Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 16

«Well – Feng Xin said, walking over – this time you have thoroughly offended General Pei». Xie Lian only laughed, but the martial god furrowed his brow: «Don't think I'm joking. Just because you're married to Crimson Rain Sought Flower, it doesn't mean this sort of offence couldn't be dangerous».

After the Great Martial Hall, the next most powerful martial palace was none other than Ming Guang, and General Pei thought very highly of his little descendant, to the point of always trying to boot Quan YiZhen.

Although His Highness could count on his husband to protect him, to anger a heavenly official as powerful as Pei Ming was no joke. There was no way to imagine what his reaction could be, upon discovering Xie Lian dragged such a terrible scandal out in the open.

Tired of all the shenanigans and issues with the heavens, Xie Lian energetically rubbed his forehead and mentally took note that he would have to either be more mindful when eating, drinking and walking up in the Heavenly Court, or to face Pei Ming and have a good talk with him once and for all. It was the second time he ended up getting involved with something related to him, maybe it was for the best.

Then, he thought of something: «Wait, what about the Wind Master? Isn't she the one who will file the complain? I can't have her offending General Pei, her brother is...».

He was about to say, Shi QingXuan's brother was dead and couldn't protect her anymore from bad repercussions, but stopped just in time. Shi Wu Du's passing was still an awful thing for the heavens to be reminded of, both for the circumstances and the reasons.

«You don't need to worry about the Wind Master», Mu Qing spoke up, already taking his leave despite Feng Xin yelling at him that their job wasn't done yet. «I don't know why, but General Pei still refuses to get mad at... him? Her? Whatever. I'm going back».

«Fucker».

Leaving before being done with what they needed to do, no doubts he was avoiding something. But, instead of getting angry or disappointed at him, Xie Lian simply told Feng Xin to stop cursing, and he bitterly complied.

«I said a lot of things, back in the pit. Leave him be», Xie Lian said, his voice finally softening. Feng Xin didn't seem to have heard any of it, and that was a relief, but the refreshing feeling washed away as soon as he remembered they still needed to get more shanyue fern. Even if it was far from being twenty-four hours, who knew if anything might have happened in all that time? Xie Lian had no time to feel good.

He hurriedly lifted Ban Yue onto his back, dismissing the helping hand Hua Cheng wanted to lend him, and ran towards the palace ground.

Once there, Xie Lian laid the girl down and immediately picked a few large bushels of the fern. The mud face was still on the ground, his face a bloody mess amongst white bones, but the god didn't bother with a proper burial; the man had been buried in the dirt for decades, he probably didn't want to go back.

When he looked around, however, the corpse of the dead merchant was missing.

He had been probably swept away by a ghost, at that point worrying was of no use. Just then, Hua Cheng emerged from the palace with a small clay pot in his hands, soon placing it in Xie Lian's.

The Crown Prince, thanking his husband, shrank Ban Yue and tucked her into the pot, to let her have some rest and be able to carry her more easily. The group continued to collect the ferns, and then rushed back to the shelter, flying like the wind.

It had been eight hours since they left, with the sun barely peeking over the horizon.

Near the shelter, in the long shadow projected by the rocky structure, many of the merchants were still within the circle drawn my Mu Qing, too scared to venture out. Upon seeing them coming close, they started waving and calling, visibly relieved to discover they hadn't been abandoned .