"Hua Cheng! Crimson Whip! D-d-d-don't do anything rash! The burning of your Paradise Manor was an accident! If you're displeased, we can talk! The heavens can pay you back. His majesty isn't that short on cash. Let go of His Highness, and let's talk." what are they- oh! They're putting on an act. brother didn't know at the time, but he would know soon enough.
"Lord Wind Master, you're mistaken. It actually..." brother tried to explain the real reason why Honger and A-song were at the Xianle palace when Honger and A-song cut him off.
"Who said this was about Paradise Manor?" A-song gave a fearsome glare Qing Xuan's way.
"I haven't even counted the whole incident with Jun Wu setting up a spy under my eyes, so there's nothing to talk about." Honger said with an intimidating presence. I tried to hide my smirk, but Feng Xin and my brother could see it already.
"Alright, stop acting. He only came to the heavens to save me. San Lang had good intentions, so why hide it?" brother spoke up. I glanced back to see Suki and Snake were trying to hide giggles.
"No more acting." Shi Qing Xuan replied as i leaned my head into A-song's shoulder. "I already sent those two exchanges to the communication array. You don't understand; no matter how good the intention, after being passed around, words will always end up becoming negative, so they might as well be negative from the start."
"You get it." Hua Cheng commented. I smiled at him. I saw Feng Xin looking at us like we had just set a shrine on fire.
"Of course! Otherwise how could I, the Lord Wind Master, be so popular in the heavens?" Shi Qing Xuan preached. "General Nan Yang, lower your bow."
looking up to him, Feng Xin still had the bow pulled at almost full strength, holding his breath and not saying a word. Shi Qing Xuan smacked him but Feng Xin didn't flinch. "Put it down, can't you see they're close? Nothing bad's gonna happen."
"Your Highness, the one next to you is a 'Supreme'..." Feng Xin said swapping between brother and i. Qing Xuan saw how Feng Xin was watching us. "... and the other is a step before becoming one."
Qing Xuan saw the tension still growing in the air, and i could even rays my hand when they suddenly rammed themself into Feng Xin's arm! I stood straight, knowing how he has reacted in the past to a woman going after him like that from Feng Ling. Instantly, Feng Xin's face went pale, worse than a ghost by a million fold. He screamed as the string of spiritual arrows dissipated powerlessly like my sword when it shattered. He opened his mouth and a long string of loud curses came out. I was mortified for him.
"WHAT THE FUCK!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!" Qing Xuan had used their chest to ram into his arm. the one holding the arrow to be specific. That blow had thoroughly terrified Feng Xin. Qing Xuan swung their whisk back, elegantly carefree, looking as if they hadn't just done anything inappropriate. jeeze, i need to talk to them about this later, and how to not mortify Feng Xin with their female form.
"I haven't even asked you what YOU are doing. I just said that Crimson Rain Sought Flower came to save His Highness, and you still point at him with your arrow. If you want to fight him so badly, well I won't help you."
"Qing Xuan, you just mortified him. He has a reason for just yelling at you." Feng Xin had already backed away for like a million miles looking like he would never approach them again.
"EXACTLY! DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT EVER AGAIN! EVER! DO YOU HEAR ME!!!" Feng Xin was shrieking to the point i honestly though he would shriek up a lung. I gave a sympathetic face to Feng Xin. Qing Xuan looked back and noticed how he was avoiding them like snakes. Qing Xuan, who was so confident about their beauty, actually looked rather depressed after seeing this.
"Ok, ok, ok. I won't do it again. It's not like you suffered any loss. what's with that reaction?" As if feeling they'd lost face, Qing Xuan changed back to a man and turned around, "Eh? Where's Qianqiu?"
"Um..." I looked at my brother, who had just made a noise. "Is he not in the communication array? or talking to anyone?"
"No?" Qing Xuan answered with an off face. "After he rolled the dice and left we haven't heard a single peep. I asked him multiple times what the correct roll was but he never responded. Before when I talk to Qianqiu he'd always respond really fast, and not just to me but to all other officials regardless of ranking. So weird."
Xie Lian huffed a sigh.
"His Highness Tai Hua left to chase after Qi Rong." i placed my hands on A-song's while they just sat comfortably on my waist.
The other two were taken aback. though i could faintly hear what sounds like running footsteps and loud thumping.
"Qi Rong?"
"Yea." Xie Lian replied, "This place here is Qi Rong's lair. in any case..."
"Does anyone else hear that thumping?" Snake asked. the other listened. and they noticed the thumping.
Feng Xin spoke up. "it must be a lower class ghost."
"No," Honger answered from behind, Brother. "it's bigger. and is not a ghost."
Feng Xin was shocked. "not a-"
A crash came down from the wall. everything began to slow as the rocks and dust cleared. What just smashed it's way through the wall was a creature covered in bumps the size of boulders. The bumps disfigured faces. This was one of Bai Wuxiang's many soldiers created from pure resentment. a mass of nothing but yellowed skin and faces set in a screaming motion. My pupils shrank. I latched onto A-Song, latching my hands onto her. She took hold of my shoulders and shielded me. The creature crashed into the path but didn't fall off. A-song yanked me back behind her. My eyes were locked on the creature that was used to attack New Xianle.
A second figure came through the hole in the wall and fired something dark. On impact, dark flames erupted. setting black flames off across the creature's skin. The figure stood still, in a stance I have seen many times when watching the Feng Xin train with my brother and Mu Qing. The smoke cleared, revealing a young woman with a silver bow in hand. The string was set in a dark, shadowlike flame. The armour she had on was almost exactly like Nan Feng's. Her hair was long and as dark as obsidian, while flowing like downpouring water that regrouped before it could separate. Her eyes were dark in the scleara, while her iris was a bright fuchsia colour. Her skin was as pale as porcelain. Her hair was long, with short bangs hanging off her face. She bared her teeth, as she was ready to fire again if the creature got up from kneeling in pain. I looked past her, and Feng Xin looked like he watched someone shift into one of those monsters.
"A-Ling?" he asked as everything around me began to return to its original pace.
"dad!" Feng Ling shrieked as she lowered her bow and turned to face her father. her hair and skin fading back to their original colour. "um..."
"what- how?" Feng Xin was struggling to understand what just happened to his child as he stepped towards her.
"What just happened?" Xie Lian asked Feng Ling. "how did you turn into a ghost?"
"Uh, I found out something about my abilities," she started. "i found out during my time in New Xianle... that I'm part ghost."
"..." Feng Xin stared at his child, for a while. I knew Feng Xin took a child in. Mu Ching too, but I guess neither one of them said what they learned about themselves while fighting along with me. He lowered his head and put away his bow before walking to his daughter and hugging her. "You could have told me, A-Ling."
Feng Ling hugged him back. I looked at the creature, and it was still silently burning. I walked around A-song and went up to the being. I raised my hand above it and slashed it with my mana. It dispersed and vanished, leaving little to no trace that it was ever there.
"Let's get the rest of Qi Rong's followers taken care of before we leave." i said as i stared at the few ashes left behind as they slowly fell.
Qing Xuan was curious,. "What about the Green Ghost??"
feng Ling stood with her father. I didn't answer Qing Xuan's question as I stood beside the remains, feeling my face grow stiff.
"No, we should leave." Feng Ling said as she held her bow in a tight grip. Feng Xin had his bow on his back. "The white devil may be here."
Qing Xuan was shocked and crossed his arms before asking. "what? Who's the white devil? and what about Qi Rong?"
"The second one is easy to answer," I said as I turned back, trying to school my face. "Qing Rong and his sister are my and Flower's younger cousins."
"Well, ain't that something else." Qing Xuan commented with a smile.
"they are quite something else." Xie Lian agreed.
"I'm not talking about them," Qing Xuan said. "I'm talking about you two! Your Highness, look at you two: the Martial gods of the Southeast and Southwest are both your old buddies, the Martial God of the East is your disciple and old acquaintance, that Night-Touring Green Lantern and his siter are your little cousins, the Crimson Rain Sought Flower is your sworn brother, and I, Lord Wind Master, am your friend. Ain't that something?"
brother and I smiled. Qing Xuan certainly has a breezy character befitting of his title. all gloomy clouds disperse the moment he strikes up a conversation. However, when Honger and Feng Xin heard "the Crimson Rain Sought Flower is your sworn brother", both showed a disagreeing expression. Honger raised his brows, and Feng Xin knitted his. i started snorting for a moment. Feng Ling smirked and tilted her head to look at both her brother and Honger.
"as for the whit devil," i began. Feng Ling's face slipped away from the smile and tilted head motion. "His name is Bai Wuxiang."
Feng Xin, my brother, Qing Xuan, and Honger looked at me with a sharp dose of fear in their eyes.
"the man who caused Yoong Song to bleed to death after she was stabbed." Feng Ling continued. I looked at A-song. I knew she had died. but I didn't know it was because of him. She must have seen the look on my face. She gave me a week's smile. "so, new Xianle and the stars have been aiming to take down the white devil."
"Feng Ling." i spoke in a low voice. I looked at her and kept my expression blank. "The stars and the new Xianle will never face Bai Wuxiang again."
I know Feng Ling wants to become stronger, but not this way. I already lost my home land to him and my people. I will not lose anyone else.
"Ahem!" Snake coughed. "we should take care of this. Snow Geeral, you and Xie Lian should go. You both had an eventful day."
"We can take care of the remaining ghosts." Suki said as she stepped forward. i sighed.
"It won't be good to take too long. Let me deal with this." Feng Xin said. making me turn to him. I just smile. I was about to walk to my brother when I fell off balance.
"A-Mei!" A-song caught me as she called my name. I shook my head, and I stood up with her help.
"Jie Jie, you should head back; you are carrying an unborn child now."
"excuse?!" Feng Ling Shouted.
"WHAT?!" both Feng Xing and Feng Ling turned to Honger with white eyes.
"Uh..." I started. I looked at Qing Xuan, and they were staring at me wide-eyed.
"Yeah, I am pregnant." i said. brother was abut to change the subject, when Honger pulled him close and opened his maple colored umbrella. I felt A-Song wrap her arm around my waist and raise her other hand to do something. I looked to her, then to Honger, before I put two and two together.
"Again with the blood rain?" As soon as I asked aloud, it began to rain. A song conjured an invisible covering for the two of us. Meanwhile, everyone else was soaked in blood. I saw that Qing Xuan had taken cover beneath an outstretched part of the cave. They stared in shock.
Everyone but five individuals was drenched from head to toe by this rain. By the looks of it, Feng Xin and his daughter were now covered in blood and dripping; only their wide, bulging eyes were white, the rest of him red. The pouring rain came out of no where, and left just as quick. soon enough everything was quiet. It took the two some time to recover. Feng Xin wiped at his face, but it was still smeared with red, his attempt useless. Feng Ling was still, looking my way.
"Wha..." Xie Lian was stunned. he didn't see the show the first time did he?
Hua Cheng closed the umbrella and laughed. "How's that for show?"
With those words, Honger was already heading off. I traced a word in A-song's hand. She turned to me with a side glance. she nodded. She let go of me and was heading out after Honger. brother noticed he was leaving and followed close after him. I'll leave him to-
"General Xie..." i turned my head, Feng Ling was standing there, looking at me. "are you really pregnant?"
I smiled with a half-hearted laugh.
"That I am." i smiled, "my, cultivation is unpredictable. Anyway, I have something I need to do after talking to Jun Wu with my brother."
"Just be careful." Feng Xin requested as i began to walk away before spinning back to look at him as i walked away. "and don't over work yourself."
"You know me Xin Xin!"i called back to him as i was making my way out.
"That's why I am telling you this!" he called back with a chuckle. i laughed to myself as i headed to the exit giving a single snort. A-song and Honger left. while my brother was watching them leave.