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"Taizi Dianxia."
"Taizi Dianxia?"
"Huh?", Xie lian answered head shooting up directly at the call
"Dianxia, are you alright you look- tired?" Ling Wen retorted
"Huh? No Ling Wen, it's quite alright please continue on with the point you were getting at."
"Alright, well the mortal and ghost realm's affairs are to be handled by Xuan Zhen and Nan Yang together-and--..."
Ling Wen's voice slowly grew hazy as Xie Lian had stopped paying attention to the heavenly court meetings nowadays, he had a husband for crying out loud and much better things to do. It was always the same old demeanor of the meetings, always the heavenly realm this or mortal realm that yada yada yada.
Xie Lian wasn't tired but just bored. He would just fiddle around with a stray straw sticking out from his hat, drop his eyelids downwards and keep his head down the rest of the meeting.
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The unbearable long meeting had finally wrapped up and Xie Lian got up from his seat and began to walk out.
He was walking
walking
and walking
until he heard a familiar upbeat voice behind him call out,
"Dianxia!"
It was The Windmaster, Shi Qingxuan.
Xie Lian paused and turned to see Windmaster pacing towards him
"How are you Dianxia? Are things going well with Crimson Rain?"
Windmaster wasn't very well versed with or best friends with Hua Cheng but had conversations about how snobby Heavenly Officials can be, leading to some mutual agreements.
"Things are going well thank you for asking, how are things going with Ming Yi?"
Hua Cheng, Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan were the only people who knew Ming Yi's true identity as Blackwater but still kept it on the downlow. Shi Qingxuan had still called him by Ming Xiong as a nickname at this point. When they were not undercover they would often call him "He Xiong" which was a mashed version of the 2 names, He Xuan didn't seem to mind though
"Yes! He- I meant- Ming Xiong and I are doing very well, but you see today was supposed to be one of our fun trips today but Ming Xiong wasn't feeling very- thrilled about it. He's in one of his im-sulky-so-i'll-eat-as-much-food-as-i-can-today moods. SO, Dianxia, would you be interested in coming with me?"
"Oh, Lord Windmaster uhm- give me a moment to consider."
Windmaster had invited Xie Lian to an outing with them, Xie Lian considered it was time to step out of his comfort zone a little bit and be a bit outgoing. Afterall he hadn't gotten to spend time with Shi Qingxuan that much.
"Hmm, Okay, wait, let me reach out to San Lang in the communication array first."
--------------------------------
He put up to fingers to his temple.
"San Lang, San Lang?"
"Yes Gege?"
"San Lang, i might have to go for a bit with Lord Windmaster to- a somewhat of a trip i guess?"
"Hmm, okay Gege i wont keep you from your travels but make sure to keep yourself safe, where are you going?"
"Oh yeah give me a moment"
Xie Lian turns to Shi Qingxuan
"Where exactly are we going again?"
"Oh!, to the mortal realm...-in the future."
"San Lang it's the mortal realm in the futur- WAIT-TO THE FUTURE?"
"Yes!" Shi Qingxuan said, me and Ming Xiong usually go atleast once or twice a year, he always mostly comes for the food."
Hua Cheng's voice cuts in,
"Gege?? the future? are you sure you'll be fine? Should i send some wraith butterfli-"
"Ah- no, its gonna be alright San Lang, Lord Windmaster seems to be fond of the place so I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Okay Gege be safe and return soon."
"Of course San Lang."
------------------------------------
Shi Qingxuan lead Xie Lian to a calm secluded place somewhere in the woods. There was a part where the dense woods didn't dare touch a specific area encircling the large patch of flourished grass grown abundantly. The minimalist spread of fresh flowers with petals decorated with light dew looked beautiful. the surrounding rocks and a faraway sound of a river rushing. This place was almost to be peaceful to look real.
Xie Lian was almost dazed by the serene view.
"This is how we'll get there, this place has a strong focus of Qi source and is therefore a great place to focus your spiritual energy."
"How does this fare into traveling into the future?"
"There's a reason me and He Xiong usually only go once or twice in a while, certains times the Qi focus in this area varies, from lots of Qi to less Qi, the time period of Qi focus varies as well, sometimes it takes a year or a decade for Qi buildup so it's a rarity when there's enough.
The first time i discovered this place was with He Xiong. I came to seek a place to meditate for my spiritual energy. One afternoon I just had somewhat of a wild thought about going to the future and well that- flung me and He Xiong to the future albeit we managed to survive, return safely and actually ended up enjoying the trip."
Xie Lian was slightly taken aback from all this info, still cant believing that traveling to the future was possible.
"That must've been quite the adventure, so how do we do this?"
Windmaster gestured Xie Lian to take a seat next to them on the lush grass. Xie Lian sat next to them quietly, the grass lightly poking him but not too much that it would cause discomfort.
"Now Dianxia, close your eyes and focus your Qi, hold my hand."
Xie Lian did as Shi Qingxuan told him to and the two began resonating Qi together.
"Alright now I'll start visualizing the place we want to go, and we should get there at any moment."
Xie Lian slightly tenses up nervous of the procedure that was taking place, he dryly swallows in his throat and tries to focus but still his mind wanders away to an un-sureness. Xie Lian feels slight gusts of wind, its blowing upwards. His body begins to feel weightless and he holds on Shi Qingxuans hand.
He feels a strong gust of wind blowing his hair upwards, reminiscent of his 3 ascensions. The gust slowly stops and gravity takes it's place again. Xie Lian slightly loses balance and his body trips forwards into something hard. His arm quickly makes the motion to support his body from fully falling face forward.
His arm lands on something squishy which makes loud plastic like sounds. He opens his eyes to what seems like a dark alley and sudden stench of trash, its a green dumpster loaded with trash bags. Xie Lian had been flung towards an alley filled with dumpsters and Shi Qingxuan seems to have caught his balance before he could crash into something. His robes were caught in the narrow spaces between the bricks for a moment but he quickly pulled them out.
They both scrunched up their noses smelling the unbearable stench
"Dianxia, I'm so sorry for this! I didn't mean to transport us here, I don't know how we ended up here. "
Xie Lian dusts at the sleeve of his cultivator robes, trying to rid of the dirt.
"Its fine, I just wasn't expecting something so sudden.", Xie Lian says apologetically as if he had done something bad.
"Its alright Dianxia i can understand if this was something unanticipated,- I see some light over there"
Shi Qingxuan points ahead
The two make their way out of the alley and into the peaking light.
Shi qingxuan walks out first
"Huh? where are we?", Shi Qingxuan says.
the districts and streets are covered in rain. The weather, a cloudy grey sky with light rain clouds cover the view. The buildings are unfamiliar, narrow streets, lots and lots of skyscrapers, tall buildings and bustling noises of people can be heard. There's lots of people, it's very crowded.
"Oi, Pay for your coffee!", a women yells at a running man
"That's strange..., what is this place? me and He Xiong don't usually end up here, we usually understand the language locals are speaking. I don't recall any mistakes made with our transportation here. Dianxia, you didn't have anything on your robes at the time right ?"
"no?"
"Were you in a calm state of mind without any doubts?"
"Well, that's-.. debatable."
"Ah, so that must be it, no worries, ehhhh, we'll survive... somehow. Do you have any spiritual energy left? any amount is fine."
"Hmm I think do, a little bit at the very least."
"It's fine, try to channel like you did back there again, there must be some left."
Xie Lian channels his energy again and Shi Qingxuan holds his hand
"Okay stop, try to listen for any voices nearby."
Xie Lian listened and finally understood what the passerby were saying, their words were translated.
"That meditation place enables you to carry some spiritual energy with you, so you can go back home aswell, although it doesn't enable you to carry much or use your god powers, see?, Shi Qingxuan waves their fan and nothing happens, usually if they did have their powers it would blow away the building in front of them.
Usually where me and He Xiong go, we have more spiritual energy, this place doesn't seem to let us carry as much as we usually do."
"That's why sadly I can't change into my female form here, I would have to do it beforehand."
Both of them walk out the alley after the rain changes into light drizzling. They shouldn't be noticed considering how many people there are, but still they catch the eyes of passerby people yelling "nice cosplay"
"What's a cosplay?", Xie Lian asks Windmaster.
"It's some costume culture people in this era people made, something about having to do with dressing a character from somewhere, I don't know much."
"I wonder who these people think what cosplay we're doing then"
"Who knows? I take it as a compliment though."
Both of them decide to test out the translation abilities of their spiritual power and ask a person nearby
"What is this place?"
"This place? do you not know? This is Manhattan."
Their translation powers work although it takes a moment to recognize what they said they can still understand.
"What's Manhattan???", Xie Lian whispers
"I think it's some place towards the West of this world, I'm saying this from some things I've learned about coming here, I don't know specifics though."
Suddenly the rain intensifies and they are forced to rush into the nearest shop next to them,
Barnes and Noble.
Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan find themselves in a vast area surrounded by bookshelves and people. They weren't used to finding books in their world and only scrolls, but they had been familiar with what a book was.
Shi Qingxuan grabs a book and opens it
"I guess the spiritual powers can translate words aswell, I'm still getting the hang of translation but for some reason it just translated faster right now."
Xie Lian, aswell, noticed how the spiritual energy had just focused better and decided to brush it off though.
Xie Lian asked,
"Lord Windmaster, how come this is the first time you've used spiritual powers to translate? Don't you usually do that every time you travel to the future?"
"Well this is the first time I've came somewhere foreign, It's usually the lands you and I are quite familiar with, however they don't have any past records of kingdoms like Banyue here so Im assuming this some sort of alternate universe of the future, where gods like you and I, spiritual powers don't exist."
"Oh, I see, won't that cause some disturbances with time travel and all?"
"No actually people here usually forget who I am, like I never existed.", They are interrupted by some noise in a corner of the store, so they go check it out.
the commotion is caused by a few women gushing about something
"Oh my god it's about time they restocked the books!"
"Yea! I couldn't find them anywhere online!"
Xie Lian peeks over and his eyes land on a book the women were referring to.
Heaven Official's Blessing.
Tian Guan Ci Fu.
Tian Guan Ci Fu???
What?
He peaks over some more
He sees a cover of a character dressed in garments of red with a veil, next to the it another one dressed in red with an eye patch.
Him and Hua Cheng at Mount Yujun
Xie Lian was confused.
A woman grabs one of the books and turns slightly, Her shirt says "Hualian invented love"
What?????
Xie Lian was beyond confused.
"Huh?" Xie Lian blurts out
The woman turns to him and says "Oh my god i love your Xie Lian cosplay!"
The other woman "Oh my god yeah, I love your Windmaster cosplay aswell, where did you even get that costume from? Did you make it yourself?"
"oh no these are my own robes, you like them?" Shi Qingxuan says
"Yea! can I take a picture with you guys?"
"erhmm- sure."
Shi Qingxuan was okay with it, afterall they were appreciating their beauty.
"Uh-Okay??" Xie Lian says
both are equally confused but take a picture anyway, after the women leaves, Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian alone with their confused thoughts. How could this be?
Xie Lian decides to grab a book and start flipping thru. His face painted with shock because of the accuracy of the story.
"Lord Windmaster.. what is this?"
"I-I don't know it's so accurate, did one of the heavenly officials have enough time to come here and write a whole recount of your life?"
"There's pictures too."
"Wait let me see, Oh- it's me, it's accurate because im pretty in here too! there no doubt that The Windmaster Qingxuan is pretty in any form whatsoever!", Shi Qingxuan stated delightedly
Xie Lian was still surprised but Shi Qingxuan's positive attitude offered some comfort to him. Still focused on their appearance no matter the universe huh? Xie Lian lightly chuckled inside
Xie Lian went thru the book some more then began eyeing the shelf once more
all the covers seemed very nice until one cover stood out
Oh
Oh
The Qiandeng temple altar table
Volume 4
Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry
How could someone have possibly known that happened?
"Dianxia, that cover-..."
Shi Qingxuan said abruptly after noticing aswell
"Oh-well uh- tha- that- I didn't know that people knew- that me and San Lang- uhm-yes-erhm..."
Xie Lian wanted to smash his head on the bookcase and die. It was a discovery to know that people really liked his and Hua Cheng's relationship but he didn't know people like it that much.
It was so embarrassing to even think about it back then- let alone see an illustration of his likeliness in that way.
He noticed the floor was looking very nice today.
"Alright. that's it. we need to know who wrote this." Windmaster cut in Xie Lian's thoughts
"YES! oh I meant yes." Xie Lian accidentally yelled out
The two turned around to see a swarm of fangirls pacing towards them some holding up their phones
"OH MY GOD YOUR COSPLAY?? DID YOU JUST COME FROM A NEARBY CON?"
"CAN I TAKE A PICTURE WITH YOU?"
"ARE YOU HERE FOR THE BOOK RELEASE?" From Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian's point of view it looked terrifying.
The Trash god said to The Windmaster in a panicked hushed whisper
"UHMM- LORD WINDMASTER I THINK ITS TIME WE GO?"
"YES LET'S-"
The two then quickly dashed out avoiding all the fangirls like they were in Pacman, making rights and lefts everywhere to get away. When they finally made it out the store, they chose a direction then ran out as fast as they could so the fanatic women wouldn't follow them.
They ran and ran not paying attention to any of their surroundings until they crashed into a wall of a Chinese style tea shop. It was a small building with a pagoda style roof. They decided to enter to take a quick short break from running to catch their breath
The walls, a saturated tone of yellow decorated with red decoration plaques with Chinese characters in a luminous gold. The floor a dark shiny concrete. The tables were a dark polished brown color, they did not have lengthy legs but had an intricate traditional dragon design on the skirt of the tables, the design was etched onto the thin short legs as well. Red cushions with golden tassels on the four edges.The cushions were placed on either sides of the table so anyone could comfortably sit with the table in front.
This tea shop was small with only a front counter and four tables in the entire restaurant but was still extravagant in decor and detail. The atmosphere was quiet with only a few people sitting in and enjoying their tea. The ambience was a great nostalgic vibe to the two of them
"Finally a familiar place." Shi Qingxuan exclaimed keeping in mind to control their volume and heart rate so people wouldn't notice them breathless.
"Let's go sit down."
Both of them sat down calmly pretending like they hadn't just ran a marathon race and were fighting for oxygen inside. An old Asian man approached them and took their tea order.
"Finally, a language i can understand, this is the experience and He Xiong usually go thru, peaceful tea houses, not the crazy women we just ran away from earlier. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how that book knew so much information about the gods.
"En, do you think someone else from our realm comes here often? I've never heard any heavenly officials talking about time travel, but then again I also am not very well versed in what the officials talk about hah.."
Xie Lian thought about his relationship with some officials, even though he had defeated Jun Wu and married Hua Cheng he still wasn't very popular and that social with any groups of people. He would just stay in Puqi shrine and come up with more horrific dishes that Hua Cheng gladly ate. Every time he would talk about feeling a bit left out from the officials Hua Cheng would just say, "Dont pay them any mind gege, they're just trash."
"I doubt any officials know about this place, Ling Wen palace haul doesn't have any info about this aswell, It's best that this stays under wraps before anyone with sour intentions finds out."
"Yes it's best to do that, Lord Windmaster, how do you usually travel back from coming here."
"Place of origin, A place of origin is something that could be related to you, Where Me and Ming Xiong go. We're surrounded by our culture so we could go any time we want to, the process is the same as how we came here, focus your energy and you'll be back! You just have to find stronger Qi focus in an area, Where we are at now could also be a good place to transmit back but we would need more spiritual energy."
"Ah I see, that's some what simple, although we're just gonna have to find a place."
"En" said Shi Qingxuan.
The tea sommelier approached with their fresh tea. Shi Qingxuan took a huge whiff and a pleasant smile formed across their face. They both drank their tea and finished. The tea sommelier then asked
"Payment?"
"Huh? Oh yes, I have money."
Shi Qingxuan took out a light turquoise pouch and out came a few gold coins
"Im sorry that kind of payment is not acceptable here."
"Oh well then, could we come later?"
"No, the payment should be given now." The tea sommelier's tone changed to be a little bit more hostile.
Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian were having internal panic attacks and didn't know what to do, the waiter was tapping his foot with a set rhythm, waiting. Suddenly the waiter's eyes took place behind them and he yelled
"OH MY GOD WHY IS TIMMY BACK?? ARE YOU TWO WITH HIM?'
Both of them shot their head backwards and saw an adult man sitting at the table behind, looking deranged, shirt over his head in a way that highlights his forehead and black under eyebags, "hEwo."
Xie Lian's expression froze to fear and so did Shi Qingxuan's
The sommelier shouted, "ITS FINE JUST LEAVE WITHOUT PAYMENT !! JUST GET HIM AWAY FROM HERE, H- HE HAUNTS OUR BUISNESS TOO MUCH PLEASE!"
Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan ran out of the shop, dashing towards the open street.
Shi Qingxuan said "Why are we running away from so many crazy people in shops today??? How are you so fast Dianxia??"
considering this was not Xie Lian's first time running away from people it was no surprise that he would become a marathon runner in a millisecond, as for people being crazy he knew they were nothing compared to Qi rong therefore he wasn't that shocked. The deranged man at the tea shop would be considered more like a creep to Xie Lian, giving off the same vibes of white no- face.
Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan finally stopped bent at their knees and fought for oxygen. After finally catching their breath looked around at the district they had ended up in
They caught the image of pagoda style roofs on several buildings, bright colorful street and stop lights even though it was the afternoon. A line of restaurants, grocery shops, tea shops, bakeries and other types of shops made the district seem lively and bustling. A few Chinese Asians walking here and there. Vertical establishment plaques with Chinese characters and a few hanging red lanterns could be seen above. The scenery was familiar to them, heavily reminiscent of Ghost City although with less pig heads and human leg soup.
"This place bears uncanny resemblance to Ghost City, although with less-... wildness and headless people?... "
Xie Lian nods. "mnh"
They decide to take a walk around and head towards the broad districts, streets being littered with confetti, lots of people blasting party poppers in the celebration of something. Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan catch the word lunar new year. So that's why all the streets are so bustling, Everyone's celebrating New Years!
Shi Qingxuan takes a look around to shops on sidelines of the streets.
A shop has crimson red lanterns with gold details and ribbons as well as a red and gold tassel hanging down, there's lots of these lanterns, some huge some small. Red banners with stylized gold Chinese calligraphy that states "Year of the Dragon". The Women in the shop were crowded around the clothes section which had red puffy robes with again, gold detailing depicting flowers and branches , not to mention a long line of sometimes light or dark red Qipaos with dragon patterns with some hairpins or accessories to chose from.
Energetic kids with their parents snacking on mooncakes from nearby stalls as their mothers calmed them down to not be so loud and control their New Years excitement.
Xie Lian was instantly reminded of how he used to be like that with his mother too when he was so exicted, she would always calm him down slightly bringing a bittersweet feeling to his heart. The lights in the shop were placed in such a way that the red colors in all of the clothes and lanterns pop out more and making them look breathtakingly luminescent, Xie Lian thought about if Hua Cheng were here he would blend in to the store perfectly as a product making him slightly snicker.
"If only i could use my spiritual powers to transition the money i have with me.." Shi Qingxuan sighed
"These robes are very beautiful although don't you prefer green?" Xie Lian asked
"Yes, i would buy these to force He Xiong to wear them! He always only wears black so i wanna see him wear red again"
"Hopefully crimson rain doesn't get insulted by He Xiong wearing red though."
Xie Lian didn't know what to say, he knew Hua Cheng just wore lots of red and its evident that it suits him.. very much. He would't think that Hua Cheng would be overly defensive of the color.
"I don't think San Lang would mind much." Xie Lian said scratching the back of his head
"Well if you say so."
They walked out of the shop and into the street once again. The stalls had began decreasing in amounts and less confetti coulf be seen, Xie Lian guessed they were out of the shops district but still why was it so empty? Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan were walking not taking mind of the wide street ahead looking in opposite directions in wonderment of where had the stalls and shops gone? When suddenly they caught got in a New Years Dragon Parade. It was almost as if the parade had began trampling on the two.
The parade was noisy, lots of drums and gongs were banging. People holding up sticks to support the long dragon puppet marched on, as the crowd followed behind with sparkler fireworks. people from higher buildings were watching the parade in awe of how grand it was. The dragon was made from reflective gold material imitating scales, it had a furious expression, its mouth agape with exaggerated nostrils and brows with large eyes, it's unique design caught the eyes of many.
It reminded Xie Lian of the Shangyuan festival although entirely different. It was strange how many things here reminded Xie Lian of back home, perhaps things weren't so different from here and there afterall.
Shi Qingxuan shouted,
"Ah Dianxia! this crowd is too lively! keep yourself nearby!"
"Uhm-uh Lord Windmaster i think you're the one getting dragged away?" Windmaster had been inching away from Xie Lian
"Ughh, this better not ruin my robes, I look so beautiful in these!"
Xie Lian made his way through the crowd towards Shi Qingxuan. He swept them swiftly to the opposite direction and ended up in a dark, cramped, yet again, alley.
"Gosh how many alleys will we end up today!" said Shi Qingxuan
"Its only for a bit Lord Windmaster, until the crowd dies down"
Xie Lian steps backwards and his foot steps on a trash bag, he looks behind and says a neon glowing sign that says "Scrap Collectors Treasure: Completely Free" Xie Lian's interest was piqued and decided to rummage through the bags and finds scraps like wooden tools, tin, cans, platinum etc
"Dianxia? What're you doing???"
"Scrap collecting, I haven't been able to find that many scraps recently in the mortal realm, might aswell collect from here if i can."
Xie Lian hand finds a rectangular shaped object and he pulls it out. He finds a very worn out probably decade old ipod, he holds it up to observe. He asks
"Lord Windmaster what is this?"
"Oh that? i think it might be called an ipod, I've only seen it once before but i know how it works.'
Shi Qingxuan grabs the ipod and and turns it on and hands it to xie lian
"Put that pair of earphones near your ear, see? it's to play music directly to your ears."
"Oh wow I do hear it! this seems to special to sell it off as scraps maybe I'll take at souvenir." Xie Lian stuffs the object in his robes along with other scraps
This time Shi Qingxuan didn't whether to laugh or cry
"Suit yourself, I think the parade has died down let's go."
The two make their way outside and decide to ask someone where they are. The stranger replies "What? Are you Asian? sorry i don't really know what you're saying." The two don't understand what the stranger said either.
Shi Qingxuan shoots their head to Xie Lian and says "Oh no, Dianxia I think our spiritual energy must be running out, We have to get back fast!"
Both of them run away from the stranger and Xie Lian asks "Where's the place of origin???"
"It must be that town district, find any shop and try to focus the spiritual energy there!" Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan make their way back to Chinatown and frantically try to focus their energy wherever they can but their efforts result in useless
"I don't understand why isn't it working?'" Says Shi Qingxuan
"This should be our native place or origin is it not?" Then it clicked to Xie Lian, A place of origin is someplace that's related to the person in question right?
"The bookstore, our powers worked faster there right?" Says Xie Lian.
So then the two run over to the bookstore bumping in to several people. The two mentally prepare themselves to enter and hopefully to deflect any fangirls. They silently run in and sneak away from anyone they might think are fans. They duck away and wait for the area to clear out
The two run towards the bookshelf and grab one copy of TGCF then sneak into a corner, hoping that focusing energy on the book would work.
"Hey aren't those the cosplayers everyone was looking for??" A loud voice rung out
"OH NO DIANXIA HURRY BEFORE THEY FIND US!"
Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian quickly focus spirtual energy mixed with some panicked adrenaline running through their bodies, right as the fangirls find them, a gust of wind blows and distracts them then poof, Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan transmigrate back.
Its the same clearing in the woods and the two crash into the grass
"Dianxia, let's never go there again."
"Agreed"