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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

“Have you heard about what happened? A ghost king has started a fight against Heaven!”

“Is he crazy?? Against all Heaven? What are we going to do!?”

“It’s a disaster, we mere humans are going to pay the consequences of this useless fight!”

“What has that ghost king even got in his mind? He thinks he can win against all of the gods?”

“Actually....”

“What? Do you know something??”

“Yes. I’ve heard that he didn’t attack all of Heaven. Just the Emperor, Jun Wu.”

“HAHAHA!!”

Laughter erupted among the group of men. They were working at a rice camp, but that didn’t stop them from chatting and gossiping. They had previously tried to talk with the new worker, the one who covered his face with a creepy mask, but they had failed to get a reaction. Now, the attention of said worker had been captured, and he limited himself to listen to the conversation, pretending to continue his work.

“Are you sure of what you say?”

“Yes, I’ve heard some cultivators talk about it. They must know better, right?”

“Heavens, ghost kings are indeed crazy. What is passing in their mind, I wonder. Does he really think he stands a chance against the Martial Emperor Jun Wu?”

“Don’t you remember the rumors? That’s the same ghost king who challenged all those martial and civil gods some centuries ago!”

“Oh, that’s right, I remember! If I’m not wrong, he burned down all their temples, right? He’s doing the same thing with the Martial Emperor, he must be completely mad.”

“They said that he destroyed more than half of all the Emperor’s temples and shrines in just one night....”

“What??? Why is he doing this??”

“Rumors say that Jun Wu has killed the ghost king’s beloved, and he wants revenge. How scary it will be if he actually kills the Emperor!”

Xie Lian, who was listening to everything, almost lost his balance at the last statement. Hundreds of questions stormed in his mind, and he didn’t know whether to believe what he was listening to or not. Why would San Lang challenge Jun Wu? Had they got a grudge? It couldn’t possibly be the reason the men were talking about, could it? San Lang’s beloved was himself, and he had died because of Bai WuXiang. Maybe San Lang thought it was Jun Wu's responsibility, because it was the Martial Emperor who had given him the mission of Mount Tonglu?

Xie Lian couldn’t help but feel worried. He didn’t want San Lang to get hurt, and fighting Jun Wu for such a stupid reason really seemed a madman’s action. There was nothing he could do about it, so he simply walked away and searched for another job, listening carefully at what the passersby said.

He didn’t want to tie himself to the past, but it was easier to say than to do. If he wanted to work somewhere, there always would be rumors about Hua Cheng’s fight against Jun Wu. What shocked him the most, apart from the fight itself, was that, from what he had understood, all of the gods in the Heavenly court had allied with Hua Cheng in his fight against the Emperor. At first he had ignored those rumors, but since he heard them everywhere, he started to wonder if there was some truth in them. 
Why would everyone suddenly go against Jun Wu?

Humans’ rumors spread fast, and from what was only a fight between the ghostly and heavenly realm, soon the humans began to contribute. Many rumors about Jun Wu having a secret dark past had started to spread, and gradually, who had been for centuries the most powerful Martial God in heaven began to lose believers, until all the temples and shrines that had been burned down by Hua Cheng weren’t erected by anyone anymore. Xie Lian witnessed the entire thing from a normal human’s perspective, and, apart from being confused, he started wondering if Jun Wu was really hiding something. He had known the Emperor for 8 centuries, but he couldn’t find other explanations.

After two years of fighting, Jun Wu had been defeated, and he disappeared from the world and from the mind of his once devotees. Ling Wen, who for a time hadn’t answered her prayers, was welcomed once more in what would become the new Heavenly court, and since there were no other candidates, she started leading the other gods in the recreation of said court.

Xie Lian started wondering what the hell had happened once he left. First of all, just the thought that Hua Cheng could forge an alliance with other gods was ridiculous. And now, Jun Wu wasn’t even a god, who knows what had happened to him, and Ling Wen, who had betrayed the Heavens, was... at the lead. Xie Lian shook his head, trying to focus on the wood he was carving. No matter how strange they were, the rumors about the Gods and Ghosts didn’t have anything to do with him.

Once the door he was carving was done, he stepped back, examining the result. In comparison to the one San Lang had gifted him, this was trash, but he had put all of his effort into doing it, and it would still work as a door. Obviously, this door wasn’t for personal use, since he didn’t have anything to call home. He had stopped for two days already in a little village on top of a mountain, and a young cultivator had asked for his help in building a small temple. The youth didn’t seem upset by the mask Xie Lian wore, and had even bent on his knees to plead for help, so Xie lian hadn’t found the courage to refuse.

Once the door was put in its place, he proceeded to make a table that would act as an altar. That reminded him of when he had just arrived in Puji village, and he had created Puji shrine. If he had remembered how to, the thought would have made him smile. He still smiled in his mind, and since anyway no one would see his face, there was no difference.

When he was done, he refused the money that the cultivator wanted to give him, and answered the question about where he was headed to honestly, writing it on a piece of paper instead of speaking. He didn’t have anything against speaking, but he had always found a reason to avoid it until now, and it had become a habit. He had no reason to lie to such a young person, so he didn’t worry about it.

When he read the name of the destination, however, the young man paled in fright. “Don’t go there!!”

Xie Lian raised his eyebrow in question, not remembering how his face was hidden.

“You shouldn’t go there, it’s dangerous!” The youth explained, “it’s said that many weird creatures have started to appear since... well, since the Martial Emperor disappeared. They are strong spirits, and even for a group of cultivators it’s dangerous to venture where these things are located. Everyone says that those creatures had always been there, but they were taken care of by Jun Wu. Now that they are free....”

The young man shook his head, sighing, “Anyway, you shouldn’t go there, it’s a suicide. Choose a new route, please.”

After some hesitation, Xie Lian nodded to reassure the man.

“That relieves my worries. Take care of yourself,” the cultivator bid farewells while bowing.

Xie Lian imitated the bow, and then took off. If he could be sure of one thing, it was that Jun Wu didn’t have any resentful spirits under his care. It would be simply stupid, and an irresponsible thing to do as a god. However, the fact that these ghosts had appeared right after Jun Wu's disappearance was too much of a coincidence. If he didn’t know Jun Wu personally, he would almost think they were created by the same former Emperor, to revenge against who had banished him. However, Xie Lian knew Jun Wu would never do such a shameless thing, and unless he was missing some information, he refused to accept that theory as true.

Obviously, once he departed from the village, the first place he went to was the one the young cultivator had told him not to go to. Since he was able to, he would take down that resentful creature, so as to avoid any innocent death. 

The destination wasn’t an inhabited place, but a beautiful spring of water, surrounded by a rocky and fascinating canyon. There wasn’t much spiritual power present in the area, so he didn’t have to worry about meeting some cultivators or some Heaven Officials.

The canyon wasn’t as bare as he had imagined it, but full of on-growing vegetation, with clusters of rocks sticking out from the ground. The spring was the one that catered water for a big river, but it was just a small stream at the beginning of the canyon. Xie Lian relaxed in the cozy and charming atmosphere, satisfied by his travel. He was mentally ready for a surprise attack, but if it didn’t come, he would need to find the resentful spirit himself.

After enjoying the solitude for some minutes, he finally started his research. Sporadic trees provided shadows from the scorching sun, but he had his bamboo hat, and didn’t need to find shelter. What made his research hard were only the omnipresent rocks, scattered on the ground as if creating a maze. Some of them were as high as his waist, and they just made his movements difficult, but other ones were even taller than him, and they covered from sight his surroundings.

When Xie Lian finally found something, however, that something’s reaction was really confusing. At first, a demonic aura erupted at his side, giving out the ghost’s hiding spot. There was murderous intent in the aura, the creature was ready to attack. However, when he faced the enemy, the latter didn’t move, and its murderous aura faded a little, until it disappeared. Xie Lian got closer to it, wondering what was wrong with the spirit, but he was simply ignored. 

The spirit was in the form of a wild dog, its appearance ferocious and dangerous. However, when Xie Lian was as close as an arm length, the dog simply whimpered at him, and didn’t attack. It almost looked like... the dog recognized him, and decided not to attack him.

Xie Lian reached out with his hand, to test his theory, and the dog retreated, his ears down, more whines coming from the blood filled mouth. Xie Lian concluded that not only the dog spirit recognized him, it was also scared witless by him. Then he realized something, and cursed himself for not thinking about it earlier. It wasn’t him the dog spirit had recognized, it was Bai WuXiang.

Xie Lian subconsciously tightened his fists. He was sure Bai WuXiang hadn’t died in the kiln, and that he would eventually come back, but he didn’t think it would be so soon. Now he knew that it was Bai WuXiang who was creating these resentful spirits, and the reason, only the calamity could know. Still, Xie Lian wouldn’t let him act without doing anything. He hated Bai WuXiang, that ghost had been his ruin twice, but it wasn’t for revenge. He had nothing to revenge against, nothing to obtain back, so revenge was just ridiculous. However, he wouldn’t step back now. He needed to kill off Bai WuXiang, one time for all.

Xie Lian was so focused on his train of thoughts that he didn’t realize the dog spirit had started to have a murderous intent once more. Even though Xie Lian wore white, had a mask, and possessed a supreme’s aura, he was still a different person from Bai WuXiang, and his cover would eventually be blown.

When the dog attacked, aiming for Xie Lian’s naked neck, the instincts of a former martial god kicked in, and Xie Lian jumped backwards, avoiding the strike. Before the dog spirit could gain all of his spiritual forces and attack again, a black sword appeared in the former god’s hands, and the dog’s head was cut off. 

The dog was made of demonic energy only, and no consistent head was actually struck, so the sword attack had mostly been useless, and was only made for Xie Lian to obtain some time to prepare himself for the fight. The dog, whose head hadn’t completely reattached yet, didn’t lose any time, and attacked again, this time with its claws. If a normal human were to be scratched by those, they would die before realizing what had happened. Even for a god or a ghost, the thick demonic energy that those claws carried was dangerous.

Xie Lian sidestepped to avoid the attack, and struck again with Fang Xin. This time, he had put a lot of spiritual energy in the blow, and the hit pierced the dog from one side of his ribcage to the other.

The dog was nailed on the ground, and wriggled to break free. After a few seconds, its demonic energy was afflicted by Xie Lian’s spiritual in-pour, and his appearance deformed. The spirit had probably been a human before it was twisted and controlled by Bai WuXiang into a resentful spirit, so it eventually misshaped completely from the form of a dog, resembling more the shape of a man, even though it was barely recognizable. 

This spirit wasn’t savable anymore, and wouldn’t be able to ever reincarnate, so the only thing Xie Lian could do was destroy it, to make it at least rest in peace. Before he landed the fatal spiritual in-pour, however, he saw the twisting man draw something on the dirt with his finger. Squinting his eyes, Xie Lian tried to decipher what he had traced.

“Please.” 

The man was asking for pity. Xie Lian didn’t think he could even be able to think anymore. He was going to give the man what he wanted, but he had just obtained a chance to talk with this spirit, and he couldn’t waste it. While holding the sword with one hand, he crouched down at the side of the man, and wrote, in the same way the man had.

“Who twisted your soul?”

He had too many hopes, apparently. Even though the man could communicate, he didn’t seem to be able to read what Xie Lian had written. He had no other choice but to speak to him, if he wanted to obtain some information.

Xie Lian cleared his throat, and he felt it ache for not having used it in some years. He didn’t want to do it, but he needed to be sure this was Bai WuXiang’s job. He also needed to know where to find the latter.

“Who....”

A fit of cough made him stop. His throat felt sore, probably also because he hadn’t drunk water in years, but he had to do it.

“Twisted... your soul?”

He barely recognized the sound of his voice. It felt hoarse, scratchy, unpleasant to the ears. He promised himself not to talk to anyone again, or he would scare the poor person to death.

The resentful spirit seemed to understand, because he started writing something on the dirt. Xie Lian's eyes widened as soon as he recognised the characters.

“Jun Wu,” was written on the ground, clear as the sunny sky above them.

Xie Lian snapped, confusion in his heart. He wanted to ask a complete question, but the first part died in his throat. Wasn’t it “....Bai WuXiang???”

The spirit understood, and nodded his head, while Xie Lian felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. So, the rumors about Jun Wu killing Hua Cheng’s beloved were right, after all. He almost felt like laughing, and if he remembered how to, he probably would have.

When the spirit wrote once again “Please” on the ground, Xie Lian finally sent a fatal amount of spiritual power in his sword, dissipating forever the resentful spirit. He felt dizzy, as if he were drunk, and guided by his unsteady legs, he headed towards the closest town. He needed answers, and knowledge. He had tried to avoid gossip for all this time, but at the moment he looked for it, because he needed answers.

A lot of time had passed since he had been in such a crowded place, and he was feeling quite uncomfortable, mostly because of the odd stares of the people. After all, he wasn’t an usual sight, but it was not like he could hide his mask in any way. He could wear a weimao, but then seeing would be too much hard, and he would still catch other people’s attention. 

He stopped in the market’s main street, where a lot of people chatted and a lot of gossip was spread. He tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, pushing himself against a white wall at the side. After a quarter of an hour, all the merchants had forgotten his existence, and the passerby just gave him a glance before going on on their path.

By standing there, he discovered that all of the martial gods were focused on killing the newborn resentful spirits, such as the one he had taken care of, and even though the people acknowledged it, they were still unsatisfied by the result. Hearing how many deaths were said to happen just in the area, Xie Lian imagined the panic present in the Heavenly court.

Surely, the Heaven Officials were giving their all to kill off the spirits, but apparently it wasn’t enough. Most importantly, since they were so focused on killing the imminent threats, they couldn’t possibly also be searching for Bai WuXiang’s location. 

Xie Lian really wanted to do something, but in this situation he was powerless. A civil god such as Ling Wen was more important than anyone else, because it was her who located all the spirits, and divided the works between the martial gods. Xie Lian could be useful to kill the spirits he found, but he had no idea of where to look for them, and he wanted to focus on Bai WuXiang research. Once again, maybe he could fight the calamity, but locate him was another story. He missed being a god and receiving the assistance of Ling Wen, but there wasn’t anything he could do to get that back.

He was thinking of ways he could get information about the position of the resentful spirits, when he was jolted by the sound of clay shattering, right at his feet. At first he thought something had fallen from above, but then he met the eyes of someone staring at him, at a arm length of distance in front of him. It was that person who had let a water bottle fall down and shatter, and was now staring at Xie Lian with an exaggeratingly stunned look on his face.

It was Mu Qing.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

When Hua Cheng’s access to the kiln had been denied, and he found himself outside of the mountain, with no trace of Xie Lian at his side, he understood that it wasn't supposed to happen. After a long research outside the mountain, following the red thread on his finger, he had to accept what he had feared, that Xie Lian was trapped inside. The only reason he could think of was that it was all Bai WuXiang’s doing, and even if he found absurd that the Calamity could control the kiln, thinking about how he'd done it was useless at the moment. He needed to find a way in, he couldn’t allow whatever was going on inside to happen.

He knew how the kiln worked better than anyone. Once it closed, there was no way of breaking in from the outside. The only way was to break out of it, and yet, Hua Cheng still began his research. He tried every rock of the mountain, looking for a way where the ward could be bypassed, and after he was sure there were none, he started trying to create a way.

Hua Cheng decided the point of the mountain that looked the most hollow, and started pouring in spiritual powers, hoping to damage the obstruction that blocked him from going in. After one hour had gone by without any results, Hua Cheng was starting to feel more and more anxious. One hour of waiting meant nothing for him, but knowing that Xie Lian had passed that hour with Bai WuXiang, his desperation couldn't help but rise on each passing second.

In a fit of rage, Hua Cheng hit the rock with just brute force, crying out his frustration. An idea came to his mind, and for how insane it may have appeared to a normal person, Hua Cheng was too focused on his objective to care whether it was absurd. Without any restrictions, he started striking the stone with bare fist-blows, while splinters and fragments of rocks flew past him at incredible speed. As soon as he started hoping for a positive outcome, the thick layer of stone he had been punching came off completely, revealing a stronger one. Hua Cheng tried again, but his attempts were useless, stopped by the more persistent type of rock. Feeling the agitation of the blade at his side, Hua Cheng unsheathed E-Ming, and struck the rock with it, but after a couple of hits, the outcome was still the same.

At the end of the day, he had not managed to make a single scratch in the ward, and there were still no traces of his god. To say that he panicked is an understatement, but he still forced himself to not be distracted by his emotions, continuing his useless attempt to break the rock. Any other person would have seen that keeping up with his futile tries was just a waste of time, and after all, Hua Cheng knew too, but there was nothing else to do, and the only thing that kept him from seeing his beloved was a mount. How could he simply stop, and leave his highness on his own? Desperation leads to false hope, and Hua Cheng clung to it with all of his heart.

After two days of nothing, Feng Xin and Mu Qing were the first ones to join him. They asked him where his highness was, and he was upset enough to actually tell them the truth. He had never believed nor trusted those two gods, but now he was willing to ask for their help. 

After realizing the urgency of the situation, Feng Xin and Mu Qing joined their spiritual powers to break through the ward, but all their attempts were fruitless. Jun Wu, the Martial Emperor, had been informed of the situation with Bai WuXiang, but no word had come from him, so they thought he was too busy to notice their report. However, other Heavenly Officials, such as Pei Ming and Quan Yizhen, had tried to force the kiln to open, and after all these efforts it was obvious that even if Jun Wu helped, the situation wouldn’t have changed.

Hua Cheng was desperate. One month had gone by, and still there was no news of his highness. The ghosts roaming around had escaped once they heard the kiln had already closed, and all of the Heaven Officials had left to report or attend their obligations, since there was nothing left to do. Obviously, all of them came back sometimes, to check on the situation, or if they had thought of something new to try, but they had all understood that what was left to do was wait for Xie Lian to come out, hoping that he would eventually come out. All the Martial Gods were also ready to fight, if what came out was Bai WuXiang.

Hua Cheng, however, had not even once left the side of the mountain, trying every time he could to break in, even though, for as much spiritual power he poured in, nothing ever changed. He felt guilt for letting his beloved down. Xie Lian had spent one entire month in the kiln, and he was too powerless to do anything about it. 

His desperation turned into blind madness when there was suddenly a change on the thread on his finger. For a terrifying second,  Hua Cheng thought it would disappear, and the sole thought made his heart ache. Luckily, after a few seconds of lingering hope and fear, the thread stabilized once more, and although Hua Cheng didn't manage to extend it anymore, he was too relieved to care for the moment.

From his wish of his highness coming out alive and uninjured, now he only hoped for his highness to come out. Whatever state the kiln and Bai WuXiang had made him in, seeing him would be enough to calm his rising panic. He didn’t care if what remained of Xie Lian was just a lingering soul ready to dissipate, or a hurt and revengeful fallen god. He would have loved him anyway, so it didn’t matter. He only wanted to be given the chance to help his highness, to see him again, to be reassured that everything could turn back to what it was before, that was all he asked.

The months passed, and when Feng Xin and Mu Qing passed in visit, from a cold and hateful tone, they started seeing Hua Cheng differently. The latter could see that in their eyes there was a trace of pity. He, Crimson Rain Sought Flower, a Ghost King feared and respected by all of the three realms, was pitied by two small and useless gods. He hated it, but he would never leave the side of Xie Lian, even if he was going to be pitied or made fun of by everyone. Xie Lian was in the kiln, so he would wait outside of it.

When the kiln trembled with earthquakes, Hua Cheng was the first one to notice. He poured in his blows against the rock with as much spiritual powers as he could master, so as to make the kiln break sooner. 

Before the kiln opened completely, many Heaven Officials arrived and waited with him. Some were ready with their weapons in hand, but most of them hoped for the best. 

Hua Cheng hadn't slept or eaten in a year. He didn't need to, but his exhaustion was still evidently displayed to who had seen him at least once. Clinging to the red thread still vivid on his finger, Hua Cheng was about to let go of all the worries accumulated in the last year. He knew he would still need to be wary, in case Bai Wuxiang was still in the kiln, but he was also sure Xie Lian was going to come out, and everything else seemed worthless to think of. With heart and mind consumed by one year of pain and anguish, Hua Cheng could only think about one person. 

When a half-crying and half-smiling mask came out, with a thick and oppressive aura of demonic energy surrounding the white silhouette, everyone’s heart dropped. Even Hua Cheng, who was expecting Xie Lian’s beautiful face, was deceived by the ghost’s demonic aura. 

It was just a second, however. With a second glance, Hua Cheng immediately realized his misjudgement. He also realized that the real person hiding behind that mask, Xie Lian, was staring at him with a fixed gaze.

In that second, Hua Cheng knew fear. He wasn’t scared of Xie Lian, obviously; he was scared of the meaning behind that intense stare. The guilt and remorse that had grown inside him for all the days of the one year of waiting had created self-doubt in his heart, and now that Xie Lian stared at him without saying a word, Hua Cheng realized something: it was all his fault. Xie Lian had been through a year of torture, and he had done nothing about it. He had jumped in the kiln one year before without even considering the possibility of them being separated, and it was his own misjudgments that had put his Xie Lian at risk in the first place. What right did he have to hope for his highness' forgiveness? Was he really so arrogant to think that Xie Lian would come out of the kiln while greeting him with a smile? 

Hua Cheng couldn't help but lower his eyes on the ground, speechless for his own behaviour. After one second to calm down his own unrestrained shivering, he raised his gaze again, and made eye contact with Xie Lian, who had never stopped staring at him. In a turmoil of dreadful feelings, Hua Cheng only managed to translate Xie Lian's stare in one way: his highness hated him.

He knew he was the only one to blame, he hadn’t been able to break in the kiln after all, but receiving that hatred-filled glare by Xie Lian confirmed all of his deepest fears. He thought that Xie Lian would never forgive him. And he was terrified by it.

He couldn’t imagine that his expression at the moment reflected the fear he was feeling, and that Xie Lian had completely misinterpreted it. 

The Heaven Officials weren’t complete idiots, and realized that something was wrong, not daring to attack. The one who broke the stalemate was Xie Lian, whose voice was hoarse and pain-filled.

“...San Lang.” 

There was offense in the tone, betrayal, grief. Hua Cheng thought that Xie Lian used that tone to express his hate for him. 

Xie Lian had actually used that tone because he couldn’t stand Hua Cheng being scared of him.

The gods realized the identity of the ghost, and they were all speechless. Hua Cheng couldn’t utter a word, even if he wanted to. He felt the need to kneel and beg for forgiveness, but he also thought he deserved none. Xie Lian misunderstood his silence, and without waiting a second longer, he turned away from the crowd of gods and a ghost, and walked towards who knows where. Before anyone could stop him, he had disappeared, showing the incredible skill at disappearing of a newborn supreme.

Hua Cheng suddenly felt like he had lost everything. He had been used to that feeling, in the past, but by staying at Xie Lian's side, the anguish and pain of the past seemed to have gradually faded away, like a long nightmare replaced with a pleasant dream. During the one year of waiting outside Mount Toglu, Hua Cheng couldn't manage to think of a life without Xie Lian, so his hopefulness for his god to come back to him never completely died. In an instant, Xie Lian had left, and the pleasant dream had been completely shattered to dust, replaced once more by the abysmal nightmare. Hua Cheng was at a loss, refusing to believe what had just happened. He felt like a child again, useless in front of things he didn't have the power to fight against.

He had had the luck and blessing to be accepted by the god he loved, he could hold the hand of his beloved, they had even kissed and embraced one year before. One year had gone by, but Hua Cheng felt like he had lost everything in just an instant. Being thrown back to the hell that his life was before meeting again Xie Lian, Hua Cheng didn't know how to act at first. He had obtained everything he wanted and more, and he had still managed to lose it. His self-doubt made him conscious that he was at fault, and that slowed his reactions at deciding what to do. After some days of feeling empty and pointless, however, the solution came to him, and it was the most obvious one. Of course, he would look for his highness.

Hua Cheng knew his highness didn’t want to be found. Especially by him, since he had disappointed his god. But he couldn’t help it, and he started his search. He was used to searching for his highness. He only hoped it wouldn’t take him another 8 centuries to find him again.

The news that His Highness Xie Lian, from a scrap-picker god, had become a supreme, shook all the realms. Many took it as a joke, especially since there were no traces of Xie Lian, and he didn’t seem to create rocus to who offended him. After all, most of the humans who knew about the scrap-picking god Xie Lian had made fun of him, so what was the point in stopping now? If Xie Lian wanted revenge, they would already be on his blacklist. Hua Cheng was already busy, but he still tried to survey those rumours. He couldn't stop all the gossip, but he still managed to stop the most outrageous ones. 

Hua Cheng searched everywhere he could think of, sending out so many ghosts in the research that the Ghost Realm was almost empty. He didn’t find Xie Lian, but someone very interesting. The man seemed to have something to say to him, and he seemed an unusual person, so Hua Cheng took him to Paradise Manor to interrogate him. However, it didn’t seem to be necessary, because the man was willing to talk.

The man was the former Guoshi of Xianle, and the things he said were very, very interesting.

When Hua Cheng stepped out of Paradise Manor, for the first time in months it wasn’t to search Xie Lian. He had many destinations in mind: Jun Wu’s temples and shrines.
After one night, he had set fire to half of them. He could have easily destroyed them all, but, where was the fun in that? He didn’t want to annihilate Jun Wu. He wanted to torture him. For this, he couldn’t do it on his own.

Crimson Rain Sought Flower, the Ghost King feared and respected in all the three realms, lowered himself to the point of forming an alliance with the Heaven Officials. Ling Wen had disappeared after Mount Tonglu, but he found her, and forced her to work for him. Hua Cheng knew she was needed for the Heavenly Court to function without Jun Wu, and he could use her for now. If he didn’t, she would probably go on Jun Wu’s side. 

Ling Wen was able to control the spiritual communication array, and under Hua Cheng’s directions, she managed to inform all the gods of Jun Wu's real identity, without letting the latter know. The biggest part was done, now it was just a matter of time. 

While Hua Cheng took care of burning Jun Wu's temples and shrines, the civil gods of the Heavenly court were spreading out rumors in the human realm. They weren’t exactly fake, because there was always a part of truth in them. While the rumors were spread, martial gods ensured safety for the humans who mostly spread them. It was obvious that Jun Wu would try to kill those who said things like that about him, but with the help of the martial gods, Hua Cheng managed to protect those people.

Inevitably, Jun Wu started to lose believers. At first it wasn’t obvious, and fake peace still remained in the Heavenly court, but as soon as the situation worsened for Jun Wu, the Martial Gods were ready to take him down. Hua Cheng was waiting for him, when he escaped the Heavens.

Jun Wu still had most of his spiritual powers left, and he managed to escape the Ghost King, after a fight that almost cost him his life. Their fight lasted three days, and it was enough for the Martial Gods to completely annihilate the Martial Emperor's subordinates, but Jun Wu still escaped death. Jun Wu technically died, as a god, and continued living as a ghost, as Bai WuXiang. Hua Cheng, who had fought fiercely and with fury, had no grave injuries at the end, but he had lost something. The red pearl tied at his braid had been cut off, and for how much time he spent looking for it, he never found it again. Jun Wu had lost most of his powers; however, Hua Cheng felt like he was the one to have lost the most.

Hua Cheng felt at a loss. He had lost his god, and now even the only thing that had kept him company during his 8 centuries long search, and that reminded him of his beloved. His grief didn’t stop him from continuing looking for Xie Lian, but he felt a large emptiness in his chest. If he hadn't had a red thread on his finger, showing him constantly the reason why he was still in that world, he would have gone mad, and completely gave up on everything.

When He Xuan suddenly contacted him through Yin Yu, saying that he had seen his highness, he almost didn’t believe his words. He Xuan even explained what he had seen in detail, describing Xie Lian as a devastation rank ghost with Bai WuXiang’s mask and a black sword at his side. Hua Cheng thought he was going to die again from joy. He arrived at the pit He Xuan had reported from, but Xie Lian had long since gone away.

“Crimson Rain... Sought Flower??”

 A scared and incredulous voice called him. He met Shi Qingxuan, who was surrounded by a group of beggars with whom he was laughing and chatting. Shi Qingxuan stood up, hopping on a leg to reach the red-clothed ghost king.

“Crimson Rain Sought Flower, what are you doing here?”

He greeted while smiling. He was obviously scared by the appearance of the ghost king, but that wasn’t enough to kill his smile.

“Have you seen his highness?” Hua Cheng interrogated him.

Shi Qingxuan wore a confused expression, “No... I haven’t seen him in ages. Was he here?”

Hua Cheng scoffed and remade the question, “Have you seen a man in white with a mask?”

Shi Qingxuan frowned at the weird question, and after thinking deeply, he said, “Before I fell asleep there was a white-robed man with a funny face... that’s all I remember,” he said while tapping his temple.

“Funny face?”

Shi Qingxuan giggled, “I don’t know exactly, I was drunk, but I thought his face was weird... Is your highness all right? Where is he?"

Hua Cheng understood. Xie Lian had indeed been there. Without saying a word to Shi Qingxuan, he sent a flow of butterflies to research the area. He didn’t know how far his highness had gone, but he finally had a trace, he couldn’t waste it.

He didn’t manage to find Xie Lian, and after two months of research in every direction Xie Lian could have taken, he gave up and started searching as he did before.

Three other months passed before he had other news. This time, it came from Ling Wen. He hadn’t told her his verbal password, so he simply let Yin Yu do the talking. Yin Yu was the first one to get the news that Xie Lian had been found by Feng Xin and Mu Qing, and he quickly informed Hua Cheng. The latter had to resist with all of his forces not to storm into the Heavenly court and steal his highness away, but he didn't want to put Xie Lian in an awkward position, so he waited. 

After the meeting Ling Wen was attending was over, she quickly told Yin Yu that Xie Lian had gone on a mission with His Highness Qi Ying. Yin Yu couldn’t help but grimace at the news, and reluctantly informed Hua Cheng. In a second, they had traveled to the west, looking for the most powerful resentful spirits to find his highness and Quan Yizhen. 

The first creature they found was a kind of dragon made of water, resting in a lake and invisible when still. Since they didn’t want to lose time, and there weren’t traces of who they were looking for, they ignored it, going to the next location. It was deserted, no signs of spirit nor Quan Yizhen and Xie Lian, but there were traces of a fight, so they had been too late.

They traveled to the next location, and found themselves underneath the earth, in an underground cave. Traps were installed on the roof, but they weren’t traps for who was in the cave, they were traps for who stepped on them from outside. 

Sounds of fighting could be heard from above, so, after exchanging a glance, Yin Yu hit above them with his shovel, while Hua Cheng used his dice to travel above the surface. The roof of the underground cave fell, and before Yin Yu could even realize what had happened, he was forced to fall backwards by the force of an embrace, while the scream of the last person he needed to meet echoed in his ears.

“Shixiong!!!”

Hua Cheng had already come out, halting at the sight of a white silouhette. Xie Lian was right in front of him, facing the opposite direction, where Yin Yu was dealing with his problem. Hua Cheng had dreamed so many times of that moment, the moment he found his highness once more, and in none of those dreams there was a god screaming "shixiong" nearby, but he barely even noticed it.

All his focus was pointed on the familiar figure in front of him, that despite what the rumours said, was still the same god as before. Hair tied in a simple bun, half of it loose in a warm breeze; old and worn white robes, that on the body of his highness appeared royal and luxurious robes, and a simple straw hat tied at his neck. From behind, Hua Cheng could not see his highness' face, but he knew from He Xuan's information that Xie Lian was wearing Bai WuXiang's mask. Whatever was the reason his highness wore it, it would have to wait, Hua Cheng couldn't care less at the moment. All of his heart was filled with love, with hope, with trepidation. He was scared for what might happen, but too happy to focus on it. 

After a second to calm down the turmoil of emotions present in his heart, Hua Cheng called out.

“Dianxia.”

Chapter Text

Xie Lian gulped, feeling his legs suddenly weakening. 

He was scared by the sound of that voice, but he also felt an unrestrainable joy blooming in his heart, making him feel alive. However, it was exactly that joy that scared him to death, and he couldn’t find the courage to turn around and face the person.

“Dianxia....” Hua Cheng called again, his voice less sure than before.

Xie Lian felt the voice in his heart, and unwillingly pictured San Lang saying it. He shut his eyes closed, refusing to break apart just for being called by that person. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't let his heart waver. After taking a deep breath and re-analysing in his head his priorities, Xie Lian decided that San Lang deserved at least a clear answer. Relying on the fact that his facial reactions were hidden by a mask, he slowly turned around to face the person behind him.

Their gazes met for a fraction of second, and Xie Lian felt something inside him pushing him towards Hua Cheng. He forced himself not to move, gritting his teeth to avoid any sound from falling out.

The eternal second in which they made eye contact was interrupted, since Hua Cheng immediately lowered his head, letting himself fall down on one knee. 

Xie Lian's eyes widened, not expecting such a sudden behaviour, and he unconsciously made a step forward to stop Hua Cheng's prostration. After just one step, however, he forced himself to stop, not daring to go closer, afraid of his own possible reaction.

“Dianxia, I’m so sorry,” Hua Cheng whispered through remorsefully-gritted teeth, not moving a muscle from his bowing position.

Xie Lian listened, his breathing unnecessarily accelerating until it was so irregular that it couldn't have belonged to a living person.

“Please, dianxia, let me follow you,” Hua Cheng pleaded while raising his gaze.

The emotion-filled stare that San Lang was giving him was heavier than all of those from the Heaven Officials in the Meeting Hall, and Xie Lian had to bite his cheek to not show any reaction. Xie Lian had shut his eyes again, afraid of his weakness to that glare.

"....please?" Hua Cheng added, his voice almost cracking. 

Xie Lian really couldn't stand it anymore. He knew he was wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to do otherwise. Opening his eyes, Xie Lian shook his head in refusal.

Hua Cheng couldn’t see the pain on Xie Lian’s face while he did so, but Xie Lian however could see everything. From pain and hopefulness, Hua Cheng's expression froze in anguish, and he cast his gaze on the ground, although he didn't stand from his position.

Quan Yizhen was still screaming ‘shixiong’ while Yin Yu tried to escape his attention, but to the ears or Xie Lian and Hua Cheng everything was soundless. Xie Lian was heartbroken, and he regretted with all his heart his refusal. But he had decided, it was for the best. He would rather Hua Cheng forgot about him, than force him to believe in a fallen god.

Turning away from the still kneeling Hua Cheng, Xie Lian went to Qi Ying, to go to their next mission. Seeing that Qi Ying didn’t even acknowledge Xie Lian’s presence, Xie Lian didn't want to lose any time, so he walked away, leaving them behind to pursue the tasks on his own.

He heard Hua Cheng standing up once he passed past him, and he accelerated his pace, repeating in his head that he only needed to go away and then it would all be over. When he heard the sound of steps behind him, he almost jumped from fright, not having prepared to deal with that. He was pondering if it was better to simply ignore the person following him, when a hand brushed his sleeve, not daring to touch him, but still making its presence known.

"Dianxia...", Hua Cheng called out again, refusing to simply let him go.

From under the sleeve Hua Cheng had touched, Xie Lian felt Rouye stir, as if it was telling him to turn around and face Hua Cheng. Xie Lian squeezed one end of the silk band with his fist, admonishing it to stop moving, but Rouye continued twisting around. Exasperated both by the silk cloth's insistence, and by his own unrestrainable desires, Xie Lian suddenly snapped, not able to keep up with the storm of contrasting feelings in his heart.

"GO AWAY!!" He cried, having stopped walking.

After breathing in and out a couple of times, Xie Lian calmed down a little, and he suddenly froze. He hadn't meant to yell that harshly, he actually didn't want to say anything at all, and his own behaviour had shocked him. More importantly, his intention was never to hurt San Lang, and he had just yelled at him like that... 

If Xie Lian hadn't been frozen by the shock of his own words, he would have either run away in shame, or apologised to Hua Cheng. However, he didn't have any space in his mind to think about what he should have done, since he was too panicked to think about anything at all. Xie Lian waited in silence, breathing deeply to calm himself, not daring to turn around. Behind him, Hua Cheng didn't make a sound, and if Xie Lian hadn't been feeling a persistent gaze stuck on his back, he would have thought Hua Cheng had disappeared.

Xie Lian found himself trembling from the feeling of guilt and remorse, and he forced himself to stop by biting hard on his cheek. Noticing that it was fruitless, and his legs were still trembling shamelessly, he decided that he couldn't be there any longer, and he started walking away. This time, no sounds of someone following came from behind, but Xie Lian could still sense a heavy stare on his back. He didn't dare to look back, but he kept apologizing in his mind, both for having just yelled crude words and for having refused San Lang's help.

After walking for several minutes, and having left the forest he was in previously far behind himself, Xie Lian finally stopped walking so fast it hurt his feet, and breathed out the air he had been unconsciously holding until then. All of his thoughts wavered in one direction, and Xie Lian decided that he needed to distract himself in order to not go crazy. He took out the rolls of the missions from his sleeve with still-trembling hands, and he reread them for a couple of times, until all of his focus was on them.

The missions Ling Wen had given in total to Quan YiZhen were seven, and after fighting against two other resentful spirits on his own, Xie Lian finally completed them. However, he had been counting on Qi Ying to inform Ling Wen about it through the spiritual communication array, and now he didn’t know how to report. He should have gone back to the Heavenly court, but the thought of going there without having someone accompanying him made him have goosebumps, so he rejected the idea.

He was quite sure that, when Ling Wen had given out the mission to Feng Xin and Mu Qing, she had also given some extra tasks in the West, for when they had finished in the south. Since Xie Lian was seated next to them, he had stolen a glimpse from the rolls they had, and he had seen one of those missions’ location. 

Mu Qing and Feng Xin probably hadn’t finished yet, so he could take care of it in their place in the meanwhile. He didn’t think they would care too much.

Guided by his memories of the location, and some indications he asked around, Xie Lian ventured towards it, a lake in the middle of a valley. Unexpectedly, the place turned out to be farthest than he had thought, and Xie Lian managed to arrive at his destination only some time before sunset. The light of the low sun still let him see something, but once he reached a pleasurable place on the shore of a lake, Xie Lian realized that he had no idea what to look for.

After all, what he had seen was only a location, not the entire scroll. For what he knew, the creature could have been anywhere. He didn’t even know if it was on the ground or underwater!

Following his instincts, Xie Lian guessed that it was the latter. He couldn’t feel any presence, neither alive nor dead, in his surroundings, so it was a deductible choice for him to think of the spirit to hide underwater. 

He wasn’t an expert on water spirits, but he knew they mostly reacted to yang energy, and were careful on selecting a prey that was alive and alone. He was a ghost, so he would never be able to lure spirits out, so he was stuck in a dilemma. Should he just wait for Feng Xin and Mu Qing to take care of the situation?

Then he remembered something. When San Lang changed his form in the past, he had also managed to assume the body of an actual alive human, so maybe he could try as well? He only needed a beating heart, and to hide his ghostly aura, then the spirit would probably be lured by him.

He had already tried to shape his form as Hua Cheng did, but his efforts had always been useless. This time, however, he wasn’t trying to change skin, but only to make himself look alive.

When Xie Lian managed to make his own heart beat, the feeling at first was so weird that he tried to make it stop. After getting used to it, he hid his demonic aura as best as he could, and waited on the shore. 

Apart from the sun lowering itself more and more on the horizon, nothing else was happening, and Xie Lian was starting to worry if he had done something wrong. From when he had become a ghost, he had never stopped breathing, out of habit, and now he wasn’t lacking. In theory, he had all the qualities of a human being. Then why was no spirit appearing?

Little did he know, the spirit had already set its eyes on him. Not only that, it had already started to move underwater, but, since the spirit was made of water, it was invisible on the surface. Xie Lian noticed the incoming danger at the last second, and promptly rolled at the side to avoid the strike of a water dragon. 

Fang Xin was immediately unsheathed, and Xie Lian struck the dragon before it could go underwater again. The sword pierced the dragon effortlessly, since it was made of water, but then it remained stuck on the dragon’s neck. 

Xie Lian realized of his mistake too late, when the dragon had already dragged him by the sword underwater. Twisted and squeezed in a turbulent lake current, Xie Lian lost his grip on Fang Xin, and lost sight of his surroundings. 

He couldn’t drown, but since he was used to breathing, the feeling of choking still took over him. Driven by impulse, he hastily tried to take off the mask from his face, feeling it filled with water, forgetting that he had already tried so many times and always failed.

The water dragon was dragging him below, but all he could think of was to take off that mask, as if it was the mask’s fault for him not being able to breathe.

He didn’t notice when the dragon's grip on him suddenly disappeared, and it was replaced by something else. This time around, he was being dragged to the surface, without even having realized it.

Once he broke through the surface of the lake, the mask gradually emptied from the accumulated water, and after spitting out what he had breathed in, he started gasping for useless air. His body was half-seated and half-layed on the shore, but his mind was too dizzy to notice it.

When someone touched his mask at the sides of his face, Xie Lian finally snapped out of it, and came face to face with his saviour. Hua Cheng was sitting on his knees in front of him, staring at him as if he could see through the mask he was wearing. Xie Lian automatically held his breath, feeling all of his muscles tense. 

"Why..." are you here?  He tried asking, but the amount of thoughts travelling his mind was too much for him to be able to comple the question.

Hua Cheng spoke calmly, tapping with both of his thumbs the mask he was lightly holding.

“Can I take it off for you?”

They stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed an eternity. Now that they were so close, Xie Lian couldn't bring himself to shut his eyes, and his all vision was filled with the person his heart was full of. Hua Cheng, as Xie Lian noticed, had been the only one to realize Xie Lian wasn’t wearing the mask for his own choice.

Hua Cheng’s eye hid a mix of hope and sadness. Xie Lian couldn’t help but drown in its emotion-filled gaze, captured by the sincere concern that Hua Cheng felt for him. Once again, he had been saved by Hua Cheng, and he didn’t even notice it. 

Hua Cheng was holding the sides of the mask, ready to take it off. However, Xie Lian was sure that, if he said no, Hua Cheng wouldn’t go against his will.

Xie Lian raised his arms, and covered Hua Cheng’s hands with his own. Because he had previously made his heart beat, his hands were warmer than Hua Cheng’s, and he could almost pretend nothing had happened, and they were still one god and one ghost king. Xie Lian closed his eyes, imagining that it had all been a nightmare, and he could simply let himself drown in San Lang's embrace and forget all of it. After taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes once more. Xie Lian lowered Hua Cheng’s hands, letting the mask stay in its place.

Hua Cheng had no visible reaction, but Xie Lian knew better that it was just a facade. After all, he had a mask to cover his expression, while San Lang had only his own self-control. Under the shelter of having his face hidden by view, Xie found the force to speak. He had a lot of things to say, and a lot of things to ask, but he forced his desires down, and focused on one statement. His voice sounded grating and strident, but Xie Lian tried not to focus on it, but more on the sentence.

“You can’t stand seeing me like this, right?”

Hua Cheng didn’t seem to notice the sound of the voice, and his calm facade fell at Xie Lian’s words.

“Dianxia....”

Hua Cheng recollected himself, and without blinking, he stated, “Dianxia will forever be dianxia. And I will always accept you and follow you...”

Then he added, his voice softening, “what matters is you, and not the state of you.” 

Xie Lian knew those words weren’t fake. He knew Hua Cheng wasn’t lying. That actually made him feel even worse, and he couldn’t even tell why he felt so bad. Xie Lian lowered his head, trying to stop some tears from falling out of his eyes. 

“It's not true,” he accused, even though he knew Hua Cheng wouldn't lie. He just couldn’t understand how Hua Cheng was being so acceptant. Perhaps it was because San Lang didn't know, that it wasn't the first time he wore such a mask. Maybe if San Lang knew what had happened during his first banishment...

Before he could even realize it, Hua Cheng had bent forward, cupping the mask in his hands while placing a kiss on where Xie Lian’s forehead would have been.

Xie Lian let out a sob, and unconsciously bent forward as well. Without even noticing how, he had completely melted into San Lang's soft gaze, and once Hua Cheng pulled back, Xie Lian, driven by pure impulse, hastily tried to tear off that damned mask from his face.

Hua Cheng immediately stopped his meaningless attempts, and proceeded to easily remove the mask, casting it away. 

Without even peeking a look at Xie Lian’s face, Hua Cheng cupped it once more, kissing the forehead again, this time for real. He didn’t let go immediately, but lingered for a couple of seconds, until he slowly pulled back with a smile.

“Dianxia,” Hua Cheng’s expression softened, finally coming to sight with Xie Lian’s face. He hadn’t let down his hands, and he delicately caressed Xie Lian’s tears away.

“If you really wanted to put that mask on again, I would be joining and putting one as well,” Hua Cheng spoke while smiling, “but I know that, this time, you didn’t want to, so I also didn’t want you to wear it.”

“San Lang...?” Xie Lian questioned, too confused by what had just happened to understand the meaning behind those words.

Hua Cheng pulled him in a hug, not resisting the temptation anymore, cutting off Xie Lian’s thoughts. Xie Lian let himself drown in the red robe, feeling as if he had never felt better in the few past years. He felt so stupid for not letting himself be hugged like this before, but even his regrets seemed distant in the comfortable position he was in. After some minutes of letting himself accept the fact that he was indeed being hugged so sweetly, Xie Lian finally rethought about those previous words.

“San Lang,” He spoke without pulling back, “have you met me... anywhere else at any other point in time?”

Some years before, in the cave of the 10,000 statues, he had asked the same question, but he had the feeling that Hua Cheng had lied at the time. A doubt rose in Xie Lian's mind, a doubt so big that he didn't find the courage to speak it aloud.

Silence fell on their conversation, and Xie Lian almost pulled back from the hug to seek an answer in the other’s expression. He heard that Hua Cheng hummed, and felt the vibration on the other’s chest. At this point, Xie Lian had understood Hua Cheng knew. Hua Cheng had already seen the worst of him, and still decided to follow. Apart from feeling dizzy for the current of thoughts and realizations that struck his mind, Xie Lian didn't know how he should have felt. Unused to notice his own facial reactions, Xie Lian felt tears flow freely from his eyes, and for as much as he tried to stop them, it only worsened the situation, causing him to uncontrollably whine and sob on Hua Cheng's robe.

After he calmed himself down a little, soothed by Hua Cheng's gentle caresses on his back, Xie Lian rethought about his behaviours, and guilt spread in his heart. He knew he was in the wrong by telling San lang off, he had always known, but the knowledge he had just received made everything worse. He realized that maybe, when he exited the kiln, San Lang's scared expression, was it because he was reminded of something? Did he think Xie Lian was going to be like he was after his first descension, the other time he had worn the mask? Xie Lian couldn’t help but feel more upset, realizing that if that was really San Lang's fear, it had turned out to be accurate, since he had treated San Lang so badly once more. He pulled back, standing on his feet, not managing to stay in the warm hug of the person who seemed to forgive him for what even he himself didn't.

Hua Cheng noticed something was wrong and stood up as well, but Xie Lian had already turned around, trying to hide his emotion-filled face from sight. It was easier when he wore a mask, now he was self-aware of how the turmoil of emotions in his heart were reflected on his face unwillingly.

“Dianxia,” Hua Cheng called out with an anxious voice, getting closer.

“I’m sorry,” Xie Lian stammered, his voice cracking. 

Hua Cheng was right behind him, but he didn’t come closer, letting Xie Lian have his time.

“I'm sorry...When I exited the kiln... I thought you....” his voice failed him, and two arms suddenly circled his waist, holding him close.

“Dianxia, you don't need to apologize, but please don’t leave like that again....” Hua Cheng whispered in his ear, pleading.

“I’m sorry, I'm sorry,” Xie Lian repeated again and again, forcing his voice out as if it was the most important thing he'd ever done.

“I was so scared....” Hua Cheng continued.

Xie Lian’s voice trembled, “Because I had become like that again?”

Hua Cheng suddenly froze, a frown appearing on his face. After turning Xie Lian around, so that they faced each other, he stated, dead serious, “No. I was scared you would hate me.”

“...What?” Xie Lian’s eyes widened.

“I wasn’t able to save you. I thought you’d hate me forever.”

They stared at each other for some seconds, understanding blooming in both of their expressions. At the end, a confused chuckle made its way in Xie Lian's mouth. Noticing that Hua Cheng was staring fondly at him, with the same confusion on his face as him, Xie Lian couldn't restrain a smile from spreading on his face.

Or at least, what would have been a smile, if Xie Lian’s facial muscles hadn’t refused to work at that moment. Self-aware that what was on his face probably was more deformed than a grimace, Xie Lian hid his face on Hua Cheng’s chest to compose himself again. For once, even if he had miserably failed, he was happy to have at least tried.
After revealing his face again, he voiced out his thoughts.

“San Lang. It wasn't your fault. I would never hate you....”

When his voice died again, and nothing more came out, instead of speaking, he went on his tiptoes, expressing his words with a timid kiss on Hua Cheng’s cheek.

Hua Cheng's expression melted in what could only described as happiness, and after chuckling once from satisfactory giddiness, he subconsciously followed Xie Lian's face once the latter pulled away from the small peck. With both of their faces as closed to each other that their breaths mingled together, Hua Cheng waited for Xie Lian’s approval, and once the latter reduced the distance between them on his own, Hua Cheng lips finally landed on the other’s.

The kiss wasn’t like the one they had exchanged before separating on Mount Tonglu. It was more careful, gentle, and filled with emotions. There was also no exchange of spiritual powers this time.

After years of waiting, Xie Lian finally felt alive again, with the heartbeat he had faked racing in his chest.

Once the kiss ended, they didn't pull back completely, both searching for something unspeakable in the other's eyes. They both found forgiveness, love, and unrestrainble joy. 

When Xie Lian suddenly felt something tug at his foot, he reluctantly released Hua Cheng’s face to glance down and discover what had happened. Apparently, a roll of paper had stopped at his feet, and there were many others on the ground, almost as if someone had dropped them.

When Hua Cheng and Xie Lian raised their eyes, they met the ones’ of who had dropped the rolls on the ground.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing were standing very awkwardly in front of them, just having arrived at the shore after using a Thousand Miles in a Step Array.

Xie Lian had forgotten that this mission had been assigned to them, and that they were eventually going to come. During all the times they could have arrived at, did they really have to choose that moment?

Xie Lian felt dizzy from embarrassment, while Hua Cheng wore murderous intent as a dress. Feng Xin and Mu Qing seemed unable to avert their eyes, the questions storming their minds visible through their confused eyes.

“Your highness....” Feng Xin was the one to break the awkward stalemate, “I am glad... you are....better.”

Xie Lian couldn’t help but be surprised, he hadn’t expected this to be the first thing said. When he moved his gaze towards Mu Qing, to see if he wanted to say anything, Mu Qing avoided eye contact.

Xie Lian felt a hand slipping in his own, and pulling him lightly. He turned to meet Hua Cheng’s gaze, who spoke gently, “Let’s go.” 

Xie Lian probably had to report to Ling Wen, but he couldn’t refuse San Lang’s offering. He didn’t know where they were going, but he couldn't care less. For once, he wanted to put all of his trust in San Lang.

Chapter Text

Before Feng Xin and Mu Qing could do anything, Hua Cheng had rolled his dice, transporting them inside of Paradise Manor. Xie Lian felt an unusual feeling of safety by holding the other’s hand, and a feeling of drowsiness overtook him. As if reading his thoughts, Hua Cheng promptly led him to a bedroom.

"Rest now," he murmured while still holding Xie Lian's hand.

Xie Lian would have eagerly accepted the offer, but he still felt like he was in a dream that may have shattered if he didn't continuously make sure of Hua Cheng's presence. It was a silly thought, he knew that Hua Cheng had the same need to stay with him as he did, but he still couldn't get the uneasiness out of his heart.

"San Lang," He called out while sitting on the bed with his legs crossed. He had forgotten how comfortable it was to sit on a real bed, and since he had begun not to feel a lot of sensations by becoming a ghost, he was amazed by how staying with Hua Cheng made him feel alive.

After noticing that the latter had sat on the side of the bed, but did not seem to have any intention to lay down, Xie Lian understood that he wasn't going to sleep.

"Can you stay for a little bit?" 

Hua Cheng's smile softened, and he entwined his fingers with Xie Lian's.

"As long as dianxia desires," he hummed.

Xie Lian wanted to smile but then he was reminded of something. Lowering his head, he searched for the right words that wouldn't fail him.

"San Lang, about before... I didn't mean to yell at you, I... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...I-"

Hua Cheng's hold on his hand tightened slightly. "Dianxia, there's no need. I'm the one who needs to apologize, dianxia isn't at fault."

"San Lang, please don't say that," Xie Lian's voice cracked a little. He had completely forgot about how his throat hurt from not speaking for so long, but now the pain and discomfort revealed that he probably should have stopped forcing his voice out.

Before he could say anything else, Hua Cheng frowned slightly, and raised his free hand to brush Xie Lian's right cheek. "Dianxia, please don't force yourself. Tomorrow morning I'll be busy with Yin Yu, but I'll see you as soon as I can, and we'll talk then."

Maybe it would have been better; however, Xie Lian had spent way too much time without talking with anyone, and now that he really felt the desire to speak, he wouldn't be held back by such a tiny thing. He promptly shook his head, reaching out with his free hand to hold Hua Cheng's other hand that was still on his cheek.

"San Lang, I need to make this clear. None of... what happened is your fault. It's my fault.... I... I left you, just because I am so stupid..." Xie Lian was stopped by his lack of voice, and he shut his eyes to not let the wetness that had been created at the memories fall out.

Hua Cheng's hand felt reassuring on his face, and Xie Lian subconsciously pressed a small kiss on it. Hua Cheng had remained silent, understanding that Xie Lian needed to voice his thoughts, and he sighed at the end of the speech. Although he was smiling, it was obvious that he partly disagreed, but he didn't say anything.

After Xie Lian had let his hand down, and the wetness in his eyes had gone away, he smiled at the other. After all, for how guilty he may felt, he was simply too happy to focus only on that.

"Thank you," he whispered after a deep breath.

Hua Cheng smiled warmly, and leaned forward to kiss the top of Xie Lian's head. "Thank you, for coming back with me. Now rest, gege."

Xie Lian nodded, joyful to hear the familiar title after so much time. Both for awkwardness and for laziness, Xie Lian kept his inner layer robe on before laying on the bed he was already sitting on.

Hua Cheng gently tucked the covers on top of Xie Lian once he was in a comfortable position, and Xie Lian almost chuckled at how sweetly and childishly he was being treated. For how much as he was embarrassed, he didn't complain, simply enjoying the treatment.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, Xie Lian fell asleep immediately, with a feeling of safeness and satisfaction blooming in his chest. Before he closed his eyes, he stole a quick glance at his side, where he met the gaze of Hua Cheng. The latter was staring at him with the most love-lost and relieved emotion in his eye that Xie Lian had ever seen, and although the darkness of the night covered his own expression, Xie Lian couldn't help but smile, lost himself in the feeling of love present on Hua Cheng's face.

 
Hua Cheng took him company for a while, waiting for him to fall asleep, and then left to get Yin Yu and discuss Bai WuXiang research. Needless to say, Hua Cheng hoped to be able to take care of the situation without Xie Lian, even though it was improbable.

Xie Lian woke up from a dreamless night, and he thought that he had just had the best sleep of his entire life. Hua Cheng had already told him he wouldn’t be there in the morning, but he still felt disappointed by not seeing the other on his side. 

After staring at the room for some minutes, still incredulous of how lucky he had been, Xie Lian went to the side room before anything else, where a jade bathtub full with water was waiting for him. Ghosts didn’t need to wash in theory, but the clothes he had entered the lake with yesterday were still on his body, and after drying, they had an uncomfortable texture on his skin.

Xie Lian undressed himself and entered the bathtub after folding his clothes on the side, thinking he would wash them as well after he was done with the bath. He relaxed in the feeling of water surrounding him, and found himself dozing off. After simply enjoying the warmth for a while, he searched for the soaps. He caught sight of a mirror the size of a plate, laid on a soap holder with bars of soaps and perfumed oils.

Without thinking too much about it, Xie Lian reached out with his hand, without moving from his half-seated half-laid position. When he was shown his own reflection, however, the mirror he was holding fell in the water with a plop, and Xie Lian remained dazed for a few seconds.

Realizing that he had let the mirror fall, Xie Lian hastily recovered it, and tried to wash away the drops of water on it with his forearm. Now the reflection was blurrier and covered with mist, but Xie Lian could still see his face. Or at least, whatever mess was on it.

After all, he had died with a mask on, and since then he had never been able to expose it to the sun or wind. It wasn’t that different from how he was before, obviously, he was still the same person therefore had the same body features as alive, however, no one would believe him if he said his face belonged to somebody alive. 

Hua Cheng, in every form he took, looked human, apart from being paler than most people. Xie Lian couldn’t understand why his face felt so off. Maybe it was for not being free from a mask in years, Xie Lian thought, hoping that the situation would gradually change now that he didn’t have it anymore. 

He didn’t understand how Hua Cheng had been able to not say anything about it. After all, Hua Cheng knew his facial features better than anyone else, maybe even Xie Lian himself, so he must had noticed the change in his complexion. He understood that Feng Xin and Mu Qing were probably too shocked by the situation to notice, or to say anything about it, but why did Hua Cheng....  Xie Lian shook his head, and sighed happily. Knowing San Lang, it wasn't so strange after all. As always, Xie Lian felt like he didn't deserve so much consideration from someone so perfect.

Out of curiosity, Xie Lian tried to replicate the smile he had done the day before with Hua Cheng, forcing himself to be as natural as possible. Even though it was obviously forced this time around, Xie Lian hoped that what he had done the day before was better than the monstrosity that had appeared in the mirror just then.

He wasn’t sad for his failure, after all, he still needed to get used to them, both smiling and his ghostly face, and he was sure that by being with San Lang he would get many chances to practise his smiling expression.

When he finished the bath, he found out his clothes had disappeared, replaced with a new set of everything he needed. He was sure Hua Cheng would have made his presence known if he had been here, so Xie Lian guessed it had been Yin Yu. After quickly dressing up, he rushed into the corridor, hoping to reach the latter before he went away. He wanted to ask about Bai WuXiang's research, since Yin Yu was probably the one who knew Hua Cheng's plans the best.

After casually following a corridor in hope that it was the lucky one, it was actually Yin Yu who reached him, having noticed Xie Lian’s research.

“Your highness, can I be of help?” Yin Yu called from behind, startling Xie Lian, who hadn’t noticed the other person's appearance.

Xie Lian cleared his throat, trying to find his voice, “Yes....”

It was still painful to hear, and a bit hoarser than the day before, probably for the excessive effort. However, talking was slightly easier, and Xie Lian was happy for the gain. Yin Yu didn’t flinch at the sound, and promptly answered, “Does his highness want to eat? I’ll take you to the dining room.”

Xie Lian wanted to ask something else, but at the offer of eating something, he couldn’t refuse. After he nodded, Yin Yu immediately led him to a hall with a large table, and Xie Lian remembered that he had already been there in the past. After two ghosts brought a buffet of food from the kitchens, Yin Yu had still not left, waiting for Xie Lian to ask him anything else.

Even though the sight of the feast was alluring, eating with someone who was staring was ill-mannered, so Xie Lian focused on his questions first rather than eating the food.
“...Bai WuXian?” He asked, hoping Yin Yu would understand.

“Hua Chengzu is dealing with the research. Our informer is helping out too.”

Xie Lian raised his eyebrow in question at the mention of an ‘informer’, but since Yin Yu was hesitating in answering, he guessed it was something he wasn’t allowed to say, so he didn’t force the question.

Xie Lian would have smiled to make the conversation easier, but he was sure it would have had the exact opposite effect, so he forced the smile down.

“Will you eat with me?” He offered, hoping Yin Yu would join him.

Yin Yu eventually sat down at the table, but when Xie Lian started eating he didn’t join in, and Xie Lian didn’t press further. Now that he thought about it, Yin Yu and himself were both in a similar situation, and he kind of hoped to be able to communicate more freely with the other former god.

After a few other formalities and made sentences, Xie Lian eventually managed to ask Yin Yu about his cursed shackle. He didn’t want to ask private questions, but what had captured Xie Lian’s attention was the lack of one. Turns out, after Jun Wu had died as a god, the cursed shackle on Yin Yu’s wrist had broken as well. Xie Lian was happy for the former god, but Yin Yu appeared as if he didn’t care, so Xie Lian restrained himself from commenting anything that could be inappropriate. He also avoided talking about Quan YiZhen, since just at the mention of the the missions he had been given by Ling Wen the day before, Yin Yu was clearly uncomfortable.

After half an hour of casual talking, the conversation kept going smoothly and relaxed, and Xie Lian felt relieved to finally have found someone apart from Hua Cheng and Quan Yizhen -both for different reasons- who didn’t feel tense and uneasy when talking to him.

Yin Yu, at midpoint of a sentence, suddenly stopped talking, reaching his temple with his fingers to access the spiritual array. When he was done, Xie Lian gave him a puzzled look, and Yin Yu explained.

“Your highness, I’ve been informed of the presence of several resentful spirits attacking a village. I apologize for having to leave our conversation, I need to inform Hua Chengzu.”

Xie Lian hastily stood up as well, “Wait, I can come as well!”

Yin Yu wore a complicated expression, probably because his lord had been meticulous in indicating that Xie Lian needed to rest. So he said, in what was obviously an excuse, “I have just informed Hua Chengzu via spiritual array, he has probably already departed....”

Xie Lian ‘oh’-ed, and after bidding farewell with the Yin Yu, he hastily ran through the corridors in search of Hua Cheng.

“San Lang?” he called out after realizing he had lost himself in the maze of corridors.

“San Lang?” He called out another time, since the first time his voice was not steady enough to be heard.

As he had thought, Hua Cheng hadn’t departed yet, and appeared almost immediately from behind a door.

“Gege? Are you alright?”

Xie Lian couldn’t hold back a small smile, and for once he didn’t care even if it was more of a grimace than anything, since Hua Cheng’s face visibly rejoiced at the sight of it.

Before Xie Lian could speak, Yin Yu appeared from a bend of the corridor, looking as formal as the XianXianYue Officer was supposed to be.

Once he caught sight of Xie Lian, panic spread on Yin Yu’s calm expression, since he understood his lie had been discovered. Awkwardly, avoiding Xie Lian’s eyes, he reported to Hua Cheng what he had previously said to Xie Lian. He added the location of the village, and said that Ling Wen had already sent two Martial Gods in the place.

Hua Cheng’s face darkened lightly, and when Yin Yu left because he felt like a third wheel next to the couple, Hua Cheng faced Xie Lian, his face softening again.

“Gege, you still need to rest, for now. I’ll come back quickly, alright?”

Xie Lian shook his head, stepping forward with determination, “No, San Lang, I’ll come too.”

“Gege....” Hua Cheng tried to reason.

“Please.”

Hua Cheng sighed, defeated by the sight of his god, “Alright, gege. But don’t leave my side, alright?”

Xie Lian nodded enthusiastically, and Hua Cheng used his dice to take them outside of the destined village. Silence reigned, and no resentful spirits could be noticed, so Xie Lian started wondering if that was the right place. However, it was perhaps too much quiet.

“San Lang?”

“Yes, I know,” Hua Cheng acknowledged seriously.

Maybe they had come too late. It was past midday, and yet the streets were empty of people. The weird thing was, there weren’t even traces of the passage of some resentful spirits. Were they really this powerful?

Two silhouettes appeared from a bend in the main road, and Xie Lian readied Rouye to attack. However, as soon as the figures got closer, he recognized them. They were the Martial Gods Ling Wen had said to have sent, and they turned out to be Feng Xin and Mu Qing. 

Xie Lian honestly couldn’t understand why they were always sent together. Even when they had found him, the day before, they were on a task together, and surely Ling Wen wasn’t so stupid to risk the outcome of the mission by putting together two people who couldn’t stand each other.

The two Martial Gods recognized them, and closed the distance with a stern look on both of their faces. The situation was clear to them as well, and there wasn’t time for formalities.
“The resentful spirits are hiding,” Mu Qing said after casting a long glance at Xie Lian’s face.

Xie Lian wanted to ask more, but before he could open his mouth, Hua Cheng seemed to read his mind, and asked in his place, “How do you know?”

If the two gods noticed the silent look of thanks that Xie Lian gave to Hua Cheng, they ignored it. “We have arrived before you two. There are still traces of demonic energy in some parts of the village, but as soon as we got closer they moved elsewhere. In two, we couldn’t cover all the village,” Feng Xin explained.

Hua Cheng gave him a cold glare, “Are you saying in four we can?”

“Yes,” the gods returned the glare with determination.

Xie Lian sighed, knowing Hua Cheng wouldn’t be easily convinced. “San Lang, it’s alright,” he murmured while lightly tugging the Ghost King’s sleeve.

Hua Cheng pouted at him, not convinced, while the gods wore complicated expressions.

“You can talk???” Mu Qing snapped, patently offended.

Feng Xin ignored the murderous look of the Ghost King, and added, “Why didn’t you talk yesterday?”

Xie Lian felt awkward, knowing it was difficult to explain himself. He couldn’t blame them, by their point of view, it really seemed like Xie Lian had decided willingly not to speak with them.

“It has nothing to do with you,” Hua Cheng stated coldly.

“How can it have nothing to do with us?” Feng Xin argued back.

Xie Lian cleared his throat, trying to calm the two down, “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Obviously, they didn’t believe him, Feng Xin cursing under his breath while Mu Qing rolled his eyes. Xie Lian massaged his temple, hating the situation.

“Me and gege will go together,” Hua Cheng interrupted, “you two separate.”

“That won’t work,” Mu Qing snorted.

“We’ll make it work,” Hua Cheng replied with a patently fake smile.

Once they separated, having decided the places to go to to cover most of the village, Xie Lian tugged the sleeve of Hua Cheng, and the latter readily took Xie Lian’s hand in his.

“San Lang....”

“Yes, gege?” Hua Cheng smiled at him.

“We should really separate. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Hua Cheng’s smile twitched, as if he was forcing down what he wanted to say.

Meeting Xie Lian's gaze, he managed to speak out his thoughts, "I'm sorry gege. I know you won't... leave, but I'm still scared that... something may happen."

Xie Lian's heart twisted, noticing the anguish and honesty in the other's voice. 

"I won't leave you" he stated at the end, tightening his hold on Hua Cheng's hand, "I promise."

Hua Cheng met his gaze again and smiled, sighing lightly the breath he was holding.

After some minutes of relaxed silence, Xie Lian suddenly asked, "do you know why Mu Qing and Feng Xin don’t fight anymore?”

Hua Cheng gave him a questioning look, “they do, a lot. Every time I’ve encountered them during the last year, they were always fighting over something ridiculous.”

Xie Lian frowned, confused. Then why would they work together on tasks? Could they really overstep their hate for each other for the sake of the mission? If that was really it, Xie Lian was quite impressed. Still, he had sensed that something had happened, not only between the two, but also for how they interacted with him. He had thought that it was because he had changed so much, but now he was beginning to question if there were other reasons for it.

Chapter Text

When Mu Qing and Feng Xin left the cave of the Ten Thousands Gods, they knew Xie Lian remained to be a bait and to let them out, and although Hua Cheng had stayed with him, they couldn’t manage to trust that guy.

As Xie Lian had said, Bai WuXiang wasn’t interested in them, and they managed to find the exit in less than ten minutes. They were both shocked by what had happened before, both the discovery of Crimson Rain Sought Flower’s identity, and what Xie Lian had told them about Bai WuXiang coming back. They couldn’t believe the White-Clothed Calamity was there, but they had to, since Xie Lian wouldn’t have lied or joked about it.

After the initial shock, Feng Xin began his complaining, cursing both Hua Cheng and Bai WuXiang, unable to decide which one to focus on. Mu Qing kept silent at first, but when Feng Xin started cursing against him as well, he couldn’t hold back his argument. 

When they managed to find the other gods -well, they weren’t all gods, but who cares- that had come with Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, they also contacted the Emperor. It wasn’t weird that no one answered their communication, since the Heavenly court was in chaos, but Mu Qing hoped the Emperor would soon reach out to them. After all, if someone could deal with Bai WuXiang, it was Jun Wu.

The closing of the kiln didn’t go unnoticed, and everyone, gods and ghosts, knew at once, and they could only hope for the best. If a new Ghost King was born, it would be a disaster, especially since the Heavenly court was kind of messed up right now, mostly for Ling Wen’s disappearance. The only hope they had was that Hua Cheng and Xie Lian had entered the mountain, and were going to defeat whatever ghost had come in as well.

After Feng Xin informed the group about Bai WuXiang, a doubt was born in their minds. What if Bai WuXiang was in the kiln as well?

Mu Qing hid his concern under a cold facade, while Feng Xin expressed his anger aloud.

Some of the groups, together with all of the ghosts present on Mount Tonglu, were eager to go away, now that the kiln was closed.

Mu Qing however didn’t have any intention to leave. For some reason that even he didn’t know, he wanted to check on the situation first. There really wasn’t anything he could do at this point, but he still started walking towards the mountain. Unexpectedly, Feng Xin had had the same idea, and they were forced to walk together again. Luckily, both driven by worries and other thoughts, they didn’t talk to each other enough to start a fight, and two days later, when they arrived on the top of the mountain, they could still be next to each other without feeling the urge to kill.

What expected them, however, was the worst outcome they could have imagined. Hua Cheng was standing in the snow, endlessly pouring in an insane amount of spiritual energy in the rocks, with grief and desperation painted on his face.

Feng Xin raged, and, forgetting who exactly Hua Cheng was, grabbed with fury the red robe collar, capturing Hua Cheng’s attention on himself.

“WHERE IS XIE LIAN? WHERE THE FUCK IS HE? WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Feng Xin yelled.

Mu Qing was thinking the same questions, but by seeing the other god acting so wildly, he was sure Crimson Rain Sought Flower would kill him. Hua Cheng however, apart from a cold and threatening look, didn’t even raise his hand from the ground, non-stopping in his useless attempt at breaking the rock. It was obvious that it was useless. The energy wasn’t even being absorbed, it was just reflected back, as water poured on a waterproof object.

Mu Qing sharply commented, “It’s useless.”

Hua Cheng didn’t even look up, and tried to add even more spiritual powers.

After they waited for an explanation for some time, more Heavenly Officials arrived, to check on the situation, and finally, Hua Cheng told in a few words what was going on. Mu Qing felt his heart miss a beat at the words. 

“Dianxia is inside.” 

There was no reason to ask who was with him. Feng Xin and Mu Qing both knew it was useless, but they still tried to add their spiritual powers. Now they understood why Hua Cheng wouldn’t stop. Many Heaven Officials tried as well, but it was all useless. At the end, Mu Qing and Feng Xin had to leave to help out in the Heavenly court, and all they left behind were regrets. This time, it was impossible for them not to fight.

Mu Qing had noticed the other’s upset state, and since he felt the same way, he had actually tried to think positive. 

“He’ll come out,” he said, self-aware of how awkward he sounded. He hadn’t expected, and he probably should have, that Feng Xin wouldn’t take it well.

“Oh, will he now?” Feng Xin snapped, “And what would you care? I thought you hated his highness! Wouldn’t you like it if he didn’t come out?”

Obviously, Feng Xin didn’t mean all of his words, but he was driven by guilt and fury, and he emptied his mind in his words without thinking twice.

“No!” Mu Qing hissed, enraged.

“Stop pretending to care! It’s not like you ever did!” Feng Xin roared.

“That’s right, I don’t!” Mu Qing snapped, “Why would I care for someone who hates me!?”

It was at that point that Feng Xin calmed down a little, stunned by the sunned reply of the other. “...what? Are you talking about Xie Lian?”

Mu Qing snorted, “Obviously, do you need things to be said twice, are you that stupid?”

Feng Xin was so stunned that he ignored the offence, “You think... his highness... Heavens, are you so brainless?” 

The conversation ended there, since neither Feng Xin nor Mu Qing wanted to be the next to talk. For their travel towards Heavenly capital, the tension had not eased, and Mu Qing had started wondering what Feng Xin meant with those words. 

Before they arrived at their destination and parted their ways, Feng Xin suddenly halted, glancing at the other god with judgement. Mu Qing ignored him and continued on his way, but he was forced to stop when Feng Xin talked to him.

“Wait,” Feng Xin spoke with disbelief, “do you actually...?”

“What?” Mu Qing blurted in irritation, giving a stern look at the god behind.

“....Care?”

Mu Qing decided that the best solution was to ignore the question, and he resumed walking without looking back.

“Hey, wait, fuck!” Feng Xin yelled after him.

When Feng Xin reached him, his tone was serious, “Mu Qing, answer my question!”

Gritting his teeth, Mu Qing admitted, “...yes!”

“Oh.”

Silence fell again, and when they reached the Heavenly court, they separated without another word.

Mu Qing and Feng Xin had always tried to avoid each other in everything, but it often happened that they met accidentally when on missions, or just casually, and they always started an argument. This time however, when they separated at the gates of the Heavenly court, they actually managed to avoid each other for a while. Obviously, they were both satisfied by it. However it was always kind of unsettling, since they had gotten used to their frequent fights. Not unsettling enough to complain, of course.

Almost a year passed without hearing a word from the other, and Mu Qing felt like he had never felt so much in peace. If it wasn’t for the kiln and not knowing what was happening in it, he would truly have had the best year of his life. However, for as much as he tried not to care, he couldn’t help but feel an unnerving weight, and he often found himself walking towards Mount Tonglu to check on the situation. He knew he couldn’t do anything, but he hated this quiet atmosphere of waiting.

He always saw Hua Cheng there, most of the time pouring spiritual powers, sometimes punching the rock or slashing his scimitar, sometimes simply resting. They acknowledged each other with a nod after a while. For as much as he hated Crimson Rain Sought Flower, and they had been enemies for centuries, now he had subconsciously put his hatred aside. After all, the sight of the grieving Ghost King was quite moving. 

Hua Cheng happened to talk to him once, and he mentioned the fact that Feng Xin sometimes came too, and Mu Qing couldn’t help but be surprised. After all, it was quite a coincidence that they had managed to avoid each other even when coming to visit Mount Tonglu.

After one year from when the kiln had closed, all of the three realms began to shake. It was too much for just one ascension, and everyone understood that it was the sign that something was coming out of Mount Tonglu. Mu Qing rushed down from Heaven, and almost landed on another Martial God who had had the same idea of him. It was the first time he saw Feng Xin in a year, and they were already fighting for having almost bumped in one another. After Feng Xin came back from the surprise, he gave Mu Qing an unreadable glance, and after a scoff, they started to rush towards Mount Tonglu.

They were the first gods to arrive, and the first to see how madly Hua Cheng was trying to facilitate the opening. If that had been any other situation, they would have fled from fear, since Hua Cheng looked completely mad. 

Pei Ming was close to the area, and reached the place some minutes later, a sword unsheathed in hand.

“Why?” Mu Qing asked, pointing with his eyes at the blade.

“You never know what will come out,” Pei Ming bitterly explained.

For some reason, Mu Qing bit his cheek at the thought. He didn’t like Xie Lian, at all, or at least that was what he was convinced of, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the thought that he wouldn’t come out of the kiln. Feng Xin must had been equally upset, because he gritted his teeth after hearing the answer. 

More Heaven Officials came, some for curiosity, some ready to fight. 

When the kiln finally opened, silence fell, and Mu Qing felt his heart skip a beat. Bai WuXiang had appeared, and behind him, there was no trace of another person. Mu Qing wondered if he was hallucinating, but all the other Heaven Officials bore his same expression. It was also enough to see Hua Cheng’s appearance, to understand that Xie Lian.... wasn’t there.

Then Bai WuXiang spoke. “San Lang....”

Even if his voice was slightly different, it was impossible not to recognize him. Mu Qing, and most of the Heaven Officials, understood that the ghost who had just become a Supreme was none other than Xie Lian. If Mu Qing had been confused before, now he was almost sure he was dreaming. 

When Xie Lian disappeared, Mu Qing was still in a daze. Feng Xin had almost immediately yelled “your highness!”, but it was too late. Mu Qing shot a glance at Hua Cheng, and the Ghost King’s expression was unreadable. Mu Qing would have been scared to know what was going on on his mind.

Time passed, and both Mu Qing and Feng Xin had started looking for Xie Lian. As a tacit understanding, the times they argued were fewer, since they were forced to collaborate in one way or another. Added to that, even though Mu Qing would never admit it again, it was clear by now that he was worried, and for some reason Feng Xin didn’t force him to say it. It almost looked as if Feng Xin was seeing him in a different light, and Mu Qing hated it. However, being able to travel and work with someone he didn't argue with every five minutes was less unnerving than it was before, so he tried his best not to provoke the other. Needless to say, both because of him and Feng Xin, it was very hard.

When Ling Wen suddenly appeared again in a spiritual array, Mu Qing was surprised, but the news she carried with her was even more surprising. Nobody believed her at first, but with the help of Hua Cheng and an informer he had found who didn’t say his name, all of the Heaven Officials were gradually convinced. There was an uproar in Heaven, and it became almost impossible to hide it from the Emperor, but they somehow managed to. After the campaign to subtly defeat Jun Wu, if Ling Wen hadn’t been forced to take control of all of Heaven’s dynamic, it would have probably all fallen apart.

After the situation was better, and a new Heavenly court had been built, Mu Qing and Feng Xin restarted their research for Xie Lian. Sometimes, during their travels they met Hua Cheng, who ignored them since they were usually arguing at the time. They often argued by then, but they weren’t big fights, they were only for small things, and most of the time they even could be seen as a joke.

Resentful spirits started surging in the human realm, and more and more prayers asked for help from the gods. Mu Qing and Feng Xin were used to working together by now, and Ling Wen had noticed it, so added to the fact that their territories were both in the South, they were assigned missions together.

Mu Qing and Feng Xin had just taken care of a powerful spirit, and they had decided to stroll around the nearest town to recuperate their energies, before asking Ling Wen for other missions. The city was quite big, and they eventually arrived in the main street, where the biggest market was held in various stands. 

Before Mu Qing could notice, Feng Xin had disappeared, probably distracted by something. He felt quite offended not having been told anything, but after shrugging, he kept moving forward. In case they couldn’t find each other again, they could use the spiritual array.

Mu Qing had almost exited the market street, when he passed by a camouflaged figure. For curiosity, he raised his eyes to glance at it, and he almost stumbled on air. The bottle of water he had just bought fell miserably from his hand, crashing on the ground and capturing the camouflaged person’s attention. Mu Qing gulped, a mixture of feelings blocking his body.

After a long search, he had finally found Xie Lian.

When Ling Wen assigned the mission, and was waiting for Xie Lian to accept one, Mu Qing was tempted to volunteer. He was quite sure Xie Lian hated him, but maybe it was better than some other Heaven Officials. At least, he would keep his mouth shut and not ask inappropriate questions. Then, he thought that maybe it was better for Feng Xin to volunteer, but before he could contact the latter on their private communication array, Quan Yizhen suddenly spoke up, and captured everyone’s attention.

Mu Qing and Feng Xin began to work on their tasks in silence, both in daze for what had just happened. When they made eye contact, they knew they had the same questions in mind, so there was no need to say them aloud. 

Why didn’t Xie Lian speak? Why did he wear that mask? What had happened to him? 

After killing three resentful spirits in the South, Ling Wen pointed out the most urgent task in the West written in the rolls she had given them. It was almost night, but they weren’t tired, so after drawing a Distance Shortening Array, they traveled to the lake where the first mission was held.... what they witnessed was really unexpected.

Mu Qing's eyes didn’t know where to focus. Xie Lian wasn’t wearing a mask anymore, he was close, way too closed to be normal, to Hua Cheng, and his hands were still on the Ghost King. Mu Qing was just.... speechless.

When the two they had just caught in the act went away, Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both unable to process for a while. After understanding that the water dragon spirit had already been eliminated, they both returned to their Palaces, deciding that they had seen too much for just one day.

While he was alone, a new thought was born in Mu Qing’s mind. He needed to speak with his highness, this time honestly. After all, he felt guilty for what had happened in Mount Tonglu, imagining how much Xie Lian had to suffer. He felt guilty also for other things, but.... one thing at the time.

Chapter Text

Xie Lian soon understood what Feng Xin had meant before with his explanation. Just as he had said, after half an hour spent in useless wait, they started noticing traces of demonic energy around themselves. However, as soon as they searched for them, the traces disappeared, hiding themselves. Obviously, this was the work of more than a small group of resentful spirits. Yet, Xie Lian still couldn’t understand how those spirits had made all of the townspeople disappear without any trace behind.

“San Lang?” Xie Lian suddenly remembered. 

There was something he had meant to ask Hua Cheng since they had seen each other again, but he hadn’t had the courage to: the missing red pearl in Hua Cheng’s braid. Now that he knew Hua Cheng’s true feelings about what had happened at Mount Tonglu, he was sure what he had thought at first about the subject was wrong, and there must have been another explanation to its missing.

“Yes, gege?”

“Um... I wanted to ask you something.”

“Gege can ask me anything,” Hua Cheng smiled.

“I was... wondering, if something had happened to your... bead.”

Noticing Hua Cheng’s complicated expression, Xie Lian quickly added, “I mean, you don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to....”

“Your highness, I... apologize," Hua Cheng said bitterly.

His tone was regretful, as if he was truly sorry, and Xie Lian couldn't find a reason why.

"Why?" He asked, a little nervous for the answer he might get.

Hua Cheng sighed, and finally admitted, "I lost it."

Xie Lian released the breath he was holding, but immediately felt bad. He couldn't deny that what had crossed his mind was something way worse, and he mentally smacked himself for his mistrust. He knew how much of an importance that red bead had for Hua Cheng, and the thought of him losing it was saddening.

"San Lang, I'm sorry..." he tried to soothe, and a thought came to his mind. "I'll make you a new one! If you want it, of course..."

Hua Cheng hummed, chuckling slightly, and Xie Lian swore himself to remember his promise for later.

When Xie Lian noticed that their attempt at finding spirits wasn’t working, and the spirits still managed to escape from them, he suggested again, “San Lang, we should split.”

Denying the obvious was hard, so after some more words of reassurance, he finally convinced Hua Cheng, and they parted their ways. They were still not so far from each other, so that in any case it wouldn’t take them long to meet again.

Just as he had thought, once he was alone and had less surface to keep under control, the demonic energy felt closer to him, and he finally managed to capture one ghost. Its soul was too scattered to be saved, so he quickly destroyed it with some spiritual power. That seemed to upset the other resentful spirit, because their presence was suddenly more noticeable.

After the second ghost Xie Lian dispersed, the others started to attack him, at first hesitant, but the more Xie Lian killed, the more angry they were. After half an hour, Xie Lian didn’t have to search any more resentful spirits, because they were all coming at him. One or two was fine, even ten or so he could handle, but now they were starting to be a little bit too much.

He was tempted in retreating to rethink his tactics, when a resentful soul that possessed the strongest demonic aura blocked his way. This ghost almost looked human, apart from the impossible to not notice demonic energy that was deforming his features. As a human, he even wielded a sword, and struck Xie Lian with it.

Xie Lian parried the hit with Rouye's help, sending all of its power back to the soul, knocking the latter a few meters backwards. He couldn’t give the last blow, because he had to defend himself from the dozens of resentful spirits attacking him from behind. Distracted by them, he didn’t even notice when the sword of the human-like spirit pierced his back, sticking out from his abdomen. Even when he saw it, Xie Lian felt no pain at all.

In the past, he had gotten used to pain, and he easily didn’t notice it at all. Still, he wasn’t even completely senseless. If a sword happened to pierce him, he still felt hurt, but he could focus and ignore it easily. Right now, with a sword piercing his abdomen, Xie Lian didn’t even flinch, and if he hadn’t felt something blocking his movements, he probably wouldn’t have noticed the wound at all.

He was quite stunned by it, but he didn’t have time to think further, and quickly freed himself from the piercing sword. No blood had come out, so if he readjusted his robes, he could easily pretend nothing had happened, and heal himself after the fight was done. Parrying a new strike, he decapitated effortlessly the ghost. 

After eliminating the other spirits, an hour had gone by, and he strangely felt tired. It was probably because of the wound that he felt this way.

After finishing to kill his part of resentful spirits, Hua Cheng came to check on him, and saw Xie Lian sitting on a short wall, propping his chin with a hand.

“Gege?” Hua Cheng called out while getting closer.

Xie Lian was reawakened from his daze, and smiled, or at least, he tried to. Hua Cheng smiled back, as if he didn’t notice how Xie Lian’s expression looked everything apart from a smile. Once Xie Lian stood up, however, Hua Cheng's smile froze.

“Gege, are you alright?” Hua Cheng hurriedly asked, holding Xie Lian’s shoulder.

Xie Lian was puzzled, and cast a look at his abdomen. The wound was covered, and the tear in the robe wasn’t visible, so how had San Lang....?

“Gege?” Hua Cheng called again, mistaking his silence for being in pain.

“I am fine,” Xie Lian quickly answered.

Hua Cheng didn’t seem convinced, and his eyes started examining Xie Lian’s robe. Once he noticed that the robe had patently been folded at a certain point, his expression darkened, and he made eye contact once more.

“San Lang... how did you...?”

Hua Cheng sighed, and quickly unfolded the robe, revealing the tear. His expression was unreadable, and he started sending a flow of spiritual energy, that Xie Lian obviously didn’t need, to the wound. Once it had healed completely, Hua Cheng's expression softened again.

“Dianxia, how could I not notice?” Hua Cheng said, looking slightly hurt, and making Xie Lian feel guilty.

“Dianxia, are you alright?” Feng Xin asked, reaching the two.  He and Mu Qing had finished their sides, and had caught a glimpse of what had happened between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian.

Even though Mu Qing didn’t say anything, Xie Lian could see the same concern in his eyes that Feng Xin had, and that made him wonder. Did they really care about him? Xie Lian couldn’t help but try to smile again, happy that Hua Cheng wasn’t the only one. 

Whilst Hua Cheng didn’t flinch at his weird and contorted smiles, Feng Xin and Mu Qing exchanged a glare with each other, confused. Embarrassed, Xie Lian cleared his throat, regretting it. 

“Dianxia,” Feng Xin spoke seriously, “have all of the resentful spirits been dispersed?”

Xie Lian nodded and asked, “What about the townspeople?”

“Nowhere,” Mu Qing stated.

“No,” Hua Cheng argued back, catching everyone’s attention, “I think we just killed all the townspeople.”

“What...?”

“They were the resentful spirits,” Hua Cheng explained.

Feng Xin was left dumbfounded, “What happened to them??”

Xie Lian frowned, answering sternly, “Bai WuXiang.” 

If those souls were the people living in the village, that was why they were so enraged after Xie Lian killed one of them: they knew each other. However, most of the resentful spirits weren’t powerful, and were quite useless to attack others. Unless.... Bai WuXiang wanted to use them for something else. These great amount of resentful souls, if Bai WuXiang wanted to create a new Human-Face disease, he would be able to, after angering the souls.

Xie Lian subconsciously tightened his fists. When he glanced at Hua Cheng, the latter was staring at him, concern spread on his face, but as soon as Xie Lian looked back, he gave him a comforting smile.

“Dianxia,” Feng Xin called him after silently communicating with Mu Qing, “we are going to report back to the Heavenly court....”

“Alright,” Xie Lian simply agreed.

“Uhm... do you want to come?” Feng Xin awkwardly offered, aware of how coldly Hua Cheng was watching him.

Xie Lian ‘eh?’-ed, completely unprepared for the sudden offer. After seeing that Feng Xin was serious, and after giving a reassurance-filled glance to Hua Cheng, he nodded his head. If someone had news about Bai WuXiang’s activities and location, it could be Ling Wen, so a trip to Heaven was necessary. He couldn’t rely on the information passed by Yin Yu. For as much as he appreciated the other’s company, he knew Yin Yu would try to avoid telling him the most important things, being it for Hua Cheng’s order or for his choice, so a chat with Ling Wen wouldn’t hurt.

With a last goodbye with Hua Cheng, Xie Lian followed the two gods to Heaven. On their way, both of them, but especially Mu Qing, often seemed to be wanting to say something, and Xie Lian felt the urge to tell them that they could speak with no worries, but at the end he didn’t, feeling it was just too inappropriate.

Once they were back in the Heavenly court, Xie Lian started feeling all of the stares and judgment of others on his skin. This time around, he had no mask to cover his face, and he desperately tried not to give away the uneasiness with his expression. He thought that he would eventually get used to it, or at least he hoped so.

He was led by the two gods who needed to report to Ling Wen’s palace, where they entered without knocking, knowing too well that the Civil Goddess was too busy to hear them. After seeing how Feng Xin and Mu Qing appeared casual in their movements, as if they had done it hundreds of times, Xie Lian followed suit, and entered through the large palace doors.

The interior was messy with papers half-organized and stacks of rolls, all over the place, and at the sight Xie Lian felt pity for who lived there. Ling Wen, sitting at a desk, didn’t even notice their appearance, too focused on what she was writing.

“Ahem,” Feng Xin made his presence known.

“Oh? Nan Yang? Oh.”

She put away the pen-brush, after adding a last sentence to the script.

“Nan Yang, Xuan Zhen, Your Highness, my greetings. Have you finished in the village I sent you to?”

Feng Xin and Mu Qing reported what had happened, and after Ling Wen had taken some notes on the matter, she searched through her scrolls for other missions, probably using the spiritual communication array to also ask other civil gods.

“There aren’t big threats at the moment, send your subordinates from Middle Heaven to deal with what’s left.”

Xie Lian intervened, “are there news on Bai WuXiang?”

It was the first time Ling Wen heard him speaking, and also the first time she saw him without a mask, but after an interested glance, her curiosity died away, and she calmly answered, “What you have just reported are the biggest news we know from him, I’m sorry, your highness.”

Xie Lian acknowledged with a nod.

After they exited the palace, he bid farewell with the other two gods. He wanted to reach Hua Cheng as soon as possible, but before he could go back to the human realm, someone suddenly blocked his path. It was Quan Yizhen.

“Where is my shixiong?”  Quan Yizhen asked as if it was the most obvious question.

Xie Lian tilted his head in confusion, and Quan Yizhen repeated the question, stubborn.

Since Xie Lian shook his head, pretending he didn’t know, Quan Yizhen stated, “I’ll come with you.”

“What....?”

“Last time I was with you shixiong appeared.” Quan Yizhen explained as if it was the most obvious thing on earth.

Xie Lian was quite surprised that Qi Ying had actually recognized him without a mask, and he was left speechless by the other person’s stubbornness. 

“I’m sorry, I....” What could he say to convince the young god?

Another figure made his way towards them, and turned to Quan Yizhen with an obviously fake smile, half-hiding the mocking in his voice, “Your Highness Qi Ying, stop bothering others, go and sleep at your palace.”

The god was Pei Ming, and Quan Yizhen gave him a hatred-filled gaze, as if he was ready to start a fight.

Xie Lian didn’t understand why Pei Ming had suddenly come, but he still tried to calm the two, “Qi Ying, I really can’t help you, my apologies. However, next time I see your shixiong, I’ll certainly tell him you wish to see him.”

Quan Yizhen studied his expression and said, “When you saw my shixiong, tell me.”

“Alright,” Xie Lian tried to smile, making both Qi Ying and Pei Ming flinch, “I will tell you,” Xie Lian lied, pretending not to notice the other gods’ reaction.

Once he finally freed himself from Quan Yizhen, Xie Lian faced Pei Ming, bowing slightly in greeting, “Thank you for helping me just then.”

Pei Ming stared at him for a while, not hiding his interest and curiosity, and replied, “It was my pleasure. I hadn’t noticed it was your highness, I realized it later.”

“Oh.”

“Then, your highness, can I ask you something?”

Xie Lian nodded, relieved that at least someone among the gods would speak his mind and not make him wait in awkward silence.

“What have you done in these years?”

“...” 

Xie Lian was left a little speechless by Pei Ming’s straightforwardness, but quickly regained his composure. After all, he didn’t have anything to hide.

“I lived as I did during my second banishment,” Xie Lian simply answered.

“Oh,” Pei Ming scratched his chin, thoughtful, “I heard rumors that you and Crimson Rain Sought Flower made up in these days, is it true?”

Xie Lian felt like dying, again. Just what kind of rumors had he heard? Feng Xin and Mu Qing wouldn’t say anything, right?

Clearing his throat, embarrassed, Xie Lian replied, “Yeah... Ahem, yeah, we made up. Why... why are you asking?”

Pei Ming smiled mysteriously, “Curiosity, that’s all. I wish you good luck then, your highness.”

“You too...?”

After the embarrassing conversation had ended, Pei Ming was about to leave, then Xie Lian suddenly remembered something. “Uh... Wait!”

Pei Ming turned back, “Yes, your highness?”

“Can I ask for a favour?” Xie Lian asked.

Pei Ming’s mischievous smile made it obvious that he had misinterpreted, “Haha, your highness, I don’t think you need my help, Crimson Rain Sought Flower has already fallen for you. Um... if you’re talking of another kind of tips, then it’s better if we talk in private, becau-”

“No! No! It’s not what I was talking about!!” Xie Lian yelled, hastily waving his hands to make Pei Ming stop. If he still had blood, his face would have been as red as Hua Cheng’s robes.

“Oh,” Pei Ming commented, not hiding his disappointment.

“Ahem, I was wondering if you had some dice to lend me....” Xie Lian explained, too embarrassed to watch the god in the eyes. He needed some dice so that when he went down from the Heavenly court, he could make his location known to Hua Cheng, so that he didn’t need to go to Paradise Manor on his own.

“Oh,” Pei Ming commented again, puzzled by the weird request.

“I’ll ask Noble Jie,” he said after failing to find some dice on himself.

Xie Lian was left alone while Pei Ming went to Ling Wen’s Palace, and tried to find the less conspicuous place to sit in, to avoid the gazes of the passerby gods.

Pei Ming came back after some minutes, and threw two dice at Xie Lian, who caught them with ease.

“Many thanks, General Pei Ming,” Xie Lian said while bowing.

“No problem, your highness. If you ever need suggestions, you know where to find me,” Pei Ming smiled at him.

After Xie Lian realized what he meant, he hastily descended from Heaven, refusing to let his mind sway in that direction. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he rolled the dice in his hands, thinking about Hua Cheng. The latter had told him once, that if he rolled the dice and wanted him to be there, he would appear. 

Snake eyes appeared on the faces of the dice when they landed. Although Xie Lian didn’t have the cursed shackles anymore, apparently misfortune liked him.

“Gege.”

Hua Cheng’s voice made him stop thinking about his luck.

“San Lang!” Xie Lian tried smiling again. This time around, he was quite sure his smile was better than the ones before. He was getting used to it!

Hua Cheng must had noticed as well, because his eye shined with mirth.

“Let’s go back,” Xie Lian proposed, leaning on the Ghost King for support. After so many experiences and emotions, he felt immensely tired, and the thought of a soft and warm bed in Paradise Manor was enough to make him almost fall asleep on the spot.

“Do you need me to carry you?” Hua Cheng offered, entirely serious.

Xie Lian was thinking about saying yes, but suddenly Pei Ming’s words came back to his mind, and that was enough to awaken him completely.

“Ahem, no, I’m fine, thank you.” He hastily refused the offer.

Hua Cheng took Xie Lian’s hand in his, and rolled his dice to take them back to Paradise Manor. They had happened to travel directly to the dining hall, where a feast of food had been prepared for their arrival.

“You are surely hungry, gege.” Hua Cheng smiled, making Xie Lian accommodate, and taking the seat next to him. 

Xie Lian was actually quite hungry, and the sight of the deliciousness made his stomach growl. Since he was embarrassed to start by himself, it was Hua Cheng who began putting food in his plate, and Xie Lian ate until he was full.

“Gege,” Hua Cheng spoke, “I have something to tell you....”

Xie Lian swallowed what he had in his mouth, “what is it?”

“Mnm... It’s about Bai WuXiang,” Hua Cheng said hesitatingly.

Xie Lian stopped eating, his attention fully captured.

Hua Cheng started explaining, “When I discovered about Jun Wu, it was actually thanks to an informant I found.”

Xie Lian nodded, “Yes, I had heard some rumors about it.”

Hua Cheng continued, “The identity of that person is, well.... known.”

“Known?”

Hua Cheng played with the vegetables in his place, until they had the shape of a smiley face. And then, he started telling Xie Lian the story about the Crown Prince of Wuyong.

Xie Lian at first wondered what that had to do with anything, but he started realizing that the man Hua Cheng was talking about was exactly Bai WuXiang. When the story ended, and Xie Lian had some time to organize his thoughts, he asked, “Was the informant who told you all of this? How could they know?”

Hua Cheng explained, “The informant was exactly the Guoshi of the Crown Prince of Wuyong, and... he was also the Guoshi of Xianle, Mei Nianqing.”

Xie Lian’s chopsticks fell from his hand, and he stared at Hua Cheng in shock.

“Oh... but...” was all he managed to blurt out.

After some seconds of silence, he was about to ask where his Guoshi was at the moment, when Yin Yu rushed into the dining hall.

“Hua Chengzu, Your Highness,” he promptly bowed to both of them.

“What is it?” Hua Cheng asked, sounding annoyed.

“It’s about Bai WuXiang,” Yin Yu informed.

Chapter Text

“What happened?” Xie Lian asked while subconsciously standing up.

Yin Yu seemed hesitant at first, as if he didn’t know if he should have spoken with Xie Lian in the room. At the end, understanding that it was fine for Hua Chengzu, he explained, “Ling Wen reported thousands of resentful spirit rushing towards the Capital.”

Hua Cheng’s face darkened. “Is that it?”

“That’s all I was told,” Yin Yu bowed.

“Human-Face Disease,” Xie Lian commented, “He wants to release a new one.”

While Hua Cheng was busy talking about the details with Yin Yu, Xie Lian massaged his head. How could they stop that great amount of souls before they reached the Capital?

Yin Yu left, and Hua Cheng faced Xie Lian. He knew there was no way of stopping the latter, but he still tried. “Gege, you should rest....”

“San Lang, you know I can’t. We’ll go together,” Xie Lian stated seriously, taking the other’s hand in his.

Hua Cheng sighed, “....Don’t get hurt this time, alright?"

Xie Lian gave him a small smile, that surprisingly came out quite well, and stopped Hua Cheng when he was starting to ready his dice.

“What is it, gege?”

“San Lang, before we go, I want to give you something....”

Hua Cheng beamed, “I’m honoured by gege.”

Xie Lian retrieved something from his robes, hiding it inside of his closed fist, and proceeded to open his hand in Hua Cheng’s palm, making a little object fall on the latter. Hua Cheng instinctively tightened his hold, and after a second of bewilderment, looked at the gift.

It was a small pearl, the same measurement as Hua Cheng’s red bead that he had lost. This new one was white and opaque, and reflected the lights of the candle in Paradise Manor with a slightly mauvish colour.

“Gege....” Hua Cheng was at a loss of words, moved.

This white bead wasn’t a simple pearl Xie Lian had found or bought, but it had been created by him. Once he died, he knew that he had to hide his ashes somewhere, however, he couldn’t think of an appropriate place for them to be safe. If at the time he had not fled, he would have surely given them to Hua Cheng, but then he didn’t have the possibility. He had thought about putting them in his parents’ tomb, where they were supposed to go, but both Bai WuXiang and Qi Rong knew about the location, so it wasn’t ideal. At the end, not having found a place, he hid them on himself, compressing them in a small shape.

Once he had met Hua Cheng again, the thought of giving him his ashes had disappeared from Xie Lian’s mind, because he had simply forgotten about it. When he had heard that Hua Cheng had lost his red bead, he was sure Hua Cheng was way more upset by it than what he appeared like, trying to hide his pain from Xie Lian. The latter had wanted to find something to substitute the red bead and make Hua Cheng happy, and he had suddenly remembered he still had his ashes.

After shaping them in a pearl that had turned out white, he was very happy to give them away to Hua Cheng. Xie Lian hadn’t thought Hua Cheng would guess he was gifting his ashes, but he was surprised again by Hua Cheng’s perception.

“Gege... I.... can’t accept this.”

Xie Lian shushed him with a small peck on the lips. It wasn’t exactly a kiss, their lips only brushed past each other, but it was enough to shut him up. Delicately taking hold of the half-done braid in Hua Cheng’s hair, Xie Lian untied it completely, and braided the lock of hair again, putting the white bead at the end.

“I trust you,” Xie Lian softly explained.

Hua Cheng wasn’t yet convinced, “But what if I accidentally....”

“San Lang, weren’t you the one who told me? ‘What is there to be afraid of? If it were me, after giving away my ashes, I wouldn’t care if that person wished to break bones, scatter ashes or just toss it for fun’.”

“Your highness, I would never do those things!” Hua Cheng exclaimed, horrified by the thought.

Xie Lian chuckled, “I know, I know you won’t. That’s why I’m giving this to you.”

“Your highness....”

“Please, San Lang. I’ve got this,” Xie Lian said while patting the ring on his chest, “so you can’t refuse mine!”

After sighing, all of his efforts in changing Xie Lian’s mind wasted, Hua Cheng tenderly cupped the former god’s cheeks, bringing them closer to facilitate the kiss. 

Xie Lian felt his mind immersed in a turmoil of feelings at the sudden action, and once again, he felt alive.  

Once they stepped out of Paradise Manor, they started focusing again on the situation within the capital. In some way, they needed to prevent the souls from reaching it.

“How do we block them?” Hua Cheng asked, partly to himself and partly to Xie Lian.

“We don’t need to,” Xie Lian answered, “we just need to lure them.”

“Do you mean with an array?” Hua Cheng wondered.

“Not in that sense. Bai WuXiang must have used something to collect the souls, such as a sword... With that weapon, we can make an array and attract them towards someone.”

“Gege!!” Hua Cheng exclaimed, misunderstanding who Xie Lian meant by ‘someone’.

Xie Lian waved his hands in denial, “Don’t worry, San Lang, it won’t be me.”

Hua Cheng's expression calmed down, but then he raised his eyebrow, “Do you want me to do it?”

He was asking it as if it was the most obvious thing on earth, and he would do it without hesitation, if Xie Lian asked. 

“NO!!” Xie Lian snapped, yelling louder than he thought he would.

“San Lang, it won’t obviously be you.”

Hua Cheng frowned, “Then who...?” 

Xie Lian smiled a little, “Let’s find where Bai WuXiang is hiding.”

Many Heavenly Officials were trying to stop the resentful souls from arriving at the city, but it was all just putting off the unstoppable. Gathering all the courage he could master, Xie Lian recited the verbal password to the general communication array among the gods, entering the conversation.

At first, he hesitated, limiting himself to listen to the panicking Heavenly Officials discussing the problem. After squeezing Hua Cheng’s hand to find some comfort, Xie Lian cleared his throat, prepared to speak.

“Uhm.... I have an idea to stop the resentful spirits.”

Once the gods heard his voice, all suddenly became quiet, making everything awkward. It always happened in the past as well, but somehow, the pressure that Xie Lian felt now was bigger than in the past.

Ling Wen was the first to break the silence, “Your highness, do you really?”

Xie Lian exhaled a breath that he didn’t need, and explained, “Yes, but I need to find Bai WuXiang first. Can you hold back the resentful spirits until then?”

Ling Wen seemed hesitant, “Your highness, are you sure? We don’t know where he is, it could take too much time....”

Feng Xin suddenly interrupted her, “Noble Jie, we have no other options at the moment. Let’s focus on holding them back.”

Xie Lian hesitated. He had a few options for where to find Bai WuXiang, but they were just guesses, and he probably wouldn't have the time to visit them all. 

"Can you ask Yin Yu for his help?" Xie Lian asked outside of the array, talking to Hua Cheng.

Hua Cheng shook his head, "No, I already sent him to slow down the spirits, he's probably far away by now."

Xie Lian frowned, and he was about to ask why not use the communication array to contact Yin Yu, when a familiar voice distracted him.

"Your highness!" 

Yin Yu had exited the manor as well, and was running towards him. Once he stopped, Hua cheng looked at him with surprise. "Why are you still here?"

Yin Yu bowed to Hua Cheng in greeting, and explained, "Ling Wen contacted me about your intentions, your highness. I talked to... the informer," he said while his gaze shot from Xie Lian to Hua Cheng, "I may know where to find Bai WuXiang."

Xie Lian's eyes widened, and he looked at Hua Cheng to seek confirmation. After asking Yin Yu for the details, he reentered the general communication array.

“I’ve already got a location in mind, I’m heading there now. I’ll send news in a little.” After saying that, he exited the communication array, nodding to Hua Cheng.

The dice were rolled, and snake eyes appeared on Hua Cheng’s palm. Both Xie Lian's and Hua Cheng stared at them, bewildered, but before Xie Lian could ask anything, Hua Cheng cut him off, “We have no time, let’s go.”

Arriving at Mount Tonglu, moving around wasn’t easy. The lava that had erupted after Xie Lian exit from the kiln had already cooled down, covering the previous ground, and giving everything a sharper and gloomy atmosphere. Despite being the area vast, the presence of a Calamity couldn’t be hidden, and after exchanging a glance, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng rushed towards it.

Noticing all the holes and pits on the ground, caused by cooled down lava breaking apart, or malformation during the lava flow, Xie Lian warned Hua Cheng, who was right behind him, “San Lang, be careful not to fall!” 

Really, he should have been the one careful, but the words still left his mouth. When he received no answer back, he started worrying, and because of the distraction, he stumbled on a rock, falling forward in a small pit. His muscles aching, Xie Lian stood up, and hastily looked behind himself. Hua Cheng wasn’t there.

“San Lang!” He yelled a couple of times.

After checking that the red thread was still tied on his hand, Xie Lian decided to keep going. If Hua Cheng had accidentally found Bai WuXiang, he didn’t want to leave him alone.

When Xie Lian reached the demonic aura of the Calamity he was sensing, however, Hua Cheng wasn’t there, and what stood before him was only his enemy.

“Bai WuXiang,” he called out, and even if the other wore a mask, Xie Lian could tell he had a mocking smile on his face.

Xie Lian’s eyes fell on the black sword in the hands of the calamity, Fang Xin. Xie Lian didn’t lose time wondering how he hadn’t noticed to have lost the sword. He needed to focus on getting his hands on the sword, so that he could make an array and lock Bai WuXiang in it. Now that Hua Cheng had disappeared, it wouldn’t be simple, but he couldn’t give up.

Since he didn’t have a weapon to attack with, he simply launched himself at the Calamity, ready to punch the hell out of him.  Bai WuXiang avoided him, striking at his exposed side with Fang Xin. 

Stopping mid-way his attack, Xie Lian was able not to be wounded, and instead he reached out a hand to grab hold of the sword’s handle. Now that he had spiritual powers, if he were to fight Bai WuXiang in physical strength for the obtainment of the sword, he was quite confident in the result. However the Calamity, as if he had read Xie Lian’s mind, hastily retracted Fang Xin, and what Xie Lian grabbed was the sword’s blade. 

It didn’t hurt, but feeling the muscle of his hand sliced by the sharp edges of the blade, Xie Lian’s grip involuntarily loosened, and the sword managed to slip away.

Before Xie Lian could gain back a defensive stance, Bai WuXiang attacked once more, aiming at his chest. Xie Lian was about to side-step, when he suddenly realized something. He needed the sword, there was no reason to avoid it. With this thought in mind, Xie Lian stayed still, and was pierced from one side of the other in the chest. 

Before Bai WuXiang could react, Xie Lian grabbed the sword’s handle, and hastily jerked away Bai WuXian’s hand from it. After jumping back, Xie Lian removed the sword from his chest, ignoring the discomfort he felt, and tried to step back to create an array. 

The array he wanted to create was the one of the kind that once you were in, you couldn’t step out, and since he needed to trap thousands of souls, it couldn’t be too small. The only way he could do it was from the border, since if he put the sword down and created an array with the sword at the centre, he would also be trapped in. However, to achieve the first kind of array, Bai WuXiang would have to stand as its centre, and if the latter wasn’t far enough from Xie Lian, the array would be too little.

Distancing himself from the Calamity seemed impossible, and for as much as Xie Lian tried, the Calamity was always a step behind him, as if he had understood his intentions. To make things even more hard, Ling Wen suddenly contacted Xie Lian though the Spiritual array, making Xie Lian almost stumble on air.

“Your highness, have you found Bai WuXiang already?”

“Yes!,” Xie Lian answered while running from the calamity, “I’m kind in a bad situation at the moment...”

Ling Wen interrupted him, her voice rushed, “Your highness, there’s no time left! The resentful spirits have started attacking the Capital!”

Noticing Xie Lian’s shocked expression, Bai WuXiang snickered, “You are too late, Xianle. The resentful spirits have already arrived at their destination.”

Ling Wen continued, “Your highness, have you got something in mind? What’s the situation there?”

Confused by Bai WuXiang and Ling Wen talking over each other, Xie Lian focused his attention back on the situation he was in. “I’m sorry, I’ll tell you later!” He quickly said while disconnecting from the spiritual array.

There was only one thing left to do, and that was to create an array. If he couldn’t do the first kind, then he had to do the second. 

Grinning his teeth and trying not to think about the consequences, Xie Lian stabbed the ground with Fang Xin, and after pouring in as much spiritual power as he could master, an array was created, with Xie Lian in its centre.

Once again, he found himself trapped with Bai WuXiang. This time, he would make sure Bai WuXiang actually died.

Once the kiln closed before Xie Lian’s eyes, and Hua Cheng was nowhere to see, Xie Lian realized that something had gone very wrong. 

Bai WuXiang was in the kiln with him, and a feeling of dread spread in Xie Lian’s chest. The most horrifying thing for him, was that he had no clue of what had happened to Hua Cheng.

Bai WuXiang spoke to Xie Lian, each of the words said leisurely, as if he didn’t notice Xie Lian panic, or maybe it was exactly because he noticed. Xie Lian tried to fight back, obviously, he tried to destroy the Calamity that had ruined his life, and that was now trying to ruin his happiness. However, as he had failed 8 centuries ago, he was forced on the ground, completely helpless against Bai WuXiang’s attacks. 

A mask was put on his face, and Xie Lian felt a terrifying feeling, noticing that for as much as he tried, the mask simply wouldn’t come off. 

Then, Bai WuXiang told him something. He said that there was a way for him to exit the kiln, and it was for him to become a Supreme. Xie Lian refused the idea, without even a double thought. For that to happen, he needed to die first, and then kill Bai WuXiang. There was no way he would be able to.

He hadn’t expected that Bai WuXiang would be very, very patient. As he was immobilized by Fang Xin, which pierced him on the ground, Xie Lian was forced to listen to the Calamities' lies. Since by telling the truth Bai WuXiang wasn’t able to convince the stubborn Xie Lian, he started playing with the latter’s mind. It wasn’t hard to understand what Xie Lian cared about, after all, and after one month of endless and useless torture, Bai WuXiang hit the right spot.

With an illusion, the red thread on Xie Lian’s hand disappeared. Bai WuXiang had imagined what the string stood for, and as soon as Xie Lian started panicking, he simply commented, “Looks like your Hua Cheng is in trouble.”

He had previously lied about Hua Cheng’s well-being, but Xie Lian had never believed his words. Now that there was the proof of the disappeared red string, Xie Lian couldn’t help but be blinded by rage and grief.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??” Xie Lian roared, mad from desperation.

Bai WuXiang waited a little, to hear more of Xie Lian, who was going from threatening to pleading in order to know what had happened.

“I didn’t do anything,” Bai WuXiang stated, “It was him who put all of his soul into breaking the kiln from the outside.”

Xie Lian knew it was impossible to break into the kiln. He was also sure Hua Cheng would try with all his might. He didn’t think Hua Cheng would go to this extent, but hearing Bai WuXiang’s affirmation, and with the missing red thread, he began to believe it was true. 

Hua Cheng had died, because of him. The turmoil of feelings in Xie Lian’s mind blinded him from any reasoning, and in the fit of the moment, he thought that maybe there was a chance to save Hua Cheng, if he exited the kiln now. It was a possibility he couldn’t exclude, and for nothing in the world he would ignore it.

Xie Lian let himself die. It wasn’t hard, since all of the grief he was feeling already made him feel on the verge of life and death. After becoming a ghost, and it took him an entire week, Xie Lian fought against Bai WuXiang. It was obvious that Bai WuXiang let him win, and Xie Lian couldn’t understand why, but he also didn’t care. He knew that Bai WuXiang hadn’t actually been defeated, since his ashes weren’t destroyed, but he would certainly take a while before coming back.

After killing Bai WuXiang, Xie Lian had already spent two months in the kiln. It was only at that point that he noticed that the red thread had never disappeared, it was just an hallucination Bai WuXiang had created. Relief filled Xie Lian’s mind, thinking that after all Hua Cheng was still fine. However, as the days passed, he realized how stupid he had been, falling for Bai WuXiang’s trick.

Even though the red thread had come back, it didn't extend itself anymore. It had been conditioned by the fact that Xie Lian had actually died once, and although it was still on his finger, Xie Lian was reminded of the fact that he had still lost something.  However, Xie Lian had no need to search for Hua Cheng, for he knew the Ghost King was waiting for him outside. He hoped he would never have to look for him, and just rely on the fact that the thread was still visible in its place.

Xie Lian felt at a loss on what to do. There was no coming back from this. He only hoped Hua Cheng would still accept him.

Inside of the kiln, Xie Lian had a lot of time to think by himself. After spending more than a couple of months inside of the dark place, time became almost impossible to track, and loneliness rooted deeply in Xie Lian's heart. In all of his life, he had never felt so in need to be and talk with someone else. Xie Lian wondered what Hua Cheng was up to. He spent most of his time thinking about it, and it was his most entertaining line of thoughts. He wondered if Hua Cheng was outside of the mountain, on the other side of the wall of rock he was leaning on. Xie Lian smiled at the thought, realizing that, knowing San Lang, it was not an improbable thought.

Xie Lian wasn't alive, and he knew what that meant, but he still couldn't give up his old habits. He breathed, slept, and felt the need of eating, even though he could easily ignore it.

Without the cursed shackles, Xie Lian began to obtain more and more powers as a ghost. He knew the basics of what he needed to do, so he collected his ashes as soon as he was strong enough to ignite a flame. Once he rested enough from having spent so many energies, he decided to explore the place he was in. He didn't expect to find anything at all, but he would have to prepare to break out, so having a basic knowledge of his surroundings was necessary. What he didn't expect to find, however, was a giant statue of himself, carved out from the mountain rocks. 

Xie Lian stared in awe at the creation, feeling butterflies all inside his body from admiration. He didn't have any doubts about who created it, and even though he was a ghost, he felt his chest warming, from the feeling of being loved so much. Despite this, an undetected spark of uneasiness ignited in his heart, and Xie Lian ignored it for a while. 

Since it was his only entertainment, Xie Lian spent most of his day, or at least for as long as he could make the fire last, observing the carved stone, and for as much as he stared, he couldn't find a single mistake in the handiwork. He couldn't help but sigh at San lang's talent and devotion, but unbeknownst to him, the uneasiness in him grew larger.

Maybe it would have been better if he had realized what was truly on his mind gradually, and learn how to deal with it, but unluckily it came all down to him at once. Xie Lian stared at the statue of himself, and after some weeks, his mind wavered in a certain direction which he had unconsciously ignored until then. Looking at the luxurious and busked in glory Crown Prince of Xianle, Xie Lian compared himself to the statue. What started as a simple self-deprecating thought, it slowly spread in his heart, like a contagious disease in an over-populated country. It wasn't his fault; after all, he had been completely alone from months, and he had too much time to over-think things. 

At the end, Xie Lian couldn't help but ask himself: now that he'd fallen so low, did he deserve any of San Lang's love? After all, San Lang was in love with a god. Would he really still love him as before, now that he was going to become a supreme? 

'Maybe he would', Xie Lian decided, 'but do I deserve it?'

With too much time to think, and too few things to think about, Xie Lian realized that he wouldn't have been able to face San Lang without feeling shame. He was scared, scared of what Hua Cheng's reaction would be. Xie Lian had a frail heart during the last period of his confinement. All it would take was a slightest contrasting breeze, and his self-belief would have shattered completely.

Xie Lian was starting to regret his choice. For as much as he hated Bai WuXiang, he didn’t want to dissipate and leave Hua Cheng. The love he felt for the latter was much bigger to his need for revenge, but if he broke the array, the thousands of souls that were now coming for them would go back, attacking the Capital. The temptation of simply breaking the ward and searching for Hua Cheng’s comfort was enormous, and Xie Lian cursed himself for being so selfish.

When he turned around to face Bai WuXiang, the latter was clearly laughing at him, and Xie Lian could imagine the malign grin present on the hidden face. Bai WuXiang didn’t seem to mind the fact that thousands of resentful souls were coming to destroy him, he seemed more focused on Xie Lian’s indecision, as if it was an entertaining thing to watch.

Lastly, Xie Lian let his hand down from the sword he wanted to take, deciding against breaking the ward. He had spent years complaining and self-deprecating for not being able to accomplish his dream as a youth, saving the common people. And now that he was given the chance to do so.... he was just going to ignore it? Had he actually changed this much from when he was alive?

Xie Lian raised his head at the mocking Bai WuXiang, not sparing him a word. He thought of Hua Cheng, who, wherever he was, would eventually arrive. Maybe he could see him again, before the resentful spirits came. This time, he smiled, and the smile on his face came naturally. He felt no weird muscle movement going on on his face, and he thought that perhaps, for the first time, he had really managed to smile as he did when he was alive. If San Lang saw him now, he would probably shed tears from joy at the sight. At the thought, Xie Lian’s smile widened, and he let out a sigh.

“I’m probably going to regret this,” he murmured to himself, as thousands of resentful spirits storm inside of the ward.

Xie Lian thought he was never going to feel pain again, and apparently, that was another thing to add to the list of his misjudgements. As the spirits began to tore his soul apart, he wished he could dissipate sooner, and end it there. All his previous thoughts about trying to survive through it, to see Hua Cheng again, immediately died after he had absorbed a hundred spirits.

Just one thing kept his consciousness together, and it was the sight of the red thread tied at his finger. Wu Ming came to his mind. After all, Hua Cheng had survived through this, maybe he could try as well.

Just after he formulated that thought, the red string began to gradually fade away. It wasn’t Hua Cheng who was dying, Xie Lian knew it, it was himself. For as much as he wanted to hold on, the continuously dissipating red thread showed that there was nothing he could do to prevent his second death.

However, there was something he had forgotten about. The ward wouldn’t allow anyone to get out, but the opposite was still possible.

Chapter Text

Before Hua Cheng could even realize what had happened, he had been separated from Xie Lian, again. Fury filled his heart, and he immediately destroyed the illusion Bai WuXiang had trapped him in. Once he started heading towards the Calamity, as he thought Xie Lian would do as well, he saw the resentful souls arriving, like a raincloud in the sky, obscuring the moonlight. 

He knew Xie Lian had managed to create the ward, so that meant Bai WuXiang was taken care of, and that was a nice thing. However, Hua Cheng had a feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t quite understood what exactly.

Walls of rocks separated him from the source of demonic energy where Bai WuXiang, and presumably Xie Lian, were, but he wasn’t too far away anymore, so he started calling aloud.

“Gege?”

Even though the resentful souls had already entered the ward, the sound they were making couldn’t possibly cover his yelling. Why wasn’t his highness answering? Unsettlement and panic made his way in Hua CHeng’s mind, and he rushly hit the wall that blocked his way. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the last cluster of rocks on his way, so he started hitting another wall. When he raised his fist for the third punch, his hand automatically stopped mid-way. The red thread, it was... fading away.

Hua Cheng’s soul almost left his body, and with a ridiculous amount of spiritual powers, the rocks in his way became dust. When he arrived at the border of the ward, he discovered why Xie Lian couldn’t hear him calling. Xie Lian was screaming in pain, his body torn apart by all of the resentful spirits. Xie Lian was crying, unable to stop the tears from flowing. But most eye-catchingly, Xie Lian was smiling from satisfaction.

Hua Cheng felt his mind blanken, while he stared at the beautiful silhouette inside of the ward. If this was any other situation, he would have been enchanted by how beautiful Xie Lian was. His hair was flying in the wind, the simple bun it was tied in was in dismay, but he still somehow had a regal appearance, even with all those messy locks of hair dancing on his face. His eyes were clear, as still and pure water in a pond, illuminated by the light of the silver moon, and even though they contained tears, they didn’t hold sadness. On his face, the most soft smile irradiated of light what surrounded him.

However, all those details touched Hua Cheng’s mind for only one second, before being pushed away by the urgency of the situation. The red string had almost completely faded, and there wasn’t the need of that to see that Xie Lian was at his limits. Yet, he still hadn’t dissipated, and was just a few steps away from Hua Cheng.

He could hear Bai WuXiang laughing miserably from another part of the ward. If they didn’t destroy Bai WuXiang’s ashes, he would probably come back after some centuries, knowing the Calamity’s persistence. However, after the resentful spirits had all been absorbed, Bai WuXiang would be so weak that even the Heavenly Officials would be able to trap him forever, perhaps under Mount Tonglu.

Without hesitations, Hua Cheng stepped into the ward, well knowing that there would be no way out. His life had been dedicated to protect Xie Lian’s smile. Now that he had it in front of him, he wouldn’t let it disappear.

Before he was as close as an arm-length from his destination, however, a movement under Hua Cheng's feet startled him, almost making him fall. It was already hard enough to walk inside a storm of resentful spirits, now that the ground had begun to shake it was almost impossible. Hua Cheng's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Xie Lian's figure fall forward, and he readily took the falling person in his embrace, shielding him from the resentful spirits.

Xie Lian vision was blurred from pain, but he still could sense his surroundings, and when Hua Cheng suddenly appeared next to him, he thought he had gone mad. Though both his vision mind weren’t clear, Hua Cheng’s presence appeared like a lightning in a dark cloud, or a golden lantern in a black night sky. Red robes fluttered in a storm of resentful spirits, and Xie Lian felt that he couldn’t take his eyes off the scene. Not that he wanted anyway.

With Hua Cheng’s arrival, Xie Lian’s mind cleared a bit, forced by the blooming emotions he was feeling.

‘Go away!’ He screamed in his mind.

If he had been able to move even a muscle, he would have done his utmost to tell Hua Cheng to go away. He knew there was no way out of the ward, but maybe, Hua Cheng would find a way. He always managed to find a solution, right?

Xie Lian, however, couldn’t do anything but grit his teeth in pain, both for his physical torment and for Hua Cheng’s presence. For one second, Xie Lian hoped that he was hallucinating, that it was his madness which led him to imagine his deepest hope, to see Hua Cheng again. 

Before he even realized it, Hua Cheng had made his way towards him, but before Xie Lian could raise his hand to touch the person in front of him, and understand if it was real or not, his vision turned black, and he felt his legs give out, letting him fall forward. Maybe it was just the fact that he couldn’t feel anything at the moment, but he didn’t sense pain from the fall, as if what he had landed on wasn’t the cold stone ground, but a warm and welcoming embrace.

When Xie Lian regained his consciousness back, the scenery in front of his eyes had completely changed. He was laying on a bed, and if it wasn’t for the clearly different look of the room he was in, he would have thought he was in Paradise Manor. However, the room had a completely different style from the latter. 

Xie Lian laid on the bed for a couple of seconds, trying to clear up his mind from the doubts he had. Where was he? How had he ended up here? Hadn’t he been dissipated? 

Deciding that sleeping wouldn’t solve his questions, Xie Lian slowly stood up, massaging his temple from the sharp pain that accompanied his movement. His legs felt numb, and he almost fell on his first step, and he luckily managed to get his balance back, and avoid an embarrassing scene. 

“San Lang?”

Xie Lian called out, pretty sure that if he had managed to survive, it must have been thanks to Hua Cheng. Then why hadn’t Hua Cheng taken him to Paradise Manor? What was this place and where was Hua Cheng?

“San Lang?” He tried again.

What answered was silence, and Xie Lian started to worry. He wasn’t concerned for Hua Cheng, the still present red thread on his finger showed that Hua CHeng was alright, but he was deeply confused by the situation.

The room was nicely decorated in white and gold, but overall it had basic ornaments, and it couldn’t be considered a place someone actually lived in. Xie Lian pushed open the door of the room he was in, and discovered that the place was actually enormous. A long and luxurious corridor led him to a hall, and the walk to reach it made Xie Lian have some time to think. 

From the look of the palace, and the great amount of spiritual powers present all around himself, Xie Lian was quite sure that this place was inside the Heavenly Court, specifically the Upper Heaven. If that was the case, he could have woken up in some god’s palace, although he couldn’t recognize whose god it belonged to.

“Oh, right, everything has been rebuilded,” Xie Lian muttered to himself. There was no way he could recognize anyone’s palace, since all of them had been recently rebuilded, and the only new palaces he had been in were Ling Wen’s, and the hall where the meetings were held. 

Xie Lian pushed on the doors without many hesitations, and he discovered that luckily no Heavenly Officials were around. It was weird to not see any gods in the Upper Court, but he imagined that they were probably doing a meeting of some kind. 

He was heading towards where he thought he could jump down, but then he was held back by his doubts, and he made his way towards Ling Wen’s place instead. If he needed answers, she was the most suitable and close-by person to get them. 

Once he got closer to his destination, he started seeing more Heavenly Officials around. Most of them were from the Middle Heaven, but they seemed to be as busy as the Upper Heaven’s ones, so they didn’t cast a glance at the fleeting silhouette of the passing Xie Lian. 

Xie Lian reached Ling Wen’s palace easily, and started wondering if he would be lucky enough to find her inside. He remembered that Mu Qing and Feng Xin had entered the place last time without knocking, but he felt that it was too rude, so he still tried to make his presence known. After some time, since no one answered, he began to feel awkward, standing outside someone else’s palace like this. At one point, a small junior official carrying a lot of reports in his arms, ran towards the door at high speed, clearly intending to reach his destination. Xie Lian had to move sideways to avoid being hit by the running youth, and he felt a lot more awkward when the latter burst into Ling Wen’s palace without knocking or anything, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

After hesitating for a second, Xie Lian made his way in as well, quietly closing the door behind himself. 

“Ling Wen?” He called out, making his way towards the room Ling Wen used as a study.

He was about to open the door, when the young junior official opened it from the inside, and rushed out, sparing Xie Lian only a quick glance. Xie Lian blinked twice watching the sudden appearance, and after clearing his throat, he made his way in the room.

Ling Wen was inside, as he had hoped, and she had just begun to check on the reports the young junior official had given her.

“Ling Wen....” Xie Lian tried to call her attention, and after coughing lightly for the third time, the goddess' eyes finally fell on him.

“Your Highness, you are awake.” She commented, looking surprised.

“Yes, I am... I was hoping you could fill me in on what had happened.”

Ling Wen closed the report roll, “I imagine Your Highness didn’t recognize the place he has woken up into?”

Xie Lian tilted his head, “I... didn’t in fact. Was I supposed to?”

“Not really. It’s a reconstruction of Your Highness’ Palace, but it’s not perfect, since all of Heaven needed to be rebuilt, after the last one was destroyed by Jun Wu.”

Xie Lian raised his eyebrows, “My Palace? Why would you....” Why would they reconstruct his palace?

Ling Wen shrugged, “Why not? Your Highness, I was informed to stop you if you wanted to go down right now, because someone needs to talk with you.”

“...Talk with me? Who is it?”

“It is General Xuan Zhen.”

Xie Lian was even more surprised. “Mu Qing?? Why would he ask for me? Are you sure?”

Ling Wen nodded, and Xie Lian massaged his temple in confusion.

“Alright, then. Then, where is he?”

“Well,” Ling Wen explained, “the martial gods were busy handling the situation on Mount Tonglu, but they are probably finished by now.”

Xie Lian's question was painted on his face, so Ling Wen added, “They have subdued Bai WuXiang, sealing him under the mountain. Obviously, we need to thank Your Highness for giving us the opportunity.”

“Oh,” Xie Lian said.

“You’ll probably be able to find General Xuan Zhen at his palace right now. Also, Your Highness, there are a lot of problems right now due to all those resentful spirits created, so as soon as you’re free, please come and ask for a mission.”

“....”

Xie Lian thanked and greeted goodbyes, but he was kind of weirded out. He didn’t expect Ling Wen to talk to him as if... he was still a god. He had no problems in helping out, obviously, and he was pleased Ling Wen treated him as she did before, but still, it felt like something wasn’t right.

He wasn’t sure if heading to Mu Qing’s palace was the right choice. First of all, why would Mu Qing ever want to speak with him? He really couldn’t think of any reason, but not going, after Ling Wen had told him explicitly to, was too rude, so at the end he still went.

Ling Wen had given him a few indications, so he didn’t have many problems in finding the way. He could recognize that Mu Qing’s palace had been rebuilt recently, even though it resembled a lot his old one. Unsure if knocking was appropriate, Xie Lian stared at the door for too long. After taking a deep breath, he managed to knock.

His knock had been very uncertain, so when no one answered he really wasn’t surprised, When he knocked again, louder, but still no one answered, he started wondering if Mu Qing was really inside.

“Mu Qing? It’s me... Ling Wen told me to come....”

After receiving silence as an answer, he decided that either Mu Qing wasn’t inside, or he was too busy to notice him. Maybe it was better to think about other things, first. He still had to find Hua Cheng, after all.

He was about to leave the place, but when he turned around, he was met with Mu Qing’s arrival. Apparently, he had just finished the mission on Mount Tonglu, and was just as surprised to see Xie Lian at his Palace’s entrance as Xie Lian was about seeing him.

“Oh. I... was sent by Ling Wen.” Xie Lian explained, trying to gain his composure back.

Mu Qing frowned, looking very displeased, “Why did she send you?”

Xie Lian was left speechless. Wasn’t he the one supposed to ask the question? “Uhm... She told me you wanted to... say something.”

Mu Qing grimaced, “I never said that.”

“Oh,” Xie Lian commented, feeling awkward. He didn’t think Ling Wen would lie to him, but  he also couldn’t understand a reason for which Mu Qing would want to speak to him.

“Alright, then I’ll go....” Xie Lian concluded, heading towards the direction Mu Qing had come from.

“Wait!” Mu Qing called out before he had even made five steps.

“What is it?” Xie Lian faced him.

Mu Qing gritted his teeth, clearly not comfortable. ‘Does he actually have something to tell me?’ Xie Lian wondered.

“Welcome back,” Mu Qing finally managed to say, making Xie Lian’s eyes widen in surprise.

‘What is he welcoming back for? My near death experience? Or is it referred to the past few years?’ Xie Lian thought. Most of all, he really didn’t expect those words, whatever meaning they had, coming from Mu Qing’s mouth. After a moment of shock, Xie Lian smiled back, “Thank you.”

Mu Qing seemed to relax a little, and after nodding, he headed inside of his palace, leaving a very confused Xie Lian outside.

After the weird exchange, Xie Lian was finally able to jump down from the Heavenly Court without meeting any other Heaven Official. As soon as his feet touched the grass of the casual place he had landed on, Xie Lian called out, “San Lang!”, a few times.

Then, he remembered the dice he had put in his pouch, and searched for them. However, his robes were different from the one he wore the day before, and there was no trace of the dice Xie Lian sighed disappointed, and tried to call out the other's name once more.

He had never said it before, but now he couldn’t care less about being embarrassed, so he unhesitantly thought the Ghost King’s spiritual communication array password. His first attempt was useless, so he tried again, but no one answered.

Since his attempts at calling Hua Cheng were fruitless, he didn’t have any other choice but to go to Paradise Manor. For that, however, he needed to enter Ghost City first, and that could take some time. Xie Lian felt that if he didn’t hear or see Hua Cheng in the next few seconds, he might explode, but there was nothing he could do except being patient. 

‘Perhaps San Lang is resting,’ Xie Lian thought, ‘just as I was.’

It had been a while since Xie Lian had gone to the Ghost Realm on his own. Last time, he moved with Hua Cheng’s dice roll, and the time before, some years ago, he was still not alone, but with the same Ghost King. 

Xie Lian’s thoughts travelled back in the past, when he first arrived to the Ghost City, to complete a mission with Lord Wind Master. Lord Wind Master, right.... He had almost forgotten meeting him again. Since he had been discovered just a few days after their meeting, he kind of regretted hiding his identity at the time. Maybe he should have revealed himself. Xie Lian shook his head, trying to shake away his thoughts. After all, Shi Qingxuan was drunk, maybe he wouldn’t have even remembered.

‘When everything is fixed, I’ll search for him. For now, at least I know that he is fine,’ Xie Lian swore mentally. 

He didn’t need to hide his aura like he did with Shi Qingxuan while entering the Ghost City, since he wasn’t a Heaven Official anymore. However, for as much as Xie Lian tried to ignore them, there were simply too many glances directed at him from the crowd of ghosts he was following.

‘Do they recognize me?’ Xie Lian was perplexed. It was true that he had been seen more than once in company of Hua Cheng on the streets of Ghost City, but it had been a lot of time, and his aura should have been unrecognizable right now. Then why was he being stared at by so many?

Xie Lian cleared his throat once, to distract his ears from all the murmuring of the surrounding ghosts, and managed to arrive safely at his destination without anyone asking him anything. However, once he started walking towards where he remembered Paradise Manor was, the amount of gazes rose, and ghosts stopped in the middle of what they were doing to follow his figure. 

Xie Lian forced himself not to mistepp or to look back, focusing only on his steps, that became quickier as time passed. He couldn’t help but cast a surprised glance at the side when he heard a shattering noise. 

Turns out, a merchant at the side of the street had lost their balance and dropped a vase, all because they had caught sight of Xie Lian. The latter was at a loss of words, restlessness in his heart. He was about to continue his walk, when he found his path blocked by a tiny ghost. Xie Lian didn’t want to run into it, so he had to halt his movements.

The tiny ghost was a little girl, and she was gazing up at Xie Lian, staring at his face as if he had something on it. For a second, Xie Lian panicked, thinking that he was somehow wearing the half-crying and half-smiling mask, but he was reassured when he raised his hand and what he touched was only his skin. He sighed in relief, even though the thought that Bai WuXiang’s mask was on him was simply absurd.

Xie Lian was a little bit creeped out by the little ghost’s stare, especially since he was receiving similar glances by all the ghosts on the street, but he didn’t want to upset the child, so he tried smiling friendly.

“My apologies, I need to pass through....” He calmly stated, assuming a tone that presumably wouldn’t scare a little child.

“Your Highness?” The little girl suddenly asked, sounding rather hesitant. 

Xie Lian looked calm on the outside, but a storm was raging in his mind. How, just how did this girl know him? And why was he the only one surprised by the sudden title, and all of the surrounding ghosts seemed to have the same question as the girl’s in their eyes? How did they know him?

“Wh-What?” Xie Lian asked, words failing him.

“Yes, it’s His Highness!” Another ghost suddenly exclaimed. From simple muttering and whispering, the ghosts’ chattering became louder and louder, some were even asking him questions or simply calling him out. What was even more odd about it, was that they sounded rather... enthusiastic? 

Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He was relieved that the ghosts didn’t bore any king of murdering intent towards him, but still, this was weird.

“I’m sorry, I....” Xie Lian tried to talk, but his words were heard by nobody inside of the cheering crowd.

“WE NEED TO TELL LORD CHENGZU!” A yell echoed among the ghosts. Many answers of agreement followed the proposal, and the crowd started to slowly walk in the direction of Paradise Manor, happily pushing Xie Lian with them.

‘San Lang?’ Xie Lian wondered, ‘what are they talking about?’

He still needed to go there, so he didn’t have any problems following the crowd, but still, he couldn’t help but feel astonished by what was going on. Suddenly, Xie Lian felt his sleeve being pulled, and he discovered that the little girl was walking alongside him, trying to capture his attention.

“Uhm... Can I help you?” Xie Lian asked her.

The girl smiled, looking as happy as every other ghost there, “Your highness, is it really Your Highness?”

Xie Lian cleared his throat, and answered, “I suppose I am... Can I ask you how you recognized me? It has been a long since I’ve been here.”

The girl’s face enlightened, clearly happy for his words. 

“It would be hard not to recognize His Highness at this point,” a nearby ghost exclaimed, and the ones surrounding him cracked into an agreeing laugh.

“Why is that?” Xie Lian wondered.

“It would have been impossible for us to look for you if we didn’t know what you looked like, obviously!” The same guy explained, “We were very worried about our lord in the past few years, so we helped him look for you.”

Xie Lian “Ah”-ed, feeling at a loss of words. Not only Hua Cheng and the Heavenly Officials were looking for him, even the entirety of the Ghost City!

With a feeling of unexplainable warmth in his heart, Xie Lian crossed the unguarded doors of Paradise Manor, glancing back at the crowd of ghosts that had accompanied him. They all looked satisfied with themselves and triumphant, as if they had accomplished their biggest achievement in life.

To reach the main hall of the palace, one must first walk through a small garden, and then follow a wide corridor. In all of the residence there were no guards, and Xie Lian was quite surprised to be able to enter the place without no one knowing. He was even more surprised, when he noticed that he wasn’t the only one who had the intention to enter the place. An heavenly official stood in front of the doors, walking restlessly up and down the path in the garden, looking defeated. 

“Quan YiZhen?” Xie Lian called out, recognizing the god when he was closer to him.

Quan YiZhen raised his head, acknowledging the call by making eye contact, and continued to stare at the closed door of the palace.

“What are you doing here?” Xie Lian asked, even if he had already guessed.

Quan YiZhen stopped walking, and pointed at the door, “I need to go inside,” he simply explained.

Xie Lian could swear that the door was always left open, but since Yin Yu was inside, the latter had probably closed it after seeing Quan YiZhen. Xie Lian sighed, trying to find an excuse to distract Quan YiZhen. After reflecting for a minute, he realized that his task was basically impossible. Perhaps there would be another way to get inside, without letting the heavenly official know. He didn’t have anything against Quan YiZhen, but he knew Yin Yu wouldn’t be pleased.

He was about to turn around and search for another entrance, when Quan YiZhen suddenly announced with a stern look, “I’ll break through the door.”

Before Xie Lian could do anything, the heavenly official had already kicked the locked door, which opened with a loud crack, revealing the wide corridor inside.

“Wait, wait!” Xie Lian intervened, blocking off the way, “You can’t just... You shouldn’t break in like this!”

Quan YiZhen frowned, clearly not understanding what was the problem with his actions. “I’m looking for shixiong,” he simply explained.

Xie Lian sighed, “Yes, I know that... Alright, let’s go.”

He knew the palace was big, Yin Yu would have no problems in hiding if he truly wanted to avoid meeting Quan YiZhen. He wasn’t really sure about letting a heavenly official enter Paradise Manor so easily, but he had more serious worries in mind, so he could postpone that tiny problem for now. 

Once they reached the main hall of the palace, Xie Lian was slightly disappointed by not finding Hua Cheng there, but this only confirmed his theory that the Ghost King was probably resting, so there was no reason to worry, or at least Xie Lian hoped so.

There was no reason for him to stay with Quan YiZhen, so he subtly separated from the heavenly official, picking casually a corridor he hoped would take him somewhere. Quan YiZhen was also focused on his own search, so he didn’t notice when Xie Lian took another way.

Xie Lian tried to remember the route he was walking on, but after five minutes of twists and turns, he completely lost his orientation sense. Not that it really mattered, he didn’t know where Hua Cheng’s room was. All of the doors he passed by were locked, and could only be opened by rolling the right dice roll, so Xie Lian didn’t even cast them a glance. After ten minutes of futile search, he finally reached a place he recognized: the kitchens. 

Some ghosts, probably the chefs, were inside, chatting casually among themselves, enjoying their free time, and as soon as they saw Xie Lian, they suddenly stopped talking. Opposite to the ghosts in ghost city, who hadn’t seen Xie Lian in some years, these chefs knew that Xie Lian had come back, but they still looked flabbergasted from his sudden appearance in the kitchens. 

“Hello,” Xie Lian politely greeted, standing awkwardly in the center of the attention. 

After a moment of confusion, the ghosts finally realized what they were supposed to do, and promptly bowed down to greet the newcomer.

Xie Lian hastily waved his hands to make them stop, shocked by the sudden behavior of the chefs. “There’s no need, please,” he pleaded.

One of the ghosts, who was probably the coordinator of the group, since everyone seemed to listen to her, humbly asked, “Can we help this lord with anything?”

Xie Lian’s eyes opened wide at the title, since it was the same title the ghosts used for Hua Cheng, and he only managed to speak after some seconds of  reorganizing his thoughts. “Uhm... Yes, I would need to find San... Hua Cheng.”

Xie Lian realized that his words leaked out the fact that he had entered Paradise Manor without anyone’s permission, and he felt very embarrassed, but fortunately the ghosts already considered him a owner of the palace, so they found nothing wrong with his words.

“Hua Chengzu... has not revealed his location to lowly servants such as us, but the Waning-Moon Officer probably knows.”

“Yin Yu?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Xie Lian coughed at the title, and after thanking the chefs deeply, he headed out of the kitchens. He realized too late that he should have asked where Yin Yu was, since Paradise Manor was enormous, but he was too embarrassed to go back inside. Luckily, after roaming around the corridors for a while, he was called by a voice.

“Your highness?”

Xie Lian recognized the voice, and headed towards the room it came from, “Yin Yu?”

Yin Yu had been hiding there from Quan YiZhen, but he had noticed Xie Lian’s presence. Now that they faced each other, Yin Yu wore a complicated look on his face.

“Your highness, how...?”

“...how what?” Xie Lian asked after Yin Yu had lost his words.

“How are you here?” Yin Yu finally completed his question.

Xie Lian frowned, not understanding. “Am I not supposed to?” He wondered out loud.

After some seconds of silence, Yin Yu finally composed himself, and closed the door of the room to avoid any inconvenience. He explained while doing so, “I thought you would be busy with all of heaven's stuff. I imagine there’s a lot to fix up there right now.”

Xie Lian raised an eyebrow, doubting the fact that Yin Yu had completely forgotten the fact that he wasn’t a god anymore. Then he remembered how Ling Wen had requested his help, and realised that Yin Yu was probably referring to that. 

“Oh... I don’t really know. I don’t care about those matters anymore.” He answered.

Yin Yu glanced at him with perplection, and before the conversation could become awkward, Xie Lian changed the subject. “Do you happen to know where San Lang is?”

“Hua Chengzu went to Puji village.”

Xie Lian was surprised, “Why?”

“My apologies, your highness, I don’t know that.” 

“Oh.”

Xie Lian reflected, but he really couldn’t find a reason. He didn’t know what had happened to Puji shrine, but it was probably demolished after he had become a supreme. After all, who would like to have a temple dedicated to a former god who had fallen so low? He was known to bring misfortune as a god, who knows what the mortals said about him now that he was a ghost. There was no way Puji shrine was still a thing, so why did Hua Cheng go to Puji village?

While Xie Lian was thinking, Yin Yu was carefully listening through the closed door, looking very agitated, and Xie Lian couldn’t help but wonder out loud, “Why don’t you talk to him?”

Yin Yu cast his eyes low, a sour look on his face, “I don’t want to.”

Xie Lian bit his lower lip, wondering if he should just shut up, but at the end he didn’t manage to stop himself from talking. “I think... that you two should have a talk.”

Yin Yu didn’t say anything, and Xie Lian understood that it was better to stop talking. 

“I will go to Puji village then. Thank you for your help.” Xie Lian bowed, and was stopped by the other.

“No problem, your highness.”

Xie Lian was about to exit the room, when Yin Yu suddenly stopped him, remembering something. “Your highness! In Hua Chengzu’s accommodation there are dice that can take you to Puji village. I will take you....”

Yin Yu was about to offer to accompany him to the room, but he suddenly remembered why he was hiding. Xie Lian promptly intervened, “Don’t worry, I just need some indications, you don’t need to come.”

After receiving some pointers, Xie Lian thanked and took his leave, heading towards Hua Cheng’s rooms. Hua Cheng didn’t actually sleep there even though there was a bed, since he didn’t need to, but he kept some of his collections there.

Xie Lian managed to find the room, and like Yin Yu had said, the door wasn’t locked. For some reason, even though Hua Cheng wasn’t there, Xie Lian still found it embarrassing to go inside someone's private room so sneakily, and just to be sure, he knocked on the door a few times. After making sure the room was really empty, he entered inside, closing the door behind himself.

The bedroom was elegant, mirroring the modish style of the rest of the manor. As Xie Lian had imagined, the divan was the least noticeable thing in the room, even though it should have been the most important object in a bedroom, but clearly Hua Cheng didn’t pay any attention to it. A large desk, similar to the one present in the hall, took most of the space, and assorted and alluring gadgets stood on shelves at the walls. They all looked normal every-day objects at first glance, but they were obviously rare and precious items. 

On the desk, papers were covered with the almost illegible writing of the Ghost King, and Xie Lian moved them around to find the dice. After browsing for a while, trying to focus only on his search, to not disturb Hua Cheng’s privacy, Xie Lian couldn’t help but stop his movements at the sight of something. On a paper there was his own calligraphy, and Xie Lian recognized the poem he had written with Hua Cheng in QianDeng temple, just a few hours before Mount Tonglu reopened. He subconsciously traced his finger across the red stain of ink in the middle of the poem, smiling at the memory, and he couldn’t help but sigh for the feeling of blushing that overcame his face. 

After a few more seconds spent admiring the poem, Xie Lian gently put it away, and his eyes were caught by another paper. He had already subconsciously sat down, and even though searching through the papers was useless to his objective, he couldn’t help himself from being curious. What he picked up this time was a drawing of himself, similar to the one Hua Cheng had drawn for the imaginary of the god in Puji shrine. Xie Lian felt a mixture of feelings while studying the drawing. Hua Cheng really thought too highly of him, he was sure of that. The drawing was done with so much care and attention, that Xie Lian could see the effort put into it, and he only felt like he didn’t deserve this.

He put down the paper, and raised a new drawing from the pile. As soon as he saw it, Xie Lian choked on air, and burst into a fit of coughs. Standing up suddenly, he hastily hid away the drawing under the pile of papers, deciding it was better to forget about it. 

Embarrassed to have discovered such a drawing, Xie Lian couldn’t focus, and curiosity overcame his mind. After all, he had only cast a single glance at the drawing, and he hadn’t seen it clearly. After a minute of nervously fidgeting his sleeves, Xie Lian decided that a second look wouldn’t harm anyone, and he searched for the paper once more. 

Now that he was mentally prepared, he couldn’t help but awe at the realism of the picture drawn. Xie Lian suddenly remembered what Hua Cheng’s had drawn it after: when Hua Cheng had pretended to be Lang Ying, he had accidentally entered Puji Shrine while Xie Lian was shirtless and about to bathe. Xie Lian understood that what he had drawn was a memory, so it wasn’t that... weird... right?

Red from the embarrassment, Xie Lian decided to not think about it, and he put the drawing down once more. He felt bad about invading what was clearly Hua Cheng’s privacy, but for some reason that he himself didn’t know, he couldn’t help but find the thing he had just discovered quite funny.

After searching for a few more minutes, Xie Lian finally found two red dice, and hoping they were the one Yin Yu was referring to, he shook them and focused on Puji village.

The dice worked, and when he opened his eyes again, where he stood on was the familiar looking mountain. He wasn’t in Puji village, but it was just a five minutes walk from there. Before heading towards it, Xie Lian fastened his straw hat on his head,trying to hide his face from possible passersby. After all, the people in that village were few, and they would probably recognize him if he showed his face.

Walking on the path he remembered, Xie Lian felt a warmth feeling of familiarity in his heart. After all, in all of the centuries he had spent walking the human realm, Puji shrine had been the closest thing to a home he had ever had. Even though in the previous years the vegetation had changed the path and its surrounding a lot, Xie Lian would have been able to find his way to the village while blindfolded. Smiling like a child that had just received his favourite toy, Xie Lian reached the village, and headed towards the place where once stood Puji shrine. On his way, he saw the faces and heard the voices of many people he remembered, and the care-free atmosphere of the village made him almost forget all the happenings of the previous years, making him feel as if nothing had happened at all.

Xie Lian expected that the building he had called Puji Shrine had now been used for something else, or used as the temple for another god, so he wasn’t surprised when he saw from far away that the building wasn’t abandoned, but instead tidy and well decorated. His only option to find Hua Cheng was that, so he headed towards it, slightly hesitant and filled with expectations.

The sign “Puji Shrine” was still there, so Xie Lian understood that the name hadn’t been changed. Since it seemed to still be a temple, it wouldn’t be weird if he walked inside, but just to make sure, Xie Lian knocked on the door. 

No answer came, and Xie Lian couldn’t help but feel disappointed. If Hua Cheng wasn’t there, why would he have gone to Puji Village? 

Moved by nostalgia, Xie Lian still opened the door, entering the shrine submerged by the memories and regrets. What he hadn’t expected to find, however, was the exact same picture of himself painted by Hua Cheng on the wall, the same there was the last time he had been there. Xie Lian blinked twice, thinking he was imagining stuff, but the more he looked, the more the shrine appeared to be exactly how he had left it. 

The offering box was still there, and the table/altar had some fresh offerings and some lit incense sticks on it. If it weren’t impossible, Xie Lian would have thinked he had just travelled in time. As he was staring at the scene in front of him with a complicated expression, the door opened behind him, letting a person in. Xie Lian turned around, afraid to have been caught in the middle of something that he shouldn’t have been in, and what he met was Hua Cheng’s surprised gaze.

The two stared at each other for some seconds, both wearing the same surprised expression, until Hua Cheng’s shock melted into happiness.

“Gege, I didn’t expect you to wake up so soon.” Hua Cheng said while smiling.

The red-robed man had come in with a pile of wood in his arms, and after talking, he smoothly put the logs in a corner. Xie Lian used that time to compose himself, and for as much as he was confused by what he had just seen, he couldn’t help but completely forget about it at the sight of Hua Cheng. Without letting Hua Cheng stand up completely from where he had put the wood down, Xie Lian hugged him, and felt the other's arms hug him back.

“San Lang,” he muttered after having lost the track of time, “you scared me.”

Hua Cheng didn’t seem willing to let go of the hug as well, and while caressing Xie Lian’s hair, he complained, “You scared me more, gege. Closing yourself in the array like that, I thought I would lose you.”

Xie Lian felt awful, realizing how bad it would look from Hua Cheng’s perspective. He had never wished to sacrifice himself in order to defeat Bai WuXiang, he wanted to stay with Hua Cheng; but how could the other know about his thoughts at that moment? He remembered how Wu Ming had disappeared in front of him, and he felt so guilty for having made Hua Cheng feel like he had.

Xie Lian tightened his hold, feeling the necessity to explain himself. He loosened the hug, facing Hua Cheng, so he could meet his gaze. 

“I didn’t want to leave you. I thought...  I would survive. I... I’m sorry.”

Hua Cheng smiled softly, one of his hands moving to Xie Lian’s face to caress his cheek. “Please, don’t do something like that anymore, gege.”

Xie Lian nodded while smiling, and then he remembered something, “San Lang, why doesn’t your spiritual communication array work? I tried to call you after waking up, but you didn’t answer... I was worried.”

Hua Cheng didn’t expect Xie Lian to say that, and he was stunned for a second. “Oh... I had blocked it off. Some years ago.”

Hua Cheng’s tone was lower, almost regretful, and Xie Lian couldn’t help but be curious, “Why?”

Hua Cheng hesitated, subconsciously tightening the embrace, as if scared that Xie Lian might disappear from his arms. “Every time Yin Yu or others contacted me, I always hoped it would be you. I knew you wouldn’t, but I still couldn’t let go of the hope... So I cut off the communication array... I’m sorry, you were worried because of it. I didn’t think you would... I forgot about it.”

Xie Lian felt awful realizing what had happened, every word hammering his heart with guilt. Unable to find the right words to apologize his mistakes, he buried his face in the other’s chest once more, trying to ease the weight of his regrets in the other’s embrace.

“Thank you,” he said after a minute of silence. He was sorry, but his apologies were useless, partly because they didn’t change anything, and partly because he knew Hua Cheng had already forgiven him. However, he needed to tell his gratitude, because his happiness derived all from one person, and he couldn’t understand what he had done to deserve it.

Hua Cheng kissed the top of his head, smiling sweetly.

After some time of enjoying each other’s presence, Xie Lian remembered where he was in. Loosening his arms, he turned around to glance at the shrine once more, confirming that it was still the same, and he wasn’t hallucinating.

“San Lang, why...?”

Hua Cheng noticed his confused expression, and he chuckled while hugging Xie Lian from behind. Xie Lian raised his head to question him, and Hua Cheng explained, “why is it weird? Shouldn’t a god have a shrine?”

Xie Lian pouted. He wasn’t offended, but he couldn’t help but feel out of place. “San Lang, don’t joke like that... I have got nothing to do with Heaven anymore.”

It was Hua Cheng’s turn to be surprised, and he studied Xie Lian’s expression for a second. Seeing how determined Xie Lian was, Hua Cheng smiled warmly, “alright, as you wish. I thought Ling Wen would force you to help them now, I am happy to have you all for myself.” 

Xie Lian smiled, happy to be understood. “Ling Wen asked me to help her, I thought it was weird. I mean, I won’t refuse, but I didn’t expect her to.”

Hua Cheng let go of the hug to face Xie Lian, taking the other’s hands in his as if he was holding the most precious of the treasures, “Why wouldn’t she? After all, you are the best martial god in heaven, she would be a fool not to ask for your help.”

Xie Lian frowned, uncomfortable for being called like that. He knew Hua Cheng wouldn’t do it on purpose, so he decided to speak his doubts aloud.

“San Lang... You know... I am not a god anymore.”

When Xie Lian found the courage to raise his eyes and meet the other’s gaze, what he found on Hua Cheng’s face was just confusion.

After a minute of silence, Hua Cheng seemed to have come to a conclusion in his train of thoughts, and he nodded as to confirm something in his mind.

“Oh,” he said, “if that’s your choice, it’s fine. But, uhm... can I ask why?”

Xie Lian stared at him, trying to understand if he was joking. To his surprise, Hua Cheng seemed deadly serious. “What do you mean? Isn't it obvious?” He asked, doubting to have heard correctly.

Hua Cheng smiled, “It’s your choice, gege, you can be whatever you want to. I just thought that you would prefer to stay like this, now that you have ascended, but if that’s not what you want, I am perfectly fine with it.”

Xie Lian’s jaw almost dropped, “ascended?”

Seeing his confusion, a flash of comprehension shone in Hua Cheng’s eyes, and he couldn’t help but chuckle out loud. “Gege, why did you think you woke up in Heaven?”

Xie Lian felt lost, the weight of the information drowning him.

“I have ascended?” He asked; the words of the question had a weird taste in his mouth.

Hua Cheng grinned, his face radiating satisfaction and ecstasy, “yes, gege, you have. I would have taken you with me in Paradise Manor if those bastards hadn't stolen you away.”

“Oh,” Xie Lian commented, incapable to form a coherent thought. He suddenly remembered his conversation with Mu Qing, “So that was what he meant by ‘welcome back’...”

Still confused and lost, Xie Lian couldn’t help but smile at the realization. Meeting Hua Cheng’s gaze, he could read in his crescent-shaped eye how much that person loved him, and he suddenly felt like he was the luckiest person ever.

For as much as he could be happy for having ascended a fourth time, Xie Lian realized that after all, he didn’t really care about it. Whatever he may be, human, ghost, or god, and for how miserable and worthless he may be, he would still have someone, and that was enough to compensate for everything else.

"What has happened here?" Xie Lian asked while gesturing around. 

Hua Cheng followed his gaze, looking satisfied by what he saw. Grinning, he said, "the shrine has been left untouched. I thought gege would have liked to come back here after he woke up, so I came here to make sure everything was ready for your arrival."

Xie Lian blinked, surprised by the explanation. "Why did the people leave the shrine untouched?"

"I don't know," Hua Cheng lied, "maybe they knew gege would ascend again sooner or later..."

Xie Lian looked at him sideways, not buying his lies. Hua Cheng cleared his throat, and added, "or maybe someone told them not to..."

Xie Lian understood, and mentally face-slapped. He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought, "San Lang, you didn't threaten them, did you?"

Hua Cheng pretended to be offended and pouted at the accusation, "I would never. I just asked them politely."

Xie Lian chuckled again, letting the matter drop, and started walking around the shrine. Everything was in the spot he remembered, although the place had been obviously recently cleaned and tidied. He stopped in front of his portrait, and couldn't help but admire the talent behind it. Differently from the one he had found in Hua Cheng's room, the one in the shrine was done with much cheaper colours, since it was done with his own scrap-picking resources, and the colours were slightly pale and not as vibrant as they were before, but somehow Xie Lian preferred it that way, it was more intriguing to observe.

At the reminder of the similar drawing in Hua Cheng's room, Xie Lian's thoughts couldn't help but be drawn to the other drawing he had found, the one in which he was topless. Feeling the temperature of his face rising instantly, Xie Lian shot an embarrassed glare at Hua Cheng, that was standing leisurely at his side.

"What is wrong, gege?" Hua Cheng asked, noticing the flustered look on the god's face.

Xie Lian quickly looked away, clearing his throat to lightened the atmosphere. "Nothing, nothing."

Trying to stop thinking about it, Xie Lian looked around the room to find something to change the subject to. His eyes fell on the corner he used as the kitchen, and a nostalgic smile appeared on his lips.

"San Lang," he said enthusiastically, walking towards the pot, "When I get the ingredients, I'll cook something for you, I want your opinions on some new recipes I've created."

"That sounds amazing," Hua Cheng commented while following him.

Xie Lian took the pot in his hands, and brought it to the table as if he was starting to put some vegetables to cook into it. He didn't have enough ingredients, so there was no reason for him to move the pot, but Hua Cheng didn't comment it, simply following his movements with a smile.

Xie Lian saw the straw mat, folded in a corner of the floor, and he raised in question, "San Lang, can we rest here tonight?" 

He liked Paradise Manor and its luxuries, but it also felt like something too distant from himself. He felt like he would never really get used to living in such a place, and would rather stay in a simple and small home. However, he was sure that any place where Hua Cheng was would feel like a home to him.

Hua Cheng nodded, "Yes, I would love it."

Xie Lian smiled, unexplainable joy blooming in his heart.

"I should reactivate the communication array," Hua Cheng said, bringing his fingers to his temple, "I'll inform Yin Yu about it, so he won't need to come here to contact me."

Xie Lian nodded and continued his exploration around the shrine, awing at the littlest detail, such as a repairement in the roof or a decoration Hua Cheng had added. After some minutes of silence, Hua Cheng frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Xie Lian questioned worried, getting closer to him.

Hua Cheng shook his head slightly, "Yin Yu isn't answering..."

Xie Lian frowned as well, and a thought made his way to his mind, "Oh... I think he may be busy."

Hua Cheng cocked his eyebrow in question, "busy?"

Xie Luan suddenly felt very embarrassed, realizing that he was probably the cause of the problem. "I went to Paradise Manor to look for you... and Quan YiZhen was there too... I think that's the problem."

Hua Cheng huffed, his care faded away, and he stopped trying to communicate through the array.

"Gege," Hua Cheng called out while sitting on the straw mat, patting at his side.

It was still the first afternoon, too early to rest, but Xie Lian didn't hesitate to sit down next to him, enjoying the comfort of being so closed, both figuratively and physically, to the person he loved.

There were many things they wanted to talk about, many reassurances that needed to be said, many promises that, although they needn't to be said out loud, would still be spoken. Some things would need more time than others, some memories would need more time to not be remembered in anguish, but after all, they had all eternity to forge new memories and to cherish new promises, and they had each other to share them with.