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Chapter Text

She dodged, and the yaoguai’s claws sliced through the outer layer of her robes. Landing against a stall and tripping over the spilt vegetables, she quickly righted herself and was on the other side of the alley in just a few steps. Her hand convulsively tightened around the hilt of the sword she’d swiped from a fallen town guard.
“Zào jiá!” one of the flower-girls stuck her head out of a doorway and pointed down the street, a fear-stricken expression on her face. “The temple is about eight streets down, just past the fountains.”
Zào jiá called her thanks, pulled her torn outer robe tighter around her shoulders and sprinted down the street. What meagre spiritual power she’d managed to gather, she was hauling around her like a beacon, drawing the creature to follow her and leave the townspeople.
Her bad luck and honed reflexes were also locked in a fierce battle. She tripped over debris in the streets and managed to right herself before she fell on her face, just a few strides ahead of the yao. Zào jiá came to the steps leading down to the square with the fountains and jumped down them, groaning as the landing jostled her probably-cracked ribs. She didn’t dare to turn as most of the streets were littered with the binu and weaker yao she had fought and killed over the past two days. The viscera that littered the ground made her slip a few times, and as she scrambled upright, she felt the yao’s claws slice over her head.

There! The temple was just ahead. The ambient spiritual power that surrounded a god’s shrine should be enough for her to defeat the creature. Her stamina was flagging, and she was starting to feel the blood loss from the numerous injuries that littered her body.
Zào jiá could feel it when she breached the temple’s grounds, the aura of divinity brushing against her skin like a cat twining around the legs of its master in friendly welcome. She skidded to a stop and thrust her hand in the air, palm to the sky, focusing on the plentiful spiritual power in the air to create a protective array. The monster hit the array with an audible crack and she gleaned a few precious moments to draw another array on the sword to strengthen it. She assessed the monster as it shook its head and pulled itself out of the ruins of the building it had smashed into. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted a weak spot in its armour. Summoning her remaining strength, she tightened the grip on her now-glowing sword and rushed the creatures. Like a graceful dance, she dodged two of the monster’s strikes and got in close to its neck. She jumped and stabbed the sword deep into the crack in its armour. Then she pulled it out and stabbed in a few more times, ignoring the creature’s claws raking down her back. The creature gave a great screech and toppled backwards. She let go of the sword and used the corpse as a springboard to flip to the ground. She landed in a puddle of blood and slipped, falling hard onto her backside. She immediately scrambled upright again but relaxed as she saw the creature in its death throes.

As silence fell over the town, the thunderclouds that had been steadily gathering throughout the day finally grew heavy enough and let down a torrential downpour. Zào jiá collapsed to the ground and let the rain attempt to wash away the accumulated blood and grime from her body. Her tattered clothes were soaked in a matter of minutes but she remained slumped on the ground, taking steadying breaths and trying to gather enough strength to stand up and find shelter.

Loud footsteps made her look back up and she saw the group of flower girls she had become fast friends with over the last few months of working as a guard at their brothel.
“Zào-jie!” the girls rushed over to her, holding oiled paper umbrellas and exclaiming over her state. They had edged past the monster’s corpse with wary looks and two were kneeling at her side, grabbing onto her arms and hauling her up. Her legs managed to hold her weight and she gave the girls an exhausted smile in thanks.

She caught a flash from the corner of her eye and pushed the two away, moving backwards faster than she would have thought possible in her state. Lightning cracked overhead and to her utter astonishment, she was hit by a Heavenly Calamity. She closed her eyes, willing her exhausted body to hold up to the divine trial and did what she did best…she just survived.

The world was no longer fire and excruciating pain and wet and tired. Instead, it was…bright? And light and warm.
Zào jiá opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a column of light in what seemed to be a glorious capital city. She blinked, the light disappeared and she collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. Slowly, like a rolling wave, sound flowed over her and she looked up to see a crowd of resplendent people surround her.

A woman, dressed in dark robes with matching circles under her eyes and carrying a pile of scrolls under one arm, made her way to the front and stared down at her. She frowned, seemingly trying to place the bedraggled new god on the pavement of the Grand Avenue of Divine Might. Her eyes widened slightly and she spoke haltingly, unsure.
“Your Highness, the crown…prince…of Xianle?”

The assembled crowd broke out in whispers.
“The laughingstock of the three realms?”
“That plague god? The one who ascended twice?”
“Can’t be…but the last time we had such a destructive ascension was him.”
“Is he a crossdresser now?!”
“No, you idiot, obviously not, look at her-”
"-female form?"
“Is she bleeding?”

Xie Lian pulled the tattered rags of her robes closer around her, tucked some of her chestnut hair behind one ear and gave a friendly wave to the assembled gods.
“Hello everyone, I’m back.”

Ling Wen was staring at Xie Lian with a blank expression. “Your Highness, the Emperor is not here currently. Would you like to come to the Palace of Ling Wen for now? You can get cleaned up and I should have some robes that will fit.”

Xie Lian nodded with not inconsiderable relief. She was so exhausted, she didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. The last thing she’d wanted was to ascend again. Never mind doing so while being half naked and covered in wounds.

Ling Wen turned as if to walk away and Xie Lian made a soft sound of distress that made the civil god pause and look back over her shoulder.
“Could I have some help getting up?” Xie Lian asked with a wry smile. Her limbs were feeling like lead.

Ling Wen motioned and two guards came forward to help Xie Lian stand. They supported her to the entrance of Ling Wen’s palace, where she was handed over to a group of zombie-like junior officials. Xie Lian wondered if the Ling Wen Palace was going through a busy time since none of the officials looked like they’d slept in a week.

With a delighted gasp, Xie Lian entered the bathhouse. She hadn’t been able to bathe in a few days due to the yao attacks and the water smelled divine. She hadn’t been in a bathhouse this nice…probably since the time she’d lived in Yong’an.

Once she’d undressed, the official took away her tattered robes and left her to enjoy the water. Ruoye unwound from her forearm and dipped one of its ends into the water as if to test the temperature. Xie Lian giggled at its antics but stopped when she heard the happy sound echoing around the room. She hadn’t laughed in a while, she realised.
“Go on, Ruoye. You deserve a wash. I’ll choose a fragrant soap for you,” Xie Lian encouraged and the silk band dove into the water, frolicking like a strange, flat eel.

Xie Lian sighed as she sunk into the water. It felt boiling against her frozen skin, but oh so good. It soothed her aching muscles and she just relaxed in the water for a few minutes.

She'd sunk into the water up to her chin when the official knocked (Ruoye diving to cover the cursed shackle around her neck) and left folded robes in one of the baskets by the wall. She unfroze from the unwelcome feeling of Ruoye curling loosely around her neck once the silk band had uncurled and started drying itself by flying through the bathhouse in increasingly complicated patterns.

Realizing that Ling Wen probably had a lot of questions and that she should probably explain everything to someone at least, Xie Lian reached for the soap and hair oil that had been left for her.

Xie Lian had pulled on the borrowed robes but it felt strange to wear black after so long wearing light-coloured clothing. And spotting her reflection made her heart jump. It reminded her of Wu Ming...The loyal little ghost had sacrificed himself for her in one of the darkest moments of her life.

She pushed away those memories and feelings, swallowed the lump in her throat (reassured by a clean and dry bandage around her neck and Ruoye in its usual spot around her forearm) and turned on her heel to exit the room. A junior official was sitting by the door, surrounded by scrolls. She looked up with a vaguely confused expression at the disturbance, then gathered up the scrolls, waving away Xie Lian’s offer of help. She led the way down a pristine hallway to what seemed to be Ling Wen’s office. The heavenly official was sitting behind a large desk piled with paperwork. The official unceremoniously dumped their pile of scrolls on one of the chairs littering the room and swiped away the cold cup of tea at Ling Wen’s office.

Ling Wen looked up at their entrance, then froze, her eyes trained on Xie Lian.

Xie Lian bowed. “Thank you for your assistance, Ling Wen Zhen Jun.”

The civil god blinked and nodded, motioning for Xie Lian to sit down on one of the chairs in front of her desk. Ling Wen tilted her head, looking like a curious bird, an unexpectedly cute gesture from the usually austere woman.

Xie Lian smiled. “I assume you’d like to know why the crown prince of Xianle is now a woman?”

Ling Wen’s stare intensified for a moment before she curtly nodded. “I assumed with your…cursed shackles…” Ling Wen’s eyes drifted to Xie Lian’s bandaged neck before snapping up to her face again. “I assumed you wouldn’t have enough spiritual power to change forms. And it's not really something associated with you…Rumours are already abounding. It would be useful to know the truth,” she allowed.

Xie Lian returned her nod. “Well, to put it simply, it’s not a different form. I’ve always been a woman.” Ling Wen’s glare now contained a hint of disbelief, but Xie Lian continued undaunted.

“Since my mother was not strong enough to bear more than one child, I was raised as a boy and taught all the skills needed for a crown prince to rule. But then I showed great promise in cultivation and my parents’ worries about my heirs were nullified. And you know my history, Ling Wen, being the keeper of knowledge for the heavens. There was never a good time to reveal my history. But during my banishment…let’s just say that circumstances changed and I decided to finally start living as my real self. And to even my surprise I ascended for a third time…this time apparently as a martial goddess.”

“Which is exceedingly rare,” Ling Wen continued. “Mortals usually put their faith in male martial gods. You may find it extremely hard to find worshippers. Or they may cause you to change form to match your original crown prince persona. As you may know, I regularly have to change to my male form for festivals.”

Xie Lian smiled serenely. “Different forms do not bother me. I know who I am.”

Ling Wen looked away and started shuffling through the papers on her desk. “Be that as it may. You caused quite a stir in the heavens and left quite a lot of damage in the wake of your ascension. To be precise, 8.88 million merits’ worth. Several palaces were toppled and a bell even fell on a heavenly official.”

Xie Lian looked unperturbed. “My apologies. That was unfortunately beyond my control. I don’t even have a 1,000th of that. But I don’t mind helping where I can. Anywhere my bad luck won’t make things worse.”

She paused, “Is the heavenly official alright?”

Ling Wen’s eyes lightened slightly as if in slight amusement. “The official is uninjured, but the bell was cut in half.” She dropped her head in her hands and sighed. “I feel inclined to assist you, Your Highness. The emperor has left me with a task that may be suited to your specific expertise.”

Ling Wen resumed rifling through the papers on her desk and made a small sound of triumph when she unearthed the right scrolls. She handed it to Xie Lian, who unrolled it and quickly scanned it.

The martial goddess beamed at her. “Yes, this does sound like something I can help with. Thank you.”

Ling Wen stood up, indicating that the conversation was at an end. “Do you need a spiritual device?”

Xie Lian shook her head. “Since my spiritual powers are still sealed, I won’t be able to use it once I’m back in the mortal realm. But don’t worry, I should be able to manage without.”

Ling Wen ruffled her brow but nodded curtly and bid Xie Lian farewell.

When a junior official came into the office with a new cup of tea, he found Ling Wen staring blankly at the doorway. He called out to her questioningly and Ling Wen shook her head, seeming to pull herself together once more.

“We’re behind on the reports from the palace of Nan Feng. Send someone to tell those meatheads to hand in their reports in the next two days or I’m sticking them all with security duty for the next six months!”

Chapter Text

Xie Lian sat down at one of the tables in a roadside tea shop and ordered a pot of tea from the elderly shopkeeper. She was the only patron in the shop and intended to use the quiet to peruse the scroll detailing her new mission. She was withdrawing the scroll from her sleeve when she felt a glimmer of spiritual power. She turned to see a beautiful silver butterfly flit past the widow. She impulsively reached out a finger and was delighted when the ethereal creature perched upon it. They sat looking at each other for a few moments, Xie Lian beaming at the creature and marvelling at its intricate lace-like wings before it flitted away through the window again.

As she watched it go, Ling Wen’s voice resonated in her personal communication array, and she touched two fingers to her temple.
“Your Highness? Two junior officials have volunteered to assist you on this mission,” Ling Wen greeted her. “They should be on their way.”

Xie Lian’s attention was pulled back to her surroundings and she realised that two people had sat down at the table with her. They were both scowling and she reflexively asked Ling Wen, “Are you sure they volunteered? Because they do not look happy to be here.” But Xie Lian’s meagre reserves of spiritual power had run out and she lost contact with Ling Wen.

Xie Lian lifted her fingers from her temple with a wry smile and addressed the two officials with a friendly smile. “Hello. Ling Wen just told me you two would be assisting me. Thank you. Who might you two be and from which palaces do you hail?”

The tall, muscled young man with dark hair introduced himself as Nan Feng, from the palace of Nan Yang. The scowling woman with hair a shade lighter than Xie Lian’s was called Fu Yao and she was one of Xuan Zhen’s deputies.

Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. To think that subordinates of her former deputies and friends were the ones to come to her aid! She could only hope that their deputies got along better than their generals. The two generals of the South were famous for never getting along. Even their followers had a fierce rivalry going, to such a degree that you would rarely find temples to them both in the same town.

“Oh!” Xie Lian said, instead of following her impulse to cover her face with her hands and groan. “Were you ordered to come here by your generals?”

Both deputies shook their heads. “He doesn’t know.” “I volunteered.” The two spoke in unison then glared at each other again.

“Then do you know who I am?” Xie Lian said. If Ling Wen had somehow tricked these two into working for the Laughingstock of the Three Realms, she’d rather they find out now and leave, instead of in the middle of some or other crisis during the mission.

But to her surprise the duo not only knew who she was, they also started squabbling about who would be the most useful. Before Xie Lian had to intervene, they were luckily interrupted by a commotion outside the tea shop.

Xie Lian was the first one out of the door and she paused after a few steps when she saw that a girl had disrupted a wedding procession heading past the tea shop along the road up the mountain. The girl had pushed past some of the guards and attendants and pulled open the curtains shielding the interior of the bride’s palanquin.

“Miss! Don't trust them. This is dangerous!” she shouted as one of the guards dragged her away.
She had a firm hold on one of the curtains and the rough yank was enough to destabilize the palanquin. Xie Lian took a step closer, with some idea to catch the bride as she tumbled out of the carriage.

But she stopped when it was revealed to be a wooden doll. Instead, her gaze snapped back to the girl when one of the guards shouted at her and pushed her to the ground.

In a flash, Xie Lian knelt at her side with a gentle expression. “Can I help you stand, miss?”

The girl looked at Xie Lian with wide, startled eyes and nodded. Xie Lian helped her up and noticed that her skirt had a long tear in the back. She bent and told the girl in a whisper. “I could help you fix it,” she offered, but the girl refused, thanking her before scurrying away.

Before the ruffian guard could take more than one threatening step towards Xie Lian, a loud thump reverberated through the air. The crowd turned to see that Nan Feng had slammed his fist into one of the tea house’s pillars. The next moment the pillar crumbled and a part of the shop collapsed. It shocked the few passers-by, as well as the interrupted bridal procession into dispersing and left the trio of heavenly officials to face the wrath of the shop owner.

This time Xie Lian did drop her face into her hands and groaned. Then she took a deep breath, fixed a gentle smile in place and strode toward the tea shop owner, who was shouting at Nan Feng.

A large amount of silver and almost half an hour later, the tea shop owner’s temper had been soothed and his pockets were considerably heavier. He was in a good enough mood that Xie Lian had dared to enquire about the bridal procession. But the old man frowned and made a sign to ward off evil, looking like he’d rather kick them out of the undamaged part of the shop than answer. He was gracious enough, however, to point them to the nearest temple. Xie Lian had planned to ask around if anyone had a barn they could sleep in for the night, and if not, to find a nice clearing in the forest to curl up in. She’d done it often enough in the past, and sleeping on grass was a lot more preferable than a city gutter or alley. But Nan Feng and Fu Yao had recoiled in horror at the idea, and Nan Feng had instead inquired about local temples.

Since Ming Guang was the general in charge of the region, they’d expected to find one of his temples nearby, but to their surprise, the town only had one for Nan Yang temple. Nan Feng smugly led them inside, bickering loudly with Fu Yao. The temple was clean with plenty of offerings piled on the tables, Xie Lian was happy to note. She was starting to feel hungry and was glad not to have to scrounge for dinner.

The trio made themselves at home at a table at the back of the temple and Xie Lian produced a pot of tea, procured from the tea shop before they left. She poured them each a cup of tea, which the two deputies ignored in favour of exchanging insults regarding their generals and their reputations.

Xie Lian took a sip of her tea, considered a tray of mantou on the offerings table, and then decided to get business done first. She unrolled her scroll and loudly cleared her throat to draw the attention of her companions. The two junior officials immediately went silent and turned to face her, each choosing an opposite end of the table to sit at, as far away from each other as they could manage.

“So, to get to business…what do you know about our mission?” Xie Lian asked. When they shook their heads and Fu Yao shrugged, she continued. “Well, we are mainly here to see if we can find and eradicate what the locals call a ghost groom. According to Ling Wen’s information, a bride went missing on Mount Yujun over a hundred years ago. She and her groom were deeply in love. When the time for the wedding came, the bridal procession set out for the groom’s house, but they never arrived. When there was no sign of his bride or her procession, he went to look for her at her parents’ house. But they were baffled and just as worried, as they’d happily seen her off long ago.

“Both families reported the case to the authorities, but even after an extensive search, they couldn’t find anything. If the party had been attacked by wild animals on the mountain, wouldn’t they have found blood, torn clothes or even the wreckage of the bridal sedan? But it was as if the entire procession had disappeared into thin air.

“Some people started to suspect that the bride didn’t want to get married, so she conspired with the procession to run away. But a few years later the same thing happened. Only this time, they found a half-eaten foot.

“In the hundred years since, seventeen brides have gone missing around Mount Yujun. No one could figure out why. Sometimes years went by between incidents, sometimes two brides would disappear in the same month. This all led to the legend of the ghost groom. The people believed that if a bride caught his eye, he would kidnap her and devour the bridal procession to leave no witnesses. But since few brides came to this area and the ghost groom did not catch many others, the heavens never paid any attention to these incidents.

“The matter was finally brought to the attention of the heavens by the father of the seventeenth stolen bride. He was a powerful official who dearly loved his daughter. He had heard about the ghost groom, so he carefully selected forty strong men to escort her to her groom, but she still disappeared.

“No one could help the official find his daughter, so he decided to turn to the gods. He and his friends made so many offerings and created such an uproar that the matter finally reached the heavens,” Xie Lian concluded.

Nan Feng took a thoughtful sip of his tea and frowned, “Do the brides have anything in common?”

Xie Lian shook her head. “No one has been able to figure out how the ghost groom chooses his victims. There’s no pattern.”

“Well, then how do they know it’s a ghost groom? If no one’s seen it?” Fu Yao asked with a sarcastic edge to her voice. She was ignoring the cup of tea in front of her.

Xie Lian smiled. “That is a very good point, Fu Yao. Nobody knows who is responsible. That’s exactly what we need to investigate.”

As the trio exchanged theories and ideas for their next move, Xie Lian absently noted that a girl had entered the temple to pray. At the sound of her voice, Xie Lian realised that it was the girl who had interrupted the bridal procession. It sounded like she knew something about the dangers of Mount Yujun. Xie Lian rose to her feet and approached the girl kneeling at the altar. As she heard the girl’s murmurs, the words ‘ghost groom’ caught her attention. Xie Lian cleared her throat and the girl was badly startled, springing to her feet with a scream.

Xie Lian held her hands up placatingly. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said in a soothing tone of voice.

The girl blinked at Xie Lian with a blank expression on her face, before seeming to recognise her. She put a hand on her chest to calm her racing heart and smiled at Xie Lian, before introducing herself as Xiao Ying. “Ah, kind jiejie. Thank you for assisting me earlier. Thanks to you, I could fix my dress before anyone noticed.”

Xie Lian returned her smile and introduction. “I am glad I could be of service. But pardon me, I couldn’t help overhearing you praying about the ghost groom?”

The girl’s pallor returned and she bit her lip, looking down at the ground, and then back at Xie Lian. “Ah, jiejie, you shouldn’t ask about that.”

“Why not?” interjected the gruff voice of Nan Feng.

The girl jumped in fright and then realised that two more figures had joined Xie Lian.

Xie Lian took a step closer to her and attempted to soothe her once again. “I apologize for my friends, we’re cultivators staying in the temple for the night. We heard about the ghost groom and have come to investigate.”

The girl’s eyes widened and she pressed a hand to her mouth. “Ah, I am so very glad you are willing to do something but it’s very dangerous. Although I guess three cultivators might manage-” she trailed off, staring at Xie Lian and her companions in clear speculation.

She stared at Xie Lian for a few moments before nodding once in a brisk manner, a determined expression on her face. “Then, how can I help?”

“Just don’t laugh,” Xie Lian warned Nan Feng as she adjusted her veil and walked around the privacy screen. She was greeted with silence and looked up to see the martial god looking at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

She patted at her red bridal outfit in concern. “Does it look too strange?” Xie Lian had never imagined herself in bridal red. In her youth she was so focused on her cultivation…and then after her banishments, it never crossed her mind. But it had been a while since she’d dressed up, so she couldn’t help but find it fun. And Xiao Ying seemed to be very confident in her make-up skills. But maybe…

Before Xie Lian’s thoughts could spiral, Fu Yao shook her head and answered Xie Lian. “No, Your Highness. Like I told you, you’ll make an adequate decoy. He’s just being an idiot.” Strangely, Nan Feng didn’t retaliate to her barb but continued to stare at Xie Lian for several more moments before he looked away, muttering.

While discussing their next course of action, the trio of heavenly officials had decided that the best way to find the ghost groom was to be in a bridal procession themselves. Xie Lian had been volunteered as the bride (as she had been unwilling to put an innocent girl in danger), while Fu Yao would be her attendant and Nan Feng, one of their guards. Nan Feng then went off to arrange for more guards to round out their party and hopefully make the procession more attractive to their target.

Xiao Ying, who turned out to be an assistant to the local village seamstress, offered to procure a wedding dress and help disguise Xie Lian. She was reserved but seemed delighted to assist Xie Lian. Fu Yao was also roped into helping Xie Lian dress and her scowl even seemed to lighten at one point, as Xie Lian and Xiao Ying laughed together.

There were a few awkward moments. While Xie Lian was stripping out of her clothes from Ling Wen, Fu Yao had stiffened. She had stared at Xie Lian’s bared arms and back, which were covered with healing wounds and bandages.

“Were you attacked, Your Highness?” she had asked in a brisk tone.

Xie Lian shook her head and recounted the circumstances of her third ascension. “I’m still recovering from that battle and my luck is so bad, I tripped heading here from the heavens and took a tumble into some thorn bushes,” she said matter-of-factly and pulled on her new wedding robes.

Fu Yao had stared at Xie Lian with a blank expression, then shook her head and walked around the martial goddess, tugging her outfit into place.
“Are you not going to remove the bandages around your neck?” Fu Yao had carefully questioned her, as they were adding ornaments to her hair.

Xie Lian had shaken her head. “Those are to cover my cursed shackle. It’s kind of conspicuous.”
Fu Yao had looked morbidly curious, opened her mouth, then shook her head and adjusted one of the ornaments.

Nan Feng helped her into the sedan and Fu Yao walked beside it. The swaying of the sedan chair was lulling Xie Lian into a relaxed state and she was enjoying the brisk mountain air. The trail had gone quieter as they left the more populated roads, but suddenly Xie Lian sat bolt upright. Was that…a child singing somewhere nearby?

“Nan Feng? Fu Yao? Do you hear that?” she called.

“What?” Fu Yao’s voice answered irritably.

“It sounds like a child singing.”