Zhang Qi Ling was the God of Death who was tasks to collect souls and guide them to the afterlife. He was able to kill a mortal with a simple touch.
However, for some unfathomable reason he wasn't able to collect Wu Xie's soul.
Wu Xie was a mere mo...
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Chapter XXVI Worth It
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Zhang Qi Ling fingernails dug painfully into his palms and he fought the urge to turn and look at Wu Xie who was being suspiciously quiet. The bond was loud though, confused. "I can't have a soul. I am a god. I have been a god all of this time." Still confused with a sharp tang of pain, rejection. Oh, Wu Xie...
"How many times in the last twenty years have you been drawn to Wu Xie? How much guilt did you feel over abandoning him? For collecting his family? How often were you scared for Wu Xie? Proud? How many times did you watch Wu Xie living without you and felt jealous?" Zhang Qi Ling shook his head over and over. "How many times have you chosen to defy Heaven?"
"I never!" Zhang Qi Ling yelled and where Wu Xie flinched back as though Zhang Qi Ling's anger had physically struck him, Zhang Rishan merely lifted an eyebrow.
"You chose to watch Wu Xie. You chose to interact with him although you knew that were never meant to. You chose to love him and to express that love. You chose with freewill you were granted because of a sliver of soul given to you by a newborn baby who never should have taken a single breath on Land of the Living."
His voice never fluctuated but it filled the room, demanded Zhang Qi Ling's undivided attention and suddenly, Zhang Rishan was holding a black folder in his fingers.
"I see," Zhang Qi Ling said, his voice dead while he stared at the folder. To the side he saw Wu Xie stand from his seat. He was rubbing the back of his head, eyes darting frantically between the two of them and for the briefest second Zhang Qi Ling felt a smile tug at his lips.
How many times had he watched Wu Xie do that, rub at the back of his neck, buying himself a little more time to process the situation?
The first time he had been two years old, covered in chocolate birthday cake. He'd pushed a step stool next to a chair next to the table and toddled his way up onto the table while Wu Yi Qiong entertained in the living room. An enthusiastic giggle and a loud crash later found Wu Xie, hands and face smeared with chocolaty evidence, under the scrutiny of his father. Wu Xie reached a tiny hand behind his head, rubbing frantically, before slowly bringing his hand down, small finger pointed at a smiling, dark haired god, smiling brilliantly in the corner, that no one else could see. 'He did it, papa!'
How many times had he held down this ridiculous urge to push Wu Xie's hand away, replace it with his own, his fingers through Wu Xie's soft hair? How many times had he imagined taking Wu Xie away from everything? Hiding away from everything on Heaven and The Living until it was just the two of them? When had he started loving Wu Xie over everything else?
