Work Text:
An important fact, to establish things.
Curbstomping Qi Rong was always personal.
It didn’t matter if Qi Rong had been keeping his head down or hadn’t bothered him in a while. Hua Cheng simply couldn’t resist beating this pathetic man into the ground. It was Qi Rong’s own fault- if he wanted Hua Cheng to stop bothering him, he should just disperse himself, or better yet, give Hua Cheng his ashes so that he could finally dispose of the talking trash.
However.
There were definitely times where the curbstomping was more personal than others. Where Qi Rong pulled some kind of senseless, brainless stunt that left Hua Cheng incandescent with rage and seething that the slaughter didn’t last longer.
Worst of all, though, was when Hua Cheng wanted to curbstomp Qi Rong, but couldn’t.
He didn’t think it was possible, but he’d learned something new today.
Something else he’d learned today:
Last night, some of Qi Rong’s minions had attacked a traveling caravan in the north. While the mortals had fought back, the ghosts had overwhelmed them and taken them hostage as food for their leader.
Among that number, it was said, was a white-robed, straw-hat-wearing cultivator who had fought valiantly to defend the caravan before somehow being defeated.
Hua Cheng had chased down a lot of pointless leads over the centuries, many of which were just as poorly substantiated as this one. And yet, when his informant supplied this information, his whole body grew cold.
This was the rare kind of lead that Hua Cheng didn’t want to find His Highness at the end of. The very idea of His Highness incapacitated and at the mercy of his merciless cannibal of a cousin? Unacceptable. Unbearable. Intolerable.
Cold, unbeating heart in his throat, Hua Cheng transported himself as close to Qi Rong’s current lair as he could with all possible haste. Once he was there, however, he paused. He’d beaten up Qi Rong plenty before, but he’d never had anything Hua Cheng wanted. Hua Cheng didn’t doubt his ability to protect His Highness given the opportunity, but he had no idea what he was walking into here. If His Highness was here, there was no way Qi Rong was leaving him alone. No- Hua Cheng had heard him spit enough vitriol towards His Highness over the years to know what sorts of things he would do to him given the chance. Make him kneel as a footrest, force human blood down his throat, whip his back down to the bone, cut off his fingers and toes to feed to rats, cut out his heart to eat before him-
This wasn’t a fight Hua Cheng was walking into. This was a hostage situation. No matter how badly Hua Cheng wanted to storm in there and rip Qi Rong apart, if His Highness was hurt in the crossfire, he’d never forgive himself. He had all the power in the world, but it meant nothing in the face of the man who may just have the one thing that truly mattered to him. He couldn't risk it.
So when Hua Cheng found himself in a forest clearing a short distance from the entrance to the latest dank cave Qi Rong had set himself up in, he didn’t go charging in.
No, actually, the first thing he did was almost step on some rat, or something.
Hua Cheng had just come out of the transportation spell, eye already on the trees surrounding him, scanning for threats in the darkness of the night, when he took a step forward and suddenly something very small and furry screeched at his feet.
Cool under fire, unflappable Ghost King Crimson Rain Sought Flower swore and nearly kicked the thing away from him, only restrained by the knowledge of how fucking undignified it would look.
...Not that his actual reaction was much more dignified. He’d refrained from pulling out E’ming, but a few butterflies had burst into existence as he recoiled and looked down at...
...Was that a fucking ferret?
A white ferret. Practically shining in the moonlight.
What the hell was a pet doing here? Did it belong to one of the caravan members who’d been captured last night? They were easily a shichen away from the road, but a whole day after the attack, it was entirely possible it had made its way this far.
The aforementioned pet flailed away from him, scurrying across the clearing before huddling against a tree and staring up at him, fur standing on end.
Brave little thing.
Despite his urgency, Hua Cheng crouched down, peering at the tiny beast. With his enhanced hearing, he could hear the faint growl radiating from the ferret’s chest.
“Were you one of their pets, or something?” he asked. Immediately, the growl cut off and the ferret perked up, tilting its head.
Whatever. Hua Cheng had far more important things to do than talk to animals. He straightened up again, and with one more glance at the furry creature, Hua Cheng began walking towards the entrance to Qi Rong’s den, ruminating on his plan of approach. Upon reaching his destination and seeing the singular green-flamed ghost guarding the entrance, a mirthless smile grew upon his face.
It was child’s play to circle around to the ghost’s flank. The work of a second to wrap an arm around their neck and press a hand to their mouth. A muffled cry was as far as they got before the press of a shining silver blade to their gut made them reconsider.
“Scream and you’ll wish I killed you,” Crimson Rain Sought Flower whispered with deadly intent. With a kick to the back of the knee, he sent the ghost sprawling to the ground. He pulled his hand away from the ghost’s mouth only for E’ming to come hover above it, threatening to descend at the first sign of a cry for help.
“Cri- Crimson Rain...” the ghost whimpered breathlessly, sweat beading across their forehead. “What- I haven’t done anything!”
Crimson Rain laughed.
“You expect me to believe that? Don’t you know that signing on with Qi Rong is reason enough?” Leaning over, he planted one of his boots firmly in the middle of the ghost’s chest. They wheezed, scrabbling at the boot frantically, but such a weak ghost couldn’t do shit. They weren’t even strong enough to break the silver chains adorning Hua Cheng’s boots.
“P-p-ple-ase,” the ghost croaked. Pathetic.
“Answer my questions, and I won’t hurt you.”
“What!? What do you want to know!?”
“You lackeys captured a caravan last night,” Crimson Rain murmured. A bush rustled nearby, and he cut himself off to glance at it. He was momentarily startled to see the white little face of that ferret peeking out from the leaves, although it recoiled when Hua Cheng looked at it.
Shaking himself, he turned his attention back to the unfortunate ghost beneath him. “In that caravan, was there a cultivator in white robes, wearing a straw hat?”
“I-I-I wasn't on the raid, I-”
Crimson Rain pressed his boot down harder. E'ming dropped a finger's width.
“I- I think so!” the ghost hurriedly wheezed out. “When the guys got back, they wouldn't shut up about this crazy cultivator, sure!”
“And what happened to him?”
“I don't know-”
“Tell me.”
“I don't! One of the others did something, I don't know, they were just all talking about the crazy snake demon that showed up!”
“A snake demon?”
“Y-yeah! They were saying that a-apparently some white snake demon or-or something started attacking everyone! It snapped a couple guys' necks! I don't know!”
A white snake demon?
Or...
If Hua Cheng’s heart still beat, it would be pounding now.
While he may have only seen it once, Hua Cheng knew His Highness carried a spiritual weapon of white silk upon him. It had been centuries since then, and it was entirely possible that it had been destroyed in the intervening years, but-!
Hua Cheng could count on one hand the number of leads he’d received concerning His Highness over the years that included sightings of that weapon, and every single one of those leads had proven true. He’d never gotten there in time, but not a single one of those leads had been a falsehood or case of mistaken identity. They’d all been His Highness.
So if there was a ‘white demon snake’ that showed up, then...
“What happened to it?” he asked urgently, fire blazing in his eye. E’ming dropped another finger’s width, hovering just barely above the ghost’s lips. “Tell me!”
“I-it ran off, I think! I-I don’t know, I swear I really don’t know!”
Crimson Rain snarled, pressing his boot down hard as he straightened up to his full height again. Relief poured off the ghost in tandem with the sweat and tears cascading down their face as they clearly assumed they were home free.
“E’ming,” Crimson Rain called. In a flash, the blade had sliced through the ghost’s robes, and with the flat of its blade kicked a small bag out from within.
“W-wait, what are you doing!?” the ghost cried, scrambling for the bag but unable to get past the floating blade. They could only watch as Crimson Rain Sought Flower bent over and picked the bag up. “You- you can’t! I helped! You said you wouldn’t hurt me if I helped you!”
Crimson Rain laughed, low and cruel.
“This won’t hurt,” he said, before using the supernaturally-sharpened nail of his thumb to split the bag open and spill its contents out into the air.
Without their ashes tethering them to the world, the ghost dissipated within moments. Hua Cheng watched impassively. Fool. If they didn’t want to get dispersed, they should have been more careful with their ashes.
...
Despite himself, a fissure of fear ran through Hua Cheng.
So. His Highness was likely here. He was in unknown condition, but was most certainly unable to fight. Without knowing more, Hua Cheng couldn’t bring himself to storm the cave and risk His Highness’s wellbeing.
Infiltration it was, then.
A faint squeak accompanied the transition of red to green across Hua Cheng’s robes, the bleeding of blue across his moonlight-pale skin. His eyepatch fell away into nothingness, revealing two pitch-black eyes. His nails sharpened into claws. Horns sprouted from his head. Within a moment, Hua Cheng stood wholly unrecognizable, looking quite convincingly like one of Qi Rong’s cheap lackeys, flickering ghost flame candle and all.
Having transformed himself, Hua Cheng patted himself down, trying to ignore how gross it felt to just look like one of Qi Rong’s minions. It was for a good reason, and that was what mattered. Get in the cave, find His Highness, kick ass, get out.
However, as he walked into the cave and past the entrance, some subtle noise inspired him to stop.
He turned. The ferret stood at the entrance to the cave, backlit by the light of the moon.
“What are you doing?” Hua Cheng asked the little ferret. Immediately, he felt a fool to address an animal like it could understand him. Yet, at his words the ferret bounded closer, claws skittering over the loose stone of the cave floor. When it reached Hua Cheng, it stopped and looked up at him.
“...You can’t come with me,” he said. It quietly dooked and walked past him, continuing down the tunnel for some ways before stopping and turning back to look at him again. What the hell... had this thing imprinted on him or something?
More likely, this thing was trying to get back to its owner, and was hitching a ride with Hua Cheng to get there. Despite himself and how little he wanted to deal with such a thing, he was a little impressed. What could he say- he had an appreciation for bravery and loyalty. If only humans could show such fidelity as this scrappy little thing.
“Stop,” he still said, because the scattering of pebbles was going to give him away. The ferret chittered and continued on its way.
In a few long steps, Hua Cheng had caught up with the ferret and grabbed it with one hand, gritting his teeth at the quiet squeal the furry thing let out.
“Shh,” he hissed at it, holding it up to his face. The ferret squirmed in his grasp, staring at Hua Cheng with its beady little eyes. “You are not ruining this for me,” he said. “I don’t care who you’re looking for, if you give us away and His Highness gets hurt, I’m eating you for dinner. Got it?”
Once again, Hua Cheng felt silly speaking to a ferret like it knew what he was saying. Yet, as he finished speaking, the ferret fell entirely limp. Its little head twitched like it was looking at Hua Cheng in search of something. After a moment, its head even ducked briefly, like it really did understand Hua Cheng and was nodding in agreement.
That was absurd, though. Still, the little beast stayed silent and lax, even when Hua Cheng experimentally shook it. Its noodly little body swung back and forth without resistance.
Hm. Maybe this thing would be useful, actually. He had an idea.
Hua Cheng continued down the tunnel, dropping his hand but not dropping the ferret it held. It squirmed briefly, but quickly relaxed again, letting Hua Cheng hold it like a limp noodle without protest.
“Hey,” he called to the first lackey he came across. “Where’d we put the meat?”
“Why do you wanna know?” the minion called back, crossing his arms. “You’re not looking to eat, are you? You know Green Lantern won’t like that.”
Crimson Rain let a cruel grin grow on his face.
“No,” he said, holding up the ferret. “I’ve got food already. Found it outside, I think it’s the pet of one of the new meat.” He laughed. “How’d you think they’d like it if I ate it in front of them?”
The ferret hissed, wiggling momentarily.
The lackey, however, laughed, glee spreading across his face. “That’s awful,” said the scumbag. “The meat’s in the tunnel off to the left. Now get that thing away, it looks freaky as fuck just hanging there like that.”
Not as freaky as your disgusting face, Hua Cheng thought vitriolically. He kept the smile up though, only dropping it to scowl once he passed the walking trash.
In his grasp, the ferret wiggled again, chirping quietly.
“Shh,” he hissed, shaking it lightly. “If you blow this, I will eat you,” he reminded it. The ferret opened its mouth, but made no sound. Hua Cheng narrowed his eyes.
Cheeky. But it was helpful, so Hua Cheng simply glared at it for a moment longer before continuing on their way. No other lackeys showed up in the tunnels until he actually reached the cave Qi Rong’s prisoners were being kept in, and the two there had zero problem letting him in once he explained his ‘intent’ again.
However-
Shit.
His Highness wasn’t here. Fuck.
He hadn't liked the odds, but he'd been hoping Qi Rong had yet to learn of just who he'd captured. But if His Highness was missing, then...
Desperately, Hua Cheng ran his eyes over the collected scared, dirty faces before him. None of them looked like His Highness in the slightest.
Was he too late? Was Qi Rong keeping him separate from the rest?
Behind him, one of the guards opened his mouth, probably about to goad the prisoners. He never got the chance. In a flash, Hua Cheng threw out his hand, and down fell two budaoweng dolls, clacking as they hit the ground. A couple of the humans gasped and huddled closer together, and all of them stared at him with wide, wary eyes.
In his grasp, the ferret wiggled. Hua Cheng let it drop, and it stumbled and bounded a few feet away. It had served its purpose- let it go back to its owner, now.
“There was a cultivator with your caravan,” he said. “White robes, straw hat. Where is he?”
“Why should we tell you?” said one man, either particularly brave or particularly stupid. Crimson Rain flicked his eyes to him, boring his eyes straight through him. The man swallowed.
“Do you want to live?” Crimson Rain asked, although he honestly didn’t want anyone to walk out of here alive if His Highness was hurt. “Then talk.”
Glances were exchanged.
“Why... why do you want to know about Xie-daozhang?”
Xie.
What Hua Cheng wanted to do was let the heady feeling of relief bring him to his knees. What he did instead was flick his wrist, summoning E’ming from its shrunken form.
“Talk,” he demanded, all patience gone from him. The ferret hissed, but he ignored it. “Where is he?”
“We- we don’t know, g-gongzi,” said an older man further back. “H-he was fighting the ghosts, and then one of them p-pulled something out, and there was this light, he was g-gone.”
Gone?
Murderous intent crashed down upon the people in the cave, but Hua Cheng barely noticed.
GONE?
He wasn’t dead.
He couldn’t be. There- there was no fucking way the person who wound up killing His Highness would be Qi Rong. No, not even Qi Rong- one of his minions. It had to be- some sort of teleportation object, or- an invisibility curse, or- or something.
His Highness was not dead.
Hua Cheng just. Didn’t know what he was. Where he was. What had been done to him.
But he knew how to find out.
Hua Cheng gave all the tired, dirty people in the cave a long, hard look. His fingers twitched, and E’ming vibrated with anticipation, red eye glaring.
His Highness had been hurt protecting these people.
His Highness would want the people saved.
A displeased snarl grew across Crimson Rain’s face, but when he gestured, E’ming swiftly, if reluctantly, cut the ropes tying the prisoners to each other.
“Take the tunnel to the right,” he said darkly, before turning and striding out the way he came. Something skittered behind him, but he didn’t turn to look. Outside, clouds began to gather, growing dark and heavy with the promise of rain. He practically stalked through the tunnels, bloodlust radiating an inescapable promise to every ghost he saw tonight. Not once did he look back at the tiny form racing to catch up.
When he hit the fork, he sent out a wave of butterflies to clear the right tunnel and took a left, bolting down the tunnel like hell itself was behind him. His disguise melted off of him like paint with every step, until Crimson Rain Sought Flower wore the one-eyed skin the world so feared. Every minion he saw didn’t even have the chance to shout- the moment they saw Crimson Rain, their heads had already been cut from their bodies by E’ming.
By the time he hit the cavern Qi Rong had set himself up in, he was moving nearly too fast to be seen. Qi Rong, sitting upon a trashy throne with his feet up on another one of those fucking kneeling statues, had only a moment to look up, eyes comically wide with someone’s calf dangling out of his mouth. The next, he gagged and spit out the leg as E’ming’s sharp blade slammed straight through his stomach into the stone behind him.
“F-fucker-!” the trash coughed out, bloody spittle flecking his lips. “You d-dog!” he glared at Hua Cheng, but wisely didn’t try to touch E’ming. “The f-fuck are you doing, bastard? Who pissed in your drink, huh?”
“Do I need a reason to ruin your day?” Crimson Rain Sought Flower said darkly. Behind him, silver butterflies made quick work of the lackeys present, who had been in the process of cutting down old bodies hanging from the ceiling.
Disgusting. Could he really not think of anything else to do?
“It’s not like you give anyone else the consideration,” he continued, tilting his head back to fix the green-clad ghost with a derisive stare. “Did you enjoy your minions bringing you new victims today? Since you can’t get any yourself,” he snorted. “I hope you don’t mind, I helped myself to them.”
He smiled toothily. His words sounded macabre, but after so many years Qi Rong knew what he actually meant.
“Hua Cheng, you dog!” Qi Rong spit, sword to the gut forgotten under the weight of Hua Cheng’s indolence. “You interfere with this ancestor’s meals? I hope your ashes are fed to pigs! I’ll make you regret this!”
He said this every time. Qi Rong in a nutshell- never an original thought.
“Please, even your minions can’t capture mortals without relying on tools,” Hua Cheng replied. “What the hell could someone as shit as you do to me? Are you using fancy spiritual weapons too, now? Mine’s still better.”
“What, you mean this?” Qi Rong said with a sly smile, lifting up an ornate bronze hand mirror resting at his side. How oddly... accommodating. Hua Cheng had been baiting him into revealing it, but this seemed too easy. He glanced at it, but immediately looked away when he felt the cursed energy radiating from the object reach out to him. Qi Rong scoffed, blood dripping from his mouth. “Can’t you even get cursed right, you half-blind dog?”
Ah. Of course. No wonder he was so helpful. The mirror must curse whoever looks into it- no, whoever meets their own eyes in the reflection. Hua Cheng had only felt the pull when his gaze moved from the animal carvings of the frame to the mirror itself. Of course, as a supreme, he was far too powerful to be affected anyway, but Qi Rong was the very summation of ‘throw shit until something sticks’.
“Like anything you do could lay a finger on me.”
“Eat shit!”
Hua Cheng laughed without a drop of amusement.
“Such wit,” he drawled. “Truly, I could never bet my ashes against you.”
Qi Rong spit at him. Of course, Hua Cheng was too far away to reach-
-but the kneeling statue of His Highness wasn’t. And when the Ghost King tracked the trajectory of the blood spit to His Highness’s carved stone hair, he saw red.
“The Green Calamity,” he growled, done playing. “King of copycats and cheap tricks.”
Radiating intent to kill, he swept forward, ready to rip both his sword and that mirror from Qi Rong. Yet furious as he was, perhaps he advertised his intent too clearly, for as he approached Qi Rong pulled back, as best he could, and held the bronze mirror as far away as possible.
“Y-you want it?” Qi Rong asked. Hua Cheng had a moment to feel alarmed, to think don’t you fucking DARE- before the bronze mirror abruptly warped and tore in Qi Rong’s grasp, falling apart under the weight of his caustic spiritual energy.
Qi Rong gave Hua Cheng a bloody smile.
“Oops,” he said sweetly, letting the remnants of the mirror fall to the ground with a clatter. Hua Cheng didn’t actually hear him over the ringing in his ears- he just watched his lips form the words.
Quickly realizing he’d finally pulled one over on Hua Cheng, Qi Rong began to laugh uproariously. He sounded like he’d been handed the keys to Ghost City, gleeful as he was. Then again, for someone so stupid as Qi Rong, the two events were probably about the same.
“HAHAHAHA! CRIMSON RAIN, YOU DOG, DID YOU NEED THAT? DID YOU WANT IT? T-THIS ANCESTOR SPITS UPON YOUR GRAVE! THIS- ancestor-...”
If he were smarter, he would have realized how unwise it was to make Crimson Rain Sought Flower mad.
No, not mad.
Furious.
Enraged.
Angrier than he'd been in his whole career as a supreme.
Especially when he was already pinned.
And as pure bloodlust and anger radiated off of the Ghost King looming before him, comprehension slowly dawned on his face.
Too little, too late.
“Yes, I did,” Crimson Rain whispered, his eye ablaze with dark fury. “How kind of you to destroy it.” With slow, deliberate action, he reached out and wrapped his hand around E’ming’s hilt.
He smiled.
It was not a happy smile.
“Let me return the favor.”
E’ming began to vibrate as Crimson Rain pumped spiritual energy down its length. Qi Rong, on the other hand, thrashed at the feeling of foreign, malicious spiritual energy filling his body.
Hua Cheng had spent centuries accumulating spiritual power, honing himself into the sharpest edge he could in the name of higher purpose. In comparison, all of Qi Rong’s efforts and power grabs were like playing in the dirt. And sure, using it like this was reckless, but Hua Cheng was both infuriated and inspired. A deadly combination.
Was a pitiful wrath supposed to be able to stand up to a supreme?
Beyond care, Qi Rong’s hands scrabbled uselessly at E’ming as his form began to distort. It simply couldn’t hold the power of a supreme. He wasn’t strong enough.
“You-” he wheezed out, genuine fear in his eyes. “You wouldn't. Don’t-”
But Crimson Rain didn’t care. This piece of trash, not worthy of his relation to His Highness in any way, had spent centuries nipping at the Ghost King’s heels, dressing up begging as posturing, pretending he was the top dog when he couldn’t even see he wasn’t worthy of rats. All that he could have and had put up with.
But this?
Actively sabotaging his efforts to locate His Highness after heavens knew what had happened to him?
This went beyond the pale.
Gritting his teeth, Crimson Rain continued pumping Qi Rong full of spiritual power, above and beyond what he ever could have dreamed of obtaining himself. The more he pushed through E’ming, the more the gutter trash’s frame shook and warped, crumbling under the strain of such overwhelming, foreign energy.
“You dog-!!” Qi Rong had the strength to spit out one more time, before he quite literally popped.
Disgusting.
Only a quickly thrown up shield of spiritual energy kept the viscera from splattering Hua Cheng. His head throbbed at the effort after burning through so much spiritual energy, but he didn’t care.
Had he actually just killed Qi Rong, or had this been another clone of his?
He didn’t much care. If it was a clone, Qi Rong had poured a lot of himself into it.
Hua Cheng stood there, heaving, for some time. His eye traced over the bloody remains of Qi Rong sightlessly, and his hands twitched. Eventually, he was roused by a soft “dook” at his feet, though he didn’t look at the thing sitting there. No. Unsteadily, Hua Cheng shifted in place, before slowly turning and crouching before Qi Rong’s footrest. The ferret danced aside to make way for him.
His Highness’s agonized face looked back at him, twisted and tearful. It wasn’t the most accurate likeness, but that was more from Qi Rong’s lack of skill than lack of passion. It was almost grotesque, the emotion that radiated from the crying face.
Hua Cheng stared at it for a moment. Usually, he’d be ballistic seeing one of these statues. And he was angry, yes. But he also felt empty, as he so often did at the end of an unsuccessful search. It wouldn’t last long, but it was hard to escape.
Gently, slowly, Hua Cheng raised one hand to cup the statue’s weeping face. His thumb swept over the stone likeness of His Highness as if to wipe away his tears. Of course, this wasn’t actually His Highness. There was no point in any of this.
Hua Cheng sighed quietly, before pulling forth a little trickle of spiritual energy and brushing the statue’s cheek again. This time, as his thumb passed over the stone, it left cracks behind, which quickly grew until the whole statue had crumbled into dust.
“...I’m sorry, Your Highness,” he said softly. “I’ll keep looking. I’ll find you, I promise.”
For a moment, all was silent.
“Dook?”
“...”
“Dook. Dook dook dook-”
Hua Cheng reached down without looking and shoved the ferret away. It rolled across the floor before bounding back to its feet and to Hua Cheng again.
“Dook! Dook dook,” the little beast practically barked at him. Hua Cheng deigned to glare at it, but when he did the ferret bounced away, paused, and then bounced back.
“Dook.”
Again- away and back.
“What,” Hua Cheng said, irritated to have his moment interrupted. The little white ferret scampered over, but it didn’t run away again this time. Instead, it reached out and wrapped its fuzzy little paws around Hua Cheng’s middle finger, shuffling back awkwardly with his hand in tow. When it lost its balance and fell backwards over itself, it got right back up and grabbed his finger again, tugging it along.
Hua Cheng bit back the instinct to push the ferret away, unhappy any living thing was so close to the promise string he kept tied around the base of that finger. Yet he pushed past it all to focus on what the ferret was doing.
...Did it want him to follow it?
Again, Hua Cheng restrained himself from pushing the creature away. What Hua Cheng should be doing is getting up and scouring the forest for signs of His Highness, going to the site of the attack to examine the scene, taking the shattered mirror back to Ghost City for analysis, something useful.
Yet, after all these years, in the wake of such devotion, could it really be said Hua Cheng was entirely sane?
For what if, he thought, recognizing the absurdity even as he thought it, this ferret knows something about His Highness? It was quite clear by this point that this ferret was not a normal one, but rather likely some sort of cultivating animal. Following Hua Cheng here, encouraging him to follow it, responding to his words, and now physically grabbing him to lead him somewhere? This creature was far too intelligent to be a simple pet.
Also, quite honestly, Hua Cheng had done more desperate things in his life than follow a ferret in hopes it would lead him to His Highness.
Not much, but some.
“...” Hua Cheng stood and stared down at the white ferret. It hopped in place before running away again, looking back after some distance.
I guess I’m doing this.
The ferret scrambled away as Hua Cheng began following back out of the cave system. For such a tiny thing, it moved quickly, yet Hua Cheng with his long legs was able to keep up fairly well.
As they approached the entrance to the cave, the little beast began to slow down, stopping and starting in fits. As Hua Cheng drew close, he saw its little nose was twitching wildly, and he realized it could smell the blood rain. When they reached the entrance of the cave, where some blood had pooled enough to drip down the tunnel path, it stopped entirely, creeping up to the blood and sniffing at it with suspicion.
Well. Hua Cheng wasn’t a fan of seeing white stained with blood. So he stepped up to the ferret and stooped over, scooping it up in one hand.
While it squeaked, he adjusted it to lay against the length of his forearm, letting it prop itself up in the palm of his hand. Once done, he summoned his umbrella, laying its folded paper body against his shoulder and neck in anticipation of the blood dripping from the trees outside.
“Direct me,” he murmured, stepping out into the moonlight and the glistening puddles of blood. The mortals he’d freed were long gone, and he spared little thought for if they’d escaped the blood rain before it struck. No, all of his focus was on the ferret in his hand, that looked around on little shifting paws before pointing its head the way Hua Cheng had first come from with a soft, “dook.”
Hua Cheng opened his umbrella and retraced his steps. Shortly, they came to the clearing Hua Cheng had initially encountered the ferret in, and he banished his umbrella again. With some nudging, the ferret convinced Hua Cheng to stand in the center of the clearing, before it began shifting restlessly, craning its head around in search of something.
“Dook?”
Hua Cheng furrowed his brows and looked at it. However, before he could ask any questions, the tiny thing opened its mouth and screamed. Unprepared for such volume, Hua Cheng flinched and bit back a curse, gritting his teeth.
Nothing happened. The little ferret shifted nervously, looking around the clearing, and then at the ground like it intended to jump.
Then, something moved behind Hua Cheng.
Quick as lightning and with a yelp from the ferret, he whirled around to catch what was shooting towards him. Firmly, he grasped it in hand, yet when he focused his eye upon it the deja vu that struck him was so strong that he nearly lost his grip.
A white silk bandage radiating a foul, evil aura. Speckled with dots of blood, it extended out of the darkness of the hollow of a large tree at the edge of the clearing.
“Dook dook!!”
Breathless, Hua Cheng allowed the bandage to slide from his grasp when it pulled, slipping free and recoiling warily. It then seemed to refocus on the ferret on Hua Cheng’s hand, for at the next “dook!” it swept in and curled the ferret up in its length, rapidly withdrawing and pulling the ferret back into the tree hollow with it.
Hey, hold on!
“Wait!” Hua Cheng said, stepping forward. What the hell was that? Quickly, he walked towards the tree and its hollow, but when he summoned a couple of butterflies to peer inside, his very being froze.
The white ferret poked its head out, nose twitching as it looked at the butterflies Hua Cheng had summoned. It leaned out of the hollow as much as it could to get close, and when one silver butterfly deigned to land on its head, it began dooking gleefully, stepping back inside the tree.
Beneath its feet shifted worn, coarse white robes, piled at the base of the hollow.
This... was...?
Slowly, Hua Cheng dragged his eye from the coarse robes to the little thing on top of them. The white ferret was wrapped up in the white silk bandage, which he realized was also partially wrapped around a tattered bamboo hat pressed against the back of the hollow. As he watched, the butterfly on the ferret’s head alighted for a moment, drifting to settle on top of the clothes itself. The ferret chirped and crouched down, little black eyes shining as it examined the spiritual insect.
This... was...!
“Your Highness?” Hua Cheng rasped in disbelief. Inside the tree, the ferret paused its examination and swiveled to look at the Ghost King. It shuffled forward, placing its front paws on the lip of the hollow once more. Then-
It nodded.
He nodded.
Involuntarily, he gasped. His head spun. He felt faint.
He-
It was over?
His search was done?
Just- just like that, after convincing himself His Highness was long gone- he’d been here? Right at Hua Cheng’s side? The whole time?
“Your Highness,” he gasped. “What- what happened?”
Which was, to be fair, a very stupid question. Obviously the mirror that minion of Qi Rong’s had used had somehow cursed him with the form of a ferret, and obviously His Highness could tell him nothing because he was, as established, a ferret, with no capability to speak. However, Hua Cheng was not performing to his finest right now.
“Your Highness, this one is-” no, keep introductions and explanations for once His Highness could respond. “Your Highness is cursed? Would you allow me to examine you?”
He said this, but it wasn’t until His Highness cautiously crept forward, leaning out of the tree hollow, that he raised his hands for His Highness to step onto.
I’m holding my god, part of him thought hysterically. E’ming began to vibrate at his side, but with his hands full (of His Highness!!) he couldn’t hit it. It was a very weird feeling.
“E’ming!” he still snapped, and that disobedient, bratty blade for once listened and quieted down, although he could still feel its subtle vibrations against his leg. It was good enough for now.
Sitting in his hands, His Highness stared up at Hua Cheng, seemingly without distrust or impatience. Despite this, nerves crawled up the inside of the Ghost King’s ribcage, and his heart would surely have been pounding if only it beat at all.
“...Your Highness, would you move aside?” Hua Cheng asked tentatively, gradually lowering one hand to indicate he needed it free. Once His Highness had adjusted, he slowly raised his newly-freed hand to his cursed, adorable, furry little body, gently pressing his fingers to one of his fuzzy forearms to examine His Highness’s spiritual pathways.
Ah.
“I see it,” Hua Cheng murmured, feeling out the curse twisting His Highness into this form. It looked intimidating, spanning the whole of his body, but it actually wasn’t very complicated. It was a layer of cursed energy that had wrapped itself around His Highness like a net- difficult to remove without the proper tools, but with them... “Your Highness, I should be able to remove this easily. Will you let me?”
God, please don’t say no. Hua Cheng really didn’t know what he would do in that case.
Hm. He should carve a statue of this form, to commemorate the occasion.
His Highness nodded his elegant little head, and Hua Cheng snapped back to attention, pushing aside all other thoughts. Focus on the now- don’t get distracted!
“Alright,” Hua Cheng said quietly, crouching to let His Highness settle onto the grass. “This may feel strange, Your Highness, but I’m going to pull the curse off of you. It shouldn’t hurt, but cry out if you need to.”
“Dook?” His Highness cutely chirped, allowing Hua Cheng to maneuver his body into a more convenient position, held between the Ghost King’s hands. Carefully, Hua Cheng fed a small amount of spiritual energy into His Highness’s body, and slowly took hold of the curse imposed upon him. Then, in one swift move, he flared his spiritual energy and tore the curse right off of His Highness!
His Highness made no sound, but his form was tense, and Hua Cheng knew it had to be uncomfortable, like a layer of skin was suddenly peeled away from his body. It was over quickly, though, and soon His Highness’s shape was twisting, growing, regaining its full human splendor. Breathless, Hua Cheng couldn’t help raking his eyes over His Highness’s returning form. Beautiful.
Beautiful, glorious, and-
Very, very naked!
Hua Cheng’s eye slammed shut to the melodious tune of His Highness’s sheepish, embarrassed laughter. Eye still closed, he straightened, turned, and took a few steps to give His Highness privacy. The rustling of fabric and its slide over bare skin taunted him like little else could.
“...Thank you,” came the dulcet tones of god, awkward yet genuine. “I’m, ah- I’m decent, now.”
Hua Cheng nodded stiffly, eye still closed. It was silly, absurd- now that he was here, he was suddenly afraid that when he opened his eye, he’d be alone. But he wasn’t willing to waste a single second with His Highness, so after only a moment he opened his eye and turned.
Oh, god, you’re beautiful.
Hair hastily tied back, clothes askew and splattered with stray drops of blood, His Highness, The Crown Prince of Xianle, Xie Lian was the single most gorgeous, radiant sight Hua Cheng had ever laid his eye upon. His skin shone under the light of the moon, kissed by its gentle rays, and his cheeks were faintly flushed from the remnants of embarrassment.
“...I’m Xie Lian,” His Highness said, “but... you already knew that.”
It wasn’t a question. Hua Cheng still nodded anyway.
“I did,” he said hoarsely. “It is- an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”
“Is it?” His Highness asked, which sent momentary alarm through him. “Our first meeting, I mean. You seemed to... have been looking for me, and yet... I must admit I don’t remember meeting you before.”
...Shit.
Shit! Right! His Highness was there every time he questioned someone about his whereabouts!
The alarm which had momentarily banked came flaring back to life as Hua Cheng was assaulted by visions of His Highness turning away from him, disgusted by the effort Hua Cheng had put in to find him.
“I... I was...”
“Is it bad?” His Highness suddenly cut in. When he blinked at him in question, he expanded, “the reason you were looking for me. Is it bad? Do I owe you some sort of debt, or something?”
“No!” Hua Cheng blurted out. “No debt. Actually, this one- I’m the one who owes you a debt. A good one,” he clarified, feeling all of thirteen again, bumbling and unprepared to speak to his god. His Highness stared at him briefly, before smiling and laughing lightly. Music to his ears.
“Alright,” he said easily. “And you are, then?”
...
“Has His Highness not heard of me?” Hua Cheng asked. He had to reassure himself it was a sensible question. Of course His Highness didn’t need to know of him, but- he was rather well known by this point.
His Highness’s cheeks pinked a little. Adorable.
“Ah, should I have?” he asked. “It’s quite clear you’re a very powerful ghost, but I must apologize, I really don’t pay attention to the workings of the heavens nor the Ghost Realm. I have enough on my plate as it is.”
“That’s very sensible,” Hua Cheng complimented earnestly. God knew his life would be easier if he could just ignore the Heavenly Realm too. “I am a supreme-level ghost. I rule over Ghost City, if you've heard of it. People have a few different names for me, but I would prefer if you called me ‘San Lang’.”
“San Lang...” His Highness echoed. He said it out of surprise, but it felt like a caress directly to his ears. “I have heard of Ghost City! I’ve always been curious, and I’ve meant to visit, but I’ve never been able to find my way.”
“Well, would His Highness like to see it now?” Hua Cheng asked, seeing his chance and seizing it like a drowning man. “I would be happy to host you.”
“Ah, um, San Lang... I’m not sure you should offer that. My luck is quite bad. I wouldn’t want to cause you any misfortune. I could destroy your house, even. Mine never last very long.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’ve got excellent luck,” Hua Cheng said, pulling out a pair of dice and tossing them in his hand, displaying their double sixes without hesitation. “And a house in need of remodeling. Shall we?”
Charisma turned up to the max, Hua Cheng grinned when His Highness, after a moment’s deliberation, hesitantly nodded.
“If San Lang is sure, I would be honored.”
“No, Your Highness,” Hua Cheng corrected him gently, tossing his dice over his shoulder. Heart as light as a feather, he smiled as he held a hand out to his god. “The honor is mine.”