Ling Wen sits before the opened circle that was used in order to view the everyday life of Xie Lian's son—her desk was moved over as well as all of her work. Xie Lian was still recovering from the previous events and so she felt the need to sit and collect all matters of information for him. As stated before, her punishment for her prior actions was to keep track of all matters for eternity. Something she didn't mind doing, and over time she came to just forget about her previous offenses, and as for the Brocade Immortal she was allowed to keep it at her side. The robe itself greets her in her palace, and is often shown to give more affection than anyone. Knowing that she could not bring the man she used to create back to life stained, she figured it would just be best to give him some form of happiness. His own happiness came from being in her presence, therefore why not just keep him to herself. Xie Lian had no problems with her keeping the robe, but she warned her that if she were to fall out of line he will destroy it completely, and her punishment would become far more severe than what was given. These words meant that Hua Cheng more than likely would be involved.
So just chose to behave. Behaving was something easy, and she could continue to enjoy her current luxuries. However, her time is dwindled down due to the fact that the doors of heavens were sealed off from the world. Therefore, she couldn't record any major events or pieces of history as well as she could before, but with Hua Cheng's butterflies she can make do with what they gather.
Today she takes it upon herself to complete her work while viewing the next set of events that would be fall Wei Wuxian.
"So you're still choosing to sit there?" Hua Cheng asks with a rather annoyed tone in his voice.
"Yes. I did say I was going to. I won't be the only one, Lang Qingqiu is on his way, as well Quan Yizhen. General Pei as well will be joining."
Hua Cheng merely sighs.
"And his highness...?"
"Generasl Xuan Zhen and General Nang Yang are both keeping an eye on him, though through the communication array they have both declared that he has calmed down a quite a bit. However, he has been wanting to come back, but the two of them don't wish for him to lose his senses over whatever may happen next."
"I see..."
"Do you believe he should watch that happens next...?"
"Personally...yes...but they have a point about him losing his senses. The face he made before was an expression I never want to see again. I could only see it through the butterfly, but I recognize the gaze well...."
"You do...?"
"Do you remember the stories he told during the meeting that was held long before all of this?"
Ling Wen goes silent. She recalls the meeting well and the events that Xie Lian had described to them about his past.
"That face....was the same one he made all those years ago when he became a calamity himself..."
Ling Wen shudders on the thought.
The two discontinue their conversation as they look to the the two boys who were now running for their lives admist the chaos of the burning of their clan. Once out of sight and away from their attackers, the ring that had bounded them together by force shifted back into it's original form. The two quickly head back to their home only to be greeted by a horrific sight. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's eyes were wide in shock at the display. There were mountains of bodies piled up of all of their old clan members. Friends and disciples who were laughing with them not too long ago. Smiling with them. Training with them. Fighting with them. And now they were being stacked one by one on top of the other to be burned. Not buried. Their eyes quickly scan around until they finally stop onto the bodies of their parents. Jiang Fengmian laid back with his core melted and a sword driven into his chest with blood dripping from his lips and the rest of his body. Near by was Madam Yu's corpse bloodied and beaten. Her core melted away as well. And near by they could hear the mockingly obnoxious voices of Wang Lingjiao and Wen Chao who were laughing at the sight. Jiang Cheng growls in anger and attempts to scream, but Wei Wuxian, who was stuck in his own head with flashing images of his previous guardian's death, composes himself in time to stop him. With no other choice the two run away from their old home with heavy hearts.
Ling Wen sighs heavily.
"That leaves three sets of guardians in one go....."
Hua Cheng doesn't say a word. He merely stands tall and folds his arms behind him.
"Where are you going?"
"To catch their ashes before they are burned up completely and unable to reincarnate. Keep watching." He turns to the crowd before him. "Same with you all as well."
His eye glances to his side where Yin Yu now sat with a hand laid over his chest.
"I'll be doing this alone. Don't let anyone in or out. If you need anyone just use my dice and drag He Xuan here. Tell him I said he doesn't have a right to refuse."
Yin Yu nods.
"Sir."
In an instant the Ghost King vanishes from sight in a storm of silver butterflies as he crosses to the earth realm with his own set of dices. Normally he would think twice about doing this kind of ordeal however, he was not going to allow these people to lose any hope of being reborn. They were attacked unfairly. And they were a family that took care of his own well. He hurries on to the sight and quickly changes his form into a Wen uniform. No one suspected a thing. He watches as Wen Chao leaves with his mistress from the bodies and goes to help in gathering the rest, but when each body was placed in the fire a butterfly would quickly move in to collect the ashes. One by one he stood with no one willing to approach him as his entire field of space was just too much of an atmosphere for anyone to bare. At one point he manages to spot a face who manages to Starr at him. A woman with eyes that had already seen it all. Eyes that didn't appear evil. They appeared to carry a form of shame. She approached he's the bodies of the two previous leaders and frowns. Carefully she leans down to close their eyes and rest their hands over their bodies in a more formal manner. She sighs and shakes her head in disbelief. She hated the ways of the Wen Clan, but with her own family being held hostage under their leader she had no choice but to be at the front and center. She looks back to Hua Cheng and says nothing. She merely bows before turning away from him. Her head held high. Her back straight. And her steps steady.
'She's seen the dead. And has seen corpses of this magnitude already. Who is she..?' He wanted to pursue her and see but he had other priorities. Once it came down to Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian, he stared at them and raised his hands to theirs. Apologetic as he was to them for their demise he still had a small bone to pick with them. Therefore, he chooses to leave an imprint with their bodies signaling for their souls to enter to his ghost realm before they could dare to cross over. He personally wanted an audience with them. Once he finishes in handling the numerous amount of ashes of hundreds of bodies he disappears from sight never to be seen again among the others.
Meanwhile, Ling Wen sits on her own with Yin Yu in the image beside her as they continue to watch the two boys. Hua Cheng would have used E-Ming to see what was happening, but as he had mentioned before E-Ming needed to save it's own strength. The two boys pause as Wei Wuxian attempts to speak to his adoptive brother. But Jiang Cheng had become engulfed in his despair to the point that he dared to point the finger at him. His fist connects to the side of his face as he shouts with all of his anger and might.
"Why?! Why did you have to save Lan Wangji?!"
Wei Wuxian says nothing. He doesn't want to argue. Doesn't want to speak. And he didn't want for his brother to just hold back either. It was better for him to release his rage even if it was going to be released onto him. Jiang Cheng throws him onto the ground with his fingers curling tightly around his throat in an attempt to suffocate him. Wei Wuxian this time knows that he needs to be careful in putting his own hands on him. His hand grabs onto his wrist as he calls out to him hoping to reach his mind somehow. Eventually, Jiang Cheng loosens his grip, but keeps his head low as his tears swelling up in his eyes with his voice calling out to his mother and father. Wei Wuxian doesn't say more as the images of his past flash once more only to be put together with the images of Jiang Fengmian and Madam Yu. He raises his arm to cover over his own eyes as tears began to spill down his cheeks.
'It's all my fault.....'
Those thoughts crawl into his mind. Words of self hate. Words that he honestly had felt before as a child but never had the right terms. Now that he was older he fully understood. The blame for everything was on him. Jiang Cheng rolls off of his body and onto his back as he cries with heavy sobs leaking from the depths of his throat. Whereas Wei Wuxian could only let out the smallest of whimpers as he cries along with him.
Ling Wen frowns at the sight. She knew very well that neither Xie Lian nor the Ghost King would be able to bare the sight of their child crying. Not when the two can't be there for him. As if on cue however, as her thoughts remained private it was as if they were floating about for everyone to hear.
"Your highness!"
She turns her head as Xie Lian runs through the large doors with the other martial gods tailing ehind him. Neither of them were capable of stopping him. They tried. But the strength of the Crown Prince was on another level that only his husband could match. He sinks down to his knees before the image of his son in tears and sheds a bit of his own. His hands rested over his heart as he speaks quietly.
"A-Ying...."
The others all stop as they stare as well with their own hands in fists. The child may not have been theirs, but as an infant they had all interacted with him. He was a bubbly child with a bright hard and an intelligent mind. They adored his company and enjoyed their own play times with him whenever the parents wanted a small break. Seeing him now as a young man crying for the family that was just massacred broke something in them all. Xie Lian's voice quivers as he speaks
"My son....my own child...is hurt. And I can't do anything.....to help him..."
No one says anything.
"I'm ashamed...."
Ling Wen turns to him and raises her hand to his shoulder. While she was never the sentimental type, she found this whole ordeal to be just as difficult to grasp.
"Your highness....while I understand this is hard for you. You've stated before that he somewhat suspects of being watched correct...?"
"Yes..."
"He knows that you two are around and are watching him...."
"...."
"I'm sure that while thus ordeal is painful, I believe he knows that somewhere somehow, someone is still giving him strength to go on."
Xie Lian sniffles slightly and uses his sleeve to rub at his eyes. He takes a breath in and nods as he speaks in a calmer tone.
"Thank you...Ling Wen..."
Hua Cheng comes back just in time and returns to his throne. The sight of his child in tears left him feeling angered. Upset. And guilty. The two people closest to his heart were suffering and in grief and there he was stuck catering to the dead because of a prideful ghoul of a ghost. He looks to Xie Lian and frowns.
'Gege....'
'San Lang.....'
'I—'
'No. Please. If you're going to apologize do not do it. We both can't control what has happened to us. We can't control what is happening to him. I wish we could. I really do. But for now.....we just need to wait....'
'Gege....are you going to be okay....?'
'I don't want to miss anything.....I want him to know that we're always around. Always watching....I want him to understand that he isn't alone....'
Hua Cheng nods his head to Xie Lian as the two begin to fully understand that no matter what they can not leave their positions. They need to remain in their current areas so that they could watch over their son properly.
Mu Qing who was at his bedside the moment he had awakened, finally allows himself to slightly relax. His hand at one moment had grasped onto Feng Xin out of fear for what he was seeing in Xie Lian. His expressions shifted to one of sorrow, then emptiness, then despair, and then agitated. He witnessed him throw a fit of rage as he fought to be let out of his own palace in the heavens. With a thundering echo of his voice repeating in his head.
"I WILL TEAR DOWN THESE PALACE WALLS MYSELF! AND NO ONE WILL STOP ME!"
Feng Xin had reached them from the outside as he and Pei Ming were guarding the doors. He quickly moves Mu Qing aside as he had already made up his mind beforehand that he was not going to get in another mother's way of their child in grief. He learned his lesson the first time with his ex and her child. As Xie Lian stormed out of his palace the other followed from behind with Pei Ming not wanting to put up a fight himself. Lang Qingqiu and Quan Yizhen joined them soon after.
Now here they were sitting together once more in preparation for another outburst. Mu Qing leans over to Feng Xin's shoulder with no attempt of hiding the interaction. He wasn't embarrassed or ashamed. He honestly didn't care about what the others could think. But he was tired for once, and could feel that his own heart was trembling so madly with anxiety. Feng Xin understood his needs far better than anyone else, so he didn't object to his need for comfort either. The moment his head had landed on his shoulder, he shifts for a more comfortable feel as his arm encloses around his waist with his thumb lightly brushing against him in comfort.
Everyone watches once more in silence as the two boys now began to travel after letting out all of their tears. They wait and wait for any other events to transpire when Yin Yu approaches Hua Cheng with two familiar figures. Hua Cheng turns to the two parental figures that had recently departed and gives off an eerie kind of smile.
Jiang Fengmian quickly kneels in shame without a word, while Madam Yu stands there in disbelief.
"We finally meet. Madam."
Immediately her memories are returned of their very first interaction with one another. Her eyes widen as she stares at him with fear. The other ghosts that were lingering about however were more enraged by her presence. Many were hissing. Others growling. Some were even muttering words of torture as punishment. Hua Cheng lifts his hand up without a word. This single action causes the crowd to fall silent.
"Your highness....they're here."
Xie Lian lifts his head and turns to get a look at the two. His eyes fall onto Madam Yu and immediately he can feel his anger threatening to boil up to the surface.
"Madam..."
Madam Yu is now panicked. She never believed in any of the words that were ever told to her before, but now she had no choice but to believe. And it was driving her mad.
"H-How can this be...?!"
"Oh? I made sure to erase your memories of the first incident, and now here we are. While I offer my deepest sympathies over the destruction of your clan, and your deaths. I do not have much to mainly give to you."
Madam Yu doesn't say a word. This time Xie Lian speaks.
"You've humiliated my child over and over again. Belittled him. Treated him as if was just a ruffian out on the streets. As a mother...how could you...?"
Again she says nothing.
"And you dared to slander Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren's names. We entrusted them to look after our son, and they entrusted you to do the same. But you—!"
"With. All. Due. Respect.....! Your highness.....! What would you have me believe when this man here was not showing the same affections to his own son?!"
Jiang Fengmian sighs lightly.
Hua Cheng shrugs his shoulders at him.
"She isn't wrong....you kept running away from your own parental duties for your own actual blood children. And catered more to our child. Maybe you weren't doing it intentionally and was just unaware. However, it doesn't change the fact that you both just hammered in a large wedge in between the two boys."
Xie Lian continues after him.
"You punished him so excessively. And he really believed that he deserved it. It's just unbearable to think that a mother like you would even dare to do that to a child. It was as if you were threatened by his presence! He just wanted a loving home....! He already lost two! Now look...there goes his third....."
The two parents gaze down as the memories of their final battle comes through.
"For now....we won't do anything. But you will sit here and watch with the rest of us. We'll see the end of this ordeal together. But Madam if you dare open your mouth in any disrespect ful manner....then I will handle you. And no one will stop me.
Madam Yu at this point is terrified. She merely nods in agreement and takes a seat beside her husband. The Ghosts all return their attention to the boys as do the gods.
They had thought that they had seen everything.
But nothing could prepare them for the events that would dare to come next.