Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 38

Now cursing under his breath, way too aggravated to think about staying calm and collected, Xie Lian jumped again and managed to catch the robe once again, holding it while it struggled like a fish flopping out of water.

With that wave of chaos over, he was able to seize all the robes that flew out of the textile house, counted all of them to make sure nothing was missing, and let out a sigh of relief: «I suppose we can only use Qi Ying's method. Let's try these robes on». It was dangerous, but what choice could they have? Hua Cheng was still looking paler than his true form, albeit much less pained in the expression, and Quan YiZhen was all puffed up like a very angry cat.

Xie Lian was worried, because if he put the Brocade Immortal on himself... the only one that would be able to deal with any accidents was Hua Cheng himself, and his spiritual energy was out of commission. Quan YiZhen, while powerful, was but a mere kid when compared to Xie Lian's power reserve. Corrupted cultivation or not, he was a real threat.

In the end, it was decided he would stand watch while the other two dressed.

Both Hua Cheng and Yuan YiZhen peeled off their outer robes and started trying on one robe after the other, while Xie Lian gave out simple commands to see if they would obey.

After trying on ninety-seven robes, Quan YiZhen extended  a hand to grab the last one and froze on the spot.

As if in a daze, the young god touched it with a single finger, and then abruptly jumped back. Xie Lian could see a tremble in his hands, and a layer of wetness over his eyes. A moment after, he snapped out of it and snatched the robe from the rack; then, he threw it at Xie Lian, and the wicked energy embedded into the very core of that robe was so strong that he actually had to fight the urge to fling it away.

At the same time, right in front of his eyes flashed the shadow of a human silhouette, a very tall young man with disheveled strands of hair on the very edge. Yin Yu, as always, had done an outstanding job and truly found it.

«Qi Ying», he called out for him, face suddenly dark. «The Brocade Immortal... do you want it back in the Heavenly Court?».

Now that the mission was complete, Xie Lian had to report the success to Ling Wen, and then bring all the robes to her in order for them to be taken care of. But Ling Wen was entangled with the Brocade Immortal, and who knew what her intentions were.

To keep such a thing hidden from the heavens... Xie Lian was starting to have very annoying flashbacks to the recent mess in BanYue.

Did he want it back?

If he had to be honest, the answer was no. That thing brought nothing but ruin, and was the reason why his shixiong got ultimately kicked out. Quan YiZhen, while many looked down on him, spent years thinking back to that day.

He truly couldn't understand what he'd done wrong to anger his shixiong so much, to the point of him going mad with rage, but he knew he did something wrong. Even if he still wanted to find an explanation, even if he still wanted his shixiong back. Even if he still missed him, every day.

Quan YiZhen didn't like many people. The majority of the officials only sneered at him, or complained, or talked behind his back because he wasn't like them.

It took someone different to understand him.

He liked Xie Lian, he really did.

The god shook his head: «Do what you want».

He would cover for him, if he needed to. Xie Lian was the only official that never treated him badly.

After that, he asked if his presence was still needed, and simply walked away when the answer was a really gentle, kind "no".