((I had to make a choice here: Either switch perspective within the previous chapter, or have a bit of an overlap in time. I went with the latter.))

7. A Ghost and a God Walk into a Bar

'San Lang,' Xie Lian said, sensing something was off. He couldn't point his finger at it, but it was there. 'San Lang, listen, it's important.'

Hua Cheng was still debating an alleged tax dodge with a ghost. 'At least give me a drink,' he said, sending her away. 'Something wrong, gege?'

Xie Lian furrowed his eyebrows. 'I'm not sure. It's more of a feeling. Qingxuan walked out into the courtyard, and I don't know if I like that.' He moved to the table and picked up his first glass to sniff it. His eyes widened. 'They're serving foreshot. Hey, you!' He went after the ghost Hua Cheng had been talking to earlier. 'Are you trying to get people killed?'

'I think,' Hua Cheng said in a very dangerous tone, 'that only special guests get that. But it won't kill him, gege.'

'Not any more! But he's on his second one and drank the first almost in one go. How do you not notice that?'

'By being unused to it, I suspect. He might have just thought it's extremely bad booze.' He grabbed the glass and threw it against a wall. 'Hey!' he shouted, 'Everyone who wants safer drinks with their services, take your business to ghost city. At least we'll tell you when we bring you poison.'

'San Lang …'

'What? We wanted a commotion.'

'Qingxuan is going to be very drunk. Fast. We need to find him. He's not safe.' Under normal circumstances, Xie Lian wouldn't have been too worried, but the poor man was still so unsure of himself that he couldn't help it.

'You're right. We should …' The entire place shook suddenly and plaster rained down from the ceiling. A stone head poked through the wall. 'This is not good.' He led the way with Xie Lian hot on his heels. They found two fallen buildings, one statue stuck in the one they had just vacated, and one statue still standing under a canopy. 'He Xuan!' he called. 'What are you doing?'

He Xuan was in the process of storming into another building and came back out only a few heartbeats later. He was fuming. 'He's gone! I tried to go after him, but she destroyed the door with the permanent array and vanished.'

'Can you try to make at least a little sense?' Hua Cheng asked.

'No!' He threw his arms in the air. 'Qingxuan's gone. I have to find him. Simple enough for you?'

'That's what we were planning, too,' Xie Lian tried to reason with the ghost. 'He's probably drunk.'

'Yes. He is. He was lured through a teleportation array.'

'By the divine statue of Shi Wudu?' Hua Cheng asked, gesturing vaguely at the poor thing stuck in a wall.

Xie Lian saved the other ghost from answering that. 'Do you have any plan how to retrieve him?'

'Yes. But if I'm wrong I'll be in the middle of nowhere without a clue where to look instead. I tried asking him where he ended up, but he stopped communicating. I hope he just passed out. I'm going where I think he is. You investigate on your own.' He dumped the women's clothes he'd stolen for Shi Qingxuan in Xie Lian's arms. 'I've got to go.'

Xie Lian watched him run away. 'He really does seem worried.'

'I would be, too, if it were you.' Hua Cheng collected the clothes from his husband and dropped them unceremoniously on the ground.

Xie Lian approached the Wind Master statue. It was completely unharmed. 'One could think that he really never meant to involve him at all.'

'Your friend involved himself,' Hua Cheng said next to him. 'And yet. He Xuan should have taken a moment to sort out his priorities. Instead, he'd mapped out his path ages ago and never went back to check if it still led to a place he wanted to be in.'

'What should he have done? Can a ghost just ignore what brought him into the world?'

'Not easily. But like any being with a mind of its own, a ghost can take a step back and think. Ask himself three questions: What do I want to achieve? What is the most likely result of my actions? How much does the likely result deviate from the desired result and can I live with the side effects of that expected divergence?'

'Have you done that?'

'Of course.' Hua Cheng shrugged. 'I always knew that I couldn't let myself be corrupted completely, or I would lose you. I wanted to find you. I wanted you to look at me and see someone you might, perhaps, care about. I didn't think I deserved that, but I tried to at least … not do anything that made that impossible. I warned him that he wasn't going to like the outcome, but he wouldn't listen.'

'Wait, you knew he liked Qingxuan that way?'

'No.' Hua Cheng tore his eyes from the Wind Master's divine statue. 'But I knew that he wasn't indifferent to him.'

'You think they can fix this?'

'That depends on Shi Qingxuan. On how forgiving he really can be.'

Xie Lian smiled. 'Then maybe I should be optimistic. I don't know anyone more benign than him.' He gave the statue one last look and made a decision. 'Let's get moving.' He led the way back into the front building.

The place was in utter chaos. And loud. Apparently, since they couldn't push Shi Wudu's statue out, someone was taking a chisel to its neck. 'Not again,' Xie Lian sighed. 'Can we …' He raised his voice. 'Can we have a moment of your time?' The patrons had long since fled. It seemed that only the ghosts hadn't vacated the place. 'Please leave him alone, he's already been decapitated at least twice.' Every ghost in the building started shouting at once, and Xie Lian sighed. 'I'll push the statue out of the wall for you if you help me!' That silenced them. 'Great. Thank you. My friend – the man you gave the foreshot – we're looking for him.'

'We were told to, grand-uncle.' Xie Lian couldn't pin a name on the short ghost that talked to him, but he thought he'd seen her in ghost city. 'She told us to. But she said he'll be all right. She said she just needs to borrow him for a little while before she lets him go.'

'Who is she, exactly?'

'She's Miss Wang Ai, grand-uncle.'

'Wang Ai?' Xie Lian turned to Hua Cheng. 'Wasn't that He Xuan?'

'Looks like He Xuan impersonated her. She might have been a real person once.'

'What happened to Wang Ai?' Xie Lian asked the one ghost that had decided to speak to them. 'Who is she?'

'She was a cultivator,' she said. 'Her father was a merchant until he vanished a few years ago.'

'Vanished how?'

'It was really weird. He sold his estate to some bloke and left the city.'

'What kind of person was he?' Hua Cheng asked.

'Horrible!' another ghost said. Apparently the fact that they were talking with one of them in a civilised manner encouraged her enough to join in. 'He had me killed. I had a small shop and when I refused to have it closed down or to demand higher prices than him, he sent a bunch of men to have me beaten. They kept going on and on and wouldn't stop.'

'And then he decided to … just walk away?' Xie Lian shook his head. 'And his daughter?'

'Had a complicated relationship with him. He doted on her, planned for her to succeed him. But she was too soft-hearted to see that he was trading in people as much as in goods. She wanted the best for everyone at all times, smuggled food to concubines that wouldn't follow her father's commands and that he tried to starve into submission and such. He knew, but she was the only person he cared about, so he let her.

'And then … everything changed. Overnight. First he let everyone whose flesh he was peddling go. Second he got rid of his thugs, then he put all his wares out – for free, I mean! And then he up and left.'

'And the daughter?'

'Was left with nothing. She hadn't been there for any of this, she was spending a lot of time at this temple. She came home to the house belonging to some angry bloke telling her that her father was gone and had forgotten her.'

'He probably has,' Hua Cheng said. 'I don't think he even knows who he is any more.'

Xie Lian sighed. 'He Xuan's pets. He's one of them. He Xuan took him there, turned him into a vegetable, briefly used his appearance to make it look like he was tired of the life he had, and then took over the place. But why …' He faltered, uncertain what he even wanted to ask.

'He practised, I would think. Traded the fates of good people with a horrible outlook with those of corrupt people that were really more deserving of it.'

'It's lucky he didn't do that to poor Qingxuan.'

'He clearly intended to. But he couldn't go through with it. I think it's obvious why by now.'

'What a shame that it had to go that way at all.' He turned to the ghosts again. 'How did Wang Ai go from being a cultivator and overall pleasant person to being a ghost whose sole desire is to murder people? Did she kill herself after this?'

'No. She worshipped the Wind Master and the Water Master. When those two gods fell, she tried to get people to stay loyal to them. Her success was very limited, and one day, she snapped. Started hitting a guy who told her she was stupid for following fallen gods. He hit her back. Hard. She broke her skull against the altar and that was that.'

'My guess is,' Hua Cheng said, 'Shi Wudu was looking for allies when he became a ghost. He found her and told her about He Xuan's creatures. With the information he gave her, she understood that one of them might be her father. That was probably enough motivation to destroy the one responsible.'

'Until Shi Wudu betrayed her, in her eyes, by giving in to his brother's plea. Now her plan is to go after He Xuan alone? That isn't going to work, she's no match for him.'

'No. But she is also furious with Shi Qingxuan. I think she blames him even more than Shi Wudu. In her eyes, he should hate He Xuan like she does. He, too, had someone taken from him by Black Water. He shouldn't be able to forgive this. To be honest, I have no idea how he managed it.'

'I don't think he's capable of hatred, San Lang.'

'She clearly is.' Hua Cheng turned to the ghost. 'Do you know where she is now?' Only silence followed this question. 'Do you at least know where the teleportation array led? It's been destroyed.'

'A shrine. Or what's left of it.'

'Do you know whose shrine?'

'She told me that earlier: Some idiot god who ruined his own people.'

Xie Lian laughed softly. 'I have a vague idea who that might be. And I should be able to remember where m... um, his shrines were.'

'Idiot god?' Hua Cheng echoed, his expression incredibly indifferent on the surface and incredibly dangerous under it.

Xie Lian put a hand on his arm. 'Can we not do this?' he asked. 'San Lang? Shi Qingxuan needs us.'

'And we spent quite some time admiring his divine statue,' Hua Cheng said softly.

'Which means we shouldn't waste any more.'

Hua Cheng narrowed his eyes at the ghost. 'You're lucky. Anything else you can tell us?'

'It's far. You'll need hours to get there, unless you use the teleportation array.'

'Which Wang Ai broke.'

'Can you get us there?' Xie Lian asked.

'For starters, I'd need a vague idea where we're going. The problem is, there were a lot of shrines dedicated to you back in the day. Without a description, there's a good chance we'd get the wrong one.'

'And then we'll be somewhere in the middle of nowhere, too,' Xie Lian said. 'No. We either let He Xuan take care of him and hope for the best, or we need a better plan.'

'Who drew the teleportation array?' Hua Cheng asked. 'Wang Ai?'

'Of course.'

'From memory?' Xie Lian said abruptly. 'It would need to be precise. She might have notes somewhere.'

'Does she live here?' Hua Cheng asked.

'Y-yes. She only ever left with him until recently.' The ghost' eyes darted to the divine statue in the wall.

'I see,' Xie Lian said. 'Let me take care of this first.' He went to the statue of the former Water Master. 'My apologies,' he muttered, laid his hands on top of his head and pushed. The ghosts stared in awe as inch by in, the heavy chunk of rock moved until it fell hard outside the temple. 'There,' he said. 'You can repair the wall now. San Lang?'

'We're looking for Wang Ai's personal notes?'

'Yes. Apparently, we are.'

Ϡ

The ghost had pointed them to the building He Xuan had earlier stormed out of. There was a scorch mark on the door that led into the second room there and Xie Lian sighed. 'A shame she ruined the array. We could have followed otherwise.'

'Worst case scenario, we'd be trapped together.'

'I don't like him being alone when he can't communicate,' Xie Lian said. 'I hope He Xuan finds him quickly.'

'Oh?' Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow. 'Weren't you the one who worried about working with him?'

'That was before I saw how he treats him now. It's different.' True, Black Water had said a few pretty harsh things, but it was clear that the words' intent wasn't to hurt. 'There are rumours up in heaven that he's gone. He Xuan, that is. Apparently, people are keeping an eye out for him.'

'Of course they are.' Hua Cheng stepped through the door to the room Wang Ai had turned into her office. 'That they're not having much luck shows how useless they all are. He isn't even trying to hide, he simply moved.'

'Where? Here?'

'Clearly. For now. And he isn't doing much.' He spun slowly, taking in the room with an increasingly disapproving expression. He started digging through a splintered desk for pieces of torn scrolls. 'As for his lair, he went there to fix Shi Qingxuan's fan. But other than that, the curse that was on the area is lifted. He won't return there. I think he hates the whole idea of the place.'

'He really does regret what happened.'

'To a point.' Hua Cheng looked at one relatively intact scroll. 'I still can't believe for a moment that he regrets killing Shi Wudu. He regrets the collateral damage. He had the choice between revenge and a home. He chose revenge. I honestly don't understand him.'

'You wouldn't.' Xie Lian looked at his husband and smiled. 'You were always driven by love. He was too, to a degree, but his love was for people who were long gone. What would you have done if I had died somewhere in between?'

'I'd have died, too,' Hua Cheng said simply. 'What else would there have been for me? I think he understands it now: That having someone who loves you and cherishes you even if you're a grumpy old monster cannot compete with anything else in the world.'

Sighing, Xie Lian put an arm around him and kissed his cheek. 'Let's help him get Qingxuan back, then.' The place was in a deplorable state. 'Did he have to do this?'

'I asked him if he trashed the room, but he's not answering.' Hua Cheng was throwing scraps that wouldn't help behind himself carelessly while passing anything that looked remotely promising to Xie Lian. 'Don't be alarmed, gege. He does that. It doesn't mean something's wrong, he's just … disinclined to talk to us.' He tilted his head. 'Here, look. It's a map with several of your shrines marked on it.'

Xie Lian glanced at the map over Hua Cheng's shoulder. 'There's a description in the corner: Isolated, has a second building, no intact roads.'

'Careful, gege.' Hua Cheng frowned. 'He Xuan came in here and straight back out. I think that Wang Ai messed up her own room after sending Shi Qingxuan away.'

'To make it harder for us to find something?'

'Perhaps. Look here.' He offered another piece of paper with a design for a teleportation array.

'It doesn't say where this leads.'

'Somewhere else, I suspect.'

'Then you choose,' Xie Lian said.

'I'm not choosing based on luck. The shrine that fits this description is this one, I think.' He indicated a place on the map. 'It's not far, we should walk there.'

'It's two hours, even for us. We can't take that long.'

'The problem is that the last communication I got from He Xuan was that he had to go on foot. Apparently, our ghost knows how to seal a place against teleportation.'

'She can have killed Qingxuan three times over before we get there!'

Hua Cheng nodded. 'True. But if that is all she wanted him for, he's already dead.'

That wasn't a possibility that Xie Lian liked to consider, but he knew Hua Cheng was right. 'What is her plan, do you think?'

'She wants to save her father.'

'How does Qingxuan figure into that?'

'Look here.' Hua Cheng passed him a scrap of a scroll. 'She definitely knew of the switched fates. If I were her, I'd like to do the same to save my family. And she hates Shi Qingxuan for his supposed treason.'

Xie Lian thought about this. 'That won't work. She wouldn't have the power to do it.'

'I know this. So do you. Wang Ai probably does, too, but she will try. What can she lose?'

While that meant she wouldn't murder Shi Qingxuan at once, it still didn't sound good. Who knew what even a failed attempt would do to him? 'Do you know where the teleport leads?' Xie Lian asked. 'Or where He Xuan went?'

'The teleport leads to a temple of Ming Yi, and my guess is, that is also the place he's going to. It's out of the city, too, just a different direction. She clearly wanted the information that she could be found at your shrine leaked.' Hua Cheng looked at him. 'Does that mean she's there and has no fear, or is she trying to put us on a false trail?'

'My guess is the latter.'

'If that is the case, we try to teleport to the temple from your shrine. If He Xuan was there, he'll have broken any seals. We might still land in the same trap Shi Qingxuan ended up in, but I'd suggest we take the chance that the shrine is a red herring. Plus, I think our alternative is covered.'

'Would she go to one of He Xuan's temples?'

'It has been desecrated – maybe even by her. It's the way she wants him to be. Ruined, unsalvageable.' He stood and offered his hand to Xie Lian to pull him to his feet and into his arms. 'Don't worry, gege. One of us will find him.'

And so they ran. 'I can carry you, gege,' Hua Cheng said when they had left the city behind for a while.

Being a martial god – one who had honed his body very well for 800 years – Xie Lian could have run that fast for a day and a night at need. Hua Cheng knew this. 'Are you saying I'm old? Looks like I'll have to prove my youthful prowess to you later.'

The ghost king chuckled. 'I look forward to it.' He pointed ahead of them. 'Look, we're almost there.'

'Are we at least sure this is the shrine she described?'

'Think who you are asking, Your Highness!' Hua Cheng's voice carried no trace of doubt. 'I know all of your shrines: which have an adjacent building; which have been turned to other uses, for new gods or something else entirely; which have been overtaken by nature. I know where they are, I know in what state they are, I know who was responsible for their desecration.'

'I'm not going to ask what happened to those people.'

Hua Cheng laughed. 'Better not. I constantly had you on my mind and what you would think of me, but that doesn't mean I always managed to stay in line.'

Xie Lian smiled at this. 'You don't need to justify yourself. I believe we've both looked deep enough into the abyss to understand.'

Hua Cheng slowed down to a walk and Xie Lian fell into step next to his husband. 'Let's look around,' the ghost said.

It became clear soon that this was the wrong place. There was no hint that anyone had been there in a long time and there was definitely no-where to detain someone. 'Gege was the luckier one,' Hua Cheng said. 'You would have picked the temple.'

'My luck should be somewhere close to normal now since you broke my shackles, but we didn't choose based on luck, remember? And I, for one, don't know the state of the temple or if there's even a single building block left of it.'

Hua Cheng sighed. 'True. Shame, I never cared about sealing a location, so I didn't learn how. It would be helpful to stop her from using this shrine as a fallback plan. I only ever considered it a cowardly way to avoid a conflict.' He toyed with his die and smiled. 'Let's try the temple.'

'And if there's nothing there?'

'We try contacting Shi Qingxuan. He's a heavenly official. He should be better soon. If you underestimate him so much, why do you want him as your deputy?'

Hua Cheng had a point: A mortal would take longer to recover than him. If he was alive, he could at least defend himself by now. Xie Lian nodded. 'Very well. Let's go.'

Hua Cheng threw his die and Xie Lian's heart almost stopped until he saw the six bright red dots revealed. He closed his eyes for a moment in relief. As if he'd guessed where his husband's mind had gone, the ghost king reached out and cupped his chin. 'Gege, have a little faith. Even if she attempts the spell, nothing worse than anything he already has endured will come of it.'

'That is not really comforting. With Qingxuan that bar is painfully low.'

'In that case, why don't we find him first?' Hua Cheng took his hand, and they stepped through the array.

They could jump to the temple, which should mean that this was, indeed, the place He Xuan had been looking at. The air smelled different on the other side – it was moist and dense and mossy. He didn't care at all. 'Qingxuan!' he shouted, his voice echoing loudly around him. 'What the …'

'Your Highness? Your Highness! Here! Up here!'

He looked up and realised three things: first, they were in a well; second, they had found Shi Qingxuan; third, he was unharmed and in extremely good spirits.

'Are you all right?' Xie Lian called, just to be sure.

'Me? Oh, yes! Never better! But I can't get you out like I did from the Sinner's Pit. The well is too cramped for that. I might smack you into a wall on the way.'

'Is there anything up there for Ruoye to hold on to?'

'Um …' Shi Qingxuan lifted his eyes up and looked around before staring down at them again. 'Us?' He extended his arm. 'Xuan-xiong! What are you waiting for, let's get them out.'

He Xuan appeared next to him, looking distinctly ruffled and royally pissed off. 'I don't know. I feel like letting them sit there.'

Shi Qingxuan laughed and reached for He Xuan, running his fingers over his head to put his hair in order a little. 'Come on.' He leaned towards him and said something that didn't carry down to the two men at the bottom of the well.

'You're not wrong.' The ghost reached out, too. 'Very well, then, use your little magic ribbon. Qingxuan wants to get you out, so it looks like we're getting you out.'

((In case that needs saying: Do not drink foreshot. It can contain large concentrations of methanol. It's not safe. Also this chapter had a will of its own. Shi Qingxuan was never supposed to end up in a well. He wasn't even supposed to go through the array. He was very uncooperative.))