He looked at her, his expression unreadable. "Wen Qing...When I moved into the Unclean Realm, he had a room made for me. All dark woods, lotus motif, everything. And I thought it was the most amazing thing ever. After years of building homes for everyone else, to have someone make a home for me was... special."

Cheng turns, looking at the floor before him. "But over time, it became more a prison. Or.. more like a golden cage. Pretty, but still confining." He shrugs a bit. "I don't want to trap myself like that, again. Logically, I doubt anyone else would do such a thing, conscious or unconscious, but I don't want to take that chance, either."

It was probably cowardly, but he wanted to protect himself as best as he can.