From Earth to Heaven, From Heaven to Earth (TGCF HuLian)

Chapter 1: The Poet's Eye

But then when doesn't it ache?

Pain is always a part of him now.

The only problem is /how/ to find this person, "the beloved" as he will think of them. They were a citizen of Xianle but that's all he knows. He has long since traveled far from the ruins Xianle but even if he went back he doubts he would find even a trace. There would be no place to even begin to look. And so he begins searching for something else instead.

The particular cultivation sect he's looking for should not be difficult to find ...so naturally it takes him a little over a year.

By the time he finds the old woman he's been robbed four times, drowned twice, and starved once. His cloths are patched faded, and dirty, and other than Fang Xie and his hat he has not a thing to his name, and he hasn't eaten in three days, but he found her and that's all that really matters right?

The elder takes one look at him and with a huff of breath she asks, "Do you expect me to believe you can pay?"

"No." Xie Lian says with perfect truth. "But I can work for you if you like. I can chop firewood and do your washing and sweep your floors."

The elder eyes him a little skeptically over the tops of fingers made thin and gnarled by age, but in the end all she says is "payment first."

And Xie Lian agrees because it's a fair request, after all, how else can she be sure he won't just run off once he has the information he seeks. So for three full weeks Xie Lian cleans and dusts and washes and chops, doing all the things that once, long ago, his own servants did for him. If the gods of heaven could see him now they would laugh and mock at how far the great god pleasing prince has fallen, but Xie Lian doesn't care. He's gotten used to shame and to the mockery of heaven and at least now he has a dry place to sleep and a bit of food to eat each night.

And even if he didn't, for Wu Ming it would be worth it.

For Wu Ming everything is worth it.

At the end of the third week the elder calls him to her and she settles at her table and gestures for him to sit opposite her and so he does.

"Well?" The elder asks. "Who do you want me to find?"

"I do not know their name," Xie Lian tells her, "but they are the beloved of a dear friend of mine."

The elder doesn't question him, just extends her hand, palm up, to him. "Item?"

Xie Lian has thought long about this. He doesn't have anything that belonged to Wu Ming's beloved, let alone anything that was dear enough to their heart for their life energy to cling to it, and that is what the elder needs. Her branch of cultivation involves understanding and differentiating the flowing life energy of all living things. Guoshi told Xie Lian of it but never taught him anything of how it's done, which is why he is hear and hoping that this elder can give him at least something of a direction.

Xie Lian might not have anything of the beloved's but he does have one thing and so he pulls Fang Xin from its sheath and holds it out to the elder, explaining as he does so, "This is the sword that destroyed my friend's soul. He was a ghost who lingered in this world only for the sake of his beloved. I've been hoping that some of his life energy still lingers around his beloved and that you can use this to find it. I know it's not as good as having something that belongs to the person I'm seeking but it's the best I have.

The elder arches one eyebrow at him. "For this you cleaned my house for almost a month?"

Xie Lian shrugs lightly and says again, "it is the best I have." He knows this plan has little chance of working, especially with his luck, but he hasn't been able to come up with any other so he wants to at least try.

"You know I can't give you exact directions right?" The elder continues, a slight frown on her lips. "Even if this works, which it probably won't, all I can tell you is what direction the life energy you're looking for is in, not how many days or weeks away they are."

Xie Lian nods. "I understand."

The elder eyes him for another moment then she shrugs. "Very well."

She takes Fang Xin and lays it on her table, running her fingers over the blade, her eyes fixed on the dark metal. As she does Xie Lian senses the faint brush of spiritual power and he knows that, even if the woman is old, her ability is very real.

After about half an incents time the elder looks up and the frown is back on her lips. I can sense only two strong sources of life energy clinging to the blade. One of them is yours."

Xie Lian winces slightly. He should have expected that. After all, if Rouya was brought to life by the energy left behind from his blood and suffering, then it only makes sense that Fang Xin, the blade that inflicted the suffering, should be tainted as well.

"The other?"

"Is of another who suffered on this blade, a ghost I guess, considering they left behind spiritual power without any life energy. If I listen closely I can hear terrible screaming, and there is pain too, like a soul being torn apart."

This time Xie Lian doesn't wince, just bows his head, grief and regret and self-loathing all tangling within him.

"That's him, my friend." He says it quietly.

"I thought you said your friend's soul was destroyed."

"It was."

"Then why can I still sense it?" The elder asks and Xie Lian's head snaps up, his eyes widening as everything in the world seems to stop, time itself suspending as Xie Lian reels.

"W-What?" He asks, too shocked to come out with anything more articulate.

"I can still sense it." The elder repeats. "It's strong too. Whoever your ghost friend is, he's still around."

Wu Ming

Wu Ming

Wu Ming

Xie Lian's heart beats with the echoes of the name that isn't a name. His blood thunders in his vanes, his fingers beginning to shake.

Wu Ming...

Wu Ming is still, well not alive, but in the world, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere for Xie Lian to find, to make immense to, to protect and help and apologize to. If he can only find him again, he'll do anything, go down on his knees, serve, beg, give up whatever he still has, allow the ghost to run him through, anything Wu Ming wants, anything, he'll do anything and everything for him ...If he can only find him.

And just like that Xie Lian is on his feet, even as the tears begin to form in his eyes.

"Which way is he?"

"Northwest from here." The elder purses her lips. "But you shouldn't go that way."

"What? Why not?" Xie Lian is already sliding Fang Xin back into its scabbard, and he knows that no matter what the elder says he's going to go.

"Because no one who goes that way right now survives to return."

That makes Xie Lian pause but only for a moment. His own death is the least of what he owes Wu Ming.

"What's out there?"

"A place no human should ever go. We in the villages call it the cursed mountain and the demon home but its proper name is Mount Tonglu."