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I can’t believe this, Xie Lian thought, only to immediately realize that, well, he very much could believe it. Wasn’t this almost routine for him? Wherever he went, whenever he thought he could relax, something happened.
This wasn’t the worst that had happened to him by a long shot, yet he couldn’t help but inwardly hope that the consequences of it would not be too terrible.
You see, encountering a yaoguai was never a good thing, but it was worse for him in particular. It could very much attract attention from the heavens, which Xie Lian decidedly didn’t want, but at the same time, there was not way for him to just leave it there now he had seen it! That would be absolutely irresponsible on his part. Someone could end up dead!
And therefore, he swiftly dealt with the beast, and even had some fun with their battle. He used to be a martial god, after all, so it would simply be impossible for him to not appreciate the chance to have a good fight, and with such a worthy opponent!
Just as Xie Lian was starting to wonder where to go wash himself (and Ruoye) so they would be presentable enough again, he realized that someone was approaching him, or rather, running in his direction.
A young man with uncommonly fluffy and wild, curly hair, tied up in a high ponytail that barely contained it. He was clad in an exquisite set of armor and… Xie Lian immediately noticed his godly aura, since he wasn’t even trying to hide it at all.
“That was so cool!” the young man said, just as Xie Lian kowtowed and said,
“I didn’t want to offend you, Your Lordship!”
It was followed by a really, really awkward silence.
“Why are you on the floor?” the young man asked, before approaching Xie Lian and helping him stand up again.
“Ah, well…” Xie Lian scratched his chin, not knowing what to say. Heavenly officials tended to act in haughty and arrogant ways, after all, so this was not the reaction he had expected at all. “This humble one just wanted to make sure Your Lordship was not offended by my presence here. It was not this one’s intention to cause an inconvenience!” He gestured wildly, trying to get away from the god, without being rude. “This one will be out of your hair before you realize!” He grimaced a bit at his choice of words, but the god didn’t seem to be offended, thankfully.
“You don’t need to call me like that,” the god replied, apparently a bit confused. After a moment of consideration, he said, “You can call me Quan Yizhen, that’s my name. What’s your name? Can you show me some of those moves?” he insisted, clearly excited at that prospect.
Xie Lian was completely baffled by his reaction, but somehow, he felt much safer now, seeing that this young man was clearly more worried about martial arts than about having absolute control over the territories under his domain.
“This one’s name is Xie Lian,” he said, before he could stop himself.
Somehow, Quan Yizhen’s friendly attitude didn’t make Xie Lian feel like the whole interaction was fake, or that under his niceness and his smile there would be some hidden intention. He had no idea why, but…
“Wait,” Quan Yizhen suddenly said, and then looked at him, from head to toe and back. “It’s you!” Xie Lian’s face paled, and fear immediately paralyzed him, but then Quan Yizhen added, “you’re the weird white–robed daozhang that my followers keep praying about!”
Xie Lian palmed his face really hard. Oh, so Quan Yizhen just thought he was some weirdo. Not the banished Crown Prince of Xian Le. Well, with how bad his luck was, that wasn’t completely strange.
“Wh- what do you mean they keep praying about me?!”
“Oh, well, they were constantly mentioning a white robed dude that keeps getting involved in unfortunate situations. They were worried about you,” Quan Yizhen explained, in an extremely nonchalant way, “but they also prayed about a yaoguai, and that was more fun, so I came to deal with that first.”
Well, yeah. That tracked. Xie Lian still felt fortunate that those prayers were not directed at someone who could remember him, though.
“And then you found me here,” Xie Lian finished, relief flooding him.
“Yes! So, can we spar for a bit?”
But then, the tiger demon Xie Lian had been fighting roused again, unexpectedly, which meant they both had to deal with it together now.
It wasn’t difficult at all, since their combined strength was more than enough to completely obliterate the poor beast, that was already wounded and tired from the previous encounter with Xie Lian.
The whole thing still turned into an exchange of “Nice move!” and “That was so cool!” and “Please show me later!” and “Good job there!” and also some passing comments of advice from Xie Lian to help Quan Yizhen refine his stances, which devolved into a series of demonstrations from Xie Lian, then followed by an impromptu spar session.
A very extended one, since they were both tireless when it came to martial arts and both of them had lacked the opportunity to have an adequate sparring companion for a long time.
The whole thing got to a close when Xie Lian’s stomach rumbled, and that sound brought Quan Yizhen back to reality.
“Xie-xiong should come with me,” Quan Yizhen offered, already acting much more familiar with him, “so we can get cleaned up and eat something,”
“No, no, no no no no,” Xie Lian immediately panicked, “this one would not want to impose! There’s no need! I’m not worthy!”
He didn’t want to visit the heavens!
“I just want to help Xie-xiong, and ask him something,” Quan Yizhen said, now in a calmer voice. “We can go to the temple you visited before,” he offered, knowing exactly which temple Xie Lian had been in, thanks to the prayers he had received, “if that feels better?”
“Oh, I hope I didn’t offend you somehow, when I stayed there. I was just trying to escape from the rain…” He was always having to escape from some thing or another, wasn’t he? It was just the way he lived.
But Quan Yizhen was already drawing a distance–shortening array, though, and soon, they found themselves at the temple Quan Yizhen had mentioned.
It was an old place, which had not been strange in and of itself, though. It didn’t seem to be abandoned, either: it was clean, and there were offerings that appeared to be recent. And there was evidence of someone staying there before: Xie Lian found a comfortable bedroll. So after offering what he could, he spent the night there, hoping to not offend anyone with his presence, before departing in the morning.
“Does Xie-xiong know who this temple used to belong to?” Quan Yizhen asked, as they both stood in front of the divine statue.
Used to belong to? So it wasn’t a temple dedicated to Quan Yizhen?
Well, now that he looked at the statue again —or what remained of it— there was no resemblance at all. Simply going by the hair, there was already a stark difference there. But of course, Xie Lian had no idea about it before. He didn’t even know who was the god in charge of the territory where he had been traveling.
In fact, Xie Lian had just recently came across any temples!
“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about the history of the West…” he apologized, hoping Quan Yizhen would see he was being sincere. “When I stumbled upon this temple, it felt like a blessing, and I took cover from the rain after making a small offering.”
If he had known it was for a god that was not worshiped anymore… maybe he would have felt sad. But even an absent god deserved some thanks for his protection, right? After all, it was thanks to that temple’s existence that he had spent the night safe and dry.
“It’s okay. Shixiong would not feel disrespected by that. He used to protect the West with me, but…”
There was a bit of silence. Xie Lian wasn’t sure of how to comfort the god that stood beside him, in front of the damaged statue.
Quan Yizhen let out a sigh. How much should he share? Would this nice and strong new friend be able to understand…?
“If it was your shixiong who taught you how to fight,” Xie Lian said, hoping it would lift Quan Yizhen’s mood, “then he must have been very proud of you.”
“Do you really think so?” Quan Yizhen asked, his eyes bright and hopeful as he turned to look at Xie Lian.
Before Xie Lian could give him an answer, Ruoye appeared, apparently sensing that their new friend was in need of comfort, and got closer to Quan Yizhen, to rub against his face, quite similar to what a cat would do, making him giggle.
“Your spiritual weapon is very playful!” Quan Yizhen said, which only emboldened Ruoye.
“Ah, it tends to get–” Entangled, Xie Lian thought, but it was already too late. The silk ribbon had already managed to partially disappear between Quan Yizhen’s wild curls.
“It’s like a snake!” Quan Yizhen said, still amused, as Ruoye kept tickling him.
“Let me help you,” Xie Lian said, knowing that Ruoye would not slither away like a snake. Not without tangles…
Exactly as he had suspected, the ribbon ended up infernally trapped in between Quan Yizhen’s curls.
“Ah, don’t worry, Xie-xiong, we can just cut my hair if it’s too bad,” Quan Yizhen said, as if it was nothing.
“No!” Xie Lian said, a bit scandalized. “I’m going to help you, there will be no need to cut your hair! I wouldn’t dare! Hair is very important!”
“…I can’t remember my parents,” Quan Yizhen said, in a low voice while Xie Lian kept battling against the tangles and scolding Ruoye under his breath, “so does it really matter?”
Xie Lian’s hands stopped moving.
“Family always matters,” he said, in an equally soft voice. “Was there someone that made you feel at home?”
“Shixiong did,” Quan Yizhen said, but he couldn’t continue, his emotions too big for him to name them or explain them.
When had been the last time someone had genuinely asked things like that about him? Or that hadn’t automatically talked about his shixiong in the worst possible ways? When had been the last time he had been allowed to mention Yin Yu without feeling like he was wrong for loving him?
“Then he would certainly not want you to just cut your hair, would he?” Xie Lian said, with a tone of finality. “Don’t worry, we’ll get Ruoye out of there one way or another.”
“Maybe if we go wash ourselves it will be a bit easier?” Quan Yizhen offered. “I have some things hidden here in the temple, so we could get clean, and then have something to eat, and Xie-xiong can stay here if he wants to,” he said, a bit too fast, “it’s actually quite nice, and maybe we can spar again later!”
Well, Xie Lian thought, that would certainly be nice. They both were still dirty from the previous fight, and it would be nice to not have to worry about where to sleep, at least for that night.
He had nowhere else he had planned to go, right? And Quan Yizhen was so friendly!
“I suppose I can stay tonight,” Xie Lian said, after thinking for a bit. “I want to ask you some things about the West, too!”