Chapter Text
For the gods, the more prayers you gain the more power you will have.
That’s not the case for the heavens in the newer days.
It’s been quiet around the heavens, too quiet. The gods who reside in the newly established heaven have a lot more free time nowadays, like some lord who doesn’t have to raise a finger and doesn’t have to do any work.
Xie Lian walks down the Grand Avenue of Divine Might, humming to himself as his white ribbon gently blows with the small breeze. His white robes gently dance with the breeze, and he has this gentle expression on his face as he continues to walk down the street. ‘It’s quite quiet today, it’s a little odd that it’s been quiet for weeks…Or months?’ Xie Lian thought to himself, he sighed softly before slowly coming to a stop. He looks straight ahead to find the Martial Gods of the Southwest and the Southeast or..Mu Qing and Feng Xin bickering and arguing as per usual, ‘Well..At least it’s not dead quiet up here.” Xie Lian thought to himself with a soft exhale through his nose.
“You CHEATER!” Feng Xin shouted as he threw a..Pack of cards..? towards Mu Qing.
“Gods, you are still so hot-headed.” Mu Qing commented as he swiftly caught the pack of cards in his left hand, squeezing it lightly.
“The fuck did you just say?!” Feng Xin shouted but before he could even strike at Mu Qing with a physical jab, Xie Lian cleared his throat quite loudly.
“Wonderful day isn’t it, Generals?” Xie Lian said, a gentle and nice smile plastered on his face. Both Generals looked over to Xie Lian as they both cleared their throats and both of them took a step away from each other as they gave a small bow.
“Hello Your Highness” Feng Xin said as he straightened himself.
“Oh look who decided to show up.” Mu Qing said with an unimpressed look on his face as he crossed his arms. “It’s been nearly a month since you last visited up here.”
“Well I got a little busy with Ghost City having a small inconvenience” Xie Lian explained as he sighed, it was really only a small headache for himself but for his husband..Well he looked like he was going to just punch down one of the houses. “But I do request a small meeting with any gods who can attend, I just have a small concern.” Xie Lian added on and Mu Qing just cocked an eyebrow while Feng Xin creased his brows a little bit.
“I’m sure what kind of concern you have, your highness.” Mu Qing said, “It’s about the prayers isn’t it?” He added on.
“Yes…” Xie Lian huffed out as he tilted his head, “it’s not just me right?” He said.
“Yes, it's been happening to all of us.” Feng Xin added.
Xie Lian sighed and nodded, clearing his throat as he pressed two fingers to his temple. ‘Hello everyone, I would like to request a meeting with anyone who is available about a small concern I’ve noticed.’ He said in the communication array before looking back at the two generals. “How many have you had in the recent year?” Xie Lian asked, scanning between them.
“..Half of what I had in the past.” Feng Xin said.
“Same here.” Mu Qing added.
“I see..” Xie Lian said, “What about you though?” Mu Qing said.
“Ah..uhm..a little less than half..” Xie Lian said nervously.
The two generals just stared before one of them let out a heavy sigh and the other just curled their fist up tightly. “But that’s why I’m hosting this meeting, it’s not just the heavenly officials.” Xie Lian added.
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As the trio had walked over to the Palace of Divine Might which once held the last heavenly emperor but now all it does is be held for meetings of any kind. As the doors open, the white one finds quite a bit of gods who actually attended. A lot more than his expectations, but he nodded as he walked over to the middle of the commotion of the talking on the side lines while the other two stood to the sides and joined the others.
While Xie Lian looked around he found Quan Yizhen, Pei Ming, Lang Qianqiu (surprisingly), a tired Ling Wen and some other officials. “Good morning everyone” Xie Lian said with a soft look on his face and the small talk slowly came to a stop.
“Ah! Your highness! Finally, you came over to us and joined this wonderful party.” Pei Ming said as he put on that charming smile, if anything a woman would’ve fainted at the sight of him.
“Oh stop being so enthusiastic about this General Pei, we all know why this meeting was called for.” Mu Qing added, “Just tryna lighten the mood.” General Pei said back as he shrugged his arms up.
Xie Lian just sighs as he clears his throat, “As I said, I did call this meeting up for one concern.” He said with a huffed sigh, “The prayers. They decreased quite a lot for all of us, right?” Xie Lian said as he looked around the room. Some nodding and some getting just ever so slightly tense, as expected. “Ling Wen, would you please?” Xie Lian said.
She nodded before she rolled out a scroll in front of her, flicking the paper in her hands as she read with her eyes for a moment before opening her mouth. “General Xuan Zhen and General Nan Yang have decreased half of what they had back a few years back, General Ming Guang lost also half, General Qi Ying lost a little more than half and same goes for his highness here.” She gestured towards Xie Lian and Qi Ying at the last part of her sentence, “General Tai Hua has lost the most…” Ling Wen continued to go down the list for the rest of the other gods there before finishing up swiftly. Xie Lian could only widen his gaze as he slowly glanced over to Lang Qingqiu, no wonder he started to disappear like Qi Ying. He sighed before calming himself as he cleared his throat. “..Well this small concern is now certainly a bigger concern..” Xie Lian thought out loud.
“Why don’t we descend down to the mortal realm and investigate?” Feng Xin suggested, “Since the mortals haven’t been calling to us lately and we’ve let them be independent for years, why don’t we see what they’ve been up to? From what I’ve observed in my territory, there’s been less and less villages and..More, what they call, cities.” Feng Xin explained.
“That’s not a bad idea General Nan Yang, they have also been appearing in my territory as well.” General Pei added on.
“..I’d like to add on one more thing as well, the heavens aren’t the only ones who are affected by this.” Xie Lian said.
“..They’re also getting infected by this?” Lang Qingqiu chimed in as he cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head but by ‘they’ he means Crimson Rain and Black Water. Xie Lian could only nod at Lang Qingqiu before he sighed softly, “So an investigation it is, General Pei and Qi Ying will go investigate towards the north while Mu Qing and Lang Qingqiu will investigate the East. Me and Feng Xin will investigate the southeast, is that alright with everyone?” Xie Lian explained.
“And I’m assuming a certain maple red man will join us? The cities are..quite far, maybe a week if you’re traveling on foot.” Feng Xin added.
Right, yes..His husband, he’ll probably want to join if it’s gonna be that long— “Gege.” A man’s voice on Xie Lian’s head cut through his thoughts, right on cue huh? “Sang Lang! Need something?” Xie Lian responded, “I have our stuff ready for the trip, are you leaving now? Shall I meet you at the shrine?” Hua Cheng explained and Xie Lian could huff out a small chuckle. “You really are right on cue aren’t you? But yes, meet me at Puqi Shrine, I’ll be there with Feng Xin soon.” Xie Lian said before glancing over to Feng Xin.
“Well your assumption is right Feng Xin,” Xie Lian turned towards everyone else “We’ll start by travelling today and connect once we get information, everyone agrees?” And they all nod before starting to disperse out of the Palace of Divine Might.
“Your highness,” Feng Xin’s voice called out to Xie Lian as he turned towards him to face him, “I do want to warn you that we’ll have to stay undercover once we reach the city and I also have to say that it’s..quite overwhelming once you enter.” Feng Xin added.
“Is that so? Well then..We’ll keep a low profile then.”
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As the trio walked through the dense forest, it was quite quiet in their surroundings. Hua Cheng transformed into his youthful form, Xie Lian on the other hand had only braided his hair as it draped over his right shoulder.
“So..Feng Xin, just how big is this so-called city?” Xie Lian asked as he glanced over to him.
“Quite huge, not to mention the amount of people that live there.” Feng Xin explained, “I didn’t go in the city personally but I could tell that over thousands of people could live there..Not to mention the different advancements mortals had made.”
“Advancements?”
“Technology I should say, they have the ability to transport from one end of the city to the other within these..Carriages? But no horses or oxes?? It just..surprises me that mortals were able to create these things.”
“That’s..That sounds quite impressive actually.” Xie Lian said with a light chuckle. Meanwhile, Hua Cheng had been silently watching and listening in on their conversation. Tilting his head slightly to listen better, “And what about Crimson Rain here? Hm? Is he also losing followers and prayers?” Feng Xin added as Xie Lian gently shook his head.
“Hm..Same thing as heaven's problem. I merely only joined this awful journey for two things. Gege, and my question is why it’s been quiet lately.” Hua Cheng explained as he clicked his tongue before putting his hands behind his head and leaning it back a little to glance at the sky.
Feng Xin merely sighed before coming to a stop, “we should rest out here. It’s already midnight and we could sleep the night out.” He said before walking over to a tree and sitting on the ground before leaning against it, “more likely we’ll see the outskirts of the city tomorrow.”
“Wait, wait, tomorrow? You said that this trip would take a week on foot, how could we see the outskirts tomorrow?” Xie Lian said as he slid onto the ground next to his husband.
“..They have roads as long as rivers, transportation as fast as a galloping horse. I don’t know what or how these mortals managed to do it but it’s..a sight to see.” Feng Xin explained as he crossed his arms while propping one knee up against his chest.
“Really?” Xie Lian said with such curiosity, he couldn’t help but let his eyes sparkle with it. “En. But I can say it will indefinitely overwhelm you, Your Highness.” Feng Xin said before sighing softly.
“Gege, I can take first watch.” Hua Cheng chimed in as he wrapped a protective arm around Xie Lian’s waist, bringing him closer.
“..Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind staying up a little more..”
“It’s alright, just rest okay?”
“..mkay.”
“Sometimes I forget you two are still incredibly in love after so many years.” Feng Xin commented at the scene before him with some sort of disturbing look on his face. Xie Lian only grew flustered as he hid himself in his hands, drawing his knees up to his chest as he let out a small groan. Hua Cheng on the other hand couldn’t help but smirk, pressing a soft kiss on Xie Lian’s temple before leaning against a nearby tree. Feng Xin definitely looks more disturbed but he sighed heavily before closing his eyes and going into a meditative state to try and rest, or it’s just he doesn’t wanna see this scene in front of him anymore.
“..San Lang, are you still awake?” Xie Lian whispered so Feng Xin doesn’t get disturbed.
“En.”
“..What do you think the city will be like? Or the types of advancements mortals made?” Xie Lian asked, tilting his head up to see Hua Cheng already gazing down at him with a gentle look.
“Hmm..I can’t say for certain Gege, but I will comment that even I’m interested in what they’ve done. Yes, Ghost City thrives and more and more come and go but the more recent ghosts catch my eye..They look around the city as if it were an antique, and their attire is.. unique.” Hua Cheng explained, glancing off to the side to think of more. “Even then..They still look like lost idiots who just got reborn or something, acting as if they didn’t know they died.”
“..Well, it is a new era isn’t it? I’m sure we’ll see a lot of interesting people, especially since we’ll be walking into the people who are alive.” Xie Lian said with a soft yawn.
“En. But for now, rest Dianxia..We’ll pick this up the next morning.” Hua Cheng said as he started to rub gentle circles on Xie Lian’s hips and with that, his breathing evened out and his body slowly went limp.