((You may notice that is not my usual go-to chapter heading style. I tried to stay as close to the books' as I possibly could.
One thing I'm not all that willing to pay attention to is hyphenation and such in names. My source were the Seven Seas books, and I try to adhere to their version – try being the emphasised word. The whole matter seems arbitrary to me, so there's a good chance I'll get something wrong.))

Prologue: Stalking the Night in Search, Screaming at it in Fear

Near silence reigned in the old temple. It had survived the damage that had been wrought throughout the entire city as the gods had fought above. While this place had already been run down before any of that, it had, at least, not got any worse. Shi Qingxuan was quite safe here, and so were the others – as long as no-one ran them all off.
Now, in the dead of night, the only sound was the soft breathing of sleeping people – the desperate and lost, those with no roof of their own over their heads. Like him. A lot of them were drunk or so exhausted from sickness and starvation that nothing could have roused them. Since his fall, Shi Qingxuan had learned how true hunger felt. He hadn't eaten that particular day, but he had gone without food for longer. He'd live. And recently, he had been pretty lucky in that regard. More often than not, someone gave him something decent to eat early in the day. He suspected that the people recognised him from the human array and wanted to thank him that way. He never kept all that he received for himself, but a little was his.
The former Wind Master was neither drunk nor sick and could be alerted by the softest sounds: the sneeze of a small animal; the hitching of someone's breath in a dream; feather-light footsteps, leisurely and muffled as they were. He lay huddled in the deepest shadow, almost invisible, and lifted his head minutely. A figure was slipping through the rows of sleepers, careful not to touch anyone lest they wake them, bending and looking closely at some of them. It was creepy, and a small frown formed on his face.
Abruptly, the stealthy visitor's head jerked up, and they glanced in his general direction, but their gaze didn't linger. However, they clearly thought better of this endeavour and started to make their unhurried way out.
Shi Qingxuan knew that if he ran after the stranger, they'd notice. The days where he could be both fast and quiet were past. Having to pick between one of those, he opted for silence. Staying on his hands and knees, he rustled out of the temple, staring around the door frame into the night as he reached the exit.
In the light of the full moon, he saw that the figure was a waifish woman dressed in a pale robe. She was leaning against a wall of the temple, hands over her face as if she could hide from the world that way. There were golden bracelets on her wrists, reflecting the dim light and making her stand out in a place like this. Originally, he had thought the figure was a thief that had picked the worst location to steal from. Now he wondered if maybe she was looking for one instead.
One thing, however, was abundantly clear as he watched her from the shadows: She shouldn't be here if she wanted to keep those trinkets she had on her person. Eventually, with an irritated sigh, she turned away and started to leave the place at a brisk pace after punching the wall for good measure.
Torn, he watched her before he followed, staying as quiet as he could while keeping up. It wasn't quiet enough. She stopped abruptly and turned, facing him head on. Shi Qingxuan froze in mid-step, wide-eyed and ready to bolt. 'I won't hurt you,' he said sharply. 'If y-you want to steal, do it elsewhere. We don't have anything. But if people see you like that while I'm not around, you'll probably end up robbed.' There. That was what he had wanted to tell her. He could leave now, right?
'Do I look like a thief to you?' she answered, her voice dripping with derision.
'No. But I guess one of them stole something from you, and you came to steal it back. How close am I?'
'Hmm.' She shook her head. 'You couldn't be any more mistaken if you tried.'
'Okay.' A smile tugged at his lips. 'If you need a place to stay, sell the stuff you own first. By the looks of it, it might even keep you off the streets.'
'I don't need your filthy … RUN AWAY RIGHT NOW!'
Shi Qingxuan had seen her eyes go wide before her shout, and he turned quickly. His injured leg didn't like that move one bit, and he fell heavily, landing on his back so hard he was breathless for a few moments. He blinked the confusion from his eyes to stare at what had frightened her, expecting to find one of the paupers laughing at his clumsiness. He was wrong.
A huge skeletal cat was in front of him, baring its teeth. Breath catching in his throat, his hand went to touch the broken fan he still carried. It was useless. He was useless. And yet, he forced himself back onto his feet to face that thing. 'Run,' he breathed, his voice cracking with fear. 'Run!' The creature started to circle him, but he kept his eyes firmly fixed on it, turning to keep staring at it head on. He was about to die. Right now. He didn't want to, but it couldn't be helped.
'And you?' the woman yelled behind him. 'It's going to eat you!'
'Sounds about right, ha ha ha ha!'
'Are you a moron? Stop laughing!'
He wished he could. He also wished she'd run. 'Hey, can you do one last thing for me?' he asked. 'Go to Puqi shrine. Tell anyone you might meet there that I'm not going to come visiting any more, ha ha.' He had to get rid of her somehow, seeing how that monster refused to dedicate its full attention to him. If she didn't move, he would have to tackle it first. He tensed his muscles, ready to pounce. As much as he still could.
'Idiot! Who would I even tell them about? Don't do anything, it will kill you!'
That was right, she had no idea who she was talking to! She couldn't exactly deliver a message by saying, 'This random idiot jumped into the throat of a ghost cat, now he isn't coming back.' But his heart was beating madly and there was some evil creature wanting to eat them, and all he managed was to laugh like the fool he was. With his laughter transforming into a scream, he launched himself against the monster that would kill him. A moment later, his voice was silenced and his world went dark.

A/N:
((In the intro to the fic I wrote before this one, I stated – quite vehemently – that I didn't know Heaven Official's Blessing and even spelt the title incorrectly. I have since remedied that, as you can see.
I have devoured the novels in 30 days. That may not sound superfast, but I also work full time and sing in two choirs. In essence, I did pretty much nothing except read and keep sending a running commentary to the friend who brought me into this mess. (She wanted that. I asked.) Before I started reading the books, I watched the donghua with that friend (my lovely beta). She asked if I thought I'd write a fan fic – and I said no. My reasoning was that I only did that if I felt like someone deserved better. Her response to that was that she is looking forward to my Wind Master fan fiction. This was a few episodes into season 2, I already loved the guy to bits and was very worried after that statement. And … here we are.
So, in a way, this was requested by my friend. I'm not sure that I would have written beefleaf unprompted. I am VERY sure I wouldn't have had Jun Wu in it at all, never mind in a romance (I don't think I will EVER be able to forgive him). But the person I originally wrote this for is someone I was very lucky to meet, so she is on the short list of people (three – maybe four if I'm generous) who can make a request like that.
By and large, this should be canon compliant. Where it isn't, blame the fact that I read the books too quickly. There were a few things where I tried to look up if I could even do that, but my success was … shall we say, limited, so I decided to do whatever the hell I want.))