Ch.71: God of Heaven Interferes in Mortal Matters
Mount Taicang, the Crown Prince Summit.
It was at the time of the day when visitors could no longer linger, and were asked to
leave the Royal Holy Pavilion in droves. Sounds of chanting sutras came in waves from
within the Xianle Pavilion, and some thousands of cultivators were conducting their
evening rituals with the four Guoshis leading the service beneath the feet of that five
meters high golden divine statue.
Within the Temple of the Crown Prince, on either sides of the walls were innumerous
everlasting lamps in rows that hung from the ground to the ceiling. Xie Lian descended
from the sky, lightly landing on the altar, and seated himself in position right before his
own statue.
He waved a hand. A light breeze blew from nowhere, and the countless lamps spun
gently. With the swaying light, many of the cultivators looked up, voicing their awe,
whispering among themselves. The Guoshi who was composedly seated with his eyes
closed suddenly blinked them open and said, “That’ll be it for today. You are all
dismissed.”
The cultivators rose to their feet and left. The other three Deputy Guoshis couldn’t see
Xie Lian’s form but could also guess that something had descended, so they also
departed the hall, closing the doors behind them. Once those tall doors were shut, Xie
Lian immediately spoke, unable to wait another second, “Guoshi, did you know about
the drought in Yong’an? There’s been no word from father, did something happen at
court? Or is it that he’s unaware of what’s happening?”
Heavenly officials were not allowed to secretly show themselves before mortals but
there were exceptional cases, such as Guoshis, religious ministers or such high level
cultivators. Those who had cultivated to certain levels were representatives of heavenly
officials in the mortal realm, thus, Xie Lian could speak directly to the Guoshi. The “no
prostrating within the Temple of the Crown Prince” rule was thus dictated through the
mouth of the Guoshi from Xie Lian.
He had originally thought there were some exceptional circumstances that made the
king unable to free himself to handle the disaster at Yong’an, or, the king had no idea
that the situation had worsened to the point of massive deaths. Unexpectedly, however,
the Guoshi replied, “His majesty the king is doing well, nothing major has happened,
and knows very well of what’s happening in Yong’an.”
Xie Lian was taken aback, “Then how come every time when Father visited the Royal
Holy Pavilion I’ve never heard him pray for Yong’an once? Not even a word?”
Even if he didn’t get along well with his father, he also knew that the king was not a
fatuous leader. He may have seen himself high above others as the son of god, and
highly regarded hierarchy, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t care for refugees. The
Guoshi replied, “This has nothing to do with his majesty. It was I who advised him to not
have him or the queen mention Yong’an in their prayers.”
“...”
“Why?” Xie Lian demanded.
“Because it’s pointless.” The Guoshi replied.
Xie Lian was shocked, “What do you mean by ‘pointless’?”
A moment later his mind worked it out, “Are you saying that because I’m a martial god
with no control over droughts, telling me would be pointless? Did you forget that I may
be a martial god, but I’m also the Crown Prince of Xianle? My people are in trouble, how
can I sit back and do nothing?” After a pause he continued, “The most important thing
right now is to save the disaster victims and take care of them. Please speak to my
father on my behalf to stop constructing any more temples; there’s already too many
Temple of the Crown Prince in this kingdom, I don’t need them. And those golden
statues – they could be melted down to help fundraise for the disaster. Yong’an sits in
the west, and they need water. We can dig a canal, irrigate the waters from the east,
water the crops and nourish the land...”
As he spoke, the Guoshi only shook his head, muttering, “Too early. Too early.”
Xie Lian didn’t understand, “What’s too early?”
“Do you understand now why I said you shouldn’t ascend too early?” The Guoshi said,
“It’s because your people haven’t died out completely yet.”
“...” Xie Lian’s eyes widened, and shouted in outrage, “Guoshi! WHAT... WHAT ARE
YOU SAYING? WHAT DO YOU... WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY PEOPLE HAVEN’T DIED
OUT COMPLETELY YET??!”
“You’ve already become a god, but you couldn’t forget who you were as a mortal,
unable to let go and differentiate between the two realms.” The Guoshi replied, “You’re
involving yourself but you are also powerless, and in the end it will only result in an utter
mess.”
Xie Lian was seated upon the altar and the Guoshi stood below; even though it was
obvious Xie Lian’s the one looking down, but when the Guoshi spoke, it was like he was
the one above.
“How can I be powerless? As long as I act, there will be results. Every small bit counts,
even if I could save but one, it’s still better than none. If you won’t speak for me to my
father then I will go seek him out myself.” Xie Lian said.
Xie Lian jumped to his feet but the Guoshi grabbed at the corner of his sleeve, yelling,
“COME BACK! Do you know why heavenly officials can’t show themselves before
mortals at will? There’s a reason behind that thousand-year rule, don’t do anything
foolish!”
Xie Lian whipped his head around, “THEN WHAT CAN I DO? I CAN’T DO THIS, I
CAN’T DO THAT; Guoshi, THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING RIGHT NOW IN MY LAND!
AREN’T GODS CALLED GODS BECAUSE THEY CAN SAVE THE PEOPLE? IF I
DON’T APPEAR NOW THEN WHEN CAN I APPEAR?? WHAT WOULD BE THE
MEANING OF MY ASCENSION THEN??!!”
The Guoshi held him down, sighing, “Your Highness, sigh, Your Highness. Do you know
what I’ve seen?”
Xie Lian huffed and forced himself to calm down before sitting again, “Please enlighten
me.”
The Guoshi stared at him, “I’ve seen your future, and it’s pitch black.”
Xie Lian looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You must’ve seen wrong. I only like
to wear white.”
“I worry that not only would you be unable to save your people, they will turn around and
drag you down from the divine altar.” The Guoshi said.
“My people aren’t like that, they can clearly recognize what’s right and wrong. If I can’t
save them, then there’d be no meaning to me being on this altar anyway.” Xie Lian
replied.
A moment later, the Guoshi sighed, “What your father has done can’t be said to be right,
but it can’t be said to be wrong either. You said to fundraise, but it’s not like your father
hadn’t tried, and you can go see how that ended. You said to dig a canal to irrigate the
waters, then go see that river for yourself whether if it could be done.”
Xie Lian inclined his head, “I understand. Thank you, Guoshi.”
Upon leaving Mount Taicang, he headed westward and arrived at the city of Yong’an of
the Kingdom of Xianle.
In the twenty years of his life, Xie Lian had never thought the sun to be so scorchingly
deadly. The first step he made upon that earth, he could already feel how wretchedly
hot and dry it was, like everything in the air had been contorted. With the blazing sun
above, the land had already cracked into broken chunks of earth, horrifyingly aged.
There was a deep gutter that seemed to have been a river once, but it was already
dried up to the bottom, and the blackened riverbed was emitting a strange stench. He
walked for a long time and didn’t see a single field. Maybe there were fields once, but
they must be unrecognizable at this point.
Xie Lian looked around as he walked, that dry and hot breeze blowing his long hair into
a mess, but he was too occupied to mind it. Just then, someone suddenly called for him
from behind, “Your Highness!”
Xie Lian turned his head and saw two silhouettes in black approaching in a rush. It was
Feng Xin and Mu Qing. Xie Lian cut straight to the heart of the subject, “Any news?”
Feng Xin flapped his shirt to fan himself, “Yes. In the past two years the entire western
territory experienced a water shortage, and it finally erupted this year. Yong’an is the
worst affected: the river’s dried, the rain doesn’t come, so the crops won’t grow. The
wealthier families are still faring alright; as long as there’s money then food and water
can be bought from elsewhere. However, most of the wealthy have already moved to
the eastern territories. Those who are left are either poor or handicapped.”
Xie Lian knitted his brows, “The Guoshi said my father didn’t just sit back and also
fundraised, so why is it still so serious?”
Mu Qing said coldly, “When funds go through government checkpoints, each checkpoint
will strip an amount until finally there’s nothing left. Of course it’s still this serious. If it
were up to me, it’d be better not to have sent anything rather than feed those parasites.”
Xie Lian held his breath, forcing his anger down, “I will tell those parasites to throw
every single cent they’ve eaten back up.”
However, Mu Qing reminded him, “Your Highness, did you forget? This is not within your
control. Heavenly officials can’t interfere in mortal matters. Three meters of ice weren’t
formed by one day of cold; his majesty the king is the one responsible for the mortal
realm, this is his duty, and he still couldn’t deal with it. You’ve got your hands full of
countless prayers from your devotees, so how can you handle that too? Mind this, mind
that, in the end you’ll only bring trouble unto yourself. Besides, that only cures the
symptoms, not the root cause.”
Feng Xin blocked out the sun with his hand, “To cure the root cause there still needs to
be water. How about, Your Highness ask the Guoshi to tell his majesty to irrigate the
waters from the east to the west for now?”
Xie Lian shook his head, “I suggested that to the Guoshi already.”
“What did the Guoshi say?” Feng Xin asked.
“...” Xie Lian swallowed, “More or less that it’s not feasible. But now I’ve realized it really
can’t be done. To irrigate we’ll need to bore the river. However, something like boring for
a canal requires mass conscription; who knows how many years that’d take, and it’d
only exhaust the people and the treasury. It won’t do.”
Feng Xin nodded, “True enough. Distant waters can’t put out nearby fires.”
Xie Lian hummed, “But, if this can’t be solved by mortal means, maybe we can try divine
methods. I heard the Rain Master has changed in recent years. The new ascended
Rain Master seemed to be a reclusive person, but I’ll see if I can pay a visit and request
for moving waters in the east westward in the form of rain.”
Ever since Xie Lian ascended, other than greeting Jun Wu, he had never personally
paid any visits to any other heavenly officials, and never tried to purposely befriend
anyone, treating all as equals within the spiritual communication array. Him taking the
initiative to pay visits was thus a rare occasion. Mu Qing, however, objected, “No.”
Xie Lian turned his head, “Why not?”
“Your Highness, I’ve investigated thoroughly. In truth, these past two years, it’s not just
Yong’an or the western territories that were experiencing a shortage of water, but the
entire Kingdom of Xianle. Only, the eastern territories are close to the sea, have
surrounding lakes and ravines, so it’s not as obvious, and hasn’t become an issue yet.
But overall, the amount of water and rain have significantly decreased compared to
before.”
Xie Lian’s eyes widened as Mu Qing continued, “If we really dug a canal or used rain to
move waters from the east to the west, then it may temporarily relieve Yong’an but it
won’t save it completely. It would only be helping them hang on to a thread. At the same
time, the eastern territories can very well fall into disaster.”
Xie Lian’s heart squeezed, “And most of the population of Xianle along with the busiest
places are all in the east, more than three times the size of the west, especially the royal
capital. If drought was to happen there...”
Feng Xin immediately understood too, “The consequences would be way more serious
than Yong’an. A greater number would die!”
Mu Qing nodded, his expression solemn, “There’d be a much bigger riot born from it.”
Xie Lian took a deep breath, “So, is that what Guoshi meant when he said what father
did wasn’t right but wasn’t wrong either? Only that he made a choice.”
“So, Your Highness, that no one went to your temple to pray was a good thing.” Mu Qing
said. “Leave it to his majesty to decide what to do.”
Xie Lian didn’t respond and turned around.
The entire time they walked, everyone he saw were skin and bones, men and children
had their upper bodies bare, rows of ribs visible and clear on their torsos, and the
women bore dead eyes, their faces bereft of life. No one wanted to move; they didn’t
have the energy to move, and everything emitted the disgusting stench of death,
making one want to scream and escape this decaying earth and return to the glory of
the bustling royal capital.
It was a long time before he finally said, “You two stay here and assist me, deliver as
much water as you can. Let me think on this.”
“Fine. Go and think carefully.” Feng Xin said, “Just let me know what to do once you’ve
decided.”
Xie Lian patted his shoulder, then turned to leave. Behind him, Mu Qing said quietly,
“Your Highness, do think about this carefully. We can help ten days, maybe twenty, but
not one or two years. We can save one hundred lives but not a hundred thousand.
You’re a martial god after all, not the god of water. Even if you were the god of water
you can’t create water from nothing. If we can’t fix the root of this problem, we can’t
keep going like this. We are not strong enough.”
——–
Ch.72: To Meet You in the Mortal Realm; To Find Flowers Beneath the Rain
After hearing what Mu Qing said, Xie Lian paused briefly in his step, but he didn’t turn
back. He waved his hand and continued forward by himself.
When he returned to the Xianle capital, Xie Lian first headed straight for the royal
palace.
He didn’t know why he needed to go there since it’s not exactly to see his parents. It
wasn’t only because of the fact that as a heavenly official he was forbidden to reveal
himself to his closest family members, but more so because, in the time he had left
home and in the years that had passed, he didn’t really know how to initiate
conversation with his parents anymore. This was probably the same for every child in
the world. Thus, he concealed himself and haphazardly ran about the palace he was so
familiar with, but his majesty the king was nowhere to be seen until finally, when he
came to the QiFeng Manor his father and mother were found.
The two had just dismissed the palace servants and were chatting between themselves.
The queen sat on the side of the bed. The mask that she was fiddling around with in her
hands was the very one that Xie Lian wore three years ago at the Heavenly Ceremonial
Procession. The shape of the golden mask was carefully molded in Xie Lian’s features,
which was why it had fit him perfectly and comfortably when he had worn it. When it’s
seen by others, the degree of replication was almost frightening. The king chided from
the side, “Stop playing around with that and come give me a head massage.”
Even though the king and the queen put up a front in front of the people, ever since Xie
Lian was little, he had seen clearly that behind the scenes, his parents would bicker like
any other normal married couple. The queen put down the mask as expected and sat
down by the king’s side to help massage his temples. As she was combing through his
hair, she suddenly said, “You’ve more white in your hair again.”
Xie Lian took a closer look. True to his mother’s words, the sides of his father’s hair
were greying and it aged him a few years. He wondered to himself, ‘Didn’t father visit
the Holy Royal Pavilion to pray just a while back? At the time, his hair was still black,
how did it grey so suddenly?’
The queen handed a copper mirror to the king, but he pushed it away, “No need to see.
Just dye it black again next time we go visit Mount Taicang.”
It was then that Xie Lian had realized, ‘His hair didn’t grey only recently! It greyed a long
time ago, it’s just that he dyed it black every time before coming to see me. Yet because
I’ve been too occupied listening to the prayers of my devotee and running about, I rarely
made time to come back and visit which was why I didn’t suspect anything.’
Coming to this conclusion, Xie Lian was filled with guilt. For once he was glad his
parents weren’t able to see him. As the queen massaged the king’s head, she
murmured, “I told you to rest early everyday, yet you never listen to me and even said
that I nag you day and night. Now look at how unseemly you’ve become. If our son sees
you, he definitely wouldn’t want anything to do with you.”
The king huffed, “Ever since your son grew up and his wings had toughened, he
stopped caring about me anyway.” Though he said it in such a manner, he still couldn’t
help but take a peek at the copper mirror by the bedside and muttered, “It’s not that bad,
isn’t it still the same face?”
Xie Lian was speechless. He never realized that his father had this side to him, talking
bad about him behind his back with such a petulant bitterness, he couldn’t help but
smile. The queen laughed, “Okay, okay, it’s not bad. Your health is more important than
the heavens, you should rest early today.”
The King shook his head, “I can’t rest right now. Recently, there’s a number of people
from Yong’an that arrived at the capital. If they want to come that’s fine, but they’ve also
stirred up trouble, making people feel uneasy. It’s a tricky situation.”
It turns out that the reason behind his father’s greying hair was because of the drought
at Yong’an. There was an unspeakable kind of misery in Xie Lian’s heart. The queen
nodded, “I heard from Rong-Er that he met someone from Yong’an today. He said that
the man tried to steal money from the temple, how frightening!”
The king had a wary look in his eyes, “Indeed, it’s shocking. If there were only tens or
hundreds of them, that’s fine, but if a couple hundred thousand of them came and go
rogue all over the capital, then who knows what’s going to happen.”
The queen debated for a while and finally said, “That might not happen. If they follow
the laws and keep to themselves, then let them come.”
The king became agitated, “As the king of a nation, how can I take risk in something
that ‘might not’ happen? Besides, they definitely can’t come over. Looking after a few
more people isn’t as simple as placing a couple more sets of chopsticks down at the
table. There are many complications involved that you don’t understand, so stop
talking.”
The queen soothed, “Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. I don’t understand the
things you spoke of to begin with anyway. If only our son was still here. Then he could
at least help take some burden off of you.”
The king scoffed, “Him? What can he do? As long as he doesn’t cause me any more
worries, then that’s already good enough.”
At the mention of Xie Lian, the king seemed to liven up again, “That son of yours, he’s
already ten-something years old, but he was raised like a princess. Even if he knew, it
won’t do any good, he’ll just add more problems to it. It’s best if he stays carefree in the
heavens without knowing anything. Let him do what he wants to do. He’s not the Crown
Prince anymore, there’s no need for him to care about matters in the mortal realm. Let
him fly to his heart’s content.”
Xie Lian listened silently as his father ranted with growing excitement. With a knowing
smile on her face, the queen nudged the king, “Now you call him a princess. Weren’t
you the one who spoiled our princess since he was young? And now you want to blame
it all on me?” She then sighed, “That child is good in everything except for missing
home. Before, when he was studying at the Royal Holy Pavilion, he’d only come back to
visit once every few months. Now that he ascended, it’s even more difficult. We haven’t
seen him once in three years. Who knows when we’ll see him again.”
Hearing her complain, the king stood back on Xie Lian’s side, “How would a woman
know anything? The Guoshi said those were the laws of Heaven, how can we treat him
like a common mortal? If you call your son back, you’d be weighing him down.”
The queen hurriedly explained herself, “I’m only just saying. I won’t make any such
demands when we’re in front of him.” Then she muttered to herself, “It’s not too bad
looking at the statues either; they look pretty much like him, and the statues are
everywhere.”
Watching them for so long, Xie Lian felt an ache in his heart and a hard lump lodged in
his throat, making it painful for him to swallow. He couldn’t stay hidden any longer, yet
he couldn’t reveal himself either. It wasn’t because he was afraid of breaking Heaven’s
laws, but rather, even now, he still didn’t know what to say. As for the situation in
Yong’an, he didn’t have any solutions at the moment. If he were to suddenly appear, it
would only cause his parents more agitation and stress.
He dashed out of the royal palace. The moment he was outside, Xie Lian took in a
couple of deep breaths, and it was only then that he was finally able to calm down. He
steadied his heart and pulled himself together, thinking action was better than standing
around sighing, he casted a spell and transformed himself into a plainly dressed young
cultivator. He ran around the capital, digging for information and recorded his finds.
Traversing all over, after a full day of work, he finally got the answers he wanted.
Indeed the water level in all the lakes and rivers within the royal capital of Xianle was
lower than the previous years. Back when he was still at the Royal Holy Pavilion, there
were a few times when he’d snuck down the mountain to play. As he rowed his boat
happily along the largest river that crossed through the Kingdom of Xianle, the water
level at that time was only just a tad short of the levee, yet now, it had dropped several
meters. On top of that, the residents of the city said it’s been like that for a while; it
wasn’t something that happened overnight. Before this, Xie Lian really hadn’t paid
much attention, but now that he had, he was shocked to see all the warning signs. He
had originally hoped there’d be some mistake in Mu Qing’s report and thus decided to
come and see it for himself. But now he can’t deny the fact that Mu Qing had never let
him down before.
Once the situation was confirmed, Xie Lian stood solemnly by the riverside, deep in
contemplation. Pedestrians passed behind from time to time, some nodded and smiled,
others looked on curiously, but most went about happily minding their own business. An
unknown amount of time passed and quietly, clouds gathered from the edge of the
skies; sounds of pitter-patter filled the surroundings. It had started to rain.
Numerous pedestrians on the street looked up to the sky, “So unlucky! It’s raining, let’s
hurry back!”
“Yea! How troublesome!”
Plip plop plip plop. Raindrops were beating down on Xie Lian’s face and clothes before
he finally became aware of his surroundings, “It’s raining?”
When the people in the capital saw rain, they would drop everything to find shelter. Little
do they know just how many were dying on the other side of Xianle for a rainstorm like
this to come. A group of people with umbrellas ran past, and when they saw Xie Lian,
alone, getting soaked by the rain, they pulled him along and beckoned, “Young
Cultivator, why aren’t you getting out of this rain? It’s coming down harder!”
Dazed, Xie Lian followed along and ran to seek shelter under a long roof. Not soon after
the group of people tucked away their umbrellas, they broke out in laughter, “Luckily, I
saw the clouds gather when I came out today and grabbed an umbrella, or else I
would’ve really become a drowned rat!”
“It’s been too long since it last rained. The storm is way overdue so it’s going to be a big
one.”
“Gosh, see! It really is coming down harder! At this rate, it’s going to turn into a deluge!”
The raindrops were beating down on the ground, splattering outwards. Those people
spoke in such a familiar accent that Xie Lian felt deeply that this was his home; this was
the place he was born and grew up, and those were the citizens he knew.
As the chitter chatter continued, the rain became a little lighter. A few people urged,
“While it’s still light, we should hurry and go!” Right after that, the men opened their
umbrellas and stepped out from under the roof one after another, but Xie Lian still stood
where he was. A couple of them glanced back and after a brief discussion among
themselves, one came over and handed him a worn down umbrella. He offered politely,
“Young Cultivator, are you not able to return home? This rain is quite heavy, why don’t
you take this umbrella.”
Xie Lian snapped out of his daydream, “Thank you very much, but what about you?”
A few people in the group under the rain called out, “We still have a couple of umbrellas
here that we can squeeze under together. Let’s go, let’s go!”
Urged by his companions, the man left the umbrella in Xie Lian’s hand and ran back.
The ‘pa pa’ sounds of their footsteps slowly faded away in the distance as Xie Lian
stood for a while longer, holding onto the umbrella. Suddenly, his eyes caught a glimpse
of an inconspicuous shrine not too far away. He opened his umbrella and walked
towards it in the rain. Upon a closer look, the two sides of the small shrine doors were
written with the verses, ‘Body in abyss; Heart in Paradise’. Turns out that this was a
Shrine of the Crown Prince.
Since eight thousand temples were built within only the span of three years, it was only
natural not every one of them would be as extravagant and breathtaking as the one on
Mount Taicang. Amongst the shrines, there were quite a few that were built by amateurs
to fill the number and generate the excitement. Not only did they lack a Donations Box,
but they also didn’t have any shrine priests. The only things that they had was a clay
statue, a couple of offering plates placed with assorted fruits and refreshments. Those
with kind hearts would come by once in a while to freshen the place a little so that it
could at least pass for a decent shrine.
Well hidden in an area like this was such an inconspicuous Shrine of the Crown Prince.
Without stepping in, Xie Lian could already make out what could be described as a
charmingly tacky Crown Prince statue. Exquisite clothing, a pale, round face with a
slightly pinkish undertone, and a silly smile. The statue looked like a big doll. If it wasn’t
with so much on his mind, he probably would’ve laughed out loud.
In the past three years, Xie Lian had seen three thousand, if not five thousand Crown
Prince statues. There were none that looked exactly like himself, even the most similar
one was still seven points off. As for the rest, they were either too ugly or too beautiful.
A majority of the divine statues of most other heavenly officials were too ugly, and yet,
Xie Lian was the exact opposite. There were some that were beautiful beyond
recognition and to the point where he, himself, was embarrassed. He didn’t really take a
good look at this clay statue to begin with, his eyes had glossed over it quickly, but
unexpectedly, a snow white blur caught his eye and grabbed his attention.
Grasped in the left hand of that crudely made clay Crown Prince statue was a flower,
white as snow.
The pearl white petals, with crystal dew clinging on to it, looked beyond delicate. One
could faintly catch a wisp of its fragrance floating in the air, lovely and endearing. The
signature pose of Crown Prince statue was ‘Sword in One Hand; flower in the Other’.
The said flower that was held in the left hand would, of course, be a finely crafted flower
of gold, flower of gems, flower of jade. However, this was the first time Xie Lian had
seen a real flower clasped within his statue’s hand, and he couldn’t help but lean
forward to get a better look.
After a close examination, he discovered that the Crown Prince statue had probably
held a clay flower once a upon a time. Whether if it fell due to the sculptor’s poor skills
or if someone had intentionally picked it off as some form of a prank, only a small hole
remained in the left fist. That little white flower just so happened to be placed in this
hole. If there was a person that had especially picked a flower to fill the empty space
within this statue, then that person is truly kind-hearted.
Xie Lian’s thoughts came to a halt when he heard a series of hurried footsteps. He
didn’t look back immediately, but instead hid his form. With the umbrella in hand, he
lightly leapt onto the altar, and then turned around to look down. Within the grey fog of
rain, a young boy barged in.
This boy was no older than twelve or thirteen. His dirt-stained, patched clothes were
soaked from head to toe, and his