Qi Rong had never been so angry.

And he was a generally angry person. He used to lash out at anyone he crossed for looking at him the wrong way.  None of that amounted to this.

Lang QianQiu murdered Guzi.

Made it look like suicide.

Everyone believed it, and eventually so had Qi Rong.

Resulting in Qi Rong taking his own life.

Only for him to immediately learn the truth of it.

He's killed himself to be with Guzi. But Guzi's spirit was so good, it had to be in heaven. Qi Rong knew he'd be going to Hell for sure. He assumed Guzi would too for the sin of taking his own life but if he had really been murdered... That meant even in death they could not unite.

This damn Lang QianQiu!

If Qi Rong could have given up his life for Guzi, he would. He just had. If he had everything gold could buy to give to Guzi it wouldn't be enough to show how much he truly cared for his son. He would do anything for him. And now he'd severed any chance he had at being with him again.

Lang Qianqiu inspected Qi Rong's dead body and stayed a while before eventually leaving, clearly about to fabricate something. Qi Rong wanted to strangle him.

Qi Rong realized now why he hadn't gone even to Hell. He'd become a ghost because now he had unfinished business to do. Heaven may be a shining sun of paradise but he'd never see it. Once he avenged his son, he could go to Hell for eternity. Not desirable, but he had to end that Lang QianQiu no matter the consequence. He needed revenge.

Qi Rong would burn the world for Guzi if he were still alive. Now that he was dead, he just had to find a way back to the mortal plain.

An idea came to him. When he saw the entrance to Hell he'd been struck with knowledge for sake of temptation. This made him miraculously aware of an elixir that could bring life to the dead who acquired it. The problem was it was at the very bottom ring of Hell, impossible to get to unless he'd been sent there as a prideful sinner.

If Qi Rong ventured down there and regained life, he could kill Lang QianQiu and finally be at rest.

Guzi was his entire reason for this. Of course he was. Qi Rong was dead now, nothing could ever be for himself anymore. Guzi was his son, he was everything. All that was meaningful to Qi Rong rest six feet underground.

The question was, how the fuck was he supposed to get to Hell when trapped as a ghost on Earth? He couldn't touch or interact with anything. He was literally stuck here, as a void. But god damn it, for Guzi he would find a way!

He approached his own dead corpse. It was ugly, with his own brains and blood splattered everywhere and head blasted open at the top. If he'd known he'd end up looking like this, maybe he would have chosen a different means of death. Alas, there was no changing it now.

He inspected himself. Suicide was a sure sin to get to Hell yet somehow his unfinished business on earth was enough to preserve him as a ghost. So surely returning to the evidence of his own self damnation would provide a key to Hell. After all, it would eventually be his fate.

He touched his corpse chest with his ghost hand and something sparked around the tips of his fingers. He was right! His own sin covered body was the portal to Hell!

Feeling strong about his decision to walk through Hell for Guzi, Qi Rong completely united with his dead body, as if diving into it. He squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them, he discovered a long paved road at his feet leading to the entrance of Hell, which was a pit in another realm.

Hell had no real gates or doors, it was open like the gaping jaws of a Venus fly trap. He wandered toward its mouth and looked within. It was a downward spiral that appeared infinite. He could walk down the spiral, or so it seemed. The paths below had to lead to each ring, right? And at the bottom was Pride, where the elixir of life would be kept.

He knew Guzi was in Heaven, and therefore he would never see him again, seeing as he wasn't welcome to it. He imagined Guzi was smiling from that warm place, engulfed in sunlight that would never reach Qi Rong. The empire of Heaven was unreachable, but Hell? Hell had no one guarding its gates.

He thought of his life on earth. First of Guzi, of course. Then, of Xie Lian. That bastard Xie Lian. He used to adore and admire his older cousin and now he gagged at the sound of his name. He was furious with him now. He wanted to say that it was Xie Lian who allowed this to happen. He hadn't cared for Guzi properly enough. He hadn't told him Qi Rong was even home. The boy died thinking his dad left him and never came home. Xie Lian was the remaining embers of a fire Qi Rong held for the Xianle family. He was a reminder that Qi Rong's blood was tainted, that he was a devil compared to them. Fucking rich people. And Xie Lian was still just like the rest of them had been. Qi Rong hoped Guzi hadn't been influenced similarly.

When he first met Qi Rong, he hadn't imagined being so close with him he'd literally walk through Hell with bare feet just to avenge him. That he'd take his own life in an effort to be with him again. Qi Rong had never experienced love of any kind before; not romantic, platonic, or familial even in a low pathetic way. Until he became Guzi's guardian. Suddenly he actually knew what it was like to love something. He loved his son so badly he'd rather die than live in the world without him. Wasn't that insane? Qi Rong's own mother wouldn't have even done that!

In his last act of servitude to Guzi as a father and guardian, Qi Rong broke into Hell.

A/N

Short chapter, wowie

Musical key for the song idk:

- I feel like it's obvious