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A gentle breeze stirred the leaves, in a piece of land which had once been part of the kingdom of Xian Le. Birds sang among the branches, and here and there a beetle crawled over a leaf or a butterfly slowly flapped its wings. Everything seemed undisturbed and peaceful—and yet that place had once been the site of a fierce and bloody battle, in the year when the kingdom of Xian Le fell and its glory passed for ever.
A person appeared there suddenly, as if he had stepped out of empty air, and the birds all fell silent at once. It was a slender figure dressed in red--Hua Cheng, the newly chosen name of the fearsome Ghost King who had just risen from the crucible of Mount Tonglu. Any paths were long since covered over with grass and weeds, but he walked without hesitation, as if he knew exactly where he was going. And how could he not? A ghost always knows where to find its own mortal remains.
In the last days of the war against Yong’an, so many calamities beset Xian Le that no one could take the time for a proper burial of everyone who died. The bodies of the soldiers who fell fighting here, both from Xian Le and Yong’an, were tossed into a deep trench all mixed together, and the earth was thrown back over them. One of them was a young soldier of Xian Le known only as Hong’er, who had died gladly for His Highness the Crown Prince. Flesh and blood, banners and uniforms were long gone; only their bones remained.
When he reached the place he sought, Hua Cheng gestured carelessly and blasted a hole in the ground. Earth, moss, and stones went flying; the ground split open. There was the mass grave. Skulls grinned from that dark furrow, and skeletal fingers tangled with the leg bones of their former enemies.
Hua Cheng merely gestured again, and a set of bones disentangled themselves from the others and landed in a jumbled heap on the ground before him. If anyone brushed the dirt off the bones, carefully separated them, and laid them out in order, there would be a single complete skeleton from head to toe. But Hua Cheng only gave the neglected bones a glance of contempt. He knelt down and reached into the skeleton’s ribcage, which was clogged with dirt and broken roots.
When he pulled out his hand again, his fist was full of damp earth from where that body’s heart had once been. He cared nothing for his physical organs, long since rotted away and turned to dust. But when he went into battle, he had kept something beneath the breastplate of his armor, carefully tucked against his heart. As the corpse decayed, that object sank down into his ribcage and remained there, as if the bones themselves wished to guard it even in death.
Hua Cheng summoned a damp cloth into his hand. With the utmost care and gentleness, he wiped away layer after layer of dirt and grime. Eventually, traces of a deep red color showed through. It was a crimson coral pearl.
Hua Cheng continued wiping and cleaning the pearl until it shone bright and clear, no longer obscured by dirt and mud. He held it up to the sunlight, letting its red color glow beautifully. It was only fitting; after all, the pearl had once belonged to his lord and god, had even been worn on his body. At the thought, Hua Cheng knelt with the utmost reverence. Even the saber at his side seemed to feel moved, spinning its red eye madly and straining to look upward towards the pearl.
“Only wait a little while, Your Highness,” he said fervently. “I’ll find you and protect you. No one will ever hurt you or shame you again. Everyone who insulted you, I’ll knock them into the mud and bury them until even their names are forgotten!”
After a moment’s thought, he took a side lock of his hair and braided the crimson pearl into it, since the pearl was already pierced through the center like a bead. Let it shine brightly before everyone’s eyes like a star, a sign of the one he served and fought for.
There was one more thing to be done. Hua Cheng stood swiftly and glanced at the skeleton on the ground. With a sneer, he kicked the dirty bones together into a pile. Holding out his hand, he sent forth a blast of bright flame from his palm. Under that hot fire, the bones melted and disintegrated into soft white ashes. As Hua Cheng continued to pour fire over the ashes, they compacted and became solid until what was left was a small ring that sparkled like crystal or diamond.
Hua Cheng picked up the ring and looked at it, frowning. It bothered him a little. Something that came from his body shouldn’t be beautiful. He was ugly; how could his ashes be pretty? But on the other hand, these ashes had no use but to offer them to His Highness someday. There was no reason to think His Highness would take them or value them. If it pleased His Highness to destroy them and Hua Cheng with them, Hua Cheng would never think of resisting. But something offered to His Highness shouldn’t be disgusting to look at. It was all right for them to look nice. That thought satisfied him, and his brow cleared.
Tucking the ring carelessly away in his sleeve, he left the place without a backward glance.