His head tilted to one side, seemingly unconscious. Seeing it was Lang Ying, Xie Lian instinctively rushed to save her, but he quickly stopped, realizing: Bai Wuxiang was the only one here just now, so how could Lang Ying suddenly appear?
Seeing that the statue of Prince Yue, which was originally pure and holy, was stained beyond recognition by the dripping blood, Hua Cheng was obviously very angry. His face was gloomy and furious, and the scimitar in his hand was emitting a cold air.
He said word by word: "Get down."
"Lang Ying" finally turned his head back to normal, opened his eyes, slowly "pulled" himself off the sword, and fell to the ground.
Just now, after he shattered the wave of silver butterflies that were attacking him, he took advantage of the flash of silver light and hid under the white gauze of the statue, transforming into the appearance of Lang Ying.
Since he could transform into Lang Ying's appearance, he must have seen Lang Ying somewhere. Xie Lian asked, "Where is the real Lang Ying?"
Hua Cheng said, "Perhaps, there is no such thing as a 'real Lang Ying'."
If, from the very beginning, "Lang Ying" hadn't existed, and Bai Wuxiang was merely in a state of incomplete recovery, the whole thing would be easily explained. However, Xie Lian remembered the little Ying who had died on Yujun Mountain, and he preferred that explanation to be implausible. He quickly considered another possibility, saying slowly, "Or perhaps... he ate Lang Ying."
The body of "Lang Ying" across from him gradually stretched and grew taller, the bandages on his face slowly peeling off, revealing a face of sorrow and joy underneath. Upon hearing this, he raised his head slightly, as if smiling, and said, "You guessed right."
It is true.
After Bai Wuxiang was defeated by Jun Wu, a remnant soul was left wandering in the human world. No one knew how long it had been wandering, and no one knew when it found Lang Ying, who was also a ghost.
He must have used some method to bewitch or deceive Lang Ying, making her agree to let him live in her body. Otherwise, with his remaining weak soul, he might not be able to devour Lang Ying.
After clinging to Lang Ying, he slowly recovered, and the final result was what Xie Lian and Hua Cheng saw right now: a ghost ate a ghost, Bai Wuxiang devoured Lang Ying, the host. Just like He Xuan devoured Bai Hua Zhenxian, Lang Ying became his vassal.
In a moment, "Lang Ying" had completely transformed into Bai Wuxiang's appearance. Hua Cheng stared at him and asked, "Why did Lang Ying agree to let you borrow his spirit body?"
You have to understand that this is like a stranger asking, "Open your door and let me in to eat and live with you." Lang Ying is a ghost who has lived for hundreds of years. Although he is timid, he is not stupid enough to do this. Bai Wuxiang said gently, "Of course I can answer you. But, are you sure the person next to you wants me to say it here?"
Hua Cheng looked off to the side. Xie Lian's expression was slightly odd; he hadn't noticed his gaze at all. Bai Wuxiang continued, "Lang, Yong'an, Human-Faced Plague. Why did you agree to let me eat him? Don't you understand why?"
Xie Lian’s face paled instantly, veins bulging on the back of his hand. He slashed with his sword and shouted, “Shut up!”
Bai Wuxiang dodged, and the sword made a "clang" sound, cutting off the long sword held in the hand of his own statue.
Now, the prince was pleased with the statue, his sword was broken, and the statue itself was a wreck. Xie Lian suddenly came to his senses, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on him. The undead butterflies, enraged, swarmed over him. Bai Wuxiang chuckled indifferently, then calmly covered his face with his sleeves, no longer entangled, and quickly disappeared into the darkness. Xie Lian looked at the broken stone sword on the ground and subconsciously said to Hua Cheng, "I'm sorry..."
Hua Cheng interrupted him and said, "His Highness is saying sorry to me, isn't that funny? He's gone, so what?"
Xie Lian calmed down a bit and said, "Did he escape? We can't let him into the bronze furnace!"
The two of them chased out of the Ten Thousand Gods Cave and climbed back up the snowy mountain. As soon as they emerged from the ground, they felt a tremor. Looking upward, they saw avalanches, even more powerful than before. It was as if something buried beneath the snow had awakened, roaring furiously, trying to shake off the thousand-year-old snow. Xie Lian asked, "Can we still climb up like this?!"
Hua Cheng tightly grasped Xie Lian's hand and said, "Just follow me!"
The two of them went uphill against the torrent of collapsing ice and snow. Although it was extremely difficult and dangerous, and they almost took three steps back for every step forward, they still avoided the most violent snow and rock flows and countless pits, and rushed out a path up the mountain.
Finally reaching the highest point, the mountaintop was frozen, covered in layers of thick frost. Xie Lian felt like he would slip if he walked even a little faster, but Hua Cheng held his hand and walked steadily, completely unafraid. The two of them arrived at the crater, which looked like a huge mouth roaring to the sky, a magnificent sight. Looking down, it was pitch black. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but at the deepest point, a terrifying red light shone, flickering in and out. Xie Lian felt a strange palpitation, holding down his hat to prevent it from being blown away by the wind and snow, and asked, "Has he already gone in?"
Hua Cheng only took a glance, then his expression became serious and he said, "He's already gone in."
"How do you know?"
"The copper furnace is closing."
Xie Lian was startled, feeling caught off guard. "What's going on? It's sealed off so quickly? Shouldn't we let a few ghosts in and start a fight?"
Hua Cheng said, "That's the general situation. But if the Copper Furnace believes the entrant has great potential to break through, and that ghost requests it to close the mountain, it will also seal it off." After a pause, he said, "That's what I did in the beginning."
Xie Lian asked, “Is he truly Jue? What would happen if a Ghost King who has already reached Jue entered the Bronze Furnace?”
Hua Chengdao: "It's the same as what would happen if a priest who has already ascended wanted to experience another heavenly tribulation."
In other words, the stronger you become, the stronger you become!
If Bai Wuxiang were to break through this barrier, the consequences would be unimaginable.
And when he breaks out of the copper furnace and comes out of the mountain, the first person he will look for will definitely be Xie Lian!
After staring at the bottomless, boundless abyss for a long while, Xie Lian slowly said, "Sanlang, I... may have to go down and put an end to this."
Hua Cheng said calmly, "Go ahead. I'll accompany you."
Xie Lian looked up at him. Hua Cheng also raised his head and met his gaze. He raised an eyebrow and smiled, "It's nothing more than going down and killing one of the people in the way and breaking through the copper furnace again. It's not necessarily a difficult task."
Seeing him so relaxed, Xie Lian's originally tense mood couldn't help but relax a little, and he smiled slightly. Then, Hua Cheng said, "But, there is something."
Xie Lian: “?”
He tilted his head slightly, and Hua Cheng suddenly put one arm around his waist, pulling him into his arms, and with the other hand gently lifted his chin and kissed his lips.
After a long kiss amidst the snow and wind, their lips slowly parted. Xie Lian remained stunned for a moment before finally jolting awake. His face flushed red as he opened his eyes and asked, "...W-What are you doing so suddenly?!"
Although this wasn't the first time they'd done something like this, they'd previously used plausible excuses like "borrowing mana," "passing on the energy," and "carelessness." Now that certain things were revealed, those excuses were suddenly exposed for their hypocrisy, and the significance of this matter became far greater. He simply didn't know where to put his hands: should he grab Huacheng's arm, push against his chest, or even shield his face?
Hua Cheng seemed to take a deep breath beside his ear and whispered, "...I would like to lend some of my magic power to Your Highness for emergency use...will you accept it?"
Xie Lian swallowed unconsciously and stammered, “Is this a little? It seems too much… I haven’t paid off the previous debt yet…”
Hua Cheng said, "It's not much. Don't worry. I'll pay it back slowly when I have time, and I'll pay it back eventually."
Xie Lian uttered a few random “hmmmm” sounds and was about to flee when Hua Cheng grabbed him again and warned, “Your Highness! Where are you running to? You’re going the wrong way.”
Only then did Xie Lian realize he had actually been running back. He immediately turned back, his feet slipping slightly on the ice. He quickly held up his hat and said, "No, no. I, I'm just a little cold. I want to walk around a few times to warm myself up..."
He put his hat on and off over and over again, and finally, he grabbed Hua Cheng's hand and held it tightly. The two of them stood side by side, looking at the vast abyss below.
Hua Cheng said casually, "After we finish this, I'll show you the statue I'm most satisfied with."
Xie Lian said, “Okay.”
After saying that, the two of them jumped down together.
The whistling wind blew past their ears, and the strong impact was like a huge wave hitting their faces, but the hands of the two were not blown away, but instead held tighter.
Unexpectedly, in mid-air, Xie Lian's hand suddenly grabbed nothing.
It wasn't that his hand slipped or that Hua Cheng pushed it away, but that the hand in his palm suddenly disappeared and had no substance.
Xie Lian’s heart tightened, and he shouted, “Sanlang?!”
He was falling rapidly. One moment he had just shouted, and the next moment the voice was more than ten feet above his head, sounding unreal. After an unknown amount of time, Xie Lian finally landed safely. He immediately stood up and said, "Sanlang?"
No one answered. Only the empty echo told him how vast and empty the space he was in was.
All around him was pitch black, except for the sky above. Xie Lian looked up. Above him, a patch of white sky gradually shrank. That was the crater of the copper furnace, slowly closing.
But where did Huacheng go?
With a loud bang, Xie Lian raised a palm flame, hoping to see what was happening below. However, the darkness was unfathomable, and the flame could not illuminate anything at all. It seemed as if the darkness absorbed the light indifferently. Moreover, he was not careful and failed to control his magic power. The flame was too high and almost burned his hair. He quickly threw the flame aside. As luck would have it, the flame light just happened to reflect a faint white figure not far away. Xie Lian immediately became extremely alert and asked, "Who!"
The white figure turned around and replied calmly, "You know who I am."
Although he answered, the muscles on the man's face did not move at all.
Because, that was not a human face at all, but a mask that was half crying and half smiling.
Xie Lian blurted out, “Sanlang!”
Even though the sight of that face sent a chill down his spine, he couldn't help but call out out of fear, not fear. Naturally, no one answered, and the face of sorrow and joy moved closer, saying, "Don't shout. The copper furnace is sealed. It's just you and me here, no one else."
Xie Lian subconsciously looked up at the sky again.
Before, there was still a small piece of snow-white sky above, but now, that small piece of light has been completely swallowed up by the darkness around it.
This means that Tonglu is really closed.
Xie Lian had never expected that the situation would turn out like this.
He and Bai Wuxiang were locked in a copper furnace?
The two of them? Why the two of them?!
Xie Lian held his heart in his hand, pointed his sword at the white figure, and asked, "What the hell is going on? Are you behind this again? Where is he? Where is he now?"
Bai Wuxiang pinched the tip of the Fangxin Sword with two fingers of one hand, and flicked the blade with his other hand. With a crisp "clang" sound, he said, "Let's go."
Xie Lian saw his action, his eyes turned cold, his joints cracking as he said, “… Explain clearly, what do you mean by leaving?”
Bai Wuxiang said slowly, "I don't want to follow you anymore. I'll leave or die. Choose one."
“…”
Xie Lian felt a chill in his heart, then a surge of rage surged up, and he struck with his sword, "Stop your nonsense!"
Bai Wuxiang easily caught the sword again and said, "Alright, alright. I was indeed talking nonsense. Don't worry, he has been sent outside the copper furnace. Even if you rush over now, it's too late."
Xie Lian wasn't worried about whether he could make it in time or not. As long as Hua Cheng was alright, he was fine. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Bai Wuxiang added, "However, it's better for him not to come in. Otherwise, even if he doesn't have that idea now, after seeing your appearance later, it's hard to say whether he will still want to follow you."
“…”
Xie Lian could no longer bear it, so he struck again with his sword and shouted, “Shut up!”
Bai Wuxiang calmly dodged each of his sword strikes. Xie Lian angrily shouted, "I've had enough of you! What do you want?! What on earth do you want?! How long are you going to keep pestering me?! Why aren't you dead yet? Why did you come to Tonglu?"
Bai Wuxiang said: "Because of you!"
Xie Lian paused for a moment, took a breath, and asked, "What do you mean?"
Bai Wuxiang calmly replied, "Because you came, I came too."
Hearing this answer, Xie Lian’s face twisted a little.
However, no matter how furious he was, or how strong his killing intent was, Bai Wuxiang always seemed to be able to predict his next strike, avoiding it by a hair's breadth. The more Xie Lian struck with his sword, the more he understood a cruel truth:
Can't win!
"Yes." As if he could see into his heart, Bai Wuxiang said, "You can't win."
As soon as he finished speaking, he slashed at Xie Lian's wrist with his sword. A sharp pain spread throughout his body, and Xie Lian involuntarily let go of the sword. Then he was grabbed by the hair and slammed into the ground!
There was a buzzing in my ears, blood in my nose and mouth, and my brain was shaking.
After a while, Xie Lian finally felt a hand lift his head from the broken ground. A voice said from above, "Poor, pitiful."
Xie Lian choked on a mouthful of blood, his vision blurred by the blood and darkness. Bai Wuxiang said, "Every time I see Your Highness, you always look like this. It's both heartbreaking and gratifying."
Xie Lian bit down a mouthful of blood to prevent it from choking out, and said in a hoarse voice, "...Don't be too proud. I can't defeat you now, but... there are people who can. Even if you can escape from the bronze furnace, Jun Wu may be able to kill you again."
What’s more, there is Huacheng!
Unexpectedly, Bai Wuxiang said, "Who said it would be me who came out of the copper furnace?"
Hearing this, Xie Lian was stunned.
If it wasn't him, who else could it be?
Bai Wuxiang lifted his face, looked him in the eye, and said gently, "Your Highness, I think you may have misunderstood. There will indeed be a Jue out of this copper furnace, but it's not me. It's you."
Xie Lian was utterly stunned: "...What did you say? I'm not..."
Before he finished speaking, he came to his senses and broke out in a cold sweat.
Bai Wuxiang said, "That's right. Congratulations! You finally understand my true purpose. Isn't this your favorite 'third way'?"
Now, there was only one ghost and one priest in the copper furnace. It seemed that there were only two options: either Bai Wuxiang killed him and broke out of the copper furnace, or both of them would be locked in the copper furnace forever.
But, in fact, there is a third way.
As long as Xie Lian commits suicide here immediately, transforms into a ghost, and kills Bai Wuxiang, he can become a dead man on the spot and break through the copper furnace!
Xie Lian finally recovered from his shock and said, "...What on earth do you want to do? You don't have to think about it! Why would you go to such lengths?! Just to make me a master? I'm not as crazy as you! Even if you want me to kill you, I can't defeat you! If you lose to me on purpose, Tonglu may not even admit it!"
Bai Wuxiang said, "Really? You can't beat me? That's not necessarily true."
As he spoke, he extended his other hand. In the light of the nearby fire, Xie Lian could clearly see that a mask had appeared on that hand, identical to the one on Bai Wuxiang's face.
Bai Wuxiang said, "Remember this sad and happy face? It suits you very well."
Xie Lian’s eyes widened immediately.
Fear crawled densely into his heart like a swarm of insects. He managed to say, "...Take it away, take it away...Take it away!"
Bai Wuxiang laughed and said, "It seems that Your Highness the Crown Prince's memory is not very good. In that case, let me help you think about it, okay?"
After he finished speaking, without further explanation, he merged that pale face of sorrow and joy with the boundless darkness and pressed heavily towards Xie Lian's face.
Volume 4: The White-robed Troubles
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