Xie Lian sighed, turned around, and said, "Well, I'd like to, but the spirit communication array in the Upper Heaven Court has been dismantled, and I can't remember the other priests' spirit communication passwords, so there's nothing I can do about it. Fuyao, do you remember any priests' passwords? That way, I can send a message back, tell them I'm here, and ask for help."
His expression was extremely natural and convincing. The dark cloud on Fuyao's face dissipated, and she said perfunctorily, "I don't know. The Heavenly Court is in chaos right now, and everyone is busy. Just deal with yourselves."
At this time, Hua Cheng said, "Brother, this child has been hungry for two days and has a fever."
Xie Lian went over to take a look and, sure enough, Gu Zi’s forehead was so hot it could have been fried in an egg. He immediately grabbed Qi Rong and demanded, “How are you raising a child?”
Qi Rong spat, his face covered in blood, "I'm not really his father! Not eating him is already a great mercy! Give me credit for the great achievement!"
Xie Lian said, “I think you’re not eating because he has a fever and his appetite is poor.”
Lan Chang hesitated for a moment and said, "Is the child sick? How about I come and take a look?"
She too was bruised and battered by the beams of the shabby house, but pitifully, she crawled over and scooped up the grain, her palm covering its forehead, as if trying to neutralize the heat with her cold constitution. Fuyao, clutching the fetal spirit, wrapped in a ball by a yellow talisman, walked over and said, "It's time to go."
Lan Chang clearly didn't want to leave, but with his son in his hands, he felt helpless. Xie Lian said, "Wait, don't leave yet. Fuyao, can you speak to your general now?"
Fuyao looked at him and said, "What do you want to do?"
Xie Lian hesitated, “Actually…”
Speaking of the word "real", he suddenly attacked with lightning speed, instantly locking Fuyao's arms and holding them firmly in his palms. Then he continued: "Actually, I already know that he is in trouble!"
Fuyao accidentally locked him up and was shocked and angry: "You! Despicable!"
Xie Lian said, “No, no. This is my strength. You can try to sneak attack me using the same method and see if you can lock me down.”
Hua Cheng clapped his hands politely and said, "I agree."
Fuyao was so angry that she rolled her eyes and said, "Why don't you let me go and let me try?!"
Xie Lian said sternly, "We'll try again next time. Right now, I have something important to attend to. Fuyao, could you please persuade your general to return to Heaven?"
"……go back?"
Fuyao suppressed her anger under a soft voice, saying, "That's easy for you to say! If you were in the same situation now, would you choose to go back? What would you say if someone advised you to go back? Would you go back and wait to be wrongly accused and convicted? Would you go back and wait to die?!"
Xie Lian said, "Don't get excited. I'm serious, not just being sarcastic. Your general is different from me. His condition isn't so dire that it's irreversible. Escape would be the worst possible strategy. Many priests have already convicted him. If you can contact him and tell him about this, I can help him investigate."
Fuyao was stunned: "You help him check?"
Xie Lian said, "Yeah. I've done a lot of research, so I'm quite experienced. More experienced than him anyway."
Fuyao asked, "Your Highness, do you remember how many priests you investigated during your first visit to Heaven? Was there any priest who was not brought down after being investigated by you?"
Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, "That's different. It's not my fault. If he truly didn't do that, I can naturally clear his name."
Fuyao laughed in anger and interrupted him, "Alright! It's no secret that you have a personal grudge against him. If you help him investigate, will he have any chance of recovery? If you want to take advantage of this opportunity to kick him when he's down and make fun of him, just say so. Don't be so pretentious."
Hearing this, Hua Cheng's face darkened slightly. After a moment, he smiled and said, "Forget it, brother. This guy doesn't know what's good for him, so why bother talking to him? Some people are born ungrateful and are good at judging others by their own standards. Who knows what he might actually have done. If he doesn't believe you, don't bother to bother him. Just let him go on his own."
Fuyao looked at him and said sarcastically, "'Little kid'?"
Hua Cheng replied even more sarcastically, "'Little Priest'?"
Fuyao's face fell slightly. Xie Lian locked eyes with him, speaking gently, "Well, let's keep things separate. Public and private matters must be kept separate. Whether or not I have a personal grudge against him is one thing; whether or not he's done anything bad is another. Mu Qing, though petty, narrow-minded, sensitive, suspicious, with a bad personality, many ulterior motives, harsh words, a penchant for nagging, constantly offending others, disliked by many, without a single friend, and able to remember even the smallest details for ages..."
“…”
After saying a long list without changing his expression, Xie Lian concluded, "...But after all, I've known him since we were teenagers, and he still has his limits."
“…”
Xie Lian continued, "He might spit in the teacup of someone he dislikes, but he would never poison the water to harm anyone."
“…”
Hua Cheng said calmly, "Really? That's disgusting too."
Fuyao's forehead veins popped up: "No! I won't even spit!"
Xie Lian said, “Then give me a laxative.”
Fuyao seemed to be holding back something and said, "You... must use this metaphor to describe him? Are you speaking for him or insulting him?"
Xie Lian said, “I’m sorry, I can’t think of a more suitable metaphor at the moment.
Fuyao struggled a few times but couldn't get free. She asked cautiously, "Were you just informing the people in the Heavenly Palace?"
Xie Lian spoke earnestly, “Not yet. We were just chatting. Don’t worry, I won’t harm your general. If he really doesn’t want to go back, why not come find me and join us? That way, if he does something along the way, there’ll be someone to testify. Otherwise, he’ll be unable to explain himself, and things will only get worse…”
At this moment, a burst of unbridled laughter suddenly came from behind the two of them. It was Qi Rong staring at Lan Chang's face. He suddenly went crazy and said, "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Who the hell is this! Isn't this Miss Jianlan?"
Lan Chang was originally holding Gu Zi and trying to cool him down. Upon hearing this, her shoulders trembled and her eyes widened as she asked, "Who are you? How could you also..."
Qi Rong said hesitantly, "How would I know? Nonsense! You almost had to call me cousin! What, everyone turned out to be a ghost? There are so many acquaintances hanging around here and there, this world is really small and lively, hehe!"
Xie Lian frowned and said, "Qi Rong, what are you crazy about? Who is Jian Lan?"
Qi Rong said, "Hey, cousin Crown Prince, are you blind or are you just playing dumb? Look carefully at who this is. This is our Xianle Kingdom's most beautiful lady—Miss Jianlan! Her family is both government and business, and she must have been very glamorous back then. Her looks were just so-so, but she's always on the list of beautiful and talented women in Xianle. She's so arrogant that she looks down on everyone. She almost entered the palace to be chosen as a concubine!"
"What?"
Xie Lian couldn't help but glance at Lan Chang's face. Back then, the King and Queen had indeed intended to choose a concubine for him, summoning a large number of carefully selected young women to the palace for a banquet, asking him to see if any of them caught his eye. But Xie Lian, a youth devoted to cultivating the Dao, had simply wandered around the banquet and taken a stand. He didn't even remember the women's faces or names, so how could he possibly tell anything?
Lan Chang looked at Fu Yao, but Fu Yao snorted, "That's not what my general said. This man is also a Xianle survivor. He must have seen you before."
Xie Lian looked at Hua Cheng again. He didn't seem surprised either, so he guessed he hadn't just learned about it. Xie Lian turned to Lan Chang and murmured, "You really were..."
Lan Chang quickly covered her ears and said, "Don't say it! Don't say it! Don't call me by that name!!! I... changed my name a long time ago."
Xie Lian was stunned at first, then he dropped his hands and sighed.
Once a daughter of nobility, now a prostitute among the ghosts. She changed her name, probably because she feared the shame her family would bring to the underworld and refused to acknowledge her later self.
This woman was once his believer and his people. How could she not sigh?
At this moment, he suddenly felt a warmth on his hand. He looked down and saw Hua Cheng, who didn't look at him but held his hand.
Although he was in child form and his body temperature was cold, this hand was small and cold, but when it held his, it was warm.
Qi Rong, however, showed no sympathy at all. She sighed, "I never thought the once unattainable Miss Jianlan would turn out this old and ugly! I always thought you weren't very good-looking, but now I see that I'm a very discerning person. You're not really that good-looking! By the way, whose bastard is this?"
This was such a rude remark that Jian Lan's face paled slightly. Qi Rong continued, "Could it be my cousin, the Crown Prince's? No, no, I think my cousin is probably impotent. That's why he pretends to be chaste and uninterested in women all day long. How could he possibly have a son? Oh my! How could I have forgotten? After the fall of Xianle, wasn't your eldest daughter sold to that kind of place? She must be the offspring of Yong'an's lowly people!"
Xie Lian couldn’t stand it any longer and was about to go up to him and tell him to shut up, but Jian Lan exploded faster than him and slapped him in the face: “What the hell are you saying?!”
Qi Rong's nose bled from the slap she gave him. His eyes widened as he said, "You're a wicked or a ruthless person, but you dare hit a near-perfect person like me?!"
Jianlan spat in his face, grabbed his neck, and slapped him twice, saying, "What a bullshit near-superior! You really know how to flatter yourself! What the hell, are you worthy of being compared to the other three supreme masters?! What do you have to show for it? Your face? I'm going to hit you!"
Her words touched a sore spot in Qi Rong, who became angry and spitted, "You stinky bitch, let go of your chicken feet! I find them filthy! Ugh, ugh, ugh!!!"
The two of them grappled, but Jianlan was the only one beating Qi Rong. Qi Rong was trapped by Ruo Xie and couldn't move. He howled, "Xie Lian! Why don't you stop the fight at this time?! Where's your fatherly heart?!"
Xie Lian was holding Fu Yao in one hand, talking to Hua Cheng with his head down, seemingly oblivious to his screams. Jian Lan kicked Qi Rong, her eyes red and her voice venomous, "I'd rather be trampled upon by a pariah than be touched by a maggot like you! You unwanted piece of shit! How dare you call someone a pariah! Who do you call a pariah?"
Qi Rong was furious: "No one wants me? I'm useless? How dare you, a rotten whore to the core, call me that? How could someone other than a lowly person like you be interested in someone like you?!... Wait a minute!!! Put down that stone!!!"
As they were scuffling, a loud rumbling noise was heard from the sky. Several people looked up at the same time, and Fuyao said, "Didn't you say you didn't tip off anyone and just chatted for a while?"
Hua Cheng frowned slightly and snorted, "Come in uninvited."
A thunderclap ripped through the night sky, and everyone was blinded by the shock. When they opened their eyes again, a tall, black-robed priest, carrying a longbow, strode towards them from a distance. He said, "Your Highness!"
Xie Lian lowered his sleeves and unobtrusively pushed Hua Cheng behind him, saying, "Feng Xin! Why are you here?"
Feng Xin quickly came up and said, "You suddenly stopped answering just now. I asked people and found you nearby through the fluctuations of mana." He frowned and said, "What's going on? It's a mess. Did something happen?"
Just as Xie Lian was about to answer, Feng Xin saw Fu Yao in his hand and Hua Cheng standing behind him.
This scene was beyond his imagination. He didn't know which one to express more surprise at. Feng Xin said, "You..."
Finally, he pointed at Huacheng and asked Xie Lian, "...What's wrong with this kid?"
Xie Lian laughed dryly, "Isn't it cute?"
Feng Xin glared at Hua Cheng, whose expression didn't agree with Xie Lian's comments at all, and said suspiciously, "...Cute? No, why do I think he looks exactly like..."
Xie Lian said calmly, "Looks like my son, doesn't he?"
Feng Xin: "??? When did you give birth to your son?"
Xie Lian smiled and said, "Not yet. I mean, if I had a son, he'd definitely be this cute, right?"
Hua Cheng took his hand and smiled, "That's right."
Feng Xin: “…”
Fuyao: “…”
Xie Lian said, “Hahahaha… Eh? Miss Lan Chang, don’t run!”
Feng Xin turned around suddenly and saw a woman's back running away from Qi Rong. Without thinking, he drew his bow and aimed at her legs.
Unexpectedly, perhaps sensing her mother's danger, the fetal spirit ball wrapped in yellow talisman paper that Fuyao had been holding began to vibrate, and suddenly the yellow talisman exploded, shrieking and leaping towards Feng Xin. Jianlan, who had seemed to be panicking and losing her way, only remembered her son was still in someone else's hands after hearing this sound. She turned around and cried out, "Wrong, wrong!"
This was the first time Xie Lian learned the fetal spirit's name; it turned out to be Cuo Cuo. Feng Xin's arrow changed direction, flying towards the snow-white fetal spirit. With a click, the fetal spirit flipped several times in mid-air, leaping onto a nearby tree. It unexpectedly seized the feathered arrow in its mouth, allowing everyone to clearly see its appearance.
It wasn't so much a fetus as a deformed little monster. Its skin was pale as if powdered, its eyes were enormous, gleaming with an eerie light, its hair sparse and yellow, and its two rows of incredibly sharp fangs held Feng Xin's arrow. Seeing him looking over, it chewed it with a rapid "cluck, cluck, cluck" sound, reducing it to smithereens. Then, with a "pooh" sound, it spat out a gleaming arrowhead, which pierced the edge of Feng Xin's boot. It then extended its long, thin, crimson tongue, like a snake's tongue, as if in provocation.
Without a word, Feng Xin nocked another arrow and aimed at it. The fetal spirit scrambled up and down the tree like a lizard, extremely agile and cunning. No wonder Fu Yao couldn't catch it. Jian Lan said anxiously, "Don't fight him, run!!!"
Only a biological parent could show such concern for a monster so terrifying and disgusting that the mere sight of it inflicted such care. Feng Xin took aim, released the bowstring, and unleashed an arrow. The fetus's short leg was pierced by the arrow, and it screamed, unable to move. Jian Lan rushed back, reaching for the arrow, but due to her low level, the arrow bounced off the shaft, sending a shower of sparks flying. She took two steps back, then persevered, reaching for it again, sending sparks flying.
Feng Xin put away his bow and walked forward, saying, "Alright, let's go back. Don't add to our official duties... Gladiolus?!"
Jianlan, who had just been bounced away, shuddered when she heard his voice, then froze and quickly turned around. Feng Xin turned her back and asked again, "Jianlan?"
"..." Xie Lian had a bad feeling and asked in confusion, "What's going on?"
Jianlan lowered her head and said vaguely: "You've got the wrong person."
Feng Xin said, "What nonsense are you talking about? How could I have mistaken you? You look very different now, but how could I not recognize you..."
At this point, he was stuck, because he hadn't recognized Jianlan when she was wearing heavy makeup and looked dusty.
You can't blame him. Feng Xin is still exactly the same as he was back then, not a bit changed, but Jian Lan has changed so much.
Appearance, makeup, manners, conversation, temperament... Even if her biological parents stood in front of her, they might not recognize that this was their precious daughter.
Feng Xin said in a daze: "...It's you. It's really you. Yes, it's you!...I thought you were married and living a good life. How come you...how come you became like this..."
Hearing this, Jianlan suddenly turned around, pushed him hard, and cursed: "Fuck your mother!"
Feng Xin was pushed back a few steps by her, speechless. Jian Lan continued to shove him in the chest while cursing at him, "I told you I'm not that kind of person. Don't you understand me? Are you sick? It's you, it's really you, yes, it's you! Come on, three times in a row! Can't you just pretend you don't know me? Can't you just pretend you didn't recognize me?! Please, sir, give me some face, okay? Please?!"
She looked like a common shrew, perhaps too different from the one Feng Xin remembered. He stared at Jianlan in a daze, speechless. Xie Lian was the same. Qi Rong was the happiest, rolling on the ground in laughter. "Hahahahahaha oh my god! Cousin Crown Prince! Look at what's going on! You've been cuckolded by your most loyal dog!!!"
Jianlan kicked Qi Rong fiercely a few times and said, "Dog! Dog! You look like a dog to me the most!"
Strictly speaking, Jianlan had only been chosen by her family with high hopes, but she had never officially entered the palace, let alone become a concubine, so Qi Rong's gloating was unfounded. However, Xie Lian was truly at a loss for words.
I never expected that Feng Xin, who usually never said a word to a woman unless necessary, would actually...
At this moment, the fetus's two rows of sharp teeth bit the feather arrow that had pinned him to pieces again, and then it broke free and pounced on Feng Xin. Feng Xin was careless for a moment and was bitten deeply on the right arm by the fetus, and blood spurted out.
His right hand was Feng Xin's dominant hand. For a martial god, getting hurt in his dominant hand was not a pleasant experience. Feng Xin raised his left hand to strike, but Jian Lan said, "Don't hit him!"
Feng Xin stopped the attack with a palm, and then a terrible idea came to his mind.
Not only him, but everyone present was thinking the same thing. Feng Xin let the fetal spirit bite his arm like a piranha, looked at Jian Lan, and said, "...this...is...?"
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