheng held him back. Their ruckus finally disturbed the other people on the shore, and a loud clamor of gongs and drums, crying and howling, a large group of bizarre beings gathered around, exclaiming, "Audacious! Who are you! Don’t you know what place this is? Are you tired of living or want to die again? I… Oh my, isn’t that the City Lord?!"
The crowd of ghosts immediately shouted in unison, "Greetings, City Lord!"
Xie Lian mentally cried out in despair, wishing he could cover his face with both hands. This was actually the Ghost Market!
Among the crowd of ghosts, there were quite a few he had seen at a glance last time, and Xie Lian even saw a familiar pig-headed ghost. The two of them were drenched, surrounded by countless humans and ghosts alike watching them, with Hua Cheng still holding his ankle, this intensely shocking scene finally brought Xie Lian slightly back to his senses. But surprisingly, when the crowd saw Hua Cheng, they got even more excited and shouted, "City Lord! Are you trying to force yourself on him! Need any help! Let us hold him down for you!"
Hua Cheng said, "Scram!"
The crowd hurriedly scattered. Even though they kept their distance, Xie Lian wished to faint because Hua Cheng had stood up and gently bent down to scoop him up, walking steadily towards the edge of the shore.
Xie Lian, still wearing the clothing of a woman, could only be thankful that the pillow was no longer in his belly, otherwise, this image would be even more terrifying. However, this fright finally woke him up completely. He struggled a bit in Hua Cheng’s arms and lightly coughed, saying, "...San Lang, sorry about that. I lost my composure earlier, it was quite laughable."
The incidents of a moment ago were too much for him. Let's just say it was a shock, as it was his first time. But it wasn't just because it was his first time. In the past few centuries, it wasn't like seductive female ghosts hadn't tried to tempt him, but Xie Lian had never been so embarrassed. Why did it turn out like this? He could only think it must be because the national teacher only taught him how to guard against women, not against men, and he had no experience, which caught him off guard.
Recalling his series of reactions just now made Xie Lian a bit embarrassed and thought it was a bit too much. He figured San Lang was well-intentioned yet he was scared this much, which wasn’t very polite to someone trying to help. But then Hua Cheng said, "Not at all, I acted rashly. I apologize for offending you, brother, San Lang should be the one apologizing."
Seeing he didn’t mind, Xie Lian secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "At that moment, it was urgent, and you were just helping, so it's nothing serious. By the way." He remembered what he was originally doing, "San Lang, how did you suddenly appear again? What about the child spirit?"
But Hua Cheng said in a tone that brooked no argument, "Treat the injury first."
As they spoke, they had arrived in front of a luxurious building, and Xie Lian looked up to see the words "Elysium Pavilion" written on it.
He was greatly surprised. Had the burned Elysium Pavilion been repaired so quickly? And it looked no different from before. However, feeling awkward, he dared not ask. Hua Cheng carried him inside, laying him on a black jade couch. Xie Lian sat on the couch, and Hua Cheng knelt beside it, holding Xie Lian's injured foot, inspecting the small wound stained with blood.
This posture made Xie Lian incredibly uneasy, saying, "Unacceptable!" He wanted to get down, but Hua Cheng pressed him back, skillfully and quickly removing his boot and sock.
This foot happened to be the one with the curse shackle, a dark circle starkly against his fair ankle, the contrast very intense. Hua Cheng's gaze lingered on the soft arc of the ankle for only a moment before his palm covered Xie Lian’s wound and said, "It might hurt a bit, don't hold back, let it out if it hurts."