The two Martial Gods had delivered the food, then rushed away. They needed to get rid of that bubbling anger by sparring with one another.

Back in the palace of Xian Le, Luo Binghe poured a cup of tea.

He couldn't properly control the leverage of the teapot, so some residue of tea had spilt all over the table. Hua Cheng glared at the Demon Lord. Upon feeling the familiar threatening aura, Luo Binghe squirmed like a wronged child.

"Shizun..." He wanted to find someone to save him.

He met gazes with Shen Qingqiu, who shook his head, as if saying, "It's no use. Even I cannot overcome the darkness of Hua Chengzhu."

"It's fine." With a swipe of his sleeves, Xie Lian had evaporated the spilt tea into air.

As he did this, Hua Cheng's menacing aura had also withdrawn.

The gaze that Luo Binghe used to look at the scrap picker had changed as well. The Demon Lord seemed to find a person to save him from the Ghost King! As expected, Hua Cheng's only weakness was this Martial God, who lied about being a scrap picker...

"Your Highness," Shen Qingqiu had to change his calling. "What are you the God of?"

Xie Lian met eyes with the Peak Master. "I'm a Martial God."

"Wow." Wei Wuxian was pleasantly surprised. "How come Your Highness is a Martial God, even without a sword?"

Xie Lian waved his sleeves. "That was in the past."

In the back, Lan Zhan played a calming song on the guqin, as an accommodating piece of music. The strings were played lightly, like plucking petals of a flower. There was the sound of running water below bridges, and leaves drifting across the dashing winds.

"What did Your Highness used to do for fun in the past?" Wei Wuxian asked.

Xie Lian thought to himself, then answered, "There's practicing the sword... drawing... oh, and calligraphy." Suddenly, his eyes brightened. "Then, let's write some calligraphy!"

The others nodded with confirmation.

What they didn't know was, in the back, Hua Cheng had curled his hands up in a fist. His white knuckles had protruded out from his pale skin.

Unaware, Xie Lian had picked out a bunch of brushes, ink, and paper. He gave every cultivator their own set of materials, then began to teach. "Your every stroke has to be well-controlled in balance and weight, otherwise, the ink might wet the paper too much. If too light, you might not be able to see the word. Your arm must be propped up at a fine angle... this... right... and you hold your brush with elegance..."

Lan Zhan was the first to have a good skill of the brush.

He'd practiced at Cloud Recesses for a long time, alongside his brother. Thus, using the brush has become a regular activity for him.

Wei Wuxian was the next to grasp the skill. He'd always tried drawing with the ink and brush... to the point of even drawing porn to tease Lan Zhan (back in their teenager times).

"Wei-xiong! HanGuang-Jun! You two are naturals!" Xie Lian was excited.

He turned to look over at the other couple.

Shen Qingqiu was watching over Luo Binghe, who was drawing messy scribbles over the paper. The Peak Master corrected every single thing that his disciple had done wrong. At that point, Shen Qingqiu's chin had rested on his lover's shoulder, peering over at the paper.

Luo Binghe had stiffened at the touch. However, he melted into his Shizun's contact.

"Mhm... how do I write this word...?" Luo Binghe asked. Inwardly, his heart was beating so wildly that it was practically hammering against his chest.

Shen Qingqiu's breath had sprayed across his skin.

The Demon Lord's cheeks turned red, as he bit his lips.

Xie Lian, Wei Wuxian, and Lan Zhan, who were looking on from afar, "..." Yeah, perhaps, they should stop watching... for privacy... yeah, privacy. It's totally not because they couldn't stand the dog food.

"Let's continue." Xie Lian's eyes were bright.

He picked up his brush, and began writing with Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan. Although the latter two weren't as excited as the former, they still felt satisfaction towards the entire activity.

Meanwhile, there was a certain Ghost King who couldn't be excited at all.

Hua Cheng just idly stood there. He felt quite sour at the fact that Gege was more amiable to his friends than his actual lover... Even though Hua Cheng knew he had horrible handwriting, he couldn't help but want to impress Gege...

Scooting over, Hua Cheng sat closely to his lover.

He took out a brush, paper, and ink as well. Xie Lian's eyes went wide upon seeing this. "San Lang... you..."

Hua Cheng held the brush, then showed off. He blatantly splattered ink all over the paper, utilizing his brush to boldly strike across. The remaining three couples watched with dumbfounded expressions. Every stroke of the brush was feral and unkempt, as if it was a tiger lashing out its fangs.

"This..." Even Lan Zhan, who was a Master of keeping his emotions to himself... couldn't help but become stunned at the mess.

"What word are you writing, Hua Chengzhu?" Wei Wuxian asked.

Hua Cheng coolly showed off, "It's Gege's name."

The two couples turned to look at Xie Lian, who was rooted on the spot.

"Is this how your name is written, Your Highness?" Shen Qingqiu felt awkward.

Xie Lian, "..." No, nobody's name is written that way.

He began to sweat profusely underneath everyone's gaze. At last, Xie Lian couldn't handle all of the attention and directly spat out, "This is the way that San Lang likes to use to write my name. There are many styles you can use to write my name."

The two couples let out an understanding, "ohhh".

Hearing that, Xie Lian could finally calm down. He exhaled, and sighed.

"Then, how does Your Highness write your name?" Shen Qingqiu asked.

Xie Lian smiled gently, then took out a brush, dipped it in ink, then began writing his name. Every stroke was brimming of elegance, as if it was a piece of cloud floating atop of the skies.

"This is how I write my name." Xie Lian showed it off.

The two couples, "..." Wasn't this too much of a difference?

Xie Lian wasn't aware of their thoughts, but a certain Ghost King was. With a face that appeared like it was holding back all of its incredulities, Hua Cheng ripped his paper apart. The two couples had stared at Hua Cheng, clearly terrified for their lives. The paper he drew on had been ripped into shreds, then burned into ashes. The ashes had vanished into thin air, without a second trace.

While their attention was caught, Xie Lian quickly scribbled a small line on his own paper.

It read: "Body in abyss, heart in paradise".

The two couples didn't notice, but Hua Cheng did. The Ghost King's rage had immediately calmed down, and he bit his bottom lip in grievances.

"Hua Chengzhu..." Luo Binghe felt concerned.

He shrunk at the horrible aura that the Ghost King emitted.

"Let's do something different." Hua Cheng smiled, however that smile was quite threatening. It made the two couples all shrink back in fear. Only Xie Lian was immune to the terrifying aura, and he turned to look at his lover's expression.

"What does San Lang want to do?" Xie Lian asked.

Hua Cheng withdrew his dark aura. "Let's do sculpture art, Gege."

The two couples found themselves standing before a giant block of iron. In their hands were carving tools, making them look like they were ready to carve the iron.

"This..." Shen Qingqiu was hesitant.

Hua Cheng felt happy to see the two couples' hesitation. The more that they suffered, the more his mood brightened. It was like the dark clouds began to separate, allowing the sun to shine through.

"Why don't you guys build a sculpture of Gege, then I'll let you guys off for the day?" Hua Cheng smiled.

The two couples were surprised.

"Let us off...?" Lan Zhan didn't know how to make heads or tails of this.

Wei Wuxian suddenly got an idea. "Does this mean we'll stop being... servants?"

Hua Cheng confirmed this with a simple nod.

At that moment, the two couples found a ray of hope shining down on their hearts. However, what Hua Cheng said next had crashed their hope back down against the dirty ground, "But I'll be judging the sculpture based on my own strict criteria."

After so many years of building statues of his Gege, Hua Cheng had fully grasped the arts of sculpting. Naturally, he'd be able to tell if the sculpture looks like his lover or not.

Hearing that, the two couples felt hesitant.

What if they didn't sculpt Xie Lian correctly? What if they made the sculpture ugly? Wouldn't Hua Cheng outright murder them?

"...h-how would you like us to carve His Royal Highness?" Wei Wuxian stammered.

Without hesitation, Hua Cheng whipped out a piece of painting. It was a portrait of Xie Lian, which the Ghost King drew to fantasize over.

The figure drawn of Xie Lian was graceful and beautiful, as if he was carved out of white jade. His royal clothing robes had flown like the tails and fins of fish, just constantly swimming past currents and dashing across the tidal waves. A pair of pearl earrings were pierced on the figure's ears, brimming with a glint of wealth.

The two couples were astonished at how beauteous this painting was drawn.

This picture of Xie Lian... well, all they knew was that he was drop dead gorgeous.

"Hua Chengzhu might suck at calligraphy, but he's most definitely decent at painting." Wei Wuxian gushed.

Lan Zhan keenly watched him, "Keep your voice low. You wouldn't want him to hear you."

Meanwhile, Hua Cheng, who was a Ghost King and could probably hear all of the heavenly officials from kilometres away, "..." He already heard them a long time ago.

"I'll carve the head." Luo Binghe said.

He swung his carving tools in a full 360 degree, with the blade only showing off a past image.

"No!" Wei Wuxian rejected him. "Xie-xiong's head and hair is soo distinct and pretty... how could we let your ugly hands carve that?"

Luo Binghe had a dark face. "I don't have ugly hands! Shizun can confirm that!"

Shen Qingqiu back him up. "It's true. Binghe's hands are really pretty..."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Wei Wuxian shut them up. "I'm saying that your Binghe is clumsy and he wouldn't be able to carve His Royal Highness' head properly!"

"Binghe might be clumsy, but a statue's head shouldn't be a problem, right?" Shen Qingqiu had high expectations.

However, as Luo Binghe took a closer look to the portrait that Hua Cheng drew, he found himself hesitating. He felt like he really shouldn't be carving the head! Or the body... or even the statue at all!

"So... Binghe," Shen Qingqiu looked dotingly at his lover. "Which part of the statue do you want to carve?"

Luo Binghe, "..." Can he just carve nothing?

But looking at the expectations on his Shizun's face, he suddenly got a flash of inspiration! "I'll carve the ground of the statue!"

The two couples, "..." Didn't you want to carve the head a second ago?

"Alright, the ground for Luo-xiong. Since he doesn't want the head, I will do it." Wei Wuxian proudly showed off.

Thy decided that Shen Qingqiu and Lan Zhan would work on the body and robes.

Thus, they began their day of carving at the iron...

"What is this made out of?" Wei Wuxian was exasperated. "How come my blade won't even make a dent?" He stabbed at the iron, which remained pure and coagulated.

Shen Qingqiu inwardly cried waterfalls of tears. If Wei-xiong can't carve it... then would I be able to?

"Actually," Lan Zhan had realized something. "If you use fire... it indents more easily."

Hearing that, the two couples began to ignite a ball of fire at their fingertips. They studiously began to carve (wreck) the block of iron...

"Why does this look like a frog?" When Xie Lian came back to check up on them, he was greeted by the statue of a menacing-looking creature, which had four legs and a large tongue sticking out.

If the two couples knew what Xie Lian was thinking, they would've told him:

The four legs were supposed to be the flower Your Highness held... and the large tongue was the sword...

"It's... the frog prince!" Shen Qingqiu casually began to ramble on the spot. "As long as you kiss it, the frog will be broken from the seal and become a prince!"

Xie Lian looked at him with confused eyes. "So you want me to kiss the statue?"

At that moment, Shen Qingqiu knew that Hua Cheng wouldn't let him off.

Shen Qingqiu: The frog can only be broken out from the seal... if he is kissed!

Xie Lian: Then why didn't anyone kiss him before? He's such a cute frog!?!

Luo Binghe: If you think that's cute, then... Your Highness... you must have some problems...

Wei Wuxian: Kiss kiss! Kiss the frog!

Xie Lian: Okay 🤗

Xie Lian: I kissed the frog... why didn't it turn back?

Shen Qingqiu: Hahaha... it turns out that the story was just a myth...

Hua Cheng: Tricking Your Highness and making him kiss a statue... so uncivilized... ◉◡◉

Wei Wuxian: Shen-xiong! Luo-xiong! Run!（｀〇Д〇）

Luo Binghe: Why am I also running? (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

CoolCool-Aid:（｀〇Д〇）I-I... I saw something unthinkable today at school. I know that I usually write... about dog food... but today was the first time I experienced PDA.

I saw... a couple kissing in front of me. Like... aren't I bothering them!?! I probably should not be there!?! Never once have I ever hated my own existence like-