"Crimsin Rain Sought Flower?" Xie Lian asked.
"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince," San Lang replied.
Xie Lian finally turned around with a grin. "That's the first time I've heard you address me like that."
The red-clad youth sat on the mat and propped up a leg, also grinning. "How does it feel?"
Xie Lian gave it a thought and replied truthfully, "It feels…a little different than when others call me by that title."
"Hm? How so?" Hua Cheng asked.
Xie Lian tilted his head, his eyes squinting a little. "It's hard to say, it's just…"
When others called him "Your Highness," some were emotionless and all business, like Ling Wen. But most of the time, when people called him "Your Highness," it was laced with a sense of disdain, like how one would intentionally address an ugly woman as a beauty, somewhat sarcastic.
Yet when Hua Cheng called him "Your Highness," the two words were uttered with grave sincerity. So, while it was hard to describe, Xie Lian felt that when Hua Cheng called him "Your Highness," it was different from when others used that title.
He continued, "That night at Mount Yujun, the groom who whisked me away was you, right?"
Hua Cheng's smile deepened meaningfully, and that made Xie Lian realize his words may have been too ambiguous. He quickly corrected himself.
"I meant, the groom in disguise who led me away was you, right?"
"I wasn't disguising myself as a groom," Hua Cheng replied.
Technically speaking, Hua Cheng wasn't wrong. The young man at the time never said he was the groom or anything; in fact, he didn't say anything at all. He only stopped in front of the marriage sedan and extended his hand. It was Xie Lian who went with him willingly!
"Fine. Then, why did you appear like that?" Xie Lian asked.
"This question only has two possible answers," Hua Cheng said. "First, that I came specifically for Your Royal Highness; second, that I was passing by and was free. Which do you think is more believable?"
Xie Lian counted the number of days Hua Cheng had spent with him and replied earnestly. "Which is more believable I can't say, but you do seem to have a lot of free time."
His entire person and his gaze both circled around Hua Cheng, going back and forth, and after a long while, he said, "You're quite different from what the rumors say."
Hua Cheng changed his sitting position, but with a hand still propping up his cheek, he watched Xie Lian and asked, "Oh? And how did Your Royal Highness figure out that I am Crimson Rain Sought Flower?" The images of that umbrella dripping with blood, that gently clinking silver chain, and those cold silver vambraces filled Xie Lian's mind. He thought, It's not like you were trying very hard to hide yourself.
"Even after all the probing, you gave nothing away, so you must be a supreme. You're dressed all in red like the maples, like blood, and seem to know everything, seem to be capable of everything, and know no fear. And such magnanimity—other than Crimson Rain Sought Flower, who all the heaven officials fear, there didn't seem to be anyone else you could be."
Hua Cheng laughed. "May I take those words as a compliment?"
Can't you tell they're compliments? Xie Lian thought.
"Sparing so many words, how come Your Royal Highness doesn't question my motives in coming close to you?" Hua Cheng asked, his smile curbed somewhat.
"If you didn't want to say anything, and I asked, would you tell? Or you might not tell me the truth," Xie Lian said.
"That's not necessarily true," Hua Cheng said. "Besides, you can always kick me out."
Xie Lian replied, "You're so powerful. Even if I kicked you out now, if you really wanted to do something bad, wouldn't you just change your skin and come back?"
The two met eyes and grinned. Suddenly, a small knocking noise broke the temporary silence in the shrine. They looked to where the sound came from and there wasn't anyone, only that small, black clay pot rolling on the ground.
It was the same pot Banyue was tucked in. Xie Lian had casually placed it next to the mat, but somehow it had tipped itself over and rolled to the door. Blocked by the wooden door built by Hua Cheng, it started hitting the door by rolling into it repeatedly. Xie Lian was worried it might break itself, so he opened the door, and the little clay pot rolled into the grass field outside.
Xie Lian followed behind it and saw that once the little clay pot made it to the grass field, it stood itself up. Even if it was only a pot, it gave the impression that it was gazing at the night sky.
Hua Cheng also emerged from the shrine, and Xie Lian called out to the pot. "Banyue, are you awake?"
Thankfully, when they returned from the Gobi it was already deep into the night; otherwise, if anyone had seen Xie Lian ask a pot how it was doing, they would probably make a huge fuss again.
A moment later, the sulky voice of a girl came from the pot. "General Hua."
Xie Lian sat down next to it. "Banyue, have you rolled out here to stargaze? Why don't you come out?"
Hua Cheng was leaning against a tree next to them and said, "She only just left the Banyue ruins. Probably best if she stays in there for a while longer."
After all, Banyue had stayed in Banyue for two hundred years, and the sudden change of environment might be hard to adjust to. Xie Lian said, "Then you'd best stay in there for a while longer and heal. This is where I train, so you don't have to worry about anything else."
The pot shook twice as if trying to say something. After chewing on his words, Xie Lian said, "Banyue, the incident this time actually didn't concern you. Your scorpion-snakes were…"
"General Hua, I couldn't move at the time, but I heard everything," Banyue said.
Xie Lian was taken aback. Only then did he learn that Pei Xiu only sealed Banyue's movement, not her senses. "Just as well."
If she heard everything, it was just as well.
The clay pot asked, "General Hua, what will happen to General Pei Junior?"
Xie Lian crossed his arms in his sleeves. "I don't know. But wrongdoings will always be punished."
Another moment of silence, the pot shook twice, and Xie Lian finally understood that the shaking was a nod in agreement.
"General Pei Junior is actually not a bad person," Banyue said.
"Is that right?"
"Mm," Banyue replied. "He's helped me before."
Somehow, many more memories suddenly came back to Xie Lian.
Banyue often received beatings, and in the words of the other Yong'an children, she bore a face that "asked for it."
It took a long time after Xie Lian met her before he learned of this, since no matter how many beatings Banyue received, she wouldn't tell anyone. It wasn't until one day, when Xie Lian saw a group of children pressing her face into the mud, that he learned where all those bruises on her face came from.
But when he asked her about it some time afterward, she only remembered that she had to wash the handkerchief from the boy who pulled her out of the mud pit before she returned it, and nothing else.
She remembered none of the ones who beat her. But the ones who saved her once, she remembered for a lifetime.
Banyue continued, "Although Kemo always said scornfully that I had my mind possessed, that I had been completely used, whether General Pei Junior used me or not, I know it was my own will to open the city gates."
Xie Lian didn't know what to say anymore, but he could feel some part of his heart soften. A moment later, he patted that clay pot. "All right, it's all in the past. Oh, by the way. Banyue, the name Hua Xie is fake, and I haven't been a general for a long time. You don't have to keep calling me General Hua."
"Then how should I address you?" Banyue asked.
That was actually a good question. If Banyue called him "Your Highness" seriously, it'd feel weird. Xie Lian didn't really care about his address either, he just wanted to change the subject.
"That's up to you. I suppose it's okay if you keep calling me General Hua."
Only, there was another here with the surname Hua, so that might cause some confusion. But then he thought, "Hua Xie" was a fake name he took from the first word of the title "Flower-Crowned Martial God," so "Hua Cheng" may very well be a fake name too. That they both coincidentally picked the same word, "flower," for a surname was rather interesting.
"I'm sorry, General Hua," Banyue said again.
Xie Lian turned back to look at her and said woefully, "Banyue, why are you always apologizing to me?" Did he really look that sorry to people?
From within the pot, Banyue declared, "I want to save the common people."
"…" Xie Lian was speechless.
"General Hua, you said that once," Banyue said.
"???" Xie Lian was speechless and confused.
He quickly pressed down on the clay pot. "Wait, hold on a sec!"
"Wait for what?" Banyue asked.
Xie Lian snuck a glimpse at Hua Cheng, who was still leaning against the tree with his arms crossed, and said in a low voice, "Did I really say that?"
That was his favorite saying when he was only ten-something years old. In the many centuries thereafter, he shouldn't have uttered those words at all, so hearing them so suddenly made it difficult to accept.
However, Banyue was firm. "General, those were your words."
Xie Lian still wanted to argue. "I don't think so…"
Banyue told him sternly and coldly, "Oh, no, you did say them. There was a time when you asked us all what we wanted to do when we were older. Everyone answered, and afterward you said, 'My dream since I was little was to save the world, the common people.'"
"…"
So that was it. "Um. Banyue. Why would you remember something so clearly said completely randomly?!"
Banyue was confused. "Randomly? But General Hua, I thought those words were said very earnestly."
Xie Lian gazed up at the night sky, feeling helpless. "Ha ha…really? Maybe. I don't remember whatever else I might have said."
"You also said, 'Do what you think is right!'" Banyue told him. "'Nothing can block your way!' 'Even if you fall in the mud a hundred times, you must get up with determination!' And a lot more similar sayings."
"Pfft."
He didn't need to look back to know that it was definitely Hua Cheng under the tree who laughed at that.
Even smothering the pot now wouldn't help. Xie Lian thought, What…nonsense! Why did I keep saying those kinds of things…? I'm nothing like that…am I?!
"But I don't know what's right anymore," Banyue said.
Xie Lian froze at those words.
"I wanted to do as General Hua said and save the people," Banyue continued. "But in the end, I destroyed the Kingdom of Banyue."
Her voice was lost. "And it seemed that no matter what I did…the results were all horrible. General Hua, I know I didn't do things right, but can you tell me, where did I go wrong? How can I do as you said and…save the common people?"
"…" Xie Lian replied, "I'm sorry, Banyue. How to save the world, the common people…I didn't know the answer to that question back then, and even now I still don't."
Banyue was silent for a moment, then said dejectedly, "General Hua, to be honest, it feels like for the past two hundred years, I've had no idea what I'm doing. I'm such a failure."
Hearing her, Xie Lian became more depressed, thinking, Doesn't that make me even more of a failure? And I've lived for eight hundred years too…
Xie Lian left the little ghost Banyue in the pot to stargaze alone and calm down. He went back inside Puqi Shrine with Hua Cheng.
After closing the door, Xie Lian suddenly spoke up. "Banyue remained at Banyue Pass willingly. It wasn't because she became a wrath that she was trapped there."
She always remembered that it was she who opened the city gates and had never given any excuse, like saying she was doing it for the people. It was to help the Banyue soldiers vent their resentment, so they could leave this world sooner, that she allowed Kemo to lead them to murder her over and over.
Xie Lian shook his head. "If General Pei Junior really didn't want to leave those Banyue soldiers behind and also didn't want the heavens to find out, he could have easily sent a clone to secretly descend and take care of them. Why did he do it this way instead?"
"Clones don't have the same amount of power," Hua Cheng said. "You saw how Pei Xiu's clone A-Zhao was? He couldn't take care of so many Banyue soldiers, so feeding them the living was the fastest and easiest way to disperse their resentment."
"Why did it have to be so fast?" Xie Lian wondered.
"Maybe it's so little Banyue wouldn't have to hang so painfully as many times," Hua Cheng replied.
Xie Lian was silent for a moment. "But what about the mortals?"
Hua Cheng replied quietly, "They're heavenly officials. Mortals are nothing but ants in their eyes. Pei Xiu is a classic highly ranked god. As long as no one found out, killing a few hundred people is no different than stomping a few hundred insects to death."
Xie Lian glanced at him and recalled that when San Lang jumped into the Sinner's Pit, he wiped out all the Banyue soldiers in a flash. He turned to him and said, "Clones don't have the same amount of power? I see your clone is pretty powerful."
Hua Cheng arched his brow. "It would be, but I'm the real thing."
Xie Lian turned to look at him, somewhat surprised. "Eh? This is your true form?"
"One hundred percent authentic," Hua Cheng declared.
If anything must be blamed, it would have to be the look on Hua Cheng's face, like he was welcoming Xie Lian to test it out himself. Without thinking, Xie Lian raised a finger and poked Hua Cheng's face.
After poking, Xie Lian snapped back to himself in shock, yelping Oh no! in his head.
He was only curious to see what a supreme Ghost King's fake skin would feel like, but apparently, his body moved faster than his mind and poked him! How extremely outrageous of him!
To have someone suddenly poke him, Hua Cheng looked somewhat shocked too, but he was always calm and collected, so his expression cleared instantly. He didn't say anything, but his arched brow raised even higher, as if waiting for Xie Lian to explain. The laughter in his eyes was apparent. Of course Xie Lian couldn't explain himself. He looked at his own finger then hid it away, betraying nothing of his thoughts.
"…Not bad."
Hua Cheng finally burst out laughing, and he crossed his arms with his head tilted. "What's not bad? Do you mean this skin?"
"Yeah, it's quite good," Xie Lian said sincerely. "But…"
"But what?" Hua Cheng asked.
Xie Lian stared at his face and studied it for a moment. Then finally said, "But can I see your real face?"
Since he said "this skin," that meant that while this body was his true form, the skin wasn't his real one, and this appearance was not his true face.
This time, Hua Cheng didn't respond immediately and dropped his arms. Maybe it was all in Xie Lian's head, but Hua Cheng's eyes dimmed a little, and Xie Lian's heart tightened despite himself.
When the air froze, Xie Lian knew his question may have crossed the line.
Although for the past few days the two of them had gotten along well, that didn't mean they were so close that he could make this type of request. Without waiting for his response, Xie Lian quickly smiled.
"I was just asking; don't take it to heart."
Hua Cheng closed his eyes, and a moment after, he smiled softly. "I'll let you see it someday, if there's a chance."
If anyone else said that, it'd naturally be perfunctory. "Someday" usually meant "please forget it." But it was Hua Cheng who said it, so Xie Lian felt that "someday" meant "someday," and it would surely happen. That made him even more curious, and he grinned.
"Then I'll wait till the day you feel it's okay to show me. Let's rest for now."
After bustling about for half the night, Xie Lian had long since tossed the idea of cooking to the back of his mind and returned to lying on the straw mat. Hua Cheng also lay down next to him. No one bothered questioning why, after coming clean about their identities, a god and a ghost could still lie together on a crappy mat, laughing and chatting.
The straw mat didn't have pillows, so Hua Cheng used his arms, and Xie Lian imitated him in pillowing his head on his arms too. He mentioned casually, "The Ghost Realm seems so idle. Don't you guys ever need to report back to anyone?"
Hua Cheng not only used his arms as a pillow, but he propped his leg up too. He replied, "Report to whom? I'm the biggest one there is. Besides, we all mind our own business, no one bothers anyone."
So the Ghost Realm was made up of many disorganized bands of lost souls and feral ghosts. Xie Lian replied, "Is that so? I thought it'd be like the Upper Court, with a central government. If it's like that, have you met any other ghost kings before?"
"I have," Hua Cheng said.
"Even Green Ghost Qi Rong?"
"You mean that lowly, vulgar trash?"
Well, what do I say to that? Xie Lian thought. Yes? No?
Thankfully, he didn't need to say anything, as Hua Cheng continued, "I greeted him, and he ran away."
Xie Lian had a hunch that this "greeting" couldn't have been your regular sort of greeting. Sure enough, Hua Cheng said casually, "And then I received the moniker 'Crimson Rain Sought Flower.'"
"…"
So before, when he mentioned wiping out the lair of another ghost, he was talking about Green Ghost Qi Rong, and this "greeting" was carnage. What an extraordinary greeting, Xie Lian thought, rubbing his chin.
"Do you have something against the Green Ghost Qi Rong?"
"Yeah," Hua Cheng replied.
"What's that?"
"Can't stand his face."
Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, thinking, Did you challenge those thirty-three heavenly officials because you also didn't like their faces?
"The officials of the Upper Court all call him vulgar, and even the Ghost Realm scorns him. Is that true?"
"It's true. Even Black Water is disgusted with him," Hua Cheng replied.
"Who's Black Water?" Xie Lian asked, then recalled, "Oh, is that the one called 'Ship-Sinking Black Water'?"
"That's right. He's also known as the Black Water Demon Xuan."
Xie Lian remembered that this Black Water Demon Xuan was also a supreme, but Green Ghost Qi Rong was only almost a supreme and just there for the headcount. He asked, interested, "Are you close with this Demon Xuan?"
"No," Hua Cheng replied lazily. "There aren't many in the Ghost Realm I'm close with."
Now Xie Lian was amazed. "Is that so? I thought you'd have many subordinates. Maybe our definition of 'close' is different?"
Hua Cheng quirked his brow. "Yeah. In the Ghost Realm, those lower than supreme have no right to speak to me."
It was an exceedingly arrogant statement, but Hua Cheng made it sound so indisputable and self-evident. Xie Lian smiled softly.
"You have it pretty good in the Ghost Realm. It's only so big, not like the heavens. I can barely remember the heavenly officials in the Upper Court, and there are many more waiting to ascend in the Middle Court; it's like an ocean of names."
"What good is it to remember them? Don't bother. It's a waste of your brain," Hua Cheng said.
"Ha ha, it's kind of offensive if you can't remember their names." The heavenly officials loved their reputations.
Hua Cheng clicked his tongue. "If they can be offended by such a small thing, then they're nothing but narrow-minded trash."
After chatting that much, Xie Lian didn't want to dig too deeply into the subject lest they touch on something sensitive, so he changed the topic away from the differences between the two realms.
He glanced at the closed wooden door and wondered, "Banyue, that child, I wonder when she'll come back in."
The bold words "I want to save the common people" returned and reverberated in his head, pouring a mess of images in his mind, and Xie Lian had to forcibly push them down.
Just then, Hua Cheng spoke up. "Those were good words."
"Which ones?" Xie Lian asked.
"'I want to save the world, the common people,'" Hua Cheng replied leisurely.
"…"
Xie Lian was thunderstruck.
He flipped over and curled into a shrimp, wishing for another pair of arms so he could cover both his face and his ears. He groaned, "…San Lang…"
Hua Cheng seemed to have nudged closer and deadpanned right behind him, "Hm? What's wrong with those words?"
Hua Cheng wouldn't back down and Xie Lian couldn't win against him, so he flipped back over and said helplessly, "It's silly."
"What's there to be afraid of?" Hua Cheng said. "To dare speak of the people of the world, whether to save or to destroy them, is admirable. The former is harder than the latter, so it's even more respectable."
Xie Lian shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "If you dare to speak, you have to be able to follow through and actually achieve it."
He laid an arm over his eyes. "Oh, all right. I suppose that's nothing. What Banyue said was already pretty good. I've said sillier things when I was even younger."
Hua Cheng laughed. "Oh? Like what? Let's hear it."
Xie Lian was pensive for a moment, and he smiled softly as he chased his memories. "Many, many years ago, there was someone who told me they couldn't live on anymore. They asked me for the reason they were alive and what was the meaning of their life."
He glanced at Hua Cheng. "Do you know how I answered?"
It might have just been Xie Lian's imagination, but there seemed to be light in Hua Cheng's eyes. He asked softly, "How did you answer?"
Xie Lian said, "I told them, 'If you don't know how to live on anymore, then live for me! If you don't know the meaning of your life, then make me that meaning, and use me as your reason to live.'"
"Ha ha ha…"
As Xie Lian spoke, he couldn't help but let out a small laugh and shook his head. "Even now I don't understand what I was thinking back then. How did I ever have the courage to tell someone to make me the meaning of their life?"
Hua Cheng was silent, and Xie Lian continued. "It really was something that could only have been said back then. Long ago, I really thought I was invincible and fearless. If you asked me to say the same words now, there is no way they would ever leave my lips again."
Xie Lian continued slowly, "I don't know what happened to that person afterward. But to become someone's reason to live is already a heavy responsibility. How dare I speak of the world?"
Silence blanketed Puqi Shrine.
After a while, San Lang said quietly, "Something like saving the common people, it really doesn't matter how you do it. But, although brave, it's foolish."
"Yeah," Xie Lian agreed.
Hua Cheng continued, "Although foolish, it's brave."
"…"
Xie Lian grinned. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Hua Cheng said.
The two stared at the holey ceiling of Puqi Shrine in amiable silence, and Hua Cheng spoke up again after a while.
"You know, Your Highness, we've only known each other for a few days. Is it all right for you to say so much to me?"
"Well," Xie Lian huffed, "what's the problem? Whatever. Those who have known each other for decades can become strangers in a day. We met by chance, and we may part by chance. If we like each other, then we shall continue to meet; if we don't, then we shall part. At the end of the day, there's no banquet in the world that doesn't come to an end, so let's take it easy, and I'll say what I want to say."
Hua Cheng seemed to have chuckled, then suddenly he said, "If."
Xie Lian turned his head to face him. "If?"
Hua Cheng didn't turn around but continued to stare at the dilapidated ceiling of the shrine, and Xie Lian could only see this handsome young man's left profile.
Hua Cheng said softly, "If I was ugly."
"Huh?" Xie Lian gaped.
Hua Cheng finally turned his head slightly. "If my true appearance is ugly, would you still want to see it?"
Xie Lian was taken aback. "Is it? Although there's no real reason, I never thought your true appearance would be too horrible-looking."
"Who knows?" Hua Cheng said, half-jokingly. "What if I'm discolored, disfigured, ugly, monstrous, and horrible. What will you do?"
At first, Xie Lian thought this line of inquiry was rather fascinating. So the overlord of the Ghost Realm, the one called the devil incarnate and feared by all in the heavens, would care about his looks? But when he thought about it deeply, he didn't think it was very funny anymore.
He vaguely recalled, in the many rumored backstories of Hua Cheng, one said that he was a disfigured child from birth, or something along those lines. If that was true, then he must've grown up discriminated against by others. Maybe that was why he was particularly sensitive about his appearance.
Thus, Xie Lian chewed on his words. "Well…"
He used his warmest, most sincere voice. "To be honest, the reason I want to see your true appearance is only because, you see, we're already like this…"
"Hm?" Hua Cheng piped up. "Like what?"
"…Well, we're sort of friends now, right? So if we're friends, then we should be honest with each other. My wanting to see your true appearance has nothing to do with how you look. You asked what I would do, but of course I won't do anything. Don't worry, as long as it's your real face, I'm sure I'll… Why are you laughing? I'm being serious."
When Xie Lian reached the last part, he could feel the youth next to him shaking. He froze for a moment at first, and thought, Are my words so moving that he's touched like this? and was too embarrassed to turn around to see. But after a while, the soft laughter from next to him very obviously leaked out. Xie Lian felt rather deflated and placed a hand on his shoulder to give it a little push.
"San Lang…why are you laughing so much? Did I say something wrong?"
Hua Cheng immediately stopped shaking and turned around. "No, you're very right."
Xie Lian felt even more deflated at those words. "You're so insincere…"
"I promise, you won't find another person more sincere than me in this world," Hua Cheng replied.
Xie Lian didn't want to talk anymore and flipped over, his back facing Hua Cheng. "Forget it, time to sleep. Don't talk."
Hua Cheng chuckled again, then said, "Next time."
Even though he was determined to sleep, hearing Hua Cheng speak, Xie Lian couldn't resist replying, "What's next time?"
Hua Cheng whispered, "The next time we meet, I will use my true appearance to greet you."
There was much to ponder about those words, and Xie Lian should've kept questioning him. But after a long night, an unstoppable drowsiness overtook him, and he couldn't hang on, falling into a deep slumber.
The next morning, when Xie Lian woke, the spot next to him was already empty.
He scrambled to get up and walked around the shrine in a daze. When he opened the door, there were no figures to be seen outside. It seemed like it was true. The youth had indeed left.
However, the fallen leaves had been swept into a pile, and next to that pile stood a small clay pot. Xie Lian took the pot inside and placed it on the altar. Right then, he suddenly noticed that there seemed to be something extra on his usually bare chest.
He raised his hand to touch it, and found just below the cursed collar there was an exceedingly thin chain, hanging loose and light.
Xie Lian immediately removed it from his neck. Turned out it was a silver chain, so thin and light that he hadn't felt anything on him before. And dangling from the chain, there was a crystal-clear ring.