Echidna was holding the little thing, seeming to be looking it up and down, while Xanthippe narrowed her eyes in delight. It was not difficult to see that she was flattered by the devil's acceptance.
Xie Ning stared at Echidna. He couldn't make out what they were saying from the changing lip shapes and the fragmentary and vague words. He could only watch the master of the underground palace's every move without blinking.
The snake demon lurked in the darkness, glancing at the stone sculpture with his golden eyes. Finally, he spit out his snake tongue and grabbed Xanthippe's work into his palm.
Xie Ning stood up straight and slowly loosened his hands from holding onto the wall. He hadn't moved for so long that all five of his fingers had wet marks on the wall. When he retracted his hands, there was a very faint pulling sound.
He looked for a while, still without saying a word, then turned and left.
The red light of the lamp burned the darkness of the underground palace. In the jumping shadows, Xie Ning walked quickly and quietly. He was thin and thin, and he kept silent. No one noticed his passing figure along the way.
He walked quietly along the wall for a long time before returning to the bedroom where he and Echidna lived. Then, without stopping, he came to the inner room where the snake demon had placed the magic mirror.
Xie Ning looked around, straightened his robe, sat on the ground, picked up a handful of gold coins and threw one onto the mirror.
The sound of the gold coin hitting the mirror surface was clear and pleasant. It bounced a few times and then rolled down with a ding-dong sound. Without Echidna's divine power, the mirror did not respond to Xie Ning's request for payment and still faced him with pure darkness.
Xie Ning shrugged and threw away the gold in his hand with an expressionless face.
He didn't know what to say.
“… I don’t know what to say.” Xie Ning cleared her throat and muttered to herself in the empty darkness, “My relationship with him… Well, he and I, originally, had no relationship.”
Yes, this was the main reason why he had no strength to move forward.
He and Echidna looked close, but in fact, their relationship was extremely fragile. Because he was afraid of the inevitable separation, he did not make any promises to Echidna, and Echidna did not define his identity except the title of "priest".
Perhaps here, the priests are supposed to serve God wholeheartedly? In any case, the two of them have their own unspoken thoughts in their relationship, and every day is like there is no tomorrow.
Echidna had said she loved him many times, but Xie Ning had never responded to him once. Deep down, he believed in the theory that "words have spirit". The words he spoke were like a curse, binding the speaker and the listener respectively. If he responded to Echidna's words of love, the rope that would entangle him for a lifetime would emerge from fate and firmly tie him into a circle with no beginning or end, tying him to the little fingertip of the demon god.
It was precisely because of this that Xie Ning had such self-awareness—he did not step forward and prevent Echidna from being qualified to accept offerings from others.
Or maybe this would be better
He would have to leave sooner or later. Before all hope was lost, he swore that he would find a way to go home. He was a man who could not make promises. Perhaps, he could just transfer the promise to Xanthippe...
… No, no! I can’t do it.