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A streak of homicides had led Xie Lian and Hua Cheng to a certain village.
All of the killings were done in a similar fashion. A person suddenly lashed out at another and stopped at nothing to kill them, even at the price of being maimed themselves. The first few times it happened it was brushed off as just another act of jealousy, insanity or quarrel, but it happened again and again. And every time the perpetrators said the same thing, that they were in some sort of trance and couldn’t control their bodies and only came back to their senses when they had blood on their hands. When this continued the villagers started to fear that this was a curse and went to pray.
On the surface level it looked like the killers just weren’t able to come up with a good excuse when being caught, but over ten people suddenly starting to kill others and all of them clinging to this trashy excuse was certainly suspicious. So, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng went out to investigate.
It certainly looked like a curse of some kind, but it lacked consistency. After asking around a bit the duo found out that all of the killers only targeted one person and stopped after killing them. There were no connections among the perpetrators or among the victims. They were all different ages, genders and backgrounds.
The connection between killer and victim was also not very well defined. Most of them were a pair of a man and a woman, with the killer being either one, but there were also some that were both men or both women.
The first thought that came to Xie Lian was that maybe the curse targeted people that were in love with each other, but their relationships also varied. Yes, some of them were married and other detained killers, after some questioning, admitted that they loved and were seeing each other, but others swore up and down that they were only friends or that they only met the other person a handful of times and have no relationship with them whatsoever.
“Look,” one of them said “Yes, we were friends and spent a lot of time together, but that’s it. Friends. I don’t have feelings like that for other men.”
One curious case was of a scrawny girl who somehow managed to kill a buff man.
“I-I don’t know. It was all like in a dream. One minute I’m making dinner, the next I’m walking into a complete stranger’s house with the cooking knife in hand. He-he… He looked surprised at first, but then almost pleased and hopeful? But that expression soon changed when I…” She continued in a meek voice “When I lunged at him with the knife. I-I don’t know what came over me, I just… The only thing I could think of was killing him at all costs. He caught my hand. He could easily have overpowered me. But when he squeezed to hard I cried out and for some reason he instinctively let go leaving an opening too… Oh, god!” She started crying.
What really proved that it was a curse, was the fact that there was one survivor.
Apparently, someone managed to restrain the man before he could kill. However, not even half a shichen latter the man inexplicably dropped dead. The conclusion of that? One of the affected had to die.
Xie Lian decided to go talk to the survivor while Hua Cheng went to scout the area to see if he can find what’s causing this.
The girl invited him for tea and they both sat down.
“I assume Daozhang is here to question about the attack on this one?” She asked quite calmly, looking at her teacup.
“If it is not too much trouble for you, I would like to ask a few questions” Xie Lian answered politely.
“Go ahead then.”
“Did you personally know the attacker?”
The girl tightened her grip on the cup, but her voice didn’t waver “I have seen him a few times and talked to him a bit. But beside that, no.”
She looked timid. It could be because they were talking about the person that almost murdered her, but Xie Lian sensed that there was more to it than that. He tried pushing.
“You’re very lucky to have gotten out of this situation unscathed.”
The girl lowered her head and said in a strained voice “Yeah, very lucky.”
“And now that he’s dead you won’t have to worry about another attack from such a violent man.”
She slammed the teacup on the table “He is not like that!” Having realized what she had just said the girl shrank back.
Xie Lian sighed and in a warm comforting voice said “It’s alright you can trust me. Tell me what really was between you too.”
The girl was on the verge of tears. She looked at Xie Lian for a bit and then lowered her eyes.
“What I said is true, I’ve only met him a few times, but… those times he was so nice to me and I… I…”
“You fell in love it him?” Xie Lian’s voice was very soft.
She nodded. “But then I found out that he was betrothed to another and now he’s… Now he’s dead and it’s my fault!” She broke out in tears.
“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. It was a curse. I promise we’ll take care of it so no one else will get hurt.” He comforted her, but his mind was going at lightning speed putting everything together.
So, it was a curse that affected people in love. Only the ones doing the killing weren’t the ones inflicted with the curse, it was the other way around. The curse made the person you love try to kill you and if they failed, they would die themselves. It didn’t matter if the love was one sided or if the person even knew the other existed. Such a cruel curse, Xie Lian thought internally. And then he remembered that Hua Cheng was still out there investigating. If he got afflicted by the curse, then…
With a jolt of fear, he realized that he had Hua Cheng’s ashes with him.
Was the curse powerful enough to affect a Ghost King and a God? He wasn’t sure and he didn’t want to find out. Xie Lian quickly reached out to Hua Cheng through their communication array.
‘San Lang! Where are you?’
There was no response.
A shiver ran down Xie Lian’s spine.
Without giving the crying girl another look he got up and ran out.
Xie Lian followed where his red string led him at full speed. It didn’t take him long to spot a red figure in the forest outside the village. He took a breath of relief and was just about to speak up when Hua Cheng turned around to face him.
The look in his eye was not a seeing one.
Xie Lian’s instincts told him to step to the side and he barely dodged a blow from E-Ming. The red eye on the scimitar was opened wide and spinning wildly. But Xie Lian wasn’t able to pay more attention to it because more blows came his way. He quickly pulled Fang Xin to parry them and leapt back to put some distance between them.
“San Lang!” he cried out. Hua Cheng just stood there looking at Xie Lian. Trembling.
With all of his deduction Xie Lian failed to think of a possibility that he himself might get cursed. However, at the back of his head he did sight a breath of relief. If he’s cursed that means that Hua Cheng won’t be, and he doesn’t have to worry about crushing his beloved’s ashes. But the situation now wasn’t exactly a good one either.
With the cursed shackles gone he was stronger than Hua Cheng. Xie Lian knew he could beat him in a fight, probably even immobilize him without hurting him too much, but… But the curse demanded a death. If he stopped Hua Cheng there was a possibility he would die and Xie Lian wasn’t going to take that risk. He thought to himself, time to put his immortality to good use.
He threw Fang Xin away and started to walk up to Hua Cheng.
“It’s alright San Lang. Everything is going to be alright.” Xie Lian soothed.
Hua Cheng, still staring at him started to shake harder. When Xie Lian walked up to him Hua Cheng pounced on him, pinning him to the ground straddling him. Xie Lian let him do it without any resistance. He just lay there pliantly.
Hua Cheng gripped E-Ming whose tip was hovering over Xie Lian’s chest but didn’t move an inch. Despite the whole situation, Xie Lian felt warm inside. None of the villagers were able to fight the curse, but here his sweet San Lang was refusing to harm him.
Xie Lian reached his hand up and cupped Hua Cheng’s cheek. Tears started rolling from the Ghost King’s eye. Xie Lian wiped them away with his thumb.
He spoke very softly “Hey, listen to me. It’s alright. Nothing you do could ever hurt me.”
Xie Lian let go of his cheek and with both hands took hold of the hand that was holding E-Ming. He moved it so the tip of the scimitar would be just above his beating heart. Hua Cheng with horror in his eye was staring at that point.
“San Lang, my sweet San Lang, look at me.”
Hua Cheng peeled his gaze from the blade and looked at his beloved.
Xie Lian smiled and plunged the blade into his own heart.
It should have hurt, it really should have. It did hurt all one hundred times he was stabbed on the alter in that shrine. It hurt so badly then. But now Xie Lian was too focused on Hua Cheng to feel any pain.
The Ghost King’s vision cleared and he looked beyond horrified. He immediately jumped off of Xie Lian inadvertently pulling E-Ming out. As he watched the blood spilling out from the wound and turning the white cultivator robes crimson, Hua Cheng threw E-Ming away and stumbled back.
Before his brain could fully catch up to what he had done, Hua Cheng found himself held in a tight embrace.
“Shh shh” Xie Lian soothed. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You did everything wonderfully.”
“…Your Highness” a sob broke out from Hua Cheng. His knees buckled from underneath him and Xie Lian guided both of them gently to sit on the ground not loosening his embrace even a bit.
Another sob broke out from Hua Cheng “I-I hurt you! I’m no better than the ones that, that…”
“You didn’t hurt me.” Xie Lian cut him of and hugged him harder. “You didn’t.”
Hua Cheng was frantically sucking in breaths that he didn’t need. “Your Highness, your wound! We need to take care of your wound!” The blood from the stab wound was seeping out and dirtying his own robes, but at that moment he didn’t have the brain capacity to even think about that. “You’re hurt and this lowly one…” His breathing became more sporadic and he tried to wiggle out of the embrace, but Xie Lian wouldn’t budge. He was too afraid of what Hua Cheng would do when freed. Not to Xie Lian of course, but to himself.
“San Lang, could you do something for me?” Hua Cheng stilled. Xie Lian knew ghost didn’t need to breath, but it would help to calm down. “Take a deep breath. Do it with me. Inhale.” He took in a deep breath and after a moment Hua Cheng also took in a shaky one. “Exhale. Good. Very good. Let’s try again. Inhale. Exhale.” They continued this for a while until Xie Lian could feel Hua Cheng relaxing a bit in his embrace.
“Could San Lang tell me how he is feeling now?”
A low rumble came “Like the worst trash imaginable. A monster that should be put down.”
Xie Lian chuckled lightly “Now, now San Lang. Could San Lang tell me what he did to deserve this?”
His voice was very strained “I hurt your highness. …Hurt you for my own gain just like the others.”
Xie Lian’s voice was warm “That’s not how I see it. As I see it you helped me save the one I care most for in the world. Isn’t that an act worth praising?”
“…Your Highn-“
“San Lang.” He cut him off. “Is that anyway to address your husband?”
Hua Cheng went quiet for a moment “Gege.” He corrected himself. “This lowly one-“
Xie Lian cut him off again. “My husband certainly isn’t lowly.”
After that Hua Cheng didn’t say anything more, instead he circled his arms around Xie Lian, mindful not to touch the wound, and buried his face in Xie Lian’s neck. They stayed like that for a long time, with Xie Lian gently stroking Hua Cheng’s back.
Finally, Xie Lian felt Hua Cheng shift lightly. He loosened his embrace, so, Hua Cheng could pull back enough to look at his face. The Ghost King’s face was tearstained, but all things considered he looked good. Xie Lian gave him a warm smile. Hua Cheng stared at him for a while in a daze, then his gaze moved to the stab wound and turned dark.
The bleeding from the wound had slowed and some of the blood had started to dry. Xie Lian’s robes were painted crimson by his own blood.
Hua Cheng pulled away from Xie Lian and this time the god let him. Hua Cheng immediately summoned his silver butterflies and they landed on Xie Lian’s wound. A warm sensation flowed through his body and the wound started to close. Soon there was not a trace of it.
Hua Cheng sat there refusing to look his god in the eyes. After a moment he spoke up, his voice small.
“Does it still hurt?”
Xie Lian cupped Hua Cheng’s cheek and lifted his head up so he would look at him. Xie Lian was smiling.
“It never hurt in the first place.” At Hua Cheng’s confused look he continued. “Like I said nothing you do could ever hurt me. Even if it did hurt it wouldn’t matter, because losing you would have hurt infinitely more.”
Hus Cheng looked at him wide eye for a moment. Then he closed his eye and placing a his hand over Xie Lian’s leaned into the touch on his cheek.
After he was certain that Hua Cheng was alright and in his right mind again, Xie Lian remembered something else.
He leapt to his feet and quickly ran. Confused Hua Cheng followed him. Xie Lian came to the spot where E-Ming lay discarded and unmoving.
Xie Lian scooped him in his arms started petting him. The scimitar started vibrating and his eye looked like it was crying.
“Ah, sorry E-Ming. Sorry you had to go through this. But I’m fine. See? I’m fine” He started apologising to the scimitar and it calmed down a bit.
“Gege, you don’t have to apologise to that trash.” Hua Cheng started but Xie Lian ignored him on that.
E-Ming was still covered in his blood, so, Xie Lian started to clean it off with his sleeve.
“Gege!” Hua Cheng exclaimed.
“What?” Xie Lian looked at him confused. “My robes are already covered in blood.” In fact, both of them were drenched in it. It’s just, it showed less on Hua Cheng’s red robes than on Xie Lian’s white. “When we get back we’ll have to take a good long bath.”
Hua Cheng couldn’t argue with that. However, after a bit he spoke up “About the curse…”
“Yeah, I felt it too.”
The curse had been permanently lifted. It broke when the cursed one didn’t feel any resentment to their love. Even after they were killed by them.
After Xie Lian was done cleaning E-Ming, he took Hua Cheng’s hand.
“Let’s go home San Lang!” He said cheerfully.
Hua Cheng looked at him and smiled lovingly.