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Hua Cheng was feeling lucky during this Zhongyuan festival.
His Ghost City was even more rowdy than usual, the increasing cacophony of noises that would have been more annoying if he was in a poorer mood. The only reason he wasn't was because he had run into Dianxia's two sorry excuses of attendants during one of their "joint" patrols and decided it was a good day for a beating.
It always was.
Tragically, their mediocre skills made that one sided beatdown so utterly boring but still, venting his frustrations did clear his mind a bit.
Yet, he still felt an itch in the skin, an instinct telling him that something big was going to happen.
Throwing a pair of dice in the air, he caught it and saw double sixes as always.
Maybe this is the day he finally gets a clue on where his God is? Surely his gut feeling wouldn't be wrong today-
Spreading his senses around, he searched for his wraith butterflies, fluttering all over the mortal realm looking for even a little clue, a sign to find him or at the very least know he is doing well.
He then noticed that one of his wraiths was still dawdling near the old capital where he had given those useless trash a good beating and a nice blood bath after and was about to recall it back when he noticed a pair of mortals walking through the area.
Slightly surprised at the fact that neither seemed to be screaming in fright or reasonably running away at the sight of utter carnage, he paused and looked on, interested.
The older sharp one, a masked cultivator, guiding the little silly one through the thicket of trees, a hand over his head to block off the blood droplets and his every move protective towards his charge.
He couldn't hear what they were speaking but then the two came towards one of the little clump of wildflowers untainted by blood, the place where his butterfly was still hidden.
Then, the masked cultivator softly brushed his hand over the flowers with a soft smile.
“Daring to torment two martial gods yet compassionate to the little flowers…… what an interesting ghost this is!”
Compassionate? Hua Cheng mused, that was the first time anyone called him that.
“Shifu, are we going to track that ghost down? It might harm innocents.”
A master and disciple, hmm? Hua Cheng made a note to look into them because for one, no ordinary cultivator should be able to identify heavenly officials that easily. And two, he could feel the flickers of a spiritual shield forming around the child's body, a sure sign of future ascension.
Then his wraith butterfly decided it was an excellent idea to come out of hiding to flutter around, eliciting a soft “Hello!” from the cultivator. That little minx even seemed to forget how terrifying their lot were supposed to be and landed in the cultivator’s outstretched hand.
“Oh my, did your master beat up those gods, hmm? He has such beautiful companions too!” the man practically cooed at his butterfly, resulting in Hua Cheng getting a rare sense of embarrassment especially as the said butterfly practically preened at the praise.
“Shifu, I don't think we should be encouraging ghosts to go beat up gods” The child’s voice seemed more questioning than stating the obvious, amusing Hua Cheng to no end.
“No further investigation needed.” The cultivator's voice cooled, his previous excitement hidden behind his silver mask. “This seems to be a personal grudge with the location of their fight just coinciding Yong’an territory.”
“We are doing nothing then?” A whiny soft voice sounded, dragging the question.
“A pity we came too late. I would have loved crossing swords with this ghost” Hua Cheng could tell he wasn't talking about an exorcism as some excitement bled into his voice once more. “They seem to have a magnificent saber too, wielded in such a wild style-” A soft sigh followed, the regret evident in his tone.
Hua Cheng lightly slapped E’ming who had started trembling a little. He himself was inordinately pleased to come across such an excellent swordsman with a mind sharp enough for such detailed deduction.
Maybe this day would be salvaged if he could fight a decent opponent for once.
His fearsome wraith butterfly then fluttered from the cultivator's hand, lightly tapping his nose, getting a delighted giggle in response.
As it finally flew away, he heard a soft “goodbye, little friend!” and saw the cultivator waving his hand in farewell.
Hua Cheng grinned, immediately contacting his current “lackey” to needle him into investigating their identities.
A proper meeting would take a while considering he couldn't leave this rabble for a while lest they cause too much trouble, especially with that green trash sniffing around for a bite.
Ah well, he can wait.
That night, he had donned a skin resembling a child, skipping along the streets in a rare good mood with the silver bells in his boots tinkling all the way. Any person unaware would have mistaken him for a spoiled little gongzi from some noble family if not for his signature fiery red robes and his elaborate jewellery.
When he was alive, walking through festivals to watch the excitement had earned him glares and even more scorn from people but now, the crowd of ghosts parted to let him pass, cheering and greeting him all the same.
Then, he had been accosted by a relatively young old lady ghost that had in her confusion mistook him for her grandson when he was surely at least a couple centuries older than her.
Sighing, he resigned himself to getting his cheeks pinched and stuffed with candies made with who knows what, maintaining an obedient expression while his eyes glared at the crowd surrounding them at a distance when the grandmother turned around, daring them to even try laughing.
Feeling lucky, hah! What a fucking joke-
Of course, that was when even more trouble began.
The Waxing Moon Officer’s timely intel on how a Wrath caught cheating in a gambling table had slipped through and was rampaging in the streets followed by screams and wails nearby told him that the said ghost was coming right to his hands, the cheating trash’s luck already spent.
And he was chased by the masked cultivator and his student who had decided to team up with his lackey for some godforsaken reason.
Seeing the increasingly familiar pair running towards him in his Ghost City on the very same day, Hua Cheng for once was stunned to a point of speechlessness.
And that's when the name plate of the shop behind him and the little old lady started falling towards them from a terribly aimed exploding talisman thrown by the ghost shattering its support.
Hua Cheng lifted his fingers aiming to levitate the thing to keep it from crashing into the still confused granny ghost but a blur jumped past him, changing the trajectory of the board with a well placed kick and then catching it as he landed on his toes with a flourish.
The child didn't seem to be too shabby of a martial artist, he is to ascend as a martial god in the near future then. Hua Cheng mused. Maybe, he won't end up the same as all the other trash up there.
He Xuan had already exchanged some blows with the Wrath, too deep in his “pretending to be Ming Yi spying on ghost city” shtick to actually do anything useful while the masked cultivator was……. standing at the side and giving him pointers?
Maybe it’s the teacher in him, Hua Cheng thought, remembering another voice coaching him through saber forms from when he was alive and weak.
None of his contacts or his butterflies had heard even a whisper of Dianxia tonight, some rotten luck he has.
When he focused back on the fight, He Xuan was finally done with his play, tying the ghost up in spiritual energy binding cables as the surrounding ghosts booed and cursed the cheating rat out.
Then, he felt a warm palm covering his head slightly ruffling his hair.
Wait, warm? What?
Looking up at a pair of guileless eyes and reining in his impulse to chop that misbehaving hand off, he took in a deep unneeded breath and glared till the child with non-existent survival instincts backed off a bit.
“No need to be scared, little one, Scholar He is pretty skilled! You won't be harmed anymore, the ghost is done for” The silly child babbled on while digging through his robes, impressively ignoring his worsening expression.
Scholar He? Oh, looks like his lackey is way more chummy with them than he thought. Hua cheng immediately sent a voice transmission inside the said underling’s head, “With your excellent spying skills, you could have found their life histories down to the minute details by now, Waxing Moon Officer. Slacking on duty again, are we?”
(“When did I ever slack off, you snarky bastard? Do you know how difficult having fifty fucking secret identities up there can get? And I still have to play house with you?”)
“Oh, here! Candy! Stop scowling and accompany your grandmother more, hmm?” The child continued, stuffing him with yet another little bag filled with candy.
“A-qiu! Come here, now!” Hua Cheng sighed in relief, finally free from the torment as the child nodded and turned around to leave.
“Bye, Grandma! Bye Little Red!” The child chirped, waving at them till he ran off to his shifu to cling onto his sleeves while Hua Cheng flinched in shock from the name ‘Hong’er’ ringing in his ears.
For a silly child, he sure did get his birth name right. That could be considered impressive luck just as much as his sheer survival till now.
Shaking his head, he felt a gaze from the masked cultivator who started as he met it in turn. The cultivator gave a bow, murmuring a “sorry for the trouble” before getting dragged off by his troublesome student, He Xuan still following them after handing over their new prisoner to his subordinates.
“They have a sword you will want to own” He Xuan finally deigned to grace him with a reply through their communication array. “As for their identities, they are the Yong’an Dianxia and his current Guoshi who goes by the name Fangxin.”
Yong'an? Then that child is of the Lang bloodline? Hua Cheng hummed in thought. At least he is too ridiculous to be anything like that ancestor of his. And that expert, how did he end up teaching that child?
“Tell me more.”