When Lìngxiāo smoothly turned his heels casually toward Chóng Fēi after making a tiny hole over the showpiece—he found Chóng Fēi already staring at him.
"You may relax your muscles before I start treating you, Gōngzǐ," Lìngxiāo said gently, his voice sending a cold shiver through Chóng Fēi.
Chóng Fēi turned to look at the showpiece shakily. It was made of gold, yet that needle perched into it like it was any pillow. When he looked back again, Lìngxiāo was already walking toward him with ten long needles held between his fingers like they were the most harmless things in the world. His smile was shadowed under the dim light of the room, for outside, the night stretched endlessly.
Chóng Fēi's breath caught at the length of the needles. They were so long and thin that he could only see the tips—up and down, not even the middle.
"S-shut up. You will not use those things on me. I order you." Chóng Fēi tried to step back, but there was nothing behind him but the headboard. His jaw tightened as if it would break, his eyes wide and fixed on the needles, his cheeks still flushed. "I am going to inform Zhùfù of your nonsense."
'Now he seems to have fallen to my own level, as I unfortunately felt when he used my bowl. So sad. Earth and life are both round. He will still make the healing progress and the investigation hard without being too obvious about anything.'
"It would not hurt as the hair has been tangling around you just earlier, Gōngzǐ. You will feel better than before." Lìngxiāo brought the needles before his own gaze, a little closer, like counting silver to give to a shopkeeper. "Let us see which needle would fit you best."
The needles over his long fingers were flexible and effortless as he chose the middle one—which had a red tip, while others had golden, green, white, and violet tips. The red meant to pause the muscles from any kind of movement. But he kept the white and green ones too—meant for pinning down unnatural presence in the body—or to test if it was a real body at all.
And he was going to use exactly this one, because this man would probably try to run away even now.
Lìngxiāo's gaze fixed on the hair marks over his neck. His golden-brown eyes seemed black right now.
'I should have suspected you first before even accepting the bet. But I did not feel anything wrong before now. Was everything fine back then? I wonder who planned such a move. Another excellent mind game to be remembered. Let us see if we can find anything or not. So many threads need to be uncovered. I cannot wait to solve it all.'
He let out a low giggle into his throat, thoughtful.
Unaware of what was actually happening or what Lìngxiāo was thinking, Chóng Fēi only stared, horrified in a way he could not explain. One hand raised in protection, but he even feared to use that hand. "Stop laughing like a dove. And I—I refuse to use those. Put. Those. Down." He pointed at the table.
Lìngxiāo shook his head. "How can I leave you in pain, Gōngzǐ? You do not deserve it." He put the needles back into his scroll-shaped bag, which had at least ten kinds of needles like history itself.
"This strange man…" Chóng Fēi hissed under his breath, his pulse pounding under the skin of his neck.
"Nothing new, Gōngzǐ." Lìngxiāo hummed lightly, looking at the shine of the needle before he decided on a strange show.
His gaze met Chóng Fēi's. 'I should distract him from the whole situation. The mind is what connects him with whomever he is connected to.'
Chóng Fēi blinked. "W-what…? Stop staring with your hollow eyes."
"Hollow, you say, Gōngzǐ?" Lìngxiāo's own interest peaked, as if he did not know if he was hollow or not. "What kind of hollow?"
Chóng Fēi looked at him again, now observing. "Something… nameless. I do not know nor understand your strange feelings." He rolled his eyes and looked away again, still flushed and annoyed, mumbling, "One moment you are composed, and then you blush, and then you blow up near to death. You could be the new generation's walking disaster."
Here, Lìngxiāo lightly cleared his throat at the statement about blushing. 'I was not blushing, idiot. Why would I blush on you for no reason? I might not understand you too…' He exhaled before returning to normal.
"You seem much observant even while sick, Gōngzǐ," Lìngxiāo complimented as he spun the needle once, preparing to properly trick him. "So rare, you know?"
"Why rare, hm?" Chóng Fēi raised an eyebrow, not catching his meaning. "Cultivators are supposed to be observant."
"That is the fact. In a city with no light, humans are barely active right now—yet you still manage to notice and feedback actively. If it is not a blessing, then…" Lìngxiāo slowly tilted his head thoughtfully to the side.
"Then…?" Chóng Fēi said, puzzled again.
"Then is it a curse?" Lìngxiāo finished, softer than the words themselves.
Chóng Fēi blinked because the last half was unexpected. His inhale caught as he looked at him. "From what are you made from?"
Lìngxiāo chuckled faintly. "The same elements you were born from—soil." He paused before adding, "You must have been bored in this cursed city. Let me relax you with some simple tricks. You can call them magic if you wish… but it is just skill."
"Am I a child you will show magic to?" Chóng Fēi mumbled, lightly tending his cheek with the fabric after heating it above the lamp. Then he thought for a moment before speaking again, interest lightly peeking behind his gaze. "Better than the needles, at least. Hopefully it will not be different shades of your freaking smile."
Lìngxiāo looked at him from the corners of his gaze once more. This was also unexpected for himself. It was something close to recognition masked as arrogance.
'He just named what I am up to… while others call it mostly a curse.'
His smile changed shade once more. Softer. Gentler. He held his gaze silently, while Chóng Fēi blinked in his usual arrogant self, not knowing what he had just said.
'I do not think I am unpleasant by it.'