Of Monsters and Flowers: a Jun Wu x Xie Lian x Hua Cheng

The Mural

Nothing happened of note for the next few days, and Bai Wuxiang was yet to return.

Xie Lian continued to explore the ruins, finding more ruined homes, the rubble of what might have once been temples, and a trail of debris that he suspected might have been a bridge to seemingly nowhere.

It was not until the end of the first week that Xie Lian found a painting on the wall of one of these abandoned temples.

Unlike the divine statue that was so destroyed that you could not even begin to try and tell what gender of god it was supposed to be, much less what type, the mural looked significantly newer -like it was painted within the last century or two.

The mural depicted a martial god by Xie Lian's best guess, serenely above four junior officials, with dozens of random silhouettes below them to represent the common people; behind the god depicted was a golden bridge that led into the sky, and in the background it showed an erupting volcano and a sky full of smoke.

That explained what the rubble he had found before was, and Xie Lian knew this had to be at least part of what White No-Face had meant by the answers being here.

He was on the right track.

***

Since the sun was finally dipping past the horizon and he was loosing the light, Xie Lian went back to the 'camp' Wu Ming had set up for them.

It was in a one-room home they had found on the edge of the fallen kingdom, significantly less destroyed than the rest of the homes that were closer to the volcano, and while any items of use or worth had long since been plundered from it, it was a perfect place to stay in the meanwhile.

But, Wu Ming had been busy these past few days simply making furniture out of wood he chopped and carved himself and now they had a set of chairs, and a table; he had also somehow procured a rather thin blanket and partially ripped-up pillow, a straw mat, as well as a cup, bowl and spoon that were a bit chipped but still functioned.

It was nothing grand, a far cry from the comforts and luxuries he had once enjoyed as a prince and then a god, but something he had grown accustomed to since Xian Le fell.

Wu Ming noticed Xie Lian's return immediately, quick to bring him the freshly prepared food and a cup of water collected from the stream.

As previously requested, the ghost 'general' was maskless, but his smile made it seem like it was still on with his ever-present smile.

Xie Lian ate the served meal, eating the roasted fish with stewed lotus root.

It was always simple fare being made up of whatever the ghost scavenged, but after spending all day wandering the ruins it was always delicious and filling.

Once the fallen god was finished, Wu Ming was quick to take the dirty bowl, chopsticks and spoon away to wash in the stream later and return to Xie Lian's side for whatever else he might want.

"I found something today." Xie Lian told his last believer, " A mural. It was of a god I have never seen before, perhaps just a local deity. The odd thing was that the paint was newer, it went into the cracks of the wall instead of being fractured by it and it was only a bit peeled."

Wu Ming was kneeling in front of Xie Lian, looking up at him with his mismatched eyes full of wonder, soaking up every word, "That is strange. Do you think that was what Bai Wuxiang meant by 'all the answers being here'?"

"I do. Or at least the first clue, I know it is something important." Xie Lian replied, his gold eyes then widened, "It is him."

"Who, your highness?" Wu Ming asked