After promising GuZi he wouldn't be away for long, and witnessing his husband threaten Qi Rong without needing to utter a single word, Xie Lian dragged Hua Cheng away from the shrine and on the road. They could have easily teleported to town, just a simple click of dice, but Xie Lian wanted to have the ghost discharge as much frustration as possible; in those cases, he found that a good, long walk helped a great deal, so he took advantage of the quite extensive trek exactly for that.
As soon as he got him away from Qi Rong, his ghostly husband lost some of the tension that was tightening his whole body. The annoyed expression in his eyes wasn't subsiding as quickly, and his youth form seemed years older than normal, but it was an improvement.
«Are you okay, San Lang?», he asked him, twining their fingers together. The crease in his forehead didn't seem to want to go away, Xie Lian could feel spiritual energy sizzling where their hands were joined. He didn't like seeing Hua Cheng so troubled. Throughout the years, the ghost had been his safe haven, his anchor; to see him as lost as he himself tended to be at times... Xie Lian didn't like it.
It made his heart feel some sort of unease he wasn't able to shrug away.
Was he okay?
Admittedly, walking away from the shrine was something that needed to happen for him to stop boiling with anger. His stubbornness was the only reason he didn't leave sooner, and he was sorry for giving His Highness such a headache, but Qi Rong grated on his nerves too much for him to simply ignore him like he always did.
It was the fact that GuZi was there as well, though he didn't really want to say it out loud. To see that fucking ghost act so caringly towards that child, despite what disgusting and awful deeds he committed in the past towards him... it was annoying, frustrating, and infuriating.
Hong-er had to be tied in a sack and dragged all around town behind a carriage, but that child could be fairly treated?
What bullshit!
He didn't blame GuZi, would never blame a child, but the ghost didn't think he could hate Qi Rong more than he already did. In fact, he could, and he so wanted to slit his throat with E-Ming that someone should congratulate him for the sheer amount of self-imposed control.
Someday, of that Hua Cheng was sure, he would have to face the long-forgotten trauma of his childhood without brushing it off with a cheeky laugh. Maybe he should have already did as much.
«Would you believe me if I tell you I am?», he asked back, for once eyes on the road rather than on his beloved.
«No», Xie Lian sincerely answered. «If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. But allow this god to tell you something».
Stepping a bit closer, so he could hook hand around Hua Cheng's arm, the Crown Prince leaned his head on the ghost's shoulder: «Don't let Qi Rong get to you. You both changed, but my San Lang came a much longer way than Green Lantern. He's not worth your anger».
In fact, few were worth Hua Cheng's anything. His ghost was far too high for anyone to be demanding something from his emotions, no one of those people who belittled him or hated him deserved to have his attention. Mortals, gods, other ghosts, it didn't matter. Hua Cheng was better than them, worked to become better than that.
To let such insulting people receive even a single word from that man they despised... it was more of a gift than anything else.
Xie Lian didn't find himself thinking that kind of things often, so out of place for someone like him, but never once he regretted those trains of thought. He experienced firsthand what was like, to be belittled and hated and pushed away. Hua Cheng managed to pull himself through it without falling to the extent Xie Lian had let his life fall. No one deserved a man like him, sometimes the god put in that "no one" even himself.
Instead of giving him a reply, Hua Cheng turned his head to leave a kiss on Xie Lian's hair, and that was enough.
The town seemed relatively normal, bustling like usual, with people coming and going, running for errands or simply strolling around. Xie Lian often turned to look at his husband, to see if the ghost sensed something amiss, but found his expression to be mostly flat and unchanging. After walking the streets for a while without recognizing any signs of danger, the god was starting to believe the talk of ghosts haunting the place wasn't exactly what was going on, but right then the two doors of a mansion at the end of a large street they were crossing suddenly burst open.
A man was thrown out, unceremoniously, and angry shouts followed behind him.
The pedestrians on the streets immediately rushed over to watch the show, thundering footsteps trampling by in their rush, so Xie Lian waited for the chaos to subside before approaching as well. On the entrance of the mansion, a man looking to be a wealthy merchant was arguing with an old man, probably a doctor judging by his appearance.
With a start, Xie Lian realized it was the merchant the woman talked about, undoubtedly. And he was raging, yelling at the doctor about his wife.
«When I came to diagnose your wife yesterday, she was perfectly fine!», the doctor cried injustice. «Find a cultivator, not a doctor!».
The wealthy merchant, outraged, stood with a hand on his hip and the other pointing accusingly, yelling some more about his son and that fake doctor, threatening to sue said doctor's assets, while the poor man tried to defend himself by holding his medical case in front of him like a shield.
The situation was only a step away from disaster, as the crowd started jeering as well, so Xie Lian patted his husband on the arm as if to say "please, stay put" and raised his hand in the sea of people: «Please, look here! There's a cultivator here, I'm a cultivator!», he exclaimed, trying to let his voice be heard over the loud commotion.
Everyone turned to look at him, puzzled, spared a look at his attire, and made way. Good thing Xie Lian chose to wear the most obvious cultivator robes he had at hand, he wouldn't have wanted his husband to make a scene because people didn't believe his word.
A honor, to be held in such high regards by the ever powerful Crimson Rain, but unnecessary right now.
He walked up to the merchant and smiled politely: «Will you bring me to see the esteemed madame?».
Within the mansion came shrill screaming, no doubt the ladies inside were panicking, so the merchant did what men in desperate plight did better; he dragged Xie Lian in the door to see his wife, while Xie Lian grabbed the doctor on the way in and all but yelled in their communication array for Hua Cheng not to follow.
The last thing that merchant needed was for yet another stranger coming into his house unannounced.
When the men entered the bedchamber, there was blood all over the floor and upon a large flower-curtained bed laid a young woman, her face white as a sheet from severe pain. Her agony was so acute she'd likely be hugging her belly and rolling about, had the ladies-in-waiting not held her down.
It could have shocked a less experience-hardened heart, but Xie Lian didn't even flinch when presented with the scene. However, the moment he walked through the door, he could feel all the hairs on his neck stand.
Turned out, the woman that ran to his shrine was right. That chamber was heavy with the essence of evil, and that essence came from one place: that woman's belly!
Immediately, Xie Lian blocked everyone behind him: «Don't move, there's something in her belly that's not right!», he shouted.
Understandably, the merchant ended up becoming terrified, yelling about her five months pregnant wife being about to give birth, so both the doctor and the ladies spoke up against the ignorance. As a follow up, the merchant raged at the doctor again, the poor woman on the bed was going to faint, and Xie Lian had to shout for everyone to finally shut up.
Then, making everyone jump in surprise, he flipped out E-Ming; luckily for them, Xie Lian had faced enough ghosts to know when a weapon was needed and when it wasn't. Unfortunately for him, he had to borrow the silver scimitar from his husband because Fang Xin was resting in their armory at Paradise Manor. He could only hope that merchant and doctor were oblivious to the stories about Crimson Rain Sought Flower.
The merchant, probably scared for the well-being of his wife, let out a panicked yell, but then he saw E-Ming floating in mid air as Xie Lian dropped his hand and fell into an astonished silence.
The god didn't have as much control over E-Ming as he did over Fang Xin, but the spiritual weapon loved him enough to make it work just as perfectly. The sword hung from above, the tip of the blade facing down and pointing at the swollen belly of the woman. The killing aura of the sword was tremendous, so it didn't take long for the woman's belly to suddenly move; a lump of flesh raised up, jerking left and right, thrashing about until the woman hacked and coughed violently, a stream of black smoke emerging from her mouth.
E-Ming had been waiting, and it immediately struck that black smoke as soon as it came out. The woman let out a long wail, calling for her son, and passed out on the spot.
Clearing his throat, Xie Lian called back the scimitar and sheathed it, then turned to the doctor: «It's fine now».
His eyes were wide, mouth hanging open, and the god had to wave his hand in front of his face a couple of times before he hesitantly came back to earth and approached. After the doctor felt the woman's pulse, his voice trembled with trepidation, and announced the merchant's son was gone.
Of course, the merchant immediately roared in his shock, disbelieved for the miscarriage, but Xie Lian shook his head: «The madame didn't miscarry, the baby is gone. Gone, do you understand?».
«What's the difference?».
Xie Lian had to take a deep breath before explaining that whole mess to the man: «Miscarriage is miscarriage. Gone means: there was indeed a child in madame's belly at first, but now that child has disappeared».
Sure enough, the abdomen of that woman was swollen at first and there was no sign of external injury, yet it had shriveled down, looking exceedingly unnatural. Xie Lian didn't pressure the merchant in his reactions, understanding it must be quite a shock for a soon-to-be father to learn his son didn't exist anymore, but he did take his time to explain that the one blowing up his wife's belly was the cloud of black smoke.
After the doctor made sure the woman was only passed out and there weren't any life-threatening signs, they left the chamber to allow her some privacy. Xie Lian was neither a doctor or her husband, so he was the first to exit, feeling his skin crawl in embarrassment; despite his willingness to help, some situations made him feel too out of place. A pregnant woman in her bed, wearing only the strictly necessary layer of clothing, was one of those.
Even if he'd seen worse. Far, far worse.
«Sir cultivator, how should I address you?», the merchant asked, still shaken. «Which temple did you come from?».
«No need for the "sir", and the name is Xie», the god responded, waving a hand. To answer the second question, at first he wanted to say he was from PuQi Shrine, if only not to fight the information the woman from that morning gathered in order to find him, but when the words came to his lips, what he said was actually the name of Qiandeng Temple.
And there goes the effort to keep the continuity of things.
The wealthy merchant had no idea what Qiandeng Temple was of where it was located, so Xie Lian simply nodded at him guessing it should be far – and how far it was, right in the heart of the ghost realm – instead of trying to pull some sort of explanation out of nowhere.
After some more courtesy greetings, the merchant finally came to the point, voice filled with horror: «Daozhang, what was that monster? What my wife nurtured in her belly, had it always been that... thing? That cloud of black smoke?!».
With the sudden subject change, Xie Lian also turned serious: «It might not have always been that way», he answered, stroking his chin with two fingers. «Didn't you say that madame was fine, when the doctor came yesterday? Her pulse was alright then, but messed up today».
Whatever happened to the baby, it surely took place the night before, and it wasn't something that was already present, something he made sure to say out loud for the man: «Think, did madame do anything last night? Did anything strange happen?», he added, in a questioning tone.
«Nothing happened», the merchant shook his head, distressed. «My wife never left the house. Ever since she paid her respects to the Palace of Ju Yang and received this child, we built a small shrine at home for her to pray and burn incense without leaving».
Xie Lian almost chocked on air upon hearing that, but managed to keep his composure at the last second; if Feng Xin knew someone worshipped him like that, it'd really be a riot and nothing else.
"Or maybe he knows, and that's why he's always pissed".
"For the love of Jun Wu, don't—this is a serious situation!".
Thank goodness for the self-control Xie Lian managed to perform, because he was not about to start laughing right in front of a grieving man. Of course Hua Cheng was listening to that conversation, the god didn't miss the silver fluttering of a wraith butterfly perched on the windowsill. But that, however funny, wasn't appropriate.
So, keeping at bay the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, he kept his composure: «Did she have any strange dreams?».
«Yes!», the merchant blinked, taken aback by the godly premonition. «She dreamt of a small child playing with her, calling her "mom". She woke up after feeling something kicking her belly, and told me that the child came to greet her».
Xie Lian didn't need much more information to figure it out: «It's that child that's problematic», he said, firmly. He also asked the merchant some more questions about the child in his wife's dream, but the only answer was a rather generic one. Still, Xie Lian hummed, and moved on to some more questions, demanding absolute honesty: «Are there any conflicts between wives fighting for favor? Had this madame ever aborted a child?».
Asking about conflicts was to see whether it was a curse that came from mad jealousy, rather than a rogue ghost terrorizing the poor woman, while asking about abortion was because, if the child was aborted for questionable reasons, there may be grudges left behind in the mother's body.
Thankfully, the merchant admitted to everything without making up excuses, and everything was spot on. Not only did he have a number of wives bickering nonstop every day, the madame's servant girl reported that her mistress had once been pregnant, and aborted the child when a flawed diagnosis declared the baby a girl rather than a boy.
After listening to all that, Xie Lian could feel a splitting headache coming on.
«Daozhang, could this be the revenge of that unborn girl?».
«That's a possibility», Xie Lian said. «But the madame couldn't tell how old the child was in her dream, and whether it was a boy or a girl». Instead of settling on resentful energy left behind in the mother's body, the god was leaning towards an actual ghost problem. The black smoke didn't seem like the byproduct of a curse, at least not one he was aware of, and... well, Xie Lian had never heard of a curse able to completely devour un unborn child.
When he mentioned to the merchant that his son had been probably devoured, he shuddered and started panicking once more, only then bringing up the issue of another pregnant woman in that household. Xie Lian wanted to bang his head on the nearest flat surface.
«Calm down, and let me ask another question», he raised his hand. «Does the madame remember where she met the child in her dream?».
The merchant only managed to tell him it was a large mansion before spiraling into his panic again, crying the misery of having lost a son he was expecting after forty years. The Crown Prince had to calm him down again to stop the yelling, and he knew he succeeded when the merchant rubbed his hands together in a joyous manner and asked about compensation.
Xie Lian declined: «I don't need compensation, but I do have some requests», he said. He could have asked his husband for the same thing, and it would have probably been far less embarrassing for everyone involved, but Hua Cheng needed to investigate the ghost, which was easier said than done; his husband needed to make some discoveries, but he also had to avoid getting in Xie Lian's way as he tried to help the merchant's family.
Even for someone as skilled as Hua Cheng, it wasn't exactly an easy feat.
«Anything, daozhang, anything!».
«Good», Xie Lian nodded. «First, find me a set of casual women's clothing, loose enough that a man can wear it. Also, I will need a lock of hair from the expecting mistress for drawing spells».
If someone had told Xie Lian that, during his third ascension, he would be dressing up a woman not just once, but twice, he would probably never believe it. But something had to be done, and that was the only safe way to ensure the ghost from changing its target.
«Second, advise your expecting mistress to sleep in a different chamber. If she should hear the voice of a child calling her "mom", tell her not to answer, best if she doesn't even open her mouth. Just remind her repeatedly».
The merchant acknowledged the instruction, so Xie Lian took out a protection charm blessed by PuQi Shrine and passed it both hands: «Third, take this protection charm and yell "Your Highness the Crown Prince, please protect me", so this whole affair can be marked under the title of my shrine».
After that, he sent everyone away.
"Did you make any progress, San Lang?".
"The ghost is not here, gege. It will probably show up tonight".
"That's what I thought... the black smoke wasn't the ghost itself, but a product of its presence. It reminds me of the smoke Xuan Ji used back at Mount YuJun, even if it's not the same".
It was another confirmation of the fact that they were dealing with a ghost, if anything. With a sigh, he put E-Ming behind his back and mentally prepared for what was going to be a long, long night.
Xie Lian changed into women's clothes as soon as the evening merged into a deeper night. He was no stranger to crossdressing by now, but it was still his first time pretending to be a pregnant woman; while putting just enough make up on to conceal the fact that he was a man, he thought about ways to make the act seem more believable. After some pondering, he settled on the easiest solution and stuffed a pillow under his clothes, shuddering at the thought of his husband seeing him like that. He didn't need that distraction at the moment.
Shifting his mind away from those thoughts, Xie Lian took the lock of hair from the expecting mistress and hid it in the pillow, the laid down on the bed. Calm and composed, breath slowing down, the god didn't take long to fall deeply asleep.
An unknown amount of time later, Xie Lian opened his eyes and found himself in an exquisite pavilion, rather that the bedchamber of the wealthy merchant's mistress.
His first reaction was to check if E-Ming was still next to him, and to his relief it was. After all, E-Ming was a tremendously powerful spiritual weapon, and knowing its behavior with Xie Lian... it would have destroyed itself before leaving his person.
After, the god slowly sat up, feeling the bottom of his palms to be sticky. It was a feeling awfully familiar to what he had to grow used to during the war, so when he raised his hands to look, Xie Lian wasn't surprised upon finding himself lying on a bed that was covered by large pools of fresh, vividly red blood.
Used to those strange sights, and no less experienced with bloody scenarios, he got off the bed, walked a couple steps, and looked down as the pillow fell off his person. When it fell the second time, Xie Lian puffed out a breath and started holding it up with both hands as he looked around.
Having grown up in a palace, and now living in a mansion that rivaled every single palace he'd ever seen in his life, Xie Lian was influenced by the things he saw and heard, unconsciously absorbing his surroundings.
When it came to beauty, Xie Lian had his own set of judgment. The little establishment was exquisite for him, but it was filled with an air of fragrant enticement, so it had to be a place of entertainment. Not only that, the architecture style was fairly old compared to the style of the day, like a building from hundreds of years before.
Because of that, it was unlikely to be the haunting of the fetus spirit aborted by that wealthy merchant. When evil spirits created illusion, they could only use what they knew. Obviously, a centuries-old establishment could only come from a spirits equally as old.
After having walked around once and found no one, unless he would want to count a sense of uneasy familiarity with the style of that building, Xie Lian returned to the room he was in before.
It was a woman's bedchamber. A chiffonier was against one wall, with drawers that could be pulled out; Xie Lian looked inside to find baby clothes, dolls, and rattling drums. Both a first sight and after being carefully checked, the items were all brand-new, indicating the lady of that room loved and cared for those objects. Meaning that, to the child, the woman was full of love and affection.
Xie Lian rummaged around some more, and was suddenly taken aback.
In those baby clothes, neatly hidden away, there was a protection charm. A protection charm that was his!.
Flabbergasted, the god stared at it for a good while, and checked it three times to make sure it wasn't some sort of joke or his mistake. It wasn't, that protection charm was very much his. And it wasn't a simple protection charm he went up the mountains to pick herbs for, sewed, then tied with a red thread by his own hands.
No, it was a protection charm that, at the peak of the prominence of the Crown Prince of XianLe, almost everyone in the country owned. The material and design were intricately elegant, and it was all too obvious where it had come from, who had blessed it.
Xie Lian hadn't seen one of those charms in centuries. He believed them to be all forgotten, save for the memory that resided in just a handful of people. Could it be that the lady owner of the establishment was once his worshipper? That the spirit was one of a child that lived eight hundred years ago?
It made sense, in a way, and it could also explain why that architecture style looked familiar to Xie Lian.
Just then, in the dead silence, Xie Lian suddenly heard a series of high pitched, creepy sniggles belonging to a baby. Extremely abrupt, it echoed everywhere, making its whereabouts totally obscure. The god didn't move or react, and even if his mind raced for a bit, he put his thoughts to rest.
At first he thought the voice sounded familiar, that he had heard it at Mount YuJun while in the marriage sedan, but he snapped out of it relatively quickly; it was a similar voice, yes, but babies didn't really show that much difference when it came to high-pitched babbling and laughing. Plus, the voice on Mount YuJun was confirmed to have been something caused by Xuan Ji, that all the brides heard during the ride.
As soon as he stopped thinking too much about the voice, the laughter of that child spirit came to an abrupt stop, and it called out for a mom. That call came from somewhere else, but Xie Lian still couldn't figure out where. He stood there, unspeaking and holding his breath, ears intent.
After some silence, the voice of the child called out again, and Xie Lian finally figured it out; the voice came from his fake belly.
Looking down, he smacked the unnaturally heavy pillow soundly, and a lump of something came tumbling out of his clothes.
It was seemingly a pale white little child, spewing something out of its mouth before scrambling away into the darkness and disappearing. Xie Lian rushed up to see, and the things it had spewed out were some lumps of thread and a lock of black hair.
That meant the illusionment spell worked. That little ghost had wanted to devour Xie Lian's child the way it did that pregnant woman's, but instead it devoured the cotton stuffed into his robes.
Soon after, Xie Lian heard that thing sharply cry again, but he still held back, never once opening his mouth.
He determined that the child spirit was a fetus spirit, and the chamber he was in could either be the mother's room or where they once lived. Evil spirits took the form and the age of when they died, yet it had mostly shown itself as a cloud of smoke of a blurry shadow, which meant that the spirit itself didn't know what it should look like.
Also, the baby clothes in the drawers hadn't been worn yet, and the large pool of blood on the bed was another giveaway. Xie Lian deduced that the lady must have miscarried, but her unborn child already had shape, and retained its own conscious. After becoming a fetus spirit, it wanted to return to its mother's belly, but ended up knocking on the door of the wealthy merchant's madame.
When it called out mom in the woman's dream, it was the wrong move for her to open her mouth and respond. The bond between mother and child was special, the acknowledgment a form of permission. When she opened her mouth, she gave that evil thing the chance to enter, so the little ghost devoured the fetus that was originally there, a cuckoo in the nest.
Xie Lian was a man, but he wasn't very sure of how safe it was to open his mouth, because the child spirit could still take the chance to sneak into his body and cause damage. Just in case, he'd best keep his mouth shut.
Thus, lips tightly sealed and gripping E-Ming in hand, the god searched for traces of that child. He possessed an exceedingly strong instinct when it came to danger, something that was refined through thousands of battles; as long as he had a hunch where it was, he'd thrust his sword and hit the mark nine times out of ten.
Although in the illusion created by that child spirit Xie Lian's strikes were weakened, after getting struck multiple times by none other than E-Ming, it was probably feeling rather choked-up too.
After a while, Xie Lian suddenly felt a sharp pain on the bottom of his foot. It seemed he had stepped on something extremely sharp, and he paused slightly. The sword vibrated in his hand, as if sensing the hurt and worrying just as much as its owner, but it wasn't time for that.
That child spirit saw him falling for its trap and let out short spurts of sly cackles, voice tended but more like a malicious grown man, the contrast sharply distinct and making one's blood run cold. However, Xie Lian's face never even twitched, and he didn't stop in his step. Such a pain was too little for him to consider it.
The god flicked his hand and struck out the sword again, jabbing right on target.
The spirit yelled in pain and hid far away, a breather that Xie Lian took advantage of to take a look down under his boot; turned out, he stepped on a small, thin needle that stood straight up, obviously placed on purpose to make the god cry out in pain. However, Xie Lian was too good at tolerating physical pain. Nevermind a needle, if his leg was clamped by a large snare he wouldn't utter a sound if the situation called for it.
That tiny needle was deeply ingrained in his foot and Xie Lian wanted to pull it out, but he was afraid the child spirit could take the chance to escape and go harm others, so he instead decided to chase after it with the needle still stuck in his foot. At first it was a bother, but soon enough he stopped feeling the pain and ran like the wind.
There was no sight of that child spirit anywhere in the building, a notion baffling enough to make Xie Lian wonder if he really scared it that much, but before he could settle on that thought a window opened by itself.
Immediately, Xie Lian rushed over, but was shocked by what he saw. Outside the window there was no sight of streets, mountains, or pedestrian; only a deep, dark, bottomless lake. On the other side was a house, and in that house sat a small child and a young man, sitting at a table and eating. GuZi and – heavens help the god – Qi Rong, apparently unaware that just above their heads was a thick, black swirl of cackling smoke.
The spirit called out again, yelling like crazy, and Xie Lian's heart dropped for a moment. His hands gripped the windowsill, about to call and warn them, but then he remembered not to open his mouth and he forced his voice back down.
Although... Qi Rong was a ghost. Despite being in the body of a human, he didn't exactly lose his spiritual energy and spiritual cognition. If that wasn't an illusion, if GuZi and Qi Rong were really pulled in, wouldn't he have noticed? Qi Rong wouldn't have risked Xie Lian's protection by deliberately putting the god in danger, not as long as he needed it to run from Lang QianQiu.
But, on the same note, if they were pulled in as part of the child spirit's illusion, maybe they had no idea what was happening. It took an incredibly powerful entity to become aware of having been pulled into an illusion, when both mind and body were outside it, and Qi Rong couldn't quite cut it.
Xie Lian wanted to throw a vase or something else as a warning, but he couldn't find anything. Tables and chairs wouldn't fit through the window, he couldn't break them to pieces in fear of warning the spirit of his intentions, and there was still a lake between the two buildings.
Did he have to swim over?
Before he could make a decision, a tired looking GuZi yawned. The cloud of black smoke gathered ad looked as if it was about to sneak into his mouth, and Xie Lian had no more time to think. The defenses of children's bodies were very weak, even without permission that thing could intrude. Whether a ghost was there or not didn't matter, Qi Rong couldn't do anything to stop an intrusion like that without seeing it.
In a split second decision, Xie Lian shouted: «Close your mouth!», and the next second, a cloud of black smoke exploded in his face.
He didn't see the reaction of those two, too focused on trying to fight the spirit, but even though he closed his mouth soon after shouting, a stream of cold air was already going down his throat. That black smoke entered his stomach, his innards numb as if everything would be frozen in a second.
Xie Lian gritted his teeth, hastily tore apart a few protection charms to take out herbs and charmed paper, and chewed them with force before swallowing. It didn't take long before his throat itched, and the black smoke was retched out.
Immediately, Xie Lian covered his mouth with his sleeve, choking with tears. His mind was rapidly trying to think of a way to counter it, the smoke swirling and clinging to him relentlessly. He could have called for his husband, but everything was happening far too quickly for him to have enough clarity of mind, so he did the next best thing.
He pressed onto the windowsill, raised himself up, and jumped into the lake.
The god held his breath, crossed his legs and arms to assume a meditating position to sink to the bottom of that freezing lake. Once his heartbeat returned normal, heart not anymore pounding in his chest as if wanting out, he looked up and could somewhat make out that black fog swirling above, sealing the surface of the water.
Successfully ensuring a way to be sucked in once Xie Lian emerged to take a deep breath.
Now there was a problem, though. Xie Lian jumped into the water to give himself some time to think, but he couldn't hold his breath forever. God or not, if he was to start inhaling water into his lungs, he wouldn't exactly find the experience to be pleasant.
Being buried deep underground was different from sitting at the bottom of a tremendously cold lake. In that coffin the air was thin, stagnant, but trying to pay for his guilt didn't include (unreachable) death by suffocation.
Under a lake, well... it was water. There was no oxygen around him, nothing to breathe in for his lungs to expand. And he hated it.
Because of that, he did end up panicking a bit and forgot he could just call Hua Cheng and sort things out with his help. Instead, his mind started jumping through the hoops and the only idea that came to him was to swallow the spirit, swallow E-Ming right after using the same trick of when he performed as a busker, and suffer the very painful consequences of it.
His lungs were screaming for air now, begging to be filled, so Xie Lian made up his mind. However, a deep sound of sloshing water came from a above, and vivid crimson red appeared before his eyes. Thick, winding raven black locks filled his vision, splashes and air bubbles swirling furiously around, and then Xie Lian felt a pair of strong arms on his body.
One hand circled around his waist, the other grasped his chin. In the next second, something cold and soft covered his lips.
The hand around his waist held him tighter, their bodies pressed close together. Xie Lian's lips were securely sealed, the kiss deepening as a stream of gentle, chilled air slowly passed through and filled his aching lungs.
Immediately, his mind started clearing up. With air keeping him well and alive, and with the knowledge that Hua Cheng was finally there, the panic of suddenly finding himself helpless subsided until it disappeared. As soon as his body lost the frantic tension he didn't even realize took a hold of him, Hua Cheng opened his eyes; to be staring into those dark eyes at such a close distance, Xie Lian struggled to keep his composure and was sure the ghost would have laughed weren't he busy passing him air.
With his arm firmly around Xie Lian's waist, the Ghost King swam towards the surface, and it didn't take long before the two broke through.
Despite the waters being so freezing his fingers were surely turning a sickly shade of blue, Xie Lian's body was burning up. The moment they floated to the top, that cloud of black smoke locked onto them and flashed forward. In response, Hua Cheng pulled him back into an even tighter kiss with a hand behind his head, lips pressed against each other and numb from the ongoing kiss.
Before his emotions could betray him, because that kiss was far more mischievous that the previous one, thousands of silver butterflies broke through the water next to them, a thick rain that shot out from the surface like bullets. Accompanied by a sharp thrill, their wings reflected a cold glare, sharp like blades or even more than that. Within moments, that child spirit screamed from the slashing, the smoke dispersed in an attempt to flee in all directions; however, the web of butterflies enveloped from earth to heavens, sealing it within, stopping it from breaking through.
Hua Cheng's eyes never lifted even once, and with Xie Lian in his embrace they once again dove into the waters. There, they finally separated, enough for the ghost to free a hand and toss out dice. Moments after, the two broke through the water surface again, and found themselves in a very different place, not far away from the shore. There were lights and voices of crowd, seemingly close yet far away. Behind them, that troop of butterflies shot into the sky with the cloud of smoke in their captivity, leaving behind a trail of long wails from the spirit.
The two of them climber ashore, sitting heavily onto the ground, and Xie Lian took what was maybe the longest, deeper breath of fresh air of his entire existence. Even better than the day he clawed his way out of the coffin.
«Gege...? Are you okay?».
Worried, Hua Cheng stared at His Highness taking deep breath after deep breath, one hand gripping the handle of E-Ming and the other massaging his throat and stomach with mindless movements. That smoke cloud surely made its way into Xie Lian's body, at some point, hence why his beloved looked so faintly distressed, which only made Hua Cheng even angrier at the thing.
But, since Xie Lian seemed unhurt from that, he couldn't start fussing over him for no reason. Instead, he let him calm down without pressuring some sort of reaction, and patiently waited for him to answer.
Even if the silent wait was excruciating.
From the hair on his head to all over his body, Xie Lian's entire person was dripping with water. His lips were swollen, his eyes blank, and his clothes were still the feminine ones he borrowed from that merchant. On top of that, a spirit almost nested inside his body, he had to chew down paper and herbs, and E-Ming was still a heavy reminder of the reckless solution he'd find to deal with the problem because he panicked.
He stammered out some "I"s, mumbling in a disoriented daze, and then randomly blurted out: «I'm hungry».
Hearing that, Hua Cheng was taken aback. Then, far too dumbfounded by that unexpected reply, he muttered out a "what the fuck" loud enough for the sound to finally make its way through Xie Lian's dazed state, helping him snap out of it.
That lightened the mood considerably, but when Xie Lian got up with Hua Cheng's help and tried to walk, his foot twisted and he fell back onto the ground. Looking back, there was a trail of blood behind him, and if the ghost could pale even more than his cadaveric white complexion, he would have. Immediately, he seized his ankle: «What's wrong!?», he asked, voice alarmed.
Still not completely back to himself, Xie Lian tried to pull his leg back and spluttered a rapid fire of "nothing"s one after the other: «It doesn't hurt at all, it's fine!», he shrieked. He didn't want Hua Cheng to panic as well, one of them was enough of a problem!
«How can it not hurt!?».
«There's no need!».
«Xie Lian...!?».
The god tried to scamper away, but Hua Cheng held onto him, stopping the god from crawling away. It was complete pandemonium, and it finally alerted everyone else on shore. A roaring crowd, chattering and blabbering, a large group of weirdos all came to surround them, clamoring and yelling until they finally realized the intruders were their lord and his husband.
The crowd of ghosts hollered in unison, grating on Hua Cheng's nerves, until he shouted at them to scram.
Of course, the crowd of ghosts hastily scrammed, even if they still watched from afar.
Angry, more at himself for not having noticed his beloved being hurt than at that chattering crowd of pesky ghosts for being curious, he raised to his feet once more, then gently bent down to sweep Xie Lian up into his carry.
A bit embarrassed, Xie Lian tried to hide himself as best as he could while in his husband's arms. He was still dressed in women's clothing, and could only be grateful that the pillow was no longer stuffed in his belly. Otherwise it'd paint a terrifying picture. The good thing was, that frightful thought finally brought his mind completely back, and he realized how much of a fool he made of himself.
«San Lang, I'm sorry», he sighed, leaning a bit more against his chest. «I sort of lost it just now, how embarrassing».
«Nothing of sort», Hua Cheng hastily replied. His Xie Lian had the tendency of disregarding self-preservation when it came to helping people out. The same thing applied both to his body and his mental state, unfortunately. The god was probably way more stressed out and traumatized by the spirit taking hold of his insides than he himself wanted to realize and that, paired with the shock of being trapped underwater and unable to breathe, caused his mind to go all over the place.
Hua Cheng had seen it happen before. He also wished to never see him in such a frantic state of disarray again.
But Xie Lian was too stubborn for his own good, and it ended up scaring Hua Cheng as well.
He didn't need to feel ashamed, neither the ghost thought his to be an overreaction. That much he told him out loud, not missing the breath of relief that crossed his chest and face.
During their exchange, the two had already arrived before the magnificent building that was Paradise Manor. Hua Cheng entered, carrying him in his arms, and mounted that black jaded divan. While Xie Lian sat on the divan, the ghost half-knelt below; holding the god's injured foot, he checked the tiny puncture dyed by blood underneath, and made a face.
He hated that. Hated to see the blood of his beloved staining the sole of his boot, dripping out from a wound that wasn't one left by his nails during passionate lovemaking.
Swiftly, Hua Cheng removed his boot and sock with a steady hand, before his palm pressed against Xie Lian's injury: «This might hurt a bit», he warned, a slight hitch in his voice. «Cry out if it does».
«I don't-».
Before he finished his sentence, Hua Cheng squeezed with a bit of force; pain crawled up his leg, burning, and he couldn't help but shrink back for a second. Although his husband's force was already extremely controlled and this little bit of pain was nothing for the god, for some reason Xie Lian seemed unable to hide away his pain.
Maybe because Hua Cheng told him beforehand, maybe he tried too hard to hold back and it backfired on him. It wasn't definitely the first time he had a similar reaction, anyway.
Sensing Xie Lian shrinking back, the Ghost King held his ankle tighter and reassured him in the that soft voice the prince always loved to hear from his lips. So different from the usual snarky or disinterested tone he spoke to anyone else with, a difference between day and night. It was a softness only for him, and no one else.
Xie Lian shook his head, glad to have such a wonderful husband by his side. Hua Cheng's hands had become even gentler, his hand operating speedily, and when he raised it again that tiny needle was already extracted.
Focusing his eyes on the small object, the Crown Prince noticed the tip of that needle was glistening with vicious poison, but he didn't have much time to analyze it. Hua Cheng closed his five fingers and crushed it easily in a small waft of black gas, dissipating into thin air.
«What heavy air of grudge», Xie Lian commented soberly, with a frown. «A typical fetus spirit shouldn't have a spiritual power this strong».
Hua Cheng stood up, now less alarmed, and sat on the divan beside his husband: «You're right. This fetus spirit must not be from a normal miscarriage», he nodded, leaning against the backrest.
As if on cue, Yin Yu entered the room right that moment; he presented a clay pot with both his hands, and handed it to Hua Cheng with an annoyed expression scrunching his features. Hua Cheng took the pot with one hand and glanced at it, then turned around to pass it to Xie Lian. He hadn't yet reached over when the muffled sound of a child crying could be heard from within.
The spirit was madly knocking about, making the clay pot shake and unable to remain standing up, so the god took it with caution. As soon as he peeled up a small corner of the seal to peek in, a sense of dreadful cold rushed up his spine.
Inside the pot laid a puddle of something like a fetus. Although both arms and legs were grown out, they were weak and powerless, and the head remained obscured in the shadows. All in all, it was o more than a lump of twisted organs.
Leave it to his husband and Yin Yu to catch the spirit in its true form!
«I see», Xie Lian said, resealing the pot. It wasn't so difficult to add everything together, really. He once heard there were people who would search for pregnant women who hadn't yet reached term. They would cruelly cut the children from the women's wombs, transforming the fetuses into little demons to perform spells and urge them to do harm. It was either to protect the caster, or for protection of a dwelling and luck.
By the sight of it, the fetus spirit was no doubt the product of such an evil spell.
Xie Lian chuckled: «San Lang caught it so effortlessly, much more so than if I was to try», he said, well knowing it was the simple and pure truth.
It was an offhand comment, but Hua Cheng couldn't help his remark: «And if I didn't catch it, how did you plan on doing it? Eat it into your stomach, then swallow E-Ming too?».
The silence he received in response told him he hit it right on the mark.
The Ghost King let out a heavy sigh, and gathered Xie Lian into his arms. Sometimes, he really couldn't stand his reckless behavior. He accepted everything he wanted to do, because Xie Lian didn't need someone telling him what to do and what not to do, but his heart really felt it at times.
He seemed to always know how to endanger himself the most, and it was maddening. Hua Cheng couldn't help but get angry at that, but mostly angry at himself for not being able to wrench his beloved away from that dangerous behavior.
He still remembered, vivid as day, how Xie Lian stabbed himself over and over when under the effect of the Land of the Tender. Still remembered how many times he willingly walked into trouble, picked up dangerous creatures only to end up bitten or clawed. Xie Lian was the smartest, gentlest person he knew, but there were days in which Hua Cheng didn't know if his husband was purposely throwing himself into deadly situations or if his bad luck was still haunting him.
So he hugged him, uncaring of the water still drenching both of them and the divan as well. Fabric could be dried, furniture could be changed. Hell, Paradise Manor could burn to the ground and be rebuilt in less than a day.
Xie Lian wasn't replaceable.
«One of these days you're going to kill me», he sighed, mostly into his damp hair given the fact he pressed Xie Lian's head in the crook of his neck. With how his hand was positioned, right under Xie Lian's nape, he could feel the cold chain of the ring under his fingers. Despite everything, he still wouldn't trust any other place for his ashes that wasn't his beloved's person.
Lost in the warmth of that – maybe too wet – embrace, Xie Lian suddenly felt his stomach shrink, and without thinking said: «I'm a little hungry».
Hua Cheng pulled away from the hug and looked at him, with that bizarre frown of his that looked both confused and extremely tender. It was only after the words had left his lips that Xie Lian realized he had repeated the same thing he said in his frenzy, before. Too embarrassed to see the reaction on his husband's face, the god turned his head: «This time it's true».
A moment later, Hua Cheng laughed out loud, and the gloomy clouds around their heads finally dispersed. It was so refreshing, to hear that deep, rumbling laugh, to feel it under the palms splayed on the ghost's chest. It was a sound Xie Lian could never get tired of.
The first time he heard Hua Cheng laugh, his heart skipped a beat and then started pounding so hard Xie Lian genuinely thought he was having a heart attack of some sort. The first time he heard him laugh after becoming a couple, his heart wanted to jump away from his chest and dance a gig on the table.
The first time he heard Hua Cheng laugh after their marriage, Xie Lian's heart was singing with so much joy he couldn't keep in tears of bliss.
«Alright».
Hua Cheng got up from the divan and reached out for Xie Lian's hand, smiling when he took it: «Do you want to take a bath, before?».
His Highness seemed to think about it, but the shook his head and suggested they could have a long, warm bath after a good meal. It sounded right to Hua Cheng, so the two merely got changed – not only they were dripping with freezing water, Xie Lian was still wearing a conspicuous women's attire – before setting out. In all honesty, the ghost wanted to set out a feast at Paradise Manor, but Xie Lian was eager to have a walk outside and away from that wailing fetus spirit.
So, both clad in red – Hua Cheng in a far more ornate attire than his husband – they left the manor hand in hand.
The main street of Ghost City was bustling as always, and on either side of the street were numerous stalls selling exotic foods. Demons and ghosts all greeted Hua Cheng and Xie Lian with smiles, fighting each other to welcome them into their abode, screams of "granduncle!" and "Hua Chengzhu!" rising from everywhere around.
It was, strangely enough, the best home Xie Lian could have ever hoped to have.
He still remember the first time he and Hua Cheng walked shoulder to shoulder among the stalls and shops. The ghosts were so excited to have such a guest, they kept piling mountain and mountains of food all around Xie Lian, so much he was having trouble seeing all of it, still thanking them endlessly. He also remembered the way Hua Cheng sat in front of him, hand supporting his cheek, a big and adoring smile lighting up his face.
Truly a memorable day, that one.
«Come on», Xie Lian smiled brightly, leaning onto his husband. «I know the perfect place for our dinner».