Three Gods One Ghost; Reverend Nowhere in Sight 2
"It dodged in to tamper with the array the moment we left Puqi Shrine?" Shi Qingxuan said, but immediately debunked his own theory, "No! It can't have."
Xie Lian said too, "That's impossible. We had already pushed the door open earlier, so even if it snuck in to meddle with things we should've still arrived at our original destination because the spell of the array was already initiated, so changing it wouldn't have done anything. So, it only had a split second time to do anything."
Which meant it was the brief moment after Ming Yi finished drawing the array, Shi Qingxuan blew out the candles, and the entire Puqi Shrine fell into complete darkness.
However, that contradicted Xie Lian's own theory earlier. Shi Qingxuan said, "But earlier in the shrine there were clearly only the four of us."
In the tiny Puqi shrine, there were three heavenly officials and one ghost king; if there was anything extra would they not notice? And if it was someone amongst them meddling in the darkness, who's the one who was more likely to do it?
Shi Qingxuan couldn't help but steal a glance at Hua Cheng. Although he stopped himself immediately, Hua Cheng didn't miss that glimpse and smiled, "What's with that look? In my opinion, don't you think Lord Earth Master is the most suspicious one?"
Ming Yi's eyes also swept over. Hua Cheng added, "Instead of focusing on guessing who meddled after, what if the array he drew was wrong from the beginning?"
Ming Yi didn't rebuke, acknowledging nothing. Shi Qingxuan however, couldn't listen anymore, "Lord Hua, you stop right there, alright. I know the two of you have had a quarrel before in the past, but, Ming-xiong really isn't someone like that. I dragged him out here last minute, so he has no reason to meddle."
"You don't necessarily need a reason to do something." Hua Cheng said, "Lord Wind Master, you yourself are suspicious too."
"Huh?" Shi Qingxuan had never thought the tables would turn on him, and pointed at himself, "Who? ME?!"
"Yea. A thief crying thief is a common thing." Hua Cheng said, "Just why have you come? If you and your esteemed brother are truly scared of the Reverend of Empty Words, why were those bunches of rags put together? It's not a stretch to say that the two of you schemed and falsely led us here intentionally."
Just by looking at his expression one could tell that he was cheekily gabbing nonsense, but he looked so confident, so much so that almost anyone would start doubting too. Shi Qingxuan was almost shaken, "Am… am I that nonsensical?"
Hua Cheng chuckled, "Same logic. I'm not that nonsensical either."
However anyone hit him, he'd hit right back the same way. Xie Lian was still musing and waved his hand, "Alright, everyone stop. Nothing's been solved yet and we've already started doubting our own people."
Hua Cheng laughed out loud and stopped talking. However, his attitude was more than clear: he wouldn't help and he wouldn't cause trouble; he was purely there for fun.
There was no need to expect anything from him, and there wasn't any need to guard against him either. After humming for a moment, Xie Lian said, "Actually, there's another possibility, which is after Lord Earth Master had drawn the array inside the shrine, there was already someone else outside drawing a stronger array on the door."
At the time, in order for Qi Rong who was outside the door not to hear, Shi Qingxuan casted a soundproof spell, sealing Puqi shrine. Relatively speaking, if anything was tampered with on the outside, it wouldn't be easily detected from the inside. Two spells of the same calibre colliding, the more powerful one would win. This 'power' didn't just depend on whether if the caster was stronger, it also depended on the material. At the time, Ming Yi used the aged cinnabar Xie Lian picked up while collecting junk that even other scrappers rejected. If someone had used fresh blood to 'suppress the array', of course it'd be stronger by a notch.
Shi Qingxuan immediately accepted that possibility. "Outside the shrine? Could it be the Green Ghost? Can he even do anything in that state?"
"I don't think so…" Xie Lian said.
Hua Cheng said flatly, "He can't even dream of moving in the next seven days. But, it wasn't just him outside the shrine."
He seemed to be implying something. Xie Lian said, "In any case, let's not panic first and hurt our own trust in each other."
After walking a few steps he added, "But that monster's words were really strange. Why did it say that this place will become Lord Wind Master's "nightmare you wish to never remember"? Are we going to run into anything here?"
Looking around, Shi Qingxuan's frowned slightly, "…Wait. Is this…"
He hadn't even finished when suddenly Ming Yi's eyes grew sharp, his hand flashing out and chopped right for the back of Shi Qingxuan's head. Xie Lian shouted, "LORD WIND MASTER WATCH YOUR BACK!"
PANG! Ming Yi's hand chop cracked a large rectangular object into two. That object came plunging down from above and was going straight for Shi Qingxuan's head. He leapt a few feet away, patting his heart, "That was close!" Then he looked down and his pupils shrank. Xie Lian approached to take a look and was also stunned. That object was an establishment plaque, blue based and golden letters with the giant words: "Temple of Wind and Water".
To split the establishment plaque of the palace of a heavenly official into two was a huge taboo. Ming Yi dropped his hand, his expression icy. Shi Qingxuan was stunned for a moment but immediately waved his sleeve, sweeping away the broken pieces of that plaque, speaking in a small voice, "Keep this a secret. No one say anything! Don't anyone speak of this. If my brother knew his plaque was cracked he'd go mad angry!"
Xie Lian turned around, speaking in disbelief, "This… is a Temple of Wind and Water?"
Indeed, the broken down house they ended up in was a Temple of Wind and Water.
The Water Master was the God of Wealth; no one detested money and the temples that worshipped him were always abundant in donations. To see it desecrated was practically as impossible as seeing a bundle of cash thrown out onto the streets, exposed to the elements without anyone picking it up. Shi Qingxuan rushed back into the hall anew, and the interior of the temple was full of cobwebs and layers of dust, desolate from neglect. He rummaged around and finally pulled out two pitiful divine statues from a pile of rubbish.
The divine statue of the Lady Wind Master was missing a leg and an arm, and the divine statue of the Lord Water Master was straight up decapitated. Those damages didn't look like they were from decay through the years either, but rather that someone had used something sharp to smash them, as if they were venting infinite hatred onto the statues. Those two divine statues were extremely realistic too, almost as if alive, so to see them lie on the ground with curved smiles on their faces in this state of unbearable abuse within this chilling temple was exceedingly uncomfortable.
Shi Qingxuan held a divine statue in each of his arms and wondered, "What is this hate? What is this grudge?"
Even if Xie Lian felt this was a sight filled with malevolence, in order to steady Shi Qingxuan's mind, he replied gently, "Lord Wind Master, steady yourself. As long as there are those who worship, there will be those who desecrate. It's a common sight in the world, no need to pay it any mind. This must be intentionally set up by that creature for the very purpose of fanning fear in your heart and absorb spiritual power from you."
Ming Yi however, was succinct in his words, "You good or not? If not, leave."
Shi Qingxuan wiped away the grime on the faces of those divine statues, gritted his teeth and gripped his Wind Master fan then rose to his feet abruptly, "I'M GOOD! Now I have to see just what that creature's made out of!"
The four exited that rundown Temple of Wind and Water and walked around that little town. It was a very quiet town, peaceful, not bustling but not behind the times either, nothing out of the ordinary. Rather, the most bizarre was them. To be thrown into a crowd of mortals, their appearances, look and style were all overly conspicuous. Thus, soon after, they ducked into a small alley and changed their attire.
Xie Lian was already dressed plainly so he didn't need to change, but the other three all changed completely from head to toe. On the side, Shi Qingxuan was having opinions on Ming Yi's new get up. Over here, Hua Cheng had changed into a set of refreshing black robes, his long hair neatly tied up with a white jade accessory, losing some sluggishness and instead giving him an air of youthful energy, looking like an extraordinarily handsome, talented and clever young disciple of some renown house.
He was still extremely conspicuous; an emperor really couldn't look like a beggar even if you force him to dress like one. Looking at him, Xie Lian couldn't help but remember the saying: "For men to look handsome they must dress in all black", and he said to himself that really was true. Coming to, he looked over to Lords Wind and Earth Masters and remembered something, and he whispered, "San Lang, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."
Hua Cheng fixed his sleeves and said, "What is it?"
Xie Lian clenched a hand into a fist and pressed it against his lips, clearing his throat lightly, then tried to sound extremely casual, "…What's the verbal password to your private communication array?"
In order to communicate and pass on messages directly through a private spiritual array, one must be able to receive the other party's verbal password. For example, to reach Shi Qingxuan, one must loudly recite four verses of a doggerel mentally: "Lord Wind Master is boundlessly talented" "Lord Wind Master is funny and carefree" "Lord Wind Master is kind and righteous" "Lord Wind Master is aged sweet sixteen". Of course, usually heavenly officials wouldn't setup verbal passwords that were so painful to say and were much more simple.
The verbal passwords of heavenly officials in the Upper Court weren't given away so freely, and only to those who were close. As a Supreme Ghost King, Hua Cheng was naturally the same. The two might not have known each other for long, but their relationship could be said to be fairly good. That they haven't exchanged passwords yet was a little strange. But looking back, every time there was anything, they'd meet directly, so whether if the passwords were exchanged didn't seem to be a big deal.
Xie Lian had never asked for the verbal password of any heavenly official because if anything should happen he'd just call out within the spiritual communication array, and if he needed to speak to anyone privately, he could still ask for them in the array. This was also the first time he asked for someone's private communication first and didn't have much prior experience so he was a little worried he might be too forward. Seeing that Hua Cheng's eyes were twinkling but didn't move, Xie Lian felt a little awkward and hurriedly added, "Is it inconvenient? Don't worry if it is, don't mind me, I was just asking casually. Because I wanted to discuss something privately later so I was being presumptuous. I can also try and talk to you in secret…"
Hua Cheng cut him off, "It's not inconvenient. I'm really happy."
Xie Lian was taken aback, "Huh?"
Hua Cheng sighed and said, "I'm really happy that gege finally asked me. Because you never brought it up, I thought it was inconvenient for you, that you didn't want to exchange passwords with other people, so I never asked. Now that I've finally had gege ask, how can you say it was only a "casual" request?"
Xie Lian let out a breath of relief and immediately brightened up, grabbing onto Hua Cheng's hand, "So we both had the same concern! It was my bad earlier, those were the casual words, I apologize to San Lang. So, your verbal password is?"
Hua Cheng's eyes shimmered and he leaned over slightly, "This is my verbal password, gege, listen closely, I'm only going to say it once." Then he whispered a phrase.
After listening, Xie Lian's eyes widened, "…What? Is that really it? San Lang, you didn't make a mistake?"
Hua Cheng looked at ease and replied, "Yes, that's it. If gege doesn't believe me why not give it a go?"
Xie Lian didn't dare. "Then… then doesn't that mean every time someone tries to reach you they have to recite that phrase three times mentally? W… Wouldn't that be very embarrassing?"
Hua Cheng snickered, "It's because I don't want anyone to reach me that I purposely set the password to that phrase. Let them know to back off. But, if it's gege who's trying to reach me, I'm always free."
Xie Lian was feeling a little incredulous and thought, 'That's really mean…'
He hesitated, wanting to initiate the private communication array, but just couldn't recite those words no matter what. Even mentally it was difficult. Seeing Xie Lian cover half of his face with his hand, turning his head away but still couldn't make up his mind, Hua Cheng finally had enough fun and said, "Alright. Fine. If gege daren't recite it, then I'll be the one to reach you. What's your verbal password?"
Xie Lian turned his head back around and said, "Just recite the Ethics Sutra a thousand times."
"…"
Hua Cheng cocked an eyebrow. A moment later, Xie Lian heard his voice next to his ear, "It's the phrase 'Just recite the Ethics Sutra a thousand times', right?"
The two were clearly standing facing each other but their lips were closed unspeaking, communicating with their eyes, whispering secrets to one another using a voice others couldn't hear, having a good time. Xie Lian replied using the private communication array too, "That's right. I can't believe you weren't fooled."
Hua Cheng blinked and continued to reply, "Hahahaha, I was almost fooled. It's too good."
Xie Lian blinked too, his merry apparent.
It must be known that this verbal password was something Xie Lian came up with very seriously eight hundred years ago. He himself thought it was fun so he employed it after he ascended. Only, not too many other heavenly officials thought it was amusing, and even after they were fooled they were more speechless than entertained. Mu Qing told him directly "Your Highness your idea is terrible, forgive me if I can't laugh", and although Feng Xin laughed to the point of rolling on the ground screaming himself hoarse, he was a person who laughed at almost anything for no reason, so him laughing didn't make Xie Lian feel any bit accomplished. Since now Hua Cheng laughed too, maybe that meant it really was somewhat amusing.
The original plan was to go to the best restaurant in the imperial capital to drink, but since they didn't make it to the imperial capital, it made no difference where they drank, so the group went and reserved a room at the biggest restaurant in town, sitting around bored and spiritless. When the waiter brought their drinks, Xie Lian inquired, "May I ask just where this place is?"
Although it was a strange question, it was still the most direct and effective way. That waiter was amazed, "Did the honoured guests not come because of our reputation? This is the town of Fu Gu."
"Reputation? What reputation?"
That waiter gave a thumbs up, "Our town's Fire Social! It's really famous around here. Every year around this time there are quite a number of outsiders who'd come to watch the spectacles."
Shi Qingxuan was curious, "What's a Fire Social?"
Xie Lian answered, "Celebratory festivities during folk holidays. There will be some busking, some local plays, etc. It's worth watching." It was similar to the ShangYuan Heavenly Ceremonial Procession of Xianle back in the days. However, the Heavenly Ceremonial Processions were sponsored by the monarch, hosted by the authorities, but Fire Socials were festivities of the commoners. Shi Qingxuan commented, "But it's not a holiday today? At most, it's only the end of Autumn tomorrow."
"It doesn't have to be a holiday," Xie Lian explained, "Sometimes it's for remembering someone, and the folks pick a special day to celebrate, have some fun."
Just then, there was a huge commotion down the main streets below the restaurant, and someone was shouting, "MOVE, MOVE! CHILDREN AND WOMEN DON'T STAND AROUND! BACK AWAY, THE TROUPE IS COMING!"
The four looked below. And what a look! Xie Lian's eyes immediately widened. There was a long procession parading down the maint street, and in that procession, everyone was covered in heavy layers of bright, vivid makeup, dressed in strange and bizarre outfits, and also, a weapon embedded on each of their heads.
Those sharp or dull axes, butcher knives, iron tongs, scissors, were all deeply buried in their skulls, piercing their brains, and some even had eyeballs squeezed out, hanging on the cheek dripping with blood. Some were stabbed from the forehead and pierced through the back of their heads, exceedingly gorey. Each of the person parading all had tightly knitted brows, their expressions full of agony, their faces covered in blood. Yet, they continued to trumpet and play music, marching forward slowly, like a procession of ghostly spirits.