REMINDER: This is not my work, this work belongs to Naamah Beherit on AO3. I am only sharing it on Wattpad. illustration from Pinterest. ** A story in four parts about Xie Lian meeting Hua Cheng before his third ascension. Things thought lost are found, old secrets come to light, and one moment changes everything. For centuries, Xie Lian had wandered alone with only RuoYe for company. For centuries, he's been nothing but a reflection of an age long forgotten, powerless and bound to the mortal realm. It takes an encounter with a swim of hungry ghosts to change his fate.

A Canon Divergent HuaLian fic set during/after S2 E5 of the Donghua! Xie Lian can't bare the sight of Hua Cheng left looking so sad as he stands in his burning manor so, instead of returning to heaven with the others, he jumps back down to try to make things right. Only when he gets there he finds Hua Cheng deep in his own self loathing for having hurt Xie Lian. Warning: This fic contains Wu Ming Related spoilers as well as Gilded Banquet spoilers!