Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 2

The heavenly earthquake shook walls and roofs, making tiles fall like rain on the streets and rattling buildings like children toys in unsteady hands. The ancient gold bell fell, centuries of ringing sliced in half by the heaven official that skillfully avoided being crushed under it, and one palace completely crumbled, leaving its owner washed over by anger.

A new ascension, it seemed. The lucky person, Ling Wen thought while making her way towards the source of that disaster, was already in debt by thousands of merits.

A small crowd gathered around, and Ling Wen made her way through it with a scroll carefully rolled in her hands. Truthfully, there was only one person that could become that unlucky soon after ascending, which in itself was a gift of nobility and luck.
She wasn't surprised when, as the light dissipated and the earth finally stopped shaking, in front of her eyes stood the Crown Prince of Xian Le.
The first man to ascend three times.

However, the sense of familiarity went away like smoke in the wind. For what she knew of him, Xie Lian was a scrap collector, a cultivator with strict morals always dressed in pristine white robes. Piles of documents she had on him, while a bit lacking in some places, told the story of a gentle and lonely man without gold in his pockets, living by the day, no riches in sight.
The man standing in front of her, however...
He was Xie Lian, of that she was perfectly aware. There was no way of confusing him with someone else, no one was like him. But he was enveloped in a rich, refined robe, as red as freshly spilled blood, far from the pure white of rough clothing she knew of. Under the robe she could make out exquisite silvery white sleeves, embroidered with butterfly motifs in silver thread – a sight that sent shivers down her spine, that of silver butterflies.
Around his neck, although hidden under the robes, she saw the thin chain of some sort of jewel. Sparing a glance for his hands, Ling Wen almost chocked on air when she saw a red string laced around one of his fingers.

Maybe following the same dreadful confusion, among all the heaven officials gathered around silence fell.

«Your Highness», Ling Wen finally spoke, clearing her throat. «Welcome back».

Xie Lian wanted to plant his face in his palms and yell all his frustration right then and there. But, since he never stopped being kind and polite, replied to the – rather shaky – welcome with a warm smile.
By the looks on everyone's face, not a single one of those officials expected to see him ascend again. And, if they expected it, no one could believe what they were seeing before them. Xie Lian almost regretted his choice to wear something other than his rough cultivator robes when he was in Ghost City. Hua Cheng loved seeing him wearing red, noble robes so much he started loving it as well, after a while; Xie Lian also loved the adorable sparkle of love shining on his husband's face, when he donned them. At least he was still wearing the white bandages around his neck, if only simply out of habit.
His cursed shackles, after all, were long gone. Hua Cheng infused so much spiritual energy into his body that they shattered and crumbled like dried flowers crushed in one's hand.

Nervous, he waved his arms in an attempt to cover the butterfly-embroidered sleeves from view; he saw the brief panicked look in Ling Wen's eyes, when she noticed the pattern, and did not want to cause an uproar. He already had troubles to sort out, probably.

«I hope I haven't caused too much damage?», he tentatively said, eyeing with a worried expression whatever he could see of the Heavenly Realm.

Ling Wen cleared her throat again. As the crowd of onlookers finally started to disperse, she noticed neither Shi QingXuan or Ming Yi walked away. They stayed there, with amused expressions on their faces – since when the Earth Master had an amused expression on his face? – and she forced herself to ignore the weird situation.
Maybe they knew the Crown Prince, it wouldn't have been too weird. After all, following the disastrous discovery about Shi Wudu and his unorthodox way of making sure his brother ascended, they spent quite a long time down among the mortals.
«Your Highness, your ascension caused quite the trouble», she told him, gesturing him to follow her for a brief walk. The two Masters followed suit, probably waiting for Xie Lian to be free of his problems, and she paid them no mind.