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“It’s too late.”
Watching as Xie Lian pull his fingers away from his temple, disconnecting himself from the communication array, he turned around to face Hua Cheng with a serious expression.
“San Lang.”
Although Hua Cheng knew that His Highness’ tone was only that of firmness, he couldn’t help but feel like he was being scolded. He prayed that he hadn’t made Xie Lian upset or disappointed. His head lowered ever so slightly and his hands clenched by his side.
“Did you and that person reach an agreement a long time ago?” Xie Lian asked.
Hua Cheng hesitated. He didn’t want to lie to his highness but he also had his part of the deal to uphold. He struggled to find a response between an affirmative and a negative but just as he was about to reply, Xie Lian cut in.
“No no no, don’t tell me!” He dismissed the question, waving his hands in front of him. “You don’t have to answer me. If you had long reached an agreement with someone else, I certainly don’t want you going back on your word because of me. It’s my fault for asking you so suddenly. I didn’t mean to put you in a difficult situation.”
Hearing Xie Lian blame himself, Hua Cheng felt even more guilty. He could only apologise. “I’m sorry, your highness.”
Xie Lian shook his head, “Don’t apologise.” A quiet sigh left him. “It must be due to some sort of agreement that you couldn’t interfere and couldn’t tell me the truth directly.”
Quietly, Hua Cheng pursed his lips together. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to tell Xie Lian. He trusted his highness more than anyone but he didn’t want to risk getting Xie Lian any further involved in the matter. Still, Xie Lian was too kind for his own good and got involved anyway. It was the least Hua Cheng could do to accompany him so that he wouldn’t get hurt. He made sure to prepare everything beforehand so that when a chance to escape presented itself, Hua Cheng would take Xie Lian away from danger.
“I should be thanking you instead.” Xie Lian said.
Hua Cheng didn’t feel like he deserved any gratitude and changed the subject. “You’ve figured everything out?”
Xie Lian nodded. “Pretty much. In fact, I should’ve figured it out a long time ago, but he really is incredible. I’d often think too much too, dismissing my own suspicions, and always end up overlooking the most straightforward possibilities.”
Hua Cheng could only nod in response. As expected of his highness, he had worked everything out.
After a pause, Xie Lian looked up at Hua Cheng and continued. “And, that person really gave you a lot of face. To peacefully send me away, he put in considerable effort and wasted much time detouring.”
“Your highness,” Hua Cheng said with finality, “This whole thing ends here. It’s over.”
A sigh left Xie Lian. “I also wish that’s the case. But, he might have crossed the line.”
Whether he crossed the line or not, Hua Cheng wasn’t going to willingly let Xie Lian back into the danger. After some silence, he said gently, “But you’ve come back and there’s no way for you to return to the Demon Lair. Let them take care of their own affairs now.”
Hua Cheng really hoped that Xie Lian would drop the case. He didn’t want to risk anything and now that he had secured Xie Lian’s safety, he wasn’t going to let him go.
“Don’t be so sure.” Xie Lian said flatly.
The tone made Hua Cheng freeze. It felt like his whole body went stiff, rooted to the ground as dread entered his limbs. His thoughts were silent as the next words left Xie Lian’s lips.
“I thought of an idea just now.” Xie Lian replied, raising his hands to form a hand seal. “I’ve a way to connect with Lord Wind Master.”
Hua Cheng couldn’t even control his expression anymore. His eyes widened in shock and fear. He didn’t need a second to figure out what that hand seal meant.
With a sad smile, Xie Lian apologised. “So, sorry, San Lang, but I have to go back for a bit.”
Hua Cheng couldn’t believe this. He didn’t think Xie Lian would go to such lengths. He was a fool not to take this into consideration. But he couldn’t react fast enough. “...ge ge?”
His hand left his side, barely reaching out in front of him when Xie Lian enunciated: “SOUL--SHIFTING--SPELL!”
With a burst of spiritual energy, wind blasted in Hua Cheng’s face, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut. His long black hair went flying over his shoulder for a second before he snapped open his eyes just to see Xie Lian’s body go limp.
Swiftly, Hua Cheng caught him and fell to his knees. His highness laid motionless against him and the extra weight made his chest clench. The hand on his shoulder and the other around his waist were firm but not to the point that it would hurt the body.
He couldn’t believe Xie Lian would do that. But at the same time, it was so typical of him to do so. He was too kind. Hua Cheng felt his eyebrows scrunch together, his lips pursed tightly into a thin line. He pulled the body closer and pressed his face into XL’s soft hair. Thoughts were running wildly in his mind. A part of him was desperately thinking up ways of bringing his highness back as soon as possible, while another part came up with unhelpful worse case scenarios. He pinched his eyes closed, forcing those pessimistic thoughts away because he refused to let anything happen to Xie Lian.