Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 41

Since they were still on the outer edges of Mount Tong'lu, the group didn't run into any impressive characters. Most were nothing but frail weeds in a garden of blooming flowers, easy to uproot if they wanted to.

Xie Lian, however, told everyone there was no need to take on useless fights, so they simply went past them as much as they could. Even those few that were foolish enough to challenge them couldn't get a fight, scared away by BanYue's snakes.

It was for the best, really.

Fighting ghosts would probably benefit BanYue, but she already didn't feel the need to gravitate towards the Kiln, and she was already pretty powerful on her own.

In order to gain more power she would probably need to defeat some ghosts substantially stronger than those roaming around the outer perimeter. It was only a time loss, if they wanted to continue together.

«We're going to camp for the night as soon as we reach the second level of Mount Tong'lu», the Crown Prince said after a stretched out silence, the only sounds audible the crunching of leaves and branches under their feet and the occasional scream coming from ghosts and spirits. «It would be dangerous to continue with San Lang still like this».

He could protect him, but Mount Tong'lu was too dangerous for Hua Cheng if he kept his eyes shut and his conscience drifting. Even though it was literally impossible for him to completely dissipate, not until Xie Lian treasured his diamond ashes around his neck, the god didn't want to see him disappear.

«Your Highness, you... you're really close to the Ghost Realm», the former heavenly official commented. Pei Su had already been exiled when the news of Xie Lian being married to Crimson Rain Sought Flower turned the heavens upside down, so he received nothing but bits and pieces of information. Only when the Rain Master picked him up and offered him shelter he finally learned about what he couldn't discover on his own.

Xie Lian gave a faint smile, letting out an amused breath: «I already was, when we met», he confessed, trying not to laugh when he turned and saw Pei Su's dumbfounded expression. «I married San Lang before the BanYue War».

. . .

«Wait», BanYue spoke up, eyes darting between the god and the ghost in his arms. «Is that the reason why you called yourself Hua Xie?».

«Precisely».

The groan coming from right behind him made Xie Lian chuckle for a second, though bitterness took hold of him. He remembered how BanYue would do the same thing, in the past, when she was told something unbelievable that turned out to be true. Xie Lian loved to sit beside the fire with her and tell her a multitude of stories that didn't seem real, if only to get amused at the sheer disbelief she would show when proven otherwise.

Fond memories, all of them.

Xie Lian looked down, still worried, staring at the Ghost King resting in his arms. Now more than ever, Xie Lian wished his husband could have met BanYue when she was still alive, or Pei Su when he still was a young boy. So many things changed since then... it was almost impossible to believe.

As they walked, the woods were growing sparse and the roads wider, traces of habitation coming up every now and then. Xie Lian recalled something about Mount Tong'lu having been a kingdom of its own, in a past older than he could imagine, so he didn't question why there were houses there. Hua Cheng spent some time telling him some history, while they walked towards the place, so he wasn't completely ignorant when it came to it.

He eyed a broken-down, blackened little house on the side of the road and nodded towards it: «Let's camp there», he decided, already walking in that direction. «Pei Su needs to rest, and we can wait for San Lang to recover without moving him around too much».