Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Supreme ghost kings, as records show, are the result of a natural disaster. They are born from the smoldering ashes of a volcanic eruption, the times between their birth varying from a few decades to centuries, even millennias.

Currently, only two of the Four Great Calamities meet the criteria for being listed as a supreme. They were the only ones with recorded births. But it remains unknown where exactly the very first originated from.

The first calamity, a ghost wandering the mortal realm in mourning clothes, a monster whose face and name has remained unknown for over 800 years. Where exactly had he come from?

It was truly a mystery.

When had the famed volcano of legends erupted in such a way that such a horrific creature could remain after so long? What tragedy had befallen the land?

Was it a plague filled war like the second?

Was it a horrific weather phenomena like the third?

Or was it created out of mortal fear?

Perhaps it was none.

Perhaps, the calamity dressed in white was simply a creature that has existed for all of time.

Perhaps it was the universe's way of balancing the three realms.

If the world suffers enough, a calamity is born, that is the rule. So maybe…

Just maybe…

The white clothed calamity was created by the heavens itself, to punish the gods that did not follow the rules.

To punish the gods that adhered to their roles.

Maybe the white clothed calamity was a god itself. There are no existing records to confirm, nor deny.

Though, what has remained starkly clear is that the white clothed calamity does not wish for peace or balance.

No.

The white clothed calamity has an enemy. And when this particular calamity has an enemy, it stops at nothing to tear it from the sky and devour its prey, mind, body and soul.

Unfortunately, it seems that the enemy of this era is the heavenly realm itself.

____________

A soft string of smoke twirled into the air, wafting a jasmine fragrance across the room. The walls were lined with scrolls, many looking as if they were on the verge of decomposition. The tarnished, yellowing spirals were framed with tattered leather bindings enclosing more of the decaying parchment.

They were fragile.

They were forbidden.

Documentation on the taboo topics of the heavens. Topics that shouldn’t be anywhere but the palace of divine might. But that's okay, only three people were allowed in this room. The room that was dimly lit by glowing balls of light. Not too bright. The papers here were too delicate for that. Other than the shelves, there was only a desk stained by spills of cinnabar, and littered with scrunched up parchment pushed between crystal paperweights and piles of calligraphy brushes.

Those were the only decorations the room had. There was nowhere else to sit, not that anyone except the owner of this palace would dare to sit down in here.

At the moment, only two people were occupying this room.

One was stiff as a board, looking as if even a minutely heavy breath could turn his surroundings to dust.

The other was carefully rewriting what remained of one of the tattered scrolls, half defiled by time itself.

“My Lord, what shall we do?” Wen Yazhu had repeated this question roughly fifty times since he had reported their current situation, which was only a few hours ago. Since then the Junior official had worked himself into quite a state of worry, nervously tapping his foot on the ground, too paranoid to even begin pacing. Not that it was unjustified in the slightest, anyone would worry after what had just been discovered.

It's just- the palace of He Xuan was filled with- well, a colony of empaths.

When one of them began to worry, all of them began to worry. And as a result, the palace of the second most prominent Civil God was filled with disarray.

Wen Yazhu couldn’t be blamed, any of the other juniors would be in similar, if not worse states. He was actually maintaining himself particularly well, but that would be expected from any of the palace deputies. Though Wen Yazhu was the most senior of his deputies, so being seen in such a state would cause even more panic.

Hence why He Xuan had brought him into the ‘forbidden room’ as many of his other deputies had begun to call it.

Placing his brush on the cinnabar stained desk, the Civil God turned to his deputy, “Has the Palace of Ling Wen been informed of the current situation?”

“Of course my lord!”

“Then we can do nothing except wait.” He Xuan began, rubbing at the stain on his forefinger, “I will let you know what the Upper ellicons decide.”

He Xuan had no way of knowing what would be decided or when. Whether the heavens decide to go to war or whether they decide to sit back and watch as the mortal realm comes to a reckoning is all up to the Emperor. At best they may be permitted to begin peace talks, to try and save themselves the trouble. But it seemed unlikely.

He Xuan hadn’t been present during the last two times the Calamities decided to involve themselves in the heavens business, but from previous reports, it was disastrous. The Heavenly Emperor had sat back and watched the proceedings, but he didn't involve himself. He watched passively and commented on how it is the gods own faults for participating. He was never criticized for it, but the Civil God couldn’t help but think he should have been.

Technically speaking it was taboo to talk bad about the Emperor, but these were merely unvoiced opinions. Something that couldn’t be punished.

Long black robes scattered a handful of scrunched parchment as the Civil God rose to his feet, absently beckoning his deputy as he walked past the shelves upon shelves of illegal documents.

Wen Yazhu followed silently, still nervously ringing his hands together as he waited for instructions.

Many would think the state of the palace of He Xuan was atrocious, and that the knowledge gathered there was extreme even for a Civil God, but the main hall of the palace itself had nothing on the palace's gallery. The second floor of the Palace of He Xuan was built meticulously. Rather than branching across the entire floor plan, it circled the gallery, allowing the towering shelves to climb to the very roof. Ladders were stacked hazardously, rolling along the rows of shelves as junior officials scoured the records.

Paper cranes flapped closer to the ceiling, some being snatched out of the air mid flight as even more of the juniors searched for messages. It was bustling as always, with even a few of Ling Wen’s own deputies helping with the scavenger hunt.

He Xuan had a bad habit of collecting. So much so that many of the files stored here were centuries out of date. He never could bring himself to get rid of the information he found. He took pride in it, he cherished it.

However, as a result, it meant it took an unacceptable amount of time for anything to be found.

Which is exactly why he was the second best Civil God, and not the number one. Though his information was vast, procuring it for others was a slow process. On the other hand, the Palace of Ling Wen was fast, yet the information was, more often than not, lacking. Hence why important details were often reported later than they should, as Ling Wen’s junior officials not only had to scour Ling Wens own library, but also He Xuans.

Not many of the upper court officials knew this. They had all fallen under the belief that the Palace of Ling Wen and the Palace of He Xuan were constantly at odds, when in fact it was often a joint effort to get the officials the information needed as fast as possible. Neither palace paid any mind to the rumor itself, both coming to the conclusion that this make-believe squabble of theirs was possibly the only entertainment many of their colleagues received.

“Shelf thirty eighth, row twelve, four documents on the calamities. Bring them to me.” He Xuan ordered, receiving a curt ‘yes sir’ in response.

The Civil God’s pace didn't falter as he continued walking through the gallery, making his way to the towering doors shielding the records from nosey Gods hovering in the greeting hall. He didn’t know if anyone would be in there, nor did he particularly care. But it was customary to find Civil Gods in their greeting halls, and on the off chance something important came up, he would need to be there.

Plus, it was quieter.

Which meant he might be able to relieve himself from the oncoming headache he can feel numbing his forehead.

The doors creaked heavily as He Xuan pushed them open, silently slipping through the crack he created.

He was met by more shelves and more junior officials. But in comparison to the other rooms, this felt quite quaint. Desks were placed in varying places, each stacked with rolls of scrolls, some hosting deputies working, others left bare save for steaming cups of tea.

A handful of the deputies glanced up as the Civil God entered the greeting hall, giving him curt nods as he headed towards the grand desk seated upon a raised platform.

Unfortunately though, it seemed his seat was occupied.

A woman was sat there, brown curls cascading down her back with turquoise jewels dangling from the silver chains attached to her headpiece. Her white and teal robes swashed at the floor, stained ever so slightly red from an ink spillage that had happened earlier that day. She gently fanned herself with a spiritual device, the character feng painted across the white paper.

She hadn’t noticed him yet it seemed.

If she had, the peace and quiet of the hall would have been shattered, which would only lead to agitating the juniors working.

Perhaps he could sneak out of one of the side doors, so as to not disturb his staff.

Yes that's an idea-

“My lord, the documents you requested.” Wen Yazhu called, closing the doors to the gallery behind him.

Crap.

The woman snapped her head around, honey brown eyes twinkling as she saw him.

“He-xiong don’t tell me you were trying to sneak away!” She greeted, waving her fan at him as she rose from his seat, taking perch on the desk itself.

“Of course I was Lord Wind Master. You were playing so nicely with the deputies.” He Xuan replied monotonely as he took the documents in Wen Yazhu’s hands and walked towards the Elemental Master.

“I wouldn’t say playing, your deputies are exhausting to be around!” The Wind Master whined, accepting a cup of tea from a tray offered to her.

He Xuan raised his brow at this, sitting in the chair that had been occupied mere seconds ago “What did they have you scrubbing the floors?”

The chair was still surprisingly cold, she mustn't have been here for long.

“No such thing!” The Wind Master declared, flicking her hair over her shoulder, “They all work so hard it's tiring to watch!” -annoying.

Wind Master Liao Xiu was one of the six elemental masters situated in the heavens. She had ascended roughly a century after He Xuan and had become quite popular in the centuries since. Although she wasn’t as wealthy as the Water Master, she had enough merits to spare to the point where she’d throw them away like the other gods were charity cases.

Her personality was frivolous and she was well up to date with all the scandals and gossip hovering through both the upper and middle court of the heavens. Many gods were clawing to get into her good graces, yet for some reason the only one who didn’t try had made it there.

That only one being He Xuan.

“Perhaps if you were more diligent with your work watching others do their jobs wouldn’t be so exhausting.” the Civil God mumbled, pushing aside the document Liao Xiu had opened to the side, placing the four documents he had on the freed surface.

The Wind Master perked up at the new books, snatching one of them up to flick through it.

“So then,” She began, thumbing through pages of the Azure Vortex Stirring Sands, “What's gotten your palace in such a tizzy?”

He Xuan let out a tired sigh, opening the records on the White Clothed Calamity. This and the Azure Vortex Stirring Sands were the least full of the four books. The heavens didn’t have enough knowledge gathered on these particular calamities to make much use out of it other than a lacking description of likely places their territories could be, as well as lists of incidents that possibly involved them there wasn’t much to go by.

“There’s going to be a meeting about it soon.” The Civil God replied bitterly.

“Ah He-xiong can’t I find out now?”

“There’s no point.”

“Gah you’re so cruel!” Liao Xiu declared, dropping the file on Azure Vortex and snatching up the one on Crimson Rain Sought Flower - possibly the most detailed of the lot - and opening it on a random page.

He Xuan opted to ignore her, accepting his own tea offered by a deputy.

Wen Yazhu had returned to the gallery to help organize the disaster unfolding inside.
The two remained sat in silence after that, with the Wind Master occasionally dropping into her communication array and He Xuan trying his utmost to burn the details on each of the calamities into his eyes.

Preparation was the key to success. Many, especially a Martial God, would claim that it was strength and skill that won battles. But having the upper hand in terms of knowledge was vitally important.

The heavens were underprepared in this aspect.

Unlike gods who were publicly ostracized by stories of their lives and the stories their worshippers created, making their personal business and many other things universally known, calamities were much more elusive.

Even Calamities that made deftly public appearances like Crimson Rain and the Night Touring Green Lantern didn’t leave any useful information behind. The most personal thing the gods knew of any of the calamities was probably their favourite colour.

In terms of who was most likely to win if it came to an all out war, the favour leans in that of the calamities.

He Xuan scowled, slamming the book in his grasp shut and standing from his chair.

“Where are you going?” Liao Xiu asked, quickly slipping down from the desk, placing the documents in her grasp down much more softly than He Xuan did.

“To find Ling Wen.” the Civil God replied, stepping around his desk and walking towards the entrance of his palace, “This is turning out to be a disaster.”

“Gosh He-xiong you do like to worry don’t you?” Liao Xiu teased, catching up to her companion swiftly and pulling the fan out of her robes to fan herself.

“I’m not worrying, I'm being cautious.”

“Isn’t that like the same thing?”

The two upper court officials stepped out into the blinding light of the heavenly capital, receiving glances from the gods loitering in the area due to the clear stress written across the Civil Gods face, and the amused smirk of the Elemental Master.

He Xuan can already tell what the new rumors would be.

‘Enraged Civil God gets restraining order against Elemental Master!’

“Ling Wen should be at the Palace of Xuan Zhen,” The Wind Master chimed as she followed behind He Xuan, cheerfully leading him to his objective, “I heard another fight broke out between him and Nan Yang! Must be dealing with collecting merits to cover the property damage.”

He Xuan hummed in response, turning through the golden tiled streets to the southernmost palaces of the Heavenly court. Well the southernmost palaces of the upper court.

The hierarchical structure of the heavens has made it so the Upper court and Middle court of the heavens are on entirely different levels, with the palaces of the Upper court being significantly higher than the rest.

Wind Master Xiu hummed gently as the two walked, a song that was traditionally Xuli if the Civil God remembered correctly.

Though the Wind Master was said to have Yong’an roots, she seemed to know quite a bit about other kingdoms. But she was exceptionally well travelled, she has travelled far greater lengths even among the most senior of the gods.

It wasn’t long before the hustle and bustle around them narrowed to a dull background thrum as the two cleared the main street through the Civil God’s quarters, entering the sorely battered streets of the Martial Avenue.

The damage wasn’t too extensive, probably three million merits worth.

The heavens had seen worse.

Regardless, arranging for it all to be fixed would be a pain in the ass. It always was.

The soft lullaby came to a stop as Liao Xiu spoke, “Autumn’s almost here! Oh that means the Mid Autumn Banquet is in a few months!”

“Why do you always get so excited about festivals this far ahead of time?” He Xuan grumbled as they turned yet another corner.

They could see Ling Wen talking to Xuan Zhen outside of his palace.

“I love festivals,” The Wind Master sighed, almost as if she was reminiscing, “If I had my way, my worshipers would always be celebrating.”

The Civil God raised a brow, “And why would that be?”

“Festivals take the gloom away. No one would need to be upset, and if they are- well hopefully a joyous atmosphere will help ease their worries.” Well it was quite childish, but Liao Xiu’s personality vouches for it.

No one ever really stays upset when the Wind Master is so cheerful for them.

“Has that ever worked for you?”

“There’s only ever been one exception!”

“Oh? And who would that be?”

“You obviously.”

He Xuan sent a glare at the Elemental Master, who smiled delightfully in response. Any retort he had was quickly drowned by the sudden change of energy as Liao Xiu turned to an approaching Ling Wen.

“Finally finished are you? Hopefully you charged the correct amount.” The Wind Master bit, the smile on her face deceiving the harshness of the words. As such Ling Wen missed the hostility.

“I hope so, I was going to check in with you now actually to make sure.” Ling Wen replied offhandedly, facing He Xuan after giving a curt nod to Liao Xiu.

He Xuan nodded, “How much did you charge?”

“One point five mil each?”

“That's right, yeah.”

“Oh thank gods, I’ve got like fifty things only I can get done. Do you think you can go to the Palace of Qi Ying and get the Soul Stealing Lantern? He just picked it up from a mission and it’s got to be taken to the Emperor’s treasury.” Ling Wen asked.

Her exhaustion was clear as day, the eye bags under her eyes more prominent than usual.

This is probably the best thing about being the second best Civil God in the heavens. Although he tends to help Ling Wen with her workload, he himself isn’t given nearly as much.

Liao Xiu scrunched her nose in distaste as He Xuan nodded, accepting the paperwork she handed him.

The Wind Master probably thought the rumours of their feud were true. She had no reason to believe otherwise, and He Xuan wasn’t going to go out of his way to tell her it wasn’t. There wasn’t much point after all.

In the heavens, it's the majority that decides what's true or not.

“Have we got any news on the Emperor?” He Xuan asked.

The other Civil God shook her head, “I know he descended for a meeting of sorts, but he hasn’t told me whether we should proceed or not. I’m tempted to start the meeting without him.”

“That's not a bad idea, we can get all the arguments out of the way before his majesty shows up.” Liao Xiu chirped, possibly the only time she has ever openly agreed with Ling Wen.

“Hmm, I’ll get back to you in a minute about it, I need to get to the Palace of Earth.” Ling Wen said, waving at the duo as she sidestepped them, not sparing a glance at the paper crane landing on her stack of scrolls.

Liao Xiu waved the Civil God away, still fluttering her fan even though it wasn’t particularly hot in the heavens.

“I feel like this is a waste of time,” The Wind Master voiced, “We have more pressing matters to deal with.”

“Like you know what those pressing matters are.” He Xuan bit, pivoting on his heal and beginning the short trek to the Palace of Qi Ying.

Liao Xiu follows behind.

If she had anything important to do today it was being skillfully neglected.

The Wind Master remained unusually quiet as He Xuan sorted his business, not sparing anyone other than the Civil God her attention.

He Xuan would be concerned on any other day, but with so much plaguing his mind he couldn’t bring himself to add to his workload by asking what was wrong.

She had completely blanked Quan Yizhen, not even waving back at him as she glared into the folds of her fan.

Nor did she pay any mind to Pei Ming when he approached to ask He Xuan to shift some of the Water Master’s workload onto his plate.

She only ever replied when He Xuan asked her to contact someone or to hold something for him, which is how she ended up carrying half of the documents He Xuan had acquired.

“Are you arguing with someone in your array?” The Civil God asked, a hint of concern etched into the deepest corners of his face.

The Wind Master startled at this.

Eyes shooting wide as she turned to look at him.

“Agh, well, I, sort of.” She answered hesitantly, clearly not having expected to be caught.

Perhaps she didn’t even notice her change in attitude.

“Sorry its not something important- Where's Qi Ying gone?”

The Civil God pulled a face when he looked at her again, “We left the Palace of Qi Ying two incense ago?”

“Oh! Hahahaha, I guess I was lost in thought, ahhahha!”

She waved her fan almost furiously as her expression tensed.

He Xuan sent her one last glance before his attention was snapped away by a voice in the general communication array-

‘Can all Upper Court officials please converge in the Grand Martial Hall’

Ling Wens command was drowned out by streams of questions, which were quickly shut down by the Water Master telling them to ‘shut the fuck up and just listen’.

“Aha, let's get going then!” Liao Xiu said, scrolls still in hand as she began to walk away.

“Wait a second.” He Xuan called.

The Wind Master turned around, brows crinkling in confusion.

He Xuan nodded at the scrolls in her arms, lowering his own stack slightly so she could place them on top.

She did so immediately.

“You go on ahead, I'll meet you there.” He ordered, turning away from the Elemental Master and walking back to his palace.
He didn’t hear a reply from the Wind Master if he received one, as his focus had changed from making conversation to carefully balancing scrolls whilst trying to navigate with a wall in his way.

It took longer than expected to reach his Palace again, which had thankfully calmed down since his departure.

Rather than the nervous jitter running through his deputies, the Junior officials had decided to rearrange the entire filling system in the greeting hall. The scrolls from the shelves were now piled high on the open desks, the only one left uncluttered being the Civil God’s own. He paid no mind to the bustle around him, making a beeline to his workspace and setting the scrolls down almost immediately.

With that done he sent some brief instructions to Wen Yazhu through his communication array and turned to leave.

The streets were starkly empty as he headed towards the Grand Martial Hall. Any passing stranger would assume an apocalypse had befallen the Heavenly Capital, which was almost true. The apocalypse in question hadn’t happened yet but the tension was looming heavily.

Ling Wen must have divulged the news.

He Xuan had half the mind to turn around.

He wasn’t really needed in the meeting, but his fellow Civil God would skewer him a thousand times over if he didn’t show.

Since his ascension Ling Wen had been heavily reliant on him. She definitely could handle all of this on her own, he has no doubts. Ling Wen is far more capable than he is, and has greater literary expertise than him by far. Really he’s just a cushion of support to her, helping carry the weight of the untamable workload dumped on her by the heavens.

Over the years, many had assumed him to just be her deputy, it took about seven decades for them to realize he was actually an accomplished upper court official himself. And although the heavens greatly relied on Ling Wen, his workload grew tenfold after the sudden realization that he was also eligible to do their paperwork.

With a defeated sigh, He Xuan began climbing the truly unnecessary steps towards the Martial Hall, listening to the distant shouts grow louder and louder with each step.

When he entered the hall he was met with chaos.

Ideas were being thrown left, right and center, with Ling Wen desperately trying to placate the arguments unfolding.

He couldn’t see Liao Xiu, she must have been fully immersed into some debate of sorts. But that's fine. That ment he could slink into a corner and wait to see what conclusion came from all the squabbles.

The most popular opinion seemed to be an all out war, destroying the calamities and ‘riding the mortal realm of all evil’.

Such a purge would be- well, basically impossible.

As long as mortals exist, evil will as well, whether it's cynical men slaughtering kingdoms or widowers who refuse to leave this world for revenge.

Ghosts will always exist. A purge would be completely useless.

“Minguang, that's utterly absurd!”

The shout cut across the martial hall, silencing many, if not all of the upper court as attention was directed elsewhere. Elsewhere being the trio of cardinal Martial Gods huddled in the corner, their previously quiet discussion having turned into a fully fledged screaming match.

Ling Wen craned her neck over the crowd to watch the gods, clearly preparing to intervene before an all out brawl could start.

“How would we know if we don’t even try it!?” Pei Ming retorted, expression stormy as he glared at Xuan Zhen.

Nan Yang jumped to defense, “Exactly Mu Qing, we can’t know for sure, he might be useful.”

“He’ll slaughter us!” Xuan Zhen shouted, waving his arms incredulously.

“He’s not even on their side!”

“He’d side with them over us any day!”

“He literally hates them!”

“Oh yeah and who does he hate more?”

“We don’t know, that's the point!”

The bickering carried across the hall, with Xuan Zhen slowly getting more and more exasperated as he argued against his fellow Martial Gods.

“Wait, wait, wait. What exactly is going on?” The Earth Master called, waving his arm in an attempt to gain the attention of the Martial Gods.

Xuan Zhen rounded on the Elemental Master instantly, “What's going on is Minguang is fucking delusional!”

“He’s not being delusional you’re just too fucking stubborn to accept another fucking opinion!” Nan Yang retorted.

They had only just gotten into a physical fight, and they were both clearly raring to go again.

“That’s ENOUGH!” Ling Wen yelled, finally gaining some recognition from the crowd.

“What did General Pei suggest we do?” she asked, looking at the Northern Martial God as she spoke.

Pei nodded in thanks, completely blanking Xuan Zhen’s cussing.

“I said we should ask Hua Cheng for assistance.” He said, posture relaxed as if he had merely ordered a cup of tea rather than basically saying ‘oh my gods remember that guy who totally wiped out 33 of us in the span of one night lets totally work with him’.

He was audacious, that's for sure.

Ling Wen gave him a blank look, and the hush of silence that had befallen the hall was quickly demolished by the outrage of the other gods.

“What the actual fuck?!?!?”

“Xuan Zhen was right, Minguangs lost it!”

“Who would even say such a thing??!!?”

“If he wasn’t a Martial God I would have thrown him off the Heavenly Capital!”

“Come on guys, he must've eaten some weird mushrooms with the Rain Master!”

“Idiot the Rain Master hates his guts why would she eat mushrooms with him?!”

“Someone needs to knock some sense into him!”

“Where's Qi Ying? I need him to punch this guy?”

“Crimson Fucking Rain???!?!? You can’t be serious!”

“It’s not actually a bad idea!”

“Oh of COURSE you’d agree, I bet you get a hard on when you think of the Green Immor!”

“That’s fucking revolting!”

Ah, the serenity of the Heavens was truly commendable.

“QUIET!” Ling Wen managed to shush the feud partially, yet it was very much still grinding up the dust around her.

“I agree with General Pei, it’s a strategic move on our part.” The Wind Master announced, stepping through the crowd to stand with the Martial God in question and fully involving herself in the proceedings.

“And why would you say that Wind Master Xiu?” The Water Master asked, coming up besides Xuan Zhen.

“Three of the Calamities are working together, but from the information we have they are constantly at odds. So whatever agreement they have could easily be shattered if we have more information on them. Who has more information on the Calamities than a Calamity?” Pei Ming replied in her place, squaring his shoulders as he faced his fellow tumor.

“By siding with him we risk exposing an enemy into the depths of our society.” The Water Master scoffed, flicking his fan in front of his face, vivid blue eyes peeking over the top.

“If he decided to turn against us we would all perish.” He concluded, a murmur of agreement fluttering through the hall.

“I hope you aren’t insinuating that our Martial Gods are incompetent, and too Weak to defeat one measly calamity?” Liao Xiu replied. Her taunt caused yet another stir.

He Xuan had to applaud her, she was very talented at adding fuel to the fire.

“Lord Wind Master, I understand that you are dissatisfied with me in some way but that is no reason to put words in my mouth.” The Elemental Master hissed.

“I assure you Lord Wind Master, we are very much capable of handling a Calamity, but why should we put ourselves in a situation where we would need to defend against one anyway?” Xuan Zhen scoffed, folding his arms against his chest in a defensive manner.

“We’ll be doing that anyway you moron. Minguang’s idea just gives us the benefit of more information.” Nan Yang snapped.

“Oh and when did you decide to start considering things like that Feng Xin? Aren’t you the type of guy who charges in fists galore and wonder where you went wrong when you lose?”

“Please enlighten me on when I've lost this make believe fight of yours?” Nan Yang taunted. They were definitely going to fight again. “Was it in those little fantasies you make up? Like the one where I apparently went around Begging for you to be demoted so I could have the South for myself?”

Xuan Zhen looked absolutely murderous. Of course he would, no one liked having their feelings thrown out into the open. Unfortunately, Nan Yang made a habit of it. But that doesn’t mean Xuan Zhen doesn’t flaunt the other Martial God’s personal business around as well.

“Back to the topic at hand please everyone!” Ling Wen pleaded, clapping her hands gently to try and distract from the environment. It worked for everyone but Nan Yang and Xuan Zhen, who were now viciously at eachothers throats.

Their conflict managed to be mostly ignored as another debate broke out between the rest of the court. And soon enough the hall was split in two, with Pei Ming and Liao Xiu fronting one side, and the Water Master and surprisingly Qi Ying fronting the other. Though Qi Ying didn’t look like he had much of a clue as to what he was actually fighting for. It looked as though he had just opted for the side lacking a Pei.

With the sudden divide, He Xuan had been displayed like some sort of ornament, allowing Ling Wen to finally see him.

Once he was noticed, there was no way he’d be able to slip back out of the picture, which was further proved true when Ling Wen descended her perch on the stairs to the Emperor's throne and made a beeline for him.

“The Emperor said he’d be here soon, but we need to stop this before he arrives!” Ling Wen warned, sparing the crowd a glance before focusing her attention back on her companion.

He Xuan hummed. They could get into some serious trouble if the Emperor arrived to such a scene.

Plus, if this continued it wouldn’t be long before the heavens were met with even more property damage, and it would be much, much more expensive if those damages were to Jun Wu’s residence.

“I need something to eat.” The Civil God groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as that headache that had been threatening him all day came into full effect.

“Stop thinking with your stomach, we need to think of a compromise.”

Ling Wen was uncommonly worried about their current predicament, and he doubted it was because she was worried about the Calamities.

“Was the Emperor in a bad mood?” He Xuan asked, eyes scouting over the conflict before him once again. Nan Yang and Xuan Zhen had finally lost interest in each other, and had joined the collective in their argument.

“Very. I don’t think his meeting went well.”

“Do we know who he was with?”

“I honestly haven’t a clue, but it’s the person he was speaking to a few months ago.”

He Xuan nodded, “Probably a retired official then.”

“Yes,” Ling Wen agreed, “One that keeps refusing the Emperor if we were throwing wild guesses.”

The Emperor had many correspondence, in and out of the heavens. To think he would go so far with one person was unusual, especially since this person only seemed to agitate him when they spoke. What was weirder was the fact that Ling Wen didn’t even know who it was. Usually she was privy to such details.

“How long do you think we have till he gets here?”

He Xuan stepped away from the wall, intent on getting in the middle of the crowd and get them to, in the mortal way, ‘Shut the fuck up’.

“Not long enough, I estimate he’ll be here in like 10 minutes.” Ling Wen replied, not following behind him.

He could understand why she wouldn’t, no one would want to actively start conflict between their friends, let alone side against them.

The Civil God scowled as he approached the six gods heading the argument. He didn’t even know what he was going to say, nor what his own opinions on the matter are. But he could at least try and get his fellow gods to talk civilly rather than throw hands.

Upon reaching the frontlines, He Xuan’s steps grew heavier, carrying across the Martial Hall with a level of authority that left many of the others in a slight daze.

He squeezed between the Water Master and Pei Ming, forcefully pushing out his arms to separate them.

Unsurprisingly, Pei Ming only took a single step back, more surprised than anything. In contrast, the Water Master stumbled slightly, widening the distance between the others.

The Elemental Master was very obviously furious. If looks could kill, He Xuan would have died ten times over.

With an irritated huff, the Water Master began batting at his robes, as if doing so would erase the non-existent traces of He Xuan’s touch.

“Why are you getting in the way? Don’t tell me you’re siding with him!” Xuan Zhen scowled.

“I need you all to calm the fuck down.” He Xuan replied, voice carrying steadily.

“The Emperor is on his way, he’ll be here any second. Let him decide what we should do rather than squabbling like petty kids. You’re all just embarrassing yourselves!”

“Well said Lord He Xuan.”

The sudden input silenced the hall completely, many of the Upper Court going rigid with shock as they all turned to look at the throne seated high above the gathered gods.

Standing besides the throne, having yet to sit down, was the Emperor, clad in his typical golden armour and white and red robes. He was rolling the ring on his forefinger as per usual, expression calm though the underlying annoyance could be felt in the atmosphere.

Almost like a falling wave, the gods leaned into bows as the Emperor took his seat.

Ling Wen appeared silently beside He Xuan, Pei Ming taking her left as she did so. Liao Xiu didn’t leave from her position, brows creased as she glared at the floor.

“Now then, would one of you please enlighten me on what has caused such a ruckus between my upper court?” The Emperor asked, gaze trained on Ling Wen and He Xuan, almost accusatory.

It’s not like they started the argument, he should really be looking at someone else.

Ling Wen let out a tired sigh before stepping out of her mini barricade.

But rather than Ling Wen being the one to speak up, it was the Wind Master.

“My Lord, we were discussing our next course of action in regards to the information the Palace of He Xuan had obtained.” She began, not stepping forward but squaring her shoulders as she spoke, “A difference of opinions occurred which resulted in our sorry state of greeting, this one apologizes for the rude reception His Majesty received upon entering the Martial Hall today.”

Liao Xiu bowed mournfully as she finished, an action that was quickly followed by the others surrounding her.

Jun Wu seemed to contemplate her words silently. He Xuan wouldn’t be surprised if he just told them all to get out. He would definitely do that if an argument like this one occurred in his palace.

“What actions do these officials wish to take?” The Emperor asked, making a subtle gesture to Pei Ming to start.

The cardinal Martial God clasped his hands together politely before speaking to the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, I offered a proposal of collaboration.”

Jun Wu nodded for him to continue.

“This one believes the information of the heavens is lacking when it comes to matters involving the ghost realm. As such we have little to use as preparation to strengthen our defenses if the calamities wish to attack.”

A murmur of agreement followed, most of which coming from the gods that had sided with Pei during the feud.

“From what we already know, only three of the four calamities are partaking in this truce of theirs, as such I recommend that we form our own truce with the fourth.”

This is when the murmur of agreement was drowned out by the shallow words of scrutiny, many of which coming from the Water Master.

“Our information has informed us that Crimson Rain Sought Flower Hua Cheng is not in any sort of agreement with the White Clothed Calamity, Azure Vortex Stirring Sands, or the Night Touring Green Lantern. Hua Cheng would be a vital asset to obtain my Lord.” Pei Ming gently argued.

It was clear his goal was to entice the Emperors favour before the others could refute his idea again.

“And how exactly would Crimson Rain be an asset to us?”

“Hua Cheng has the advantage of knowing far more about the other Calamities than we could hope to obtain in such a short period of time.” Pei Ming replied, “If the outcome of a conflict between the heavens and the Calamities were to arise, his information would help us secure our defenses vastly.”

Jun Wu nodded silently, rolling his jaw as if he were tasting the words in his mouth.

“General Minguang, why are you so sure it will end in conflict?” The Emperor asked, back to rubbing against the dainty ring that looked as if it had been through the wars. He must have had that ring for a while, it was significantly older than the rest of the jewels he wore.

“My Lord, when faced with the four calamities should we not expect conflict?” The Earth Master questioned, bowing his head as if that would atone for speaking out against the Emperor.

Jun Wu barely spared the man a glance, focusing more on the entirety of the hall as he spoke, “It is reasonable to believe conflict may occur, yes, but the four Calamities have existed for far, far longer than many of you here. Doesn’t that sound awfully lonely? Perhaps this ‘collaboration’ of their’s is merely a typical friendship, Ghosts were once human as well after all, should we not expect them to have such mortal desires?”

“Of course My Lord, you are entirely correct!”

What a suck up.

“Regardless, General Minguang has given us a strategic proposal, if any of you have a better idea than I implore you to speak now.”

Unsurprisingly, no one answered.

However it was clear both Xuan Zhen and the Water Master were silently murdering every god here in their thoughts.

After five tense moments of silence, Jun Wu spoke again.

“If that is the case then we should begin making preparations.”

“Your Majesty,” Ling Wen called out, “Does this mean you wish to make contact with Crimson Rain?”

“Yes, though whether he decides to assist or not is up for debate.”

“Who does My Lord wish to send for this? It is a delicate situation.” The Civil God reminded, though it was probably unnecessary to do so. But it would at least have the other gods thinking about whether they should go or not.
“Hmm, who does our Civil Gods recommend.”

Oh he just had to say ‘gods’ it couldn’t have just been ‘god’.

Catching onto the wording, Ling Wen sent a subtle jab at He Xuans ribs, causing him to blurt his first thought, “Since its East His Highness Tai Hua should be one of the gods to proceed with this case.”

Gods he isn’t thinking properly. Tai Hua would throw hands the second he stepped over the boundary of ghost city. Why did he have to be East. Why couldn’t it have been . . .

Why was no one a good candidate to be a Cardinal Martial God?

He couldn’t even say Pei Ming would be a good fit, he’s basically a necessity to the North. North is where Azure Vortex is known to frequent, their presumed territory deep in the Gobi Desert. He Xuan doubts any other god would be able to keep such a low profile while sharing territories with a Devastation.

The only reason Tai Hua and Hua Cheng haven’t fought to the death yet was purely because Tai Hua rarely descended into his own territory unless it was dire.

In an attempt to catch his blunder of thought he added, “But I would recommend sending more than one official. His Highness Tai Hua would be vital if a mishap were to occur, but I am unsure whether he would be able to negotiate thoroughly with Crimson Rain.”

Thankfully Tai Hua seemed to agree with this, “Yes Lord He Xuan is right, I don’t think going alone would be best.”

Jun Wu nodded, scanning over the officials once again.

“Lord He Xuan and Wind Master Xiu, it would be best if you accompanied Tai Hua for this, the rest of the court will continue to discuss strategies if you are to fail.”

Ugh he should have stayed quiet. Gods he’s already got a ton of work to do he doesn’t need more.

He’s a Civil God for crying out loud!

This isn’t a part of his job description.

He isn’t qualified for on field duties!

“Yes My Lord.” The two named officials echoed, both bowing their heads to the Emperor.

Seeming satisfied with this arrangement, Jun Wu waved a dismissive hand, “This meeting is over.”

The Upper Court quickly began to file out of the Grand Martial Hall, spilling onto the divine avenue like a spilled bucket of paint.

He Xuan tapped Ling Wen’s shoulder, catching her attention as she turned to leave.

She glanced at him questioningly, the expression on her face only lasting a second before it fell away. Realization finally settling in.

“You bastard.” She hissed.

“Maybe if you had spoken to the emperor instead, you’d be on this mission and I'd be stuck with your paperwork.” The Civil God replied, patting Ling Wen’s back in mocking comfort before he was dragged off by Tai Hua.

Martial God of the East His Highness Tai Hua was, in He Xuans opinion, like a dog.

It wasn’t because he was constantly filthy or savage.

No.

It was purely because he seemed to have bottomless reserves of energy, was excessively loud, and always seemed to be in a good mood.

Before his ascension he was the crown prince of Yong’an Lang Qianqui, a young boy whose life was shattered before his eyes by his Guoshi Fangxin, who turned out to be in cahoots with the White Clothed Calamities.

At the time of his ascension, he was an angry, lonely boy desperate for guidance from the man he detested most.

He unfortunately didn’t have anyone else to fill this role, though Pei Ming tried his best to help.

If He Xuan had assigned any of the martial gods to help Tai Hua when he first ascended, he probably would have chosen Nan Yang or Xuan Zhen. But, even though the two show no open hostility towards Tai Hua, it is clear that neither of them want anything to do with the Yong’an royal family.

On the other side of things, Tai Hua is practically desperate to befriend them. He’s well aware that associating with them leaves one with the most god awful headaches, but even that wasn’t deterring him.

Perhaps he only wants to befriend them because he’s aware they were from that last Xianle dynasty before Yong’an started the war. Or maybe, even though his Guoshi was a monstrous being, he still followed his lessons on trying to bring peace to Xianle and Yong’an.

But he’s about 800 years too late for the Martial Gods of the South. The lessons he was taught were between the suffering impoverished people of Xianle and the nobles of Yong’an. They wouldn’t be helpful to the last living assistants of the crown prince of Xianle, who was cast out of heaven for trying to stop the war in the first place.

“Lord He Xuan, whats the plan?” The Martial God asked as they descended the steps from the martial hall.

From here they had a clear view of the entirety of the heavens. From the golden tiled roofs to the distant floating islands covered in flowers.

“We don’t have one your Highness, we need to find the Wind Master before we begin.” He Xuan replied, heading towards his palace.

Tai Hua followed silently behind him, glancing around slightly as he looked over the Palaces of other gods.

Upon reaching his palace, He Xuan ordered his deputies to bring up two more chairs to his desk, quickly gesturing for Tai Hua to sit in one, which the Martial God did. Once seated Tai Hua was offered a plate of orange slices and a cup of tea, and He Xuan entered the gallery.

Wen Yazhu greeted him instantly, “My Lord, how did the meeting go?”

After a moment of rolling his words on his tongue, He Xuan opted for a simple “It's complicated.”

The documents he had left on his desk earlier had been neatly piled on a table besides the ‘forbidden room’, and after shifting through them, he found the book he had created on Crimson Rain. It was going to be necessary to create a plan after all.

‘Liao Xiu come to my palace, we need to make plans’ the Civil God called through his communication array.

‘Gosh He-xiong do you really think I’m the prettiest?’

‘Not a chance, I’m still waiting for you to change your password.’

‘Gahh you’re too cruel!’

He shut off the array before any insistent whining berated his hearing, heading back towards the greeting hall where he had abandoned a confused Tai Hua.

The Martial God had taken his unsupervised opportunity to explore the content on He Xuans desk. Much like a dog when he’s looking for treats.

“Your Highness, are you looking for something?” The Civil God asked.

Tai Hua shook his head, “Oh no, sorry. I was just curious.”

He Xuan could only sigh. It didn’t matter how many times he told other gods to stop going through his desk, they always did. He really has just given up at this point.

“But Lord He Xuan-” Tai Hua started, glancing away from the Civil God as if he was about to reveal some scandalous secret of his, “-Why are there . . . so many plates under your desk?”

“Ah!” The answer was simply that He Xuan kept telling his deputies he would clean up his own messes, but he kept forgetting. “Well, I lose track of time whilst I'm working.”

It was almost an act of mercy when Liao Xiu burst through the doors, calling out dramatically as if she hadn’t been in the strangest mood in existence mere moments ago.

“Hello my fellow teammates! How are our invasion strategies coming along!”

“What invasion, huh?”

“Ignore her, Your Highness, she’s just a fool.”

“He-xiong is so cruel!”

Rather than taking the seat besides Tai Hua, she once again jumped onto He Xuans desk, crossing her legs as she looked intently at the two other gods.

“My my, isn’t this the trio of our dreams! We might be nominated for the next three tumors!” the Wind Master joked, eyes brightening as she noticed Tai Hua’s leftover orange slices.

She helped herself as He Xuan began.

“We need to think of a plan of action, preferably more than one just in case.” a mumbled ‘stingy’ passed through unnoticed.

The Civil God dropped the book in his grasp in front of Tai Hua, tapping the cover aggressively, “This is all the information the Heavens have on Crimson Rain, we’ll need this before we can think of anything.”

Tai Hua, to his credit, picked up the book and began to skim through the pages.

“Our best bet would be to look for him in that Ghost City of his.” Liao Xiu started, “He spends a decent amount of time there according to our sources, if luck’s on our side he’ll be there when we look.”

He Xuan nodded, “Good idea, if he’s not there we can always try investigating whilst we wait, it might give us more leverage when we try to offer a deal.”

“You mean gamble right?” Tai Hua asked. The Civil God gave him a questioning look, broaching the Martial God to continue.

“It says here.” He explained pointing at the open page of the book, “Crimson Rain owns a Gambler’s Den, he spends most of his time in Ghost City there.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to Gamble against him.” He Xuan replied, only for the Wind Master to cut across him.

“We probably have a higher chance of getting an audience with him if we beat him in his gambling den.”

“And if we lose against him?”

“Rough up some locals, we’ll definitely get an audience then!”

Tai Hua seemed to panic at this, “Lord Wind Master! We can’t just attack innocents!”

“Plus we want to be in his good graces, not his shit list.” He Xuan added bluntly, crossing his arms as if to prove his point.

Liao Xiu stretched out on the desk, letting out a sigh, “Gah you guys are no fun. I bet any other Martial God would be thrilled at the idea.”

“Oh and do you believe you could find a Civil God who would be thrilled as well?” He Xuan asked.

“Probably not but He Xuan always looks the other way if it gets him out of trouble!”

“No I don’t!”

“What would we even offer at the Gamblers Den? And what could we offer as compensation to Crimson Rain for helping us?” Tai Hua asked, running his thumb across the closed pages of the book.
Liao Xiu and He Xuan fell silent at this. It was a good point. What could they offer?

Crimson Rain wasn’t short in any material items, and it's not like they could offer him counseling. If he really wanted something, the Supreme would be able to get his hands on it, He Xuan has no doubt.

Truly the heavens would benefit far more than the Calamity in this situation.

After a beat of silence, Liao Xiu was the first to speak, “Well for compensation, we could offer him access to the heaven’s surveillance.”

“What?!” Tai Hua was thoroughly panicked by this idea, his face morphing into an expression of utmost horror, like the Wind Master had just pulled the skin off of her face.

“Well,” Liao Xiu hurried into an explanation, “He might be looking for something, why else would he spend so much time away from Ghost City! The heavens can help him find it!”

“That's not a bad idea, but rather than just surveillance we can offer up the heaven’s service entirely.” He Xuan agreed.

“Should we really be offering such things without the Emperor's consent?!” Tai Hua asked. It was clear his nerves were being pulled leather tight by the conversation.

“Your Highness worries too much!” Liao Xiu comforted cheerfully, “He-xiong never asks for the Emperor's permission for stuff, the Emperor just has to accept whatever comes from it!”

He Xuan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Lord Wind Master, I would appreciate it if you didn’t twist the heavens' opinions of me.”

“Ah He-xiong, what do you mean? The heaven’s don't have an opinion of you?”

“Hopefully it will stay that way rather than having the entire upper court thinking I'm some self-centered, intolerant shit who gets away with everything.”

“Should we-” Tai Hua began, only to be cut off by He Xuan.

“Well we have compensation now, what do we Gamble?”

“I can look through my palace for any treasures that might catch his attention.” Liao Xiu offered.

Tai Hua nodded in agreement, “I can do that too, I doubt he needs any weapons but I’ve got a few that might catch his interest.”

From all the panic from before, Tai Hua is taking all of this quite reasonably. He Xuan was well aware that he worked differently with Liao Xiu than with other gods, and although he had never worked with Tai Hua before he must have been expecting someone calm and rational.

Not someone who bickers with the Wind Master.

His opinion of both the Wind Master and the second best Civil God were probably being pulled thin during this interaction, but it was only a temporary arrangement. They wouldn’t have to spend too much longer together.

“I don’t have much here unfortunately but I’ll check the back for anything that might interest him.” From the corner of his eye, He Xuan noticed his deputies stiffening. Ah, they probably think he means the forbidden room.

He’s definitely not giving Hua Cheng one of those.

“Should we set some ground rules for when we get there?” Liao Xiu asked, reaching out for an orange slice only to find her hand come up empty. Much to her disappointment if her scowl was anything to go by.

“Good idea,” Tai Hua replied, handing the Wind Master an unpeeled orange from the fruit bowl beside him. “We definitely shouldn’t get separated.”

“And we can’t cause a scene.” He Xuan tagged on.

“We probably shouldn’t wander, we’ll stick to the biggest, brightest streets.” Liao Xiu continued.

“We don’t accept or buy food from the city.”

“We don’t go drinking any substances, not even the water.”

“Try not to engage with the locals, only do so if absolutely necessary.”

The three continued like this for almost an hour, firing off different rules to the others in turn.

If anything happened to one of them, the other two needed to continue was the only rule they disagreed on. With Tai Hua insisting that if something bad happened they’d retreat before anyone got hurt, and Liao Xiu stating that if someone got hurt they should just set fire to the city.

He Xuan didn’t have the time, nor patience to explain to Liao Xiu that her sadistic little schemes were going to end in her banishment one day only for it to be laughed off for the hundredth time.

“Gods, just forget I said it!” The Civil God surrendered.

The Martial God let out a pleased hum, whilst Liao Xiu cackled delightedly.

“Ugh, anyway.” He Xuan changed the topic, “What time should we leave?”

At this the Martial God and Elemental Master fell silent, both wearing contemplating expressions.

Liao Xiu tapped her chin thoughtfully whilst Tai Hua rubbed his temple.

“We should leave in three days.” Liao Xiu stated, earning confused looks from the others.

“Why?” The other two gods echoed.

“Cause it's Shangyaun, so we’ll be able to follow other ghosts to the city.” The Wind Master replied with a questioning hint to her voice.

“Oh shit I forgot about that!” Tai Hua announced, earning a snicker from the Elemental Master.

“Damn, yeah we should definitely go then.” He Xuan replied, “That gives us plenty of time to sort things out whilst we’re gone.”

“You mean dump all your paperwork on someone else?” Liao Xiu chimed.

“Exactly right.”

It took about three hours to finish planning their little escapade to Ghost City, and even then Liao Xiu and Tai Hua stayed for more tea. Resulting in it being well past sundown before the Palace of He Xuan was finally silenced.

The glowing balls of energy that substituted candles slowly began to sink to the floor, allowing the corners and steps to be illuminated for late night walkers. Wen Yazhu was the only deputy still working, though he wasn’t doing anything important, simply settling the paper cranes down on a table for the night.

He was a light sleeper from what He Xuan could remember, meaning the flapping probably kept him awake on a bad night.

The Civil God said nothing as he walked past, only nodding in recognition at his deputy. Wen Yazhu bowed back, turning away to continue fighting his sleep demons.

It was curious. Why would the Calamities team up with one another?

He Xuan couldn’t think of any reason as to why they would need to team up. They were the strongest in the ghost realm, they were the only ones that provided a threat.

Was it a truce so that they wouldn’t turn on eachother? That would make sense, but if that was the case, Crimson Rain would have already agreed to their terms.

Was it purely to destroy the heavens? Or was there more to it?

It just didn’t make any sense. For something to happen so suddenly there has to be a good reason.

Moreover, if it was such a recent decision, they wouldn’t be working so well in tandem.

Nothing was making sense. Not to He Xuan at least.

There’s more to this than what everyone is letting on.

For one, when Wen Yazhu received the information from this stow away ghost, he should have taken the ghost in for questioning.

Secondly, the Emperor. Who is the person he keeps meeting up with? And why did he agree so easily to the idea of Hua Cheng working with them?

The Civil God hadn’t even noticed he had made it to the forbidden room until he sat down at the desk.

Whatever was going on, he wouldn’t be able to find it out on his own.

For once, he couldn’t turn to Ling Wen for this. She was his usual go to for things like this, things that didn’t make sense. She was the only god outside of the palace of He Xuan who knew about this room. She was the only god that didn’t judge him for what he did in his mortal life, probably the only god who knew.

‘Liao Xiu?’

‘He-xiong how can I help?!” The cheerful voice echoed in his head.

He had seen her earlier but he couldn’t talk to her with Tai Hua in the room.

‘If you aren’t busy, I could do with some help. Just head to the door at the back of the gallery.’

Tonight, four people will have seen the inside of this room.

‘That's where the door at the back of the hall leads right?’

‘That's the one.’

He was met by a brief silence that was cut as soon as it started.

‘I’ll be right there’

Chapter Text

The next three days had passed awfully slowly in He Xuans opinion.

So much so that by the night of Zhongyuan he had very nearly missed the rest of his companions on their descent to the mortal realm. Which was in fact what he was doing right now, falling through the sheets of clouds into the inky darkness smothering the world below.

Ahead of him were the distant silhouettes of Liao Xiu and Tai Hua, one drifting effortlessly down like a petal in a spring breeze, and the other plummeting like a bag of rocks thrown off a palace spire.

He probably looked like a fish that had been thrown off a ship, his only mercy being that he was the last to descend since he was the last to arrive.

Below, the dim illuminations of the mortal realm grew brighter, forming puddles in the darkness as villages and cities glowed in the candle light. The sight was breathtaking, as it always will be. The Civil God was mildly ashamed to admit that he didn’t grace the mortal realm as much as he probably should. This view was just too beautiful to miss, and yet he missed it almost every day.

And that's not even accounting for the endless prayers sent his way, some of which he really should deal with personally.

A flash of red caught the civil gods eyes just as the Wind Master propelled herself upwards to talk to him.

“What was that just now?” He asked, voice drifting away in the wind.

“That was some ghosts entering Ghost City according to Qianqi, apparently the border flashes red every time!” Liao Xiu answered, pointing again as yet another flash of red broke the horizon.

When did those two start using first names?

“We can only see it from up here so remember the direction or we’ll get lost!” She continued, waving her fan gently to summon a gust of wind to level his Highness Tai Hua with the others.

The prince yelped at his sudden change of direction, the sound being dragged away by the wind. He was soon beside the other gods, sending a sheepish smile their way, almost as if he were embarrassed by leaving them behind.

“Your Highness, how often do the ghosts here enter the city usually?” He Xuan asked, mentally checking the distance between them and the tree line. They had about 3 minutes left.

“I’d say I see that flash once every few descents, it happens a lot more during Zhongyuan cause the weaker ghosts can get in as well.” The Martial God supplied.

So Ghost City must be affected by some sort of ward. If it were merely for protection the ghosts would be able to enter as they please, however from what Tai Hua had said, it would seem likely that only wraths and supremes can enter the Ghost City on a normal day.

That's quite odd.
Perhaps it's so the stronger Ghosts can be identified upon entry.

It would make sense since the threats can be identified separately from the general rabble.

“Incoming!” Liao Xiu called, waving her fan once again to allow her to hover over the trees. Unfortunately her companions didn’t receive such assistance and crashed back into the damp earth.

Tai Hua braced himself with his great sword, feet sinking into the ground. He Xuan, with the little experience of descending under his belt, sank to his knees. Letting out a hiss of pain from the impact.

Liao Xiu landed gently beside them, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she smiled down at the two doubled over gods.
“Rough landing?” She asked mockingly.

He Xuan scowled, sending the Elemental God a glare.

Oblivious to the tease Tai Hua answered truthfully, “I haven’t done that in a while, I usually brace myself a lot earlier.”

The Wind Master let out a joyous laugh, reaching down to offer a hand to her fallen friend.

With a huff of indignation He Xuan accepted the hand, allowing himself to be pulled up by Liao Xiu.

Tai Hua watched them with a puzzled expression, clearly confused by the equal levels of hostility and genuine care.

“We need to head slightly north from here.” He Xuan stated, dusting off his knees. “We should run into some ghosts the closer we get to the city, but it'd be foolish to get too close to them.”

“What? Why?” Tai Hua asked, stretching his arms slightly before turning to his companions.

“They'll know we aren't ghosts that's why.” He Xuan retorted matter of factly.

Liao Xiu seemed to ignore them as she began walking in the direction He Xuan had previously pointed out. Though she didn't go far it was obvious she was probing their surroundings, likely trying to catch sight of any ghosts near their location.

He Xuan coughed slightly, grasping the Elemental Gods' attention. With a flurry of her robes Liao Xiu turned to face the men before her, a smile gracing her face as per usual.

“Sorry, what were you saying just now?” The Wind God asked, fluttering her fan slightly as if waving away the obvious conclusion that she wasn't listening.

He Xuan frowned at her, “I was asking if you had any ideas on how to get into Ghost city undetected.”

Liao Xiu was quiet at this, shooting her gaze skyward as if the stars would spell it out for her. Tai Hua remained silent as he waited for the two to come to whatever conclusion they were after. Though he's never worked in such a dynamic before, he was well aware that the Wind Master knew more than what she displayed if her ease at correcting the civil god said anything.

“Well, we could always use transformation magic to turn the two of you into girls!” She offered, a sly smile gracing her delicate features, “As we all should know, women have higher Yin energy than men. We'd blend in more smoothly that way.”

“Absolutely not!” Tai Hua squawked. He had nothing against women but he refused to allow his followers to erect statues with bosoms because of this one incident. He doesn't care if he's overreacting, he doesn't want to deal with a story similar to Ju Yang!

“I'm with him.” He Xuan snapped, batting at the Wind masters head as she delightedly laughed at the flush covering her companions faces.

“Well if not my idea then you'll just have to subdue the heavenly aura. It should work, I heard plenty of mortals travel to ghost city as well.” Liao Xiu cheered.

Tai Hua couldn't help but lament the fact that that information was probably what He Xuan wanted to begin with. Their embarrassment was just passing amusement for her.

Rather than responding, He Xuan let out a gruff hum as he pulled his heavenly aura away from the surroundings, sealing it in his chest. It was a common trick to gods as it was necessary for them to blend into the mortal rabble occasionally. He Xuan doubts he's ever met a God that couldn't perform such a feat so he had no concerns on whether Tai Hua could also cloak his godhood.

“Let's go, we need to get to the border sooner rather than later.” The Wind Master chimed, beginning her trek ahead with little concern for the two behind her.

He Xuan was quick to respond, catching up to the God quickly whereas Tai Hua lagged ever so slightly behind, seemingly unfamiliar with his own territory.

The journey following was uneventful in the most bleak of ways. The forests were thick with vegetation, though good for the surrounding mortals, was a nightmare for the gods trying to get through it.

Tai Hua had begun swinging his great sword in an attempt to cut his robes free of some brambles and Liao Xiu was content with jumping over almost every plant she saw. And that was a lot of plants.

It was dark here with little to no light, and to avoid drawing attention no one had set a palm fire to help them see. As such the space around them was claustrophobic in a way even though everyone was aware that they were out in the open.

He Xuan, by nature, had always hated cramped spaces. More so after he had been arrested and imprisoned during his mortal years. Even though he knew he could reach out and only come across a tree, or some leaves, the feeling of tightness did not abide in the slightest.

“So umm…” Tai Hua began, sheathing his blade as he turned his head in the general direction of his companions. “What will we do if Crimson Rain isn't at Ghost City?”

The wind Master was the first to reply, “just camp outside his house for a bit, he'll show up eventually!”

“If you're not gonna say anything smart just stop speaking Liao Xiu!” He Xuan snapped, turning his attention back to Tai Hua, “since it's zhongyuan he'll probably be there, but worst case scenario we'll just go back to heaven and try and track him from there.”

“That'll take a while.” Tai Hua commented, “I think Wind Master is right about staying in ghost city.”

“That's only gonna work if he shows up in a few days though, I don't fancy being stuck in ghost city for a decade or two.” Liao Xiu practically sang as she flung herself up into the branches of the trees.

Tai Hua yelped at her sudden action, startling backwards as she plummeted not too far from where she vanished.

“We're slightly off course, this way ladies!” The Wind Master cheered as she took a slight right.

The walk was long paced and tiring, most communication being between Tai Hua and Liao Xiu.

He Xuan almost regretted coming for this mission, silently cursing himself for speaking up in the palace of divine might three days ago.

Despite this lady luck seemed to be on their side as only a bit further they encountered their first ghost entourage.

The group was compiled of dead women, all seeming to be from the same burial grounds by the familiarity they spoke to each other with.

Their bodies were mostly translucent and there were clear signs of rotting on their faces. One of them distantly commented on a scam that had caused her face to rot prior to the allotted time she had been told.

The three gods didn't join the group, but flanked them through the shrubbery. Liao Xiu had fallen quiet at their presence and Tai Hua seemed to be going through some moral dilemma, most likely about how inappropriate it is to follow women in the night regardless of the fact that they're ghosts.

The group continued on behind the ghost group for an incense before they were finally handed some information on a silver platter.

“Ah I'm just glad that Lord Chengzu will be at the city!” One of the ghost women sighed.

“He's always so busy but the fact that he'll be there just makes traveling the distance here all the more worth it.”

The ghost ladies seemed to fall into a state of swooning as they spoke, allowing the gods to turn to each other without being caught for the time being.

“Crimson Rains in the city, that makes things easier for us!” Liao Xiu whisper-yelled at the others, as if they hadn't been listening to the ghost women as well.

“It also means we'll have to be more careful when we enter the city.” He Xuan added, quieter than Liao Xiu had been.

Tai Hua nodded along, his Armour making his crouched form look almost comical.

“I'm pretty sure we're close to the city entrance, it should only be a few minutes from here.” The martial god commented. The two gods nodded at his assessment.

“Well then let's hurry!” Liao Xiu cheered, springing up from the underbrush.

He Xuan's face contorted into horrified disgust, his expression only deepening as the group of ghost ladies screamed at Liao Xius sudden appearance.

“Ahh we've been followed!” one of the ghosts cried.

“Run run, once we're in the city we can lose them!” another chimed, grabbing two of her friends and sprinting away.

The other girls followed swiftly.

He Xuan glared up at the Elemental Master as Tai Hua seemed to turn a shade of green as if he'd been accused of some atrocious crime.

“... Oopsie.” the wind Master supplied, shrugging her shoulders slightly and flipping her fan in front of her face.

She didn't make eye contact with the others.

“Liao Xiu, you are not allowed out of my sight once we reach ghost city!” He Xuan snapped. “Better yet, Tai Hua can keep an eye on you and the two of you can just stay out of my way!” The civil god continued, his rage evident.

“What but I didn't do anything!” Tai Hua lamented. You could almost picture the exaggerated tears streaming down his face at the unjust punishment he had received.

__________________________

It took the trio another Sichen before they finally found the entrance to Ghost City.

__________________________

Ghost city was an atrocious symphony of chaos and disaster, brimming with disarray that spilled into the overcrowded streets. Goldfish Yao swam overhead, lanterns dangling from their fins, casting fickle shadows over the illuminated street. Alluring ghost women hung from the railings of the overhead bridges, shouting to the merchants strolling through the main road, clearly after less than pure company.

It was an organized disorder with gushing shades of red and black wherever you looked. It was beautiful in a hellish way. That was undeniable.

Lang Qianqi had to say he was vaguely impressed with the decor. He had assumed it would look a lot more like a ramshackle village with teetering buildings. That's not to say many of the buildings overhead looked like they were structurally sound, but there were many more sturdy buildings in this main plaza than he would have assumed.

It was quite bizarre actually, how perfectly insync the manic place was. Ghosts of various shapes and sizes littered the area, and each and every one was accommodating towards their larger and smaller companions, the crowd gushing and flowing in a way that didn't disrupt anyone else.

Anyone except the gods trying to make their way through it seems.

They had come across many deadends during their little escapade, to the point where He Xuan ditched both Lang Qianqi and Liao Xiu in an alleyway, opting a disguise to seek his information out. He was definitely making more progress this way. His progress was equally disturbed by misleading information and ghosts trying to sell him strange yet fascinating items.

Thankfully it seemed he had finally found something useful.

“The Gamblers den is near an empty temple, if we can find the temple the dens just down the street from there.” He Xuan called, making his way back towards the martial God. He looked more exhausted than when they had left, and in mild distress by whatever he had encountered whilst the martial god and elemental master were in time out. The black hair that was almost permanently in a slick high ponytail had strands falling around the civil gods face, a slight frizz puffing out what was usually plastered to his scalp.

“Well do you know what direction that's in ‘cause I've never heard of a temple being here.” Lang Qianqi said, glancing around as if the building would miraculously spawn into place. It wouldn’t have been the first time that had happened. Honestly the strange and unexplainable should be expected in ghost city, but the Martial god of the East was absolutely horrified when a wall suddenly crashed in front of them, changing the entire layout of the city.

It had caught a few of the ghosts around them by surprise as well if the frantic cussing was anything to go by. But rather than cussing out of shock or surprise, it seemed they were more pissed off about someone setting off a ward.

“It should be just down the avenue according to the boar.” He Xuan replied, thumbing at the boar in question who was hacking up some meat that looked suspiciously like it hadn't come from a local farm. Or maybe it had. Just out of a house rather than a barn.

“Well if its a temple Crimson Rain has allowed to remain, then surely it must be a much more exquisite building than any of these.” Liao Xiu chimed, waving her fan to the surrounding structures. She had a valid point, although the buildings around them matched the aesthetic of the city, it looked like a slum compared to some of the places they had seen along the way. That Paradise manor looked a million times better than any of the places here.

“So we look for a fancy building near a temple?” Lang Qianqi asked.

He Xuan shook his head, “The gamblers den supposedly has banners lining its front,” he said, “But apparently, and this is not to be repeated, the banners calligraphy is so bad you can't even recognize it as calligraphy.”

“Then I guess we’re going over there!” Liao Xiu chirrped, pointing further down the avenue.

The two Upper court officials glanced in the direction the Wind Master pointed in, noting that indeed, a tall grandiose building stood stark against the rest of the city. It was tall, about three, possibly even four floors tall with grand pillars supporting the sloping roofs. Banners dangled from the supporting beams, fluttering gently in the clamor, strange foreign glyphs spelling some atrocious title. It was of course red. And it also seemed vaguely popular.

Just ahead of where the gamblers den stood proud was an offcut path leading to a building that seemed separated from the general hubbub. It was serene in contrast to their surroundings and He Xuan distantly categorized it as that nameless temple mentioned earlier.
But they still couldn't be too sure that it was actually the place and not just some illusion magic at work. They've encountered that before when they thought they found the den earlier and ended up stumbling into a brothel.

“That's a high possibility yes, but we can’t be sure” the civil god cautioned, gently pulling his hair back into place, though they all doubted it would stay like that for long.

“We should check it out regardless.” Lang Qianqi said, stepping ahead of his colleagues to the building in question, “If it's not the gamblers den we can just cross it off the list.”

The trio pushed through the crowds, bumping shoulders with strangers as they navigated the ramshackled street. They were caught by many merchants along the way, most of which were trying to sell them unidentifiable, yet clearly cursed objects. But that's not to say that occasionally they would be confronted with radiant jewels and lustrous silks as well. The red seemed even more domineering out in the open than it had in the alleyway, but it also made the city of the undead more lively.

It was quite pleasant actually.

“Oh watch out for that guy!” Liao Xiu warned, pointing towards a towering skeleton stepping through the crowds, ducking under the bridges as it went. He Xuan quickly pulled them to the side, pressing the martial god and the wind master against the wall to avoid the skeletal foot that came crashing down next to them. Chasing after the foot was a gaggle of ghost children, seemingly trying to trip the monstrous ghost in its passage with ribbons that continued to flutter around as the skeleton walked.

Like a stream, the crowd of ghosts parted for the thing, almost as if this was a regular occurrence. Perhaps it was, a few of the merchants waved at the thing as it passed after all.

“Let's move before the crowd closes up again.” Lang Qianqi called, the closer they got to this building the louder and more boisterous it seemed to get.

In response, Liao Xiu grasped He Xuans hand, pulling him after the martial god. The civil god followed with a halfhearted grumble, allowing himself to be pulled through the city with ease.

The three found themselves at the foot of a flight of stairs, a wide one at that, spanning the entire side of the building they were attempting to reach. It was much larger up close, which was to be expected, but the sudden change in proportions was breathtaking. Three sets of doors sat at the top of the stairs, red beads dripping down infront of them, with the doors themselves propped open, allowing access to the brewing chaos inside.

The pillars they had spied from across the avenue were spectacularly carved, with dragons and snakes winding down the sides, each of them either with flowers or butterflies carved into them.

The roar of laughter that spilled into the streets was shocking, just as much as the two ghosts that came flying through the doors. Much to Lang Qianqi’s surprise, the Gamblers den had bouncers. He had assumed it was much more dangerous than it currently seemed.

“Up the steps we go, come on your Highness, don’t tell me the smell of alcohol has gotten you drunk!” The wind master joked, beginning to climb the polished black steps with a slight skip in her step.

Lang Qianqi choked, “No of course not!”

“We have a mission, you’re not going to the bar!” He Xuan scolded, following the elemental master up the stairs in a much more relaxed pace.

The martial god stood at the base for a minute longer, shaking his head aggressively before following after his companions.

If it was loud outside, inside the den was thunderous.

Lang Qianqi pushed through the beaded curtains, eyes wide in slight awe as he surveyed his new surroundings.

The ceiling was high, banisters adorned with wraps of red silk, some of them falling down to make makeshift curtains. Chandeliers were framed by exquisite paintings, many revolving around the same theme of a ghost fire surrounded by butterflies following a man with a face of flowers. The walls were also painted, but with much simpler themes of beasts and monsters dancing in a chaotic harmony.

Tables littered the floor, many already surrounded by patrons, each bearing a worker dressed in black and red with an animal mask adorning their faces.

“Let's get a better look!” Liao Xiu called, pointing towards a set of stairs off to the corner, clearly leading to the balconies that overlooked the mess. But even the balconies weren’t taller than the strange structure against the back wall, shielded by red curtains and further framed by two women dressed in fine pink silks, holding trays of fruits in silence.

Lang Qianqi and He Xuan followed after the wind master, climbing the red carpeted stairs until they reached the balcony. The banisters, as it turns out were jutted out significantly so, enough to hold a few drinks across it, and many stools could be found along the way. This was clearly an area used specifically for people to view the transactions rather than getting involved themselves.

Liao Xiu quickly found seats, sitting on one of the stools and leaning over the banister to watch the largest of the tables, the one in front of the tower of stairs. The others followed after her, sitting on either side and turning to watch the proceedings as well.

From here, they could see the entire first floor, from the bar lining the west wall, to the door tucked away in the corners that clearly lead further into the building itself. The masked workers seemed to be different from the women dressed in pink. It seemed the mask wearers were the actual staff that helped run the den, and the women were more like hired entertainment.

“Oh look! Look! He-xiong look! Someone is approaching the big table!” The wind master whispered furiously, pulling the civil god's attention to the masked… Mortal!?!

“What’s a mortal doing here!” Lang Qianqi hissed.

“Gambling duhh!” Liao Xiu retorted.

“But why in ghost city!?”

“Because they aren't gambling with money.” He Xuan answered rather coldly.

Liao Xiu hummed in agreement, “Around here, they can gamble with anything of worth. Limbs, lives, time, fates, souls, the whole shabam!” The wind master tapped her fan against her chin as she leaned further over the banister as an echo of ‘oohs’ sounded from below.

“That's horrible, who would do such a thing?” The martial god snapped, fists clenching tightly as he two, tried to see what the mortal was up to.
“Not everyone has a strict set of morals to follow.” Liao Xiu mumbled as the chaos below finally unfolded.

One of the women in pink raised a hand to shush the crowd, which worked surprisingly well all things considered. The ghosts around fell into a hush, still eyeing up the mortal before them with hungry eyes.

“The Chengzu asks the lowly one what he is willing to gamble!” The woman calls out, gesturing down to the man who was rubbing his knuckles in what was most likely a nervous fidget.

“I- I want my business to skyrocket in scales, and for all my rivals to plummet!” The mortal man announced, earning a burst of laughter from the crowd and a scoff from the martial god watching him.

“What will you be betting?” The masked worker asked from the very center of the table, where a sizable hole allowed them to fit.

“I- I’ll bet my arm!”

The ghosts around him burst at the seams.

“Pffts hahhahaa, who are you kidding?”

“Your arm? What do you think that's worth?”

“As if our mighty Chengzu wants some lame arm from a mentally challenged old fart!”

The mortal seemed to flush at this, clearly not expecting such a reaction.

“The- The last guy bet his arm!?” The man argued, slamming his fist against the table.

Lang Qianqi was actually quite disgusted at this information. Had the last guy lost? Was he safe? What exactly was he betting for?

“The last participant was a skilled surgeon, his abilities refined by years of practice. You have no such worth. Neither your arms, legs, chest, or head have any value for our Chengzu, "one of the pink women explained. “However, if you find something of value on your person you shall be allowed to gamble it. Or you could bet your servitude as many have done before you.”

The mortal seemed to be shaking at this news, struggling intensely to find something, anything he could bet on.

“I- I bet- I bet ten years of my daughter's life!” The man shouted, earning a range of shocked gasps, laughter and shouts of outrage from the crowd.
Before anyone could refute the gamble, the woman in pink raises her hand again, “Accepted.”

With the confirmation, the masked man standing in the tables center took out a set of dice. “The highest roll wins.” He stated, before leaving the circle to stand at the side of the table. Perhaps the tables were often met by outrage from the losing party.

“That is vile!” Liao Xiu muttered indignantly as the dice were rolled. Lang Qianqi nodded, the scowl he was sending the mortals way, not letting up for a second.

“Rather than worrying about what's happening with that man, we should be thinking of a way to get a private audience with Crimson Rain.” He Xuan cut in, guiding the other gods back to the task at hand.

Lang Qianqi had his doubts that just asking nicely would work, but he’d rather not go for the other quick and easy solution. His luck was exceptionally average, thanks to his Guoshi, his most extreme bad luck seemed to have ended when the man was buried.

“Well,” Liao Xiu began, leaning away from the banister to send a look the martial god's way, “I don’t know about you guys but I like to think i'm pretty lucky at the moment.”

“On the contrary, your luck is abysmal.” He Xuan scoffed.

“Hey it was only that one time, and it wasn't even my fault!”

“Whose fault was it then?”

“My friends, his luck is so bad it leaks out of him honestly!”

“Don’t lie, I'm the only person who tolerates spending time with you without being ordered.”

“Lies!”

The martial god let out a soft cough, “Well my luck's pretty average.” He admitted, trying to stir the conversation away from one where he clearly wasn’t welcome.

“Same, but it's this or nothing.” The civil god sighed.

“I’m sure we’ll get a private meeting if we rough up some of the workers!” The Wind Master offered.

“We want him on our side Xiu, we can’t get in his bad books.” He Xuan scolded, earning an indignated sigh from the elemental master.

A cacophony of sound battered away the gods' conversation, a variety of different reactions battered the man at the table, who had clearly won his prize. The mortal himself was boasting about how he must be superior to the supreme ghost king sat watching him, whilst many of the crowd argued that their precious Chengzu had obviously let him win.

Regardless, the man had gotten himself into a fancy that his luck would continue into the next round.

“I can’t just have my rival's sales go down, I want them dead!” The man announced, slamming his fist into the table. “I’ll bet thirty years off my daughter's life and her marriage!”

Lang Qianqi leapt to his feet, only kept in place by the surprisingly harsh grip of the wind master beside him. She pulled her fan in front of her face, fluttering it gently as she watched the martial god with honey brown eyes.

“We can’t just let it happen, both outcomes are inhumane!” The martial god hissed.

“That's the point. It's obvious Crimson Rain let him win the last role, I doubt he’ll let him win this one.” The wind master mumbled, gently pulling the martial god back to his seat.

“But what about his daughter?”

“That man's daughter might live until she’s ninety, a couple decades off of that would do her some good, and with Crimson Rain in charge of her marriage, there's definitely a chance she’ll actually get a husband rather than having to become some lordling's concubine.”

“How do you know that?” Lang Qianqi asked.

“Crimson rain is supposedly quite the romantic,” He Xuan voiced, “Didn’t you notice, all the murals here have the same person.”

“You mean the man with a face of flowers?” the martial god asked, craning his head back to look at the paintings on the ceiling.

“Exactly. If I’m right, the butterflies following him are meant to be Crimson Rain himself, and the man with the face of flowers is perhaps a beloved person to him. It’s possible Crimson Rain has forgotten what he looked like, or perhaps he feels possessive, and doesn’t want anyone else to see this person's face.” He Xuan explained.

“So the best way to get to him…”

“Would be through that man yes.”

Lang Qianqi glanced around the room once more, looking for someone who might be remotely similar.

“Do you think he’s in the ghost city?” The martial god asked.

“Nope. Think about it, Crimson Rain's title is literally Crimson Rain Sought Flower, not Crimson Rain Found Flower. And who is Crimson Rain following in these murals?” Liao Xiu asked, prodding He Xuan with her elbow.

“He’s following the flower.” The civil god mumbles, staring back up at the murals.

The three sat in silence for a moment, staring up at the murals almost mournfully.

“Crimson Rain must be over 800 years old by now.” Liao Xiu sighed, “He’s been looking for his beloved all this time. I kind of feel bad for him.”

He Xuans fist slammed against his knee, turning to face Liao Xiu with a sparkle in his eyes.

“What?” the wind master asked, slinking back in slight concern, “What did i say?”

“Liao Xiu i could kiss you!”

“I mean-”

“Shut up.” The civil god barked, “We can offer our assistance to Crimson Rain by helping him find his beloved! We already talked about letting him use heavens surveillance but this narrows it down immensely! We won't have to deal with him barging up whenever he feels like it if we help him find this man!”

“Yea but first we need to get an audience with him.” Lang Qianqi muttered bitterly, glaring at the mortal man who is now being dragged out of the establishment, cussing and screaming and kicking his legs.

He lost then.

“What have we got here that's worth anything?” He Xuan asked, turning to his companions.

Liao Xiu shrugged, beginning to pat herself down as if something would miraculously appear.

Lang Qianqi already knew Crimson Rain was not short on spiritual weapons or material objects, and the lives of gods are basically worth nothing to him. Though they do have immortality, they don't have the time to gamble with years of servitude and any loss of limbs would mean nothing as well since they could just be restored with spiritual energy.

“Oh I do have this!” Liao Xiu suddenly chimed, pulling He Xuan and Lang Qianqi out of their stupors. In the Wind master's hand was a jade hairpin, fading from a deep green to a serene white that ended with a delicately carved exquisite flower. It looked like something that would belong to royalty, from a very predated era. In fact, if Lang Qianqi was correct, it was an heirloom of the kingdom of Xianle, as many hairpins similar had once graced the streets of Yong’an, though they were made of wood.

“Where did you get that?” Lang Qianqi asked.

Liao Xiu remained silent for a moment, scrunching her face, as if trying to recall the exact moment she received it.

“I brought it off some wandering cultivator on a mission once. He said he randomly found it in his bag, and said he thought he pawned it off years ago.”

“Well it's definitely a relic, it should hold some value.” He Xuan muttered before glancing back at the table, “Though I'm not sure if its value will count too much here.”

“It’s still worth a shot.” The wind master replied.

The civil god nodded in return.

____________

The ghost king watched the crowd through the red curtains, expression pulled into a tight scowl as he watched the unfolding chaos. He’s wasting time, he knows he’s wasting time, but he can’t continue searching fruitlessly if he wants to keep his sanity.

Red dice were tossed into the air, landing in the open palm beneath before flying back into the air once again. He never found anything productive in this city, there was honestly no point in staying here. But he has a responsibility, a responsibility he didn't even want, yet here he was.

The biggest waste of time in his afterlife.

And to top it all off, Azure Vortex had entered his city. He had no clue where that conniving bastard had slunk off to, but wherever he is, it's going to turn out badly. At Least when Qi Rong entered the city he knew what to expect, but this is the second time Azure Vortex has ever entered the ghost city, and the last time he was here the eastern avenue was obliterated.

Hua Cheng sighed, gripping the bridge of his nose in his stress. Hopefully this will all be over with soon and Azure Vortex will come to him directly rather than attacking the citizens in the city.

“My lord,” A voice called from just outside the curtain.

The calamity hummed in response.

“A group of officials wish to bet against you.”

He quirked a brow at this, sitting up from his divian ever so slightly to look down at the Heavenly scum that had wandered onto his territory.

At the end of his table stood three upper court officials, a civil god, a martial god, and an elemental master. Quite the company, truly. Most gods struggled to work well with others, let alone others from different courts. This was truly a phenomenon worth applause.

“What do they want?” Hua Cheng asked, rolling the dice between his fingers as he listened to the worker call out to the group. Their reply was even more surprising, it seemed his day was about to get mildly more interesting.

“We wish for a private audience with the Lord of this City, no hostility involved!” The Civil god called up.

The ghost king watched silently, false eyes surveying the three with silent disgust.

“What will they bet?”

His question was once again parroted by the women framing his accommodations, and in reply the elemental master stepped forward.

She bowed towards the stairs, violently blue eyes making eye contact with his own. Interesting, it seemed the martial god wasn’t the one he needed to pay attention to.

“My lord, I present to you this jade hairpin, once belonging to the kingdom of Xianle.” With that she had Hua Cheng's undivided attention, and by the smile playing on her lips, she knew that as well. “I brought it from a wandering cultivator by the name Xie roughly two hundred years ago.”

Those blue eyes were glued to him, as if they could see right through the curtains shielding the calamity from view. Her companions glanced at her with questioning looks, clearly unsure about why she would divulge where she received the hair pin. Clearly, she had much more knowledge on Hua Cheng than any official was supposed to.

“Accept.”

“Our Chengzu had accepted your gamble.”

Hua Cheng knows that he has no interest in the heavens, he knows this private audience will do nothing to benefit him. He also knows that the information he may receive from this elemental master is quite outdated, but it's something. And that's what he doesn’t have. She can keep the hairpin, his God wouldn’t have sold it if he wanted to keep it, but even the slightest reassurance that he was alright, even if it's 200 years late, is something Hua Cheng wants.

The Gods roll their dice. A four and five.

Hua Cheng's dice follow, with two fours proudly facing the sky.

He’ll entertain these gods for a bit, and send them on their way with the bare minimum. And hopefully when they leave Azure Vortex will either show his face or be gone as well.

Hua Cheng has barely met the guy face to face before, and he’d prefer not to see him ever again. Anyone who affiliates with the White Clothed Calamity, is someone who would destroy a whole kingdom because their clothes got snagged by a stray branch. Or in Qi Rongs case, would make a nuisance out of themselves to the point where you wish you could disperse yourself sometimes just to get away from him.

On the bright side, this meeting was a perfect chance to get out of here. And that's exactly what he plans to do.

The ghost king stood from his divian, the chains on his boots jingling with his steps. A pale hand pulled the curtain aside, allowing the supreme to step out into the light. He was in a skin obviously. None of these scumbags had the honour of seeing his true face, but he would amuse them all the same with another new form.

“You wished for a meeting,” Hua Cheng called down, lips twitching into a smirk as he watched the violent flinch run through the gods before him, “I shall provide.”

Chapter Text

The room was dreary in its darkness, the only light offered coming from the small glowing orb that sat at the edge of an aged wooden desk. It smelled of jasmine here, but also with hints of age that could be attributed to the rotting scrolls lining the walls.

Only two people were in this room, one a god slumped over sheets of paper, scribbling furiously as his eyes drooped more and more with exhaustion, his black hair loose from it typical ponytail, cascading down his shoulders in a way that looked like he had just been submerged in water for much too long. The other, a woman dressed in fine teal and white silks, brown hair cascading down her back and honey brown eyes surveying what was in front of her. Though there was no wind in this room, mostly to protect the scrolls, the woman's hair and robes continued to sway silently, not even disturbing the thin layer of dust coating the floor.

Liao Xiu was silent as she observed the Civil God before her, his attention solely focused on the information he had gathered in front of him.

She belatedly was a little late arriving here, having traveled to the palace of He Xuan three times in one day wearing on her nerves slightly. Truly if he wanted to spend so much time with her he shouldn't have sent her away to begin with.

The Wind Master had yet to draw attention to her presence, content with watching him work silently as she surveyed this room she had found herself in.

Ancient scrolls predating the Xianle Dynasty stacked haphazardly against each other, various newer scrolls holding them in place to keep them from crumbling off the shelf. They were clearly not meant to be here but despite that, they lined the walls with duplicates tucked nicely besides them. The Wind God distantly wondered what kind of trouble her company would get in if ‘he’ were to discover this.

But what that man did to this god wasn't a concern to her. She had much bigger things to worry about at the moment without involving him. Notably, a friend of hers is quite upset about being so abruptly cut off in her communication array after giving a live reaction to the argument he had been locked in for what seemed like the entire day, but she can't risk this particular civil God from finding anything amiss even if she wished to hear more about the ensuing drama her friend was trapped in. Not with how things currently are.

He Xuan, the poor thing, he looked like he'd collapse over these scrolls at any second. If she waits a bit longer he might fall asleep, in which case she can scourge these shelves of taboo topics to her hearts content, filing the most dangerous scrolls away and using them to decorate the temple. But that won't do.

“Wow, look at you! If I didn't know any better, I would think a ghost had snuck into the heavenly realm!”

He Xuan jerked at the sudden voice, looking up at the elemental Master with bleary eyes.

“Xiu, come look at this.” He yawned, gesturing to what lay in front of him.

“What is it?” The wind Master asked. She could see what it was.

A list of incidents dating back hundreds of years. It showed the collaboration between the three calamities that had allegedly only just begun their truce. Such information shouldn’t have even seen the light outside of the Palace of Divine might, yet here it was.

Someone obviously wasn’t doing their job.

“It's weird, Azure Vortex, Green Immor and Bai Wuxiang have been working together for centuries. Why is it only now we've heard about it?”

“Perhaps our sources are growing lax in their reports?” The Wind Master supplied cheerfully. Divert and enforce. If the general populace is unaware of the issue, those with the information decide what's true or not. That is the rule of the heavens. That is the rule of the world. He Xuan didn’t have the information, so in accordance to the rules, Liao Xiu spoke nothing but the truth.

He Xuan sighed, clearly not liking her response.

“Xiu this is much more complicated than it looks.” He scolded but his tone wasn’t harsh. Rather, it was exhausted with centuries of trouble weighing him down.

Liao Xiu could see that clearly. She was also well aware that it was more complicated than it looked. Everything in this world is more complicated than it looks. What she was more curious about, was whether or not this Civil God before her would figure it out before it’s too late.

_____________

Hua Chengs steps were steady and persistent as he led the three gods to the uppermost floor of the gamblers' den. They were perfectly paced, the kind of walk only a man who had traveled centuries could Master. He Xuan distantly cursed at this as he found his legs becoming more and more exhausted the more steps they climbed.

As it turns out, the floors above the Gambler Den’s main attraction were not just more and more gambling stations, rather they all served a different purpose. The second floor, which just so happens to be the third floor if someone observed them outside, was dedicated to various private rooms for more intense gambles. But conveniently there were also a plethora of rooms that He Xuan could only assume were for customers that get a bit too frisky with another ghost. To put it plainly these rooms probably only saw sex and nothing else.

The decorations were equally as lavish as before, but there was a more refined feel to this floor in comparison to the main floor. The red was prominent as usual, yet there were much calmer colours mixed into the furniture. Notably, the floor up here was carpeted, as were the stairs leading to the top floor.

Lang Qianqi hovered close behind Liao Xiu as they followed the Ghost King up those stairs, breaching the fourth floor with little fanfare. In front of them was a single hallway that stretched vertically across the landing. Only three doors were on this hallway, one was directly in front of the three gods and the ghost, whilst two others flanked the far walls. He Xuan thought they were probably for servants, but when it came to ghost city no one could ever be sure.

Hua Cheng didn’t spare a glance their way as he pushed open the door in front of him. It was a considerably normal action for such an abnormal being. The doors were expertly designed, with flowers climbing up the frame, each one highlighted by smoldered gold that lined the carvings. Maybe this guy should go into architecture rather than bullying gods and ghosts every other day of the week.

What lay behind the door could put may god's decoration style to shame. The room was massive, almost spanning the entire floor with exquisite ornaments displayed on red jade pillars. They were most likely prizes earned through gambles, if the severed arms encased in an ice like sheet was anything to go by.

The end of the room had scrolls reaching to the ceiling, which was painted with a similar design to the ceiling of the Gambler Den’s main hall, though it was undoubtedly more exquisite. The walls were half painted by the looks of it, each one depicting some kind of place in a luscious city. Only one wall was incomplete, it looked as if it were showcasing a grand avenue, a stunning palace half painted in the background.

Hua Cheng sprawled himself across the large divan set near the back of the room, finally observing the three gods as they failed to subtly observe his little display. In his opinion, none of these gods were of much concern. The Martial God, although a Cardinal Martial God, was still slightly wet around the ears. If the Ghost King was correct, this was the boy Bai Wuxiang took a slight interest in about two to three hundred years ago. He pitied the boy slightly, but evidently the affects of his Guoshis betrayal left him slightly lagging in terms of other Cardinal Martial Gods, though he was still a step ahead of that Qi Ying.

The Civil God was also of little concern. His deduction abilities may be a pain in the distant future, but as of right now it wasn’t something Hua Cheng was particularly worried about. The one Hua Cheng had the most interest in by far was the Elemental Master. As of right now she was fluttering her fan in front of her face, the feng calligraphy all but labeling her as the Wind Master. She seemed morbidly invested with the severed arms Hua Cheng had won off that surgeon not too long ago.

Hua Cheng didn’t know who she was or what dynasty she ascended in, nor did he know if she was still in contact with his Dianxi. Regardless, she had the most information at hand and he knew it. He knew she knew he knew it.

“If you’re done with your field trip i'd appreciate if we could get down to business.” The Ghost king called, startling the Civil and Martial gods. The Wind Master merely turned with a flutter of her fan, far Far too confident whilst in his presence.

“Right,” the Civil god began, taking quick steps to stand before the ghost king before giving a short bow to the dead man. He doesn’t have the time for this false show of propriety, and waved his hand dismissively when the two other gods moved to bow with their companion.

Once the Civil God rose he spoke again,”This one’s name is He Xuan, I am a Civil God from heavens uppercourt-”

“I am aware,” Hua Cheng cut him off, “I do not desire your acquaintance so get to the point.”

He Xuan nodded at that, though the martial god looked to be offended on his behalf, “The heavens require your assistance and we humbly beg for you to join us in our battle against the other three calamities.” He Xuan stated, squaring his shoulders ever so slightly as he looked at the Ghost King.

Hua Cheng hummed noncommittal as he gestured for the god to continue.

“We are aware that you will most likely refuse, so in return for your assistance, the heavenly realm will offer any support you may need in regards to finding one person, whether that be god, ghost or mortal.”

Hua Cheng perked up at this, and He Xuan noticed. So did Liao Xiu.

“Though Lord Crimson Rain should be made aware that this is only in regards to one person,” the wind master chimed, “If you lose track of him after he’s found the heavens will unfortunately not be able to help you find him again.”

This god knows far too much about him for someone he’s only met today.

“Lord Wind Master, might I inquire if there are any persons the heavens will not be able to find?” Hua Cheng asked, almost friendly in comparison to how he addressed He Xuan. If he’s correct, this god will mention his, and if she does, Hua Cheng may very well agree without even finding out why the heavenly realm is battling against his unfortunate acquaintances.

“The flower crowned martial god cannot escape heaven's eye no matter how hard he may try!” The Wind Master replied cheerfully. She had him hook line and sinker and she was well aware of this.
“Liao Xiu,” He Xuan whispered furiously as the Ghost King seemed to sink into his thoughts, “The flower crowned material god was banished centuries before our time, we don't even know what he looks like! The only gods who would know what he looks like and could pick him out from a crowd are Nan Yang and Xuan Zhen and I doubt their grievances with his highness are enough for them to sick a Ghost King on the poor guy!”

“Just let me talk, I know what i'm doing!” Liao Xiu hissed in return, elbowing the Civil God besides her.

Lang Qianqi leaned over at this, “Why would Crimson Rain be interested in the crown prince of Xianle?”

Liao Xiu turned to the martial god, “Crimson Rain is like eight hundred years old, he came from the same time period as the prince and Crimson Rain isn’t Yong’an if these furnishings are anything to go by.” The Wind Master explained, gesturing to their surroundings whilst she was at it “If i'm right then Crimson Rain was of Xianle, why wouldn’t he want to find his homelands crown prince after all these years? It's none of our concern what he wants to do to a banished god anyway.”

“This isn’t right, we can't just do that to His Highness Xianle, banished god or not.” He Xuan tried to reason.

“Lord He Xuan is right Wind Master!” Lang Qianqi added.

“Well if it's such a big concern to the two of you go ahead and flank the guy then, see if you can protect him from Crimson Rain if he even needs the protection!” Liao Xiu snapped just as Hua Cheng seemed to zone back into their conversation.

The Ghost King observed them with cold eyes, his hand under his chin as if he were weighing the benefits of working with them.

“Why do you need help dealing with the other calamities?” The red clad man asked, “As far as I know they care for the heavenly realm even less than me.”

He leaned back as he spoke, back hitting the plush red cushions on the divan, a condescending air to him. As if he believed the heavenly realm had done something stupid by pissing off the calamities to the point they were scared of a war. These were after all, the same heavenly realm that was so cocky and condescending when he first challenged them.

“We don’t know what the calamities are after, but at the start of this year they have become more and more aggressive.” Liao Xiu answered, confident in her assessment.

Hua Cheng hummed, as if something in that information seemed to check out.

“Are any of them in particular targeting your poor deputies or have you all worked yourselves into a tizzy over some temperamental bastards who can't regulate their emotions?” Hua Cheng continued, clearly knowing more than the gods before him.

Liao Xiu answered once again, “Currently Green Immor and Azure Vortex have been targeting deputies, as well as causing general mishaps that require the upper courts attention.”

He Xuan nodded at this, “It seems to us that the two are working together to lure the stronger gods out of heaven, as such an attack from Bai Wuxiang at that point would result in a catastrophe.” He added on.

Hua Cheng once again fell silent at this, seeming to enter his communication array, possibly getting a second opinion from a close confidant.

They remained in the tense silent for half an incense, awkwardly shuffling their feet and sending glances around the rooms. Liao Xiu had been correct when she pointed out that the decorations were symbolic to the Xianle Dynasty, she was exceptionally well travelled, and seemed to know more about the past Dynasties of the mortal realm than most other gods.

Lang Qianqi almost felt remorseful looking at the decorations around him, the history of Xianle almost shoving itself down his throat. He of course would never question the choices his ancestors made, but he also couldn't help but wonder if they really needed to destroy Xianle. His Guoshi would have called him childish and naive for thinking that way, saying something along the lines of ‘No dynasty can stand for all eternity, to think so shows you still have more learning to do.’

The martial god frowned slightly at the reminder of that man, but otherwise showed no signs of what he was thinking,

He Xuan on the other hand, had most of his attention on the Wind Master. Her conversation with Hua Cheng had all but highlighted the fact that she had not been entirely truthful when they had first been discussing the mission. Though it couldn’t be considered lying as she had omitted information rather than making up some kind of bullshit that could have affected their success rates. Still the notion that she hadn’t told the truth seemed to hang between them.

It was hard to tell if she felt guilty over the fact or not as she browsed through Hua Cheng's collection of wins, hovering near a blue orb for slightly longer than necessary. Regardless, in He Xuans eyes it looked like she was purposefully avoiding him.

Hua Cheng stood from the divan, strolling towards the door at the end of the room, the one that led back down to the Gambler Dens main floor. “I shall think over your offer, and come to a decision by this time tomorrow,” The calamity commented with an unconcerned tone, “I’ll have someone fetch you once i come to my decision.”

With that the door at the end of the hallway clicked shut, leaving the three gods in the spacious room of the top floor.

They stood in silence for a moment before Lang Qianqi spoke,”I think that went well!” he commented, turning to the others with a hopeful expression.

He Xuan sent the martial god a deadpanned expression as Liao Xiu entered her communication array.

“We won't know how it went until he comes to his decision tomorrow.” the Civil God commented, “Liao Xiu whats going on?” he turned to ask, only to be waved away by the Wind Master as her expression took an almost somber tone.

Lang Qianqi sent her a concerned look as he slowly approached the two other gods, “Is something the matter?”

It took a moment longer for Liao Xiu to reply, “I’ve gotta go, I've just been given a mission by the emperor.” Liao Xiu answered, “I’ll catch up with the two of you back in heaven, good luck with Crimson Rain.”

The Wind God turned on her heels without waiting for them to answer, leaving out of the same door Hua Cheng had taken.

She left in such a hurry that the two other Upper Court officials could only look to eachother with a flabbergasted expressions.

“Don’t tell me the emperor forgot he already assigned her a mission?” Lang Qianqi commented, his tone questioning as if he found it hard to believe.

“Maybe he did,” He Xuan answered with just as much confusion, “Or maybe he needs her to do something close by?”

“Maybe?”

___________________

Hua Cheng stood before the temple altar, a white flower glowing stark against the dark stone beneath it. His head was hung low, a singular eye closed tightly as osmanthus incense twirled around his frame.

The darkness of the temple did not bother him, though he wished he could light the halls with candles and illuminate the beauty within. Yet he was ashamed to admit he was far too scared to face this creation of his, to face what it means, and to face the statue that stood tall in the cloak of darkness, smiling gently down at him.
A white mask broke through this darkness, its frown painted starkly across the clay.

“My lord you wished to speak with me?” Yin Yu bowed in greeting.

Hua Cheng didn’t answer straight away, rather he opened his eye, looking up at the statue before him with the kind of confusion one would expect from a child. At that moment he looked lost, so terribly lost, and Yin Yu wondered if that was how he looked when he had first become a ghost.

The calamity turned to face his subordinate, a hand coming up to toy with the red pearl at the end of a braid in his hair.

“The heavens wish for a collaboration.” Hua Cheng commented, glancing back at the statue shrouded in shadows, “They’re worried about the other Calamities.”

Yin Yu remained quiet, waiting for his lord to continue. Though many believe Hua Cheng to be most skilled with words, a tongue as slick and silver as a snake, that only remained true when he wasn’t so overwhelmed.

Yin Yu wouldn’t dare to guess what had overwhelmed his lord, but there was only an impossibly short list of what it could be.

“They said if I helped them, they’d help me find Dianxi.”

Well that sure does explain a lot.

“Will my lord accept their offer?” Yin Yu enquired. He of course will accept whatever decision Hua Cheng comes to, he only hoped he wouldn’t end up stuck in a situation with Quan Yizhen.

“I don't know,” Hua Cheng admitted truthfully, “If I do accept, I'll be able to find him, but it won't be through my own efforts. It would feel as though I've committed an injustice to him.”

This wasn’t something Yin Yu knew how to deal with. When it comes to the Flower Crowned Martial God, the Chengzu becomes quite short sighted. It was particularly worse when his lord convinces himself he has slighted the god he worships to his very core.

Yin Yu wasn’t the kind of person to become so solely devoted to someone, nor did he believe receiving outside assistance to erase the efforts he put in to achieve something. What Yin Yu hated the most was being forgotten, this isn’t the issue Hua Cheng is having at the moment.

Yin Yu hasn’t even broke the news that he failed to track down Azure Vortex and he already knew today was going to be a bad day.

“My Lord-”

“Wow! Nice place you’ve got here!” A voice chimed from the entrance of the temple.
“Shame it's so dark though, I bet it would look much more amazing if you could actually see.”

Hua Cheng snapped his head towards the door with a snarl, Yin Yu pulling out a blade from within his sleeves.

At the door stood a man, straight black hair cascading down azure robes. His skin was pale to the point of translucence, pointed ears covered in gold jewelry. He wore gold chains in his hair and over his neck, studs of gold even embedded in his face, each piece of gold connecting to a beautiful blue crystal, though the type of crystal was hard to say. His eyes were a violent shade of blue, brought out all the more by the red cinnabar dot between his brows.

He stood at the entrance with his hands folded behind his back, the distant red streets framing him in a gory light. A smug smile played at his lips as if he knew he had already won some game. Whatever game he thinks he’s won is about to be flung back the the desert he crawled out of.

“Shi Qingxuan!” Hua Cheng growled, reaching a hand towards Eming as he kept his eye trained on the Ghost king before him.

“Hey now what’s that look for? Am I not allowed to meet up with an old friend?” Shi Qingxuan replied, his hands moving to brush his sleeves. A small layer of sand scattered across the temple floor from his movements.

The calamity took a few steps into the temple, glancing around with that same smile. When his attention landed on Yin Yu, the banished god couldn’t help but take a short step back, which only led to Shi Qingxuans smile deepening.

“Since when did trash like you get the gall to call me a friend?” Hua Cheng scoffed, still poised to attack at the slightest misstep of the other ghost.

As a fact, Hua Cheng knew very little about the kind of ghost Shi Qingxuan is. He doesn’t know what makes him tick, and he doesn’t know how to read him well. The only things he knew about the Azure Vortex Stirring Sands was that he was the only other Calamity to be born from Mount Tonglu and that he was disgustingly proficient at transformation magic, so much so that even Hua Cheng who was also famous for using a plethora of skins wouldn’t recognise him in any other form than the one he had been approached in.

Shi Qingxuan seemed to work only for his amusement, despite taking orders from Bai Wuxiang. If Hua Cheng had to guess, Azuru Vortex only ever completed the missions he would find enjoyment in. Unfortunately all of those seem to be missions that wreak mass destruction on unsuspecting cities and gods.

Shi Qingxuan let out an amused hum, “But we already know each other so well? Does that not make us friends?” Although it was phrased as a question, Hua Cheng wouldn’t be surprised if Shi Qingxuan genuinely believed what he was saying.

The two calamities soon stood face to face, Hua Cheng towering over the other ghost with a look of disgust painting his features.

“A piece of advice-” Shi Qingxuan began, “You’d look prettier if you scowled less.”

With a flurry of blue robes the calamity stepped around his acquaintance, moving to stand in front of the half hidden statue.

“I heard that if you frown too much you get terrible wrinkles,” the desert ghost continued, rubbing at his cheek as if smoothing out any blemishes on his skin, “It’d be a shame if you got them so young, you died at what? fifteen?”

“I was eighteen,” The red clad ghost growled out, “But at the very least I didn't die when I was thirteen.”

“Details details,” Azure Vortex waved away the comment, turning back to the statue. He was silent as he looked up at the carved marble, if Hua Cheng didn’t know any better he’d think the other ghost was offering a prayer.

Hua Cheng watched him like a hawk, barely paying attention to Yin Yu’s departure.

Today just seemed to be getting more and more exciting.

First the gods, offering him not only information but also resources, and now Shi Qingxuan, though Hua Cheng wasn’t entirely sure what he was after.

“Why are you here?” The calamity asked, his eye still trained on the other ghost.

Shi Qingxuan wasn’t Qi Rong after all. The Azure Vortex had actually ascended mount Tonglu and emerged victorious. If it came down to a brawl, Hua Cheng's chance of victory was about fifty fifty. He couldn’t take chances with this ghost, couldn’t just attack and expect the other to flee with his tail between his legs.

“Well to answer your question, I came for some light entertainment,” The desert ghost began, “But I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with that Waning Moon officer of yours.”

‘Entertainment’ didn’t narrow down Shi Qingxuans reason for coming here in the slightest.

“Oh? And was my ‘Private’ conversation amusing to you?” Hua Cheng asked.

Shi Qingxuan let out a laugh, holding his hand to his face, “But of course, I can’t wait to tell my master that our dear little Hua Cheng is colluding with the heavenly realm.”

Hua Cheng frowned at this.

Why would Bai Wuxiang care about him working with the heavens?

Hua Chengs hated that man since he was mortal and even if Bai Wuxiang didn’t know when Hua Cheng started hating him, he’s well aware that the Crimson Rain Sought Flower would be willing to perish as long as the White Clothed Calamity perished with him.

“Tell me Hua Cheng, will you lower your esteemed self to work with some heavenly trash?”

“And what business is it of yours if I do?” Hua Cheng snapped in response.

Shi Qingxuan laughed once again, almost as if the man was so twisted that everything was a game to him.

“It just means I won’t feel so bad if I do this!”

With that a pair of fans materialized in Azure Vortexes hands. Both fans were gold and blue, following their masters colour coordination to a T. With a swish of his hands, Shi Qingxuan sent the fans forward, a large gust of cutting, grainy wind following the movements.

The blast of the fans sent sand scattering far into the streets, the damage of the wind tearing apart not only the wall of the door to the temple, but any houses in the streets that happened to be in that direction. The screams of Ghost Cities residents echoed violently as their houses and stalls were uprooted by the violent gusts, some of the weaker ghosts in the direct line of fire being dissipated the second the sand filled breeze crashed into them. Hua Cheng, having been standing in front of the other Calamity was hit dead on, flying back into the rubble left behind from the first attack.

That was another thing about Shi Qingxuan, he wasn’t very good at precise aim. He’d much rather just blast away anything in his path, even if it were an ally of his.

Hua Cheng cursed violently as he pulled himself out of the rubble, grasping Eming tightly as he whipped at his face with a knuckle. The clamour of the ghost residents was evident as they pulled each other from the wreckage with a strange unity that only occurred during disasters. Some braver residents called out to him but they were ignored as Hua Cheng began walking away from the destruction.

Shi Qingxuan sauntered out of the damaged temple, a coy smile on his face as his blue eyes remained trained on Hua Cheng's figure, fans hanging by his sides as he took in the shouts and screams that erupted around him.

“Oh dear! You’re still scowling!” Azure vortex chimed as he reached the bottom of the steps.

Rather than responding, Hua Cheng lunged forward, Eming cutting through the winds with the intent to draw blood, the crimson eye in the hilt spinning wildly with rage.

Shi Qingxuan smirked as he evaded the attack, ignoring the drops of red that began to splash against his robes.

The blue clad calamity twirled gracefully, sand kicking up around him as he braced one of his fans to make another gust. Hua Cheng was quicker to react this time, releasing Eming as it swung to the other calamities wrist, causing the other to change his method of attack. With Eming out of his grasp a ball of fire ignited on the ghost king's palm, growing more and more as the blood rain began to fall ferociously. Rushing forward, Hua Cheng aimed his palm at Shi Qingxuans waist. At point blank range, Hua Cheng released the fire ball, the ensuing blast echoing out as a wall of flames blasted the Azure Vortex.

___________________

Lang Qianqi shot up as the sound of an explosion rang out across Ghost city.

The room the two gods had found to rest in was bleak, dismal and made of dark woods. It had no windows to speak of, and occasionally the ceiling would leak dust as the heavier ghosts and Yao passed overhead. It was the only accommodation that would accept currencies other than joss paper, and it was clear that it was an establishment run by ghosts if the lack of hygiene was anything to go by.

Two manky beds were crammed into the room with a water basin being the only thing separating them. The sheets looked like they were once white, but they clearly haven’t been for quite some time. Upon entering the room, Lang Qianqi couldn’t help but step back in revulsion. On the other hand, He Xuan just collapsed onto the first bed he saw.

At the time, the martial god just categorized it as something unique only to a Civil God.

Rather than sitting on the bed, let alone sleeping on it, Lang Qianqi had unfastened his cape, laying it across the edge of the mattress before sitting cross legged on it. He had fallen into a state of meditation due to his reluctance to sleep here, and had been jerked out of it by the sounds of demolition happening distantly in the City.

He Xuan hadn’t woken to them, still very much dead to the world.

Lang Qianqi sat there for a moment, debating the likelihood of the Civil God punting him to the next country if he woke him. The likelihood seemed high, too high for the Martial God to risk it.

Nodding to himself at his decision, Lang Qianqi silently slipped off the bed he had been perched on, silently making his way towards the door. Grasping the lime coated handle, the martial god gently pushed the door open, stepping into the equally abysmal hallway to make his way towards the lone window of the entire corridor.

As it turns out he wasn't the only one with this idea.

He took a few steps forward before he noticed the first irregularity, a thin layer of sand spilled forth from the window. It didn’t reach the end of the halfway, but the sand hadn’t been here earlier regardless.

A group of ghosts clamoured at the window, whispering loudly to each other as more sand seemed to blow into the window. A strange pattering sound, almost like rain also seemed to be battering at the walls of the decrepit in.

Lang Qianqi inserted himself into the group with little hassle, standing among some of the taller ghosts as the shorter female ghosts present were barely obstructing the room.

“Excuse me,” The Martial God began, turning to the ghost with chicken legs beside him, “Do you know what's going on? He asked.

The ghost grunted slightly in acknowledgment before answering, “That bastard Vortex entered the city a few hours ago, now he’s wrecking the place.” The ghost stated matter of factly as another explosion rang out.

From here, Lang Qianqi could barely make out the fight, he mostly saw the splattering of red rain hammering against the tiles of roofs. The sand as well, was also quite obtrusive, some of it taking on shades of blue creating an almost picturesque scene against the general golden sand that was slowly layering itself on the streets.

“Should we find someone to stop it?” Qianqi asked, not entirely familiar with Ghost Cities usual response to such an incident.

“Nah,” This time it was the ghost in front of him that answered, her voice slightly hoarse compared to her young appearance, “Chengzu is already dealing with it, if anyone else goes down it’ll just be a burden on him.”

Lang Qianqi wasn’t pleased with this answer. He was the kind of person who flung himself into the fight to lend a hand after all. He was self aware contrary to popular belief, so he also knew that he would be no match against a calamity in a head on fight, not by himself that's for sure. No other martial gods were present, and Lord Wind Master had headed south for the mission the Emperor assigned her.

Even if Liao Xiu was still here, Lang Qianqi wasn’t confident that she would be able to buffet these gales, not without accidentally hurting him or Hua Cheng. But maybe helping Hua Cheng would grant them the favour they needed for him to agree to helping them.

Lang Qianqi stood at the window for about ten minutes before finally making up his mind, swiftly walking towards the staircase at the far end of the hall.

After exiting the building, he was met by the sudden downpour of red rain and the overwhelming stench of blood. Scrunching his face in displeasure, the Martial God took off in a run.

He wasn’t entirely sure how to get to the fight, but following the sounds of explosions seemed to help immensely.

As he ran, Lang Qianqi was exposed to more and more damage. Ghost children huddled together under balconies, the men and women scouring the wreckage for items of value or for other ghosts caught inside. Even a few ghost fires had emerged, floating under spires to protect themselves from being extinguished by the rain.

It took longer than he would’ve liked to reach the fight.

The damage was atrocious.

Despite the bloody rain falling like pellets against the ground, flames roared and climbed across debris. The battering winds didn't help with the flames' steady climb and the sand made it hard to see clearly. A blade swiped furiously at a man who danced around with fans in his hands. Lang Qianqi assumed he must’ve been wearing blue before the rain got to him, dying his robes purple.Hua Cheng was also soaked in rain, wearing a different skin than he had been prior.

Azure Vortex Stirring Sands looked worse for wear in the Martial Gods opinion, his skin sizzled and flaked away with each raindrop that touched him, clearly the target of this downpour. Despite this he seemed to be filled with some unbridled joy as he laughed with each attack he sent forwards.

As Lang Qianqi tried to find an opening for him to join the fight, the desert calamity took notice of him.

“Oh! Look at that Hua Cheng, your new dogs come to your aid!” The ghost sang, “How utterly repulsive!”

Hua Cheng didn’t glance at the Martial God as his scimitar returned to his hand. Immediately after he charged towards the other ghost.

Azure Vortex leapt into the sky, floating seamlessly as an apathetic look took over his expression.

“Say, why not work with us instead? I’m sure I'm much better company than some dirty heavenly official.” Azure Vortex asked, “Plus I'm much nicer to look at.” He added on, sending the martial god a disdainful look.

“I’d rather die a hundred times over than ever work with that thing you call a master!” Hua Cheng hissed, all but catapulting a blade of sword qi at the other calamity.

Azure Vortex merely laughed at this, allowing the blade to hit him dead on.

Lang Qianqi watched in morbid fascination as the calamity seemed to fall apart at the blades cut, floods of sand crashing into the floor as the ghost disintegrated on the spot.

Hua Cheng let out a tired sigh, looking at his city with a scowl as the blood rain began to let up now that the buffeting wind had disappeared. The flames also seemed to come to a halt, all that remained of fit being the smoke curling up towards the sky.

“Is he dead?” Lang Qianqi asked.

“No shit he’s dead,” the ghost king snapped, “That's the main requirement for being a ghost.”

Hua Cheng turned to face him, yet another new appearance following, this one being that of a young lord dressed in red (obviously). The Ghost king seemed to size up the martial god, brow quirking slightly in amusement at his drenched appearance.

“He hasn’t been dissipated if that's what you’re wondering. He’s annoying like that.” The ghost king finally answered, walking towards the Martial God.

Lang Qianqi couldn’t decide if he should step out of the way or not.

The two stared at each other silently for a moment the buzz of the city quickly returning now that the fight had ended. Like clockwork the larger ghosts began picking up the rubble as smaller ghosts ran around with tools to help rebuild. With such instant efficiency, the Ghost City would probably be rebuilt within the week.

Lang Qianqi startled slightly when Hua Cheng finally spoke,

“Go tell your friends I'll help you precious heavens against those shitbags.”

Chapter Text

The room He Xuan opened his eyes to was large and quite obviously expensive. The bed he had found himself in was enough to comfortably fit three people. The mattress was incredibly soft, allowing the Civil God to sink at least three inches into the goose down duvets. He Xuan, thankfully, was still fully clothed. He was also on top of the bed sheets rather than inside them.

At the very least his options for getting here were either sleepwalking or being carried by a reluctant accomplice.

The Civil God sat up, taking in the room as a whole.

The primary colour was of course red. The curtains were red, the support beams were red, even the chair by the vanity was red. The wood was lighter than that in the Gambler’s Den, but not by much, and in the center of the floor was a large sheepskin. It was almost impossibly big and He Xuan could only imagine how large the Yao beast that had produced it had been.

There were a handful of vases dotted around the room, each painted beautifully. They all remained empty except for one that sat on the window sill. That one contained an array of white flowers that He Xuan struggled to name, but was also accompanied by large red spider lilies that seemed to frame the smaller flowers splendidly.

Only when He Xuan had cast his gaze in the flowers direction did he finally realize he wasn’t alone.

Standing beside the window was a man dressed in black robes, his hair pulled away from his face, but not to make his face more visible. No. It was to keep the hair from disrupting the mask that stared down at He Xuan.

The mask was carved to form a frowning face, tears leaking out of its eyes as it continued to face He Xuan.

It was unsettling in a way. Being stared at by a man in a mask.

But at the same time, He Xuan felt like whoever was behind that frowning face was socially inept in one way or the other.

The two stared at each other in silence, neither speaking a word for the longest time until finally the masked man broke it, “Chengzu is expecting you in the receiving hall.”

And suddenly he was gone.

Almost as if he had disappeared into the shadows.

He Xuan stared at the spot the masked man had vanished from, half hoping, half expecting him to rematerialize. At the very least he’d have the chance to ask where exactly the so-called receiving hall is.

With a tired sigh, the Civil God finally stood up, stretching his arms behind his back as he turned to find the door.

The door was beside the vanity, allowing He Xuan to glance at his appearance as he left, quickly fixing his hair whilst he was at it.

As he grasped the door handle, he took notice of the strange energy pulse that followed. He froze at the feeling, staring down at where his hand wrapped around the metal with furrowed brows.

He sent a pulse of his spiritual energy forward, probing the door carefully. Finding nothing amiss he pushed the door open, expecting to appear in a hallway.

He did not appear in a hallway.

He Xuan almost did a double take as he entered a large hall stretching so far that there wasn’t even another room between the beaded curtains leading outside and the wall He Xuan found himself standing against.

Just in front of him was a large divan, a teen resting against its back as dice clattered on the table in front of him. Tai Hua sat on the other side of the table, seeming to have decided the floor was comfortable enough.

It was hard to say if the teen had noticed him as he didn’t turn to offer a greeting, but Tai Hua perked up the second he spotted the Civil God.

“Lord He Xuan, good news!” Tai Hua began as he swiped the dice off the table, shaking his hands quite fiercely before allowing the dice to roll across the table.

He Xuan stepped closer, coming to stand directly behind the divan. It allowed him to see the dice as they finally came to a stop, proudly showcasing a three and a five. It also allowed him to see the teen occupying the divan.

He couldn’t have been more than eighteen with a slender build and black hair tied in a slightly lopsided ponytail. He wore a red tunic over white under robes, even his eyes were a reddish kind of brown, observing the dice roll with mild amusement.

“Tough luck Tai Hua, you’re now stuck in a cave of worms.” the teen stated in a snobbish way.

“Wait WHAT!” Tai Hua yelled as the floor beneath him seemed to split open, the Martial God tumbling away as soon as the ground below him gave way.

“Tai Hua!” He Xuan shouted as he ran forwards, but he was too late as the floor slammed shut, looking for the world as if it hadn’t just swallowed a man.

The Civil God whirled to face the youth toying with a new set of dice. He didn’t seem remotely bothered by the rage directed his way, if anything He Xuan just seemed to amuse him more with his reaction.

“Where did you send him?” The Civil God growled out, earning a quirked brow from the youth.

“Didn’t you hear?” The youth asked with a smirk.

“I sent him to a worm cave.” The youth said, waving his hand dismissively, “He should feel right at home. Who knows maybe he’ll run into that State Preceptor Fangxin while he's there.”

He Xuan glared down at the youth. He must be one of Hua Cheng's lakeys judging by the way he’s dressed and his attitude. No doubt this youth thinks he’s untouchable with his masters backing. Well too bad He Xuans never been above disciplining unruly brats.

As the Civil God took a threatening step forward, the masked man from before let out a short cough, catching both the god and the youths attention.

“My lord, there is still no sign of the Wind Master.” The man said with a bow.

The youth frowned at this minutely, looking at the dice in his hand for a moment before flinging them onto the table. He Xuan couldn’t see what they landed on before they seemed to unfurl themselves into wraith butterflies. The butterflies were silver, they looked as if they had been masterfully forged, wings so fine they could squeeze between pages of a book, yet sharp and sturdy enough to slit a man's throat with ease. Just as the butterflies began to flap their wings, hovering slightly over the table as molten silver seemed to flick off of them, Tai Hua fell from the ceiling and landed with a loud thump.

“Why do you even know about them?!” Was the first thing out of the Martial God's mouth as he shot off the floor and began furiously batting at the dirt coating his robes.

“Stumbled across them once, no biggie.” Hua Cheng, as He Xuan finally deduced, replied airily.

He Xuan was minutely (read majorly) confused. He missed something, and whatever that something was was most definitely important.

“There’s no sign of Lord Wind Master,” Hua Cheng told Tai Hua, “Are you sure she headed south?”

The Martial God fell silent, his tongue sticking out ever so slightly as he thought back to what he had been told about the mission Liao Xiu had been sent on.

“If she’s not south of here she must’ve already returned to the heavenly realm.” He Xuan answered for him, not trusting the Martial God to figure out the likely conclusion. “Can someone please tell me what I missed?” The Civil God added on, looking between Hua Cheng's new form and the Martial God that had begun shaking more dice.

Tai Hua was the one to answer, “Azure Vortex attacked the city, Hua Cheng thinks someone tipped him off that we’re here.” The Martial God informed his companion in a much too cheerful tone.

Hua Cheng spoke next, “The bastard asked if i wanted to work with him,” The Calamity informed, “But it was your lucky day cause I decided to work with you lot instead.” Said as if it wasn’t purely for the fact that he refused to work with the White Clothed Calamity.

He Xuans eyes widened at this, relief flooding him as he almost collapsed onto the floor where Tai Hua had just been sat. He didn’t though. He’s more dignified than that.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Hua Cheng continued, “I won't hesitate to take off any of your heads to further my own agenda,” Hua Cheng admitted though it didn’t come as a surprise, “But for the time being I'll lend a hand. You better not make me regret it.” With that said the Calamity stood, his intention to leave the receiving hall clear.

He Xuan bowed at that, “We won’t.” The Civil God promised, the resolution in his tone firm. Hua Cheng turned to look at him, a disbelieving smirk playing at his face.

“If you’re not busy, we can leave for the heavenly realm right now.” He Xuan added on, clasping his hands together.

If you didn’t know any better you’d think he was going to a beach resort rather than an inflated pile of paperwork.

“I’ve got some business to finish first,” The Calamity said, “Play nicely while I'm gone.” he added in a mocking tone, waving his hand behind him as he left the building.

As Hua Cheng left, the masked man followed, thus leaving He Xuan and Tai Hua alone in the receiving hall.

The hall was quiet for a time, both gods just staring out the beaded curtains, the streets mostly empty par the stray ghost fire floating past.
He Xuan couldn’t be certain how long they had remained in silence but after a while the Civil God let out a cough, turning to the Martial God.

“How long was I out?”

Tai Hua glanced at him, “Bought five sichen.”

Five hours was a lot of time to leave Lang Qianqi unsupervised, let alone TEN.

“What did you do whilst I was sleeping?” The Civil God asked.

Tai Hua perked up at this before divulging into an entire story.

That was how He Xuan discovered that the mask wearing man was called the Waning Moon officer and that he and Qianqi had carried him to Paradise Manor under Hua Cheng's orders. He also found out that Qianqi had told Hua Cheng the equivalent of his entire life story as if they were best friends, and then Hua Cheng had told him about this special teleportation trick he had that would transport people to different places depending on what the dice landed on. He Xuan came to the conclusion that that was what they were doing when he had woken up.

According to Tai Hua, he had been playing the game for a while and managed to go to seven different places and escape using the dice. He delved into a tale on how he fought alligator people, a strange cannibal tribe, a massive bird with a lion's body, giant mosquitos that set themselves on fire and a turtle snake in some cave. If anything it sounded like Hua Cheng had sent him to all those places so he’d have some peace and quiet, phrasing it to be some kind of game after correctly deducing that that would work on Lang Qianqi.

After a while of Tai Hua’s yammering even He Xuan found himself struggling to listen and entered his communication array to speak with Liao Xiu.

‘Liao Xiu we have an update on the mission in Ghost City.’

‘Oh! Oh! Do tell He-xiong, don't’ leave me in the dark!’ The cheerful voice echoed in his head and He Xuan knew for a fact that she had just thrown whatever she had been holding to the side and collapsed onto the nearest divan to kick her legs childishly.

‘Hua Cheng has agreed to work with us after Azure Vortex attacked the city. Be glad you missed it, i doubt it was fun..’ He Xuan explained.

He didn’t receive a reply straight away, causing him to overhear how Hua Cheng had only helped Tai Hua out of the worm cave and none of the other locations he had visited.

‘I’ve informed the emperor,’ Liao Xius' voice echoed once again, completely glazing over the fact that two calamities had duked it out only a few sichen ago, ‘He said to bring Hua Cheng to the heavens so we can discuss our next move.’

He Xuan hummed in agreement, ‘We won't be returning to the heavens straight away, Hua Cheng has some things he needs to finish up.’ he explained ‘When we do get to heaven should we head straight to the Palace of Divine Might?’

Liao Xiu was quiet again, though her response came quicker than the last one, ‘Yep sounds good!’ She cheered into the array, ‘See you soon He-xiong!’

As the communication array was cut off Lang Qianqi stopped rambling on about his adventures and proceeded to ask - “Hey lord He Xuan, do you wanna do one of these challenges with me?”

The Civil god turned to the Martial God, the younger god's expression hopeful as he held up the dice to He Xuan.

He Xuan scowled slightly, weighing his options closely.

He caved.

“Ugh fine, roll the dice.”

_________________

The reconstruction was going even faster than usual in Hua Cheng’s opinion.

Perhaps it was the fact that a similar incident had happened before and by proxy the ghosts that resided within the city knew how to tackle the situation. Or maybe they were only trying so hard because they didn’t want their Chengzu to get upset with them. Both situations were likely.

Hua Cheng didn’t pay them any mind as he walked through the destruction of last night's battle, his destination obvious to any who were remotely acquainted with him. As such, it came to no one's surprise when the Calamity began trending the steps leading up to the nameless temple.

It was almost amusing to him, looking at the shattered wall and grains of sand littering the temple steps. He had died to protect a temple similar to this. Dying by the hands of hundreds of angry men and women, all to protect his god's legacy.

However, now that he had died he couldn’t seem to protect anything, let alone this temple, let alone his own god. Perhaps that's why his highness insisted he live for himself all those years ago, after already showing Hua Cheng what to live for even before then, but Hua Cheng had refused. He will always refuse if it meant he had to live a life without his highness. Everything he did was for his most beloved, even if that beloved would never know.

The calamity closed his eye, having changed back into his true face, as he began to pick the scraps of wood off of the floor.

He didn’t acknowledge Yin Yu as the banished god appeared with a broom in hand, beginning to sweep away the sand. His help wasn’t necessary in Hua Cheng's opinion. He needed to do this himself, as a believer it was his duty to be sincere and as such accepting assistance would diminish his efforts. But even so Hua Cheng didn't stop him.

He had already betrayed his morals in a way, helping the heavenly realm that had cast out his god just for their help in finding him.

He truly was the most despicable, disgusting believer any god could have. His mere existence needed to be punished if he was so useless to the point he couldn’t even protect a building.

Hua Cheng worked silently, thoughts ringing with criticisms of himself. Though the general clean up of the steps and floor of the temple didn’t take too long, the repetitive motion did little to help the calamity in his internal dispute. If anything it seemed to agitate him further though his face didn’t show it.

“My lord,” Yin Yu said, “The statue and altar are undamaged.”

Hua Cheng hummed in response. That was the least that sandy bastard could do. If the statue had been damaged the Calamity would hunt the shitbag down and destroy what was most precious to him. (Hua Cheng thought it was most likely his face).
Perhaps Azure Vortex really did have a brain somewhere in there if he was smart enough not to destroy the statue. But it's not like Hua Cheng was going to kowtow in gratitude because of it.

The next few months were probably going to be hell on earth if Hua Cheng was right. Though he had no doubt that the information he could offer on the other calamities would be useful to the heavens, he really didn’t want to work with them at all.

During his fight with Shi Qingxuan, Hua Cheng had come to the realisation that he would be dragged into this whether he sided with the heavens or not. At the very least if he worked with the heavenly realm he could cause more trouble for that bastard Bai Wuxiang rather than just harassing Qi Rong every other year.

Hua Cheng couldn’t bring himself to look up at the statue, despite knowing how his god felt about such actions he knelt before it, dusting the floor in front of him with his hand. There wasn’t any sand inside the temple, though Hua Cheng filed it as the nature of the attack that had shattered the wall rather than it being due to any sentimentality Azure Vortex had.

What the calamity was more curious about, was why the others had so suddenly decided to cause problems with the heavens. Their increasingly aggressive behaviour obviously stemmed from Mount Tonglu’s impending eruption. Hua Cheng had already felt the effects of it, the other calamities, with so little self control, were obviously feeling the effects more strongly than Hua Cheng himself.
But that didn’t explain the sudden interest in the gods.

It was by far the most unusual thing Hua Cheng had encountered in his eight hundred years being dead.

What were those freaks after?

Perhaps if Hua Cheng found it first he’d be able to strike up some kind of deal with them.
Though that would only work if what they were after was an object.

Hua Cheng wasn’t above murder, he knew this very well, but he’d find himself in quite the dilemma if all they wanted was to wipe out the current heavenly dynasty. Mostly because there's nothing he can barter with to stop that or to use against Bai Wuxiang.

It would also cause problems with his search for Dianxi.

That would not do.

He’s been looking for his god for just under eight hundred years, and although he’s prepared to search for all of eternity, he wouldn’t be opposed to finding him a bit earlier than that.

If the other calamities are going to get in his way, he’ll just have to kill every single one of them, even if he dies in the process.

He’s died before, it’s no problem if he dies again.

He’ll come back over and over and over for Dianxi.

So long as his god exists in this world, he too shall dwell for all eternity.

Hua Cheng stayed at the temple for three sichen, working diligently to clean up the mess.

The fractured wood was removed from the premises by ghosts carting unsalvageable wood though the streets, the sand piled at the end of the stairs catching the attention of ghost children as they began to mold it into various shapes that kept collapsing.

Throughout all of it Hua Cheng remained quiet.

When he began pushing support pillars against the front wall, when he laid stacks of planks beside them for later. When he began to wash the floors with water and when he finally lit some incense at the altar, he was quiet for all of it.

Even when he finally looked up to the statue, the light from outside illuminating it better than it had been the previous night, he was silent. Closing his eye he couldn’t resist begging for forgiveness, knowing full well he doesn’t deserve it for the failure he had exposed.

It was only when the temple was ready to be rebuilt did he finally leave, his skin melting into that of a youth the second his feet left the last step of the temple. He walked through Ghost City with an unreadable expression, observing how the clear up was coming along as he moved.

All the wood scorched by the fire he had unleashed had been removed, new planks laying beside a large skeletal foot as the local goliath held other pieces in place for ghosts much smaller than him to
attach together by whatever means they deem fit.

The sand was still littering the cobblestone, though the ghost children were ‘cleaning’ it up in the messiest way imaginable. An occasional piece of splintered wood caught his attention, but most of that had already been removed as well.

Overall, his assistance here wasn’t required.

Whatever routine these ghosts had created was working well enough, he didn’t need to involve himself in it.

He nodded to the handful of ghosts that greeted him as he walked back to paradise manor, content to leave the work on the temple for a later date.

Paradise manor was the second most exquisite building in ghost city if you asked Hua Cheng, though many, if not all the residents here would claim it to be the first. It had a small stream running across the front and under the porch, a handful of lotuses blooming in it thanks to Yin Yu’s efforts. The stream itself circled back to a pond in the manors yard, a pavilion beside it decorated with climbing wisteria that gave the space a divine appearance.

The manor itself was mostly built with red stained wood, pillars and banisters mastifully carved to create 3D versions of the butterflies and flowers that were carved into the doors. Not that anyone could see the doors, they had been propped open, exposing the red beads falling over the opening like trickling rain.

Pushing the beads aside Hua Cheng entered the manor's receiving hall only to find it empty.

The calamity raised a brow at this.

“Yin Yu.” He called.

“Yes Sir?” Yin Yu replied, emerging from the shadows like a phantom, bowing to the lord of the city.

“Where did those two gods go?” Hua Cheng asked.

Yin Yu was silent for a moment before answering, “They are fighting bats my lord.”

“Bring them here,” The ghost ordered, “It’s time we went to heaven.”

________________

Lang Qianqi let out a battle roar as he charged towards the beast, great sword poised to strike.

The beast?

Well it was a giant bat, about twice the size of the Martial God who had taken it for an opponent.

Two other bats lay dead in the cave, their insides split wide open allowing one to gleam the organs inside.

He Xuan was going to throw up.

When they had first arrived at the cave, Lang Qianqi expressed worry about encountering the turtle snake thing he had seen before. As it turns out he had left it alive after it spat a mouthful of dismembered body parts at him. It seemed that despite being a Martial God, one that nailed his own Guoshi into a coffin, was not a big fan of dismembered limbs in the slightest.

He Xuan was baffled by the sheer joy the other god had radiated upon seeing the first bat monster.

The sound of a blade squelching through a body brought a shudder to the Civil God. He closed his eyes and held his mouth as two thunks hit the cave floor. He didn’t dare to look at the bat as Lang Qianqi cheered in triumph, the sound drawing yet another bat monster towards them.

The Civil God wished he could go back in time and stop himself from agreeing to do this. He’d been thrown into a swamp, had somehow ended up in a women's bath house and had even encountered the worms Lang Qianqi had seen before.

If this is how Martial Gods usually make friends, He Xuan will just refuse to befriend any of them. Not if this is what he has to deal with.

Another bat hit the ground with a squelch.

He Xuan couldn’t hold it in this time as he buckled over and heaved onto the floor.

“Lord He Xuan!” Lang Qianqi called, rushing to the Civil Gods side, “Are you alright?”

It was a sorry state to be in that's for sure.

After what He Xuan did when he was alive, surely he’d be able to stomach this of all things.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” He Xuan waved the Martial God off.

“If that's the case,” another voice chimed in, “Then we should return to Paradise Manor.”

It was the Waning moon officer. His mask was the only visible part of him in this cave. If he hadn’t announced himself, He Xuan probably would have screamed upon seeing him.

“Oh,” The Martial God replied, “Is Hua Cheng done with his business?”

The Waning moon officer nodded, “He is waiting for us in the reception hall,” he said, “He wishes to leave for the heavenly realm soon now that he has no further business to address.”

He Xuan hummed as he stood, not sparing the bats a glance as he looked at the Waning moon officer, “Then let us go.”

The man nodded as the sound of dice clattering along the cave floor rang out.

A second after the sound stopped, the floor gave way beneath the three.

He Xuan crashed onto the carpeted floor, knees first before falling to his ass. Lang Qianqi, having more practice, managed to land on his feet, ableight a bit wobbly. And somehow, against the logic of all science, the Waning moon officer was now standing behind Hua Cheng beside the divan.

Hua Cheng did nothing to try and hide the unimpressed look he was sending there way, the calamity only letting out a tired sigh at Lang Qianqi’s sheepish laugh.
________________

Banyue had always found this cave dismal.

She may even claim to hate it depending on her mood, but it wasn’t her lair so she really can’t complain.

Chains hung between the stalagmites, clattering loudly against each other as ghost fires whizzed through them. Green ghosts lurked around the area, each with a green fire above their heads, casting a lighting that would look more picturesque in a swamp. She didn’t even glance at the bubbling cauldron near the edge of the room, housing the only fire that wasn’t a dreary green.

If she listened closely she could hear the screams of mortals and the sound of chains clashing against iron bars.

She really didn’t like this cave.

That said she knew why her master needed to visit it.

For Qi Rong.

Qi Rong was exceptionally inadequate when it came to completing tasks. The only times he ever seemed to succeed was if Lord Shi was accompanying him. Lord Shi was far more equipped for dealing with Qi Rong than Banyue ever could be. He somehow managed to create an amicable atmosphere for everyone around him, and the chaos he brought was far less harmful than any chaos Qi Rong brough to gatherings.

“Hey missy,” one of the green ghost soldiers called to her, he had a plate of food in his hands, “Ya want somin to eat while yur master’s busy?”

Banyue observed the food closely. They looked to be dumplings, but she couldn’t be entirely sure of the filling.

“They got veggies in em, look.” The ghost stated, seeming to know the reason for her hesitance. With that he picked up a knife and cut a dumpling in half, exposing the steaming spinach inside.

“I’ll take one thank you.” Banyue finally replied, nodding in thanks as the ghost handed her one of the dumplings.

Despite her aversion to Qi Rong and his posse of ghost soldiers, they were always quite nice to her. It was hard to say if it was due to her masters’ influence or if they were acting courteous because they often saw her here for one reason or another.

But his kindness did not erase his crimes. Banyue found it disgusting. Consuming mortals like he did. Keeping them chained like livestock as if he received some sick pleasure from their fear of waiting for death. Her Master didn’t appreciate it much either, yet he still didn’t stop the Night Touring Green Lantern.

Her Master turned a blind eye to many of Qi Rongs atrocities. He didn’t seem to like the other ghost all that much either yet he still helped and supported the Green Immor when the other asked. Banyue didn’t understand it. It wasn’t her place to question her Masters choices, or who he decided to keep the company of, but that didn’t stop her from questioning it all in silence.

Lord Shi knew much more about it than her. She could always ask him if she was truly that curious.

Lord Shi had been by her master's side centuries before she even died, let alone began working with him herself. Though she had never spoken to the man before she died, she vividly recalled seeing him on occasion during her mortal years. He was kind and he was loyal in Banyue’s opinion, good company for her master.

Truly how could her master rely on someone like Qi Rong when Lord Shi was so much nicer and better.

The wrath stared at the dumpling in her hand for a moment longer before taking her first bite. The other ghost hadn’t lied when he said it was filled with vegetables at the very least.

Banyue decided to walk up to the stairs leading up to what she assumed was the throne Qi Rong had claimed for himself, sitting down on them as she swung her legs forward in a childish way.

The meeting between her master and the Green Immor had dragged out quite a bit. They had left to find a distant alcove quite some time ago, and despite Banyue not being able to tell how late it was getting due to being in a cave, she found herself growing more and more tired the longer the meeting went on and it wasn’t out of boredom.

The contents of the meeting were not something she was privy to, none of the meetings were, but it was clearly of some importance by everyones reactions. When they had arrived, Banyue clearly remembered the look Qi Rong had worn when he spotted them. It was a grim expression, as if he already knew what the meeting was about.

Even if his expression wasn’t in regards to the meeting, Banyue could understand why he made such a face at her master's appearance. Despite her master turning a blind eye to his misdeeds, he was still frighteningly harsh with the Green Immor. The ghost girl distantly wondered if the only reason she found it harsh was because she was comparing it to how she was usually treated.

Her master was always kind and gentle with her, especially in comparison to how he treats others. She would follow her master beyond the afterlife if it meant she could stay in his warmth. But she was also aware that her Yong’an blood upset him dearly. She wasn’t sure why. She was also well aware that her master's upset was typically melancholic, rarely turning into the anger he directed at Qi Rong. But her Yong’an blood was still a curse to him, her Banyuen heritage being the only reason he allowed her to stay by his side.

Perhaps if she learnt more she would be able to understand. Maybe she could find a way to show him that her Yong’an blood meant nothing when it came down to who she was as a person. She may have sided with the Yong’ans during the war on the Banyue Kingdom, but that didn’t mean she was one of them. If she showed her master as such perhaps he would put more trust in her and stop relying on Qi Rong. They were both Wraths, anything Qi Rong could do, she could surely do as well.

But her master didn’t use Qi Rong for his strength. If anything he was more like an outlet to direct his anger, but equally someone he seemed to cherish as if they shared blood.

Maybe they knew each other when they were alive. If that were the case, perhaps it was simply sentimentality that drove her master to keep Qi Rong by his side.

Banyue knew she shouldn’t be thinking like this. She knew her opinion was biased due to her distaste at how Qi Rong treated others. It was unfair of her to form such images of him when he always made an effort to be kind to her. Even if it was due to her masters orders, even if Qi Rong would attack her at a moment's notice if he got the chance, for now he was kind to her.

She shouldn’t be scheming to take his position away.

Just as she thought this, someone sat beside her.

The man, many centuries older than her, was dressed in green, a fluffy hood hanging over his shoulders. As usual, there were hints of dried blood on his sleeves, blending well with the purple strings that pulled his robes together. His face was fair but sharp, and he would look quite beautiful if he didn’t wear such a sick and twisted expression so often.

Right now his face was blank as he looked down at the girl beside him, eyes a painfully familiar shade of brown that allowed her to distantly remember the man she had chosen to follow in her death, even if she hadn’t seen the face since her mortal years. He remained silent for a moment, as if trying to figure out how to say what he needed.

“Banyue,” He finally began, “Bai Wuxiang needs you to go to half moon pass.”

Ah.

No wonder her master hadn’t come to tell her himself.

Qi Rong scrunched his nose slightly as if he knew it was a sensitive topic before continuing, “He’s left for the sand temple, some informations come to light that he needs to deal with, but as of right now he wants you to take care of the Yong’an god thats been messing with the mortals in that area.”
The sand temple also resided in the Gobi Desert, however it was much farther from the central plains than the half moon pass. Why couldn’t her master accompany her along the way?

Qi Rongs voice was unusually gentle as he continued to explain what was required of her, as if he were scared she would fly into a rage at the thought of a Yong’an god.

Not even her master was so crude.

“Very well,” Banyue replied monotonously, not reacting as the Green Immor patted her head before standing.

Qi Rong looked down at her for a moment longer before turning away.
His hand came up to brush his hair over his shoulder as he looked around his lair.

“Leave when you want, the god’s not going anywhere, just make sure to get it done.” Qi Rong stated his tone more reminiscent of how he usually sounded, waving a hand dismissively as he turned to walk to the deeper stretches of the cave he inhabited.

Banyue nodded, though the Green Immor did not see, and cupped her hands in farewell before turning to leave the cave herself.

Chapter Text

In Hua Cheng's expert interior designer opinion, the heavenly realm was beyond tacky.

It was gold and white as far as the eye can see, and Hua Cheng has nothing against those colours in particular, but the whole place was heavily lacking in some personality. It checked out in his head, God’s were too boring to have personalities after all, but when he looked at the grand avenue lined with palaces of white and gold, no personal touches in sight, he couldn’t help picturing it being filled with middle aged women who shouted at waiters because their food wasn’t cooked in the correct seasonings.

There was nothing up here that could ever make Hua Cheng admit it wasn’t his version of hell on earth, and he distantly regretted coming here at all. Even if it wasn’t such an eye sore he had no interest in a place that thought they could discard his god.

Like the audacity for real.

He Xuan and Lang Qianqiu walked ahead of him, leading him to what they called the Palace of Divine Might, (Hua Cheng didn’t believe there was anything divine about it, let alone mighty). The two were nauseatingly polite, nodding their heads at every god they passed no matter how useless they were, and holding small talk with the occasional official brave enough to approach their group, (currently that number was at two).

Hua Cheng couldn’t help but feel smug at the clear avoidance of these poor excuses of gods displayed when they saw him. It was clear they knew who he was despite the form he had taken, and it was almost exhilarating to watch them blanch so pathetically when they caught sight of him. The Calamity almost laughed out loud when he thought that the gods had purposefully avoided using red in their construction because he ruined the colour for them.

That really would be hilarious if it was true.

Hua Cheng continued to observe his surroundings disdainfully, his steps languid and calm as if he had all the time in the world. The scowls sent his way brought a smirk to his face as the two gods and ghost king approached the largest building by far.

It was as bleak and hideous as the rest of the heavenly capital, even more so in Hua Chengs opinion just due to its hideous size and the atrocious amount of stairs leading towards it.

“You don't seriously expect me to walk up that?” The Calamity scoffed, raising a brow at the sheer amount of stairs. He'd need some serious motivation at the top of these stairs to climb them willingly, and the heavenly emperor was not one of those motivations.

“It's the only way to enter the Palace of Divine Might.” He Xuan commented with a sigh, “Though I agree that the stairs are excessive.” the Civil God agreed.

“It's not THAT bad,” Lang Qianqiu said, “It's good exercise!”

“Says the guy who rides a tiger up these things.” A new voice commented.

Hua Cheng glanced back, sizing up their new company.

A tall, muscular man, with long black hair held in a ponytail with a guan, stood behind the group. His eyes were a strange shade of pink and he had a red scar curled around his right eye, it almost looked like a tattoo.

“General Mingguang!” Lang Qianqiu startled, taking a step back in shock.

General Pei Ming was an attractive man by all accounts but Hua Cheng found his vanity to be equal, if not worse to Azure Vortex. If anyone deserved to be vain it was most definitely his God, he was a beauty among beauties. No one could compare.

Pei Ming had ascended to the heavenly realm almost a thousand years ago. Though he was only about two hundred years older than Hua Cheng, the two had never formally met. Hua Cheng was aware of Pei Ming's various feats, he was one of the prominent martial gods of his mortal years after all. Even if he personally didn't worship the martial God of the North, he had learned of this particular God through the stories he heard in his childhood.

Pei Ming stepped closer to the two upper court officials with a smile.

“Did the emperor summon you here as well?” He Xuan asked in favour of a greeting.

“Mhm,” Pei agreed, “Ling Wen said it's cause I was the one who said we should work with Crimson Rain.”

He Xuan seemed to understand as he nodded at the Martial God.

“So?” General Pei began, turning to Lang Qianqiu, “How was Ghost City, Did you complete your mission?”

Lang Qianqiu nodded, “Ghost City was great actually. There were some vile mortals and ghosts down there but everything else was really cool.” He explained excitedly, almost like a child talking to their parent.

“I even got to see Hua Cheng fight Azure Vortex,” the Martial God of the East continued, “Though I only got to see the very end of it.” He added on sheepishly.

“Oh? How exciting,” Pei Ming replied, “But what about the mission?”

Lang Qianqiu smiled at this before pointing his thumb behind him, “Is that not confirmation enough for how it went?”

General Pei turned to Hua Cheng, looking him up and down with the hint of a smile playing at his lips.

“So this is the fearsome Crimson Rain huh?” the Martial God asked, voice tinged with amusement.

“If this form isn't scary enough for you I'm sure I can find something else to turn into.” The Calamity retorted, crossing his arms as he raised his brow in challenge.

Pei Ming returned the gesture, “I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.”

They stood in silence for a while, seeming to size each other up for a fight. Though Pei Ming had no intention of fighting the calamity at this moment it still didn't hurt to weigh his odds.

He Xuan and Lang Qianqiu kept turning between the two before them. It was clear they were debating whether or not to step in and stop them before a fight broke out.

Thankfully they didn't need to worry, “haha you're a riot Crimson!” The Martial God laughed, going to pat the calamity on the shoulder.

Hua Cheng side stepped him, beginning walking up the plethora of stairs, “Who said you could talk to me with such familiarity?” He scoffed.

Pei Ming let out another laugh, following behind the ghost with his arms held behind his back.

He Xuan sent Lang Qianqiu a side eye before the two shrugged and followed behind the two.

For the most part the climb up the steps was silent. Pei Ming had taken quite the interest in probing Hua Cheng's private life with various questions but the calamity was unresponsive. He would occasionally send the Martial God a look when certain Pei Ming Esque questions were asked, but that was it.

When they finally reached the top of the staircase Hua Cheng turned to look down at the three Gods expectantly.
Pei was of course the first to reach the top, quickly followed by He Xuan and a slightly out of breath Lang Qianqiu.

Maybe he was the one who needed more exercise.

The Calamity let out a scoff before turning to the exaggeratedly massive doors. One of the many, many disgusting and useless structures in the heavens. Hua Cheng didn't even want to touch the doors, lest he dirty his hands with their grime.

It was almost eerily coincidental when the doors opened by themselves. It was also incredibly awkward, Hua Cheng had been standing right in front of the main door, and as they opened the calamity was bared in front of seven Gods and their deputies like some kind of prize.

Crimson Rain Sought Flower almost took a step back in surprise. He didn't though, cause he's not a coward. The Calamity merely turned his head to the side, smirking as if his presence had blessed them for centuries to come. Though it more likely cursed them for a painful death at his hand later on.

Two Martial Gods in particular looked horrified at the sight of him.

Good.

He Xuan watched as Hua Cheng stepped into the grand Hall of the Palace of Divine Might, scowling slightly as he did.

The Civil God wasn't confident in how the meeting would go in the slightest. The emperor had never explicitly stated why Hua Cheng would be a boon to them after all, and about half the Gods in the Palace were sided against working with Hua Cheng to begin with.

To make matters worse, Hua Cheng was quite volatile in nature. It was made abundantly clear in the way he treated the two gods that had accompanied him to heaven. He Xuan remembered quite well how the calamity would occasionally crack a joke with Lang Qianqiu but would rebuke the Martial God viciously at every other turn.

How Crimson Rain Sought Flower would approach this meeting was entirely up to his mood.

He Xuan didn't like how much of a gamble that felt like.

Xuan Zhen was the first to express his disapproval, scoffing in disgust as he turned his head towards the emperor.

As per usual, Jun Wu was sitting at the top of yet another flight of stairs, on the large throne overlooking the entire hall.

His expression was blank as he listened to Liao Xiu who was currently standing beside him. The Wind Master held her fan in front of her face, talking so quietly that only the emperor could possibly hear her.

It was a novelty to see, especially since she was usually the loudest one in the entire region.

Jun Wu glanced at Hua Cheng before refocusing on Liao Xiu. Although He Xuan had no idea what they were saying, he couldn't help finding it suspicious when the Wind Master nodded to whatever the Emperor had told her and began walking down the steps to join the other Gods.

“Greetings, Crimson Rain Sought Flower,” The Emperor called down, his voice echoing through the grand Hall.

If any of the gods here hadn't noticed Hua Chengs presence already, they sure as hell knew about it now.

The silence that followed was almost deafening, all eyes trained on the calamity like he was some sort of living legend (well not exactly living but you get the idea), or the next meshaiya.

He Xuan, Pei Ming and Lang Qianqiu bowed to the God sat on the throne, doing their best to ignore the tension cast across the room. Hua Cheng, did no such thing.

The Calamity didn't even offer any words of greeting back, merely getting straight to the point by asking, “So what has troubled you parasites so much you've decided to bother me about it?”

The Civil God was aware that Hua Cheng was well informed in terms of their issues with the other calamities. Why he needed to ask such a question was a mystery to him, unless it was purely for the chance to insult all the gods present. Even so, He Xuan couldn’t help sending the Calamity a glance as he remained silent.

“I promise lord Hua Cheng that our intentions are exactly as you’ve been told,” The Emperor replied, “There will not be any irregularities in our stories for you to exploit.”

Hua Cheng narrowed his eyes at this but didn’t reply, merely gesturing to the emperor to continue.

“We hope that your esteemed self will be able to give us any information on your fellow calamities that we are lacking, as well as help us protect against them” Jun Wu continued, “And of course to thank you for your efforts we will assist you in your search for Xianle.”

“Hold on what?” Xuan Zhen exclaimed, head snapping towards Hua Cheng with an almost murderous look.

The tension in the room exploded at this. The many deputies began whispering among themselves, and even Pei Ming and Shi Wudu fell into quiet whispers with Ling Wen at this. Xuan Zhen stood square as he stared down Hua Cheng, almost as if he were debating how much trouble he would get into if he unsheathed his saber at that exact moment.

Nan Yang was quick to back up his fellow Martial God, “My apologies your majesty but why the fuck does Crimson Rain want to find His Highness?” He too looked poised to attack, hand twitching ever so slightly as he scowled at the calamity.

He Xuan could distantly understand their reaction. Any God that did their research would recall that Xuan Zhen and Nan Yang were the two personal deputies of his Highness Xianle when he ascended, and before that they were his personal servant and guard during their mortal years. It’s reported that they hold heavy distaste towards Xianle, and often talk about him sarcastically on the few times he gets brought up in conversation. Despite this they always seemed to get quite defensive when it came to the few middle court officials claiming that they could get into the upper court by besting him in a fight.

Hua Cheng seemed oblivious to this or he hadn’t registered them two before they spoke up at all, only sending the two a snide look before turning to the emperor, “I must say, if I happen to find His Highness during this little truce we’re forming, I hope his majesty will find something suitable to compensate me, unless he wants this agreement to be rendered null.”

“Mhm yes, that would be quite unfortunate, we will prepare for such a situation” The Emperor commented before directing his attention to the Martial Gods of the South, “Xuan Zhen, Nan Yang.”

The two addressed Gods stood straighter at this, “Though I understand your reasons for speaking out earlier, I must remind you that the sanctity of the heavenly realm will always be our top priority.” He stated, “Even if we must sacrifice one of our own to keep it.”

Nan Yang pulled a face at this, it was hard to say whether it was anger or guilt, before hanging his head ever so slightly in shame for interrupting. Xuan Zhen on the other hand only seemed to darken ever so slightly before sticking his nose in the air condescendingly.

“Well,” The Water master chimed, “Now that our greetings are out the way, shall we get down to business.”

He Xuan glanced at him when he spoke up, he was also pulling a face, though it seemed more awkward than anything else. He applauded the man for trying to hurry this along.

Only after the emperor gave a nod did Ling Wen step forward though her first step was especially hesitant, “Lord Crimson Rain,” She began, taking another step towards the calamities with three bound books in tow, “These are all the information we currently have on the other three calamities.”

Hua Cheng raised a brow at this, taking the books from the Civil God without even glancing at them, “I thought I’d be doing more than writing but if that's all you need me for it makes my life easier.”

Ling Wen practically ripped her hands away, quickly arranging them to lay folded in front of her stomach as she half bowed towards the ghost.

“Unfortunately that's not all,” Ling Wen said with a tired sigh, “We have received a report that one of the dual evil preceptors has been causing trouble in the Crescent moon kingdom.”

“As you may already be aware, the Dual Evil preceptors are both direct subordinates of Bai Wuxiang.” She continued, “We do not know what they are after which is an issue, so we must send people down to investigate. Since this new case shares ties to the other Calamities, the Emperor and I were hoping you would be willing to accompany the Gods we send down to remedy the situation.”

Hua Cheng stayed silent at this, thumb carelessly caressing the pages of the books now in his grasp.

“Ling Wen is correct, we hope it is not too much trouble and that you can add to these records during your travels.” The Emperor stated, fingers beginning to tap at the arm rest his arm was resting on.

“Hmm, fine,” The Calamity stated, “Only if he comes along as well.” He added, thumbing at He Xuan who blanched drastically at this.

“Agreed.” Noooooooo, “Whatever helps you help us.”

He Xuans gonna quit.

Fuck retirement he’s leaving right now.

Why the actual fuck does Hua Cheng want him to come along?

Why?

WHY?

The red bastard had the nerve to smile at him as well!

He should’ve become a martial god.

At least he could’ve lopped his head off for this!

The Civil God turned to Liao Xiu, the beg in his eyes were as clear as day. Unfortunately for him, the Wind Master seemed to find this highly amusing, and only raised her hand and wiggled her fingers at him.

Everyone here was an enemy.

He will never trust anyone again.

“My Lord,” Nan Yang spoke up, bowing to the heavenly emperor, “This one humbly begs to accompany Lord He Xuan and Crimson Rain Sought Flower on this mission.”

If He Xuan knew any better he’d think Nan Yang had taken the comment on his Highness Xianle personally.

But he didn’t, all he felt was relief at the fact someone was coming along.

Jun Wu stared the Martial God down soundlessly, eyes narrowing slightly as he thought through the request.

The others in the hall were relatively tense, except Lang Qianqiu who seemed to have zoned out the second the emperor first spoke. This wasn’t uncommon for him at all. He Xuan was pretty sure Jun Wu’s voice just put the other god to sleep whenever he heard it.

“Very well,” The Emperor stated with a dismissive wave of his hand, “However, I will have to insist that Lord He Xuan gives a full report once you all return. If there are any inadequacies in your behaviour I will have to restrict you from assisting Lord Hua Cheng in the future.”

“Yes my lord.” The Two gods echoed.

Xuan Zhen looked as if he wanted to but in, likely to try and join the mission himself but he didn’t get the chance.

“This meeting is dismissed, Lord He Xuan, escort Lord Hua Cheng to your palace and treat him with utmost courtesy.”

He Xuan once again nodded at this, bowing to the emperor before turning to leave.

Hua Cheng seemed surprised by how easily the meeting was dismissed but didn’t comment on it. Rather he silently turned to follow after He Xuan, sending a dismissive wave in Lang Qianqius direction as the Martial God bid him farewell.

As the two entered the grand avenue the calamity spoke up, “I do hope you’re forming a plan of action for this.”

He Xuan whirled to face him almost venomously, “Why the hell did you ask for me to come along?”

Hua Cheng shrugged in reply, “Felt like it.”

The Civil God groaned, his palm connecting with his forehead as displeasure radiated off of him.

“Lord He Xuan, allow me to accompany you.”

He Xuan peaked out from under his palm to see Nan Yang approaching him and Hua Cheng turning his body slightly to face him in a more head on stance.

Behind him was Xuan Zhen which wasn’t uncommon. A quick glance between the two Martial Gods causing the God of the South West to huff in displeasure before continuing on his way to his palace.

Nan Yang stayed, cupping his hands in greeting at the Civil God.

“There’s no need,” Hua Cheng commented lazily, “Why don’t you run along back to whoever's ass you crawled out of.”

Nan Yang scowled, “I don't remember asking you!”

“The Emperor just told you to play nice and you’re already starting an argument?” The Civil God asked in disbelief, his shock evident. Even Lang Qianqiu was better at following orders, and he had been raised with the expectation that he’d never have to take orders from anyone.

He Xuan just shook his head, “Whatever, whatever, just come along.”

“Wait for me He-xiong!”

Please someone just kill him.

Liao Xiu waved excitedly down at them from her place at the top of the stairs. Once she was sure she had caught her victims attention she practically flew down the stairs, dancing along the grand avenue until she finally caught up to the unwilling trio that had formed.

“Hua Cheng! How've you been? I heard that you fought Azure Vortex? Was it scary? Did you win?” Liao Xius rapid fire questions took even the calamity by surprise as he took a slight step back, eyes widened in what was probably shock. He Xuans would’ve widened in horror.

“Wind Master Xiu,” Nan Yang cut in, “Do you not have other matters to attend to?”

“Nah i’ve already finished them!” The Wind Master said cheerfully.

“Bullshit,” He Xuan called, “Go do your work.”

Liao Xiu seemed to visibly deflate at this. Hua Cheng stayed silent, not willing to involve himself in whatever the hell was going on here.

“That’s so unfair!” She complained, “Why do you get to do all the exciting things like fighting calamities?”

“Does it look like I want to do this?” He Xuan snapped back.

“Very much so.” Hua Cheng commented, smirking as Liao Xiu pulled a teary eyed expression at the Civil God.

“He-xiong can I pretty pretty please come along? Pretty Please?”

“Apologies Wind Master Xiu but the emperor has already decided who to send on this mission,” Nan Yang said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked between the two gods, not even glancing towards the ghost, “Perhaps he will send you on the next mission.” He offered at the end.

“You really think so?” The Wind Master asked, stars in her eyes as she held her fan in both hands like a child who had just been given a new toy.

“If you do your work he will.” The Civil God commented blandly, sending a glare towards the calamity for adding to his troubles.

“Boo, He-xiong you’re so mean to me!” Liao Xiu complained before immediately switching up, “Oh well whatever, have fun you three!”

With that she snapped open her fan and waved towards the group, turning her attention to Pei Ming and Shi Wudu who were walking not too far from them.

“Is she always that full of energy?” Hua Cheng asked.

“Mhm, she was putting on quite the airs when she spoke to you in Ghost City.” He Xuan explained.

“Yeah I can see that.”

____________

Two Gods and a Ghost King sat inside the receiving hall of the Palace of He Xuan.

They were completely alone, all the deputies having hurried to the gallery the second they saw the Ghost King arrive. They hadn’t even bothered to clear their desks in their hurry but He Xuan couldn’t complain, after all-

“Why are there plates under your desk?” Nan Yang asked, arching a brow as he looked at the dishes tucked under the polished wood.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Hua Cheng was the first to take a seat, collapsing rather unceremoniously onto He Xuans chair, dropping the three books on the table in the same motion.

The Civil God didn’t care, merely pulling two more chairs forward for himself and the Martial God. Strangely enough the scene reminded him of when he, Liao Xiu and Lang Qianqiu had come together to form a plan on how to get Hua Cheng on their side.

The Calamity didn’t reach for any calligraphy brushes as he opened the first book; he was likely looking to see what the gods already knew of his unfortunate acquaintances in silence.

Nan Yang turned to He Xuan, clearly unwilling to even look at Hua Cheng, let alone talk to him.

“So do you know why he decided to side with us? It can’t really be about his Highness.” His concern was clear in his voice, and He Xuan couldn’t help but pity him.

Even though Hua Cheng could very obviously hear them, he didn’t comment so He Xuan took it as a go ahead to tell Nan Yang about what happened in Ghost City.

“Although His Highness Xianle is a motivator, I believe the main reason Hua Cheng has agreed to work with us is just because he really hates the other Calamities.” The Civil God answered.

“Spot on.” the man of the hour commented, eyes still glued to the book in front of him.

Nan Yang scowled at this, his rage finally boiling over as he slammed his fist into the table, standing from his chair whilst he was at it. Hua Cheng glanced up at this with a smirk, and He Xuan was debating just kicking them out so they can brawl in the streets and finally get their shit together.

“Why are you looking for His Highness? What business do you have with him?” The Martial god interrogated, voice raised in anger as he glared down the ghost in front of him.

“I don’t see how that's any of your concern,” Hua Cheng commented lazily, waving his hand dismissively “It’s not like you’re his guard dog. Well not any more at least.”

“You Fucking-”

“If you two start fighting I’m going to shove both your heads in pickle juice.” He Xuan knew he wouldn’t actually be able to do this but at the very least it worked as Nan Yang finally sat back down.

The Civil God groaned, face falling into his hands as an awkward silence filled the receiving hall.

Maybe he could go back in time and stop himself from going to the meeting where he was sent to Ghost City. At the very least, Ling Wen would be the one dealing with this instead of him. That would be a blessing and a curse cause at the very least he wouldn’t be dealing with Hua Cheng, but at the same time he’d have Ling Wen cussing out his communication array every other second.

“Hua Cheng,” He Xuan began, running his tongue over his teeth as he waited for the Calamity to acknowledge him.

“Hmm?”

Nan Yang looked up as well, clearly wondering what the Civil God wanted.

“What do you know about the Dual Evil preceptors?” he asked.

Hua Cheng closed the book detailing the knowledge heaven had gathered on Bai Wuxiang, looking towards the Civil God as he spoke, “The Dual Evil Preceptors are state preceptors from two different centuries, the only thing tying them together being Bai Wuxiang. One of the State Perceptors was Lang Qianqiu’s Guoshi Fangxin, the other was the state preceptor of the Banyue Kingdom, also known as the Crescent Moon Kingdom.” Hua Cheng explained.

“I never found out the name of Banyue’s State preceptor, however I do know that she was an orphan with both Yong’an and Banyuen blood. She was ostracised by both kingdoms and vanished for a time before. When she returned to the Crescent Moon Kingdom, she had the ability to control a native yao of that area called scorpion snakes. The people of Banyue had a deep held fear of these snakes so her ability to control them was appealing to them and she thus became the state preceptor.” The Calamity continued.

Nan Yang turned to Hua Cheng at that, “Do you think Bai Wuxiang taught her how to do that?”

“No clue, I have no idea when she began working with that bastard.” He admitted with slight scorn.

He Xuan sat in silence for a moment as he processed the information, hand holding his chin as he thought.

“Was her ability to control the scorpion snakes what gave her the title of Dual Evil Preceptor?” The Civil God asked.

“No.” Hua Cheng shook his head, “She got that title after she opened the gates to a Yong’an army, allowing her people to be completely massacred.”

“What the fuck?” Nan Yang snapped, his confusion and disgust evident on his face. “Why did she betray her own country?”

Hua Cheng just shrugged at this, turning to open the book before him once again.

“You’re well informed on this.” He Xuan commented absentmindedly.

“No you’re just grossly uninformed.”

The Civil God rolled his eyes at this, not bothering to retort.

Just as the group fell silent (Nan Yang returning to his brooding and He Xuan back to thinking up a plan of action) a knock echoed through the hall.

He Xuan snapped out of his thoughts at this, turning his head to face the door as it was pushed open.

It was one of Ling Wens deputies.

“Apologise for the obtrusion.” the young deputy bowed, holding a scroll in front of him as he walked towards the trio.

“Ling Wen-jun asked me to deliver this to you Lord He Xuan.” He explained, placing the scroll on the table before bowing once again and turning to leave.

He Xuan unrolled the scroll glancing at its contents.

The first thing he saw was the classification given to the specific State Preceptor they were dealing with: Wrath.

Well He Xuans got a devastation so get fucked.

What caught his attention the most however, were the details regarding other ghosts in the Crescent Moon Kingdom. Apparently the issue wasn’t just one ghost. No. It was a couple thousand.

A couple thousand Wraths did not sound all that appealing, and to add the cherry on top - The Crescent Moon Kingdom was allegedly in Azure Vortex Stirring Sands territory. He Xuan was going to hope and pray that that Calamity wasn’t home, but even without the threat of running into Azure Vortex, his sand storms were going to be a major, major problem.

_________________

The buildings here looked much worse than they had a hundred years ago. They had always been crumbling steadily, had been since the war, but they somehow looked even more unstable now. Everything here had turned a muted brown, even the minimal traces of water had lost any cleanliness long ago. Abandoned kiosks and carts lined the bare streets, the wood having rotted through, causing them to fall apart and reveal the white fluff that had made it home. Curtains were ragged and moth bitten, blowing dismally in the ever present wind of this region. But what caught Pei Xui’s eye was the lone doll in the center of the street.

It wasn’t old, but it wasn’t new. What he knew for sure is that this doll did not belong in the Crescent Moon kingdom, it had come from somewhere else.

The clone hunched over to pick up the doll, turning it over in his hand silently.

It was dirty, unsurprisingly, but all together it was well maintained. If he had to guess, Pei Xui would assume it had belonged to one of the merchants he had led here not too long ago. Yet he couldn’t recall a young girl being in the group, it could’ve belonged to just about anyone.

None of that was a concern to him at the moment.

The young Pei had other things to worry about, namely, heavens sudden attention on this place.

He could never curse Banyue for inadvertently drawing attention to her presence here, but it also caused him a serious problem. He didn’t know why his old friend had begun working with Bai Wuxiang, he had no intention of asking her either. What he needed was for her to leave. Her connection to the calamity was enough of an issue, even Minguang couldn’t divert the heavens attention from this place anymore, but the bigger issue was by far Kemo.

Throughout the years, Pei Xui had not been able to trap him in the sinners pit with the rest of his men. He had not been able to continue with Banyue’s plan to seal them all and as such he had begun leading merchants here to try and quail their resentment with mortal flesh. Since he had failed at sealing them, the group of Banyuen soldiers was an issue for even the former state preceptor of this fallen kingdom.

Pei Xui needed to find a way to convince Banyue to leave, if not to save himself then for her safety. His biggest setback at the moment was that he couldn’t find her anywhere, and he couldn’t hang around without Kemo and his men catching his scent.

The clone frowned, pocketing the doll as he stood up. He had to leave soon before the wind picked up further as it likely would when more gods descended into the desert. Azure Vortex’s territory was large spread throughout the desert, even if he had never once traveled to this part of the desert, the sandstorms that were ever present further North were constantly causing more frequent and harsher sandstorms further out.

The sandstorms became worse when heavenly auras triggered whatever warding arrays the calamity had placed in the sand. As such it became more and more dangerous the longer he stood around, especially if he wanted to lead a group here before the Officials arrived.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Pei Xui heard approaching footsteps.

They were heavy set and echoed through the plaza, the sound accompanied by the garbled tongue of the Banyuen language. The clone couldn’t help the scowl that crossed his face as he ducked to hide in one of the long abandoned buildings.

He crouched below a window, back pressed against the jagged clay bricks making up the wall as he tired to listen to their conversation.

“I swear I smelt something!”

“You fool, there’s nothing here!”

The sound of a hand meeting the back of someones head rang out.

“Ugh whatever, keep looking, the General told us to find humans for our brothers.”

“Why is it always for our brothers? He never lets us have anything!”

“Cause we ain’t in a massive inescapable pit. We don’t need to wait for others to deliver food for us.”

“Still, it’d be nice to not have to hunt down food for once.”

“If you’re that desperate to sit on your ass feel free to jump in the pit yourself, see what our brothers are dealing with.”

“Ugh no thanks.”

Pei Xui remained motionless as the voices passed by the window he was under. The clone didn’t even draw a breath. Not that he needed to breathe. This wasn’t his real body after all.

It was only when the footsteps grew quieter and quieter, to the point where he couldn’t hear them, that Pei Xui stepped out of his hiding place. They had already caught his scent, he needed to leave right now.

Face set in conviction, Pei Xui stepped out the house, intent on jumping to the rooftops and leaving the kingdom to head to the nearest settlement near the edge of the desert.

Unfortunately, he only took a single step before two slender hands reached out of the shadows, smothering his eyes and mouth as they dragged him backwards.

Pei Xui thrashed as a snake wrapped around his hands, binding his wrists together as his attacker pulled him away. He could only kick out in hopes of hitting whoever had grabbed him, hoping they would startle and release him, allowing him to escape.

That's not what happened.

A cloud of dust was thrown into his face as the hand released his mouth, causing him to take a deep inhale of whatever was thrown in front of him.

He didn’t know what the powder was, he probably never would, but the effects were instant.

He couldn’t see but he could feel his eyelids growing heavy as a wave of drowsiness took over him. The hand that had been on his mouth had moved under his arm, holding his weight as his knees gave out beneath him.

The last thing the clone heard before passing out in his aggressors arms was a soft female voice, gently shushing in his ear.