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"I"m dead, A-Ling," Jiang Cheng says, never in his undead life had he ever thought he would have to explain this to Jin Ling while Wei Wuxian and the Lan Juniors listened from a distance. "I have been for more than seventeen years now"
Jiang Cheng never thought it would come to this really but what more could he do when they saw a fierce corpse punch its fist through his chest moments earlier. He couldn"t just lie to them and deny what they saw, not when one of his ghost acquaintances (or is he a friend now) decides that it was a great time for him to reveal himself in front of all of them without even masking his ghostly appearance.
Qi Rong, his ghost acquaintance, being the piece of shit he is clicks his tongue in a teasing manner "Hey, Yinyin after seventeen years one would think that you would have developed a sense of humor now, what"s with all the dramatics?"
"Shut up, I"m trying to explain something here" Jiang Cheng snaps at him "What are you even doing here in the first place? Shouldn"t you be in the Heavenly Realm celebrating Guzi"s ascension?"
"Hey, don"t snap at me I"m your elder" Qi Rong descends from the tree branch he was sitting on and crossed his arms "Children these days, have no respect for their elders am I right?" He nudges Lan Wangji with his elbow and rolls his eyes dramatically when Lan Wangji moves away.
Jiang Cheng grits his teeth "What do you want?"
"I want you to come with me to the Heavenly Realm and cook me soup" Qi Rong props his elbow on Jiang Cheng"s shoulder, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere he was ruining.
Jiang Cheng looks at him as if he"s lost his mind before shoving him away "Do I look like your personal cook that you can order around to cook for you whenever you fucking want?!"
"No but you make good soup so you might as well be and besides we need someone there who cooks edible food not like cousin crown prince who cooks shitty food and don"t you fucking deny it, Crimson Rain!" Qi Rong shouts at the sky like the mad man he is "Even decaying corpse tastes better than his shit!"
A white butterfly flies to Qi Rong and cuts him. Qi Rong lets out a pained yell and swats away the butterfly. "Hey, that hurts!"
"Then shut up" Another voice snaps, the mortal group turned their heads in the direction of the voice and a tall man seemingly materializes from thin air. As he comes closer to them, they hear a distinct jingle and they paled in the realization of who this man was.
Crimson Rain Sought Flower or the Red Calamity as some called him. Hua Cheng narrows his eyes at Wei Wuxian before he stops in front of Jiang Cheng "Chanting Night"
Jiang Cheng nods his head "Crimson Rain, what do you want?"
"Gege"s looking for you, he wishes you to come to the Heavenly Palace and to cook for the banquet" Jiang Cheng pursed his lips, for a moment he looked like he wanted to protest but nevertheless he agrees.
"Fine"
Qi Rong comically gapes at him, a look of betrayal on his face "Hey, what"s with the favoritism Yinyin, how come you agree to him and deny me?
Jiang Cheng sends his dark look "Because he"s not a little shit like you interrupting me when I was supposed to be explaining that I"m fucking dead to my nephew!" He roars.
To which Qi Rong replies by blinking his eyes and wiggling his fingers at him "Ohhh, fierce I like it" He angles his fingers to imitate claws and roars teasingly.
Jiang Cheng lets out an irritated yell "You little shit come here!" He reaches out to grab Qi Rong but unfortunately for him, Qi Rong expected this and quickly dashes to his other side.
What Qi Rong didn"t expect on the other hand was for Hua Cheng to grab him by the back of his collar and turn him into a Daruma Doll "Trash, you"re lucky that Gege"s expecting you or else I would feed you to Black Water"s fish"
"Serves you right you little shit" Jiang Cheng pick the Daruma Doll turned Qi Rong, rolling his eyes as the doll lets out an unholy screech and stuffs him in his sleeves. He turns to face his nephew and the others to say "If you want to listen to my explanation go to Lotus Pier, I"ll meet you there when I"m finished"
Jiang Cheng doesn"t wait for their answer and steps closer to Hua Cheng and before anyone could say anything, with a drop of a dice they were gone.
~~~
Jin Ling didn"t know what to expect next, first, his Jiujiu insists on coming to the night hunt between GusuLan and LanlingJin. Which turned out to be a good thing since the small group of fierce corpses they were supposed to handle turned out to be a large horde of corpses with a demonic cultivator accompanying them.
Bad enough that the demonic cultivator was powerful enough to block the talismans Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian sends to him. Turns out the demonic cultivator was someone that knew his Jiujiu and so targeted him when he saw him.
Then one thing lead to another and suddenly his Jiujiu had a fist punched through his chest and then the impossible happens. Just when Jin Ling thought his Jiujiu was dead, Jiang Cheng brushes the punch off and with a snap of a finger takes control of every single fierce corpse before doing something to the demonic cultivator and killing him when he tried to attack him.
So now here they were, inside his Jiujiu"s private pavilion after delivering the demonic cultivator"s corpse to the infirmary and waiting for him to return. This was definitely not how Jin Ling thought that night hunt would go.
"Wei Wuxian, will you stop pacing around? You"re making me dizzy with all your turning" Jin Ling snaps, feeling a headache starting to brew.
"I can"t help it okay," Wei Wuxian snaps. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm himself. "Turns out Jiang Cheng"s dead for more than seventeen years now, that doesn"t even make sense, last time I checked he was alive and breathing, for that to even be possible he needs to have died when Lotus Pier was sieged seventeen years ago"
"If you"re panicking, how do you think I feel? Turns out both Jiujiu and Qi Rong-Xiansheng have been dead this whole time" Jin Ling buries his head in his hands "I saw that guy eat and get treated in the fucking infirmary, how does that make sense?"
Wei Wuxian stopped in his tracks and looks at Jin Ling with wide eyes "You know who that guy is?!"
"And his son, they were always there when I was a child, wait what about the other people, were they ghost too?" Jin Ling turns several shades greener as he recalls memories from his childhood "But on the other hand that would explain why White-gege"s food tastes horrible"
"Gege?!" Lan Jingyi screeches from behind him, he was already pale as a fierce corpse at this point with his fear of ghosts "Why are you calling a ghost gege?!"
"Because I didn"t know he-they were ghosts that time!" Jin Ling screeches back before moaning at another realization he had "I had a ghost bathe me as a child" He leans back and falls to the wooden carpeted wooden blacks of the pavilion "I can"t believe I was surrounded by ghosts growing up and I didn"t even know it"
"Not everyone was a ghost"
The group snapped their heads at the voice and each one unsheathes their sword except for Jin Ling who recognized her "Yue-Jiejie?" Jin Ling peaks out from Wei Wuxian"s protective stance in front of him.
Ban Yue waves at him shyly with a small grin on her lips "Hi"
"You know her?" Lan Jingyi whispers to Jin Ling as he hid behind Lan Sizhui.
"I used to play with her as a child" Jin Ling answers back, "Yue-Jiejie, does that mean you"re not a ghost and who"s that man behind you?" He eyes the man behind Ban Yue wearing imperial armor.
"Unfortunately, I am a ghost but he"s not" Ban Yue points to the man behind her "He"s Pei Xiu, he"s a god from the middle heaven, a subordinate of Pei Ming, the Martial God of the North" Pei Xiu gives them a small wave.
Wei Wuixan looks at Ban Yue and then to Pei Xiu "You don"t look like a God" He blurs out before he could stop himself, wincing that the horrified yells he receives as well as the pinch from Lan Wangji "I"m sorry for saying that, I-"
Pie Xiu waves away his apologizes "It"s nothing, Gods usually disguise themselves when they descend from the Heavens and you aren"t really supposed to know who"s a God so" He trails off with a shrug.
"Wait so what are you doing here, Yue-Jiejie? I heard Jiujiu say that there"s a banquet in the Heavens"
"I just wanted to check up on you, I know it can be hard to process how someone you love is a ghost now, much less a Supreme now so I wanted to see how you were doing" Jin Ling"s brows furrowed and he pushes himself past Wei Wuxian.
"A Supreme? What do you mean a Supreme?"
Both god and ghost looked thrown off by his question, they share a look before Pei Xiu asks. "Chanting Night didn"t tell you?"
"Chanting Night?"
Ban Yue sucked in a sharp breath, her shoulders tensing up "So this what he meant when he said hasn"t told you yet, I thought he already did, that"s why he was in the Heavens"
Pei Xiu"s expression turns pained "I"ll contact Pei-Jiangjun" He moves away from Ban Yue as he puts his index finger to the edge of his forehead and contacts the said God while Ban Yue attempts to calm the mortal group down.
"Yue-Jiejie, what do you mean by Supreme and why did you call my Jiujiu Chanting Night" Jin Ling demands, ignoring the calls he receives from Lan Sizhui to calm down "Yue-Jiejie!"
"Ban Yue, I think it would be better if I tried to explain this to Jin Rulan," Another voice says, this time it came from a man wearing pure black robes. "Go back to the Heavens, Taizi Dianxia"s looking for you"
For a brief moment, Ban Yue seemed hesitant to do so but still, she complies. She takes a last look at Jin Ling before accepting Pei Xiu"s hand and ascending back into the Heavens, leaving the mortals in the man"s presence.
"Jin Rulan, I-" The man in black robes starts but Wei Wuxian cuts him with an accusing finger pointed at him "You-!"
He blinks in surprise "Me, what about me, Yiling Patriarch?"
"You were the man I saw holding Jiang Cheng when we were little!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed, drawing all eyes to him and then back to He Xuan.
"So you do remember me," The man snorts, pursing his lips "Always falling into the rivers you were lucky that they liked you enough not to let you drown"
"Hey, I know how to swim!" Wei Wuxian retorts, visibly offended by his words.
The man rolls his eyes "Of course you did but in the beginning you didn"t, you fell right there" He points to the area behind the pavilion "In the deepest part of the lake with no one with you because you got lost and then decided you wanted to eat fleshly picked Lotus Seeds"
Wei Wuxian gapes at him and Jin Ling sends him a look that says "are you serious?". The man continues "You were lucky that we were right around this area when that happened"
"Then are you the Lord Water Master?" Lan Jingyi asks, peaking out from Lan Sizhui"s shoulder.
The man"s expression darkens at the mention of the god "No, I am He Xuan, the Black Water Submerging Ships, the Black Calamity"
Instantly the group tensed, returning to their defensive stance as He Xuan rolls his eyes at them "Don"t bother, you"re surrounded by my domain if I wanted to kill you I would have done it earlier"
"You know my Jiujiu?" Jin Ling asks, ignoring both Wei Wuxian and Lan Jingyi"s whispers for him to stop.
"Of course I do, Yunmeng"s connection to the Heavenly Realm goes deeper than any of you could imagine, as does Lanling and Gusu"s, we"ve watched over these territories for more than six centuries now"
"Why didn"t you do something during the war?" Surprisingly it was Lan Wangji that asked this, he sounded pained "If you were watching over our homes" Wei Wuxian interlocks their fingers and squeezes his hand for support.
"Because the was also a war happening in the Heavens at that time" He Xuan pursed his lips, "The previous Heavenly Emperor"s crimes were revealed and a war broke out between him and the Crown Prince of Xianle, it took a year to win the war and nearly three years to fully rebuild the Heavens"
"It was just bad luck that both wars started at the same time and after the Heavenly war the Heavens had no recourses left to help in your war" He Xuan"s eyes landed on Wei Wuxian and his lips twitched "In a way, you should be thankful for that because if not, you" He looks straight to Wei Wuxian "Would have been thrown under a mountain for inventing Demonic Cultivation"
"What? Why?" Wei Wuxian"s brows furrowed "I invented Demonic Cultivation because I had no choice because if I didn"t we would have lost our war"
He Xuan thinks for a brief moment and nods in agreement "You did but still Demonic Cultivation is still wreaking havoc in the Mortal Realm to this day"
"You don"t understand do you?" He clicks his tongue, his eyes glittering in malice "You were the exception, you used Demonic Cultivation for good, as good as you could use it, and offended Crimson Rain in the process, every Supreme has their very own domain, for me it is water, for Crimson Rain it"s the soul, you"re lucky that he couldn"t go after you then and doesn"t go after you now out of respect and agreement with Chanting Night"
"Respect and agreement?"
"Jin Rulan, your Jiujiu, Chanting Night fought two wars at once" He Xuan waved his hand and in the water, the image of Jiang Cheng appeared wearing torn robes as he fought against a ghost. "When he wasn"t fighting your war, he was fighting ours"
"He"s a strange ghost, Chanting Night, able to feast on the resentful energy without devouring the soul" The waters showed Jiang Cheng lifting up the ghost oozing with resentful energy and bringing it closer. Jiang Cheng opens his lips and suddenly the resentful energy oozing from the ghost was sucked into his mouth.
He remain that way until the resentful energy was completely sucked out. Jiang Cheng drops the ghost and licks his lips as if he was savoring the resentful energy he feasted on. He grins madly, skin deathly pale as he dashes to attack another ghost and doing the exact same thing to it. "He"s unlike any ghost I"ve seen and that made him special"
"He is a ghost that became a Supreme without entering Mount Tonglu"
"I thought I said I would be the one to explain to them what happened?" As if on cue, Jiang Cheng"s voice was heard, and not long after he appears from the shadows with a scowl on his face "Black Water"
He Xuan nods his head "Chanting Night"
"Qi Rong!" Qi Rong shouts like the annoying gremlin that he is, this time appearing behind Lan Jingyi "Hi Jumpy, nice view you have here, huh?"
As he expected, Lan Jingyi screeches and jumps onto Jin Ling"s person. Arms wrapped tightly around Jin Ling"s neck and legs around his waist, Lan Jingyi resembled a koala holding onto a tree more than the respected cultivator he was supposed to be.
Qi Rong cackles in delight, ignoring the multiple swords pointed at him.
"Qi Rong, what the fuck are you doing here?! I already fed you what more could you fucking want!" Jiang Cheng roars out, Zidian sparking at her master"s visible frustration.
"I want to see you tell zombie boy over here" Qi Rong points to Wen Ning, when did he get here? "That you don"t fucking owe Yiling Damsel over there," He tilts his head to Wei Wuxian who looked back to him at him with brows furrowed. "Your core"
"Yiling Damsel?"
Qi Rong appears right in front of Wei Wuxian "Yes, Yiling Damsel, you know like the damsel in distress" He wiggles his brows and laughs as he sees Lan Wangji push Wei Wuxian behind him "Remember the time when you trespassed on the Jiang Ancestral Hall and fainted into Statue"s arms when Yinyin confronted you?"
"Qi Rong!"
"What?!" Qi Rong shouts back to Jiang Cheng "I know it"s not his fault he fainted but what did he expect?! Waltzing into an Ancestral Hall without the permission of the head of the house when you disowned the Sect fourteen years ago! If I did that ages ago, I would have been whipped within every inch of my life and I was their nephew!"
"Qi Rong" Jiang Cheng grits his teeth, he moves to march over to the wayward ghost when He Xuan stops him "Let him, I"m frustrated too"
"And don"t get me started on the whole "You"ll never be above him"" Qi Rong mocks in Wen Ning"s note and fakes a gag "What? Do you want Yinyin to fall to his knees and thank him? Yinyin didn"t even ask for it in the first place and second, he didn"t even need it! He"s the Purple Lighting Chanting Night, a ghost, he doesn"t need a core!"
"Enough!" Jiang Cheng shoves away He Xuan"s hand and slaps his own onto Qi Rong"s mouth "If you don"t shut up, I"m going to skin you alive and turn you into a soup!"
Qi Rong swallows behind his hand and nods frantically. It"s not that he was afraid that Jiang Cheng would actually come through with his threat. Having known Jiang Cheng for more than fifteen years, he knew that Jiang Cheng was actually more bark than bite than the usual person does. Seeing the frustration on the other"s face, he mentally admits that he might have overstepped just a little bit.
"This is harder than it looks so shut it" Jiang Cheng hisses to him before he slowly removes his hand from Qi Rong"s mouth. After he was sure that Qi Rong wouldn"t make another shitty comment, Jiang Cheng sighs "I don"t know where to start, really"
"The beginning then before you were born and before Lotus Pier came to be, eight hundred years ago" He Xuan suggests, getting a frantic nod from Qi Rong.
Jiang Cheng pursed his lips before nodding in agreement, that was probably the best way to start things "Yunmeng doesn"t have a God, and neither does Lanling, Gusu, Qinghe and Qishan that was the reason why the Wens were able to attack Yunmeng and Gusu without any repercussions, Crimson Rain killed the Gods that looked after our regions eight hundred years ago because of their offense against Taizi Dianxia, the new Heavenly Emperor"
"For a while, no God looked after our regions before the Wind, the Water and later on the Earth Masters decided to so for six hundred years, the closest thing Yunmeng, Gusu and Lanling had to the Martial Gods that looked after the region were Elemental Masters, for Gusu there was the Wind Master, Lanling the Earth Master and Yunmeng the Water Master, and whether they intended to or not they were able to influence our regions"
"For Gusu, qi circulated easier so disciples from Gusu naturally had higher cultivations, for Lanling it was riches from the ground and more resentful energy the other regions because of who the Earth Master was and for Yunmeng it was the waters and the bells that gave her disciples a clear head"
"But as useful as Elemental Masters were, they couldn"t help much in our war, and with the war they were dealing with in the Heavens, we were left to fend for ourselves" Jiang Cheng pursed his lips, his eyes landing on his hand "I don"t know why I returned as a ghost, even though I underwent the soul-calming ritual I still woke up, maybe it was because the torture was so bad or Lotus Pier was oozing off resentful energy, I don"t know"
"I heard our disciples" screams and I felt their anger, revenge, they wanted revenge and I wanted it too" The area surrounding the pavilion turns deathly quiet, Jiang Cheng was turning white "They called for me so I answered, I don"t remember what exactly happened after death but I remember feeling hunger, unbearable hunger and the resentful energy was just calling for me to feast"
"So I did that night I feasted from one region on to another, resentful energy was everywhere because of the fear and anger, the misery everyone felt from the Wens and before I knew it, I stumbled on Taizi Dianxia and Crimson Rain, but the time they snapped me out of my haze I was already a Savage level ghost"
"I didn"t know what to do when I remembered the war brewing but I knew couldn"t go back because of the resentfulness come off me, Taizi Dianxia was merciful, he understood my wish to return to fight the war and he blessed me with the ability to hide my resentful energy from mortals, I will be forever in debt to him because of it"
"I didn"t wake up in Yiling, that was just spasms my body was going through because I was" Jiang Cheng paused for a bit unsure of whether or not he should go on and give away the secret about Ashes. Luckily the mortals thought of his hesitation as the unwillingness to remember while both Qi Rong and He Xuan understood his hesitation.
He Xuan nods, to help mask the real reason for his hesitation "The mortal body does that when soul undergoes transformation it that doesn"t mean you"re alive, our body just does that" Qi Rong nods from the sidelines.
"I don"t remember much from those days but I do remember looking for you Wei Wuxian, three months of searching for you then fighting, both the Sunshot Campaign and the Heavenly War started just days apart and I had obligations to fight in both wars"
"The wars were like endless banquets for resentful energy, everywhere I went was just filled to the brimming with it, it was delicious" At this point, Jiang Cheng was already deathly pale, his past bruises were now starting to show "And at the end of it, I was on the brink of becoming a Supreme"
"Which was odd really" Qi Rong appears beside Lan Jingyi who was only just getting down from his hold on Jin Ling "Because usually, you can"t become a Supreme unless you"re born from Mount Tonglu, by the way, has anyone told you how weird you are Jumpy? What kind of cultivator"s afraid of ghosts" He snickers as Lan Jingyi lets out another whimper and almost bringing Jin Ling crashing to the ground as he jumps back onto him.
"I didn"t become a Supreme until almost a year after the war, hours after the siege of the Burial Grounds I snapped and devoured on the resentful energy there and the next thing I remembered was righting against a pair of Heavenly Officials" Jiang Cheng finished and mortals stared at him, more specifically at the paleness and the bruises that appeared on his skin.
"I remember that night, Crimson Rain and I felt you and the Heavens heard your scream" He Xuan adds. That night fourteen years ago, the bone-chilling scream they heard coming from Yiling and when they descended to investigate. Harsh winds and booming thunder coming from the dark sky welcomed them, it was the same sight he and Crimson Rain saw as they crawled out of Mount Tonglu centuries ago except this time it didn"t come from Mount Tonglu.
"Some Heavenly Officials tried to fight you but you overpowered them and they had no choice but to retreat to the Heavens" He stifles a laugh, "The Purple Lightning Chanting Through The Night, that was what the Heavens called you though now most refer to you simply as Chanting Night"
"The only Supreme that was born outside of Mount Tonglu" Qi Rong nods to himself, not even bothering to hide the grin he had "You should have seen how terrified everyone was, another Supreme born just when they just defeated the other one barely two years ago, it was hilarious"
"But Jiujiu, why do you marks on your face if you"re dead" Jin Ling gestures to the bruises his Jiujiu was sporting to the best of his abilities while having Lan Jingyi cling to him. He was surprising taking this well, better than Jiang Cheng hoped he would.
"Let me tell you something kid" Qi Rong appears behind Jin Ling, ignoring the squeak Lan Jingyi lets out "That how your Jiujiu looked like when he died"
He grins and when the mortals turned to look at him, they were taken back at the bruises he had on his face. Sporting two black eyes, a broken nose, a cut lip and welts on his face, it was safe to say that however Qi Rong died, it was violent.
"What happened to-" Lan Jingyi stutter out, turning green as his grip on Jin Ling"s neck tightens.
"Me?" Qi Rong grins at him through his injuries "A rebellion happened and I was a prince, so I was dragged from my home, beaten and starved to death but don"t worry that was eight hundred years ago and I already killed every single descendant of those who tortured me"
"Your death needs to be violent, the more pain and suffering you go through before your death the higher your power will be" Surprisingly this came from He Xuan, who was now also sporting multiple welts and cuts. "I fought against those who mistreated my loved ones before succumbing to my injuries"
"A God took my fate and traded it with his younger brother"s" He Xuan forms his lips into a line "We suffered because of it, I killed him, beheaded him in front of his younger brother and took his younger brother"s Godhood so now his younger brother remains mortal, refusing to ascend when he was offered, I don"t hate him not anymore, how could I when even he didn"t know of what his brother did"
~~~
Surprisingly or rather unsurprisingly that was how the conversation ended, the mortals were led by Jiang disciples to their room for the night while Jin Ling chose to stay behind with his Jiujiu and the other Ghost Kings.
"You don"t seem surprised by your Jiujiu"s secret, Lingling," Qi Rong says tilting his head with a mad grin on his lips to mask his nervousness. He had grown close to the Jin Ling much more than he would admit thanks to Guzi "Aren"t you afraid now that you know we"re dead?"
"Not really"
Qi Rong"s smile fell and he straightens his posture, he wasn"t expecting that answer he wasn"t going to lie. "How do you say?" He Xuan examines the child in front of him, he wasn"t afraid nor was he tense in their presence unlike the other juniors.
"I saw it, seven years ago I was kidnapped and I saw one of the bandits stab Jiujiu straight through his stomach with a sword," Jiang Cheng"s eyes widen, the first time he had been stabbed like that outside of the war. "You remember"
Jin Ling nods "I do, you grabbed him by the neck as if nothing happened and sucked out black smoke from him" He pursed his lips and wraps his arms around his Jiujiu"s frame, "I thought you were going to die, I thought you were going to leave me"
Jiang Cheng returns his embrace, giving Qi Rong a sharp look to stop him from making another shitty comment "Never, A-Ling, I"m never going to leave you, I promise"
"That"s good" Jin Ling cranes his head to look at Qi Rong "I"m not afraid of you too, Qi Rong-xiansheng, even if you"re a cannibal"
Qi Rong coos and decides to go in for a hug just to piss Jiang Cheng off "Don"t worry kid, I"d never feed you human flesh your Jiujiu will turn me into soup if I did that"
"I"m already considering doing that if you don"t let go of me this second" Jiang Cheng grumbles out.
Qi Rong complies but not before an idea comes into mind. With a mischievous glint in his eye, he pulls Jin Ling back and shoves Jiang Cheng into He Xuan "Go on kiss already, I know you wanna"
Jin Ling snaps his head up to look at Qi Rong then to his Jiujiu and He Xuan "What?! Jiujiu!"
Qi Rong waves them goodbye before breaking off into a mad run while Jiang Cheng pushes himself off of He Xuan. With Zidian sparking in his rage, he rushes off to chase after the wayward ghost, leaving Jin Ling gaping and He Xuan turning pink.
"Qi Rong! Come back here you little shit, I"m going to turn you into soup!"