75 Protection

Xiao Ying immediately picked up on Ming Cheng's reaction, right from the first flinch of unexpected terror that led to the instinct to shake off his attackers, bear his teeth and growl as if he were some wild and untamed animal.

It was what he had done to survive, putting on the face of a feral animal to warn off all the older and much more experienced predators that prowled around him as he was cornered at the back of alley ways and starved of light, warmth, food, and love.

Xiao Ying had thrown himself, almost instinctively, forwards in an attempt to stop the catastrophe that was about to break out in front of him and finally, hopefully, do some actual tangible good for his protagonist.

It had been far too difficult for him to stop though, as his hands lay upon the thresh holds of fabric that shocked him out of his panic and rush.

If Xiao Ying really did grab someone, anyone, in this room that wasn't Ming Cheng, then he would simply be signing his identity and personhood away.

Rumours would spread quickly enough, marking him out as some sort of ghostly presence that needed to be exorcised and the kitchens as a location that needed to be cleansed to protect against any other supernatural forces and potentially demonic beings.

Xiao Ying's revealed presence could possibly cause Pandemonium, and considering that there was a temple not too far from here, it would be easy enough to get a priest to come and take a look around the room and the palace in general, probably being able to spot the trails of spiritual energy that Xiao Ying took as he moved around, making him easy enough to track.

Admittedly, he wasn't actually sure on the specifics of it all.

In the original novel, the Ghost of Empress had never really been found and exorcised away. She simply passed on before Ming Cheng's wedding, sure that she would be able to rest in peace now that her son's life had basically been made and that good things were all that were in his future.

There was no need to exorcise her, and there was no mention at all of priests venturing out onto battle fields to conduct rituals to calm the souls of the dead, or any other ghosts for that matter, Xiao Ying, as young as he was, too lazy to write in a proper system for the undead to follow and any other ghost characters in the story that would also appear as guides for their charges or just generally hang about and be spooky.

But none of that mattered right now in this situation.

Ming Cheng desperately needed help now to calm down and to at least be given the opportunity to accept some affection from those around him, and Xiao Ying needed to make that happen without touching him at all, or anybody, to keep his identity a secret.

Speaking was the only way forward, and Xiao Ying was not at all sure if Ming Cheng was able to hear him right now, his mind stuck amidst the memories of his traumatic and terrible past - all Xiao Ying's fault.

The words of his neighbours were the only possible thing that Xiao Ying could think of.