Chapter Text
As the last of the bound-up demons were being taken away by heavenly officials, Xie Lian began attempting to dust off his robes as best as he could. As he did, he started to walk towards the main entrance of the complicated cave system, where he had left his meagre bag of belongings and his bamboo hat before heading off to finish this whole mess.
They had been at this undertaking for three days straight now, barely eating nor sleeping. What started as a simple rumour of some ghosts causing trouble for a small village had turned into a complicated scheme of demons cultivating forbidden magics through the blood of their kidnapped victims.
Originally, Xie Lian had planned to take care of the problem by himself, but with the scope being far greater than he had anticipated, he had ended up calling Feng Xin and Mu Qing for assistance. Mu Qing had then called down even more heavenly officials when things began escalating on the third day.
The unknown demonic magics had made things complicated and risky to navigate, and the kidnapped villagers had been difficult to locate in the vast tunnel network the demons had settled in.
After finally finding and evacuating the last of the villagers on day three, Xie Lian had gone to face the remaining demons still hiding in their cave. The fight had not taken long. Xie Lian easily overpowered the demonic ringleaders, relieving them of their weapons and sending them flying into the cave walls one after another.
As he was about to sheathe his sword, he heard the running footsteps of Feng Xin and Mu Qing coming from the tunnel leading into the cave. He turned to look towards them. Just then, one of the demons who had been cowering on the cave floor made a throwing motion towards Xie Lian’s back — a small cloud of blue smoke suddenly hurtling toward him.
Xie Lian whipped around, attempting to block the cloud with his sword, but it went straight through it and right into his chest. At that moment, his two friends both made it through the opening of the cave, only just catching a glimpse of what had happened.
“What the hell was that?!” Mu Qing shouted, leaping towards the offending demon and whacking it unconscious.
“Are you alright, Your Highness?” Feng Xin asked urgently, grabbing Xie Lian’s shoulder to turn him around, checking him for any injuries. Xie Lian placed a hand against his chest, looking towards the now-unconscious demon.
“I think so?” he answered sheepishly. “I didn’t really feel anything from whatever that was just now. It’s probably fine.” He laughed a bit awkwardly, scratching his head.
“This is why we told you to wait until we could join you!” Mu Qing snapped, reaching into his sleeve to retrieve spiritual binding ropes and starting to tie up the demons.
“I swear, even with those shackles gone, you are still the unluckiest person I know. Don’t just rush in when we’re dealing with complicated demonic magics! That just now might manifest into something supremely annoying later.”
“As if you weren’t almost hit with something I know for a fact to be a dismembering spell not even one incense time ago,” Feng Xin retorted, sending a glare towards Mu Qing.
“Whatever. At least I was being useful while someone was making a fuss about having to escort some women out of—”
“Guys—” Xie Lian interjected, trying to stop the argument before it gained any more momentum. Just then the rest of the heavenly officials caught up with them, and they could finally begin wrapping up this entire venture.
After collecting his belongings, Xie Lian made his way over to his friends, who were now arguing about a completely different topic.
“I’ll be going back to Ghost City now,” he said, placing his bamboo hat on his head as they turned toward him.
“I originally told San Lang that I would only be gone for a day, so he wasn't really prepared for me to be gone this long. He’ll probably be a little sulky if I don’t hurry now that we’re done.” He smiled fondly, imagining the cute pouting face of his beloved.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Feng Xin asked, still looking worried.
“Yes, yes, I’m really fine. I don’t feel anything amiss. I’m honestly more embarrassed about letting my guard down back there. It probably says something about how used I’ve become to sleeping every night now. To think that staying awake for just three days already has me this fatigued…”
Mu Qing snorted. “I thought we had all gathered that Hua Cheng doesn’t let you sleep at night—”
“Anyways! I’ll be leaving now! See you!” Xie Lian cut in quickly, hurriedly turning and heading off before the conversation could continue any further.
The trek back to Ghost City would only take him a couple of shí chén. As he emerged onto a dirt path, he let Ruoye slip out of his sleeve to stretch and explore.
After following the path for a good while, Xie Lian slowly started to feel a dull pressure building behind his temple.
He raised a hand to his forehead, already feeling beads of sweat clinging to his skin. Before he could even begin to question what was happening to him, his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground.
—
He regained consciousness slowly, blearily opening his eyes and seeing Ruoye looping around him before swooping down to nudge at his face. Xie Lian sat up, regaining his bearings and checking himself for any sign of what had caused him to lose awareness.
Strangely enough, he felt completely fine, as if nothing had ever happened. He looked at the sky and saw that the sun had barely moved — he couldn’t have been out for long.
He stood up, dusted off his outer robe, let Ruoye slip back into his sleeve, and continued on his walk toward Ghost City. Perhaps him fainting was simply a result of his exhaustion? Surely it was nothing to be too worried about.
—
By the time he made it through the doors of the Gambler’s Den, Xie Lian felt dead on his feet. He wanted nothing more than to fall asleep in his beloved's arms right now, and to stay asleep for at least a day.
He had deliberated on whether to head to Paradise Manor or the Den, but decided Hua Cheng was probably looking for a distraction while waiting for him to return home, and was therefore most likely passing his time at the Gambler's Den.
Just stepping through the front door confirmed his suspicion. His beloved's distinct and powerful aura filled the entire structure, converging at the top of the lavish stairs and behind the red curtains of the main gambling hall.
Xie Lian let out a relieved breath, his senses zeroing in on his beloved as he started making his way through the crowd. As he reached the stairs, he pushed his bamboo hat off his head, letting it hang by the string around his neck.
A couple of his beloved’s silver butterflies fluttered over to greet him — one brushing by his cheek and landing on his shoulder, another settling in his hair, while the rest simply hovered around him.
As he climbed the stairs, he could feel his fatigue really settling in, his eyes struggling to stay open, his body probably realizing he had reached his destination of safe and strong and caring arms. As he reached the top and parted the curtains, he barely took in his beloved, his red robes and dark hair and silver finery just as beautiful as always.
“I’m home, San Lang,” he greeted with a tired smile, heading further into the private space to place his bag and hat against the back wall.
“Sorry again that I ended up being gone for so long. I really thought it would only take a day to deal with it all. Mu Qing even ended up calling down additional officials to help us speed things up.”
Xie Lian started removing his outer robe, not wanting the dust and dirt to get all over Hua Cheng. He continued to ramble on as he folded the robe and placed it to the side.
“Nothing much happened since the last time we talked, though. We just rounded up the last demons and had them taken up to Heaven to be dealt with. I’m just so tired right now that I feel like I could sleep for an entire rì.”
He walked up to a small table not far from Hua Cheng’s seat, pouring himself a glass of water from the fine porcelain pitcher and downing the whole glass in one go.
“I’m just not used to foregoing sleep so many days in a row. Even with my shackles gone, I still start to feel pretty tired by the end of the second day…”
Xie Lian yawned, putting the glass down and stretching his arms out in front of him. He strode around the corner of Hua Cheng’s throne-like seat, lightly plopping down in his lap and snaking his arms around his neck, nuzzling his nose into the soft and cool skin of his throat. He felt Hua Cheng tense under him, his arms hovering around his torso for a couple of seconds before he started to relax. Hua Cheng’s arms slowly enveloped him, his hold becoming more and more secure as Xie Lian continued to nuzzle his neck.
“I’m just glad to finally be home…” Xie Lian mumbled, giving in to another yawn and closing his eyes. Just as he was about to let sleep take him, it hit him that Hua Cheng had not spoken a single word to him this entire time. He opened his eyes again, attempting to look up at his beloved while not having the energy to move too much.
“Is everything alright, San Lang?” he asked in a soft voice, one of his hands moving to softly stroke at his cheek.
“This San Lang is perfectly fine, Your Highness… I’m just glad you’re home too,” Hua Cheng answered in a low voice, his arms giving Xie Lian a light squeeze.
“Hmm, good,” Xie Lian murmured, settling down again and placing a soft kiss on Hua Cheng’s neck. As he did, he could feel a shudder making its way through Hua Cheng’s entire body.
“Don’t bother waking me when you want to head back to the manor. Just take me with you…” Xie Lian mumbled, finally letting sleep take its hold.
As Xie Lian’s breathing evened out, Hua Cheng was left with only one possible conclusion. That this must all be one extremely detailed, extremely evil, and extremely happy dream…