Filaments of golden thread woven from sunlight streamed through the dusty air of Puji shrine, the morning sun a golden glow struggling to break through the grey clouds that stuttered across the sky. Hua Cheng tilted his head back to admire the sun streaking through the cracks in the walls and traced its path down to where it caressed Xie Lian’s face dozing peacefully next to him. He would rise soon, climb up with the sleep laden sun and stretch the kinks from his broad back with a delicate sigh, but for now, Hua Cheng got to relish in the sweet warmth at his side just a little bit longer.
A particularly stubborn ray of light illuminated the shape of Xie Lian’s face, kissed the dark lashes that fluttered against his jade white cheeks, shaped the long brow, highlighted the gentle slope of his nose. His curtain of dark hair, usually tied up so neatly, was splayed across the pale bedding, the hidden strands of gold illuminated by the blessed sunshine that crept upon their bubble of peace.
His love, his God, stirred, the sunshine most definitely blinding his sleeping eyes. Hua Cheng cupped a hand across his forehead to shield him from his discomfort, the uncomfortable twitch of his brow and scrunch of his nose relaxed as he sighed back to sleep. Hua Cheng pulled himself into a more comfortable position so he may shield His Highness’s eyes from the too bright, too hot sun and use his other hand to play with the loose locks of hair that fell like silk between his dead fingers.
It wasn’t long until Xie Lian actually woke up, his sleep becoming a little more restless, the twitches and sighs more frequent until he finally blearily blinked open his eyes. They were soaked in a hazy sleep, unfocused. A heaving sigh pulled him completely from his sleep. Hua Cheng moved his hand used to shield Xie Lian’s eyes from the sun away to gently stroke the hair from his forehead, his other hand fidgeting with a lock of hair by his neck where his nails would sometimes lightly scratch the side of his throat.
“Good morning, San Lang,” Xie Lian, his voice thick with sleep.
“Good morning, Gege,” Hua Cheng hummed. He placed a soft kiss at the smooth line of Xie Lian’s jaw. Xie Lian sighed into the touch and turned his head to place a kiss of his own on Hua Cheng’s cheek, just shy of his mouth. He could feel the warmth from his lips lingering like the most perfect patch of sunshine.
In retaliation, Hua Cheng leaned over and laid siege to Xie Lian’s face with fluttering kisses, a barrage Xie Lian couldn’t stop no matter how much he delightfully giggled. Calloused hands, feather-light, traced Hua Cheng’s arms and sides, shaking from laughter. Xie Lian fought back by trying to lay kisses on Hua Cheng’s attacking face, but only managed to land a few loud kisses, but most of them ending up loudly in the air between them.
Their giggles eventually tapered off to deep, open-mouthed kisses as they held each other close, breath hot against their sun-warmed skin and hands tracing the contours of their bodies. They rolled over with Xie Lian on top, his sturdy body pressed firmly into Hua Cheng’s, their lips sliding languidly together with a heady warmth that was better than any sunspot Hua Cheng could find himself napping in.
Xie Lian reluctantly pulled himself away first, hair spilling down to frame his face and curtained off their sweet, sweet kisses from the outside world. “As much as I would love to continue, I have things to do today.”
“May this one offer himself as help?” Hua Cheng asked. He couldn’t help letting his fingertips trace the kiss swollen lower lip of his love, his God.
“If you would like, I’m starting a vegetable garden for the summer. Some zucchini and onions I think, cucumbers, too if I can find any.” Xie Lian pulled himself up and swept his hair over his shoulders. Hua Cheng let his eyes linger on the exposed column of his throat, the sharp collarbones, a sliver of the smooth expanse of his toned chest that his thin inner robes allowed him to see, the peak of a silver chain tucked close to his heart.
He stood up and started getting ready for the day in the small space of his shrine. Hua Cheng lingered on their mat and watched him bustle about- until he froze. His robes were pulled on yet not tied properly, his hair held up and the ribbon only halfway tied around the little bun on his head. There was a furrow in his brow and tightness to his jaw. Hua Cheng stood up quickly and was in front of him in a flash.
“The communication array?” He asked. Xie Lian nodded. He quickly put his hair up and finished neatly tying his shabby robes.
“I need to go to the Heavenly Court. There’s an emergency,” he said sharply, stress evident in his tone.
“I’ll come, too.” Hua Cheng already had his clothes on, E-ming strapped to his side and the mused mess of his hair from Xie Lian running his fingers through it was combed neat and fell down his back.
“Can you get Yin Yu? He needs to be here for this, too.”
Hua Cheng nodded and pulled out his die. “I will see you soon, Gege.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on Xie Lian’s forehead and will a roll of his die he walked through the front door back to the Ghost City.
---
Xie Lian stepped onto the heavenly ground and powerwalked down the golden streets to the Great Martial Hall. Heavenly officials were sparse in the streets, the few he did encounter had their heads down low and walked quickly by.
“Ling Wen, what’s going on?” Xie Lian burst through the doors and found the room full every martial god, except-
“Pei Ming is ill,” Ling Wen said. The bags under her eyes had only started to fade, but the stress was already settling between her brows. “Some of the Middle Court gods have already fallen ill. We thought it was a curse at first, something Pei Ming got himself into again after chasing the wrong skirt, but it’s spreading rapidly amongst heavenly officials and it makes us not so sure anymore.”
Heavenly officials don’t get sick. They’re gods, what possible illness could bring a great and powerful martial god-like Pei Ming to his knees?
“I’m surprised Crimson Rain Sought Flowers isn’t with you right now, a time we would very much like his presence here,” Feng Xin interjected.
“He’ll be here shortly, I sent him to fetch Yin Yu,” Xie Lian explained.
“For once, we truly do need him,” Ling Wen said. “Because of the nature of this illness, we’re not sure if it is a curse or very much just some spiritual energy tainted with something nasty, but we need to check off everything before we can determine how to cure this. Crimson Rain Sought Flowers has, er, deep roots in the demon realm, if anyone were to dig up something of this matter it would be him.”
Speak of the devil, the doors were kicked open and in strolled Hua Cheng with Yin Yu in tow. A shout of “Shixiong!” rang through the echoing halls. Quan Yi Zhen was hopping up from the back of the hall and wiggling through the mass of martial gods to the front, a huge smile on his face. Yin Yu’s face paled and he turned away from his approaching shidi.
They gave Hua Cheng and Yin Yu the quickest rundown of what was happening, Hua Cheng’s handsome face darkening. “I have to apologize, but I don’t know how this would happen. Can we see the poor man?”
“It’s Pei Ming.” Ling Wen said
“Oh, never mind he can rot for all I care. Come on, Gege, let’s get out of here.” He grabbed Xie Lian’s hand and moved as if to head out the door.
“Wait a moment, let’s go visit Pei Ming and investigate.” Xie Lian pulled back Hua Cheng and held him firmly at his side. Hua Cheng’s face soured.
The three of them, Hua Cheng, Xie Lian, and Yin Yu, trekked to Pei Ming’s manor, the rest of the meeting disbanded with a warning to keep clear of the mortal realm unless there’s an emergency and to start their own independent investigations- the more hands-on-deck the better, Ling Wen reasoned.
Hua Cheng froze at the front steps and turned to face Xie Lian, a heavy look in his eye. “If this illness is spreading through the gods unknowingly, you should remain here while I go question Pei Ming. I won’t let you get ill, Your Highness.”
“Ah, you’re right.” They didn’t know what this will do to the body quite yet, it’s too unfamiliar. “Stay with me then, Yin Yu. We’ll wait for Hua Cheng together out here.”
Yin Yu nodded. Hua Cheng leaned in a shamelessly placed a sweet kiss to Xie Lian’s forehead. “Be right back.” He turned and let himself into the grand doors of the manor.
“He’s still following us,” Yin Yu said after a moment of silence. “That Quan Yi Zhen.”
He is, indeed. Xie Lian had noticed him following them out of the Great Martial Hall and through the Heavenly Court. Hua Cheng must have noticed, too. Yin Yu whipped around to where Quan Yi Zhen was hiding, half-hidden behind a statue of Pei Ming, his wildly curly hair not at all obscured nor most of his body. Did he truly think if he couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see him?
“Quan Yi Zhen, hello!” Xie Lian called out. Quan Yi Zhen jumped and came out from his “hiding” spot.
He nodded. “Your Highness.” His eyes were trained on Yin Yu. “Shixiong.”
Yin Yu shot him a glare and bodily turned away, barely a nod of acknowledgment.
“Do you need anything?” Xie Lian wanted to break this awkward tension so badly, but how could he when he was most likely just as awkward.
“Can I come with?” He asked. “I wanna help.”
“I don’t-” Xie Lian started.
“Absolutely not.” Yin Yu interrupted. “Stay here, stay to your manor, don’t go running around getting yourself infected, too.”
Quan Yi Zhen frowned. “But-” he started.
“Please, can you stay here?” Xie Lian said. “Keep an eye on the Heavenly Court and keep me posted with what’s happening and we’ll give you news to pass on as we investigate, how’s that?”
It didn’t sound quite like what Quan Yi Zhen wanted to do, but how could he descend at a time like this? “But Yin Yu is with you, why can he go and I can’t?” Xie Lian was amazed at the brazened words, yet he shouldn’t be surprised anymore.
“Then Yin Yu can stay here with you,” Xie Lian suggested. Yin Yu, despite his high regard he held for Xie Lian, looked as if he wanted to personally kick Xie Lian back down to the mortal realm. Xie Lian didn’t want to meet his glare, afraid of its poison.
Quan Yi Zhen perked up. “Really?” He turned to Yin Yu and bowed sharply. “I will take good care of you!” Without another word, he grabbed Yin Yu’s arm and pulled him away most likely to Quan Yi Zhen’s manor.
Xie Lian spent the remaining of the time idly scratching the toe of his boot on one of the shining cobblestones that made up the walkway. It wasn’t long until Hua Cheng came out of the manor, brows furrowed.
“How is he?” Xie Lian said.
“It’s bad.” Hua Cheng said curtly. “Really bad.”
---
The two of them descended back down to the mortal realm and found themselves in a tea house at the base of a mountain, just beyond was the sea. Hua Cheng didn’t want to say anything until they settled into their tea and snacks. He had covered himself in one of his favorite skins, that of a teenage boy a little younger than his own age of death, the one he appeared in most often while visiting Puji shrine.
He could still smell the pungent odor, the sickly pallor on the general’s face, his breath like a ragged ghost pushing and pulling his lungs apart. The veins on his neck had been dark, a poisonous crawl that worked it’s way up to his jaw and the backs of his hands. There was no spiritual energy residing in this husk of a god.
Pei Ming could barely speak, barely move in his bed. His eyes were unfocused on Hua Cheng as he told him he didn’t know how this happened. He had been visiting a god in the east, not far from the seashore, and he had slept with a daughter of a lord during his visit. Hua Cheng would have written it off as a sexually transmitted disease if it weren’t for the Middle Court officials who were ill, too. He told Xie Lian this.
“Ah, that’s why we’re so far east.”
“Yes, and this tea house was said to have a lovely dessert I wanted to try with Gege.” Hua Cheng took a sip of his tea, his eyes not leaving Xie Lian’s inquisitive face, his brow scrunched just so and the smallest pout on his graceful lips.
“We should find the girl, she can give us a clearer account of what happened.”
“Already on it, Gege,” he nodded to the doorway of the tea shop just as a young woman, richly dressed in robes if lavender and pale blue, and delicate silver adornments in her intricately done hair. She had wide, youthful eyes and clearly came from a wealthy background. She was, unfortunately, Pei Ming’s type. There was a woman with a firm jaw and her hair pulled tight atop her head, her hand rested on a sword at her side as her sharp eyes roved the tea shop. A bodyguard, most likely.
“You work fast, San Lang,” Xie Lian noted. He waved her down and they sat at the table next to theirs.
“It was kind of you to meet with us, shijie,” Xie Lian said, his voice was polite and gentle. Hua Cheng needed to restrain himself from kissing him senseless.
“I really don’t mind,” the young lady said with a short bow of her head. “Xie Cheng, what is it you wish to know about my baobei?”
Xie Lian had a look cross his face at both the fake name given for Hua Cheng and the term of endearment for Pei Ming. A light blush graced his cheeks at the implications of Hua Cheng’s fake name and he couldn’t help but bite back a smile.
“Anything you two did in the past few days,” Xie Lian said. “There’s no need to be explicit.” He added quickly.
The young lady went ahead and told them of the wonderfully romantic dates the two had gone on, the shared meals, the romantic strolls. She paused when she caught herself short of telling them some of the dirtier details of their get-togethers, a blush evident on her pale cheeks and eyes shifting to her guard, whose face betrayed no emotion.
After she was done, they thanked her and left. “We should visit every spot we can, feel out the spiritual energy of the places and see if there’s anything off about them.”
“Is Gege asking me on a date?” Hua Cheng asked playfully.
He earned himself a small smile. “Why not? We can do both at once.”
Xie Lian easily took his hand and lead him toward the large town just beyond the mountain and gracing the seaside shores. Hua Cheng, despite the dire situation, couldn’t help but grin in excitement over the prospect of a day spent romantically with His Highness.
---
Xie Lian loves a lot about Hua Cheng, how he makes it so easy to mingle work and play in a way that allows him to do what must be done while still keeping the atmosphere between them light and bubbly. While wearing one of his favorite skins, both of his dark eyes glittered with mirth and his hair was pulled up into a crooked ponytail, a piece of wheat stuck between his teeth plucked from their journey here, he gave off the energy of a rambunctious youth with far too much time on his hands more than a demon king with far too much time on his hands. As often as he likes to tell people how busy he is, he sure loves to idle by Xie Lian’s side (“It’s a full-time job loving Gege,” he once stated).
They meandered through the port town, visiting all the romantic spots that Pei Ming decided to take his current fling to. Xie Lian didn’t want to admit it, but the little hole in the wall restaurants and garden strolls were indeed romantic and Pei Ming might be a bit of a playboy, but he at least knew how to make a girl feel special if how affectionately the young lady spoke of him. It took them the whole day just to scour the town for all the spots they’ve gone too and just around sunset were they able to make there way out of town at to the more secluded locations.
It was a beachside stroll, the sand worn away from many people walking to and fro across the shoreline and now Xie Lian’s and Hua Cheng’s prints were added. The painted golds and pinks gave Hua Cheng’s usually white complexion a warm hue, the onyx black of his eyes sparkling like the ocean tracing the horizon. He gripped Xie Lian’s firmly, his usually cool hand growing warmer from Xie Lian’s hand and the residual daylight.
“Your Highness is beautiful in the sunset,” Hua Cheng said suddenly. He hadn’t so much as glanced at the beautiful sunset happening next to him, but watch it play its fading light across Xie Lian’s face. He blushed under his affection, his own praises falling back down to his heart.
“San Lang… Ah.” He stopped suddenly. Hua Cheng pulled his eyes away from Xie Lian’s face finally and followed Xie Lian’s gaze. “That’s where they…” he didn’t want to say it, but Hua Cheng nodded knowingly.
“I don’t like the energy here, Gege.” Hua Cheng warned. “Why would Pei Ming take his lover to a cursed place like this to copulate?”
“ San Lang,” Xie Lian gasped. “The demonic energy feels too fresh, it hasn’t quite soaked into the sand yet, but…”
“It’s strong.”
A little bit off the sandy shoreline, just within the line of trees, there was a miniature stone shrine from a god long dead. The little figure had been destroyed by time, the plaque was worn down beyond recognition. The tree it was mounted under had warped around the little box, the insides home to years of birds nests and moss. It was only the shape of a shrine, a mere shadow of the godly temple. Pale white and purple flowers with pitch-black eyes grew amongst the tall grass around the base of the tree, waving in the gentle ocean breeze. Xie Lian felt a pang in his chest from the sight, the shrine was nothing more than a part of nature.
It was thick with demonic energy.
“A god probably destroyed in time brimming with hostility, most likely,” Hua Cheng noted.
“This might really be a curse,” Xie Lian said. “We need to figure out who this shrine belonged to.”
“Stay back, Gege, you might get cursed, too,” Hua Cheng put his arm out to stop Xie Lian from moving any closer.
He nodded and took a step back to where the sand bled into the forest, the grass and little black-eyed flowers pushing through the sand. He watched Hua Cheng investigate the little shrine, a furrow in his brow and a hand stroking his chin. It was a little while until Hua Cheng stood back up and came over to Xie Lian.
“The god is Song Qiu, but I’m sorry Gege, I’ve never heard of such a god,” Hua Cheng said shaking his head.
“We can ask the local god and see if they know anything but, ah,” Xie Lian felt his cheeks warm. “I don’t know who that would be. Let’s go back into town and visit some of the temples, yeah?”
They made their way back to the port town and meandered through the temples, hoping to find the eastern god represented. Once found, Xie Lian opened up a private communication array with Quan Yi Zhen to ask if he can get the current god of the east on the array.
“Sure.” Quan Yi Zhen agreed easily. “I’ll take shixiong with me.”
Xie Lian felt bad for putting Yin Yu back in Quan Yi Zhen’s hands, but he wanted more than anything to clear up the bad blood between them as there was no bad blood between them, only grossly misunderstood intentions.
“Ah.” Quan Yi Zhen stopped. “Shixiong’s gone.”
“That’s okay,” Xie Lian said quickly. “He’s around, but please quickly retrieve me the god I asked for.”
“I’m going to find shixiong first.” With that, the communication array was cut. Xie Lian sighed loudly and looked over to where Hua Cheng was idling up against the temple wall.
“No luck?”
“Quan Yi Zhen has a one-track mind and it’s focused solely on Yin Yu,” Xie Lian said with a shake of his head. “I thought I would give him a try but hold on.” He quickly contacted Ling Wen (who also stated she didn’t know the name) and was easily given the password for the eastern god’s private communication array.
The link-up was easy, and the eastern god offered no information about gods before them.
“The eastern god is too new, and our friend Song Qiu was not the previous one,” Xie Lian sighed. “Hua Cheng?”
“Already on it, I didn’t trust those heavenly officials’ information anyway,” Hua Cheng said. He pushed himself off the wall and put an arm around Xie Lian’s waist. “Let’s get dinner and an inn to stay in until we hear back.”
It wasn’t long until they found a lovely inn right off the port shore, the owner a stout man with beady eyes greeted them and gave them a delicious dinner of local delicacies and showed them their room upstairs with a window overlooking the sea. A salty breeze came in through the open window, the stars a scattering of light that was nearly as bright as the full moon reflecting off the water. Xie Lian tucked himself in a spot by the window with a cup of tea and admired the wide expanse of open water. Rarely has he gone to a seaside town in his 800 years of wandering and scrap collecting and this by far has to be the loveliest he’s been to. Perhaps it might be because unlike the previous times, his belly is full of good food and he has Hua Cheng keeping him company.
“What is Gege thinking about?” Hua Cheng asked, a whisper to the shell of his ear. He sat down next to him, his skin peeled off to reveal his true self eyepatch and all and leaned up against Xie Lian’s side. He could feel the chilliness of Hua Cheng’s skin under their robes and Xie Lian suppressed a shiver. Hua Cheng pressed a kiss to the shell of his ear, then one below that, and another. He trailed his lips down Xie Lian’s neck to the collar of his robes, waiting for a response, Ruoye gently unraveled itself from Xie Lian’s body and slipped away to rest on a nearby table. E-Ming was tossed aside to a corner where it quaked in its sheath.
“You,” Xie Lian said unashamedly. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
Hua Cheng pulled back a bit of Xie Lian’s collar and paused, “I’m glad to be here with you, Gege.” He waited for an okay to continue. Xie Lian hummed and nodded and he proceeded to decorate Xie Lian’s neck and chest with tender kisses. A hand wove through the locks of hair at the nape of Xie Lian’s neck. Xie Lian put down his tea before his shaking hands spilled it and reached up to gently caress Hua Cheng’s face. Their lips met lovingly and Xie Lian felt his heart flutter with affection in his chest. Hua Cheng’s cool breath brushed against his heated skin, the gentle scrape of his pointed canines tugged at his lower lip, the scratch of sharp nails traced patterns through the robes on his back. He let Hua Cheng’s silky hair weave through his fingers and run his hands down, the hard press of his body counteracted with the heat of his.
He was overwhelmed with Hua Cheng and as their kiss deepened, tongues intertwined as they pulled themselves nearer, the moon as their only witness, a sharp knock echoed on their inn door. Hua Cheng growled lowly in his throat and kissed Xie Lian harder, pulling what little breath he had left from his lungs. The knock sounded again, sharper, more insistent.
Xie Lian unstuck himself from Hua Cheng’s lips and said with a gasp of air, “Let’s answer the door, San Lang.”
“He can come back later,” Hua Cheng said lowly, a hit of danger to his words. His lips didn’t leave his skin and instead pressed hotly against Xie Lian’s jaw and throat.
“He?” Xie Lian pulled away holding Hua Cheng back by the jaw.
Hua Cheng pouted. “It’s Yin Yu.”
Xie Lian scrambled to his feet. “We can let him in. I’ll- I’ll kiss you a lot later to make up for it.” Hua Cheng brightened at the prospect and hurried ahead of Xie Lian to get the door first.
Yin Yu stepped in with a short bow to Hua Cheng. “I have the information, Hua Chengzu.”
“About the old eastern god?” Xie Lian asked. Yin Yu nodded. The three of them sat around the low table, Xie Lian lighting a few candles to illuminate the room. Xie Lian hadn’t minded sitting in the dark with Hua Cheng with nothing but the silvery moonlight pooling through the window, but they have a guest now.
“Song Qiu was the old god of the east almost two thousand years ago, that’s why no one can remember him. He perished quietly, but resentment must have kept his spirit alive for a very long time,” Yin Yu explained, the candlelight flickered across his face.
Xie Lian’s blood ran cold. “Is this… revenge for what happened?”
“Most likely. He’s a little too late, don’t you think?” Hua Cheng said.
“Mn. The resentment must have kept him barely alive and it’s morphed him into something terrible,” Xie Lian said. “His energy must be festering at his old temple locations. We need to find him so we may figure out how to stop this.”
“He’s sleeping,” Yin Yu said. “A thousand-year slumber to gather his strength before he destroys the heavens. He begins to stir, and all the energy he’s accumulated is started to unleash.”
“Gege,” Hua Cheng stood up swiftly. “We need to get you out of here. The resentment is swelling from his roots, his temples. You were near one today, we cannot risk exposing you any further.”
“But the inn-” we paid good money for a lovely room, Xie Lian wanted to say, but he complied and stood up. “Let’s get you back to the Heavenly Court.”
With a roll of his die, they swiftly left the moonlit inn and walked through the doors of the Prince of Xian Le manor. Barely a moment after they stepped through the gilded doors were the doors thrown open once again and in came Feng Xin and Mu Qing with choruses of “Your Highness!”
“Hello, you two, what’s the rush?”
“Quan Yi Zhen is missing and there’s-”
“More gods are ill-”
“You were gone too long and-”
“Someone died!”
They both spoke quickly and Xie Lian barely got a hold of what they were saying until he caught the last one. “What? Who?”
“A minor god down in the Middle Court passed away from this illness, her spiritual energy was sapped from her and she just… withered away,” Mu Qing spoke quickly over Feng Xin.
“There’s not even a body left, her entire being is completely gone,” continued Feng Xin, nudging Mu Qing away.
“Have you found who did this? What’s happening?” Mu Qing asked, nudging Feng Xin back.
Xie Lian wanted to ask if they had been waiting for his return but Yin Yi spoke before he could. “Where’s Quan Yi Zhen?”
“He disappeared a few hours ago, a number of heavenly officials have been out looking for him but we’re pretty sure he descended,” Feng Xin said.
“Hua Cheng,” Xie Lian started to say, but Yin Yu was already striding toward the door with a muter of “idiot!” under his breath.
“I’ll help.” With a wave of Hua Cheng’s arm, silver butterflies peeled themselves from his vambraces and fluttered off behind Yin Yu as a vanguard. In the meantime, Xie Lian gave Mu Qing and Feng Xin a break down of what they found out.
They didn’t have to wait long until Yin Yu came back in through the doors with a cloud of butterflies, face pale. The cloud settled to the ground and dispersed, leaving a shuddering Quan Yi Zhen sprawled on the ground, his face pale and breathing ragged. Spiderwebs of his veins soaked in black crept up his chest, exposed from where his robes had slipped open. Mu Qing and Feng Xin threw themselves back, and Hua Cheng placed himself in front of Xie Lian as if to defend him.
“Quan Yi Zhen!” Xie Lian couldn’t help but shout. This is the second martial god inflicted with this, and many in the Middle Court were falling one after another. At this rate, they won’t last the moon cycle until all the gods have fallen. “Mu Qing, Feng Xin, go alert the other heavenly officials what I’ve told you. We need to find this Song Qiu now.”
“What about the lockdown?” Mu Qing asked.
“What of it when it’s spreading through the Court already?” Asked Xie Lian harshly. “There’s no use in sitting around waiting for answers, we might as well use our full power to find Song Qiu before anyone else dies.”
Mu Qing and Feng Xin nodded solemnly and ran out the doors. Yin Yu knelt on the ground by Quan Yi Zhen and held his hand in his, lifting his collar to see the curse spreading up his chest.
“Be careful, Yin Yu,” Xie Lian warned. “Put him to rest in my bed.”
“Allow me.” Hua Cheng was still standing defensively in front of Xie Lian and with another wave of his arm, the butterflies fluttered from his vambraces and wedges themselves between Quan Yi Zhen and the ground, gently lifting him in a silver cloud and floated off down the hall to Xie Lian’s unused bedroom.
“We need to go,” Hua Cheng said. He wrapped an arm around Xie Lian and lead him to the door. “I don’t want you here when the curse is plaguing your house.”
Xie Lian let himself be shepherded toward the exit where Hua Cheng rolled his die and took them through the doors once more to Paradise Manor.
—-
There was an eerie calm within the halls of Paradise Manor, after the confusion and panic of the Heavenly Court, Hua Cheng was more than happy to be far away with Xie Lian. He waited patiently for Xie Lian to finish his bath in the main hall where he knew Yin Yu will return soon with some news.
As he suspected, Yin Yu slipped through the main doors and bowed to Hua Cheng.
“Quan Yi Zhen’s and Pei Ming’s conditions have been stabilized,” Yin Yu said. “Through some research done under Ling Wen, they found a temporary reliever in mandrake blossoms, but it only slows the plague’s progression.”
“They’re calling it a plague now?” Hua Cheng noted.
“Yes. A dozen more in the Middle Court has fallen ill, and two more weak heavenly officials have passed away. It’s barely been a day and the progress is incredibly terrifying.”
“And what of the old god, Song Qiu?”
“Ling Wen is using all her resources to locate his source, but all they’ve found were remnants of old temples that have long since been destroyed. The heavenly officials are fleeing the east and as the gods of the north and west are out of commission, the south is being flooded by heavenly officials,” Yin Yu reported. Hua Cheng snorted at the thought of those good-for-nothing heavenly officials, Mu Qing and Feng Xin, being overrun with heavenly officials in their territory. “For now they’ve learned the hard way that the level of one’s spiritual energy determines the rate at which the plague progresses, that’s why Pei Ming has yet to die despite being the one to bring this plague up to the Heavenly Court in the first place.” His strained tone and clenched fists did not go unnoticed by Hua Cheng.
“Is that everything?”
“Yes,” Yin Yu bowed. “I’ll see myself out.” He quickly turned at the heel and left the hall swiftly.
Hua Cheng sighed and stood from his chair. With a quick check through his butterflies, he found Xie Lian in his room and quickly walked through the expansive halls to the master bedroom where he took a second to compose himself at the doorway, straightening any loose flyaways from his hair and ensuring his clothes and accessories sat right, twisting his necklace around so the butterfly hung neatly in the middle of his chest. He flipped his hair back and quietly cracked open the double doors and let himself in quietly.
Xie Lian was tucked under the blankets, nuzzled deep under the silken reds and illuminated lowly from the dim candlelights, the sheer, red curtains, and strings of glimmering beads throwing Xie Lian’s jade white skin under a red filter that traced his ethereally beautiful face. His chest steadily rose and fell with sleep, his cheeks rosy from the hot bath, and his hair was splayed across the rich bedding and Hua Cheng wanted to run his fingers through the damp locks. A glimmer of steel caught the corner of his eye and he held back a chuckle. Xie Lian had taken his usual bath with E-Ming and made a makeshift bed for the blade. One of the pillows from the bed was sitting atop a tea table with E-Ming resting in the middle under a small blanket that was tucked in around the wicked sharp blade like a child would be, its red eye shut and asleep. Ruoye was curled up like a very dangerous snake next to E-Ming, most likely sleeping, too.
Hua Cheng quietly stripped to his inner robes and padded over to the bed. When he parted the curtains, Xie Lian stirred a little bit, the gentle fluttering of his butterfly wing eyelashes was the only sign that he was awake. Hua Cheng leaned down and placed a tender kiss to his brow and Xie Lian sighed deeply and said, voice drowsy, “Mhn, San Lang.”
“Gege, today must have worn you out,” Hua Cheng whispered, afraid to break the delicate, sleepy quiet.
“I’m okay,” Xie Lian blinked open his eyes and stretched a bit with another sigh, waking up more fully. “Come, lay down with me.” He lifted the blankets up for Hua Cheng to slip in and curl up next to him. Which he did, and he relished in the warmth. He pecked another kiss to Xie Lian’s cheek and he giggled and rolled over into Hua Cheng’s arms, their noses brushing and breaths mingling between them.
His little, sleepy smile slipped, his expression somber. “How are things in the Heavenly Court?”
Hua Cheng didn’t want to talk about it when he was about to get down on His Highness, but he wasn’t going to deny his request. “They’re okay, Quan Yi Zhen and Pei Ming, they found something to stabilize the condition.” That’s all he wanted to say on the matter. Xie Lian nodded, face relaxing. “That’s good, that makes me feel better.”
They snuggled closer with Xie Lian’s head tucked under Hua Cheng’s pointy chin, his lips brushing over his exposed collarbone and throat. He couldn’t help the hitch in his throat when he placed the most gentle kisses to the cool skin, his lips hot but so, so soft. Hua Cheng swore he would melt like a frozen wasteland exposed in the fresh, spring sun under Xie Lian’s attention. And that’s what he did, melted into Xie Lian’s strong arms as he let Xie Lian trail slow kisses up and down the column of his throat, a soft moan tracing Hua Cheng’s lips when Xie Lian pressed his lips just right on the spot under his ear. He couldn’t take it anymore and tugged Xie Lian’s chin up for their lips to meet in a deep kiss. He swallowed a gasp and Xie Lian let his fingers run through Hua Cheng’s (sort of) freshly brushed hair musing up all his hard work. He didn’t mind, he never minded.
Kiss upon kiss upon kiss was laid unto their lips, breaths deep and gasping into each other’s lungs, reviving one another with the press of lips upon lips, lips upon cheeks, lips upon jaws, lips upon hearts. Xie Lian wasn’t in the mood to go further tonight, instead let his hands run up and down Hua Cheng’s chest and arms and hips in languid movements, trails of hot fire that left his skin simmering like the heart of a hearth and the chill of his own hands running up and down Xie Lian’s broad back sent a shudder down his spine, a cool breeze upon a spring, sunshine day to chase away the beating sun.
They kissed for so long, so slowly and sweetly, Hua Cheng could feel the press of Xie Lian’s body loosening, his lips slowed to weak pecks, and his eyes drifted shut under Hua Cheng’s tender attention. They had rolled to and fro on the bed, and now Hua Cheng laid Xie Lian down on the plush pillows and placed another soft kiss on the swollen lips.
“Goodnight, San Lang,” Xie Lian said, voice a little more than a whisper. Only his words and the weak fluttering of his lashes indicated he was still conscious.
“Sleep tight, Gege,” Hua Cheng whispered back. He stayed propped up for another moment, watching sleep draping itself over Xie Lian and stroked the long locks of hair out of his face. With one more soft kiss to the corner of his lips, Hua Cheng whispered. “I love you.”
A mumble that was near incomprehensible left Xie Lian’s lips, but Hua Cheng heard it loud and clear, and tucked the sleepy words close to his heart and curled up into Xie Lian’s side, falling asleep easily and dreamlessly.
“I love you.”
A shuttering breath awoke Hua Cheng. Xie Lian was shaking.
“Gege?” Hua Cheng pulled himself from the tides of sleep to the shuddering form laying prone next to him. He bolted upright, his hair a rats nest from Xie Lian running his fingers and tying locks into knots around his fingers last night, spilling over his shoulders and around his face to briefly obscure his love from him, his God, his Xie Lian. He hurriedly pushed his unruly hair from his face and leaned over Xie Lian, as if to shield his body from some unknown outside danger.
Xie Lian laid pale and shivering, his skin ice-cold, sickly, dark shadows traced under his eyes and his breaths came out in ragged gasps as if his lungs were being pressed down by a heavy hand too strong for Xie Lian’s mighty strength.
“Gege, Gege, oh Gege,” Hua Cheng gasped, fear gripping his chest and crushing his lungs as he cupped Xie Lian’s icy cheek. His skin was sticky with sweat, his thin robe pulled open to reveal spiderwebs of black ink crawling up his chest toward his neck. “Xie Lian, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, it’s going to be okay, you’ll be okay.”
The God-Killing Plague has reached is molded claws onto his precious Xie Lian’s heart and was squeezing his lungs in a deathly grip, wringing out his spiritual energy like a used rag. Xie Lian cracked open a heavy eye, his breaths a wheezing gasp, as he choked out. “S-San Lang…”
“Don’t speak,” he said, trying to channel as much calm as he could muster into his words. “Save your energy.”
“San-San Lang… it’s hot.” He was freezing, so cold even Hua Cheng could feel the chill on his own cold hands. The warmth of the futon was long gone, replaced by a heedless cold that felt as if no lovers had bedded in it.
Hua Cheng traced his shaking thumbs under the pale shadows under his eyes, but Xie Lian raised a weak hand and gripped his hand within his own, the whole limb shaking to hold it up, his grasp nothing more than a child’s tender touch. “It’s okay, San Lang. I’ll be okay.”
Don’t comfort me when you’re the one-! He couldn’t even think it. His God, his God, his love has eroded away overnight, right next to him nonetheless. His shuddering form, bent over Xie Lian’s weakened body, couldn’t stop shaking along with him. With a choking gasp, Xie Lian released Hua Cheng’s hand and he slumped deeper into the futon, eyes glassy and unable to focus onto Hua Cheng’s face. He saw his own fearful reflection staring back at him.
“ Yin Yu .” He ordered.
In a flash, Yin Yu came striding through the bedroom doors to the sight of Hua Cheng crouching over Xie Lian like a big cat protecting its broken mate, a wild glint in his eyes and fangs bared to the heavens, to hell, to the god who dared to lay it’s cursed hand on Xie Lian’s jade white skin and tainted it with the beginnings of death.
“Get the mandrake and find me Song Qiu.”
It didn’t take long for Yin Yu to come back with the mandrake blossoms, the rich purple almost toxic in color and shaped like a star that would grace the sky with Xie Lian. Hua Cheng refused to leave his side and had Yin Yu draw a bath and fill it with the mandrake blossoms, the freshest lavender, the sweetest chamomile, and the whitest gardenia. He shooed Yin Yu away with a look and gently stripped Xie Lian, who didn’t make a move to protest other than a slight choking sound when he undid the loose sash from around his waist. Seeing him laid naked, he could map the sprawling lines of the curse crawling through his veins, the source being his abdomen where a deep, black pitted seed lay in his heaving core. The delicately poisonous line caressed his shoulders, traced the tops of his thighs, and tickled his collarbones in feather-like touches and Hua Cheng wanted to suck the poison right out of Xie Lian and into his own body.
He carried him to the large basin filled with the steaming water and herbal blossoms and slowly climbed in, not bothering to remove his own clothes as he trudged into the waist-deep shallow end of the bath and gently laid Xie Lian down into the water, his breath hitching only slight when the hot water touched his icy skin, his dark hair fanned out around him like ink spills across paper. Hua Cheng held him aloft so he won’t sink, watching the ragged rise and fall of his chest. He brushed water laden mandrake blossoms closer to Xie Lian so they may float closer to his body, framing his ethereal face with wet blooms to make it start working - healing - faster.
The wide windows high above them filtered in the pale light of the Ghost City, sheer curtains hanging from the ceiling acting as a barrier against anyone who dared to see the Flower Crown Prince bathe, the skylights above them filtered in the deathly pale light that worked as the morning in the endlessly dark realm and danced reflective shadows across Xie Lian’s pale cheeks, his chapped lips, his haggard eyes.
Hua Cheng took his time washing the dried sweat and sickness off his skin, Xie Lian, who is usually so shy, didn’t make a peep except for the ragged echo of his harsh breathing bouncing off the stone of the bathroom as if to amplify what Hua Cheng had done.
He had done this to his most beloved, he didn’t whisk him away fast enough to the sheltered gates of Paradise Manor where no plague could suck the life from Xie Lian and instead indulged him in his mission to save the falling heavenly officials. He should have taken him back when the first choking gasp left that Pei Ming’s lips. He swallowed his own despaired sob, refused to let Xie Lian comfort him when he was suffering greatly.
It was a while until Hua Cheng pulled Xie Lian from the bath, his skin soft and pruney, shuddering in his arms from the shock of cold and breath a steaming puff against Hua Cheng’s throat. He dried and dressed him swiftly, even going so far as to tie his hair back loosely at the nape of his neck so he won’t get tangled in the long strands but can still sleep comfortably. He placed him gently in the futon, where E-Ming and Ruoye were quivering on the tea-table waiting for them. Ruoye didn’t hesitate to slither up its master’s sleeve and curled around his arm and chest like a comforting bandage, covering the poisoned trails that had thankfully stopped in its tracks for the time being. Xie Lian’s breathing was a little lighter, his skin flushed pink from the bath, and warm to the touch. Hua Cheng took his limp hand and kissed it tenderly, traced his lips across the sharp knuckles and left a trail of butterfly kisses across his fingers as he pressed his hand to his forehead with a heaving sigh.
He spent the day tending to Xie Lian, whispering to him gently the moments he was lucid enough to talk, albeit weakly, and let his cool fingers trail across his icy skin, massaging his aching arms and legs, turning him over to place kisses at the nape of his neck and deeply rub his thumbs to his aching spine. Twice in the day he fed him dried mandrake blossoms, crushed to a fine powder and heated into a pale tea for Xie Lian to sip with Hua Cheng supporting both his upper body and the cup.
Evening came when Yin Yu returned with news.
“They caught him,” he said.
Hua Cheng gently pulled the covers up over Xie Lian and placed a kiss on his forehead before turning to face Yin Yu, face dark. “Where?”
“He’s being held in an abandoned temple by Mu Qing, Feng Xin, and Lang Qian Qiu. He’s barely conscious, but-” He cut off his own words when Hua Cheng rose from the futon, E-Ming strapped to his side and a shard of ice in his eye.
“Call He Xuan over, he owes me a favor.”
---
The renown Black Water Sinking Ships was a cold name, a ghost of devastating power that can and will destroy one if prompted to, but thankfully stays in his territory and never goes seeking out chaos like a certain Night Touring Green Lantern. Only one person can draw him from his domain.
“Your debt,” Hua Cheng said simply. “Must be repaid.”
“That doesn’t mean I get to do your dirty work. You have an errand boy, send him,” He Xuan argued.
“I don’t want him needlessly exposed to the foul god’s breath, I’d rather you go and personally torture what I need to know out of him.” He wanted to personally go and tear that god apart starting with each individual fingernail, but he was duty-bound to Xie Lian’s side.
“No thanks.”
“I’ll cut down an eighth of what you owe me.”
He Xuan’s ears twitched at that. “Make it a seventh and you got a deal.”
“No, just go before I add another seventh.”
---
Hua Cheng was full of a buzzing fear like ants crawling under his skin, an icy touch tracing his chest cavity. His Highness was getting worse and by bedtime the blackened veins had sprawled to trace his jaw and down biceps and thighs. His breathing was reduced to a guttural, wet sound broken by weak coughs. He barely had the energy to sit up and take some rice and the mandrake blossoms. Fear gnawed at his limbs and a frozen stake and lodged itself in his chest, narrowly missing his heavy heart. He paced on the other side of the sprawling bedroom, not wanting to disturb Xie Lian with his fidgeting. Every few steps he’ll stop and look toward the futon canvased in sheer silks and glimmering beads that refracted the candlelight and night pearls and diamonds woven in the tapestries imitating the night sky. It would be beautiful sight (it still is), but it was poisoned by Xie Lian’s heaving chest and wet breaths.
There was no way he could sleep. He gave Xie Lian another bath as that seemed to soothe him more than anything, and wrapped him in the softest robes.
It was late into the night when He Xuan returned. He slipped into the bedroom door to Hua Cheng sitting on the futon running a comb through Xie Lian’s hair, Xie Lian fast asleep.
“What did you find?” Hua Cheng asked without looking up from his task.
“There is a cure, but it’ll be hard to reach even for a devastation level like us. There is a mountain range to the far west before the country dissolves where spiritual energy is sucked out into the ground to nourish the trees and flowers,” He Xuan explained. “There is a river that has runoffs from both the Heavenly Court and the ghost realm, the spiritual energy intermingled and the plants growing along the shores are more powerful than the average cultivator due to its nourishments. There is a willow, the oldest of them all, that holds the cure to all…”
Hua Cheng didn’t like the silent “but” to He Xuan’s explanation. He brushed back Xie Lian’s hair into a ribbon and placed the comb on the low table next to him. “What’s the catch?”
“No distance shortening array will reach the spot due to the earth sucking all spiritual power into itself. You must travel by foot.” And his die wouldn’t work at all. Damn.
“How long will it take?”
“The exact location is unknown, but I would hurry before it’s too late.”
With a curt nod, He Xuan let himself out, job done. Hua Cheng rose from the futon and prepared for their journey. There were gods sicker than Xie Lian, who’ll die before he did, but he refused to let Xie Lian suffer another moment.
---
They were off before the sunrise. He packed what he hoped would be plenty of food and medicine for Xie Lian and extra clothes in case he got cold or wet. He almost got a cart but knew he could travel faster on foot than any horse could carry them. He hoisted Xie Lian on his back, placed a veiled bamboo hat over his own head to protect them both from the weather, and drew a fresh distance-shortening array to the foot of the mountain range.
It was wide and sprawling, so far west Hua Cheng rarely traveled here himself and was thus not as familiar with the land as he should be. There was a cold aura on the peaks of the scraping mountains and with the mental map and he swore just stepping out of the array he could feel his own spiritual energy sapping away. He was a (mostly) endless reservoir of energy and it made him nervous knowing Xie Lian had so little to spare in the first place. No matter, he thought, he’ll protect Gege.
The air was temperament, the sky a crisp blue with traces of puffy clouds grazing the heavens. It was a picturesque sight to behold if it weren’t for the literal weight bearing on Hua Cheng’s back.
He Xuan had managed to pull vague directions from the old god and he was told to avoid climbing the mountains themselves as much as he could, and instead stick to the yawning valleys as the higher he climbed the more spiritual energy the land will suck away.
He barely took in this dazzling sight before he took off up the little worn footpath leading into the mountain range. Throughout his journey weaving between the mountains at a rapid, yet smooth pace as to not disturb Xie Lian from his much-needed rest, he never relented, never slowed even for a moment, his boots kicking up dirt and strewn leaves and intimidating every animal that dared to cross his path, even the smallest squirrel. He would have walked all the way to the willow tree in one go if it weren’t for Xie Lian needing to stop and take his medicine and rest.
It was around noon when the sun was highest when Hua Cheng propped up Xie Lian against the base of a golden gingko tree, the forest they were passing through made of nothing but the sprawling yellow trees and their fan-like leaves falling like a gentle snow. Xie Lian took his medicine with ease and blearily blinked up at Hua Cheng.
“Where-where are we?” he asked weakly. The black webs were climbing up his jaw, one nasty looking vein, in particular, dyed the lobe of his left ear.
“Getting you help, please bear with me a little longer, Gege,” Hua Cheng said softly. He leaned in and kissed His Highness on the lips, pouring his already dwindling spiritual power into Xie Lian. He took a shuddering breath and his eyes seemed to clear up, but only a little.
“Gege, how do you feel?” He asked for the umpteenth time.
Xie Lian hummed, not opening his eyes. “Hot, so hot it burns. San Lang-” he cut off with a gasp and a wet cough. His hands flew to his face and he knelt forward, coughing hard into his hands.
“Gege!” Hua Cheng lunged forward and he… he didn’t know what to do. He was at a loss, his own hands too weak to stop this torture and his whole chest twisted in agony with every burning, wet cough.
Red splattered on the ground, falling between Xie Lian’s fingers, his eyes were red with strain and wet with unshed tears. Hua Cheng found himself chanting Xie Lian’s name, his own throat closing up and hands shaking like a dying leaf.
“San-San Lang…” Xie Lian choked out. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”
Don’t comfort me! Hua Cheng wanted to scream. I should be comforting you!
He would never scream at Xie Lian. He wiped his face with a handkerchief and gave him another tender kiss full of spiritual energy.
There was still a mist to his eyes that made it hard for Hua Cheng to see through. The bags were even heavier than the day before, traces of deep shadows and his cheeks were sinking into his skull. Hua Cheng’s heart ached.
They continued after Xie Lian had a brief nap with his head rested in Hua Cheng’s lap under the ginkgo trees. He picked off any leaves that fell on him and kept a steady hand stroking back his sweat-dampened hair. They couldn’t linger long and with a heavy heart, Hua Cheng did his best not to stir Xie Lian as he hoisted him back on his back, arranged the veil to cover Xie Lian, too, and was off again.
He refused to stop unless it was time for Xie Lian’s medicine and a brief nap, or Xie Lian asked if he could lay down on the solid ground for a moment even though Hua Cheng walked as steadily as he could Xie Lian still said he needed to rest on his back (but Hua Cheng knew he thought he was giving Hua Cheng a break). The scenery shifted as they tramped through the knee-high grassy meadow of wildflowers that brushed Xie Lian’s ankles to towering, bleached cypress trees older than either of them swamped with green water where he could see flashes of spotted carp between the ancient roots had Hua Cheng wading through the thigh-deep water, his boots sticking to the mud and doing his best not to let a drop of water fall on Xie Lian. Groves of wisteria trees dripping purple blossoms upon them like a gentle rain and gathered on the top of the bamboo hat had Xie Lian taking deep breaths of the fragrant air, lines of pear trees dead in the season but the sickly sweetness still lingered on the swaying branches, broad expanses of yellowed meadows.
Hua Cheng heart was held in an iron grip, his breath coming out evenly to soothe Xie Lian’s shuddering inhales and exhales, his hands holding the backs of Xie Lia’s thighs were shaking along with Xie Lian’s quivering frame. Fear was pumped through his veins in a constant cycle, circling his head and down to the tips of his fingers and toes. He wanted to cry so, so much but not with Xie Lian pressed fervently to his back in desperate need of a pillar of support. He hasn’t woken up since the breathless wisteria trees and it sent sharp, icy waves splashing at his ears. Steely clouds covered the idyllic blue sky as their journey progressed, a looming threat that threatened with its ominous cover.
Hua Cheng found himself whispering idly to him, hoping he would wake up and give a hm to his words, but there was nothing but the ragged sound of his chest trying to pull air into his weighted lungs and the occasional dribble of blood from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth that Hua Cheng quickly dabbed away and kissed the spot after as if he can dam the flow.
They stopped again at the bank of the river that led to the willow. Left or right, Hua Cheng didn’t know and he didn’t want to waste time wandering the shores to find the correct one. He propped up Xie Lian against the base of a leaning cypress. As if some cruel fate decided Xie Lian hasn’t suffered enough, the steely clouds started to softly snow. Xie Lian’s panting breaths were already coming out in icy puffs and now Hua Cheng was scared he will freeze to death before the plague could kill him.
In the knapsack he packed, he dug out a cloak he brought just for Xie Lian and clasped his around his neck, the white fur of the collar cushioning his sweaty face. If he was awake, he would have protested and asked for Hua Cheng to wear it instead of him. The thought had Hua Cheng gripping the silver clasp tightly, creaking in his shivering fingers. Xie Lian might not be able to feel pain or cold but having him wrapped up in the cloak made him feel better, nor did he know if in his weakened state he could feel the cold but didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to burden Hua Cheng.
While Xie Lian rested against the tree, Hua Cheng went over to the river and traced the rushing water’s surface to try and pinpoint the direction of the willow through the spiritual energy leaking into the water. It was a jumbled mess, an endless mishmash of energy that made Hua Cheng’s head spin, the water sucking even more of his spiritual energy out and for a second he worried he might fade again. He absolutely could not while Xie Lian needed him.
He wiped off his hand on his trousers and went back to Xie Lian, who had curled up in the cloak and his breath sharp against Hua Cheng’s ears. He gently pushed some loose locks of hair out of Xie Lian’s face and tucked it behind his ear then hoisted him on his back again, the bamboo hat offering a shield from the steadily falling snow. A chilled wind blew across the banks and Xie Lian shuddered against his back.
The god Song Qiu had burned to death, Hua Cheng remembered Yin Yu’s explanation. The raging fire of his demise tore through Xie Lian and the other heavenly officials, the cold chill of death traced their skins, the painful toxin of his grudge traced their veins and tainted their godly ichor. This was step one of his awakening and by Xie Lian was he never going to let that happen if this was his plan. No matter how much he despised the other Heavenly Officials (they could rot for all he cared), he would never ever let His Highness suffer ever again.
Is what he promised. Those words rang empty now in the still air, cracked by the river and the ragged breaths of Xie Lian in his ear.
They traveled for hours wandering up the bank of the river, the white noise of the water offered no calm to his anxious heart. The pain of fear had turned into an ache that persisted in to fill his chest in poisonous waves, numb with cold already before the snow had started falling. He could feel the steady dribble of blood drip steadily down his throat and down into the snow-white of his collar bleeding into the crimson of his robes where it blended with the fabric. He wanted to stop and wipe away His Highness’s face but the fact they were so close to the willow made him walk faster, his boots getting caught in the ankle-deep snow and the jingle of his silver bells and ornaments muted by the soft white.
“Gege, Gege, Gege,” he chanted, near deliriously. “Gege, you’ll be okay.”
If he could feel the cold of the snow, he bet frostbite wouldn’t hurt nearly as much as his heart did.
“Xie Lian, please wake up.”
---
After scaling a frozen waterfall, climbing a tree or two to avoid the cliffs, and almost losing his footing on an icy boulder, Hua Cheng felt something he hasn’t felt in a very long time.
Exhaustion.
They’ve been walking for days in the mountain crevices, how many days he never bothered to count the moons that traced the night sky nor the sun that burned the morning dew. Anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and absolute despair chewed at Hua Cheng’s innards the entire way, the prospect of losing Xie Lian due to his own incompetence was making him lose his mind with fright. He was starting to cave. His knees knocked together and his hands were losing their grip on Xie Lian’s thighs, his back bowing with the crushing anxiety. Just a little further, he swore. We’re almost there, we’re almost there, we’re almost there, Gege, we’re almost there.
Only the trickle of blood, still burning hot despite how icy Xie Lian’s skin felt, and the traces of poisoned veins filling his body slowly with its acrid death that has yet to reach the top of his face, tracing his temples and only to the first knuckle of his fingers, confirmed that Xie Lian still had time left. He was still alive, he was still breathing.
His breath would cut out sometimes, his chest ceases the stuttering rise and fall would freeze and Hua Cheng would stop walking, only for a guttural cough to break the spell and his chest would rise once again to intake the freezing cold air into his burning lungs. Hua Cheng had an instinctual clock telling him it’s time to stop and steadily drip the medicine down Xie Lian’s lax throat, wipe away the steady flow of blood from each of his seven orifices. The exact time never mattered, only when it was time to stop and time to go. His collar was completely red even after laying a fresh handkerchief down on his shoulder.
If tears mixed with the crimson on his neck and chest, there was no one to know but him.
A warm breeze wafted past Hua Cheng, breaking him from his dazed stupor as he froze in his steps, nose to the air sniffing out the pure, raw spiritual energy that thawed out the ice around them. He craned his neck to see and within the pure white landscape, he spotted a head of green. The willow!
Hua Cheng picked up his pace to a breathless run, his boots caught in the mid-calf snow hindering his movements and with a grunt of frustration he waved his arm out and a storm of silver butterflies emerged from his vambrace and dissolved the snow from his path. They quickly melted into the bleak sky as soon as their job was done, their lives erode away quickly under the soul-sucking earth they trekked across. His breath was sharp with prickling ice that seemed to coat the inside of his lungs and the blood has long frozen to his neck and chest but with the sudden jostling movement it cracked and flaked off. He ran hard and fast, his exact destination finally within sight and arrived easily to the glorious tree. With a little hop over a frozen stream and dodging under some low hanging icicles dripping from branches, he arrived at the willow.
Not a flake of snow touched its evergreen branches, its sweeping green billowing slightly in the cold breeze, the gentle sway of leaves in the otherwise silent environment pierced only by the river that was slowly freezing over. There was an aura of gold around it, a beacon in the frozen wasteland of pure spiritual energy that called for one to come nearer under its warm canopy. There was not a drop of hostility lingering on a single leaf, only the pale, glowing buds of flowers that sat like summer fireflies amongst its swaying leaves. The ground hidden under its canopy was free of snow, but it still crunched underfoot from the frozen air.
He placed a hand on the warm trunk and felt currents of energy running through the bark and actually felt some of his lost spiritual energy replenished with just a touch from the palm of his hand. There was no other mystical willow tree hanging around so this had to be the one to cure Xie Lian.
There were no instructions except take him to the willow, so Hua Cheng gently laid Xie Lian out against the tree trunk and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The blood had dripped down from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth and stained the front of his robes, the trickling black veins were past his brows, the shadows under his eyes looked like charcoal smeared like ghastly makeup, his face was so sallow Hua Cheng feared he was one step away from becoming a skeleton. He nearly was. He wiped away the drying blood from his cheeks, chin, and neck, placed gentle kisses like he always did and continued to wait.
He sat up straight in front of him, his hands clenched into fists and crumpling his crimson robes. He could still feel the tackiness on his collar from the drying blood, the sharp crunch down further where blood had long dried, the tightness from the frozen tears on his cheeks. He was going to punch this tree over and burn it all down if something didn’t happen now.
As if hearing his silent threat, Xie Lian took a deep, shuddering breath, filling his crumpled lungs with the frigid air and coughed out another mouthful of blood. Hua Cheng leaped forward to wipe it all away, kiss it all away when Xie Lian lurched forward and kept coughing heavily, his frail body shaking with exertion. Hua Cheng muttered soothing words frantically as if Xie Lian could hear him over his rattling, wet, bone-deep coughs. He held up Xie Lian from collapsing into the hardened ground, his hands shaking almost as much as Xie Lian was. Blood was soaking the ground and for a fearful moment, Hua Cheng thought this is the end, this is the end of his God.
He couldn’t see, his vision suddenly clouded and he cursed for he could not see Xie Lian beyond his tears.
Xie Lian choked off and with one last gurgling heave he coughed up a ball of black goop, inky strands clung to his lips and soiled the front of his robes. It hit the icy ground with a sickening splat and Xie Lian gave a few more light coughs to clear his throat. The goop of the curse, the God-Killing Plague dissolved under the touch of the spiritual energy heavy ground, its essence floating away like ash and brushed away as if it was never there by the willow leaves.
“ Xie Lian!” Hua Cheng practically sobbed. “Gege, how are you feeling?”
He helped push Xie Lian back against the bark and with a great sigh of relief, the blackened veins were gone from his skin. Xie Lian blinked blurrily up at Hua Cheng, unable to speak yet as he was still trying to catch his breath.
Instead, he weakly raised a chilled hand to cup the side of Hua Cheng’s face, his thumb stroking under his eye to wipe away his tears. Hua Cheng clasped the hand with his own and pressed his face into his palm, laying tender kisses upon the calloused skin.
“Are you okay?” Xie Lian asked weakly, his voice hoarse.
“I’m more than okay now that you are,” Hua Cheng said, his breath still stuttering under his lips.
“But you weren’t,” Xie Lian said. “You weren’t, were you? Oh, San Lang, I am so sorry.” His other hand rose to cup his other cheek and he weakly pulled Hua Cheng to him and placed the softest, coldest kiss to Hua Cheng’s forehead, a trace of warmth lingered under his lips. “I’m okay, for real this time,” he whispered into his forehead. “ I made you worry so much. Thank you for that, San Lang-” he cut himself short from finishing his sentence. Hua Cheng knew what he was going to say. No one has cared so much for me for so long.
“This was my fault,” Hua Cheng croaked out. “I should have taken you away so you would never have suffered like this, beaten up that god before he could get his despicable curse on you, I should have shielded you, I-”
“Shh, it was never your fault, my San Lang,” Xie Lian soothed. His hands were shaking from exertion against Hua Cheng’s cheeks. He clasped them firmly and brought them both to his lips, placing tender kisses over each of his fingers. Xie Lian continued, “I will never blame you for this, and you should never blame yourself. I am the god of misfortune, I’m used to bad things happening to me.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” Hua Cheng said firmly. He admired Xie Lian’s face, awake now (though his eyes were still drowsy with sleep), his skin still had no color to it, and his lips were still rough and pale, but his breathing was so much easier than it has been in what felt like a lifetime ago, his grip stronger, and he had spoken more than a few broken sentences.
“Thank you, San Lang,” Xie Lian said with that sweet, beautiful smile. “I knew if anyone could save me, save us all, it would be you.”
Hua Cheng grinned, his cheeks aching as it feels like it's been too long since he last genuinely smiled.
---
The after-effects burned Xie Lian’s lungs and throat, his mouth felt like soggy sandpaper with a distinctive copper taste mixed with something bitter like ash. He’s been in and out of consciousness the entire time he was sick but he was not sure how he got from the pale wisteria grove to this snowy wonderland under a green willow, the willow. His body must have shut itself down to preserve what little energy he had left.
And Hua Cheng carried him all the way here.
There was a haggard look to his face, paler than usual and a heavy exhaustion to his eyes, rimmed red with dirty tracks of tears tracing his cheeks. His hair was unkempt and not in the charming, boyish way it usually is, the hemp rope of his bamboo hat was tied taut around his throat where the hat rested on his back, the veil trailing down his back and hanging in the frozen mud under him. Worst of all, blood-soaked his neck and collar, the dried, brown droplets stained the rich crimson of his robes. His blood. Hua Cheng’s tears. It was all for Xie Lian and a twang of something sharp jabbed at Xie Lian’s heart. It ached knowing how much Hua Cheng suffered for his sake. He wanted to kiss those tear tracks away.
Hua Cheng must have noticed his gaze and with a quick wave of his hand the blood caked on his neck was gone, his hair tidied, and the mud on his knees and boots disappeared. There was no trace of crying left on his face.
“Rest a little more, Gege, then we can start heading back,” Hua Cheng said.
“Sit with me,” Xie Lian said, scooting over a bit. “You must be tired, too.”
“Only because Gege asked,” Hua Cheng said and removed the bamboo hat from his back and crawled to plop himself down next to Xie Lian. He wrapped a long arm around Xie Lian’s shoulders and pulled him close. The warmth was slowly seeping back into him, but he was still too weak for the cold. Hua Cheng sighed as he leaned back against the tree, feeling the spiritual energy bleed into him steadily.
“I’m okay,” he confirmed again, for Hua Cheng’s sake, or for his sake, he doesn’t know. “I made you cry. I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t make me do anything.” Hua Cheng laid soft kisses atop Xie Lian’s head, his lips lingering in his scalp before he would place another one. “Let’s not do that again, yeah?”
“Mh!” Xie Lian agreed. He tilted his head up and met Hua Cheng’s lips with his own, kissing him oh so tenderly it washed his aching chest in a fresh, blazing light. His heartbeat full and strong, his cheeks felt warm with the slide of Hua Cheng’s lips and the playful prod of his tongue.
Golden threads of sunshine were breaking through the ironclad sky, the snow dwindling down to the barest flutter of dainty flakes. Through the whispering branches, glowing filaments of morning light traced paths across their faces and the miserable cloud that put a looming shadow over their heads was chased away. Xie Lian didn’t want to move from their cocoon of willow leaves and trailing sunshine kisses just yet, and neither did Hua Cheng as they stayed the remainder of the golden day wrapped up in one another as if it were their last (but it wasn’t, and will never be).