He saw Xie Lian’s startled expression and raised his brows. “Who did you think I was? Feng Xin?”
Without waiting for a response, he lifted his black robes and crossed the threshold of the door. “Well, Feng Xin probably won’t come.”
“What are you doing here?” Xie Lian asked.
“The Emperor detained you and barred His Highness Tai Hua from coming here. But he didn’t say I couldn’t come,” Mu Qing said.
He didn’t bother answering Xie Lian’s question. Fine. Xie Lian wasn’t actually curious anyway, so he didn’t question him further. Mu Qing looked around the brand-new Palace of Xianle until his eyes finally ended up on Xie Lian. After looking him up and down, he suddenly tossed something at him. A blue blur glinted in the air; Xie Lian caught it with his left hand, and when he opened his palm, he found a small blue porcelain bottle.
It was a bottle of medicine. Mu Qing said apathetically, “It’s pretty unsightly, dragging around that bloodied arm.”
Xie Lian held the bottle but didn’t move. He watched Mu Qing instead, a calculating expression on his face.
Since his third ascension, there could only be one phrase to describe the way Mu Qing treated him: passive-aggressive. It always felt like he was waiting for Xie Lian to get booted for the third time so he could make snide remarks. Yet now that Xie Lian might actually get booted that third time, he suddenly became pleasant—he even came specially to deliver medication. This complete reversal in attitude made Xie Lian feel quite disconcerted.
Seeing that Xie Lian wasn’t moving, Mu Qing gave a faint smile. “Use it if you want. Either way, no one else is coming to deliver you anything.”
It wasn’t an insincere smile; it was obvious that he was genuinely in an excellent mood at the moment. Although Xie Lian didn’t feel any pain in his right arm, there was also no reason to just leave the injuries be. That pat from Jun Wu was a quick, emergency fix, but it would be better to heal it with medication. Thus, he opened the small blue bottle and poured the contents onto his arm without any particular care. What came out of the bottle was neither powder nor pill but instead a faint blue smoke. The smoke circulated languidly, wrapping around his arm, its scent cool and refreshing. It was certainly a high-grade healing item.
Mu Qing suddenly asked, “Was everything Lang Qianqiu said true? Did you really kill those Yong’an royals?”
Xie Lian looked up and met his gaze. Even if Mu Qing had been forcibly hiding it, Xie Lian still detected a trace of uncontrollable excitement in his eyes. He seemed highly interested in the details of Xie Lian’s massacre at the Gilded Banquet—he followed with another question.
“How did you kill them?”
Just then, another set of heavy footfalls came from behind them. The two turned their heads in unison to see that the new visitor was Feng Xin. The moment he entered, he noticed Mu Qing in the main hall—who was even smiling as he stood next to a crouching Xie Lian. Feng Xin frowned with alarm.
“What are you doing here?”
Xie Lian waved the little bottle in his hand. Mu Qing schooled his expression. He had just said Feng Xin wouldn’t be coming, and then Feng Xin arrived the next second; not funny at all.
“It’s not like this is your palace. You think you can come but I can’t?” Mu Qing rebutted.
Feng Xin ignored him and turned to Xie Lian. He hadn’t yet opened his mouth when Xie Lian spoke up.
“If the two of you came to ask the same question, then I will give you the same answer. There’s no reason to disbelieve it. Every word I said at the Palace of Divine Might today was true.”
Feng Xin paled. Mu Qing loathed that expression of his the most and said in annoyance, “All right, put that face away. After everything, for who are you looking so pained?”
Feng Xin shot him a death glare. “Not for you! Get out of here!”
“And who are you to tell me to get out?” Mu Qing countered. “Speaking as if you’re so loyal. How many years did you last, again? Didn’t you run away too?”
Veins popped all over Feng Xin’s forehead. Xie Lian could sense this exchange was going in the wrong direction and raised his hand.
“Hold it. Hold it.”
As if Mu Qing were the type to hold it back. He sneered. “Everyone says you left because you couldn’t stand to see your former master fall from grace. What a pretty excuse. At the end of the day, you just didn’t want to waste the rest of your days following a broken man.”
Feng Xin swung his fist. “What the fuck do you know?!”