Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 20

Still sleepy, wanting nothing more than to burrow more under warm covers, Xie Lian groaned his displeasure when Hua Cheng coaxed him awake with a bunch of insistent kisses. He wasn't exactly the type to sleep in, in fact the one who complained when it was time to get up was his husband, some mornings were simply too good for sleeping in.

That particular one, with Xie Lian tangled in a comfortable embrace, skin to skin after a thorough make out session that quickly developed into something more, was perfect enough to wish they didn't have important things to do.

And, unfortunately for both of them, those important things involved having to deal with the heavens.

Again.

And it wasn't an easy issue to sort out.

Because of his long absence from the Heavenly Capital, He Xuan received a sudden call from Shi QingXuan, telling him the Upper Court was starting to grow worried. Since the ghost didn't want to involve the Wind Master in anything that could prove itself dangerous, he asked him to feign ignorance when it came to his whereabouts; however, since he accidentally didn't warn the Upper Court he was going to be missing for a decent amount of time, and since Shi QingXuan couldn't say anything either, panic started to creep between many officials.

After three weeks without hearing a single word from the Earth Master, and with the Wind Master not telling them anything useful, some officials started thinking it was time to either ask for Ling Wen's help, or present the issue to Jun Wu. To avoid any of those things happening, He Xuan dropped what he was doing with Hua Cheng – of course, Xie Lian had to promise Black Water his debt wasn't going to increase for that, while sternly looking at his husband – and deliberately lost himself in the underground tunnels that spread out below Ghost City.

From there, he sent out a dragon of fire, a spell that soared to the sky and lasted for two incense time. The spell for the Ascending Fire Dragon was a call for help, and not an ordinary one; to prevent harmful voices from spreading, He Xuan bit his pride down and resorted to a distress signal.

The spell required an immense amount of power, and if the casting wasn't careful the consequences could be a destroyed spiritual core. To justify his long absence without a word thrown out to someone, that last resort was the only solution He Xuan could think of.

It had been seven days since he sent out the signal. The night before, Shi QingXuan informed Xie Lian that he and Lang QianQiu had been assigned the mission to find and rescue Ming Yi.

«Should I come to the Den with you?», Xie Lian groggily asked his husband, hiding a yawn behind his palm. There were obvious red marks on Hua Cheng's pale skin, and if he wasn't so worried about the current situation, the god would have blushed at remembering how deeply he loved him that night.

Hua Cheng moved away the covers and stretched, not missing the staring gold eyes on him, and smiled; with all his staring, Xie Lian hammered into his brain the awareness that, maybe, he really wasn't that ugly. And if he tried to say the opposite, his beloved would either glare at him until he accepted defeat and admitted he wasn't ugly, or hug him and murmur soothing words that denied every single critique Hua Cheng had for himself.

«What if they see you? You already had to defend yourself once against their accusations», he said, frowning.

True, but... if something went wrong – especially with Lang QianQiu being in the picture – Xie Lian wanted to be there, if only to minimize the risk of someone getting injured by accident. Shi QingXuan was welcome to Ghost City, he could come and go however he pleased because of his friendship with Xie Lian, but not only Lang QianQiu was an intruder, he was also a problematic figure of Xie Lian's past and a not-so-patient official. That last bit was told to him by the Wind Master, right after informing him of the mission.