Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 19

Xie Lian mentally panicked for the entire way as he followed Pei Ming, having absolutely no idea about what was going to happen. Pei Ming saw through him like water, not perfectly but enough to catch the right understanding, and Xie Lian's heart wouldn't stop beating in fear and not-at-all positive anticipation. He could already feel his chest tighten, as if air couldn't reach and fill his lungs, feeling more and more uneasy with every single step.

RuoYe, pacifically hiding under one of his bracers, peeked out ever so slightly as if to check on its owner, like a worried little cat.

Right before Xie Lian found himself forced to stop walking and raise a hand to his chest, oppressed by the ever tightening hold around his lungs and throat, Pei Ming halted his movements; two fingers shot to his temple, and his face lost all color, turning as white as freshly washed sheets.

«General Pei...?».

The martial god moved his gaze to His Highness, conflicted, but another – more distressed – prayer resounded around his name when he did so. A large group of devotees from his territory suddenly started praying desperately to him, crowding his already long list of unanswered prayers and filling it to the brim. Their voices were scared, terrified even, and Pei Ming almost swayed on his feet when the amount of incense burned and offerings placed in his temple caught up with the prayers.

It was so much his head started throbbing, something that maybe only happened during the worst cases. In a split second, he had to decide whether or not his conversation with the Crown Prince was more important than answering his followers.

«We'll talk another day», he said through his teeth, not out of anger but out of pain.

In the blink of an eye, Pei Ming turned on his heels and went away, leaving behind a bewildered Xie Lian. Not knowing what to think, the god shrugged, picked himself up as best as he could, and started walking in the direction of his Palace. He could simply descend near Ghost City and make the rest of the journey on foot, but he wanted to be away from the heavens as fast as he could. He had no idea for how long Pei Ming was going to be busy.

"Gege, did he leave you alone?".

Xie Lian almost tripped in his steps upon hearing Hua Cheng's voice in his head so suddenly. A passing civil god spared him a laugh behind a pathetic excuse of a cough, but at least no one else on the street cared to look at him.

If anything, they avoided him even more, after what happened in the Great Martial Hall. Someone probably already spread gossip about Xie Lian being in cahoots with a Ghost King, or something even worse; or maybe, because no one was fleeing from him in fear, the gossip was just about the offence he brought on Pei Ming's shoulders and they simply didn't want to anger the martial god more.

Now even a single greeting came his way.

The tight feeling around his chest came back for a second, but was quickly washed away by the comforting presence of his husband in his communication array.

Speaking of...

"Was that your- San Lang, what did you do?!".

"Don't be worried, I merely provided the villagers of a big city a considerable scare. Enough to make them pray to their god".

"Did someone get hurt?".

Hua Cheng assured him that no, no one got hurt in the process, so Xie Lian took a sigh of relief. He informed his husband that he was coming home, and finally crossed the threshold of his Palace. The time of a heartbeat later, he rolled two dice and appeared straight into Hua Cheng's arms.