When Xie Lian didn't receive any message through the communication array he shared with He Xuan, his worries eased a little bit. It meant that a fight hadn't taken place, and that the ghost and the god either were still talking or separated with no animosity between them.
It didn't mean that the flurry of discordant emotions within his chest had calmed down, but he at least had one less problem to care about.
Now, with BanYue and Pei Su closely tailing him, he could finally think about his husband and how to quicken the process of him coming back to normal. The poisonous scorpion-snakes provided more than enough protection against low-level ghosts and monsters, and Pei Su was still skilled in the art of the sword, albeit a mortal.
A relief, really, being with someone that wouldn't try to kill anything that moved. Pei Ming was not an unpleasant company, but he could be a bit rash, like martial gods were. To reel it in as much as Xie Lian already did was nothing short than a miracle.
«Pei Su, you're awfully quiet back there», Xie Lian pointed out at some point.
Before their encounter with He Xuan, the former heavenly official kept exchanging some muttered chats with BanYue, never keeping entirely silent. In fact, it seemed he was comfortable enough to have those light conversations even in the midst of such a big crisis.
Caught red-handed, Pei Su opened and closed his mouth a few times before sighing, a frown deepening the shadows on his sharp face: «General Hua, I can't help but wonder how you can have a friendly relation with Black Water», he admitted, unable to hide anything from the man who once took care of his – relatively quiet and brief – happiness.
He thought he had accepted it, knowing BanYue and knowing the ties that ran between Xie Lian and many other ghosts, but it was rather difficult.
Maybe because he still vaguely remembered the bizarre glint of sadness in the eyes of Pei Ming, the ancestor who took him under his wing, whenever the Devastation was mentioned in this or that random conversation.
«You... ah, forget it, I understand». The scolding died on Xie Lian's lips before seeing the light. He could not change the course of a river by moving one stone, after all.
It took time and effort.
While Pei Su had done his fair share of despicable mistakes, changing the tides of one's mind was far from easy. A heavenly official, even the most corrupted one, was a stranger to the intricate threads weaving a story of ghosts and death. Incomprehensible was the nature of those who lived no longer, to those whose life was bright and splendid.
Xie Lian curved his lips in a sad smile, squeezing Hua Cheng's hand for comfort: «Don't think about it too much. There's not much I can say to ease your thoughts on this matter».
He Xuan had done what he had to do. The heavens knew of it. There was no honey to be fed before a bitter medicine when it came to him and his actions, and there would be no sugar following it. Xie Lian was well aware that his closeness with the deep darkness of that world was puzzling to others.
Better to leave it at that.
No one else talked after that, silence blanketing them if not for the occasional sound coming from fighting creatures. Their pace soon brought them to a giant, peculiar building on the side of the road. Looking at it from afar, it was more impressive than all the other houses around, an awe-inspiring presence despite collapsed eaves and enclosures.
Xie Lian furrowed his brows, and stopped in his steps: «What is this place?».
Hua Cheng only gave it a glance: «WuYong's divine temple».
At Pei Su's question about how he could possibly know that, the ghost simply nodded towards a row of giant characters engraved on the stone beam before the gates of the building. Although worn from the ages and scratched up, they were still considerably clear.
Since the writing was impossible to understand for his beloved and the rest of their small group, being an a language with characters that changed throughout the ages, Hua Cheng turned to Xie Lian: «Eminent Crown Prince Descends With Light to Shine Everlasting Unto the Land of WuYong», he said, summarizing the meaning of the words standing proud up there.
He didn't miss how Xie Lian's expression twitched at the mention of "Eminent Crown Prince", but didn't think too much about it. The god knew the writing didn't have him as a character of that story, Hua Cheng had vaguely told him the story itself before.
«The god worshipped by WuYong was also the crown prince of this kingdom, but there's no telling on how he died or ascended».
No telling...
And yet, Xie Lian's Guoshi knew about him. To what extent he had no idea, too many years had passed, but the god remembered his old master telling some vague things about a lost kingdom and a crown prince that aimed at splendor only to fall in despair.
He didn't pay it much heed, at the time. Now he regretted his recklessness.
According to what Hua Cheng recounted, during their travel, not even the Emperor could shed light on that mystery. The Kingdom of WuYong disappeared over two thousand years prior; in comparison, Jun Wu was nothing but a young'un, a completely different dynasty of heavens.
Unless there were heavenly officials older than the one thousand five hundred year old Jun Wu, there was no one who could know how the god worshipped in WuYong had been wiped from history.
«I'm sure we'll be able to find some information about him, at some point», Xie Lian said, mostly because of his own curiosity.
He was a martial god, yes, but learning wasn't exactly a foreign concept to him. Moreover, he could ask He Xuan to do some research, if he felt up to the task, maybe awaken the old scholar still living deep underwater.
Hua Cheng, beside him, made a noncommittal noise as they entered the darkened great hall. It only took a few steps for Xie Lian to notice something amiss. Normally, a divine temple would be filled with vibrant colors, be it gold on the walls or beautiful paintings; that place, however, was completely black.
Initially, Xie Lian thought the light inside was just dim, windows shut close all around, but it wasn't the case. Instead, all the walls of the immense divine hall were black, a chilling sight.
«Are all the divine temples in Mount Tong'lu like this?», Xie Lian asked his husband, bewildered as he brushed a hand over the black walls. A strange texture was under his fingers as he did so, and he frowned.
Just as Hua Cheng confirmed, the god clicked his tongue: «This was intentional», he said, retreating his hand to look at his fingers. «This divine temple was burnt by fire».
«How can you tell?».
Xie Lian turned around to face Pei Su: «The walls would've been covered with murals before, a very heavy layer of special paint», he explained.. He knew what he was talking about, sadly. «After fires burned them they would turn black, and parts would melt. They would feel rugged and hard like this, after solidifying».
And as for why he knew... he swallowed dry, and was thankful that neither Pei Su nor BanYue raised questions.
The memory of his palaces burnt to the bone by crowds of common people spouting hate at his person was still deeply etched into his mind, no matter how lightly he treated the issue. When he saw one of his temples burn right before his eyes, in the time that followed his brief period as a Calamity, the god felt like wanting to die.
It wasn't the first time for him to behold such a spectacle of anger and disbelief, but those days in particular had been rough for Xie Lian. Unbearable, even.
He remembered, clear as day, the smoke filling his nostrils as he slowly walked towards the roaring flames engulfing the memory of his wake on that world, the pungent smell of paint burning and melting away, the crackling sound of fire eating through wood and lapping at stone. The establishment plaque on the entrance of that temple was snapped right as Xie Lian approached the temple, thrown on the ground with reckless violence, broken cleanly in half. The divine statue hadn't been left to burn, but people rushed inside to push it to the ground and shatter it, before the roaring inferno could swallow the building whole.
As if in a daze, Xie Lian knelt inside his temple, deaf to the cheers and the shouts coming from outside. Fire licked his skin, set his clothes ablaze, burnt strands of ebony hair, but he didn't care. He couldn't care. With every temple burnt, Xie Lian could feel his divinity being ripped away, bit by bit.
Like hairs being plucked out of the skin, a small nuisance, but one that didn't disappear as quickly as that tiny, worthless pain. The scars of temples burning to the ground couldn't be healed. They were small, seemingly insignificant, but they were so many that Xie Lian was covered head to toe in them, pain prickling his flesh with every passing day.
It only went away when all of his temples, from first to last, were gone from the world.
His eyes must have glazed over, because when he came back to himself some time later, he found that Hua Cheng was now standing in front of him, looking intently at his face with scrunched up brows.
«Mh? San Lang, I'm... I'm fine», he managed to squeeze out, though his voice was a bit choked up.
Heaving a deep sigh, Hua Cheng shook his head and pulled his beloved in a delicate hug, a hand soothingly running down his back: «No, you're not fine», he murmured. «You can't even see what's in front of you».
You can't even see what's in front of you...
When realization dawned on him, Xie Lian completely froze. The one holding him in his embrace was taller than him, shoulders broad and arms long and slenderly muscular. The rusty scent of blood, mixed with the sweetness of certain white and unwithering flowers, invaded Xie Lian fully as he looked up, up into the dark eye of the ghost he had married, rather than down in the one of a child.
Tears started streaming down his face, unexpected, as Xie Lian weakly nodded, fingers grasping the front of Hua Cheng's robes as if his life depended on it: «I feel awful, San Lang», he admitted, voice but a whisper, words losing themselves in faint hiccups.
He didn't want to see it happen anymore. It scared him, terrified him, made his blood freeze over and his mind go numb. The burning of his temples scarred him too deeply; the only thing worse than watching, helplessly, his entire life was being trampled and destroyed had been dying over and over by the hands of those common people Xie Lian would have sacrificed himself for in the blink of an eye.
It was one of the reasons why, for the longest time, Xie Lian had been deadly afraid of ascending again. A hidden fear, carefully placed in many shadows to avoid light from touching it.
He was so scared of watching it happen all over again, of watching his believers lose faith in him, blame him, step on his image as if in retaliation, that for a long time he even tried to believe ascension would never be a thing for him anymore.
There had been times, in the past, times he never recounted even to his husband, where Xie Lian almost gave in and listened to what Bai WuXiang had told him, almost put that cursed mask back on. If only to have ascension banned from him until he finally passed away. If only to be sure that such a thing could never, never happen to him again.
He could understand if the reason behind the burning of his temples had been fair. If he had been a cruel, merciless god with no care for his believers.
But he just wanted to help. He understood his mistakes, Xie Lian was no fool, but why did he need to suffer the fate of those who were despicably evil?
«San Lang, you... you need to promise me», he squeezed out, swallowing his own tears just to talk. «You need to promise me that we will never be worshipped on our own».
It was selfish, Xie Lian knew. To say something like that, to ask for something like that... no one should ever accept such a deal. But Hua Cheng only hugged him even tighter, pressed his cold lips to the god's forehead, and hummed in approval.
Be glorious together, or be forgotten together.
Side by side, always, never separated, never alone.
Hua Cheng bent down to kiss his beloved on the lips, as delicate as the fluttery wings of a butterfly, put their foreheads together: «As long as we live, my A-Lian, as long as we walk this earth, we'll do it together», he swore, as solemn as an oath. «I once prayed to never rest in peace. Now, I pray to rest in peace when you will do the same».
When time would come, when the world would go on and the heavens would crumble, Hua Cheng was ready to shatter his ashes.
Xie Lian was a god, Hua Cheng had been one for the briefest time. Once dead and forgotten, they would not reincarnate.
«Wherever you go, Your Highness, I will follow».
It took a while for Xie Lian's unruly emotions to settle down into his usual calmness. When they did, the god slowly extricated himself from the enveloping embrace of his husband, eyes squinting as he looked around: «Where are BanYue and Pei Su?», he asked, confused. «How long...».
«It's been three hours», Hua Cheng was quick to inform him. «When they realized something was troubling you, they decided it was better to stay outside».
A much longer time that any he'd ever witnessed, during one of Xie Lians' now much rarer relapses.
When he saw Xie Lian losing himself like that, Hua Cheng literally forced his body to recover. Doing such a thing meant he would need some time to properly recover, after leaving Mount Tong'lu, but for his beloved it was worth the suffering.
The ghost could say whatever he wanted about other people taking Xie Lian away from him, but nothing bad or evil or deprecating ever grazed his tongue upon looking at the small BanYue and the equally young Pei Su. Instead of invading, they caught the hint and positively ran away from the scene. Anyone else would have rushed to Xie Lian's side, touched him, tried to coax him out of his state with misplaced words and unnecessary contact, and they would only make everything worse.
But those two... those two understood. Those two knew him.
Maybe Hua Cheng could offer BanYue a place to stay in Ghost City, if she wanted. Maybe Pei Su could follow her, and work under Paradise Manor. Xie Lian would probably appreciate having some people he loved dearly in the past be close to him once again.
Seeing how much Xie Lian tensed up at what he heard, the ghost petted his head, deft fingers running through smooth ebony strands. He quite liked when his beloved kept his hair down, though he was a bit jealous that he was doing so in front of other people.
The general impropriety of many ghosts was unfit for a dazzling god like him. At least outside their private bubble among warm red light and soft, silky sheets.
«Gege, you don't need to worry», he said, a quiet murmur to ease his troubled mind. «If anything, the fault resides in this lowly one. This husband should have remembered about the state of these temples».
He wouldn't have brought Xie Lian inside one, if he did.
What a grave, unforgivable mistake.
Xie Lian took a deep breath to ground himself, breathing in the familiar scent of his husband, the weirdly sulfuric air growing bolder and bolder around Mount Tong'lu only barely tainting the comforting smell: «Don't fault yourself for this», he scolded him gently, raising a hand so he could cup a sharp, pale cheek in his palm. «What happened in the past... no amount of protection will forever keep it away. You already do so much for me, San Lang. This husband is truly happy to have you».
And it was nothing but the pure, naked truth.
The god smiled, so gentle and kind his eyes wrinkled with affection, raised himself up on his tiptoes to leave a peck on Hua Cheng's lips: «Let's deal with Mount Tong'lu. I want to go home».
Home to the welcoming arms of his husband, the both of them draped lazily over their favorite divan, the mellow fragrance of Tianzi Xiao still vaguely rolling on their tongues. Rich drapes and golden curtains would shield them from peeking eyes, just enough to leave them wondering what was happening behind . Xie Lian only wished to lay there, not a single thought buzzing in his mind, being languidly devoured by his husband's cold lips, hands caressing every inch of his body being rewarded by soft sounds of delicate pleasure.
He really couldn't wait to be done with that mission.
But even then, Xie Lian knew he couldn't simply go back and lay down. There would surely be meetings to attend to, Jun Wu looking at him with sharp eyes as he questioned his decision. Many heavenly officials would definitely try to have him banished once more, as soon as anything about the new Ghost King transpired to them.
It was going to be an absolute mess.
Xie Lian sighed: «We're not far from the Kiln. Now that you're back, can you find that ghost?».
He tried to, beforehand, but his spiritual energy wasn't enough to travel throughout Mount Tong'lu. It was still more heavenly than ghostly, at the end of the day, and gods didn't fare well in that place. Although he had a big, huge advantage compared to anyone else, even Jun Wu himself, he couldn't reach as far as Hua Cheng.
Immediately, the Ghost King summoned a bunch of silver butterflies and sent them away with a flick of his finger, the tiny creatures flashing in and out of existence for how fast they were moving. In a matter of minutes, maybe an hour at most, Hua Cheng would know where to guide them.
For the time being, Xie Lian accepted to hook his arm on the ghost's elbow, and they walked out of the temple.
In the broken down courtyard, seemingly unfazed by whatever just happened, BanYue and Pei Su were having a heartfelt conversation. A couple of scorpion-snakes were bunched up near BanYue's feet, coiled on their own bodies and sticking their heads up against the young woman's hand like cats eager to receive some pets.
The darkness strangling Xie Lian's heart softened upon seeing that, loosening its hold just enough to let him breathe a mouthful of fresh air.
However, his expression hardened, and he called them both: «We should separate», he said, his tone unrelenting despite the hopeful gaze behind BanYue's vivid purple eyes. «Pei Su, I know how capable you are, but your mortality can prove to be a danger far too big. You should leave Mount Tong'lu». There was a difference between mortal capabilities and supernatural powers, after all. While Pei Su did have a good reserve of spiritual energy, having been someone that never relied solely on the arm holding a sword, moving further inside Mount Tong'lu could be too much for his newly attained mortality to handle.
Xie Lian, on an egoistic whim, didn't want to see him risk his life for something that he had no business into.
He gave a pained expression, but the god didn't relent: «Go back. You and BanYue, leave this place. Stay in the outskirts if BanYue can't go through the seal».
«Is this an order, General Hua?».
«Yes».
Pei Su nodded, heaving a deep sigh: «Very well».
Adding nothing else, he grabbed BanYue's hand, bowed to both Xie Lian and his husband – though it felt extremely weird to show such respect to a Ghost King – and turned his back.
Back in the Kingdom of BanYue, the former official never received an order from Xie Lian. Of course not, he wasn't yet in the army when the god was still around. But, he had received many pleas and requests from him, especially when it concerned his or BanYue's well-being.
Pei Su wasn't often around, so he never truly believed Xie Lian saw him as found family like he did with BanYue. After all, it wasn't like he was struggling like her, he didn't need the same kind of help, nor the same kind of company.
The one he remembered was a man, not a god. He was someone very few listened to, someone that wanted to help rather than spill blood at every given chance. Pei Su remembered the soldier that was appreciated by those who didn't know what a war looked like, the soldier who jumped in the middle of a bloodied fight just to protect those who were innocent, the soldier who dirtied his blade with the blood of those who deserved it.
He would be a fool not to listen to the god he was now.
A bit disheartened, but much more relaxed now that they didn't need to care about someone mortal following them, Xie Lian gave a side glance to his husband: «Shall we go find him or go to the Kiln first?».
Hua Cheng chuckled: «We can do both».
Right as he spoke, a strange noise came approaching rapidly, a less than familiar sound to Xie Lian but one rather annoying for Hua Cheng, who had to listen to it for a good deal of He Xuan's first years as Earth Master.
Soon, a spot next o their feet suddenly caved in, revealing a black hole big enough for two people to drop in. Within the hole the head of a shovel was raised, reflecting a bright white light, and then quickly shrank back in.
«Oh, for the love of... when did you even tell him to come here?», Xie Lian asked, disbelief clear in his voice as he jumped down the hole following his husband. It felt like sinking in pure darkness, so he lit up a small ball of flame to ignite the underground path.
Sure enough, in front of him was standing a black-clad man, leaning against the shovel and wiping at his cold sweat. His mask was nowhere to be seen on his face, and a cursed shackle was barely visible around his wrist, mostly covered by a dirtied sleeve.
The god turned around, raising an eyebrow: «San Lang...?
Guilty, Hua Cheng cleared his throat: «I called him as soon as I turned back. I figured we could do this a bit faster».
Yin Yu was, undoubtedly, extremely proficient with the sacred shovel that belonged to the Earth Master. Both him and He Xuan discovered it completely by accident, one day that the latter was still trying to understand how to use the spiritual tool without breaking something with it. At some point, Hua Cheng only remembered that his Waning Moon Officer had found himself with the shovel in hand, probably because He Xuan brought the ceiling of the path he was digging to collapse, and used it so efficiently that for a second both ghosts looked at him with bewilderment.
Seeing that Xie Lian was falling prey to distress, and only wanting for everything to end as quickly as possible, Hua Cheng decided it was time to call Yin Yu and use his skills with the shovel in a real emergency.
The fact that he managed to reach them in such a short amount of time told a long story about his abilities.
Confused, though glad to have the extra help, Xie Lian looked at Yin Yu digging their path towards the Kiln: «Where were you? Even with the Earth Master shovel, if you only took three hours to arrive, you couldn't have been far from here».
His digging only faltered for a moment before resuming, fast and efficient.
Truth be told, right after silently crying the frustration of being faced with the goddamn Brocade Immortal again, Yin Yu decided it was useless to stay still and do nothing. So, right after contacting the Rain Master, he started traveling towards Mount Tong'lu with the intention of throwing out his frustration by beating up some unruly ghosts causing troubles in territories they had no business in.
Could he even say that to him?
Admit that he was so frustrated at his own past that the only thing helping him was chasing down ghosts just to beat them up?
And to make the matter worse, the past caught up with him!
While cleaning up the mess of ghosts and monsters he had just killed, he had to show up!
Yin Yu planted the shovel with too much force in the dirt before him, causing stones to fall haphazardly, and clicked his tongue: «I was busy dealing with ghosts. No need to inquire further», he said, much harsher than he normally was when talking to Xie Lian or Hua Cheng. «There was nothing useful I could do by staying in Ghost City».
And if Quan YiZhen – his foolish, naïve shidi – hadn't showed up and started taking all the killings for himself, he would have done something useful.
But no, he had to come, he had to unsheathe his sword and make quick work of all the ghosts Yin Yu was fighting on his own, he had to remind him how weak and useless his current life was. What Yin Yu was struggling to do, Quan YiZhen did with ease, a martial god through and through, no faults to be found in his – still reckless – technique.
Yin Yu just wanted to have a good fight, to prove to himself he wasn't as worthless as the voices inside his head told him time and time again. He couldn't even do that.
He ended up yelling at him again, when the chaos settled.
It was difficult not to.
«Xie Lian, when you go back to the Heavenly Court, please tell Quan YiZhen to stay away from me», he impulsively said, stabbing at dirt and stones with the blade of the Earth Master's shovel. «I'm tired of being reminded of how fucking worthless I am».
Hearing that, Xie Lian wanted to speak up and say something to counteract what Yin Yu just said, but he caught himself just in time. In fact, he caught Hua Cheng as well, grabbing his wrist and silently shaking his head when the ghost looked at him with an interrogative light in his eye.
Yin Yu wasn't someone that could be coddled with honeyed words. When Quan YiZhen was involved, it was impossible to know what kind of mess his emotions were tangled into, and speaking could easily make the situation worse.
After many failed attempts at consoling him, Xie Lian finally understood that Yin Yu wasn't in need of someone who was willing to talk to him. He just needed to vent, when possible, or to mull over his thoughts by himself.
The god noticed it was much easier for him to overcome those moments of confusion and doubt when he dealt with them on his own.
Still, it was painful to hear him say something like that.
If Yin Yu was worthless, than what unknown force had brought Ghost City to the orderly chaos it showed to the world? He, all by himself, managed to wrap the entire city around his finger. Ghosts, monsters, spirits, all the dwellers of the city – with rare exceptions – would think twice before talking back to him. The Waning Moon Officer could pride himself with having the respect of those who lived in a city with close to no rules.
Officially, Yin Yu was only below Hua Cheng and Xie Lian themselves, when it came to power held above that entire domain.
Someone worthless could never obtain such things. Not on their own, not with the help of countless people.
Out of his own respect for Yin Yu, though, the martial god would do what he had been asked.
He knew Yin Yu didn't really hate Quan YiZhen. Maybe some resentment, it was understandable, but Xie Lian was aware of how much the former official cared about his shidi. On the surface he denied it, to both himself and the world. Inside... Xie Lian was sure there was no hate bubbling in that pot of mixed feelings.
It was just a difficult, maddening situation.
«Have you found him?».
Better to change the topic while he still could.
Yin Yu nodded: «Yes, I found his location while on my way. We're going towards him now».
A sudden wave of anxiety washed over Xie Lian. Was he really making the right choice? Was he risking it all just on a whim? He didn't have a clear picture anymore, everything was now blurred, as if he was looking at it from behind a sheer veil. Good choice or right choice...
There was a difference between the two, and they rarely overlapped.
The gentle squeeze of a cold hand on his own brought him back to reality, and Xie Lian looked up to see a gentle smile curving upwards the corners of his husband's lips. Maybe good and right were together, that once.