Chapter Text
Mu Qing is so fucking done.
“Xuan Zhen,” Hua Cheng drawled, voice disturbingly calm considering the situation they were in, “Since when were you so eager for skin to skin contact?”
Mu Qing didn’t want to hear it. Her face flushed furiously as she raged, “Shut up! Stop spouting nonsense! You jolly well know that I can’t help it, so zip your mouth!” Carefully, she moved her hands from where they previously rested around Hua Cheng’s waist onto her shoulders instead, and finally lifted up her head — only to be greeted by Hua Cheng’s smug expression.
“What’s all the smirking about? You know what’ll happen to both of us if I let go!” Mu Qing complained gruffly, followed by a high pitched screech, “Also, Black Water, can you quit holding onto my waist so tightly?!”
“Would you rather me hug you instead?” He Xuan deadpanned. After a few seconds of awkward, judgemental silence and the look of disgust on Mu Qing’s face, He Xuan rolled her eyes.
“Well, Xuan Zhen did just rush forward to hug me so I wouldn’t know,” Hua Cheng conveniently added on just to piss Mu Qing off, and Mu Qing was just so close to absolutely losing it.
“Look, it’s already bad enough we’re stuck like… this,” Mu Qing grumbled, lifting up one of her hands from Hua Cheng’s shoulder to gesture vaguely around her chest area, hoping the other two would get what she meant. She sighed. “We just have to… keep in contact with each other until we find a way to fix this,” She gritted her teeth.
“Yeah no,” Hua Cheng waved her hand dismissively. “I’m leaving. Figure this out yourselves,” he said, “Besides, Xuan Zhen, you’re the one that landed us into this mess.”
“Hua Cheng, you can’t leave,” He Xuan warned, “Usually, I’d always welcome the idea of you leaving me alone, but the moment you let go of the both of us, you’re going to faint .”
“That was what Xuan Zhen experienced, not me,” Hua Cheng sniffed. “I’m leaving either way. It’s more effective for me to search for a cure in Paradise Manor alone,” she added the latter bit in an attempt to convince the other god and ghost.
“Fine, be my guest,” Mu Qing snorted, rolling her eyes. She and He Xuan watched Hua Cheng sceptically as Hua Cheng slowly backed away from the both of them.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds —
“See? Nothing happened-“
Four seconds. Hua Cheng’s lifeless body suddenly collapsed forwards, and Mu Qing immediately lunged in front to catch her. Using her arms to support Hua Cheng’s own, she slowly brought Hua Cheng back up as Hua Cheng blinked her eye open, slightly dazed.
“Fucking… hell,” Hua Cheng cursed, panting and slightly out of breath. He Xuan sighed. “I think it’s best if we look for a solution together .”
“Xuan Zhen,” Hua Cheng growled with unconcealed rage, “I swear you are not going to touch any weird vial you find in a temple ever again .”
“So what? Now it’s suddenly all my fault?” Mu Qing scoffed, rolling his eyes. “If Black Water didn’t point it out, I wouldn’t have touched it at all! Besides, it’s a freaking temple, why would someone place a cursed vial in there as an offering?!”
“With how sketchy the place was, could you even call it a temple without disgracing other actual temples?!” Hua Cheng scolded.
“I doubt it was an offering at all,” He Xuan said lazily, conveniently ignoring the accusation directed towards him.
“Offering or not, I think the priority right now is to get out of this shitty place before the ceiling decides to collapse on us, and we’ll really never get a chance to see any vial again.”
~
It was just a regular day in heaven; Mu Qing was just minding his own business in his palace, sorting prayers, handling merits, completing paperwork and the sorts.
After Bai Wuxiang was imprisoned, the heavens had spent all its resources on rebranding and rebuilding itself back to its former glory. The number of stray tents for refuge steadily declined over the weeks, with more and more golden palaces in replacement being restored for their respective gods.
Mu Qing’s palace was recently rebuilt as well, and with the restoration of his palace, more prayers began to flood in once again. (Most of the prayers were stemming from concerns over the recent construct change in the heavens. Many were asking about the Heavenly Emperor, and even more were asking about Mu Qing’s own wellbeing. They prayed for their own safety, and they thanked Mu Qing for providing it to them even during such difficult times.)
Unfortunately, trouble seemed to follow Mu Qing wherever he went (even after all the events that transpired at Mount Tonglu, even after Mu Qing’s cursed shackle was removed , he still had horrible luck with whatever he seemed to do,) because not long after he settled down before his desk: a blood curdling scream pierced through his head, sharp and ringing in its effects. It was wailing; a hopeless and desperate cry for help.
“Please, General Xuan Zhen!” the voice cried, wretched in the way it begged so painfully, “My children are dying! They’re sick! They’re sick and blind and they can’t hang on any longer!”
“Please, General Xuan Zhen! Please, I beg you, please save them! I beg you! I beg you! I beg you!”
Mu Qing’s heart dropped to the floor. He felt as if someone had just punched him in his guts, and sickening bile rose up his throat as he struggled to keep his composure. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe-
“My eldest daughter — she’s struggling to breathe, her lips are turning paler, her bones are peeking through her flesh! Could you please help us? I beg you! I beg you! Please, General Xuan Zhen!”
In that moment, Mu Qing could only see one pale woman lying unconscious in front of him. A pale, delicate and fragile woman, struggling to hang onto life, fighting for every breath she took. Her bones were visible through her skin, eye bags sunken deep into her face, skin as pale as paper.
In that instant, Mu Qing felt like he was the one who couldn’t breathe.
Dropping all the scrolls he held in his arms, Mu Qing immediately rushed out of his palace, jumped down from heaven, and descended into the mortal realm.
~
The walk towards his Xuan Zhen temple was quiet.
Upon arriving before his own temple, Mu Qing paused and looked. His temple was bordered up with rotten wooden planks, with algae and mould overgrown on brick and stone alike, and a foul stench came from the supposed atrocities within.
He frowned. This was clearly the temple the prayer had come from… Why was it so shabby and unkept? The debris left around the perimeter of the temple made it look as if a hurricane had come by and torn the whole thing down! One could even assume it was haunted by ghosts with all the eerie planks nailed onto the entrances. There wasn’t even a clear route in with all the borders!
Mu Qing didn’t even want to think of his supposed “statue” (thankfully) hidden somewhere within it.
“Xuan Zhen?” A voice called out from behind him. Surprisingly, it was a man’s voice — deep and low in tone, husky in the way it spoke.
This was certainly not the audience he thought he’d need to entertain.
Mu Qing immediately gripped onto the hilt of his saber on reflex, spinning around to face the intruder — but his jaw nearly dropped to the floor upon seeing who it was.
“Black Water?”
“Good evening, General Xuan Zhen,” He Xuan greeted with a face of disinterest. His eyes flitted towards Mu Qing’s hand still holding onto his weapon, and after noticing it, Mu Qing quickly let go.
It wasn’t wise to offend He Xuan — this at least, Mu Qing knew. After the whole Shi brothers situation in the heavens, no heavenly officials had dared to interact with or even attempted to find He Xuan. His entire revenge scheme was widely known in the heavens, commonly regarded as one of the heaven’s biggest scandals. A devastation ghost king beheading an elemental master and causing the banishment of another certainly didn’t sound very reputable going down in the heaven’s records.
(However, a small part of Mu Qing had sympathised with the man after having learnt the full truth about the incident from Hua Cheng. He knew what it felt like suffering injustice your whole life — being looked down upon just because of your status of poverty and your background, and not being able to succeed solely because of that. No matter how hard they tried, it was all futile as soon as those snobbish and privileged nobles or royals intervened.
He also knew what it felt like losing everyone around you; losing all your loved ones; losing yourself . And only having yourself to blame for it.)
So despite Mu Qing’s rationality screaming at him to back away out of cautiousness, he ignored it and approached He Xuan instead.
“Good evening,” he hummed, nodding his head slightly in acknowledgment. “Could I ask why you’re here?” He questioned.
“I merely received a prayer coming from this area,” He Xuan answered simply, “It sounded urgent.”
Mu Qing crossed his arms and scoffed, “Huh, me too.”
“Well, well, this is interesting.”
A man in red had stepped out of the shadows from behind the temple, silver butterflies fluttering and glowing around him. He had a devilish smirk plastered on his stupid face, and Mu Qing’s expression immediately turned sour.
“Crimson Rain?” Mu Qing scrunched his nose, appalled with the ghost king’s sudden appearance.
“Xuan Zhen,” Hua Cheng replied nonchalantly. “And Black Water, what a surprise to see you here.”
“Why are you here?!” Mu Qing pointed an accusatory finger towards Hua Cheng, and Hua Cheng merely shrugged.
“I received an urgent prayer from this area. I had supposed I’d check it out,” Hua Cheng answered. “But it seems that my assistance is no longer needed,” he added, looking over at both Mu Qing and He Xuan.
“Shouldn’t we get into the temple first before rushing to conclusions?” He Xuan raised an eyebrow.
“The entrances are all sealed up!” Mu Qing complained somewhat petulantly, rolling his eyes.
Hua Cheng rolled his eyes as well, and without a word, he flicked his wrist towards the temple, and swarms of silver butterflies erupted from his silver vambraces, destroying the borders instantly.
“I don’t see any seals,” Hua Cheng replied sarcastically, and Mu Qing was fuming.
“Let’s just check it out and get this over with,” He Xuan said gruffly. He entered the dark temple first, with Mu Qing and Hua Cheng quickly following suit behind him.
~
“There’s nothing here!” Mu Qing screeched, burying his face in his hands. (A part of him was glad there wasn’t a statue either.)
There he was, nerves so wracked over a faux prayer. He had abandoned all his paperwork just for this stupid run down temple?! What was this, a prank?!
“There’s a vial,” He Xuan responded from the other side of the altar, effectively debunking Mu Qing’s accusation.
Mu Qing swiftly moved over to He Xuan’s side, and inspected the vial placed on the altar before the both of them.
It was made out of pristine gold and silver, with intricate flowers, butterflies and koi fish painted onto its surface, and a Chinese guardian lion made out of stone placed on its lid. There were only two words carved onto the vial: 狮心.
*狮心: shī xīn (lion heart)
Out of curiosity, Mu Qing reached out to take the vial from the altar to inspect it further — but the second he touched it, a burst of purple dust erupted out of the vial, sweeping over both He Xuan and himself.
A sudden wave of dizziness hit him. Dropping the vial, his vision quickly turned blurry, and his limbs started going numb.
Before he knew it, everything turned dark.