Dispel the Clouds and See the Sun

3. If Gods Block, Kill The Gods

Three gods and one ghost have tea and biscuits while studying scrolls and maps

"Remind me, why we're here again?", Mu Qing asked, looking around Puqi Shrine, where the four of them had gone after leaving the Heavenly Court; he was sitting around the altar table with Feng Xin and Hua Cheng, while Xie Lian busied himself at the kitchen with who knows what.

"It's cosy here, and I can get us tea and snacks", Xie Lian replied, fetching a blackened, ancient kettle from under the counter.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing hurriedly said "No thank you!" straight away.

Hua Cheng looked at them and pursed his lips, then smiled warmly at Xie Lian, "I'd love some tea, and some of those oat biscuits Gege baked the other day?"

"They, hum, they must be a bit stale by now...", Xie Lian replied scratching his cheek.

"Gege's stale biscuits are the best to dunk in a tea", he said, and Xie Lian smiled at him brightly; following all this, Feng Xin and Mu Qing rolled their eyes. Looking back at them, Hua Cheng clicked his tongue and added, "But Gege, you shouldn't be catering for uninvited people".

Feng Xin and Mu Qing looked at Hua Cheng angrily, and before the three of them started arguing and possibly throwing balls of spiritual light at one another, Xie Lian intervened, "Feng Xin and Mu Qing are always welcome here. But", he paused, and looking at them with a solemn expression, added, "We're working to prove San Lang's innocence, so please don't start questioning – "

"We know Crimson Rain Sought Flower has nothing to do with this", Mu Qing said, pointing at the several scrolls and maps spread in front of them at the table.

"That's right, we know it wasn't him", Feng Xin surprisingly agreed. Xie Lian widened his eyes; that was like thunder from a clear sky, something totally unexpected!

"They don't get you and Crimson Rain Sought Flower", Mu Qing continued, "They think he's forcing you, using you for some scheming against the Heavens."

Well at least Mu Qing and Feng Xin saw that wasn't the case; Xie Lian knew most heaven officials treated him with respect but truly looking down on him and talked behind his back. Certainly no one ever said to him, 'You found true love, I'm happy for you.'

"And, he would have wiped all the temples off, like he did to those 33 gods", Feng Xin added.

"Precisely", Hua Cheng said with his usual nonchalant smile.

"Oh? So why – "

"Xie Lian, you never change do you?", Mu Qing interrupted him, and added, "Did you expect all those heaven officials to go 'right, Hua Cheng must be innocent since he's helping His Highness?'"

"Mind your tone", Feng Xin said to him with a low, threatening voice.

Hua Cheng smiled at Xie Lian fondly, "Gege, sooner or later one of those trashy heaven officials would say I was actually sticking to you to cover up my tracks so..."

"It'd end up looking bad, so let's make it look bad from the start, and get it over and done with, and save you some face. Now they'll leave us alone and we can just focus on this business, thus giving us twice the results for half the effort", Mu Qing said, looking down at the table.

After serving tea to everyone and biscuits to Hua Cheng, Xie Lian sat down, carefully examining what the Palace of Ling Wen had given them, scrolls with a list of temples burned, the dates of the attacks, assorted reports and maps showing their location; he squinted his eyes at them a few times.

"Your Highness, do the attacks have anything in common, show any pattern?", Feng Xin asked.

"Huge temples in big cities and small countryside shrines were burned down, so no", Xie Lian replied.

Mu Qing, frowning at the chipped cup Xie Lian handed over to him with tea, asked, "Was the attacker or attackers been seen at all?"

"The temples were full, but nothing out of the ordinary was seen", Xie Lian replied, reading from a scroll following the writing with his finger, "Then after, no one seemed to remember anything? Like the temples never existed".

"Gege", Hua Cheng commented, "If gods block, kill the gods – "

"If buddhas block, kill the buddhas. Yes!", Xie Lian said, punching his palm in an insight.

"What does that mean?", Feng Xin asked, puzzled.

"It means", Xie Lian explained, "That whoever that is, they want to kill the gods collectively".

"Bring down the Heavens", Hua Cheng said.

"Fuck!", Feng Xin replied rather predictably, "In this case, they're attacking everyone at random – "

"Not at random", Mu Qing said, looking at another scroll, "The temples were full right? Look! The attacks were during temple festivals, when they'd have the most devotees – "

"Thus, fitting in the kill the gods plan!", Xie Lian said, "So let me contact Ling Wen and ask about temple festivals, who's the next heaven official to celebrate an ascension or – "

"Gege, that won't be necessary", Hua Cheng said, "Tonight the anniversary of your third ascension is being celebrated at the Royal Holy Pavilion on Mount Taicang."

"Really?", Xie Lian blurted out; the worship of The Crown Prince of XianLe reappeared after his giant divine statue battled the old Heavenly Court, turned into a demonic fortress by Jun Wu, over the Royal Capital skies, witnessed by many. Its head temple was the Royal Holy Pavilion, where the anniversaries of all his three ascensions were celebrated.

"How can you fucking not know that? It's your worship!", Feng Xin exclaimed in disbelief.

Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Well...", he replied scratching his cheek.

His worship as the Scrap Immortal was based in Puqi Shrine, where he spent most of the time he was in the Mortal Realm and had devotees he actually knew. He had totally forgotten that huge and magnificent temple at Mount Taicang, even though it was Hua Cheng who commissioned its restoration and re-establishment.

"Anyway", he said hurriedly, "In this case, the next attack will likely be there! This is our chance."

Hua Cheng, Feng Xin and Mu Qing stood up, ready to go, and Xie Lian nodded, taking a pair of dice from his sleeves, then walking towards Puqi Shrine's door.

He added, "Let's erase our spiritual auras too so we'll blend in with the mortals. We don't want to beat the grass and scare the snake!", he smiled knowingly.

Hua Cheng smiled back, "Alright. This snake is in for a nasty surprise!"

They're not just pretty faces are they? ✨✨✨

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