True Immortal Ruyi abruptly raised his head.
"Enough!"
The shout came without warning.
True Immortal Ruyi launched himself straight at the Queen, his gaze fixed on the cup of tea in her hand.
The few steps between them vanished in an instant.
But the Queen did not even turn her head. Her waist suddenly bent backward.
Her entire upper body arched back at an utterly bizarre angle.
At the same time, one leg snapped up behind her, the movement eerily uncanny, like a scorpion raising its tail.
Yet it was almost too fast to see.
Thud!
With a dull impact, True Immortal Ruyi crashed heavily to the floor.
The Queen twisted at the waist and straightened again. From beginning to end, not a single drop of tea had spilled from the cup.
True Immortal Ruyi lay there, his eyes staring straight at the Queen.
"You used to..."
His voice was distinctly hoarse as he spoke. "...not be like this."
The smile on the Queen's face froze. She still held Xuanzang's tea.
She slowly turned to look at True Immortal Ruyi.
"What did you say?"
"I said..."
He opened his mouth. His voice grew softer and softer. "You never used to do these things."
The Queen looked at him, neither growing angry nor mocking him as she had before.
She simply looked at him, for a very long time.
Then the corner of her mouth slowly tugged upward. "So you could see me after all."
At those words, True Immortal Ruyi went rigid.
The Queen gave a very soft laugh, as though mocking herself.
"I never used to be like this."
She slowly repeated the words, the smile on her face fading further and further.
"Then what was I like before?"
True Immortal Ruyi's Adam's apple bobbed. "You..."
His earlier words