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It had been a century and a half since Hua Cheng had gotten a confirmed sighting of his god, and the absence of any information of any kind—even information that was out of date!—had been driving him to the point of being a terror to everyone who made the mistake of getting on his bad side. Not that he was generally considered to be a particularly forgiving individual, but normally he was at least somewhat proportional in his responses. Recently, however, he'd gotten increasingly short with even his Waning Moon Officer, who was unfortunately tasked with reporting to Hua Cheng that he'd tracked down no new leads concerning His Highness the Crown Prince of Xianle. The lack of leads weren't Yin Yu's fault, Hua Cheng knew, but that didn't keep him from snapping at him.
Normally, Yin Yu didn't make a point of volunteering the information that the twice-banished Flower Crown Martial God remained lost; he'd wait until Hua Cheng demanded an answer of him. But today, Yin Yu sought Hua Cheng out first. And then, despite the unexpected initiative, he hesitated when Hua Cheng looked at him expectantly.
"Well?" Hua Cheng drawled. "What did you want to say to me that you didn't want to say over our mental array?"
Yin Yu visibly took a deep breath before speaking. "Chengzhu, I heard a rumor about a cultivator in white with a bamboo hat and bandages, near the outskirts of Banyue."
Hua Cheng froze, all thoughts of annoyance fleeing his mind. Was this His Highness, finally? After all of these centuries? Before the reports had trickled away, he'd heard many rumors like this one, and while most of them came to nothing, others he was able to confirm had been His Highness. Hua Cheng had always missed crossing paths with his god, but he had cherished the confirmation that his beloved was alive and—at least generally—well. That he was continuing in his long held value of helping the common people. That the pain and anger he'd been steeped in the last time Hua Cheng had seen him had dissipated. Hua Cheng had been denied that comfort for over a century. Now, he almost didn't dare to hope, to attach any meaning to the rumor.
"How recent is this sighting?" Hua Cheng demanded, his voice shaking slightly.
"Six months," Yin Yu said. "I took the liberty of seeking out more information on where the cultivator might have been heading before reporting to Chengzhu, to give a direction for Chengzhu's butterflies to search."
"And?" Hua Cheng asked impatiently.
Yin Yu handed him a map. "His Highness's likely direction of travel is marked here, Chengzhu."
Hua Cheng took the map, waving Yin Yu away so that the man could finally relax. If this turned out to be a confirmed lead, Hua Cheng would have to give his Waning Moon Officer a substantial bonus. And time off, assuming his officer was capable of taking a break when there was work to be done. And there was always work to be done in Ghost City.
Hua Cheng's decision to wait for more information didn't last long, however, and he soon requested the attendance of his officer once more. They would follow this lead in person.
"Come with me," Hua Cheng demanded, and Yin Yu obediently fell into step just beside and behind him. Hua Cheng was confident in his ability to recognize his god at the smallest of glimpses, but he'd be damned if he was going to risk missing him again. A second pair of eyes, at least, would help lower that risk. Especially if, as he privately feared, his inability to find His Highness for all these centuries despite his supernaturally good luck was punishment for being born cursed. Maybe Yin Yu could see Taizi Dianxia when Hua Cheng couldn't. Or maybe Hua Cheng was just overthinking things in his desperation.
He threw the dice, and the two of them stepped out of Ghost City and into the mortal realm. Normally, Hua Cheng wouldn't have gone in person to investigate this kind of lead; that was what his butterflies were for, after all. And it wasn't as though he wouldn't be sending his butterflies out as well, it was just that it had been so long since Hua Cheng had dared to feel such strong and immediate hope, and he needed to be there in person. If they were wrong, if this lead came to nothing, Hua Cheng knew he'd probably end up tearing Paradise Manor down again and not emerging until it had been rebuilt to his exacting standards, anything to deal with the pain of another disappointment. But if they were right—
"Chengzhu," Yin Yu said. "Perhaps if we were to find the local market, we'd have the best chance of running into Taizi Dianxia or someone who had seen him."
Yin Yu wasn't wrong, as much as the idea of simply waiting for Xie Lian to walk past grated on Hua Cheng. He'd been patient for centuries, more out of necessity than desire, but right now he was so full of nervous energy that it almost felt like the rush of Mount Tonglu opening. Of course, if it had been Mount Tonglu opening, Hua Cheng wouldn't dare go near his beloved for fear of harming him while under the influence of the kiln. Thankfully, that wasn't actually the case, for now. But maybe the next time the kiln opened, he would know where Xie Lian was. That was almost too wild of a thought to contemplate. He stalked away towards the center of town, the masked Waning Moon Officer following behind him.
Hua Cheng and Yin Yu did exactly what Yin Yu had suggested, waiting at the side of the busy street market and watching the people go by while Hua Cheng sent out his butterflies to scout the rest of the city. He crossed his arms stubbornly and settled in to wait.
Later, he wouldn't be able to tell anyone exactly how long he waited there before he caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of his eye and all the time he'd waited was immediately forgotten.
The moment Hua Cheng first finally set eyes on his beloved was like none other. He barely registered the street around him, the shop owners' shouting, Yin Yu standing in front of him. All of his earlier impatience melted away into awe and relief, and his arms fell down to his sides. As Hua Cheng watched, Dianxia turned towards the girl next to him, smiling fondly and patting her head. From this angle, Hua Cheng couldn't see the girl's expression, but he could see the side of his god's beautiful face, and he couldn't look away. Absently, he raised one arm to allow a butterfly to land on his finger.
Xie Lian looked happy.
The last time Hua Cheng had seen that beloved face outside of his own statues, Dianxia had been in agony, angry and in pain and simply unhappy. To see him smile so honestly— it eased a fear in Hua Cheng's heart that he hadn't realized he'd been holding onto despite the information he'd learned about his beloved's life since they'd parted. There was a part of him, he knew, that was jealous that he wasn't the one who had put that expression on his beloved's face, that he wasn't the recipient of his beloved's casual affection, but he shoved that feeling aside in favor of just being glad that his reunion with his god after so many centuries hadn't involved his god remaining in misery. Hundreds of years of exile, after all, would be difficult for anyone to live through. That Xie Lian could smile so genuinely was a gift.
"Yin Yu," Hua Cheng said, not looking away from Dianxia and his companion. "Return to Ghost City. Make sure Paradise Manor is prepared for mortal guests."
Yin Yu didn't question these orders, and neither did he turn around to see what his employer was staring so intently at. He was reliable in that way. It's far from certain, of course, that Xie Lian or the girl would want to come to Ghost City at all, or when it would happen if they did, but Hua Cheng had not prepared for the last six hundred years to be caught off guard at the last moment. Absolutely not.
As soon as Yin Yu left, Hua Cheng began to panic. How should he approach his beloved? Should he approach his beloved? It looked as though Xie Lian had found a peace now—even a happiness—that he hadn't been able to find around Wu Ming. Maybe Hua Cheng should just watch over them from afar and act as an anonymous benefactor taking care of any needs they might have? That way Hua Cheng could be of use to his god without ruining things with his actual presence.
But Hua Cheng knew himself well enough to know he wouldn't be able to stay away from his beloved forever. Even now, when Xie Lian was so close that Hua Cheng would still be able to see him if it wasn't for the bustling crowd passing between them, Hua Cheng had released potentially an overly excessive number of butterflies to keep an eye on him, absolutely terrified to lose track of him again. Who knew how long it would be until he saw him again if that happened?? And Hua Cheng could just watch Xie Lian forever, but the needy child inside of him was as desperate as he had ever been for any kind of acknowledgement from his beloved god.
So no; not approaching Xie Lian was out of the question. It was just a matter of how to approach him. Should he just walk up to him and strike up a conversation? Should he engineer a coincidental crossing of paths? Had Dianxia noticed him already, the only person on the street dressed in brilliant red and silver?
Hua Cheng had created this skin very carefully. He had, after all, had centuries to perfect it. This form was more approachable, less intimidating, than his true form; he never wanted his god to feel afraid of him! It was younger than his natural form as well, a related but separately important feature to the approachability. By appearing to be a teenager, Hua Cheng didn't risk falsely appearing older than Dianxia. He thought he might die a third time if he tried to call His Highness 'didi' instead of 'gege.' And this form was generally attractive! It was symmetrical, with fine features just similar enough to his own to give him some hope that His Highness would ever find his true form pleasing.
But Hua Cheng was beginning to worry he'd made a mistake from a lack of information. Gege had a child he was apparently taking care of. What if he saw Hua Cheng, in his teenage form, as another child in need of care?? Not that Hua Cheng would not treasure that care. He'd once been a child taken care of by gege, and he treasured those memories. But frankly, he held other hopes for the future of his relationship with His Highness. These were the same hopes that he'd held onto since he was a child, looking into the face of his yet un-ascended god with awe. He'd never pressure His Highness into a romantic or sexual relationship, but that didn't mean he didn't still want him!
No; the story he had originally planned on about having been kicked out of his home by his family would not work here. It would gain him sympathy in the short term, but it had too strong of a potential to backfire on him. He would need to use a back up explanation.
And so the young man who bumped into Xie Lian the next day was not a homeless child fighting with his family but an independently wealthy young man traveling the world by choice. He was still wearing the same form, of course. His reasons for picking it still stood, and he was gratified to see Dianxia give him a long, contemplative look up and down even as the girl accompanying him narrowed her eyes at Hua Cheng in suspicion.
"What do you want?" she asked him.
Hua Cheng smiled as Xie Lian lightly scolded her for being rude. "I was hoping you and your gege would agree to join me for a meal," he said honestly. "Good company is the one thing I lack on my travels, you see, and I was hoping for some conversation."
It was clear that if the decision was left up to the girl—A-Yue, his meimei, Xie Lian had introduced her as—then they wouldn't have taken him up on his offer. But Xie Lian agreed, so the three of them enjoyed a good quality meal on Hua Cheng's dime, which pleased him immensely. Getting to provide for his beloved was something he'd always desired, and the reality was just as sweet as he had imagined. Hua Cheng had never enjoyed a better meal, and he was delighted to find that the work he'd put into his education had paid off. Gege enjoyed speaking with him! It was all worth it!
By the time Xie Lian and A-Yue were leaving town, Hua Cheng had obtained permission to accompany them. Xie Lian had warned him that they traveled light and slept wherever they could find a place to lay their heads, but Hua Cheng had assured him that he didn't mind about any of that. He'd also offered to pay for anything the three of them might need, but Xie Lian had demurred, telling Hua Cheng to save his money. Hua Cheng had pouted a bit about this, because his pockets were effectively limitless and wouldn't be affected at all by paying for something like basic living expenses for three people, but the character he'd created wouldn't realistically have access to more money unless he returned home, and Hua Cheng didn't have a way to fake returning home that didn't involve leaving Dianxia or having a house to show them. He supposed he could get Yin Yu to buy him a manor in the mortal realm, but he'd hold off on that step for now. At the very least, Hua Cheng had gotten Xie Lian to agree to let him cover his own costs and to make up the difference when scrap collecting didn't go well. And with those details sorted out, they made merry traveling companions.
Even A-Yue warmed up to Hua Cheng as they traveled. In turn, he thought she was probably the most unobjectionable associate of Taizi Dianxia that Hua Cheng had ever met. He hadn't thought much of 34 and 35 or of the Green Ghost Qi Rong. The Xianle Guoshi had called Hua Cheng cursed as soon as he saw him, and frankly Hua Cheng's one interaction with the king and queen hadn't gone well either. But Hua Cheng didn't really mind having A-Yue around, and it wasn't just because Xie Lian would be sad if she was gone.
Besides when he first introduced her to Hua Cheng, Xie Lian never referred to A-Yue as his meimei, instead almost exclusively using the shortened version of her name. Her full name, Hua Cheng learned, was Ban Yue, which he could imagine brought with it certain connotations in this politically unstable area. It was no wonder Xie Lian hadn't offered it to a complete stranger, instead implying that A-Yue was of course Xie Yue.
When they'd been traveling for a few weeks and Ban Yue slipped and called Xie Lian 'A-Die' in front of Hua Cheng, he didn't draw attention to it, and he didn't question how a man who appeared to be seventeen could have a child barely entering her teenage years. It would have been consistent with his disguise to ask, but he just didn't want to press them. Even with the possibility of adoption—a near certainty, with Xie Lian's cultivation method—that age gap would be just too slim if they were both the ages they looked to be. Any mortal would question it, but Hua Cheng really wasn't trying that hard to hide his ghostly nature. He knew that His Highness would find him out at some point, and he looked forward to it! He was nervous about how Xie Lian would react, of course, but he wanted him to know.
After that, Xie Lian and Ban Yue stopped hiding their true relationship around him, and Hua Cheng was delighted to be taken into their confidence. Xie Lian's immortality and godhood hadn't been explained to him—maybe they thought he already knew?—but to be trusted with the truth about gege's daughter? Hua Cheng was well aware that that was just as big of a revelation, if not bigger, and he vowed that Xie Lian would never regret entrusting him with this.
For his part, Hua Cheng kept calling Xie Lian 'gege' in lieu of his royal title from long ago. If Ban Yue was Xie Lian's daughter, than Hua Cheng was a generation above her, reflected in the terms of address they used to refer to Xie Lian.
When it finally came out, Xie Lian and Ban Yue took the revelation of Hua Cheng being a Supreme level ghost rather well, he thought. Xie Lian had long suspected him of being a powerful ghost, he just hadn't known any of the details. And as he'd already decided he was fine traveling with said powerful ghost, he wasn't going to suddenly have a problem with a ghost who had protected his daughter when Xie Lian's bad luck finally decided to strike. Hua Cheng was admittedly surprised by this opinion, but Xie Lian wasn't swayed from it even by the revelation of exactly which powerful ghost his San Lang was.
Somehow neither Xie Lian nor Ban Yue was familiar with the legends of Crimson Rain Sought Flower, so Hua Cheng'd had to explain himself quite a bit in his introduction. But instead of being scared, both of them had seemed interested. Or, well, Xie Lian had been very enthusiastic about the whole thing, asking Hua Cheng for details about his title and about his fight with 33 gods and about his saber, which Xie Lian had promptly asked to hold. Ban Yue had hidden her interest behind a purposefully blank expression, but she'd listened just as closely to the tales and had even petted E-ming when Xie Lian encouraged her to.
And with Hua Cheng's identity unveiled, he could invite both of them to stay with him in Paradise Manor! If they still wanted to travel, Hua Cheng would gladly accompany them on their journeys for as long as they permitted them to, but he'd built Paradise Manor with Xie Lian in mind, and he wanted his god to take advantage of it. And Ghost City was perhaps not the most orthodox place to raise a human child, but with Hua Cheng's protection, Ban Yue would be perfectly safe. And it'd be good for her to have a stable roof over her head for once, even if Hua Cheng wouldn't dare criticize the way Xie Lian was raising his child. It wasn't like Xie Lian had much of a choice, what with his shackle, and Ban Yue was in good health and good spirits overall.
If they all moved into Paradise Manor, Hua Cheng's long-standing residence would finally become a home. And maybe, just maybe, the three of them could become a family? If Xie Lian let him, Hua Cheng was willing to be a parental figure to Ban Yue. This was something he hadn't prepared for, but Hua Cheng should have known that his god would surprise him. Unfortunately, as it was Hua Cheng knew worse than nothing about how to raise a child. He himself hadn't been raised, not really. Just left to fend for himself until someone remembered he existed just to scream at him. Gege's daughter deserved so much more, and she would get it! Hua Cheng was going to spoil her to no end, and he was pretty sure that His Highness was going to let him do it.
Xie Lian agreed to a visit. Hua Cheng could work up to asking him to move in permanently. For once, it felt like they had time. It was a very dangerous feeling, but it left Hua Cheng almost giddy.
It was almost surreal to have his god walk the halls of the residence Hua Cheng had built and rebuilt so many times with him in mind. Would he like it? If he didn't, Hua Cheng would be happy to change anything that offended Dianxia, but the construction would inconvenience gege and A-Yue, which Hua Cheng didn't want. Maybe Hua Cheng had gotten it right this time? But he also knew that his god had, after so many years of exile, developed both a thick skin and a disinclination to put others out on his behalf. If Hua Cheng wanted to know his true opinion of Paradise Manor, he'd have to watch closely. Not that this would be a hardship, of course. Hua Cheng liked nothing better than to watch his beloved at all times.
Xie Lian had seen buildings like this one before, Hua Cheng knew, and he worried that his beloved would be reminded of difficult topics by the similarity. Thankfully, even though Hua Cheng watched his god very closely for signs of any discomfort, he didn't seem particularly bothered by the manor. He wasn't used to this level of luxury anymore, but he wasn't objecting to it either. Overall, he was complimentary but not over-awed. Not surprising for someone who had lived in multiple palaces in the mortal realm and in the heavens. Ban Yue, on the other hand, had clearly never been in a building like this one before. She was enchanted by the whole experience, to the point where her carefully crafted teenage indifference gave way to gasps and smiles.
When things calmed down momentarily, Hua Cheng offered to lead both of them to their rooms. He'd given Yin Yu strict orders to prepare a special room for Ban Yue before the three of them returned to Ghost City. Eventually, Hua Cheng could tear down the manor again to rebuild it to specifically include gege's beloved daughter, but in the mean time the two of them could take advantage of the manor the way it was at the moment. Maybe later gege could give feedback on what ways to make the place better.
"I get my own room?!" Ban Yue squealed excitedly. She hadn't complained about sharing with her father before, but a teenage girl could use some privacy, right? And seeing her so excited made Xie Lian smile as well, which warmed Hua Cheng's heart. The two rooms Hua Cheng chose to give them were near each other still. After years of living out of each others' pockets, he figured that they might find it strange to have so much distance between them if he'd placed them in different wings. He'd been sorely tempted to set Dianxia up in his own bedchamber—both because it was his and because it was the best room in the manor—but he figured that might test even his luck with a strangely observant teenager in the house.
The three of them settled into the manor for the next several days. Xie Lian was enchanted by the armory, as expected, and Ban Yue humored her father, allowing Hua Cheng to indulge him with sparring and gushing over weapons while she explored the library and the gardens. Yin Yu made himself scarce, hopefully enjoying the vacation Hua Cheng had rewarded him with. But eventually the three of them ventured out of Paradise Manor.
Somehow, in all of their time together to that point, the subject of Hua Cheng's 'real name' had never come up. He hadn't meant to leave it out of his explanation about his identity, but he'd been so surprised that they hadn't recognized the title Crimson Rain Sought Flower that telling them his name was Hua Cheng had slipped through the cracks somehow. Which was how Ban Yue heard his surname for the first time when the residents of his city cheered for their "Hua-chengzhu" when he took Xie Lian and Ban Yue on a tour around the city.
They hadn't come through the city when they'd first arrived, instead using Hua Cheng's dice to travel directly to Paradise Manor. He'd been worried that Ghost City would be too much, too vulgar, but it turned out he'd been worried for nothing. Ban Yue was a little wary, being a human without any of the benefits of immortality, but she seemed curious and at least open to giving the city and its residents a chance. Xie Lian, for his part, was fascinated, eagerly flitting from stall to stall and engaging the vendors in enthusiastic conversation that they responded to with bafflement. But most of them at least weren't rude, so Hua Cheng didn't interfere.
As soon as Xie Lian was thoroughly distracted by the contents of a stall down the street, Ban Yue pulled him aside. Bemused, he let her. Obviously someone of her strength couldn't push a Calamity around, but gege loved her, and Hua Cheng was coming to appreciate her on her own merit as well. She loved gege back, which was as it should be, and she could be fierce when the situation called for it. Besides, Hua Cheng had a butterfly near Xie Lian, so if gege started to wonder where they were, or if anyone dared to give him any trouble, Hua Cheng could make sure they caught up to him quickly.
"Your name is Hua?" Ban Yue asked him suspiciously once they had ducked into an alley. "With what character?"
Hua Cheng blinked. That wasn't something he'd expected to be interrogated about. "With the character for flower," he said.
"And this is a name you picked?" she pressed. "A-die says that most ghosts don't use their names from when they were living."
"I chose my name, yes," Hua Cheng agreed. "It wasn't because I was a ghost, though. I needed a name for other reasons."
"But you could have picked anything," Ban Yue pressed. "Why 'Hua'? Because of your title?"
"No. I didn't have my title yet when I chose it. I hadn't made a name for myself yet as a Calamity."
"Hmm," Ban Yue hummed thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes at him.
Hua Cheng had some vague impression that children who weren't discouraged from speaking in general tended to ask a ridiculous number of questions to their caregivers, but he thought gege's daughter was a little too old for that to be the reason she was interrogating him about his name. Hua Cheng didn't want to lie to her, if only because he thought gege would disapprove, but her questions were getting uncomfortably close to things he wasn't quite ready for His Highness to know about yet. Not that Hua Cheng had any real moral objection to lying—he'd been lying to Xie Lian from the moment they'd been reunited, after all—but, again, he really didn't want to fuck this up.
"Why are you so curious about this?" he asked, trying to redirect the conversation away from his reasons for choosing that of all names.
"Do you know what name A-Die was using when I first met him?" she asked.
Hua Cheng frowned. No, he didn't. That was during the time that he didn't have any information about what gege had been up to, and Xie Lian hadn't actually told Hua Cheng yet how he and Ban Yue had met. Not in any kind of detail. And Hua Cheng was greedy; he wanted to know everything he could about his god, his beloved. He wondered if he was so obvious that little Ban Yue had picked up on it and was using his interest to bribe him. If so, that was very clever of her.
"What name was he using?" he asked, taking the bait.
"Hua," she said, and Hua Cheng's still heart beat uncontrollably in his chest.
"Which character for Hua?" he asked, his mouth feeling strangely dry despite him having not needed saliva in six hundred years.
"The character for flower," she said smugly, with all the smugness of a teenager who knew she was right. "As in 'The Flower Crowned Martial God.'"
That was, of course, exactly where he'd stolen his own surname from, just one of many ways of displaying his devotion to his god.
Ban Yue kept speaking as Hua Cheng screamed internally. "I think you should tell him," she said casually, fiddling with the decoration on her sleeve. "How you feel about him."
Hua Cheng blinked. "You do?" Even if she did know how he felt about her adopted father, did she not have a problem with the fact that he was a Ghost King?
Ban Yue shrugged. "Yeah. I do. A-Die likes you. You make him laugh. And he's really bad at taking care of himself, but he actually lets you take care of him! When I try, he humors me, but he doesn't want to let me take care of him because I'm a kid. It's so frustrating!" She frowned. "And I guess you're alright, too. I wouldn't mind always having you around. As long as you two don't embarrass me too much."
Hua Cheng flashed a toothy grin at her and ruffled her hair as she sighed in acceptance. "I don't know if I can promise not to embarrass you, but I would like it very much if you and your father would stay around forever."
"Good," Ban Yue said. "That was good. Now just go and say something like that to A-Die."
With that, seemingly satisfied that she'd made her point, she turned and ran back down the street to catch up with Xie Lian. He greeted her with a smile and an arm around her shoulder, which she graciously didn't attempt to shrug off. It was a sight that had quickly become familiar since Hua Cheng had first set eyes on the two of them together, but unlike the first time, Xie Lian looked over his shoulder to wave at Hua Cheng, inviting him to join them.
Hua Cheng looked at his two favorite people in the world and thought Is this what it feels like to have a family? Is this what it feels like to be welcomed home?
And for the first time in his life or death, he thought he knew the answer.