This was the thing about the Ghost Heat: Nobody knew when and how it would happen, not even the ghosts themselves. Not surprising - ever since their deaths, who would they be able to ask about it? All ghosts could rely on were their own observations and experiences. It had been perfectly clear that the stronger the ghost, the stronger their Ghost Heat, and that dealing with the four calamities during that period of time personally was pursuing a death wish. Not that Crimson Rain Sought Flower had ever brought his own ghost city in any danger - whenever they had collectively felt the Kiln's call, Hua Chengzhu had closed off their city's boundaries and left them under Waning Moon Officer's supervision while he himself left the city behind so that nobody would suffer under his hand.

Technically, none of the residents knew what Crimson Rain was like when he was under Ghost Heat. Some said, he would become the most fierce ghost among the four on top, slaughtering his enemies on his way, and reverting the order of the three realms before turning it back again. Others said behind raised sleeves that no, the battle was of different kind: Hua Chengzhu would feel the love's fire in his soul and would passionately make love with his beloved through day and night, leaving no satisfaction unpursued, their joined voices so loud that even moon and sun had to hide their blushes behind clouds. And others thought that their city master did none of that and instead went to meet with Black Water, who was sleeping, and restrained himself in his den to pass the time.

Whichever was true, everybody believed that the Ghost Heat would stop after the permanent closing of Tong'lu Mountain. They had believed that nobody would have to go to the Kiln and fight for their continued existence anymore.

Truth was: It was a lie.

-x-


-x-

Waking up with San Lang by his side was one of Xie Lian's favorite moments of the day, especially when he was the first to wake up. Like this, he could lie on his side and caress San Lang's lines with his eyes or even reach out and brush away a loose strand of black raven hair. He could count the thin white lines of scars on San Lang's body, reach out and wonder how they got there and what their story was. San Lang didn't always let all of them appear on him, closing away some of them from eyes or on the opposite, showing them openly displayed from behind a different piece of clothing as proof of battle, strength. They were definitely impressive.

This morning, San Lang's breathing came irregular in his sleep, irritated. Xie Lian reached out and placed his hand softly on San Lang's, sliding his thumb between San Lang's thumb and pointing finger, soothingly caressing his palm. Instead of relaxing, San Lang frowned in his sleep and tugged his knees closer to his middle but didn't wake up.

He must be dreaming badly, Xie Lian assumed, raised his upper body and leaned forward, taking the dangling ring into his other hand so that it wouldn't hit against San Lang. He pressed a kiss against his temple, then turned his head alerted to the side when he heard the sound of something heavy fall over in the neighbouring room. Quickly, grabbing a sleeping robe and wrapping it around himself, Xie Lian left the bed and tore open the door to the other room, where he saw Ruoye pressed flat against the ceiling and E'ming on the floor, its eye rolling around wildly.

"What is going on here?"

When Ruoye heard Xie Lian, it shot from its place down to him and quickly wrapped around his arm, pressing tightly to his skin, only the tip peeking from the robe's sleeve Xie Lian was wearing. Meanwhile, E'ming started trembling heavily, metal against stone, and water droplets appeared on the rims of its eye.

"E'ming ..." Xie Lian came closer and crouched down, but when he reached out with the arm Ruoye was wrapped around, the white silk band tore his hand away in the other direction and shook, so that Xie Lian picked up E'ming with his other hand instead. "Did you two have a fight?" He held E'ming gently, swayed it back and forth in his arm until it calmed down a bit. "What happened?"

Ruoye unwound a bit from around Xie Lian's arm and started explaining with wild swings, forming ribbons to represent E'ming as it had attacked Ruoye in its sleep. The bed they had been resting on had fallen over when Ruoye had barely escaped being cut in half again. It had been terrible to narrowly escape being cut in two again!, Ruoye explained.

"You're one dangerous creature, E'ming", a voice from the door commented.

"San Lang!" Xie Lian turned his head and quickly averted his gaze again because while Xie Lian at least had thrown on a sleeping robe properly, San Lang's was hanging around his hips loosely. The way he had been standing against the doorframe, hair wild, one arm raised above his head, chest exposed ... anybody would feel the same.

"Don't say something like that. E'ming probably dreamt badly too." He reached out and pat Ruoye's floating end. "E'ming didn't mean to scare you, Ruoye."

After this, they enjoyed a royal breakfast together, with too much food for the two of them to eat so that Xie Lian decided to take at least some of the fresh fruit and go down to ghost city where he'd share them with some of the citizens he talked with regularly. He even had a special basket for that, an artistically well done one San Lang had purchased in the human realm when he had last been there.

"Are you going to accompany me, San Lang?" Xie Lian noticed that his husband was staring into the far, seemingly caught in his own thoughts. So, he reached for one of the fruits he had put in the basket, an apple, picked a kitchen knife from the table and halved the fruit, offering San Lang one half. He blinked, still distracted, shook his head to clear his mind, and took the offered half.

"Oh. Thank you, gege."

"Is something bothering San Lang?" Xie Lian bit into his apple and quickly licked off the drop of fruit juice that ran along his fingers. His eyes were on San Lang, but San Lang frowned at the table.

"I'm ... not sure." He shrugged. "I'm feeling a bit restless but it's nothing I can't solve with fighting. Join me for sparring after you've come back from the city, gege?" This was the first time this morning that San Lang smiled. Xie Lian returned the smile, pecked a kiss on San Lang's lips and threw the last bite of apple into his mouth when he rose from his seat.

"Then I won't take long", he promised. "You better warm up if you want to stand a chance against me."

"Will do."

It had been a joke often said among them - one that now turned quite serious once Xie Lian returned to Paradise Manor. Xie Lian had been walking slowly, enjoying the morning and the sleepiness of ghost city which had celebrated all night long and now grown mostly quiet. But when he heard screams coming from Paradise Manor on his way back, he dropped the basket in hands and immediately rushed on, reaching for his temple to send San Lang a question through the Private Communication Array: "San Lang, what's happening? Why are ghosts screaming?"

He got only silence in return. Rouye around his wrist wrapped a bit tighter around him, trembling again.

"Dianxia, dianxia ...!" Ghost servants were running out of the manor's entrance, some of them bleeding from slashing wounds. One of them, a dancer, stumbled against Xie Lian, horror in her eyes. She clung to his robes, begging: "You must help us, Your Highness! Hua Chengzhu ..."

"What! What is with San Lang?" This familiar panic rising in his chest ... it all came back at once because of the sight of people despairing, running aimlessly, in pain, begging for his help. He had been here already. He had lost everything once. And now ... what was with San Lang? Had someone attacked them? Why was everyone running?

Xie Lian's breathing set out. He felt himself trembling too.

Please let San Lang be safe.

"He's m-m ...! He's ...!" Her head whipped around and her eyes widened when a figure appeared on the other side of the hall. The servants all around screamed out in shock and dispersed as quickly as possible, their masses like shadows fleeing from the person, like waves they ran left and right away from danger. The dancer holding onto Xie Lian fainted on spot when she saw him. Xie Lian caught her falling body, gently put her onto the ground and took a step into the main hall, standing protectively in front of the body on the ground.

"Stop right there!" This attacker ... what had he done to San Lang? Where was Yin Yu? The bloodlust coming from this person was so extreme, Xie Lian had to focus to look at him - only to now recognise that he was facing San Lang himself.

No, not San Lang. Not exactly. There wasn't a splinter of friendliness or familiarity in these facial features. He was holding onto E'ming though, blood dripping from the blade.

"San Lang?!", Xie Lian exclaimed. "San Lang? What's wrong?"

The attack happened in the blink of an eye. San Lang's movement was swift like a river's current when he moved forward in fluent motion, swinging E'ming in a wide motion as he aimed for Xie Lian's throat. Xie Lian ducked underneath the swing, using his own momentum to kick for San Lang's legs but sword fighting was a dance and a dancer paid attention to his feet, so it was an easy feat for the ghost to jump over the attack and change E'ming's swing to the other side, aiming lower. He might've landed a hit if his blade didn't have an own will and broke off the attack on its own, eye twirling around madly while the wielder went for another attack without being irritated at all -

"San Lang!" Xie Lian got up, dodged the brutal swing once again and closed the distance between them to reach out and grab, not blindly but exactly for his elbow and sword hand's upper arm so that he could view his husband better from up close for a moment. He couldn't allow himself to panic right now, he had to focus and analyze the situation.

When they met eyes and San Lang bared his teeth angrily, Xie Lian recognised this as ...

"Ghost Heat?!" He was thrown through the hall with just San Lang's arm strength and landed on his feet in some distance, taking in the situation in front of him with the next breath through instinct. The last time he had seen San Lang like this was in the temple years ago, when San Lang and he had kissed wildly on the altar, exchanging spiritual powers. But that had been because of the Kiln's reopening, caused by White No-Face, who was no longer walking among them!

E'ming flew through the hall, its pathing erratic as it once again disobeyed the commands given by its creator. At least San Lang wasn't intent on hurting the dancer on the ground, who had regained consciousness and now took her feet in her hands to save her life.

"San Lang!" Xie Lian ran on, out of the hall and along the familiar hallways to the sword chamber with all the brilliant weapons San Lang had gifted him. His thoughts were racing in front of him, analysing and comparing the situation of the Ghost Heats he had experienced. What did San Lang want? How long would the effect of Ghost Heat hold? Could Xie Lian take him on?

No, he decided, this wasn't a question of if he could. He had to.

But first, he needed a weapon.

"Yin Yu!" He reached for his temple and tried contacting the Waning Moon Officer. "Yin Yu, can you hear me?"

He didn't get to maintain connection because unexpectedly, San Lang stepped out in front of him, throwing his set of dice another time, changing their surroundings from Paradise Manor to somewhere outside. With just one step, there was nothing around them but mountains and quickly Xie Lian noticed that this must be close to Puqi Shrine. He hadn't the time to locate them concretely because San Lang was moving once more and Xie Lian could only evade backwards.

"San Lang, please!" A weapon, he needed a weapon to defend himself. Ruoye was too scared. San Lang was closing the distance between them, E'ming close by. If the spiritual devices were fighting against each other, Ruoye might suffer the same fate as in the fight with Bai Wuxiang. But ... could Xie Lian even hurt San Lang, his husband? He was not thinking clearly right now, might need help. On the other hand, could he allow another Supreme Ghost to hurt him? How long would this go on? What could he do? What did he have to do?

"San Lang!" Xie Lian's voice didn't reach him. His voice didn't reach anyone. Should he get up and run or should he not?

"What the fuck." Suddenly, a third voice was heard and drew both their attention to it. Mu Qing was frozen to the spot, eyes wide, then he raised a finger to point at San Lang. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Mu Qing, run! Run!" The Martial God frowned, still not catching up. He managed one more "WHAT THE FUCK" when San Lang charged at him, then protected himself with a blast of spiritual energy before he finally got to draw his own sword and defend himself with it.

"He's probably in Ghost Heat!", Xie Lian shouted, got onto his feet, and wrestled with his hands. "He doesn't seem to recognise me!"

"You don't say!" Mu Qing dodged a swing that would've sliced him in half and shouted on top of his lungs: "FENG XIN! FENG XIN COME HERE YOU ASS!"

"Ass? ASS? Did you just call me an - What the fuck." Feng Xin dropped the logs of wood in his arms and drew his sword. "Your Highness, is that Mu Qing fighting Crimson Rain Sought Flower? YOUR HIGHNESS? WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"This is not the time!" Xie Lian grabbed Feng Xin's sword and ran to the fighting people, using a moment of their separation to jump between them and take the next blow himself, defending Mu Qing, who was sweating profoundly by now. And with a fine sword against E'ming Xie Lian could immediately feel the difference between his and San Lang's usual sparring and this fight - because normally, San Lang wasn't out to kill his beloved, never. This time, his swings were all aiming for his throat … for some reason.

Xie Lian clenched his teeth and hardened his heart. He had to help him, no matter what.

"Stop freaking out! Just shut up! We must help His Highness!"

"Who is freaking out? I am freaking out? You are freaking out! Look how you're sweating waterfalls!"

"I just fought against fucking Hua Cheng!" Mu Qing screamed angrily. "Take this sword, someone must do something rational! I must call for help!"

"Who do you want to call for help? Who can help? This is Crimson Rain Sought Flower!"

"I don't know! Let me ask Ling Wen!"

Xie Lian ignored Mu Qing and Feng Xin and instead parried another series of blows, finding a couple of moments to admire San Lang's sword technique. Since E'ming was struggling against its master and didn't obey him as usually, San Lang was wielding it like a normal sword in one hand, the scimitar in his hands just as deadly as Xie Lian had always imagined. Was it not such a dangerous situation to face them, he might've even enjoyed this. Like this though, his heart cried out in pain because seeing San Lang with such cold and emotionless face, not reacting to Xie Lian shouting out, it was the worst.

"PEI MING?! PEI MING HELP?! ARE YOU NUTS-"

"No no, send Pei Ming, he's a general, he might help-"

"IT'S PEI MING!" Mu Qing's voice cracked, and he broke into a coughing fit that threatened to explode his lungs. Feng Xin took pity and pat him hard on his back, resulting into another bickering between them since Mu Qing insisted that he was fine, and gods just give the damn sword back already.

"Oh my, I seem to have walked into quite a situation. Usually, these are a bit ... different." Pei Ming gave the bickering duo a thoughtful gaze, then let his eyes linger on the fighting duo. "Ling Wen said you're in danger but she didn't tell me precisely which of you. Who of you two needs help, again?"

"Are you serious." This phrase had drawn Feng Xin's attention away from Mu Qing who was still going on. "Obviously it's Crimson Rain and His Highness?"

"Well, you know what they say about rivalry and sexual tension that holds out for several hundreds of years. Oh, and about war and love sharing battles?" Pei Ming's smile told everything he hadn't said with words and if Feng Xin still had his sword or Mu Qing's sword, he might've started another fight right there and then. Instead, Mu Qing put a hand on his arm and asked in direction of Pei Ming: "How are you supposed to help? Can you even fight?"

"You have to work on your flattery, General Xuan Zhen. Of course I can fight." He ignored the deadly look and returned his attention to San Lang and Xie Lian, who were still on par to each other. "How long do you think will they last? I can hardly imagine joining them in their play."

"..." Mu Qing rolled with his eyes and Feng Xin pressed a flat hand against his face.

"Please ask Ling Wen for someone else's help, Mu Qing", Feng Xin asked quietly.

"Will do." Mu Qing reached for his temple.

"No no no, wait! I was joking! Joking!" Pei Ming grabbed the arm and pulled him down. "Fine! What do you expect me to do?"

"Well, I don't know." Mu Qing looked to Feng Xin. Feng Xin shrugged.

"How am I supposed to know? That's what we got you for."

"Oh. A lover's quarrel and I'm the first one to come to mind?" Pei Ming raised his voice. "Your Highness, do you need a helping hand with anything?"

"I don't know!" Xie Lian's answer came heavy because San Lang was a formidable opponent, and the fight was dragging on. Due to his training, the crown prince would manage to hold out for a long while but who knew how long San Lang would stay in Ghost Heat? "The last time it took some hours maybe! But he's bursting with spiritual energy!"

"Does depleting a ghost of his energy weaken this state?" Pei Ming thought back to their final fight and how these two had been hanging at each other's lips. "Kiss him then, Your Highness?"

"How." Mu Qing gesticulated at them. "Do you see the slightest opening between them?"

"They do work together perfectly", Pei Ming agreed and ignored the other two's burning gazes. "Then we just need to keep Crimson Rain busy or restrain him. Did any of you ever duel him?"

"Mu Qing." Feng Xin reached out to the other Martial God, palm turned upward. "Give me your sword and I'll help his Highness. Talking won't help us. But Pei Ming and I can hold Crimson Rain back long enough ... I hope."

However, they didn't get to exchange weapons - because San Lang had grown tired of the bickering distraction talking by his side while he took extreme satisfaction fighting this Martial God, so he broke free from their exchange and charged the three Martial Gods at the side, resulting in following chaos.

"San Lang!" Xie Lian saw the horror in Pei Ming's eyes and the O-shape of his mouth when San Lang's and his sword crossed for the first time and threw his arm forward: "Ruoye!" The white silk band shot forward and wrapped around San Lang's throat, tugging him back, immediately unwrapping and escaping E'ming's slash. Pei Ming ducked away, his arm still numb from the unexpected impact, cursing.

"Keep him here!" Xie Lian followed the running San Lang and finally pinpointed their exact location. They really were close to Puqi Shrine and San Lang was headed in direction of the village. Allowing him to get to there was a complete no-go.

"This is madness! How does Your Highness keep fighting with him? The man's a beast!" Pei Ming lifted two fingers in an incantation and send a blast of spiritual energy to change San Lang's pathing, allowing Mu Qing enough time to close up to the calamity and embroil him in another short sequence of blows. Just this time, San Lang didn't hold onto E'ming and the sword flew against the enemy freely, which would've ended Mu Qing in one attack if not for Feng Xin picking Pei Ming's sword from his hand and throwing it, hitting E'ming mid-air and changing its trajectory ever so slightly.

"Mu Qing!", Feng Xin shouted.

"I won't forgive you, Feng Xin!"

"ME? WHAT?"

San Lang jumped off the high slope the Puqi Shrine was hugging and landed in the garden below, followed suit by Xie Lian. He was despairing again, trying to think of a way how to stop his husband from slaughtering anyone on his way because in comparison to ghosts whose souls they could fix and Martial Gods who could defend themselves, the villagers were completely defenseless and unaware of the danger heading their way.

"Chengzhu."

Xie Lian landed on the ground and saw that somebody had walked into San Lang's way, dressed in complete black clothing, a shovel in hands, the mask taken off his face.

"Yin Yu!", Xie Lian exclaimed, relieved, then: "Be careful!"

"Don't worry, Your Highness." Even though he only had a Spiritual Device against San Lang, Yin Yu's mobility was remarkable, and irritated San Lang. It was buying him enough time that Xie Lian could run past the fighting people, counting on Pei Ming and Mu Qing to help Yin Yu if needed, and reach the village itself, where he raised his voice and shouted: "Everyone! Please! You need to get into safety!"

"Honored daozhang, what's the matter?" The humans came out of their houses because of his shouts, recognized him and gathered around Xie Lian, their worry evident. "Did something happen? Why are you sweating so much? Are you hurt?" The questions kept coming.

"I'm not hurt, no. There's danger coming your way. You must leave, now!"

"Danger? We can fight." Some of the villagers exchanged glances and added: "We have pitchforks, stones, brooms, iron. We can help."

"No, not against him. Please -" Xie Lian grabbed as many arms to press them beggingly as he could reach. "Please listen to me." He hated these words for what they reminded him of but to his extreme relief, the villagers didn't insist on their words and nodded. Yes, they would listen to him. They trusted him. He wouldn't betray their trust.

"Your Highness, Crimson Rain is coming here." Feng Xin had reached Xie Lian, panting, red like the sun when it was going down behind the horizon. "We have a plan. A horrible one. But time is running out."

"Feng Xin, go with the villagers, protect them at Paradise Manor." Xie Lian knew there was no time to talk about plans. "I don't know if there are other ghosts affected by Ghost Heat in the city. It might be all of the city, but Paradise Manor should be safe. Protect these humans."

"Ah is that why Ling Wen is having a crisis in my mind, screaming about ghosts ...?" Feng Xin gave off an 'Oof' when Xie Lian pressed his sword against Feng Xin's chest. He held onto it automatically, and immediately shook his head. "Your Highness, wait - You won't have a weapon again. You can't face Crimson -"

"Take it." Xie Lian reached into his sleeves and took a set of dice and tossed them, creating a portal. He hoped that it was the way to Paradise Manor. "Go there. We'll meet again."

"Your Highness?", the villagers murmured. He already opened his mouth to explain but the villagers waved their hands, declining his explanations before he even uttered them. They looked at him and said: "Take care" before leaving into the portal, Feng Xin going last.

"Don't dare dying, Your Highness", Feng Xin said. He left just in time before San Lang made another appearance, only accompanied by E'ming. San Lang still looked threatening … and also confused. His eye found Xie Lian.

"You lost your weapon."

"San Lang ..." These were the first words he had said all this time ever since the Ghost Heat had started. Did that mean that it was slowly in decline again?

"Then die without one."

No!

Xie Lian reached for the first thing he could grab onto, and his arms shot up to deflect E'ming once again as it came flying straight as an arrow at him, only that the broomstick in his hands shattered under the impact. One punch as follow up attack and Xie Lian lost the halves of the stick and fell to the ground hard, unable to stand up because San Lang stepped on his robes, dropped to his knee, and pinned him down with one arm, E'ming in his other hand raised.

Before he delivered the finishing blow, they stared at each other for a second, both breathing heavily, San Lang's hair hanging like a curtain left and right of his face, the beautiful blade shining deadly. Then, San Lang's eye found the thin necklace around the throat he was aiming for, followed it down to the ring resting on the heaving chest, and his eye widened.

He hesitated.

He adjusted E'ming and let it go down and with a scream Xie Lian rolled around, ignoring the soaring pain in his side where the blade cut him, hand closing around the ring as he came to a hold, lying on his belly. "No!"

"WHY NOT?" San Lang reached out a hand, his face a grimace. "It's just me."

"NOW!" Making use of having San Lang's back turned on them, someone pulled a sack over San Lang's head from behind, down to his midriff against the struggling victim, and shouted: "STOP FIGHTING! DROP YOUR SCIMITAR!" and San Lang obeyed, had to obey -

Ling Wen's Brocade Immortal!

E'ming fell to the ground and so did San Lang, whose knees gave in underneath him. He didn't look like he wanted to fight anymore but his eye was straight on Xie Lian. "It's mine", he said.

Xie Lian pressed a hand against his bleeding side, bit onto his lower lip and shook his head, determined.

"You can't have it", he answered. "Not now."

"Your Highness!" Mu Qing rounded Pei Ming and the restrained San Lang and fell to his knees next to Xie Lian, immediately checking on the wound at his side. He had to push aside Ruoye, which was helplessly floating around the spreading blood. Xie Lian didn't take much notice of the both of them. "We have to treat you. Now."

"San Lang ..."

"Don't worry." Pei Ming, who had been the one to pull the Brocade Immortal over Hua Cheng's head, put a hand on his shoulder. "He'll come with us until he learns to be a good boy again."

"E'ming ..." Xie Lian looked at the sword, which had closed its eye.

It took a whole two days to recover from the commotion. San Lang was brought into Xie Lian's palace in the Heavenly Realm, safely restrained where he'd always be watched over by one of four who came by. Once Xie Lian was patched up enough, he kept close enough to keep an eye on his beloved but not too close to be seen by him, fearing that he'd have to hear anything else in this Ghost Heat. Because what could it mean that San Lang had wanted to destroy his ashes? What did it mean "It's just me"? Was there a connection between their first Heat together, when he had kissed Xie Lian, and this one, where he had wanted to destroy his ashes?

Did he not ...

Xie Lian shook his head. No. No no no. He would NOT think that. He would ask once the Ghost Heat had died down. There was no use in overthinking this. It only brought him down and made him cry.

Thankfully, everybody here pretended like they didn't see his tears or swollen eyes and they all were merciful enough to not mention it and instead simply sat with him to keep watch over San Lang, who was sitting still day in and day out and day in and day out. Just as him, Xie Lian didn't sleep either these two days, ate the bare minimum that Mu Qing brought him (Feng Xin was still watching over the villagers in his own palace), kept watch and tried to not overthink things.

Then Yin Yu sat down next to Xie Lian.

"Yin Yu?" Xie Lian lifted his head that he had rested on his knees.

"I never thought I could take one step into the Heavenly Realm again." He was wearing his mask, his face hidden away completely by it. "How is Hua Chengzhu?"

"San Lang didn't move one inch but he's breathing." He didn't have to breathe, of course. He still did.

"How is His Highness?"

"I didn't move much either but I'm breathing too." Xie Lian smiled. Physically, he has been through worse. Mentally, he was holding onto the hope that things weren't as bad as he thought they were.

"There were no casualties." Yin Yu sighed. "He didn't have to go to Puqi Shrine either. Why does Your Highness think did Hua Chengzhu choose to open the portal to there?"

"It's the place he gave me his ring." Xie Lian closed his hand around it. He could feel his own heartbeat against the ashes. "San Lang wanted to find it, I think. He wanted to destroy it." Xie Lian took a shaky breath. "I don't know why."

"Hua Chengzhu loves His Highness." Yin Yu tilted his head to look at him. He usually kept emotion out of his voice, sounded even most of times, but now he was sincere, leaving no room for doubt. Yin Yu had known Hua Cheng for a long time. "He loved you, loves and always will love you. If he ever searched for the ring, then not because he doubted you. It's because he doubted himself."

"Himself?"

"I believe that ... even the smartest people are so incredibly dumb sometimes, including me. And I came here to thank Your Highness that you didn't allow Hua Chengzhu to act on his dumbness. It's a mercy some of us never had and it's one that I have come to appreciate." He tapped the edge of his mask with his pointing finger. "Is that comforting? I'm sorry, I'm not too good with it."

"Thank you, Yin Yu."

He rose and left, without that Xie Lian could know what kind of face he was making behind the mask. Xie Lian stayed back by himself.

"He's right, you know, gege?"

Xie Lian gasped. He straightened up. "San Lang?" There were quick tears in the corners of his eyes. Judging by the tone ... was the Ghost Heat over? San Lang sounded devastated.

"I have nothing to say in my defense. I raised my sword against you and ... injured you."

Xie Lian got up and crossed the hall in whose middle San Lang was kneeling, unchanged in position. He stopped in front of him, clenching his jaw when his wound complained about the movement. From the corners of his eyes, he saw E'ming shake and cry as well. He kept his hard gaze though his heart felt like singing. It was time to both laugh and cry but also have a strict word with San Lang.

"San Lang."

"This low one isn't worthy of being called gege's husband and if not for my words then for my deed. For what I was ready to do."

Xie Lian reached out and put his fingers under San Lang's chin, forcing his head up so that he would look at him.

"Why do you think so lowly of me?", he asked. "Do you think that choosing San Lang has been my mistake? Your kindness, your happiness, your love, my waste? And why do you think so lowly of yourself? Do you think you're not worthy?" Xie Lian narrowed his eyes. "It's not San Lang's decision whether he's my husband or not. It's not my decision either. It's a decision we both made, together, San Lang. You and me. No one else but you can make me happier every day. In hard times we promised to stand together."

"Gege ..." San Lang reached up slowly, put a hand against Xie Lian's, leaned into his touch and closed his eye. "What are you saying, gege? Knowing you is the highest honor for me. Dying for you is the highest honor. But living for you and making you happy, that is everything I ever wish for."

"Then why did you want to destroy your ashes?" Xie Lian crouched down, forcing his face to stay neutral though he almost yelped in pain. "Tell me what happened?" He wanted to kiss him so badly, but this was an important talk. It was so good to see San Lang normal again.

"Whatever it was … it won't let it happen again." San Lang opened his eye, reciprocating Xie Lian's gaze. "My ashes are on the safest place I know. I would never want to remove them from there. But I won't forgive that I injured you and will see to my own punishment."

"There will be none. Your regret is punishment enough." Xie Lian looked at shaking E'ming to his side and reached out, caressing the blade. "I know you didn't mean to, E'ming. I know that you did your best to fight against it", he whispered.

The doubts concerning why San Lang would even try destroying his ashes in Ghost Heat though remained. Maybe he wanted to call it punishment, but Xie Lian would definitely prove that San Lang was the only one who mattered to him just like he was the only one who mattered for San Lang.

First, they had to get Pei Ming to remove the Brocade Immortal again though.