Chapter Text
Yin Yu rarely thought about the cursed shackle around his wrist. After two centuries it had become a familiar part of his life, a reminder that he saw so often it had become easy to ignore and push out of mind when he was busy with eve. That was what he did. He covered the shackle, spent his day doing whatever he needed to do, and not even once did he think about his punishment until late in the evening when he went through the routines his sect had taught him long ago and the familiarity of movement let his mind wander in places where it should not go. Sometimes the memories took him too deep, but he had learnt to avoid things that hurt and so mostly he managed to pull himself back. The shackle was just part of him. Like his fear and guilt. Natural things that he had accepted.
It had not always been so. The first years after the banishment had been the worst. He had felt himself guilty, tormented and terrified, because he knew he had done something so horrible he did not know if he could live with that at all. He had waited for Quan Yizhen to appear at any moment and demand harder punishment. He had waited for death to come at any moment. He had waited to be finally free of all those hard decisions and the failures. He had just wanted to have peace, and sometimes the thought of that terrified him but at another moment it sounded tempting.
Then Jian Yu died. Yin Yu thought that was the way to find peace, but in his death Jian Yu turned into a resentful spirit. Yin Yu had learnt there was no peace and all he could have was a fate shared with his fallen sect brother. He had almost accepted that, but the same guilt that had kept him awake during nights and glancing over his shoulder during days now prevented him from succumbing to his fate. He had been a god and he was still a cultivator. The least he could do was to give Jian Yu peace and leave the world without resentful spirits tormenting innocent people.
He had found his way to the Ghost City and its infamous Gambler’s Den. Hua Cheng had welcomed him with an insincere smile and too many questions said in a knowing tone, which each got answered honestly because Yin Yu had nothing to hide anymore and neither did he care anymore. After their long discussion, Hua Cheng had given him an offer: a Lifetime of servitude for one resentful spirit to be taken care of. Yin Yu did not expect to live long so he had accepted the offer without hesitation and did not even mind that Hua Cheng dragged him along and demanded that he help with dispersing the poor spirit that had once been Jian Yu. If anything, Yin Yu only felt bad for Hua Cheng who had clearly made a very bad deal.
It turned out that at the end Hua Cheng had won. After two centuries of servitude Yin Yu was still alive and well, responding to the ghost king’s orders out of both his debt and gratitude. He had become the most loyal of Hua Cheng’s subjects and the most skillful too as there were nearly no tasks he wouldn’t be able to complete. He knew how to run the Ghost City, he could search for clues and complete research even of the most strangest topics, and he was one of the many symbols of Hua Cheng’s authority. The one who delivered both his words and his judgement.
Sometimes Yin Yu also thought that he was not getting paid enough to deal with everything the calamity put him through. Like this very morning.
“Good morning, chengzhu”, Yin Yu said politely and bowed first to the ghost king and then to Xie Lian who was being carried on Hua Cheng’s shoulder like the ghost had kidnapped him and was in process to carry him back to his lair, “good morning, dianxia.”
“Ah ha ha”, Xie Lian laughed, embarrassed that somebody had seen him in such a silly situation, although Yin Yu had unfortunately seen them like that so many times already that it shouldn’t matter anymore, “good morning, Yin Yu.” Yin Yu nodded, noting that the crown prince was wearing finer clothes that morning and the ghost king seemed to be in a very good mood. So it was one of those days, Yin Yu thought and quickly adjusted his schedule. He would have a busy day ahead of him. Probably even two busy days because sometimes the ghost and his god were not in a hurry to return for their time alone.
“Take care of the things”, Hua Cheng ordered without bothering to explain what that “things” meant. Yin Yu bowed again. He knew what the “things” were. The “things” meant everything. He had not delivered the day’s list of tasks for Hua Cheng yet, and it wouldn’t have mattered if he had delivered it since it was clear that the ghost king would not attend any of his duties that day. He knew that most of the things he had written down were things that he could present to Hua Cheng another day so he only needed to monitor those in case something escalated. The few tasks that were urgent would have been delegated to him anyway, so ghost king’s absence should not add too much to his work load after all. He might even have a moment to spare for rest and to work on his cultivation if the Ghost City’s inhabitants did not cause any problems. He did not dare to feel too hopeful about that. The ghosts very much enjoyed causing problems.
“San Lang, you forgot the thank you”, Yin Yu could hear the crown prince saying.
“Gege, there is no need to demand a thank you from Waning Moon Officer.”
“I meant you should thank him…” Xie Lian said and then added in a louder voice, because Hua Cheng was only laughing, “thank you for the hard work, Yin Yu!”
“You are welcome”, Yin Yu muttered, flinching when his voice sounded too monotone. He still did not make a second attempt. That would have been awkward and he doubted he could have sounded any better. The monotonous voice had been his shield for so long just like the mask that pretended others from seeing his face and kept his identity secret. It came automatically.
Maybe the day wouldn’t be so bad after all, he thought when he made his way to the first task. It would be nice if Hua Cheng could warn him before he was left alone to take care of… well, everything, but after all was this not his life now? He had promised a lifetime of service and the ghost king had made sure that lifetime was a long and good one. Yin Yu honestly had nothing to complain about.
What Yin Yu did not know was that right at that moment something very significant happened in Heaven. It was not the kind of significant event that would make people say things like “oh, something is going to happen!” or “see? We are about to witness history!”. No, it was actually a very small thing that merely served as a starting point for an event that eventually would break down the walls Yin Yu had built around himself and force him to face his past.
It would also give him a headache and make one certain martial god very happy.
That very significant, but barely noticeable thing started with a boot that flew across the room and barely missed Mu Qing’s head.
“General Quan Yizhen, please, do not throw boots at other heavenly officials”, Ling Wen said without raising her eyes from the scroll she was reading, “general Mu Qing, please, do not anger general Quan Yizhen.”
“I am not…!” Mu Qing crossed his arms and glared at others, feeling rightfully annoyed for being blamed on something he had not done, “I didn’t even do anything. I only said…” Ling Wen’s warning glance stopped him in the middle of the sentence. If Quan Yizhen was at the point that even an off-hand comment about Xie Lian’s banishment was enough to provoke him, it was for the best that those words were not repeated.
“I only have my boots”, Quan Yizhen said loudly, “what else can I throw?” For very obvious reasons, the martial god of the West was not allowed to have weapons on his person during the meetings. He was already dangerous enough with just his fists and some heavenly officials still had a nasty habit of amusing themselves by annoying Quan Yizhen and testing how far they could go before the god bounced at them. However, Mu Qing honestly has done nothing wrong. His comment had been completely innocent, if not delivered with a small hint of annoyance because he had grown tired of hearing about Xie Lian every single time they had a meeting. He had only noted dryly that the crown prince was probably affected by his long banishment because usually banished heavenly officials did not survive for long. He did not even realise his mistake before Quan Yizhen had screamed and thrown a boot at him.
“I am asking you to not throw anything”, Ling Wen said and sighed, resisting the urge to massage her temples because the martial gods would probably take that as a sign of weakness and become even more uncontrollable.
“Fine”, Quan Yizhen muttered after a moment of angry muttering and glaring. Pei Ming, who sometimes was a blessing in a very good disguise, leaned closer when he noticed Ling Wen’s painful expression.
“Quan Yizhen has been agitated and angry for days already”, he whispered, “do we have any missions to give him? Something straightforward he can solve with his fists. Preferably some demon or something that can keep him busy for a while… Why is he like this anyway?”
“His birthday was a while ago”, Ling Wen noted and guessed from Pei Ming’s expression that she did not need to explain more than that. Instead she picked up another scroll, but failed to find anything suitable from the list of missions she was going to give out to the heavenly officials. Everything she had was either too easy or demanded skills that Quan Yizhen did not possess. There were few bigger ones, but those either required more patience or a larger group of officials. If she gave him one of those missions, it would either become a tragedy or Ling Wen would have to send somebody to assist Quan Yizhen, who clearly did not appreciate being assisted right then.
“Maybe…”, Pei Ming muttered when Ling Wen shook her head and closed the scroll, “I know! We can send him to the Ghost City to gather information on dianxia.”
“We already tried that and it was a failure”, Ling Wen noted, “and I doubt Quan Yizhen would…”
“Oh, but we can use it as an excuse”, Pei Ming said with a grin of a man who thought he was being very clever, “once he gets to the Ghost City he will find things to beat up, have fun and not return until he has got enough exercise. I am sure he will be much more pleasant to work with after just a little tour to the Ghost City.”
“Or he might not return at all if Crimson Rain Sought Flower finds him”, Ling Wen said, but Pei Ming only laughed.
“The calamity is under control”, he said, “dianxia has defeated him. There is nothing to be afraid of. Quan Yizhen will have fun, there will be less ghosts tormenting mortals, and we can have some peace. It is a win for all.” Ling Wen was not as positive as Pei Ming apparently was. She could already see the disasters that could befall them if they let Quan Yizhen roam freely in the ghost realm. It could be taken as a declaration of war even!
Ling Wen sighed again, but Pei Ming seemed to not take a hint. Probably because she spent so much time sighing in his presence out of pure annoyance or maybe he just ignored it because it was not the kind of sigh he usually got from women. She could feel a push in her mind when one of her subordinates asked for attention. Hoping for something to distract her from the problems in her hands, she opened the array and was immediately disappointed.
“Could you repeat that?” she asked and the poor subordinate hesitated for a moment.
“The total amount is five million merits”, the subordinate repeated, “we… We were wondering, who should we write down as the… the… the…”
“Why do you bother me with such questions?” Ling Wen asked, “whoever caused the damage will pay. That is written on the rules. First page, fifth paragraph. Read it.”
“But…”, the poor subordinate said and cursed the bad luck that had affected the game the group of subordinates had played to find out who should sacrifice themselves and deliver the news to Ling Wen, “it is… It is the general of the West and…”
“He caused five million merits worth of damage?” Ling Wen asked sharply, “ why was I not informed of this earlier?” The real answer was that it had taken for a while for her subordinates to find the unlucky one to deliver the news, but they could not tell that to Ling Wen.
“Uh…”, the subordinate started and then decided to try the ancient tactic of if I ignore it maybe it will go away, “we… We can’t get him to sign this…”
“Just withdraw the amount from his account”, Ling Wen said and held back a sigh because she couldn’t afford sounding weak in front of her subordinates and there had honestly been already too much sighing for that day, “he is not going to notice that.” As Ling Wen very well knew, Quan Yizhen was not only a very wealthy god but also had zero care about his finances. He had never showed up when Ling Wen had invited him to a meeting about that and neither did he use his wealth for anything. So far that Ling Wen knew, Quan Yizhen did not care about his wealth or power and probably did not even know he had it.
Another boot flew across the room, accompanied by a loud crash when it hit a bookshelf and brought down quite many precious scrolls. Grimacing was not a professional expression, Ling Wen reminded herself and closed her eyes, keeping his face completely straight despite a deep worry for those precious scrolls. Some of them were very fragile too and she made a note to remind her subordinates to keep all the important documents away from the martial gods.
“You lunatic!” Feng Xin yelled, “I only asked you to give me that jade plate… Don’t throw that chair, you…!” Another loud crash interrupted Feng Xin and Ling Wen decided that she did not want to open her eyes.
“General Pei”, she said.
“At your service!”
“Could you be nice and send general Quan down to the ghost realm”, Ling Wen said, “preferably right away.”
Half of the day had passed without Yin Yu realising the doom that was creeping closer to him, and he was actually starting to enjoy the time he was having. He had spent the morning delegating tasks to the ghosts and a few mortals that worked for Hua Cheng, and then he had stayed at the Gambler’s Den for a moment to oversee the general situation before taking the month’s bookkeeping with him for a closer inspection. After he had dutifully checked all the numbers and seen that everything was like it should, he quickly finished a few requests Hua Cheng had left him last evening. It was mostly routine things so he did not need to think that too much. Once he had dropped the requested items to the right place and left finished reports on the ghost king’s desk, Yin Yu realised that he was done with everything and could have a moment for his cultivation before he would have to see that the evening staff knew what they had to do.
Yin Yu had free access to everywhere in the Ghost City, including all the rooms in Paradise Manor, but that was just a part of his responsibilities. He was expected to show up in some places only when called, and some places he needed to visit frequently on his own. Armory was a middle ground. He had some duties to attend there, but there were limitations too. For example, he was not allowed to touch the weapons placed on showcases or racks if not specifically asked to do so. However, Hua Cheng did not attempt to stop his officer from cultivating, in fact he even encouraged it because without martial training Yin Yu would soon become useless, so he had arranged some space for Yin Yu to train. His training courtyard was located near to his living quarters and it was of a smaller size, but decently big anyway and honestly more than enough for one person to use. He had a small collection of weapons he could select from, some other objects that were useful, and even a corner for meditation. He had done some changes and renovations too in order to create a place that was perfect for his cultivation.
He had barely started the familiar routine to prepare for meditation when a ghost ran into his small courtyard. That was not too abnormal, because after all Waning Moon Officer was Hua Cheng’s right hand and often easier to find than the city’s lord who had a tendency to disappear on whim at any moment. However, it was not that often that ghosts ran to him in clear panic.
“Lord Officer!” the ghost in a guard uniform yelled, “lord officer!” Yin Yu sighed inwardly and pulled his mask back on before facing the ghost.
“What is it?”
“Heavenly officials!” the ghost yelled and stopped to take a few deep breaths, because apparently the shock had been big enough to make her forget she was already dead and did not need to breathe.
“There are always heavenly officials”, Yin Yu said coldly. Not only did Xie Lian live in the Ghost City, many officials did visit for whatever kind of secret reasons they had. Yin Yu knew that well, because he had developed a great skill of being able to recognize heavenly officials from far and to avoid them.
“Yeah, but they are attacking!” the little guard ghost said, “it is a massacre!” Yin Yu frowned. He was sure that the ghost was exaggerating, as they often did, but a story like this was unusual anyway.
“How many?” he asked.
“Uh…”, the ghost had to think a moment before she could answer, “many!” In fact, there was only one, but it was understandable that a little ghost mistook the chaos as a product of a whole team of heavenly officials. She had not dared to go close enough to actually see the attackers or count them. In fact, she was delivering fourth hand information, brought to Waning Moon Officer by a chain of many ghosts who each had added something more to the story.
“I see”, Yin Yu muttered. He had three options. He could just ignore the situation and let it play out by itself. Honestly, that was a tempting option but he couldn’t fully assume that there wouldn’t be something actually serious going on even if an attack directly against Hua Cheng sounded just plain stupid. Yin Yu knew that some heavenly officials did not bother to think too much and Xie Lian’s rumored power of the ghost king might have caused something unexpected.
The second option was to contact Hua Cheng and ask directions. That would normally be the most safest way to deal with problems like that, because heavenly officials causing ruckus in the Ghost City would be counted as a personal attack on the ghost king. Hua Cheng also preferred to deal with the gods himself and Yin Yu preferred to not deal with them at all, so everything like this would be immediately handed over to the city’s lord himself. However, Hua Cheng was away with Xie Lian and Yin Yu knew very well that there was probably only one possible reason that would be counted as important enough to interrupt them right now. That reason would be anything that could be a threat to Xie Lian. The visiting heavenly officials might have come because of the flower-crowned martial god, but Yin Yu couldn’t deem the situation dire enough without witnessing it himself.
That left the third option: Yin Yu would have to go to see the chaos himself. It really wasn’t the best option, but not the worst either. After the two centuries of dealing with ghosts and carrying out Hua Cheng’s will, Yin Yu had quite good faith on his own skills and even if he had never been among the strongest of the martial gods and his banishment had weakened him, he was sure that he could drive away some heavenly officials down here in the Ghost realm where Heaven’s powers were at the most weakest.
“Lead the way”, he told the guard ghost.
In Pei Ming’s defense, it has to be said that his idea worked wonderfully. Only mere minutes after his arrival to the Ghost City, Quan Yizhen had caught the attention of several wraiths that were known for their problem-causing skills. Quan Yizhen, who was in a bad mood and did not bother with hiding his godly presence too well, had become an eyesore that annoyed the ghosts very much. So the trouble makers decided to teach this cocky god a lesson… Or so they thought. Quan Yizhen had shown them quickly that he had long ago passed the discipline levels. So, just like general Pei had said, Quan Yizhen did find things to beat up and he had fun too.
When the ghosts noticed that the cocky god was not an ordinary one, they did what the ghost thought was the best solution for situations like this: they started to team up against him. Surely the more they got on their side the easier the fight would become. They could beat up this stupid god!
When Yin Yu arrived, he was met with total chaos and several ghosts laying in the ground, nearly dispersed. He quickly noted that the situation seemed to be more serious than he had thought because the ghost, who usually moved away when he showed up, ignored him and kept fighting. He couldn’t even see any heavenly officials, but it was easy to assume that they were somewhere in the middle of all that mess. Yin Yu picked up a glass bottle hanging from his belt. It contained five silver butterflies and although he couldn’t fully command them, he could use them as a scare or messenger. Unfortunately the butterflies seemed to be addicted to Xie Lian so no matter how tightly Yin Yu closed the glass bottle, they often escaped and gathered around the god they adored. Yin Yu had been forced to face the amused ghost king many times just to ask for new butterflies because the old ones had abandoned him. It happened so often that it did not even feel awkward anymore.
Luckily this time the butterflies had not yet escaped so he could release them and watch how ghosts quickly lost their interest in fighting and ran away. Had Yin Yu known who would stand opposite him once all the ghosts had left, he would have never released butterflies. In fact, he would have never even left Paradise Manor.
Sunlight never reached the ghost realm, but thousands of lanterns illuminated the city with a tint of red. The fight had raised a dust that shimmered as it slowly fell back on the ground, and the only sound was the city’s hum around them and the wind playing with the paper lanterns and small wind chimes hanging from the roofs for good luck or just a pure irony. There, in the city of the ghosts where light only could create more shadows, Yin Yu saw a familiar face and his heart skipped a beat, although he did not notice that. He was too terrified.
Quan Yizhen stared at the masked man in front of him. First he was confused as all his opponents had disappeared so suddenly and so quickly. He was even disappointed, but when he saw the reason for the suddenly ended fight he forgot everything else. His eyes widened and for a moment he couldn’t understand anything, but actually that did not matter at all. Not being able to understand and having a chance to just accept everything without reservations was sometimes a blessing, after all.
Yin Yu cursed his bad luck and put all his faith on the mask that protected his identity. He had to get out. He had to get Quan Yizhen out. What was he doing there? Why… Had he finally…
Yin Yu didn’t dare to say anything at first in fear that Quan Yizhen would recognize his voice, but the silence between them was turning awkward and uncomfortable. Quan Yizhen seemed to be just as speechless because he did not make any attempt to say anything. That was not at all normal for him, but Yin Yu was busy panicking quietly and did not think how unusual it was for the usually noisy man being so utterly quiet and focused on just watching.
“Leave”, Yin Yu finally said, concealing his real voice as well as he could. Usually he had faith in his skills, after all his identity had been secret for centuries already, but nobody knew him better than Quan Yizhen. He could only hope for the best.
Barely had the last syllable left his lips when he turned away sharply, keeping his posture straight as he marched back to safety as quickly as he could without making it look like he was running away. For a moment he thought of himself as a prey. If he ran, he would be hunted. The fear made his heart run faster and sharpened his senses although he did not dare to look behind to see if Quan Yizhen had heeded the order and left.
Once he made it back to Paradise Manor, he finally stopped and leaned against a pillar in the room that Hua Cheng used as something that could probably be called a throne room. Yin Yu was breathing heavily, attempting to calm himself with familiar phrases he repeated quietly so fast they probably had no effect and the words started to blur together. Why had he come now? Had it taken two centuries for him to find Yin Yu? Was it… Was it time for Yin Yu to finally be punished for the last time?
He was so deep in shock that he did not even notice the arrival of the small guard ghost before she poked his arm.
“Lord officer?”
“What?” Yin Yu barked with the much harsher tone that he usually used, but the ghost did not seem to care or maybe she was just used to it because she didn't even flinch.
“What are we gonna do with the prisoner?” she asked instead and Yin Yu frowned.
“What prisoner?”
“The filthy god”, the ghost said like the question had been very stupid and Yin Yu should have known the answer, “he followed us so we took him as a prisoner. Would chengzhu like to eat him or…?” Yin Yu paled, but the ghost did not see that because of the mask.
“Get him out of here!”
“But he said he wants to…”
“Out!” Yin Yu yelled and finally the ghost showed a hint of a deeper respect. She shut up and backed away, keeping her gaze leveled to the ground as she slipped out the door. Yin Yu did not pay attention to her, because he was already busy with activating Paradise Manor’s defenses. Hua Cheng did not play with the security so the barriers he had created would be more than enough to keep Quan Yizhen away and save Yin Yu from the looming fate that had finally caught up with him. Maybe he was acting cowardly, but he just did not want to die.
He forgot to take into account the fact that Quan Yizhen was already inside the barriers. The ghosts had foolishly brought him in, breaking every single safety control while doing that, and there wasn’t really anything they could do to hold the god. Quan Yizhen had acted nicely for a moment, asking very politely to see the masked officer and even waited for the little guard ghost to alert Yin Yu. Unfortunately, Quan Yizhen was usually not a patient man so he could hold still only for so long and once the ghost returned to tell him that he should leave, he had had enough.
Yin Yu flinched when the door was kicked in and his greatest fear walked in. There had been a small chance for him. A very small chance that if he had just acted coldly and held his ground, he could have persuaded Quan Yizhen to leave and made him believe that he had been wrong. That the masked officer had nothing to do with Yin Yu and he had just assumed wrong because his still lingering grief had messed up his senses. Unfortunately, Yin Yu missed that chance. Instead of staying calm he panicked and let the fear take over, breaking every single teaching of control his sect had taught him and the years of learning how to hide himself and his emotions so deep nobody could ever see the true him.
Quan Yizhen said nothing. He marched closer and every step he took, Yin Yu would take two back. He should have called for Hua Cheng at that point, but he couldn’t mutter a word. Not even the smallest word and definitely not that horrifying password that had taken Yin Yu years to learn to say without embarrassing blush or cringe. He could only move away until his back hit the cold marble. He pressed against it, making a desperate attempt to slip inside the pure stone.
A hand reached for him.
The air hit his face when his mask was pulled away so strongly that the ribbons holding it in place snapped. The god and the banished god stared at each other, one terrified and one shocked.
“...Yi…”, Yin Yu said, not able to say more than the first syllable of his old sect brother’s name and even that sounded broken.
“Shixiong”, Quan Yizhen replied and it was like something unlocked in Yin Yu when he heard that word. It had been two centuries since he had last been called that and the last time it had been that same voice, calling out to him in pain he had caused. For a moment he forgot where he was and he could only listen to that voice calling out to him, calling him hundreds of times. Always him.
The shock was enough to break him out of his fear for a moment. He kicked Quan Yizhen, putting all his strength on that single hit, and then he ran.