Chapter Text
The Heavenly Capital was just as radient and elegant as it usually was. It used to impress Hua Cheng, back when he'd first ascended. He'd grown up surrounded by filth, after all, and his ascension had only been after he'd spent a good few years as a ghost, so the first time he'd seen the glamorous, over the top residence of the Heavenly Officials he'd been in a state of complete awe.
He'd been even more shocked when he found out he'd get to stay.
That awe could only last so long, however, before he'd eventually gotten used to it. These days, walking through the Grand Avenue of Divine Might and towards the Palace of Divine Might felt more like a child may describe the act of walking to school. Ridiculously tedious for a reward that was only more tedious and boring. He was flattered that Jun Wu trusted him so much, but sometimes Hua Cheng was convinced the Heavenly Emperor was just bored.
Because there was no way that Hua Cheng could be needed by the Emperor again. He'd seen the man yesterday.
"Hoho!" A voice came from behind him, "Is that Crimson Rain I see?"
Hua Cheng rolled his eyes, recognising the voice instantly and being less than thrilled by who he'd inevitably have to talk to now. "General Ming Guang. I didn't realise you'd be on your way to see the Emperor at this time in the morning."
Pei Ming sped up his steps slightly so he could catch up with the other Martial God. "Oh trust me, I don't want to be here any more than you do." He sighed melodramatically. "Alas, The Emperor called me here as well, something about him wanting to meet with all the key Martial Gods. Did he not tell you the same information, Crimson Rain?"
Hua Cheng shook his head. "He doesn't give me details anymore. He knows I have nothing better to do so he just tells me to make my way over." He chuckled to himself, "The difference with you is that he assumes you're with a woman, so he gives you details to ensure you actually show up."
"As if I've ever skipped a Summons from the Heavenly Emperor."
"You did, once." Hua Cheng told him, "Three Centuries ago. I hope the lady was pretty enough because Jun Wu was livid."
Pei Ming stared at him, "Why do you remember that?!"
Hua Cheng just shrugged. "I like to remember who I'm better than."
If any other Heavenly Official had said such a thing to General Ming Guang, he probably would have started a fight right there in the street. But, strange as it sounded, this type of behaviour was expected from Hua Cheng, so nobody really took offense anymore.
Besides, it not like he would have been able to do much about it. Besides Jun Wu himself, of course, Hua Cheng was widely recognised as the strongest Martial God in the Heavens. When he'd first ascended, he'd been the Martial God of the East, but he'd ended up becoming so useful that Jun Wu forced him to give that role up and to become a Martial God of well...everywhere? If there was a problem one of the other Martial Gods couldn't handle, he'd be sent down to check it out even when he was only the Martial God of the East, and his worship had long since spread beyond the boarders of the East.
Now he had over twelve thousand temples spread across the mortal realm, and he simply went wherever there was a fight that needed handling. Had Pei Ming tried to fight him he'd have surely lost.
So the pair of Martial Gods continued walking and eventually arrived at the Palace of Divine Might, stopping a moment to check their appearance and to ensure they were presentable before making their way inside.
It seemed that they were the last two to arrive as well, as the rest of the Martial Gods were already there. Well, other than Quan Yizhen of course, but nobody really expected him to show up.
"Crimson Rain, Ming Guang!" Feng Xin said, using their titles as a greeting. "What a rare sight, seeing you two together."
Mu Qing scoffed next to him. "What took you so long? We were starting to think you'd gotten lost."
Pei Ming started apologising, but Hua Cheng cut him off.
"I think you'll find we're precisely on time." He said, glaring at Mu Qing. "And besides, you should really learn more patience. It's a skill that you'd probably benefit from having, and who knows, it might improve your personality a bit as well."
Mu Qing huffed. "Why you-"
"Silence, everyone." Jun Wu said, his echoing through the large hall. "Now that we're all here, let's start the meeting."
Pei Ming looked around, clearly confused. "But we aren't all here? We're missing the fluffy child."
"Did you really think he'd show up?" Mu Qing asked, "That immature brat wouldn't show up to a meeting even if someone was dying."
Hua Cheng would argue Mu Qing was more of an immature brat than Quan Yizhen was, but hey, maybe he was just holding onto a grudge from back when they were in Xianle together. (By maybe he meant he was. He hated Mu Qing's guts).
"As much as I probably wouldn't go so far as to phrase it like that, Mu Qing is correct." Jun Wu sighed. "So let's have this meeting without him, and someone can catch him up later. In all honesty, he won't be missing anything important, I simply needed to discuss some matters with you all about potential collaborations with the Elemental Masters."
The meeting lasted around a dozen incense times, half of which were spent watching Mu Qing and Feng Xin fighting once again - one day they'd get a room - before Jun Wu finally let them go. In Hua Cheng's not so humble opinion, that entire meeting could have been done through the Spiritual Communication Array and they'd have achieved the same result, but really who was he to question the Heavenly Emperor?
As soon as Jun Wu had given them all permission to leave, Hua Cheng had stood up instantly, one hundred percent prepared to leave and make his way back to his palace, where he could either lie down in his own boredom or train for the day, depending on how he felt when he got back, when Lang Qingqui called out to him.
"General Crimson Rain!" He shouted, running over to him. "Wait up!"
Hua Cheng didn't currently have any particularly strong opinions about Lang Qingqui. On one hand, he was incredibly naive and that was most definitely going to get him killed one day, but he was nice enough and hadn't personally caused Hua Cheng problems, so he preferred him over someone like, let's say, Mu Qing. Also, he could hold his own in a fight, which was more than Hua Cheng could say about some other fools who had managed to ascend.
"General Tai Hua, can I help you?" Hua Cheng asked.
He wasn't particularly in the mood to entertain a child right now, after all.
Lang Qingqui grinned, now walking next to him. "I was wondering if you were particularly busy later."
Hua Cheng shrugged. "Depends on why you're asking."
"Huh? How does that work?"
"Well I could be training my deputies, but my deputies could also be training themselves if I'm given a good enough reason to no train them myself." He smirked, "So you tell me, am I busy?"
Lang Qingqui nodded. "Ah. That makes sense, I suppose! Well, I have to patrol later, and I was wondering if you could perhaps accompany me? You used to watch over the East after all, so I assumed you might know what you were doing. Also, I'd normally just ask Lord Wind Master, but he said he was busy today, although I think he's actually just on a date with the Earth Master, but anyways he's not available so I thought 'Why not ask General Crimson Rain?' If you're not too busy that is."
Hua Cheng sighed. "Alright fine, I suppose I'm free."
"Really!" Lang Qingqui chuckled, "Alright, thanks! I appreciate that. Can we meet in around four incense times?"
Hua Cheng nodded. "That works for me."
"Cool, I'll uh, see you then!" Lang Qingqui said, before running off into the distance (Hua Cheng didn't particularly care to see where).
He continued walking along the Grand Avenue for a little while, waving at whichever Heavenly Officials tried to greet him, and began heading back to his palace. He was nearly there, in fact, when the Giant Clock started ringing loudly.
The Heavenly Officials all started looking at eachother excitedly, because they all knew what that sound meant: Somebody new was ascending.
Hua Cheng was more than willing to just ignore it and head back to his palace, he was sure he'd hear about the new ascension later in the Spiritual Communication Array, before he quickly realised this was no normal ascension. The ground began shaking beneath him, as if an Earthquake was making its way through the entire Heavenly Capital, with such intensity that buildings started collapsing.
Including the Giant Clock, which on any other occasion would have thoroughly amused Hua Cheng, watching it fall onto Mu Qing.
Except he could barely focus on anything else, not when hope was beginning to bloom in his chest like flowers at the start of spring. There was only one person who could cause this much destruction on an ascension, and that one person just so happened to be the God Hua Cheng had been waiting for from the moment he'd ascended, and years before that. He didn't want to let himself get too excited, especially seeing as there was a high chance it was actually some random, irrelevant person who'd managed to ascend like the rest of the fools.
But on even the slightest chance that it was actually his beloved ascending once again, Hua Cheng couldn't miss it, and so he ran over towards the direction of the tremors to go see who it was. He had to shove past a crowd of shocked Heavenly Officials, who let him through with very little resistance, before his was able to get a good view of what was going on.
And standing there, right in the center of the Grand Avenue of Divine Might, basking in the golden glow of his third Ascension was Xie Lian, looking just as gorgeous and ethereal and breathtaking as Hua Cheng remembered.
Fuck, Hua Cheng would have to cancel his patrol with Lang Qingqui.