Ash and Honey [BL]

Tian Han had adamantly resisted the plan, but one angry Tyrant Emperor wasn't getting in the way of Fu Ran's hunt. Besides, he was already multiple hours in on his current project: digging up the local graveyard.

"Why are you doing this?" The Tyrant Emperor crossed his arms and stomped his feet. The childlike reaction really did make him feel like an annoying student, but the size of his body was a firm reminder that this was still a grown man.

"I'm looking for something." Fu Ran gave a simple answer as he looked up from the deep hole of a once-buried grave. With what he figured was absolute defiance but also a firm and resolute statement, Fu Ran turned back around to begin digging once more. Small puffs of dirt were tossed up with the hope that he would cover the Tyrant Emperor with even just a small speck.

"Shizun, enough!" Tian Han growled. "You are already covered in dirt. It's under your nails and on your robes. Give me your hand." And just like that, his tone had turned into a demand.

Fu Ran's face lifted with a sneer. "And who are you talking to?" he griped. "I sure hope you aren't speaking to me like that. Or have you forgotten that right now, you are merely a guest on our mountain sect?"

However, the next words caught in his throat because Tian Han wore an expression that almost felt like a threat. His teeth were clenched, and his jaw was noticeably tight. Yet his hand was still outstretched for Fu Ran to take.

He absolutely didn't want to be buried today. A tinge of nervousness struck through his chest as he thought of the previous night's visions.

Compelled to do so out of survival, Fu Ran took Tian Han's hand and was promptly pulled out of the grave.

"Shizun, take off your outer robes too. It's filthy."

Why was he so upset over a little bit of mud, especially when it wasn't on him? Fu Ran's fingers touched at his purple robe, as if he were going to do as asked without question. However, beneath his favorite outfit, the inner layers were pure white.

No. He had a resounding thought.

He absolutely could not do that. It was merely asking his foresight to be correct, because when he thought about the previous night's dream, there was one major thing different from that version of him and his current state.

He wore all white.

All Peak Masters of An Xian Yun Peak were given the same inner robes to wear, and he was no exception. Though the ones from his dream were more akin to mourning robes, Fu Ran was unwilling to take any chances that could lead to his demise.

"Not happening," he said defiantly, clutching onto his inner collar.

"Why are you being stubborn about this?"

With the toss of his chin and his arms crossed aggressively, Fu Ran asked, "Does a little dirt really offend you?"

For just a moment, there was shock upon those golden eyes, and then a sullen look of guilt. Tian Han backed up a few feet away from the open pitfall recently created. Leaves of the red forest crunched below his feet, and he lowered his shoulders in defeat. "It isn't like that," he said.

Tian Han shed his outer robe and tentatively held it up to Fu Ran. "Please, forgive my shameless behavior. Will Shizun at least wear this instead?"

"You needn't call me Shizun," Fu Ran huffed, but took the robes anyway.

"Go sit down. I'll do the digging."

It didn't take more than a few moments of thought to realize that Tian Han was offering to take the brunt of the labor. Fu Ran couldn't find a reason to say no, so he agreed. "Fine," he said.

Looking past the graveyard was an elegantly large red shrine. Its detailing was pretty, yet traditional. Very fitting of Bei Zhangli. The porch that wrapped around the entire outside area had sliding doors on all four sides, though two of them looked busted open, and the inside was left in shambles. Fu Ran used the back of his hand to dust off some of the fallen maple leaves and sat.

Inspecting the condition of his gifted robes, he murmured, "Shizun would be so disappointed in me." They really were covered in dirt and grime. Swiftly, he swapped them for Tian Han's black ones. It didn't feel so bad if a dark color were to get dirty.

He only had one outfit while at the mountain sect, so wearing something new felt foreign and strange. However, the strangeness faded into marvel at the soft and high quality. Fu Ran could get used to the feeling of smooth silk against his neck and wrists.

The hardest thing to get used to was probably the scent.

Unlike the aroma of his favorite wisteria tree, this robe smelled of burnt wood. There was a sweeter scent underneath that too… was it honey? A grin pushed up his cheeks, and his brows lifted in relief. Fu Ran was amused, as it was oddly childish to assign scents of sweets to the Tyrant Emperor.

Pulling him away from his scrutiny, a shovel was stuck into the ground about three feet in front of Fu Ran. Tian Han propped on the handle just low enough to meet eyes with the sitting Peak Master.

Why did he look so happy? So content, and for absolutely no reason at all. Tian Han wore a sly grin, and his eyes were shaped like a crescent moon.

Before Wan Yu, that golden hue had never been seen before. Such poor luck. Fu Ran mentally groaned. The prettiest thing he'd ever seen on another person, and they had to be plastered onto the one man he couldn't stand.

Since it seemed like Tian Han was waiting patiently, Fu Ran humored him and asked, "What is it?" Fu Ran watched for any changes in his guest's expression. Nothing.

"Now, what does Shizun want me to dig up?" Tian Han's previous anger had faded away but was now replaced with a look of play. It was much easier to look at him when his demeanor matched his dream. Fu Ran didn't like it when he smiled.

"I am not your Shizun." His anger came out more than he would have wished, but he continued, "I am looking for a spirit vessel."

"This is a curse?" Tian Han looked shocked.

"Well." Fu Ran crossed his arms and looked about the rest of the clearing. There was nothing there but scattered headstones with names carved in them. "Try for yourself. If you feel for spiritual energy, do you feel anything at all?"

Sensing for spiritual presence around the shrine would reveal one truth: there were no resting spirits here at all. In places like graveyards, this was strange. Where there are things that are dead, there should be some semblance of spiritual presence.

When someone living passes on, the body still houses lingering amounts of energy. For the average person, this wouldn't be a large amount by any means. But the location should say it all. Average or not, a graveyard was filled with many. Therefore, there should be a presence.

And under normal circumstances, the dead cannot travel.

So the simple conclusion is, everything here was either destroyed or moved.

"The graves should reek of something, yet the bugs flying around the shrine have more energy."

Tian Han's look of shock faded into a soft smile. "Nothing gets past Shizun, does it?"

Fu Ran fought every urge in his body not to roll his eyes at another mention of "Shizun." A troublesome student will never learn and thus will make a troublesome adult too. For now, he let his torso collapse over his knees and propped his chin lazily up on a bent wrist.

Fu Ran waved Tian Han off to work. Go on, Tyrant! Do as you offered, he thought.