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“What the fucking fuck happened?” Feng Xin shouted at his minor court officials. “I'm in the mortal realm for one week and…”
And Xie Lian, who was the reason Feng Xin was the mortal realm in the first place, ascends again and immediately gets shipped off to Crimson Rain Sought Flower???
“Why didn't you tell me this immediately?”
“It happened too fast, General!”
“Yeah, he ascended and then got hustled off to the Palace of Divine Might! Everything happened in there, and we couldn't get in!”
Okay, it was true they couldn't get in, but Feng Xin still ground his teeth in frustration. “So tell me again– what did you see after that?”
“We were waiting outside but he was brought out in a litter and we could barely glimpse him, let alone talk to him!”
“All right,” Feng Xin said. “I get it. And then they…?”
“Then they took him straight down and everyone said he was being offered as a sacrifice to appease Crimson Rain Sought Flower!”
“I heard he was being sent as a bride!”
“I heard he was being offered as lunch…”
“Enough! I feel like I'm losing my fucking mind! Look, nevermind, just…” There was someone who was allowed in the Palace of Divine Might and definitely would have been there. For all that he was a useless little bitch about it.
Feng Xin raised a hand to his head to enter a private array.
“MU QING? Where are you, you coward?”
“What the hell is your problem?” Mu Qing sneered in reply.
“What's MY problem? You just let Xie Lian get carried off?”
“I don't see how I had anything to do with it.” Feng Xin could hear the eyeroll that accompanied this.
He was also too angry to talk to Mu Qing anymore. Instead, he marched off for the gates. Mu Qing kept hissing at him in the array, but Feng Xin nobly ignored him– at least until they came face-to-face at the gates that led to the mortal realm.
“What are you doing here?” they both snapped.
“I'm going to check on His Highness,” Feng Xin said. “Or rescue him.”
“You're going to rescue him from Crimson Rain Sought Flower?” Mu Qing drawled. It was exactly as rude and sarcastic as Feng Xin expected anything coming out of Mu Qing's mouth to sound.
“Oh, good!” said a random third person.
They turned around to find Prince Tai Hua there for some fucking reason. “I felt… it's not really right,” Lang Qianqiu explained. “I mean, what did Xie Lian have to do with Hua Cheng? And he just got here! I don't really see why someone who just arrived should have to pay for Heaven's past grudges, no matter how high his debt is!”
Feng Xin started to get the same nostalgic headache he always got when he heard Lang Qianqiu talk for too long. It was bizarrely like listening to Xie Lian when he was still only Crown Prince of Xianle, but worse.
It seemed Mu Qing felt the same way. “Why don't you mind your business, Your Highness?” No one could make “Your Highness” sound like an insult the way Mu Qing could. It made Feng Xin want to yank sharply on his stupid ponytail.
“Oh, is this a rescue expedition? Excellent!” said yet another person. To continue to completely ruin Feng Xin's day, two women joined them. “We are here to help rescue His Highness Xie Lian!”
“Hey,” said the Earth Master. “I agreed to get you out of your stupid brother's stupid palace. I did not agree to lay siege to Ghost City.”
“Ming-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan stamped her foot. “How can you say that? That's my palace too! Also, we should help those in need.”
“Why do you think he's in need? Maybe he's fine.”
“Lord Earth Master,” Lang Qianqiu frowned. “How could a god be safe in the hands of a ghost king?”
Ming Yi sighed heavily and, smartly, ignored Lang Qianqiu. “Under no circumstances are we going to Ghost City and starting a fight. I'll put you back in your brother's palace first. If he locked you up to keep you from doing this, maybe he wasn’t wrong. First time for everything.”
“Ming-xiong–”
Feng Xin jumped down. It had already been three days, he was not going to stand around waiting any longer, while who-knows-what might be happening to Xie Lian.
Unfortunately, that idiot Mu Qing jumped too. “Why are you here?” Feng Xin hissed, again.
Mu Qing rolled his eyes and refused to answer, but followed him to Ghost City like a plague.
They were very badly disguised, to be honest, but he didn't want to waste time trying to find ghostly essence. The ghosts they passed were very rude, but Feng Xin was perfectly capable of keeping his mind on his mission.
One way or the other, they made it to the gates of Hua Cheng's tackily-named palace. They were greeted at the door by some sort of female ghost. Feng Xin was doing his best not to look.
“We want to see Xie Lian!”
“Chengzhu says you can come in, but if you make any kind of scene, he'll throw you out personally.” Her smile made the hair on Feng Xin's arms stand up.
“...We can come in? Really?”
“Shut up and get inside,” Mu Qing shoved him from behind, but Feng Xin— in service of the twin interests of seeing Xie Lian and not getting torn apart by a calamity— restrained himself from retaliating. For now.
They followed her inside. “Does this place look kind of familiar to you?” Mu Qing whispered.
“Huh?” Feng Xin looked around. “It just looks normal? Kind of weird, I guess, but it is a ghost's house.”
Mu Qing rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else.
They were led into an ostentatiously large hall. Musicians and dancers floated around, and gentle incense perfumed the air. There were clusters of flowers arranged throughout. At one end was a huge divan behind a large table, loaded with dishes. On the divan was…
“Your Highness!”
“Feng Xin! Mu Qing! I… did not expect to see you here.”
Instead of the tortured wreck Feng Xin had expected to fight his way to see, Xie Lian was sitting comfortably on the divan. He was dressed in white robes that looked like something he'd pick out, if a bit shabby for the crown prince of Xianle. He seemed to be alone, except for the musicians, dancers, and servants. So okay, he was well-attended but not guarded, and Crimson Rain Sought Flower wasn’t anywhere visible. Also not visible were any bruises, cut marks, ligature marks, or any other signs of torture or mistreatment. Xie Lian did not appear to be injured or stressed out in any way. He was eating lychees off a golden plate.
Feng Xin felt like he was hallucinating.
Mu Qing came to a stop beside him, and they both stared. Xie Lian waved awkwardly. “Do you want a lychee? Or something else? There's so much food…”
“What…is…happening?” Feng Xin said.
“You're the ones who came here,” Xie Lian pointed out. “Do you want tea? It’s very nice!”
It certainly was; Feng Xin could recognize by color and smell that the tea was a divine variety that couldn’t even be picked by mortals.
“What the fuck is going on?” Mu Qing shouted.
“You've really rubbed off on each other,” Xie Lian said. He was being such a little shit that it really had to be him. No ghost king trying to impersonate him would know he was Like That. “Well, I've just, you know.” Xie Lian gestured uselessly around the room and smiled bashfully.
“We thought you were being tortured or something!” Feng Xin said.
“Oh, no, I'm fine! That's nice you thought to check, though.”
“What.” Feng Xin wasn't even sure if he said it, or Mu Qing said it, or both of them.
“What are you doing here?” Feng Xin asked. “What has he made you do?”
“I haven't been made to do anything? Oh, I cooked dinner! I offered, though.”
“You… cooked dinner,” Mu Qing repeated.
“Yes! And San Lang really liked it!”
“Who the fuck is San Lang?” Feng Xin demanded.
Xie Lian, horrifyingly, blushed. “Oh, ah, Hua Cheng.”
“He… brought you here to cook for him?” Mu Qing sounded like a broken man.
“No… San Lang really didn't bring me here for a specific reason…”
“Then what do you do?” Feng Xin asked.
“We talk, and walk around Ghost City, and play golden palaces… ooh, and we sparred yesterday! He has so many legendary weapons, they’re really—”
Mu Qing obviously knew better than to let His Highness start talking about weapons. “You played… golden palaces. The children’s game?”
“He gives you access to weapons?” Feng Xin asked, because he did actually kind of want to hear about the weapons.
“Oh, he tried to give me his whole armory but I said I didn't have anywhere to put them, ha ha ha… But you should see it, San Lang really has an amazing collection of weapons, it’s so…”
As he went on, listing all the rare and holy weapons “San Lang” had apparently tried to give him, Feng Xin and Mu Qing exchanged a glance, and silently agreed: Xie Lian had lost his mind. Hua Cheng had definitely done something to him.
“Your Highness,” Feng Xin said grimly, “please come with us.”
“Your Highness,” called one of the seemingly endless numbers of female servants who seemed to be hovering around just to torment Feng Xin, “there are more gods at the door.”
“More gods?” Xie Lian looked baffled. “But these are the only ones I know.”
“Oh no,” Mu Qing muttered.
Sure enough, Lang Qianqiu, Shi Qingxuan, and Ming Yi, looking deeply reluctant and kind of in physical pain, were escorted in.
“This is… a surprise,” Xie Lian had a tightly fixed smile on his face. He was quivering in a way that Feng Xin realized meant he was about to bolt. This was what freaked him out? Not being treated like a ghost king's favorite concubine?
“Your Highness Xie Lian!” Lang Qianqiu called. “We're here to rescue you!”
Xie Lian sighed deeply. The Lang Qianqiu headache seemed to be catching. “That's really not necessary!” he called back.
“Don't worry, Your Highness!” Shi Qingxuan called, waving her fan. “We'll get you out of here right away… well, maybe after lunch?” She looked with interest at the dishes. “This looks pretty good… and Ming-xiong is always hungry…”
“I told you he was fine,” Ming Yi hissed, while staring at the food piled on the table in obvious longing. “And shut up. Can we go now?”
“You can try.” That voice was unmistakable, hissing and evil and chilling. Feng Xin spun around, pulling his bow free, expecting to be attacked at any moment.
“San Lang!” Xie Lian called happily, his face brightening. He waved.
“Gege!” That voice couldn't also be Crimson Rain Sought Flower, could it? It was so… saccharine.
Not to mention… “Gege?” Mu Qing sounded as revolted as Feng Xin felt.
Crimson Rain Sought Flower strolled up from behind them (horrifying!) and right up to the divan, where he splayed himself next to Xie Lian like a cat. “Gege, I hope this trash hasn't upset your stomach.”
“San Lang, it's fine. Are you hungry?” He began peeling a lychee. Please, no, Feng Xin thought. Please don't–
He fed it to him.
“I think I’m losing my mind,” Mu Qing whispered, and Feng Xin could only nod in agreement.
“Thank you, Gege,” said Crimson Rain Sought Flower after he'd spit the seed suspiciously near Mu Qing's boot (which, ok, was kind of funny).
“Crimson Rain Sought Flower,” said Lang Qianqiu, hand on his sword, “you need to release His Highness Xie Lian right now and let us take him back to Heaven!”
“I'd like to see you try.” Hua Cheng didn’t even bother to look away from Xie Lian.
“Actually…” Xie Lian said, “I'm fine here.”
Feng Xin couldn't take it anymore. “Your Highness, you've clearly been brainwashed! Please just come with us and I'm sure we can sort things out.”
“His Highness said he wants to stay,” Hua Cheng sneered. “So why don't you trash leave first? That's the only thing you're good at.”
That was… that hurt more than it should have, especially coming from Crimson Rain Sought Flower. It's not like he could know, right?
…He looked very cozy with Xie Lian, though.
“San Lang, it's okay,” Xie Lian said in a quiet voice. He met the gaze of every god in turn. “I really am fine here. In fact, I think I'm better off here–”
“You like it better here than Heaven?” Shi Qingxuan asked, judgment-free, sounding only curious.
“Well… I don't have anywhere to stay in Heaven, after all, and… it's nice here with San Lang. So. Yes. I do.”
Hua Cheng looked even smugger than after his heavenly official massacre.
“In Ghost City,” Mu Qing said flatly. “With a Calamity.”
Xie Lian shrugged. “The residents here are kind of sweet, once you get to know them.”
“You've been here three days!”
Xie Lian just nodded, like he was agreeing with a statement of fact.
“How do we know Hua Cheng hasn't brainwashed you?” Feng Xin demanded.
Meng Yi sighed heavily behind him, even though he was not actually involved in any way.
“That's right!” Lang Qianqiu perked up. “We should take you back to Heaven and test you…”
Xie Lian looked rather panicked. Hua Cheng finally sat up, presumably so he could glare more effectively.
“You forced him to come here, and now you want to force him back? Fuck. Off.”
“I didn't,” Lang Qianqiu muttered sulkily.
“His Highness already said he doesn't want to go with you. Gege is free to go anywhere he pleases; you can contact him in his private array if you want.”
Feng Xin immediately did so, using the old password. Silence.
“Ahh…” Xie Lian looked embarrassed. “I don't have any spiritual power.”
The faces of everyone else in the room went on some kind of journey.
“Why,” Mu Qing hissed, with a nasty glare at Hua Cheng, “does he not have any spiritual power?”
Hua Cheng glared back. “A very good question, actually. Why does His Highness still have shackles on after ascending again?”
“Ahh, San Lang, Mu Qing, it really… it doesn’t matter, I’m already used to it!”
“Here, Gege,” said Hua Cheng, in a tone that made Feng Xin want to cut his own ears off. Hua Cheng tenderly took Xie Lian's hand and passed him spiritual power. Xie Lian… well, Feng Xin did not like the way Xie Lian looked at Crimson Rain Sought Flower. It really felt like his prize cabbage was being stolen by a terrifying wild boar!
“Feng Xin, Mu Qing,” Xie Lian spoke in the array. “I really don't know how else I can convince you.”
“You are out of your mind,” Mu Qing hissed.
“I don't see why. It's nicer here than anywhere I've been for… well, a long, long time. I trust San Lang.”
“Your Highness, do you know what he did?” Feng Xin demanded.
“I know… some things he did,” Xie Lian hedged. “And I know that there's not really anything he can do to me that's worse than what I've already been through, so it's fine.”
Well, THAT was fucking upsetting!
Even Mu Qing was softer when he spoke again. “Your Highness… you've only known him for three days, so–”
“No,” Xie Lian interrupted.
“What?”
“I've known him for longer than that. It's just that we… lost track of each other. So you see, it's fine. Really.”
Feng Xin exchanged a look with Mu Qing. They both knew what Xie Lian was like when he made up his mind.
“Fine,” Mu Qing said bitterly. “Then on your own head be it!” He left the array in a huff.
Feng Xin lingered, staring unhappily at Xie Lian. “You can contact me anytime, for anything,” he said, before also leaving the array.
Xie Lian smiled at him, and it seemed sincere. Then his smile dropped abruptly, and Feng Xin realized that while the three of them were in the array, they hadn't been paying attention to anything around them. But the others had been carrying on with some kind of conversation, and Lang Qianqiu had just pulled his sword.
“Your Highness Tai Hua, please don't–”
“Qianqiu!” It sounded so much like their guoshi that Feng Xin jumped and had to look around to see that it was actually Xie Lian who'd spoken. Lang Qianqiu must have felt something similar, because he immediately shut up and came to attention.
Xie Lian immediately laughed awkwardly. “Haha, forget it… nevermind. Uh.”
Lang Qianqiu looked like he'd seen a ghost. Well, another ghost.
“Ok, ok,” the Wind Master said quickly. “Your Highness, if you're really happy to stay, then we better get out of here and not overstay our welcome, right?”
“Too late,” Hua Cheng growled.
The Wind Master and Earth Master dragged out Lang Qianqiu, with Mu Qing stalking ahead. Feng Xin couldn't help but glance back several times. Xie Lian looked anxious. But the last time he looked back, he saw Hua Cheng produce a small white flower out of nowhere, and offer it to Xie Lian. As he took it, his hand shook, but his bright smile was steady.