Lang Qianqiu continued, “But I overruled them all. Since you never gave any details about your identity, I told them you were definitely not a man of Xianle. That was how so many people of Xianle escaped death and avoided genocide. Because I forbade it.”
Of course, that was a good deed. But thinking back on it now, the good deeds he’d done made him feel all the more aggrieved. It wasn’t that his actions were unjust; the deed itself was correct. He simply felt deeply wronged. He’d acted with such benevolence, but he didn’t receive equivalent kindness in return.
Lang Qianqiu’s tone grew pleading. “State Preceptor, that day was my birthday.”
He struggled against Ruoye’s hold and strained to lift his upper body.
“Are you toying with me? A Xianle man killed my entire family, but I still have to follow his teachings and help all Xianle people? Are you toying with me on purpose?!”
Xie Lian didn’t respond, and Lang Qianqiu continued to shout accusations.
“Was it because your seventeenth was a trial that you had to turn my seventeenth into a trial too?”
Xie Lian still didn’t respond.
Lang Qianqiu’s anger flared, and he yelled, “If that was your intention, then I won’t let you have your way!!”
Xie Lian’s eyes widened at those words.
Lang Qianqiu couldn’t stand, but his eyes flashed bright and his tone turned determined, as though a roaring flame were blazing within. He continued on, as if personally aggrieved, but also as if he was declaring war.
“If you want me to fill my heart with hatred like yours, I surely won’t! If you’re going to force me to abandon myself like you did, I refuse! I will never! No matter what you do to me, I will never become like you!!”
It was a declaration so heroic Xie Lian was stunned just listening to it. A brief moment later, he pfft-ed and burst out laughing, sound returning to him at last.
Lang Qianqiu’s eyes had been flowing with fiery tears, filled with passion, but all that was deflated by Xie Lian’s laugh. Bewilderment and anger filled his chest. Xie Lian clapped as he laughed uproariously.
“Good! Well said!”
Xie Lian couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so heartily, and it took him some time before he could stop. He rubbed his eyes. “Good. Remember what you said today—that you will never become like me.”
Hua Cheng still had his arms crossed and watched with a cool eye. Just as Xie Lian finished speaking, there was suddenly a blast of red smoke before him!
The explosion caught Xie Lian off guard and he jolted, thinking Lang Qianqiu might’ve used some weird trick. He dodged away rapidly, his senses on alert. However, the blast was disruptive in sound only and didn’t pose any danger. When the smoke cleared, Lang Qianqiu had disappeared from where he lay. What was left was a budaoweng6 doll, swaying left and right.
The budaoweng doll had a very round face and body, like a giant calabash gourd. Its brows were long and its eyes black; the expression on its face was strong and good-natured like that of a tiger, though also brimming with naivete. At present, it was glaring, plump with anger, and it carried a fat sword on its back, mightily gallant in its form. It was exactly like Lang Qianqiu, except as a big, lovable toy.
Xie Lian stopped smiling and exclaimed, “Qianqiu?!”
Having lost its target, Ruoye returned with a whoosh and wrapped itself back around Xie Lian’s wrist. Hua Cheng walked over leisurely and flicked the budaoweng doll with his finger, snickering.
“Why does he look so foolish no matter what form he takes?”
Xie Lian picked up the budaoweng doll and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “This…this… San Lang, is this Qianqiu? Why did he turn into this? Stop playing around with him and change him back.”
“Nah. Bring him along and let’s go,” Hua Cheng replied.
“Go where?” Xie Lian asked.
Hua Cheng didn’t answer. Dice were tossed up, and they landed in his palm. In a blink, a cave appeared before them.
To turn someone into a budaoweng doll was such a mischievous spell, very much Hua Cheng’s style, but it was also hard to undo. In any case, Xie Lian couldn’t unravel it, so he simply held the doll in his hands. He was just about to follow Hua Cheng when he remembered Fangxin was still tossed aside on the ground and doubled back to pick up the sword. He strapped it onto his back, then followed Hua Cheng inside.
They hadn’t been walking for long before the narrow path they’d started on at the cave entrance began to get progressively wider. Footfalls echoed, and a faint light appeared in the distance ahead of them, and they could hear singing.