He actually sat opposite him so casually.

Xie Lian blinked for a while before he was sure that the man was really talking to him.

He reacted immediately, thinking that he must not be intimidated by this man's aura and fall into a disadvantage. He remained calm and said politely, "Unfortunately, I don't drink alcohol, I'm afraid I can't afford this drink."

The man in red laughed, sat more casually, and said, "Really? I see that this Taoist priest looks like he is worried and needs to drink to relieve his worries."

Xie Lian said calmly, “Then I’m afraid you have made a mistake.”

Although the biggest precept has been broken, one must not give up on oneself and ignore the other smaller precepts.

His face remained indifferent, but the man did not retreat. Instead, he sat there and said, "Since the Taoist priest is unwilling to invite me, then I will do as I please."

Xie Lian glanced at him, then looked around. Strange. There were empty seats around, so why did he have to sit here and drink? But there was no reason to refuse, so Xie Lian said, “Please go ahead.”

So the other party waved lazily. The shop assistant had never seen such a stylish customer before, so he dared not say a word, and hurriedly served the wine pot and cup, and wiped the table vigorously, fearing that he would neglect this person.

Seeing the red-clothed man calm and composed, pouring his own drink, Xie Lian couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t tell me, whenever you meet someone for the first time, do you always ask them to buy you a drink?”

The man smiled and said, "Huh? That won't happen. To be honest with you, ordinary people can't even see me."

This tone was quite arrogant, but Xie Lian did not mind it.

The two of them sat separately. Xie Lian kept looking away, seeming to be very calm. After a while, the man spoke first.

He held his chin with one hand and asked, "What is your name, Taoist priest?"

Xie Lian made up a fake surname without thinking: “No need to worry about your surname being Hua.”

The man raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh - Taoist Master Hua."

Xie Lian asked, “What’s your name, sir?”

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The man said, "Master, just call me Sanlang."

Xie Lian knew that this person didn’t want to reveal his true identity, so he didn’t force him. After thinking for a while, he couldn’t think of any person who was ranked third, so he didn’t bother to speculate. At this moment, he suddenly noticed that on one side of the red-clothed man’s cheek, a strand of black hair was tied into a thin braid with a red coral bead hanging at the end.

The pearl was shiny and soft, and it was small, but it was obvious that it was priceless. But Xie Lian felt as if he had seen this pearl somewhere before, perhaps in his own bedroom where pearls, jade, and gems were scattered all over the floor?

But he was not sure. Sanlang noticed his gaze and asked, "Do you like this?"

As he spoke, he raised a few slender white fingers, gently twisted the coral bead and squeezed it.

For some reason, as Xie Lian watched, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest, as if something on his body was pinched, and he was thrown back violently.

This was a big move, and several guests nearby looked over. Sanlang raised his eyes nonchalantly and asked in surprise: "Master Taoist, what's wrong with you?"

He stretched out a hand, as if to help. Xie Lian, of course, didn't ask for his help, and quickly sat down and said, "No, nothing. That bead..."

"Oh." Sanlang's smile remained unchanged as he asked, "This bead?"

He began to play with the bright coral bead in his hand more vigorously, and said with a smile: "This is a gift from my beloved wife. What do you think, Taoist priest?"

“…”

Xie Lian said, “Well…very good, very good.”

In fact, he didn't know what he was saying at all. His fingers on his legs were clenched tightly, and he felt very uncomfortable.

The strange man in red was clearly playing with that delicate bead. It was a simple action, but he could see some lewd intentions in it.

It was as if he was caught in fingertips, kneading, rubbing, and squeezing something round and flat. What was not the red bead, but some sensitive part of his body. Xie Lian felt an inexplicable fever on his face, his breathing became rapid, and he felt extremely uncomfortable.

This is not normal. This is definitely not normal.

The man in red who called himself "San Lang" was handsome, but he exuded a demonic aura that made people shudder. Xie Lian's heart was alarmed, and he calmed down and breathed calmly. He stared at him fearlessly and asked, "Excuse me, sir, why did you approach me?"

San Lang smiled and said slowly, "Why are you so alert? It's nothing. I was just impressed by the Taoist's elegance and couldn't help myself. If I'm offended, please forgive me."

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Xie Lian didn't know whether he should believe him or not, so he looked away, secretly regretting that he shouldn't have let this person sit across from him, making him so upset. Just at this moment, the singing girl finished her work, bowed to everyone, smiled at Xie Lian, and then left. After she left, Xie Lian didn't need to stay, so he stood up and said, "Goodbye. You can drink this cup slowly."

He intended the last sentence to be provocative, but when the words came to his lips, he still said them politely. Xie Lian didn't dare to look at the man in red any more, and almost flew downstairs, walking around aimlessly for a while, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he was sure that no one was following him.

But after standing still, I felt confused again.

His clothes were gone, his belongings were gone, his sword was gone, his servants were gone, and his magic powers were gone.

In his 17 years of life, he had never encountered such a helpless situation. Xie Lian shook his head and stopped a passerby to ask where this place was. The passerby answered that Xie Lian had never heard of this place, and then asked: "Then how far is this place from the Imperial City? Where is it in the Imperial City?"

He didn't say it was the Xianle Imperial City, so the passerby asked again, "Imperial City? This is to the south of the Imperial City, it's far away from the Imperial City!"

Sure enough. The people here spoke with strange accents and the building styles were a bit strange. It didn't look like it was near the imperial city, so he guessed it must be far away. He didn't know what the purpose of the people who brought him here was.

After walking for a while, Xie Lian encountered a new problem.

He is hungry.

But, as I said just now, all his property was gone. The pendant that could prove his status as a prince was also missing, and he had tried to give the land a few gold leaves but got nothing. He sat in the teahouse for a while, and spent the few cents he had scraped together for a seat. And because he couldn't stand the old tea stains, he didn't drink a sip of tea, so his stomach was still empty.

It is true that a penny can make a hero fall.

Just when he was frowning, he suddenly found that something seemed to have fallen next to a tile on the ground in front of him, and it was shining.

Xie Lian went up, squatted down, and was surprised.

There were actually a few gold leaves dropped on the ground in this small alley!

In addition to gold leaves, there were also silver leaves and some small change. He actually found money on the ground in broad daylight, which was like pie in the sky. I don't know whether to say he was unlucky or lucky.

After Xie Lian picked it up, his first reaction was to wonder if someone had accidentally dropped it. He walked out of the alley and asked the people on the street, “Excuse me, has anyone dropped any property here?”

Most people shook their heads. An idler came over with a smug look on his face and said, "I dropped it! I dropped it!" Xie Lian then asked, "How much did you drop?" They all stammered and could not answer, and ran away amid laughter.

Xie Lian was afraid that the owner would come back to look for it, so he stood there and waited patiently. After waiting for nearly an hour, no one came to look for it. He felt hungrier and hungrier. After a long while, he sighed, looked at the valuables in his sleeves, and thought to himself, "How about borrowing some first, and then returning it tenfold later?"

There was no other way, so after waiting for another stick of incense, he went to the street to buy a steamed bun.

Xie Lian had never eaten steamed buns before. He had never eaten this kind of coarse flour steamed buns before. They looked big and dull, white and tasteless. But he didn't want to spend too much of the money he had found. It would be bad if someone else needed it urgently, so he only took the minimum amount of money.

It was the first time in his life that he got such a big steamed bun, and he was a little curious. He walked through the alley and came to a quieter street. Just as he was about to put the steamed bun into his mouth, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and took the bun away.

This method of taking it was amazing. Xie Lian was stunned, his hands were empty, he turned around and saw that the man standing beside him was the man in red from the restaurant!

Xie Lian was stunned.

I didn't expect that this person would follow me here, and I didn't expect that he would actually steal my steamed buns!

After being stunned for a long time, he finally remembered to take it back, and jumped up and said, "Give it back to me!"

He took it very quickly, but the man was even faster, and he was taller than him, so he dodged and said, "Don't eat this."

As he said this, he took a bite of the bun, leaving a hole. Now, Xie Lian couldn't eat it even if he wanted to. As a prince, there was no way he would eat a bun that had been bitten by someone else. He opened his eyes wide and said, "You!"

After a pause, he said angrily, "Why are you like this?"

Fortunately, when he first saw him, he thought that this was a rare person and was interested in making friends with him, but he didn't expect that he was such a boring rogue!

The two figures, one red and one white, moved so fast that it was dazzling. It was absolutely unbelievable that such a wonderful fight was just for a steamed bun. Although Xie Lian vaguely felt that he could be faster, fast enough to catch up with San Lang's skills, he seemed to have lost his grasp of the key points, and his hands and feet were not very obedient. In addition, he was tired, annoyed, and confused all day, and his waist and legs were sore. In anger, he actually stumbled and fell to the ground. Immediately, he let out a low cry of pain and his teeth were gnashed.

pain.

The unspeakable pain spread from the unspeakable part.

The pain was there originally, but the wound had been carefully treated, and he had tried his best to ignore it, so it had not been obvious. His face changed immediately after the fall. Sanlang's face also changed, and he immediately leaned over and grabbed his arm, saying, "Brother..."

Then he immediately changed the topic and asked, "Are you okay?"

Xie Lian was extremely embarrassed, and he wanted to dig a hole and bury his face in the ground. He pulled his hand back desperately, and said with a red face, “Please don’t call me that, and don’t grab me like that!”

San Lang really let go of his arm, but only for a moment. He grabbed his shoulder again and asked, "What's wrong with you? Does it hurt?"

His tone was full of concern, not fake. As the saying goes, one should not hit a smiling person. Xie Lian should have accepted the kindness, but when he thought about where it hurt and why it hurt, he felt ashamed and annoyed. The depression of the whole day surged up. He slapped his hand away, got up and said, "...I don't feel any pain, not at all!" He turned around and ran away, but the man behind him grabbed his wrist again and couldn't get free. Xie Lian couldn't bear it anymore, so he turned around suddenly, his eyes wide open, but he saw Sanlang staring at him and sighed softly, "Hey, Taoist priest, no matter how wrong I am, it's all my fault. Don't be angry with me. Let me take you for a drink and apologize to you."

Somehow, when Xie Lian saw this man’s face, his heart began to flutter. He was not used to this feeling and just wanted to escape quickly. He said, “I don’t want you to take me with me. I never drink! Let me go.”

San Lang said, "Okay, okay, I won't drink. Then I'll take you to dinner. You must be hungry."

Xie Lian was furious. What tone did this person use when talking to him? He was simply coaxing him like a child. He had never been humiliated like this before. He said, “I don’t want you to take me out for dinner either. I’m not hungry. Please be respectful!”

The embarrassing thing was that as soon as he finished speaking, a weak protest came from his stomach.

Xie Lian’s body froze, and he became even angrier. His face turned red with anger, and he began to stutter, “You…you…you, why are you pestering me? Stop pestering me!”

San Lang stared at him closely and said, "Master, haven't you discovered it yet?"

Seeing that he suddenly looked serious, Xie Lian asked, “What did you find?”

Sanlang said, "There is something evil on you."

Xie Lian was startled. Suddenly, his wrist loosened, and the bandage wrapped around his wrist slid down like a white snake, rising high in front of him, and then pounced towards him!

However, before it could pounce, the man in red grabbed it and said, "Look."

“…”

The piece of white silk was like a poisonous snake that he had pinched by the vital point, twisting non-stop and making people's scalp tingle.

There is such a monster hidden in him!

Xie Lian finally understood.

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He blinked and said, "So... you approached me because you discovered that I had this evil thing hidden in me?"

Sanlang's expression became more serious and he said, "Well. This thing is very strange, so I paid a little attention to it. Fortunately, it didn't hurt you."

The truth was out. Xie Lian thought about how he had been rude to this young master before, turning his face away and shaking his hands. Now that the truth was out, it turned out that the young master had approached him out of kindness. He felt very embarrassed and bowed to him seriously, saying, "Thank you, sir. I misunderstood before."

Before he bent his waist, Sanlang supported him and said, "No, no. It's just a small effort."

Looking up, Xie Lian was slightly confused. He didn't know why, but he always felt that although the man in red looked serious, he was actually smiling. He thought that the man had seen his messy and embarrassed state, and he felt a little embarrassed.

It was strange to say that among his peers, Xie Lian was considered quite stable, but he couldn't keep calm when he saw this man, which made him feel very uneasy. San Lang didn't seem to notice this, and said, "Now that it's resolved, I'll leave. Taoist priest, see you later?"

Xie Lian said subconsciously: “Well, see you later.”

San Lang waved his hand and turned away. Xie Lian couldn't help but follow him for a few steps.

Maybe because he really didn’t know where to go, or maybe he was just confused. When Sanlang turned around, Xie Lian was startled, and then he came to his senses. He quickly stopped and pretended to look away. However, it was too late.

A few chuckles came from the other side, and Xie Lian's earlobes turned red with embarrassment.

Gritting his teeth and looking over, Sanlang crossed his arms and smiled, "I think we should not wait until later. I think now is the time. How about it? Taoist priest, are you willing to have a drink with me now?"

·

It is still the same magnificent restaurant.

The man in red, whom he had just met, was very generous. He ordered a table full of the best food and wine in the restaurant. It was not inferior to the imperial palace, and many of the cooking methods were very novel. Xie Lian had never seen them before. He was eating with a rumbling stomach when he realized that Sanlang had been sitting opposite him with his cheek supported by one hand, staring at him intently. The look in his eyes seemed to treat him as a dish.

“…”

Xie Lian felt uneasy again when being stared at by such a gaze. He made sure that he had not lost his composure in eating just now due to hunger, so he put down his chopsticks, coughed lightly, and said, “…Excuse me.”

San Lang said, "Huh? What's so funny about this? Don't mind me. Please, please. Continue."

Then he took out the steamed bun that the two of them had been fighting over for a while, and started eating it without changing his expression. Seeing this, Xie Lian became even more embarrassed.

He sat upright, looked at the white silk, and decided to get down to business. He said, "Why on earth was this evil thing hidden on my body? I didn't even notice its existence. It was as if..." It was as if it had been on his body for a long time and he had gotten used to it.

The white silk kept shaking its head and tail as it swam towards him. If it hadn't been held firmly by Sanlang, it would have entangled him like a dumpling. It looked like... she liked him quite a lot.

San Lang used a chopstick to pin it down, preventing it from pouncing on Xie Lian. He smiled and said, “It seems this evil creature has very bad habits. It must be taught a lesson.”

Xie Lian said, “Rather than teaching it a lesson, let’s first find out its origins.”

The two talked about everything under the sun for a while. Xie Lian grew up in the Xianle Palace and later practiced in the Huangji Temple. He had never met someone with such interesting conversation and such rich knowledge. When he heard Sanlang talking, his eyes lit up and his face lit up. He almost forgot all his worries. After a while, he suddenly remembered that he was in a strange vortex. He said seriously, "Sanlang, can I ask you about someone?"

Sanlang threw the white silk on the ground, and somehow made it so limp that it couldn't jump up. He asked, "Who?"

Xie Lian said, “It’s like this. I’m looking for someone named Hua Cheng.”

Hearing the name, Saburo raised an eyebrow.

He said, "Well. Can I ask, what do you want to do by looking for this person?"

Xie Lian said sincerely, “To be honest, I don’t know.”

Listening to Sanlang's tone, he guessed that he must know who Huacheng is, and added: "Maybe you will think that I am hiding something from you, but it is true. I don't know what I can do by looking for him. When I woke up today, I found myself in a very strange situation."

He told the whole story in one breath, omitting only the things that were too embarrassing to talk about. Finally, Xie Lian said, "So I think this person must be very important. If you know who he is, Sanlang, would you mind telling me?"

San Lang smiled and said, "Ah, it's not inconvenient. Taoist priest, we hit it off right away, so I will naturally help you. Hua Cheng..."

Xie Lian listened attentively and asked, “How is it?”

Sanlang said: "He is a madman."

Xie Lian asked, “How crazy?”

Sanlang poured a glass of wine, held it in his hand, and said, "He is a believer."

"Whose followers?"

"Prince Xianle's."

“Ahem…”

Xie Lian quickly swallowed a mouthful of tea, then coughed it out and said, “Wait, wait. I—Xie Lian, the Prince of Xianle in my country, haven’t become a god yet, where do my followers come from?”

Sanlang said indifferently, "He will become a god sooner or later. Besides, gods are just like that. If you say he is a god, then he is a god. If you say he is not a god, then he is not a god. If he thinks he is, then that is it."

Xie Lian was both amused and annoyed, and said, “This is too casual!”

After a pause, he continued, "...But does he really believe that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will become a god?"

Sanlang said slowly: "It's not belief."

Then he smiled and said, "I firmly believe it."

Xie Lian also smiled and thought to himself, “Then I will definitely not let this person down.”

He also folded his arms and said, "So, where can I meet this Hua Cheng?"

Sanlang said, "Master, do you really want to go see him?"

Xie Lian said, “Yes.”

Sanlang didn't seem to agree with his idea and said, "Huacheng is a very bad person."

Xie Lian frowned slightly and said, “Very bad? What’s bad about it?”

He was not willing to believe that a believer who firmly believed that he would become a god was a bad person. Sanlang said: "Well..."

At this moment, Xie Lian noticed something.

Before this, he had been very careful and rarely looked directly at Saburo. Now that they had been together for a while and were somewhat familiar with each other, he relaxed a little and let his gaze run.

One of Sanlang's hands was resting on the railing, tapping the railing with his fingers. His five fingers were slender, and a thin red string was tied on the third finger, like a bright knot of fate.

Xie Lian immediately recalled the chaotic scene that flashed through his mind when the singer sang on the upper floor: under the gauze curtain, two hands, their fingers tightly clasped.

The hand covering the upper part is tied with a red string like this.