Chapter Text
It was after the battle with Jun Wu that Mu Qing realised:
Feng Xin, a martial god, was injured.
He, Mu Qing, was also injured.
Hua Cheng, the ghost king, was gone.
Xie Lian, the once-esteemed Crown Prince, martial god of war, was emotionally shattered, body battered.
Mu Qing sighed...
His robes soaked in blood, covered in dirt and grime.
But under that,
Not an inch of skin under was left unscathed.
Hey! he heard his private communication array with the four- no... just the three of them now.
This voice...
Feng Xin?
"Ugh." he thought, annoyed at the 'disturbance of his peace and tranquillity that could have been used for better purposes'.
Instead, he sent back: What?
Where are you? Where's Dianxia? Is he ok? Ahh, right. Feng Xin was worried like an overprotective mother.
I don't know where he is. Just go look for him if your haven't already, dumbass, and no, I believe from all this, he is just most likely not ok!
Fuck, no need to get so worked up about it! I don't even know why I'm asking you at this point. It's not like you care about anyone other than yourself. But, yes, I am going to go look for him like I was doing perfectly fine before!
Mu Qing rolled his eyes. Of course he needed to find him, why wouldn't he? Yeah right... whatever...
But, deep inside...
That hurt.
Then he shut the array.
Yes, he didn’t like meddling in other people’s business.
Yes, he kept his distance, arms crossed and eyes sharper than his words.
Yes, he acted like he couldn’t care less, like the world could burn and he’d only complain about the smoke.
But he wasn't completely apathetic...
All these years Mu Qing had spent on this image, cold, sarcastic, prideful...
Whatever...
He continued dragging his injured self along the dark, stone maze... and turned a sharp corner.
Then he saw...
This other battered, bloody god that was also... barely alive.
Xie Lian
He was crying, on the verge of breaking...
Mu Qing had to be gentle now.
Just this once.
The cuts on his shoulder still stung from Jun Wu's grip... His wrists still bleeding, broken one arm; and a leg... bruised all over, swallowing blood...
But he slowly, stubbornly dragged his battered body to the wet, now red-robed Xie Lian.
“It’s okay. He’ll come back.” he said, with determination and a hint of gentleness in his tone. “-Don’t you have the ring? He can’t die unless the ring shatters. He will be back soon.” he said again, more hopeful.
Xie Lian looked up at him with a mix of shock, sadness, and a flash of hope...
“...really? - I-I thought you didn’t want him back...”
“As much as I hate that imbecile- I mean kind person... You look terrible without him... so I kinda have no choice?” He said, as he rolled his eyes at the mention of that ghost boy that had taunted him all this time...
“San Lang...” and Xie Lian's voice trailed off...
“Come on, he wouldn’t want to see you like this... When he gets back he will kill me for this...” and then Mu Qing swore under his breath, silently begging Hua Cheng's return to be sooner... Xie Lian needed him...
He was already low on spiritual energy, and his blood was either spilled over the stone floor, or sucked out by the shackle... but what could he do?
He helped him off the floor, and supported Xie Lian with his arm.
They ascended.
Once Feng Xin was notified the Crown Prince was safe and in the heavens, he had ascended to tend to his own wounds, which were already really bad.
But they were not as bad as Mu Qing's...
The injured Mu Qing had already carried Xie Lian to the palace.
He had tried his best to stay standing, because the room had relatively light furniture, with shades of cream, white, grey...
And he was covered in dirt, grime, and blood...
It would definitely stain the furniture...
And he couldn't worry Xie Lian further at a time like... this.
He had broken a few ribs, cuts here and there, swelling bruises, burns, broken bones...
His vision was blurry, with small dark spots in it...
Yet, Mu Qing pretended as if nothing had happened.
Sure, maybe Xie Lian was an observant person, but he would never call people out on their acts in front of them, no matter the issue. The most he had done was ask someone else to deal with it, or warn them... so not a big deal.
Especially since this time, he was still recovering. He was too broken to notice the stiffer movements, and the way Mu Qing had started to favour his right side more, and the part-winces and part-flinches...
Xie Lian right now... was pretty roughed up.
To calm him down, Mu Qing quickly whipped up a plate of gui hua gao, which was his specialty, actually.
*gui hua gao is osmanthus cake (its very good i recommend)
Xie Lian was given the small plate of this dessert.
The cakey food was sweet, scented like the flower, and soft. It also had this heavenly taste to it. Maybe a pale yellow, with some petals as decoration... some sugar...
All in all, it was the best food Xie Lian had had in ages (literally).
Maybe that was a result in eating his own cooking...
But the sugary cake was definitely good...
Okay... maybe Xie Lian’s face brightened just a little bit after eating the cake...
But when he heard Mu Qing scoff, he knew it wasn’t just a little bit...
“You were reluctant to eat anything, now I make something in like what, five minutes, and you’re this happy?”
“...Mmn...” he was still eating the gui hua gao...
Mu Qing chuckled. “I guess I’ll just have to bring you some when I visit you... If you decide to stay alive for that, that is.”
Xie Lian, in his weakened (-ish?) state, nodded like an excited child, hopeful for the next time he would get this treat.
Mu Qing just smiled... just a little bit...
But he knew it wasn’t just a little bit when Xie Lian smiled too.