Work Text:
Hua Cheng was dressed simply, lacking his usual raiment of bright silver adornments. Two dark eyes stared out of his face, and his hair was tied high on his head as he strode further into the cave. His followers had detected demonic energy emanating from inside one of its many winding caverns, and as Qi Rong’s self-proclaimed executioner, he had taken it upon himself to find the source.
It was an interruption from his singularly lonely and never-ending search for his Highness, but if Qi Rong had re-established his tacky cult, Hua Cheng would be there, as tradition established, to meet his face with his boot. Such filth did not deserve to continue in this world while his Highness still walked this Earth.
He meandered for some time until he picked up on the thread of energy, which led him to stand in one of the larger caverns of the cave system. But there were no green ghost lights to greet his sight as he had expected. Instead, he saw piles of greenery that could never have grown in the dim lighting of the cave. They were attached to the rocks and cave walls. Many were brown and wilted, but some were still green with life.
What was more unusual was their size. The flowers and surrounding shrubs were large enough to easily dwarf an average human. Only a single flower bloomed, its petals red and bright against the drab rock. The air was thick with humidity, like the air of an orchard growing house, and there was something else in the air, something familiar that he couldn’t place.
Hua Cheng stopped a ways away from the blooming flower and surveyed the mass of plants more closely. The leaves were unremarkable, but the flower drew his attention. The distinct petals and vibrant color were unlike any species of flower that commonly grew in the region, and it seemed more familiar the more he examined it.
The entire mass began to tremble, and Hua Cheng’s hand twitched for E-Ming as he watched it rustle with something that should not have resembled glee. The flower turned towards him with what seemed like human intelligence as it looked at Hua Cheng, looked right at him.
“Have we met?” The flower swiveled as closely as it could. It had the voice of a woman, deep and soft with the promise of something, “You seem familiar.”
Hua Cheng took a startled breath that filled his empty lungs when he finally recognized the flower from one of his oldest memories, kept secret inside himself.
He strived to always think of his god as righteous and virtuous, but as years turned into decades and then centuries of fruitless searching, he had felt something terrible and empty begin to consume him. During the worst of it, he couldn’t resist curling his hand around himself and remember the cave of blood and flowers.
His Highness had made such sounds, such whines and whimpers in the darkness of the cave, pleading for something the young mortal soldier did not understand. He had moaned and strained when the soldier brushed up against him, and his pleading, desperate eyes looked away in shame even as he writhed.
His Highness had been so kind to Hua Cheng by entrusting his safety to him that dark night. Now, all Hua Cheng could do for him with all the riches and resources at his disposal was shudder as he came into his own fist.
Anger simmered in him. How he longed to have the power of fire at this moment, to devastate and burn and watch this flower’s shriek as it and its kin writhed into ash. He forced himself to assume the cold airs of a Ghost King.
“You’ve existed too long for such filth. I’ll destroy you for what you did to his Highness,” he said as he drew E-ming from its sheath.
The large flower swayed, then trembled with laughter as it spoke, “Oh, I remember you now, little soldier from Xian Le.” As it laughed, its voice began to change from that of an alluring woman into a smooth man’s voice that almost sounded like—
Like—
The flower’s petals snapped closed all at once. The light odor in the air began to thicken perceptibly. He didn’t tremble in the slightest, because he was now a ghost that had come into immense power, and he had started to stalk forward to be rid of the evil thing when the petals opened.
It was His Highness The Crown Prince laid out upon them, and he didn’t have a shred of clothing on him.
Hua Cheng froze, then shook in rage. This nasty little flower had the gall to taunt him. He hadn’t seen that face for so long outside of cold and unfeeling stone that to see this illusion now, so alive and real, stirred feelings of both anger and ache in him.
“You dare?” He snarled as he faced the figure he’d longed after for centuries. His right eye flashed blood red at this false idol pretending to be The Prince Who Pleased the Gods. This charlatan looked just as he remembered his Highness, with warm eyes and kind face that was so out of place in this cave, among these demons.
This disgusting little monster didn’t deserve to imitate his image, his goodness, his love.
Hua Cheng growled as his hand tightened around E-Ming’s handle, ignoring the way its eye spun wildly and shook. He no longer had the time or the patience to play this little game. This trash and its ilk would pay for crossing him not once, but twice, and for distracting him from his search for his god.
A sudden burst of heat shot through him as he took what would have been a threatening step forward. Hua Cheng stumbled as he dropped his sword, knees hitting the ground as he held himself from falling forward. He gasped as the air became so thick he became lightheaded and dizzy, and it was all he could do to stay semi-upright.
He, oh —
He had never felt the effects of the Land of The Tender, not like his Highness had, but it was upon him now, he realized blurrily. He curled forward, unable to stop it, both forearms bracing him against the dirty ground as he shook and shook and shook.
He could distantly hear the steps of the Flower in its disgusting, alluring false form approaching him, but could do nothing as the poison consumed the raw power inside of him. It grew stronger off his essense until it had built a wild storm in his body, threatening to burst out of him.
He wanted to tear himself open with his own hands to escape, but he only managed to pant into his arm. His legs were barely holding him up, and he couldn’t have stood up if he tried.
Hua Cheng felt blind and unmoored as his other arm reached back. He jerked in surprise as he traced the already hard shape of himself in his pants and hissed at the stimulation.
A hand gripped the high ponytail Hua Cheng’s hair was gathered into and pulled his head back. Hua Cheng didn’t resist, too busy trying to plunge his hand into his pants but so crazed that his useless fingers slipped as he scratched at the opening.
He gave a frustrated growl as he locked eyes with the figure holding up his head.
The Flower had an expression on his face that the real Highness would never have, a sly, smug smile splitting his delicate features that Hua Cheng could see even as his vision blurred. “Are you having trouble, little soldier? Do you need some help?”
Hua Cheng was a wild animal, worn down to basic instincts. He tried to simultaneously wrench his head away from the Flower’s hold and move his other arm to also work at his groin, but he only succeeded in collapsing against the ground as he ineffectually pawed at himself. He arched with his hands fisted against him and knees scuffing against the ground, his ass in the air as he snarled in distress.
He was going to burn through himself if he couldn’t calm the roiling energy in him, he was going to lose himself to madness.
From behind, a foreign hand reached under the panel of his long tunic and gripped the band of his pants, pulling them down and ripping them open when they reached mid-thigh. Hua Cheng cried out in relief as his hands gripped his searing hot cock and stroked rapidly, his knees threatening to give out.
But as he stroked, he found that he could give himself no relief. Precum dripped from his cock, but he could not find his release, and he cried out again as the energy built and built without reprieve.
Then arms took him by the waist and flipped him onto his back. His legs fell open and something unbearably warm and wet engulfed his cock. Hua Cheng’s hips thrust without his control, and he stared, unseeing, at the roof of the cave. His hands met something soft and silky as they moved between his thighs, and he gripped it tightly.
There was a strange guttural sound in the air, and it was only from the sensation in his throat that he realized it was him, mouth open and groaning uncontrollably.
He felt like a live wire, and barely even twitched at the pain when something thin, wet, and dexterous entered his ass and stroked something within him until his groans became cries. He threw his head back until he felt his neck strain as the energy within him released into the warm, wet thing surrounding his cock in clenching, unending, shaking spurts.
Hua Cheng’s chest heaved as he gasped for breath in the heavy and humid air. The heat in him was still unbearable and he wanted more, needed more.
Slowly, he became aware of soft laughter. He raised his head to see the demon with his Highness’ face staring back at him. Its beautiful face was no longer sneering and mocking, and its encouraging smile replaced the few remaining sparks of his anger with something desperate.
He whined reflexively as he shifted and noticed something slick between his legs, and he couldn’t help himself as he dipped a curious finger to find himself open and wanting.
“You see?” The Flower said, “It’s not so bad when you give in to it.” Something sinister flashed in his eyes, but his expression was open and kind. “If you want more, get on your knees. I liked seeing you on your knees.”
Hua Cheng wanted to protest. He tried to find the fury to destroy the thing in front of him, but another wave roiled through him and he shuddered helplessly as the poison pulled him back under its spell. He would—he would deal with the thing later.
He shifted around and back onto his knees, his arms propping him up despite the fine tremble that had started in them. His unadorned boots were still on, along with his long slitted tunic that afforded him a shred of modesty. The front panel hung between his legs as he spread them, but the Flower lifted the back to hang over his side as his ass was exposed to the open air.
Hua Cheng shivered. He felt so vulnerable, so dirty. He could feel eyes tracing up his long legs to his opening, shining wetly as his hole twitched.
Hua Cheng jolted in place as he felt a thumb trace around him. The thumb then rubbed him firmly right where he opened, and he gasped as he rocked back to slip it into him. There was a roaring in his ears and he could hear the Flower speaking, but could barely register the words.
“- your hole? You want me to come into your slutty-”
“Please!” the plea burst from Hua Cheng’s lips before he could even register doing so.
He couldn’t stand it, such words being spoken from his Highness’ sweet mouth, pretender or not. If he were in his right mind he would have snapped and torn through this weed with his sword, but he could only think about what he wanted this moment, for something to fill the aching need deep within him.
Something much thicker and harder than fingers pressed against him for only a moment, then shoved forward. He gave an undignified gasp of shock as it smoothly pushed in without giving him the chance to adjust. It opened him up and carved him into its shape as it reached deep inside him. Hua Cheng’s arms gave out under him as the Flower started a relentless pace, pulling and pushing deeper, deeper.
Hua Cheng couldn’t even close his mouth. His head buzzed, and his arms lay heavily next to his head. Only the Flower’s grip on his hips held his knees up. He choked and drooled against the ground as the cock drove against the most sensitive parts within him, sending sparks of sensation through his twitching limbs.
He had never taken anything other than his fingers on quiet, shameful nights, and he couldn’t process what he was feeling. He felt like he was melting from the inside as something hot and liquid pooled in his abdomen.
He was being fucked like an animal in heat, like a mere slick hole to be used for pleasure, and knowing this only made him leak harder until he was dripping, his head filled with wool. Maybe he would stay open like this for the thing behind him to take over and over again. Was it the poison driving him to madness, he wondered, half-crazed, or was it all him, just something inside him that begged for humiliation and only needed this chance to overcome him and show who he really was, not a powerful being, but just a useless little—
His orgasm came searing through him so quickly he found himself emptying on the ground untouched as he clenched around the thick cock inside him. Waves of sensation passed through him and he could only soundlessly cry out and writhe through it.
He tensed and shook as the Flower continued to fuck him through his orgasm. It quickly became too much, too soon, and he squirmed to get away, weak-limbed and shaking as he felt his cock stir again. Behind him, he heard a warm laugh through his desperation and was let go.
Hua Cheng lay slumped on his side, breathing harshly. He felt used and empty, but the poison still baked within him, forcing his poor, used hole to clench on nothing, wanting more. He shuddered. Maybe the poison would stay within him forever, ebbing and flowing as he came over and over again, reduced to a writhing, defenseless thing.
Time slipped away from him, and Hua Cheng came back into awareness resting against the wall of the cave. He stirred when he felt a gentle hand brushing his loose hair to the side.
Hua Cheng’s eyes focused unsteadily, and he stiffened when he registered His Highness’ face only inches away from his, so close that Hua Cheng could smell the sweet and intoxicating scent of his hair, his breath, his skin. It only intensified the poison’s burn, so much that he didn’t dare move.
“There you are,” the Flower said fondly, all his Highness, all Xie Lian, “I was wondering when you’d come back.” Hua Cheng was too struck by the glimmer of a light in his eyes to protest. His god was just as he remembered: round eyes, soft cheeks, long nose, and delicate lips that were partially open to reveal a sliver of his wet, pink tongue.
Hua Cheng shuddered as they breathed in each other’s air. He tried to remember that this was nothing but a well-crafted shell and summon his disgust, but he was failing with his Highness so warm in his lap and his arms wrapped around Hua Cheng’s bare shoulders. Hua Cheng’s clothes had been removed and hair undone, and he would have been completely exposed to the Flower if it weren’t for his false form of a perfect Ghost King with two eyes and pale, unmarked skin.
The Flower tilted his head as if in contemplation, then slowly shifted and groaned in appreciation. It was only then that Hua Cheng realized he was also seated deep inside the Flower’s body. His cock twitched as he registered the tight, warm heat engulfing him all at once.
“Ahh,” Hua Cheng gasped, overwhelmed, “Ahh-hahh!”
His hands twitched at his sides and moved to grip the soft, giving flesh of the other’s ass as he mindlessly thrust upward. It was too easy, too good, as if it were a natural reflex to bury himself further into his Highness’ warm, willing hole.
The Flower threw his head back to reveal his pale, smooth throat as he gasped and rocked his hips back onto Hua Cheng’s cock, shifting his legs on either side of Hua Cheng’s hips. There was a light blush on his cheeks that deepened into a flush as their movements punched little, needy moans from the Flower.
Hua Cheng was teetering on the edge when their eyes met again. The Flower smiled a smile that reached his eyes and leaned forward to kiss Hua Cheng on the side of his cheek. He whispered into Hua Cheng’s ear, “Is this what you’ve always wanted?”
Hua Cheng, trembling, ceased thrusting as the Flower moved back to cup Hua Cheng’s face gently in his hands. The Flower lowered Xie Lian’s long, doe-like eyelashes as he leaned forward again to meet his lips in a gentle, sweet, and loving kiss, like the brush of butterfly wings. Just like the real Xie Lian could have, but would never, because Hua Cheng was a wretched, sick monster who tainted the things he loved most in the world. He didn’t—
Hua Cheng broke the kiss with a jerk of his head and leaned back as far as he could from the Flower. He pressed his own arms against his chest, putting as much space as possible between the two of them as he clutched at himself, his head turned to the side.
“No,” he whimpered, “No—”
“What’s wrong?” Xie Lian’s face frowned and tried to meet Hua Cheng’s eyes, “Xiao Hong, talk to me. You can tell me anything.”
Hua Cheng covered his ears and shook.
It placed Xie Lian’s hand on one of Hua Cheng’s wrists, and opened Xie Lian’s perfect, petal-pink lips, “I love you so—”
“STOP IT,” Hua Cheng screamed, and inhaled sharply as the poison broke something in him. He couldn’t stop it as his power fluctuated and his ghostly facade broke.
He whimpered and clawed at his right eye as it sank into him until there was nothing left in the socket, and long jagged scars ran vertically across the pitted flesh. He could feel the poison rush to fill the last of the empty spaces as his power fled. It was excruciating. The poison dug its claws deep into his true form, all of his barriers stripped away.
“Oh, sweet thing,” the Flower laughed as he placed a mocking kiss on Hua Cheng’s scarred eyelid, “I’m sorry, that was mean.” His fingers traced Hua Cheng’s stomach where the flesh rose unevenly in the shape of an ugly scar the exact width of a sword blade.
The Flower brushed away the tears Hua Cheng couldn’t hold back as Hua Cheng began to weakly pump his hips again, unable to stop even for a moment as the poison forced his aching hips to plunge his cock into any stimulation he could find, even as he cried.
Hua Cheng came like that, exhausted and moaning brokenly into the Flower’s sweet mouth.
He barely registered it when the Flower laid him out on the ground, arranging Hua Cheng’s ass in his lap and legs spread around his hips. The Flower’s cock slid once again into his warm, slick heat, still loose and open. When the Flower began to shallowly rock his cock in and out, Hua Cheng groaned and his eyelid fluttered.
He had nothing left to give, but the poison still refused to release him. It stirred his poor used cock again as he reacted to the sparks of sensation from the feeling of the Flower’s cock dragging on his tender insides.
The Flower smiled as he took in the sight of Hua Cheng splayed around him. Hua Cheng’s hair was mussed and wet where it stuck to his mouth, his neck, the divot between his chest as he heaved for breath he didn’t need. His eye was glassy and unfocused.
The Flower’s hand traveled from his hip to grip Hua Cheng’s cock in a loose hold. Hua Cheng twitched and made a weak sound in his throat.
“Please,” he whispered, his entire body spasming in oversensitivity when the Flower gave him a slow, leisurely stroke. His cock was so sensitive, and his rim overused and raw. His legs attempted to close around the Flower’s hips, but even then Hua Cheng couldn’t stop, couldn’t stop from fucking himself onto the cock spreading him open in little abortive jerks as the Flower’s hand continued its movement. “Please.”
“Please what?” The Flower asked, “Please stop? But look at you,” he continued, watching Hua Cheng’s open face as the Flower’s cock finally brushed against the most sensitive spot in him, “Look at how lovely you are laid out like this, begging for me with your tight-,” He suddenly thrust sharply. Hua Cheng cried out,
“- little-,” another sharp thrust,
“-ass.” Once more, and that was enough for the new tears gathering in Hua Cheng’s single eye to flow as he squeezed his eye shut, arched his back away from the ground, and screamed in a single desperate shout. He throbbed in the Flower’s grip, his heels scrabbling in the damp dirt as his toes curled and his legs twitched violently around the Flower’s waist.
“No more,” he sobbed, “Please, no more.”
The Flower shushed him, the hand that was not on his cock coming up to wipe away Hua Cheng’s tears with his thumb, “Just one more, sweet thing, just one more and you can rest.”
His Highness was so beautiful, so adoring and kind even as Hua Cheng disappointed him. He looked like he always had, like Hua Cheng was worthy of his love. Hua Cheng leaned into his caress and exhaled shakily.
Reduced to only his hole and cock, he could only lay back and let the Flower take the last of him. He mewled weakly as the Flower curled his forefinger and thumb in a tight ring around his head and twisted to rub the underside of his oversensitive glans over and over again.
His orgasm built slowly in him, and Hua Cheng tried to fuck himself harder onto the Flower in desperation to please him and end it, even as his aching body protested.
When he finally felt the heat in him burst he almost cried out in relief, but could only shake as a clear fluid dribbled down his cock and over the Flower’s fingers.
Hua Cheng could barely clench, but the Flower seemed entirely satisfied, like he had just eaten a delicious meal. He almost seemed to glow from within as he looked approvingly at Hua Cheng, and hummed a tuneless note as he pulled out and shifted upwards his body to lazily straddle his chest. One hand moved perfunctorily over his cock and the other gripped Hua Cheng’s head tightly enough to keep him still.
Hua Cheng realized what the Flower wanted to do, but his arms were pinned to his sides by the other’s legs, and he could only protest by forcing his hands up with the last of his strength to weakly press against the Flower’s lower back. Hua Cheng’s legs had long since given out, and he was unable to kick against the ground. The poison had finally drained through him, and he was struck by a wave of exhaustion as being fucked out over and over again caught up with him at last.
He could only look up at the Flower’s hand stroking his cock above him, Hua Cheng’s eye bleary and still reddened from the remains of tears clumping his eyelashes together.
He breathed in sharply as the musky scent of the Flower’s cock washed over him when the Flower leaned closer. He stopped straining and went limp as the head of the Flower’s cock brushed against his lower lip in the mockery of a kiss, leaving behind a clear trail of precome over his quivering lips. The Flower smiled with Xie Lian’s sweet, beguiling face.
“My poison has already left you, and still you beg for it,” he twisted Xie Lian’s face with a sneer, “You’re perfect for this. I should keep you in my petals, open and ready to be fucked whenever I need a nice meal.” He laughed lightly when the ghost beneath him whined.
The Flower groaned as his hand sped up, “You’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted, so desperate, so lonely you’d let a demon like me put its hands on you as long as it’s wearing this face.”
Hua Cheng could have answered him, but he didn’t, and lay there with his eye wet and lips trembling. He was simply a receptacle, a pretty thing, for anything the Flower gave to him.
“Open your mouth.”
Hua Cheng did, and lay there submissively as the Flower held his cock to Hua Cheng’s lips and came in long, thick strips of come across his eyelashes, his cheeks, his nose, his open mouth like a prayer, like a blessing.
When the thick, bitter taste hit Hua Cheng’s tongue, he couldn’t stop himself from moaning out soft, breathy sounds. It was so good, so satisfying. If the Flower had changed his mind right then and slid back into him, Hua Cheng would have willingly held himself open and begged the Flower to let him keep coming around his Highness’ cock until he was full and bursting.
He wanted to, but he was drained and barely conscious.
“Mm,” the Flower sighed as he lazily stretched out and dragged his fingers to gather the come down Hua Cheng’s face and push it into his still open mouth, rubbing the come on his tongue, “That was wonderful. Swallow.”
Hua Cheng choked, but swallowed.
When he had cleaned most of Hua Cheng’s face with his fingers, the Flower brushed his hands through Hua Cheng’s damp hair in long, soothing motions.
“Rest now, sweet thing.”
Hua Cheng’s eyelid drooped as he lay there, head lolling to the side, and he couldn’t twitch in protest even if he wanted to as the Flower continued to stroke his hair. He breathed in, out, and drifted quietly.
Nearly unconscious, he was distantly aware of soft touches on his empty eyelid, on his cheek, then on the corner of his lips.
Xie Lian?
Then he was already gone.
When Hua Cheng awoke, he found himself lying on his side on the bare ground of the cave, but when he moved his arm to push himself up, he found that he had been completely cleaned and his tunic had been laid over him.
When he looked toward the cave wall, he was surprised to see only brown clumps of dried and dead shrubs. The large flower was gone.
The memories washed over him, and he felt sick as he stood on unsteady legs. But there was a spark of relief, too. For a while, at least, he could pretend that he had found his Highness, and that it was his Highness with him, holding him, loving him.
He took a deep, shuddering breath. His form shimmered and flexed as it took several tries to assume a more acceptable form. But he couldn’t fill his missing eye and covered it with a hand as he stumbled in shaky steps.
He picked up his sword, and left the cave.