Chapter Text
Xie Lian was caught up in heavenly matters after the previous Heavenly Emperor had been imprisoned. He could never forget that he was now the strongest martial god. He was going to be the one to take up the title of Heavenly Emperor. With all of that, Hua Cheng was left in the mortal realm to do nothing but watch ghosts gamble. Heavenly Officials hadn’t accepted him even though he was married to the heavenly throne. He couldn’t blame them. After all, he was the Ghost King, one of the four calamities, and defeated 33 heavenly officials. Personally, he couldn’t blame them for two of the three facts. He had a very good reason, in his opinion, to destroy those 33 officials.
They were 33 heavenly officials who deserved to fall seeing as they humiliated and shamed his wife. Still, that really didn’t change anything. He was still feared and despised, and not allowed to enter the Heavenly Realm. It’s not like he couldn’t enter. Hua Cheng was one of the four calamites, plus before he was even given that title, he had walked right into the Heavenly Realm without any trouble. He just chose not to enter because his presence there would only prove to be an obstacle for Xie Lian. Besides, he could wait. He had managed to wait 800 years, so what was a few weeks. Besides, he knew that he would be able to walk in and out of the Heavenly Realm as soon as his beloved was officially named the Heavenly Emperor. All of that, didn’t change the fact that he missed his Gege and was bored out of his mind.
Hua Cheng stepped out of the gambling hall and roamed around his Ghost City. He had nothing better to do but casually greet the ghosts he ruled over. It’s not like this was an uncommon thing. Actually, it had become so common that the other ghosts could casually say ‘hi’ when he waved to one of them. Of course, they all still feared him, but when he was in a state of Xie Lian deprivation, all of the heavy aura he released was gone, making him a little less terrifying. Still, none of them dared to do what that old man did.
That old man stood right in Hua Cheng’s way and didn’t move. If Hua Cheng sidestepped to get past him, the old man would do the same. If Hua Cheng backed up, the old man would take a step forward. At first, Hua Cheng tried being polite. After all, Xie Lian had asked him to hone the art of manners so the Heavenly Officials would accept him a little better.
“Elder, you are blocking the path. Would you kindly allow this youngster to pass?”
The old man didn’t move out of the way or respond. Hua Cheng was going to practice his manners, and act less hostile to others who show no intent to harm him or anything precious to him. Why? Because that was what Xie Lian wanted him to do. He’d told himself that he’d give things a second chance before using force.
“Old man, please move.”
Again, the old man didn’t respond, but he did grab Hua Cheng’s right hand. As soon as he felt his hand being grabbed, Hua Cheng pulled his hand away, at least he tried.
Hua Cheng tried pulling his hand away, but despite this man’s twig-like fingers, the old man was strong. He was strong enough to keep hold of Hua Cheng no matter how much strength he used to pull his hand away.
Hua Cheng thought of killing the old man, but remembered what his wife said about controlling his impulses and rage. Hua Cheng forced out an angry growl with the words, “Old man, please let go.”
The old man did nothing of the sort, he just looked at the Ghost King’s hand with no intention of moving. At one point, Hua Cheng wondered if this man died 100% senile.
After a few more seconds, the old man made eye contact with Hua Cheng and looked insane, from Hua Cheng’s point of view.
“It is the first.”
The first? What did that mean? The first to walk right into the Heavenly Realm? The first to become the King of Ghosts? Hua Cheng had been the first to do so many things that he needed the old man to point out what thing he was first for. But before another word left his mouth, the old man disappeared. The only trace of the old man was a slim silver ring with a rounded red gem sitting on it that had been slid onto Hua Cheng’s index finger.
“The fuck is this?”
In his private room, Hua Cheng looked over the ring and noticed that it really matched his outfit. He thought that maybe the old man was giving his offering to him directly. Maybe he had done something for the old man in the past and had just forgotten about it. After all, 800 years is a long time and he only focused on remembering important events and Xie Lian. Saving the old man was probably done by accident. Either way, he liked the ring. At first glance, it seemed like nothing. Something insanely simple, but he’d never seen a ring like this throughout his whole life, and his life was a long one. He even loved the detail that was put into it. The character meaning ‘one’ being written inside the jewel. He was amused by that detail. Hua Cheng wanted to know if there was any other detail on the ring, and he found it inconvenient to turn his hand to see all angles of the ring. There was also, in his knowledge, that some rings had something engraved on the inner ring.
It only took a single second after for Hua Cheng to start hating his new offering. He went to take the ring off to inspect the thing, but it wouldn’t come off. No matter how hard he tried pulling the thing off, it wouldn’t budge from its place. Since pulling it off didn’t work, he made an attempt to cut the ring itself. E-Ming gave it multiple tries but it couldn’t even scratch the ring. At this point, Hua Cheng was pissed, and now that a ring was latching itself onto his finger, he was going to do everything to get the damn thing off. He was determined to get the damn thing off, even if he had to travel the world to find the way. Although, there was one problem with that plan. Xie Lian was going to come to visit him right after he was crowned Heavenly Emperor. That time wasn’t far away, and Hua Cheng didn’t want to worry his dear beloved. He wanted to congratulate his lover directly after he descended to the mortal realm, but he also wanted to get the damn ring off his finger. Of course, Hua Cheng put his wife over himself. His final decision was to wait until after spending a few days with Xie Lian to start his conquest to get the ring off his finger. However, that didn’t stop him from going through a few books to get the thing off him.
After a good two hours of going through every single book he had at hand, Hua Cheng found nothing that gave him a little clue, better yet solve his problem. He had never seen such a ring before, and if he actually had, Hua Cheng had already forgotten about it. He thought that maybe it would be better to ask Xie Lian. After all, he had way more knowledge of heavenly artifacts–artifacts in general–than he did. If his wife didn’t have the answer, then Hua Cheng had already started planning out a date to the Heavenly Library. If there was nothing there to help him, then he would actually have to roam the mortal world to find a way to get the damn ring off his finger. Hua Cheng started off liking the ring, but now he completely despised the thing.
Hua Cheng sighed, allowing the rest of his good energy out of his body. His gege had been gone for a month, there was a weird ring on his finger, and he was bored out of his mind. Today was not a good day for the ghost carrying the title of ‘Crimson Rain Sought Flower,’ and honestly, he didn’t think his day could get any worse. You know, Hua Cheng ended up jinxing his own pathetic self.
Hua Cheng allowed himself to close his eyes. He allowed himself to sleep even though it was unnecessary. Honestly, Hua Cheng allowed his consciousness to be inactive because he wanted to dream about his Gege that wasn’t so far, but at the same time, an unthinkable distance. He was dreaming about the day he met his Gege for the first time in 800 years. The time where he walked his wife up the mountain like a grom walking his bride down the aisle. Of course, that wasn’t the traditional wedding, but that moment made the corners of Hua Cheng’s mouth curl up in a smile. Hua Cheng’s dream started fading away and his body faded with it.
“San Lang!”
Xie Lian had descended from the Heavenly Realm two weeks after Hua Cheng was given the ring by the old man. He had descended right into Ghost City, the place his lover ruled and built during his spare time. Xie Lian desenced expecting to run into the arms of his husband, but instead, he was met with silence. Dead silence. There wasn’t a single trace of the husband he’s been waiting to see for the past two months. Everything was a mess as if his husband was just going out for a little entertainment in the gambeling house, but it wasn’t that. Xie Lian had felt the dust on the stacked books as he was putting them back on the shelf. Xie Lian looked all around the room for a trace of a note, but he found nothing.
Hua Cheng and Xie Lian had promised each other to leave a note when they were departing for an independent journey. The note didn’t have to say much. Like the note Xie Lian left his lover before going to the Heavenly Realm for two months. He had just written something simple.
‘I’m going to have to sit in the Heavenly Emperor’s seat. I’ll be back in a few weeks. Wish me luck!’
After, Xie Lian used his skills to draw a little smiley face right after. Usually Hua Cheng would leave messages like, ‘Urgent business in Ghost City. Promise to be back in a month. Love you.’
And after, there would be a little heart.
Xie Lian wanted to ravage the room to look for such a simple note. He wanted to know that his husband was out on an independent mission, and not–god forbid–abandoning him.
No, Hua Cheng would never abandon Xie Lian. He had promised not to ever leave him without warning. That could only mean one thing. The King of Ghosts, one of the four calamites, Crimson Rain Sought Flower, Xie Lian’s husband, had disappeared. Under this realization, Xie Lian collapsed.
“San Lang, where’d you go?”
Xie Lian knew that no one could hear his cries, but he continued to call out.
“Hua Cheng!”
No one heard. No one saw. The loving arms he wanted to be hugged by didn’t come. The sweet voice that always prayed to him was gone. Xie Lian wanted to spend his first week as a Heavenly Emperor with his husband, and now, he was gone. He was nowhere to be seen while Xie Lian screamed his name over and over with tears rushing out of his eyes. Hua Cheng had disappeared without a trace, leaving his wife broken on the floor.
“Where are you…?”