1. Unwanted Visitor at the Crack of Dawn

For a very short moment, Xie Lian didn't know what had roused him. He kept his eyes closed, taking in the scent of the air around him. A soft smile formed on his half-asleep face. Paradise Manor. Only here he could lie on his stomach this way, arms and legs flung out to take a ludicrous amount of space. Well. He could do that in the Palace of Xianle, but there wouldn't be gentle fingers running down his spine, over his buttocks and back up.
He kept his breath even, curious what his husband would do, how far he would let this go before waking him. He wasn't going to find out. At least not right now. 'I know you're awake, gege,' the ghost king, feared by mortals, ghosts, and gods alike, whispered to him in a tone so tender it melted his heart. The amusement in this soft voice was infectious, and Xie Lian turned to face the other man with a smile.
Propping his head up on one hand, he looked at him through half-lidded eyes. 'How can you tell?'
'Hmm.' Hua Cheng's expression was indescribably tender and warm. 'Your hips didn't stay as still as you'd like to think. And you sighed. It was quiet, but encouragingly lascivious.'
'Oh. I need to be more careful next time.'
'Are you testing me, Your Highness?'
'Testing? No.' He reached for him to brush a stray hair strand out of Hua Cheng's face. 'That's too harsh. I was just wondering how much you would allow yourself.'
'Nothing that hasn't been discussed in advance. And consent aside, I'd want you to be awake.' As if he were weightless, Hua Cheng pulled him into his lap.
Xie Lian didn't usually wear anything to bed when he slept here. There was very little point. When they were at Puqi shrine, things were a bit different with the risk of someone from the village straying inside, but here they weren't likely to be disturbed. So now there was nothing between them, and Xie Lian's breath hitched as he found himself in direct contact with Hua Cheng's sex. He was half erect under him, and when Xie Lian leaned down to kiss him, gently nibbling at the ghost's bottom lip, he knew it wouldn't be long before he was fully hard.
When their lips parted, Hua Cheng hummed. 'I was going to say I'm sorry I woke you up when I just needed to touch you to remind myself that you're real, but now I can't do that.'
'No need to be sorry. I know I'm not.' His hips were rocking as if they had a will of their own, and Xie Lian's cock was very interested in the proceedings, too. 'I think I had enough sleep tonight.'
'How do you want me?'
'Like this,' Xie Lian said at once. 'Don't change.' When Hua Cheng wasn't wearing his eyepatch, he didn't usually ask but either went to get it or transformed into his San Lang persona. It wasn't that Xie Lian minded either way, but that he just hummed in agreement and stayed like this was a first. It meant that Hua Cheng's self-consciousness was slowly ebbing away, and that made Xie Lian ridiculously happy.
'Any specific demands you have of your humble servant?'
While Hua Cheng was neither of those two things, Xie Lian opted not to point that out. 'Just you,' he said softly. 'All of you.'
'You're exhausted, I'm going to be gentle.'
Xie Lian smiled a little sheepishly. 'Please don't, there's no need to hold back.' They had spent the entire previous day on their feet, catching up on prayers Xie Lian had decided he couldn't postpone. Hua Cheng had put his foot down long after sunset and insisted that his beloved needed to rest. Xie Lian had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, proving him absolutely right. If the number of his followers increased, he'd have to appoint someone as a deputy. This had been hinted at him several times by Ling Wen, but so far he had ignored it. He didn't particularly want to, but regardless of his reluctance, it was something he'd have to think about eventually.
Oil-slicked fingers opening him up brought Xie Lian's attention back to the present. 'I'm ready, it's hardly the first time,' he told his husband at last, feeling the heat crawling into his face. 'I said you don't need to be careful.' He was about to slip off his partner, but the other man kept him in place.
'Ride me, gege,' he said quietly. 'You're so gorgeous right now, I'd rather enjoy this view a little longer.'
Xie Lian couldn't deny this man anything. He raised his hips slightly to allow Hua Cheng to position himself. Eyes closing at the sensation, Xie Lian slid down on him, taking him inside with ease. Hua Cheng's hands travelled up his sides to his chest, where his thumbs rubbed his nipples.
A shameless moan broke from Xie Lian, desperate almost, and he arched into the touch. When he started moving, it was controlled and deliberate, letting Hua Cheng slip out until only the very tip remained inside him before taking him in to the hilt again. The slow friction was lewd and maddening, chasing all thoughts except their union from both of their minds. Xie Lian's mouth fell open and his eyes closed when a hand grabbed his own swollen cock, moving up and down in a touch that wasn't quite firm enough to ease the aching flesh. It was the most delicious torture imaginable. He loved feeling how full he was, how Hua Cheng's hips bucked off the mattress every time he sank down on him, how perfect his hands were as they stroked him or kneaded his sweat-slicked buttocks.
'Screw the view,' the other man said suddenly and pulled him down into a breathtaking kiss.
Prior to being so familiar with one, Xie Lian would have said ghosts had no scent. He certainly hadn't noticed any effect of the Ghost Scent Candies, even though they had allegedly been awful for other ghosts. And yet, there was a very slight but specific scent to Hua Cheng, maybe because he was so attuned to him, and it was more pronounced in moments like these. It wasn't something he could describe with a single word, a mix of rain and cut grass and incense, and if Xie Lian could, he'd have filled it in a tub to soak in it.
Moaning into Hua Cheng's mouth, he pushed his arms under his neck and shoulders to hold him in a tight embrace as his hips moved. The sensation of the hard cock inside him was exquisite and sinful and perfect, the taste of his husband's mouth every bit as wonderful as his scent. He pulled away a little to stare at his face, the pupil of his good eye blown wide with desire, nostril's flaring as he panted despite the fact he didn't even need to breathe. 'More,' Xie Lian managed, pressing their foreheads together. 'Harder, San Lang-gege, I want more.'
Hua Cheng purred and bent his legs to let him slide deeper and increase the speed a little. 'Better?' he asked. 'Or more?'
Xie Lian groaned and pressed his face against his husband's neck, licking over his skin and digging his nose into the spot behind his ear.
Even though that wasn't a very eloquent answer, Hua Cheng understood the message along with the nickname that had somehow stuck for when Xie Lian was painfully turned on and desperate. This desperation could be for release or for more fire. Now it was definitely the latter. 'Are you ready to be taken apart?' The ghost's voice was incredibly gentle, there was nothing demanding in it. His whole person was an offering on Xie Lian's altar, giving himself over completely and happy to receive the same.
'I am so ready.'
The soft expression on his husband's face became devious as he plucked him off him. 'If that is the case,' he said, 'I'll have you like this.' With those words he grabbed him and wrangled him to his hands and knees, pulling his hips up and pushing down between his shoulder blades until Xie Lian's arms collapsed and his face collided with the soft pillow. He was putty in his beloved's hands and happily surrendered his body to him, trusting the other man completely. He knew he would enjoy every second, and if there ever came a moment where he didn't, Hua Cheng would probably notice before he even thought to say so.
A heartbeat later, the ghost king entered him again, taking him hard and fast. Xie Lian's hands knotted in the pillow, and he arched his back even more, moving against the other man enthusiastically. He groaned, all pretence and decorum swept away by raw desire. Every time Hua Cheng's hips snapped into his, a sound that would have made any earlier version of himself run and hide escaped him, and he didn't even try to hold it in. It was empowering, knowing that his partner drank every one of them in, knowing that his ears were the only ones that would ever hear them, his eye the only one that would ever see him like that.
With Xie Lian relaxing so much into the onslaught, his hips gradually gave a little under each thrust, until Hua Cheng snorted above him. 'All right, like that then,' he said. Supporting himself with his arms, he pushed Xie Lian down fully till he lay flat on his stomach and adjusted the position of his legs to straddle him. 'That's a very fine view, too,' he said. 'Hmm, and tight. You take it so well, gege.'
He couldn't answer. He also couldn't move a lot like this, not with Hua Cheng pretty much sitting on him, hands now spreading his cheeks to see better. 'Let me hear you,' the ghost king panted, and Xie Lian laughed as he turned his head to the side so his gasps and moans weren't swallowed by the pillow.
'You like it, don't you,' he managed to say, 'when I sing your praises that way.'
'Insolent,' Hua Cheng answered, and he grabbed one of his butt cheeks to squeeze and jiggle it, but there was laughter on his face and in his voice. He leaned down to kiss Xie Lian. 'I'm close, Your Highness. If you want me to hold out, we need a different position. This is a little too good.'
'Keep going,' Xie Lian said. 'Fuck me hard, San Lang, I'm right with you.' Even now he didn't often use such language, but he knew full well what it did.
Heat blazed in Hua Cheng's expression, and he pulled Xie Lian's head back by the hair for another rough kiss as he moved inside him with unrestrained passion. He let go in favour of wrapping his arm around his husband's chest, using his other hand to encircle both of his wrists in a firm grasp.
Now Xie Lian was truly immobilised by Hua Cheng's full weight, leaving him at the ghost king's mercy. Theoretically at least, because they both knew he could dislodge him in a blink if he chose to. Teeth dug at the base of his neck before Hua Cheng's tongue soothed the skin again. Xie Lian's eyes squeezed shut, and he gasped his husband's name at each thrust until even that was beyond his capabilities. His whole body spasmed and didn't seem able to stop as he came with an inarticulate shout.
Less than a heartbeat later, Hua Cheng's panting stuttered to a halt, and he spilled inside him, driving deeply into him with a desperate, 'Gege, gege, my gege.'
It took a little for them to find back to their senses. Eventually, Hua Cheng slid off him and pulled him close, nuzzling the top of his head. 'I hate to say this right now, but we have a visitor. There was a commotion earlier, but I believe you didn't notice.'
'No, I missed that,' Xie Lian admitted mildly chagrined. He was normally quite perceptive. Heat crawled into his face at the thought that some stranger had made it close enough for Hua Cheng to take note.
'No-one heard us, Your Highness,' the other man said gently. 'You know no sound makes it out of this room.'
He did know that. Technically. 'And apparently, that's a good thing, too.'
'And no-one can come in if I don't allow it. Only I saw and heard you.'
'There is nothing about me that I would hide from you.' It was absolutely true, and while Hua Cheng knew this already, the admission made the ghost smile. 'Should we see who it is?'
'I'll go,' Hua Cheng said. 'You stay. I'll probably be back before you catch your breath. If I'm not … well, then maybe it was more interesting than I'm expecting.'
Hua Cheng was not back when Xie Lian had caught his breath, so he cleaned himself and the bed up properly, dressed, and made sure he didn't look like someone who had just been thoroughly fucked into the mattress. When he joined him a little later, he found him in conversation with an unfamiliar ghost. Their visitor was short and thin with huge black eyes that gave him a constantly shocked expression. Hua Cheng looked first at Xie Lian, then at the empty seat next to him.
As he approached, their guest faltered and fell silent. 'Anything you can say to me, you can say to His Highness,' the ghost king told him at once. There was a hint of irritation in Hua Cheng's voice, and Xie Lian smiled.
'That's all right, I can …'
'Please join us. It sounds like I'd ask your advice later anyway.'
With an apologetic look at the slightly vexed ghost, Xie Lian sat next to his husband. 'Can we help you?' he asked, hoping to appear non-threatening.
'Apparently,' Hua Cheng said in a bored tone, 'someone is harassing him.'
Xie Lian was going to ask how you even harassed a ghost but thought better of it. There were ways. 'What do we know about the harasser? Name, gender, origin? Rank, perhaps?'
'None of those.' Hua Cheng had his hands folded in his neck, leaning backwards. 'As for the rank, well. Which one would you say it takes to harass a wrath?'
Xie Lian blinked at the innocuous creature that had sought them out. It didn't look like a wrath. To be honest, it didn't even look like a fierce. 'Another wrath, I'd say.' Mostly because the two supremes that were still around wouldn't bother. If they had issues with someone, they'd just threaten them into submission or get rid of them.
Hua Cheng's lips twitched minutely. 'A ghost of any rank can become a nuisance, but if we err on the side of caution, we assume it's a wrath. Thing is, I'm getting tired of this. I have much better plans for today. What seems to be the problem and why bring it to me?'
'I told you, that ghost or … creature is hounding me,' their visitor said eventually. 'Every day. He – or she, or it or whatever. It's not strong enough to hurt me, but for a while now it has been constantly on my ass. Sorry, Your Highness. On my …'
'It's all right,' Xie Lian said mildly. 'How long exactly?'
'Over a year. It started with things breaking in my home on occasion, and now it's getting out of hand. Every day, sometimes several times a day, something's destroyed or someone's hurt. I can't just keep letting it happen. I … I'll pay for your help!'
Hua Cheng laughed. 'As if. And this is really pathetic. You are a ghost complaining about being haunted. Why shouldn't we tell you to take care of it yourself?'
For a moment the stranger narrowed his eyes, but he caught himself quickly. 'Yeah, well, it's not just me, either. It's another person in the Royal Capital, too, and that one is a mortal.'
'That same ghost is coming after you and a random mortal?'
'Yeah. She's a rich chick. No family to speak of but a servant of some sort. Inherited a lot from her father, who was a merchant.'
'San Lang, if there's a human involved, too, I'll at least try to look at it. Or ask around if some other official is already on that case.' Maybe someone had received a prayer. Then the thing would be taken care of.
'You do that,' Hua Cheng said. 'I'll squeeze more information out of this one, gege. I need to make him understand that I am not an idiot. Let me know if this takes longer.'
Xie Lian stood, and with a smile he leaned down to tilt Hua Cheng's face up for a farewell kiss. After the entire ordeal with the longevity lock, he had lost a lot of his shyness about doing this in front of people when he wanted to. 'Will do,' he said gently, and turned to walk away, letting his fingertips brush over his husband's cheek.
'Is there anything you need?'
The question was routine if Xie Lian had to hurry away somewhere and might forget to take care of his resources. 'I … think I'm good, San Lang, but I'll just try Ling Wen first anyway,' he answered, colour creeping into his cheeks before he fled. With his shackles broken but his cultivation method compromised, spiritual power was hit-and-miss a lot of the time.
He practised meditation and sobriety, and he had a few believers – plus one that was worth more than a whole town. Over time, the new ones would stop expecting him to uphold a vow of chastity, and with that view of him changing, he would get stronger. But at this time, followers weren't the source of most of what he had. That, of course, was that Hua Cheng passed some of his own power to him when they were intimate. This transfer was intentional on the ghost king's part. He had informed him that if he was the reason why he lost centuries of cultivation, he wanted to offer some reparation. Right now, Xie Lian was brimming with it and needed to take care not to set things on fire by accident. Which hadn't happened in at least two months.
Leaning against the door of the adjacent room, he placed two fingers on his temple. 'Ling Wen? Do you have a moment?'
'Your Highness, I was just about to contact you. There is … a situation.'
Xie Lian didn't want to get involved in a situation. He just wanted to ask if someone was taking care of a rogue ghost. 'Ling Wen, do you know about a ghost haunting people in the Royal Capital and is there anyone working on it?'
'Ghost? No. But … if you come here, you can ask around yourself. It … would be appreciated by everyone if you could stop by.'
That sounded suspiciously as if he was going to be hauled into politics. 'Can't you …'
'Your Highness, I can't,' she said, her tone rather stressed. 'The Lord Rain Master has requested your presence directly. She needs … We need you.'
With a sigh, Xie Lian terminated the connection to the civil god's communication array. Well. If the Rain Master asked for him, he could hardly deny her. Before Xie Lian could take a look at the situation that seemed inescapable now, the door banged open and Hua Cheng rushed at him. 'Good, you're still here. Are you going up?' he asked.
'Um, yes. I have to, apparently. I won't be long.'
'That's all right, but … could you bring back a healing potion?'
Every alarm bell in Xie Lian's head started ringing wildly. 'What? What for? Are you hurt? Did he attack you?' Even if he had, how could that little wrath be a threat for Hua Cheng?
'Not me.' The ghost king made a face. 'It's for our visitor.'
'He didn't look injured.'
'He's not, but apparently where he lives there's a patient in his care who won't survive the night without it.'
'Then that is very urgent.' Xie Lian produced the potion he kept on his person and passed it to Hua Cheng. 'Take this. I have no idea how long this will take, and I don't want him to lose his patient. I'll get a replacement in a minute anyway. Take it!' He tilted his head. 'Is that why he really came to you specifically? Because he knew you might have access through me?'
'That was my thought exactly. I suppose his whole story was true, but I believe his biggest worry is the person he's taking care of.'
'San Lang? Do we know him?' Xie Lian hadn't recognised the wrath at all, but there were more ghosts that knew him than vice versa.
For a moment Hua Cheng hesitated with his eyes turned to the room behind him. 'I'm not so sure any more,' he said in an undertone. 'Please come back soon, at least before you do anything. I have a feeling that we haven't even been told half of what he knows, and I'd rather you didn't rush into something nasty alone.'

((Updates are going to be posted weekly – roughly around 2100 CET on Friday. I have finished writing, have taken care of my beta's corrections, but I'd like to give every chapter another look through. There are one or two things I know I need to take care of, but a one-week interval should be plenty. I've also put this into a series already because I'm in the process of writing a sequel. Once it's finished, I'll probably post a scene from an early part to alert subscribers the moment I upload the prologue and the first chapter.))