Both Song Cheng and Bai Hua squatted on the temple floor. Softly, Bai Hua knocked at where the sound came from.
It seemed somewhat hollow. Bai Hua's nose crinkled up, making him look like a child.
Song Cheng unsheathed Lan Tian, ready to pierce open the ground but Bai Hua spoke,
"Huh. There must be an entrance...." he spoke, moving his hand on the ground, finally moved towards the rug on the floor, used to kowtow. He lifted it up and added "...right here."
Song Cheng looked at it carefully. The surface was somewhat uneven, a small square highlighted on the temple ground.
BANG! The sound came again from behind them.
Could it be that Qin Su and Yuan Jin had been trapped inside?
"Qin Su? Is it you? Lord Yuan Jin?" He called but he couldn't hear a response.
"It seems that somebody already sealed this passage. There must be another way." Bai Hua spoke, after studying the passage for a moment.
Song Cheng couldn't help but wonder about Bai Hua's sword but did not question.
Song Cheng looked around and his feet walked him back to the painting of Qing Fuhua.
"Does Xiao ge see something?" Bai Hua asked, catching up.
"I just have this feeling about this painting. In this room, this is the only unusual thing. The flower lay here, just below this painting. That means the last thing that they did was look at this painting." Song Cheng spoke, still looking at it.
Bai Hua didn't respond but nod in agreement.
Strangely, Song Cheng was right. Indeed the painting was unusual. Suddenly, two tiny red dots appeared under Qing Fuhua's eyes.
Soon, they began to flow down, making it look like tears but bloody.
"What is....." Song Cheng murmured as he touched the crimson streak, and in the blink of and eye, he vanished.
Dissappeared into thin air!
Song Cheng felt like something had sucked his whole body dry. His head spinned and he didn't know what was going on.
He didn't know where he was but it was pitch black.
BANG! He heard the sound again as something flew past him and hit the wall behind him, with these words following,
"-YOU FUCKING COWARD!" It was Qin Su's voice!
Before Song Cheng could call his name, he bumped into something tall and rigid.
Perhaps it was a temple pillar.
Song Cheng moved his hand to analyse it but his hands landed on flesh, on a chest that had a soft rythmic heartbeat and then on a soft neck. Song Cheng panicked and immediately pulled his hand back. It was a person. His hand immediately flew to Lan Tian's hilt.
"Xiao ge, it's me." The person spoke.
Hearing the familiar voice, Song Cheng relaxed.
Soon, a flame lighted up in Bai Hua's palm, enlighting the surroundings.
Although they were surely under the temple, the structure beneath looked exactly like the one above. Except, the walls now had various paintings of Qing Fuhua instead of Ling Rui. There were jade bells and chimes hung from the ceiling.
In a distance, two sillehoutes could be made out.
"WHO ARE YOU? YOU FUCKERS!" Qin Su yelled as he flung something towards the two.
Song Cheng's head would've been hit by it if Bai Hua hadn't caught the object of violence.
In the palm light, it turned to be shoe.
"Qin Su! Lord Yuan Jin!" Song Cheng spoke, as he rushed towards the two along with Bai Hua.
"Gen...Song?" Yuan Jin's ears perked up.
Bai Hua finally threw the palm flame up towards the ceiling. As Bai Hua locked it with his hands, the flame locked itself as well, in a circle at the ceiling, lighting the temple.
Amidst the temple stood a huge statue of Qing Fuhua. It definitely looked nothing like the Qing Fuhua Song Cheng knew. The woman in the heaven had the appearance of a young and charming lady, her long hair braided finely but this statue looked more of that of a seductress than a goddess.
The other peculiar thing Song Cheng noticed was that the statue had two streaks running out of it's eyes. It wasn't anything else but dried blood.
"Song Cheng! Master...Bai Hua? How did you two end up here?" Qin Su asked.
"Since you're here first, how did you disappear?" Bai Hua asked.
"We were looking at that strange painting. When suddenly out of Fuhua Ji--, Lord Fuhua's eyes, bloody tears began to flow. I only touched it and we were caught here." Yuan Jin explained, addressing Fuhua formally, to avoid Bai Hua's questions.
Song Cheng was relieved atleast Yuan Jin didn't blow their cover yet.
"It seems that the painting is bound with dark cultivation. Whenever one touches the painting, the dark spell is completed, transporting one here." Song Cheng concluded.
"Master Hua, it seems that this Qing Fuhua temple wasn't destroyed at all. But another temple was built over it. It certainly makes no sense." He added.
"Surely to suppress the dark energy here, it would make sense." Bai Hua spoke.
"Lord Yuan Jin, let me ask you something. Ling Rui and Lord Fuhua, what is the relationship between them?" Song Cheng asked.
"Does this young lord know about it?" Bai Hua raised his brows.
"Ah I know. I'm-m a heavenly scholar. Before coming to the Palace of the Flower God, Ling Rui served in the Palace of Qing Fuhua." Yuan Jin spoke, rubbing his head.
Song Cheng wanted to laugh. There was no way Yuan Jin could be a heavenly scholar. Mortals who had crammed the heaven and it's will in and out were titled heavenly scholars. Besides their wits, they were highly skilled in spiritual arts as well.
"Why was Ling Rui removed from the Palace of Qing Fuhua?" Song Cheng questioned.
"I don't know." Yuan Jin spoke.
"I thought this lord was a heavenly scholar." Bai Hua spoke suddenly, and after a pause he added, "Envy."
"Can Master Bai Hua speak with clarity?" Qin Su spoke, "And why does this deity not carry his spiritual sword today?"
"Ye Chuan doesn't like visiting temples. And as for the reason Ling Rui was sent to the Flower God Palace is envy. Ling Rui being the number one heavenly maiden has always assisted Qing Fuhua to deliver her will. But people began worshipping Ling Rui instead of Qing Fuhua. Like this, there are only fifty temples of Qing Fuhua so far." Bai Hua spoke.
"Master Hua is saying that since it was difficult to get rid of the number one heavenly maiden without reason, to transfer her was the only option?" Song Cheng concluded.
"Xiao ge is sure smart. Not only this, but the Flower God rarely has a will, and hence it would keep Ling Rui in the heavens for a while until Qing Fuhua can gain her spot again." Bai Hua spoke.
"Wait. How can you be so sure that Lord Fuhua purposely transferred Ling Rui?" Yuan Jin asked, confused.
"This is just one of our conjectures. There could be another possibility, but this is most likely it." Bai Hua reasoned.
"I'm curious, how does Master Bai Hua know so much?" Qin Su asked, eyeing Bai Hua meekly.
Bai Hua walked over to Qin Su and chuckled lightly.
"Master Qin Su, isn't it you Heavenly Guardians who always tell us to follow the heaven and it's will?" Bai Hua spoke.
Hearing his words, the temple grounds fell into a dead silence.
Qin Su opened his mouth, as if to speak something but shut it quickly, deciding against it.
Song Cheng furrowed his brows. He wasn't so surprised, afterall Bai Hua was a deity with his own spiritual powers, it wouldn't have been so difficult for him to find out but Song Cheng wondered how he had actually found out.
"Well, it's not as difficult to guess. This Flower God reeks of heavenly power everywhere he walks. At first I was just suspicious but after Xiao ge showed me the flower left by him in the temple, of course I found out." Bai Hua added, explaining.
Suddenly, a soft noise of footsteps echoed in the temple. Bai Hua quickly withdrew the fire seal and extinguished it.
"Black clothed gege and flower gege, where do you hide?
Look I've brought you friends to play, now we can play together." A voice rang through the dark.
It was the voice of young girl, followed by giggles.
She repeated the same words over and again in a song.
The voice seemed to come from every direction and it was hard to find the source.
Song Cheng unsheathed Lan Tian while Qin Su swung his sword Hei Ying, as Yuan Jin held onto his forearm for dear life.
"Don't you all want to play, huh?" The voice asked again, giggling along.
"Xiao ge, lock your senses." Bai Hua spoke softly next to Song Cheng's ears.
Song Cheng understood his motive, and nodded as he closed his eyes, surrendered his breath and listened to the voice still giggling.
Although the voice echoed equally around, it seemed to echo the least in one direction, from behind the statue of Qing Fuhua.
Song Cheng opened his eyes.
"It's behind the statue" he whispered to Bai Hua.
"Xiao ge's sword can take it?" Bai Hua whispered next to Song Cheng's ears, blowing his soft hair almost over his face.
"I believe." Song Cheng responded.
Although they were mere mortals now, but in the mortal world Song Cheng had cultivated immensely and he had some powers back then.
Even though he was unsure if those powers could be used now or how much of them was left inside but he'd sure try.
Song Cheng closed his eyes and focused on his spiritual core, as if drawing in all his life force around it. With Lan Tian in his hand, the sword suddenly blazed up a radiant blue as Song Cheng sent it flying forward towards the voice.
Something else, with a dazzling white light also left Song Cheng's side in the same direction.
He looked at Bai Hua, who had just directed what seemed like a whip towards their target, overflowing with spiritual powers.
"What....is that?" Yuan Jin spoke, dumbfounded.
"Hua Shou is sometimes a great help." Bai Hua spoke, addressing the whip.
The blue and the white circled the statue of Fuhua and struck something behind it, followed by a loud high pitched scream.
The four rushed to the source of the sound as Bai Hua put the flame seal over the ceiling again. Under the bright light, Lan Tian had already stuck the little girl in the shoulder, while Hua Shou was bound around her waist.
The girl seemed young, but her face was filthy and her red dress was torn around her legs. It was the same girl Song Cheng had seen in the temple a while ago, praying with the crippled lady.
The girl screemed and kicked in the air endlessly, trying to break free.
"Gen-eral Song! This little girl...if Lord Zhang Yue knew you harmed a mortal-" Yuan Jin spoke, panic rushing through his body.
"Shut it. Stop chanting Zhang Yue's name. Can't you see....this little one is a ghost?" Qin Su hushed him.
Hearing the word ghost, Yuan Jin jumped a step back.
The three looked at him for a minute.
"Flower God, don't be such a coward. It can't harm you with that Heavenly power on you." Bai Hua spoke, his nose crinkling up again.
"LET...ME...GO! LET GO!" The little ghost girl cried.
Since Hua Shou held the little ghost, Song Cheng withdrew Lan Tian back.
"Little ghost, why don't you tell us why you bring us here?" Bai Hua squatted next to the ghost and asked.
"My mama told me that I can play with geges. Let.... go.....let go...me!!" The little ghost girl spoke in a shrill manner.
"Let her be, She's harmless." Song Cheng spoke to Bai Hua and he nodded, taking away Hua Shou off the ghost girl's body.
"Little girl, I won't harm you. Is your mama here?" Song Cheng asked.
The little ghost girl nodded, as she stood up next to Song Cheng. Then, she pointed at the statue of Qing Fuhua.
"Mama." She spoke.
For a moment, the four couldn't understand why she called Qing Fuhua's statue her mother but suddenly under the fire light, a female figure caught Song Cheng's eyes.
Standing on the head of the statue was a middle aged woman wearing a golden robe. Her hair were made like a noble lady's and standing over the statue, she seemed fierce.
It was the same woman Song Cheng had seen in the temple, with this child. Only now, she didn't have crippled legs. She was very finely, standing upright.
Although the little girl was a ghost, he was very much sure that this lady was human.
"Jingjing!" The lady called from above and little ghost girl went flying towards her, hiding behind her legs.
"Finally here you are, you useless God of Flowers!" The lady spoke.
"F.....father?" The little ghost girl chimed.
***