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The ringing of the gigantic golden bell hadn't ceased yet and Xie Lian was already getting a headache.
It had been such a normal day– until he had stumbled into a ghost-overrun little village.
Fending them off wasn't difficult, even though there was a wrath under them!
Fending off the villagers afterwards had been remarkably more difficult!
Because they had wanted him to marry their daughters.
Before he could actually try to talk himself out of it, his skin had started to prickle and he could hear the faint sound of a bell.
And then he found himself in a big crater in heaven.
The moment he had heaved himself out of the crater, he had been led away by a civil goddess by the name of Ling Wen.
Apparently his ascension had thrown him very deep into debt and until it was decided how he should pay the debt, he was to be confined in the speedily rebuilt Xian Le palace.
Xie Lian really wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry, or maybe both.
He would very much like to talk to his Majesty Jun Wu and ask him if he can resign from godhood again, but with his debt so high – one doesn't need to be a genius to say that his chances to get his will were exceedingly low.
He lets out a sigh and sits down at the low tea table in the palace gardens.
Once he found them beautiful – now the perfect image made him feel squeezy.
After all the time wandering and seeing the beautiful and ugly parts of the mortal realm, he came to understand that the heavenly realm in all its ethereal and perfect image was wrong.
He came to love the tiny weed carrying his favourite little white flower, struggling through the grass to show its beauty.
He came to love the ancient bamboo forests, in their uneven growth.
He came to love the rainy season, bringing back life into nature where the harsh sun had taken its toll.
So the always sunny heavenly realm and trimmed to perfection gardens where his favourite flower would never be able to thrive?
He didn't like it.
He is about to take a sip from his mysteriously filled tea cup when he hears a commotion just outside his palace gates.
There is loud shouting, a crash that sounds almost as if someone has been thrown into a wall and then–
Then there is silence.
The gates are thrown open but instead of seeing people fighting on the outside there's only a pitch black void.
And then a tiny twinkle of light slowly emerges from the dark.
Xie Lian blinks and then sees that it's not floating but flying. It's a small glowing butterfly. It continues to fly little circles in front of the doors and Xie Lian carefully steps closer, afraid to scare the little thing away.
He knows he should be more careful, this little thing is clearly of ghostly nature but–
But it's so pretty!
When he comes to halt before the gate a second butterfly and then even a third emerge from the black void. They all fly happily around Xie Lian and then the first one to appear stops to rest on the tip of his nose.
His eyes cross as he tries to look at it and soft laughter spills from his lips.
It's the first time since his ascension that he has laughed, no matter how politely he smiled at everyone, it wasn't true happiness.
This however was something special.
He would keep it in his memories, when he would be wandering through the mortal realm again and he needed something to keep him going.
Suddenly the earlier heard shouting starts up again. But instead of coming from the open palace gates, it comes from the inside of his palace.
Feet patter quickly through the halls and then two men break through the doors into the garden.
“Your Highness!” they yell surprisingly in sync.
Many years back he would've teased them for it, now seeing those two faces only makes him nostalgic and a tad bit embarrassed.
Both of them have their weapons drawn and pointed in his direction.
“Your Highness, get away from them!” Feng Xin shouts.
Huh, them? The butterfly on his nose has taken flight again and then lands in his open palm.
Xie Lian opts to shoot the two martial gods a confused glance, because they can't possibly mean the butterflies, right?
Just as he opens his mouth to ask them, an army of butterflies breaks through the void and flies towards the two gods, who quickly erect shields against them.
Xie Lian is so taken by the beautiful sight that he doesn't notice the slender arm emerging from the void until it snakes around his hips and pulls him close to a man's chest.
Someone would think that Xie Lian's first thought is to fight the grip.
Instead Xie Lian lets out a surprised little “Oh!” and can't help but marvel at how right the grip feels.
He looks up and–
Oh my! Xie Lian thinks breathlessly as he stares into the eyes of the most handsome man he's ever seen.
His features are sharp and alluring, his eyes dark like the void behind him but there is something in his eyes, Xie Lian doesn't dare name.
The stranger smiles down at him and under the loud protests of his two old retainers(and very little protest from himself), he's pulled into the void.
🦋
Hua Cheng is a greedy and selfish man.
One had to be, if they aspired to become strong enough to protect what they wanted too.
Even at the tender age of ten years, he already wanted to kill and destroy everything.
After seeing his Highness for the first time though, it morphed into the will to make this man his.
Looking back at it, it's almost laughable, Hua Cheng thinks.
He didn't knew anything about love and worship at that point. But it was where it all started.
Little Hong-er decided that Xie Lian would one day be his wife.
Now, 800 years later, that still isn't the case but for the first time in the last 800 years, he finally knows where his (future) wife is.
The crown prince of Xian Le, Xie Lian, has finally ascended for the third time.
He only has to wait now, for the prince to descend for a mission.
He only has to wait.
He only has to–
He really doesn't want to wait.
Hua Cheng restlessly paces through the halls of Paradise Manor, waiting impatiently for news from Black Water and when the other calamity finally opens the array for news on the prince, it's not with the information he wants.
“They locked him up in his palace, something about an enormous debt and they don't want him to run before he pays.”
They did what–
How dare they lock him up?
How dare they keep him from Hua Cheng even longer?
Time to bring his wife home.
🌸
As soon as Xie Lian's pulled into the veil, he's pulled out of it again, into a completely different setting.
Everything's red, for starters and then it doesn't look like heaven anymore.
It's not bright, more leaning into darker hues and from the windows doesn't glare the sun, but more like a purplish sunset.
It doesn't set him on edge like heaven did and as soon as the hand around his waist disappears, he takes a step away to look at the man who so boldly kidnapped him out of his own palace in heaven.
The man is tall, taller than him, but he already knows that, from being pressed so close to the other's body.
He is finely dressed in red and black robes and silver jewellery tastefully adorned his body.
His black, long hair is unbound and falls wildly down his back except for a small braid on his right, ending with a red pearl.
And then there is his face again– sharp and alluring features and that something in his eyes, Xie Lian couldn't exactly say what it is. The eyes don't leave his form either, but somehow that look doesn’t make him feel uneasy.
“So,” Xie Lian starts good-naturedly.
“I have been kidnapped?” he poses it like a question but they both know it's not really one.
The other man's eyes widen a little before he answers.
“I'd rather like to use the term ‘freed’.”
Which is fair, Xie Lian thinks, but this man is clearly a strong ghost and not a god and really shouldn't be privy to information like that.
Then again, he also shouldn't have been able to break into heaven that easily, but here they are.
“Alright, freed then.” he agrees easily to the other man.
“So, what's my saviour's name?”
The ghost gives him a boyish grin.
“Most people call me Hua Cheng, but I would like gege to call me San Lang instead.”
San Lang. As in… husband??? And gege?!
Xie Lian feels a blush raise in his cheeks and he nods at Hua Cheng.
At least my husband is very handsome, he thinks.
“Alright, freed and married. It's nice to meet you, San Lang,” Xie Lian says and only barely stops himself from hiding his face behind his hands.
For a moment Hua Cheng looks unmoored, but then his smug grin is back in place.
“So I freed my wife from his high palace in heaven and now he's here with me. I am so lucky!”
By now Xie Lian's blush is a permanent thing now and he answers,”En, but my husband has to be careful, his wife's luck is atrocious!”
Hua Cheng opens his mouth to answer but a voice interrupts them.
“My Lord, sorry for the interruption, but there are a few heavenly officials at your door.”
At the far end of the room stands a man in a black robe, wearing a woefully smiling demon mask.
Xie Lian hasn't noticed him coming into the room but Hua Cheng doesn't look surprised at his presence at all.
If anything, he looks annoyed, which is such a stark difference from how he had been looking at Xie Lian.
“Tell them to scram.” he says nonchalantly and Xie Lian thinks he really must be terribly powerful to just shrug off gods like that.
(Then again, most gods were not even very strong or smart, from what he had seen)
However, instead of leaving to tell the gods to leave, the masked man remains where he stands.
“They said, if they don't get his Highness back, they will invade Ghost City to take him by force.”
Oh, oh no! Xie Lian thinks but Hua Cheng just shrugs.
“Let them come,” he drawls, “I will just crush them like I did with the 33 other trash gods.”
Now Xie Lian starts to panic and throws his hands up.
“Wait!!” He says frantically.
“This is too much bloodshed on both sides, can't we negotiate?!”
Both men look perplexed at him.
The one with the mask looks at Hua Cheng and there's some silent communication between them before Hua Cheng nods his head.
“Gege makes a sound argument. Then let us greet them and negotiate .”
And so the three of them walk through a rather opulent manor, but while everything looks very expensive, it's also beautiful.
It's unlike his palace in heaven, darker colours instead of the bright white and Xie Lian really starts to like it here.
In no time they arrive at a gigantic door that swings open when they get close.
It's like the masked man said, on the other side of the gate stand several gods.
Xie Lian immediately recognizes Feng Xin and Mu Qing, but there's also a young woman wearing bright colours, aggressively fanning her face with a fan. And another woman, but unlike her goddess colleague, she wears severe black robes and looks utterly bored.
When they emerge through the doors, Feng Xin perks up and immediately starts yelling.
“HUA CHENG, RELEASE HIS HIGHNESS!”
Next to him, Mu Qing had temporarily covered his ears and shoots him an annoyed glance.
But even he says,” Hua Cheng, with invading heaven and kidnapping an Official, you have gone too far. Release Xie Lian and there won't be any consequences.”
Hua Cheng doesn't look impressed at all and sneaks a hand around Xie Lian's waist again.
“Who are you to tell me what to do? I simply stole my wife and I will not give him back.”
Xie Lian, who's face had finally just regained a normal hue, flushes immediately red under the outraged cries of his former retainers.
The woman with the fan just watches the whole thing unfold, her face half hidden behind the fan. The woman in black still looks bored.
“You can't have him!” Mu Qing hisses like a kicked cat and Hua Cheng just sneers at the martial god.
“Says who? Why should the sweeping general have a say in this?”
Mu Qing bristles at the low blow and Xie Lian lays a hand on Hua Cheng’s arm. Immediately the sneer falls away and he smiles gently down at Xie Lian.
Ah, San Lang! he thinks.
“San Lang,” he says quietly, so only the ghost can hear him.
“Please don't make them angry, I don't want them to rampage through your city.”
The smile stays on Hua Cheng’s face when he replies, “Ah, but gege, this city is just a gathering point for demons and ghosts. Even if it is destroyed, no one will mind and they will build it up again.”
Such calm behaviour, even if there's such a severe threat! Xie Lian thinks.
The lady with the fan snaps the fan shut and laughs nervously.
“Let me just sum it up. Lord Crimson Rain has stolen his wife and refuses to give his Highness back. Meanwhile, heaven refuses to give up on his Highness.”
Everyone is now looking at her and she looks directly at Xie Lian.
“Your Highness, do you want to stay here?” she asks gently and Xie Lian immediately likes her.
And truth be told, he disliked it so much to be in heaven, so he gives her a nod.
“Yes, uhm…”
She perks up, “Ah, I'm Shi Qingxuan, the windmaster,” she says at his obvious lack of what to call her.
“Yes, lady windmaster, I wish to stay here in Ghost City.” he says and he feels Hua Cheng stiffen up next to him. Curiously he looks up into the ghost's face and for a second he can see naked awe in the others eyes. It's gone as quickly as it came and the ghost tightens the grip around his waist and stares the gods down.
“You heard him, he stays.” he says coldly.
There's more loud complaints from Feng Xin but Xie Lian, Hua Cheng and the gods ignore him.
“You can't have him for free though,” Mu Qing says with a sneer and Xie Lian can feel the grip on his hip tighten even more.
“WHAT THE FUCK, ARE YOU SELLING HIM NOW?!” Feng Xin yells even louder now and Shi Qingxuan butts in.
“How about… mhhh, oh I know!” She says excitedly.
“How about Hua Cheng promises to not go after any more gods? He can have his wife, if he promises that!”
Feng Xin stares at her, his eyes bulging and Xie Lian looks up into Hua Cheng's face who looks furious but also very much tempted.
“Alright.” he says.
“But let me make this clear. Heaven is not allowed to come after him ever again. And tell your shitty emperor to release his shackles. He's ascended again, he doesn't need shackles.”
With a swift move and only a minor yelp from Xie Lian, he picks up the god bridal style and walks back into the manor.
The heavy doors close behind them and Xie Lian only feels a little embarrassed being carried like this. He looks up into Hua Cheng's face, he's sporting a stormy expression, clearly lost in thought.
“What now?” Xie Lian asks quietly and immediately the stormy expression melts into the gentle smile, he's already sent several times directed at him.
“Now,” Hua Cheng says with a grin, “Now we plan a wedding.”