TGCF reaction to the series (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 11

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince," Nan Feng replied.
"The justice of the mortal realm, the center of the world," Fu Yao remarked insincerely.

Xie Lian choked, "Did he just roll his eyes at me?"
"He did, kick him out," Nan Feng said.

San Lang scoffed and grinned,"Servants need to be properly disciplined. Or maybe even given a broom." Xie Lian couldn't reply to this, nor could he protect San Lang from Mu Qing's death glare.

"My apologies, Your Highness," he made a short apology, not elaborating on what he was apologizing for. Probably because it would've been unseemly not to say anything, and he also didn't want to admit fault.
"Not at all, I'm sure he meant nothing by it." Xie Lian smiled, in spite of the halfhearted apology.

It was no secret that General Xuan Zhen and General Nan Yang weren't on friendly terms. Even in the past, Mu Qing and Feng Xin had never been friendly with each other.

At that time, when the crown prince told them to not fight, they had to oblige. But back then he had been their leader and they were the subordinates.

'I wish that we could've ended on better terms, maybe then things wouldn't be so awkward,' Xie Lian thought, smiling wistfully.

And during those times, they would at most use words against each other. Now, they no longer needed to pretend. Even their believers didn't like each other.

These two junior officials were an example of that."Ling Wen Zhenjun said that anybody could willingly volunteer. Why can I not?" Fu Yao said. It wasn't very convincing when he used the word, 'willing,' with that expression on his face.

"Let's clarify this, did you both really come voluntarily? If not, please don't force yourselves," Xie Lian said.
"I came voluntarily," they replied in unison.

"Hey Ming-xiong, I know that those two junior officials are under Xuan Zhen and Nan Yang, but don't you think they act very similar to them?" Qingxuan was just wondering to himself since Earth Master hadn't responded to him once.

Pei Ming was wondering the same thing, eyeing both Xuan Zhen and Nan Yang, they looked awfully suspicious. But.... the thing he was thinking of most definitely couldn't be the case, right?

Seeing those dispirited faces, 'That actually means that you want to commit suicide, right?' Xie Lian thought.

The heavenly officials were  pondering this turn of events. Could it be that General Xuan Zhen and Nan Yang really sent junior officials to aid His Highness? They had always assumed they had a terrible relationship, perhaps it was slightly more complicated than that.

"Then let's discuss the task at hand. I assume you both already know why we're here, correct?" Xie Lian asked.
"I don't," they both replied. Xie Lian took out the scroll given to him by Ling Wen, "I'll start from the beginning."

Years ago there was a newly wedded couple in Mt. Yujun. They loved each other deeply. The groom waited for a great while for the bride to appear, but she didn't. The groom was worried and asked the bride's family. Her family said that she had already left long ago.

The family reported it, but they couldn't find any traces of her. If she was eaten by savage animals surely there'd be something left, right? How could there be nothing? Thus, people suspected that the bride colluded with the bridal procession and ran away. And a few years later, this incident would happen again.

This occurrence started to escalate. And in a centuries' time, a total of seventeen brides had gone missing in Mt. Yujun.  At times nothing would happen, and then a couple of brides would go missing in a month.

"It's a good thing that the one behind the disappearances wasn't Crimson Rain, right? Things would've been way worse," Qingxuan remarked. San Lang unexpectedly spoke up,

"What use would those brides be to him? As far as I've heard, Hua Cheng has never been one to indulge himself in such things." Almost as if he was trying to clear Hua Cheng's name. Earth master just stared at him.

"I suppose that's true. He's not exactly known for his debauchery. Nothing like someone I know," Qingxuan agreed. Pei Ming knew who that someone was and eyed him.

And from there a disturbing legend was born, there was a ghost bridegroom who snatched up brides at Mt. Yujun. If he liked one, he would take her away and eat the procession. In the first place, a matter like this shouldn't have been heard by the heavens.

The reason for this was that although seventeen brides had gone missing, there were plenty of brides who made it safely. They couldn't be protected nor found, so they just had to deal with it. They started avoiding hosting any wedding processions in Mt. Yujun and the ones who did never made a grand show of it.

But, when the seventeenth bride came along, her father happened to be a government official. She was his beloved daughter. When he heard of the dangers, he hired the best mercenaries to escort his daughter. He did this to no avail, his daughter still went missing.

That was the breaking point, nobody could do anything. The government official was outraged, so he prayed to the heavens and conducted many rituals to get their attention. And he also gave food to the poor. This stirred up turmoil in the heavens.

It wouldn't have been possible otherwise for the heavens to hear about this situation. "That's just about everything," Xie Lian finished. Because of their facial expressions, Xie Lian wasn't sure if they had been paying attention or not. If they hadn't, he would have to explain everything again.

"Rest assured, Your Highness, Fu Yao isn't so useless as to not listen to instructions." Mu Qing said.
"Of course not, he was very helpful during the mission," Xie Lian smiled.

"What do these brides have in common?" Nan Feng asked, frowning. "Some of them are plain, some of them are beautiful. Some are legal wives, so are concubines. Some are wealthy and some are not. In other words, nothing in common." Xie Lian replied.

Nan Feng sounded in agreement, taking a sip of the tea Xie Lian poured for him, contemplating. Fu Yao didn't touch the cup, he just cleaned his hands with his handkerchief.

"Gege, heavenly officials should really keep their dogs in check, otherwise they start to get arrogant, don't you think?" San Lang smiled and said. Xie Lian only curved his mouth upwards to smile slightly, 'Just smile through the pain,' he thought.

"Your Highness, what makes you so sure this ghost is even a bridegroom? No one has seen it, no one knows it's gender or whether it's young or old. Aren't you just making baseless assumptions?

"This scroll was provided by the Palace of Ling Wen, it is just a name that is used. But what you said does hold some merit." Xie Lian said.

After talking to them for a short while, Xie Lian could tell that their minds were impressive. Xie Lian was grateful. The Sun started to go down, so they left the tea shop. Xie Lian placed the bamboo hat back on his head and walked for a while.

Xie Lian stopped when he realized those two weren't following him. They were also looking at him in confusion,"Where are you off to?" Nan Feng asked. "I'm looking for a place to sleep, why are you rolling your eyes again, Fu Yao?" Xie Lian asked.

"Why are you going into the forest?" Nan Feng asked, perplexed. Xie Lian often slept in the wilderness. As long as he had a piece of cloth, he could sleep anywhere.

San Lang looked deeply aggrieved, as if he'd been slapped in the face, "Gege," he looked exasperated. "What is it San Lang? Why are you upset?" Xie Lian asked, concerned. San Lang shook his head.

Mu Qing and Feng Xin both looked deeply uncomfortable in the moments revealing the degree of Xie Lian's poverty.

He was also used to starting fires in caves. He then realized that Fu Yao and Nan Feng were junior officials under martial gods. If their gods had temples nearby they could reside there for the time being.