A small temple lurks among the trees in the mountains, always enticing with its wide open doors. Frozen between its walls, a modestly made statue depicted a young man whose sharp, blade-like gaze was softened by an almost weary curve of a smile. Not otherwise - a local god, but not simple, but quite ubiquitous. With carefully collected hair, a saber tied to his belt and a book in his hand, he accompanied travelers on the road, granting a safe journey or a chance to find a desired home. They say that he himself was the same traveler and often instructed people who met in the middle of the road. So he was nicknamed over time - the God of the Celestial Roads.
The incense sticks had not yet burned out, the haze from which gave the place a certain cozy mystery; it seemed as if someone was constantly keeping an eye on anyone who entered. Not far from the temple, one could see the receding figures of travelers, led by a young man striding broadly, whose black clothes seemed to always be covered with road dust. On the right side walked a noble-looking young man, keeping his back confidently straight, and his chin mockingly raised; on the left side - an almost inconspicuous monk, from time to time covering his face from the wind with wide white sleeves. They say that the one who caught these three will certainly meet a miracle on the way.
***
One could marvel at how Heaven can change in a hundred years. The burnt palaces were restored, new ones were built, and now the next generation of celestials, who did not know the face of their past Emperor, nursed along the bright streets. New temples scattered across the territory of the Celestial Empire, because both in a century and in a millennium, people had to believe in something or blame someone. The people trampling the mortal earth looked up at the bright flash. Not otherwise, God's craft. Or someone's quarrel, flashed by lightning. However, this was never a novelty, and soon everything returned to normal, without noticing how, following the flash, some figure darted to the ground like an arrow. And even more so, no one noticed how the second rushed after him. Xie Lian landed elegantly on the grass, smoothing his white robes. If earlier a modest monastic outfit made him look poor, now the silk, skillfully embroidered with white patterns, did not allow even a flash of thoughts about the "garbage" origin of the wearer, who remained true to his habits. Soon, a silhouette appeared next to the prince, a bright red against the green landscape. - Gege, you called, did something happen? Hua Cheng asked politely. Not that he needed a reason to immediately reunite with his lover. He just expected to do it a little later, because Xie Lian decided to visit Heaven just recently. "That's what I want to find out. Us there. - Pointing his finger in the right direction, he immediately rushed in a given direction with a quick step, noteven bothering to give himself a calm look. His heart was pounding somewhere in his throat, and he did not look back, knowing that San Lang would definitely follow. Not far from the place where they landed, it was as if a small catastrophe had passed: a couple of trees fell, the grass was crookedly burned, and a hole was visible in the ground that vaguely resembled a human figure. Just as they approached, the one below woke up and tried to free himself by stretching his hand up, which Xie Lian grabbed without thinking and pulled towards him. Following the hand, a tousled black-haired head appeared, and a heavily breathing young man fell at the feet of the celestial, as if he emerged from the water, and did not get out of the pit. Raising his militantly gleaming, defiant eyes, he looked directly into the face of the person looming over him and turned to him, repeating the question that Xie Lian himself would like to voice: "So what should I do now?"
Looking down at him, Xie Lian could only ask an endless string of questions, none of which he dared to voice as the tension mounted. Hua Cheng had caught up with him a long time ago and now he was also looking at the guy sitting on the ground. He turned his gaze to the newcomer, and a wrinkle lay between thin eyebrows for a split second, instantly smoothing out. Bright red clothes made a person look even taller than he really was, and some kind of evil spark in his eyes, dark as night itself, made him goosebumps. "I thank the conscientious young people for not passing by and helping this man at a difficult moment," he said politely, looking from his savior to his scarlet companion. For some reason, with every second the situation seemed more and more tense. Hua Cheng didn't say a word but in his mind, Xie Lian clearly heard his voice: "Gege, something seems to be wrong." As he himself has already noticed. Deciding that the silence should not drag on for too long, otherwise it would look completely strange, the prince asked San Lang to extend a helping hand to the young man so that he would not seem indifferent. The boy readily grasped the outstretched hand and used the support to get to his feet and dust himself off before bowing again in gratitude. Seeing this, Xie Lian immediately frowned and made sure that it wasn't imaginary - everything in this situation was impossibly strange, which sounded generous from the height of his life experience. - If it is not difficult for young people to tell in which direction is the nearest village? the fallen man asked cautiously, keeping a neutral-polite expression on his face, as if he was ready at the same moment to break loose in the indicated direction away from the pair that overtook him. Xie Lian blinked a couple of times. It was all wrong, absolutely and completely strange! Didn't this man notice that his fall made a hole in the ground and knocked down trees nearby? And now he is standing and just asking for directions, addressing them as if he had met them for the first time! Before he could open his lips to try to squeeze out at least something, the guy's eyes glazed over, and he froze in place, seemingly not breathing. A silver butterfly sat on his shoulder. "Are you sure it's him?" Hua Cheng asked, closely examining the frozen face, familiar and at the same time somehow completely alien. Frozen features retained a certain unearthly beauty, but somehow seemed... blurry? It was strange to look at this man and feel that this face did not belong to him at all. But out of old habit, the pursed thin lips, the porcelain pallor of the skin, and the warlike spark in his eyes left no room for error - it was Mu Qing! "Certainly, there can be no doubt," Xie Lian muttered and, taking the chance, closed the respectful distance, inspecting the simple black robes, a row of small pouches tightly tied to his belt, accompanied by a short knife. From the side of this person, one could mistake for a random young adventurer, lost far from his native village. But after all, he was not at all, and his house was much further! The first question, asked in a random outburst of emotion, turned out to be just the right thing, and Xie Lian voiced it again.
