The next exhibition room is exquisite; a wide variety of clothing and other finery, some of them displayed behind glass.
Tour Guide Guy explains:
"Although renowned for his shapeshifting abilities, the Red Supreme of the legends sometimes would show his true appearance"
Now that's what I call imposing, really, Lai Wen thinks, inspecting the crimson-black garment with the shimmering silver vambraces and jewellery.
Some of them have the design of leaves and beasts, some are in the shape of…
"Oh, Look! Butterflies!" One of the girls exclaimed.
"Ah, quite cute aren't they?" Tour Guy beams.
"They look so pretty~"
The girls continue to admire, while the guys already move on. Lai Wen steals a glance back when something grabs his attention.
The question is out before he can stop himself:
"Is that a saber?"
Now he did it! Tour Guy takes a few steps closer and places his palms on his knees, bending slightly to take a closer look.
There's admiration in his eyes as if seeing the thing for the first time.
He enthusiastically starts to explain:
"A scimitar! Look at the curve of the blade. Quite the weapon, isn't it?"
Turns out, this Tour Guy is a huge sword nerd, even his eyes are twinkling.
"It's a replica of the deadly scimitar E'ming. It belongs to the Red Supreme."
Their conversation draws the attention of the others.
"It's written here that once struck by it, the wounds would bleed anytime let its wielder wish so. That's so cool!" one of the boys reads out loud the plastic label, "what a beast!"
Tour Guy seems to be a bit confused.
He even hums and stutters a bit:
"Hm. I-is it? I've never imagined it as a beast... more like... a puppy…"
"..."
Silence descends on the room that eventually the professor breaks, already looking at the next figure.
"Excuse me, what's this?"
Next to the glass cabinet stands another mannequin dressed in plain, white daoist attire with a simple white silk band hanging next to it.
The contrast is striking.
"Ah, that, eh" Tour Guy clears his throat, "A replica of the clothes the Red Supreme's beloved used to wear. He used to be a cultivator of some sort. Apparently."
"But…"
"Didn't you say he was a god?"
"Well, yes. He studied cultivation and ascended to godhood. But even then, some things came up and he spent his days in the mortal realm as a humble daoist."
Tour Guide Guy clears his throat again, a habit he seems to have.
"Anyway *cough*, now if you'll all follow me, we reach the Main Gallery Room our [Love Through The Ages] exhibition got its name from."
The group is a bit reluctant to leave the most interesting room so far, but Tour Guy points them in direction.
//DAY 3 END - TO BE CONTINUED🏛️
Day 4 might come a bit later, but it will arrive soon, don't worry 😊
"It's already the third round, gege is being insatiable," Hua Cheng says, but he readily accepts whatever Xie Lian wishes to do to him. "Or is it that you can't get enough?"
It's not Xie Lian who answers his teasing, but a metallic 'clang'.
Sparks fly when blade meets blade, reflecting in his dark eyes, half-lidded with concentration and something that always lurks inside him when facing Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng strides forward with his scimitar—it's different from Eming, who tends to get either overly excited or balky with Xie Lian around, thus, it gets
banned from the armory whenever the pair indulge themselves in sparring.
Book 4, Wuming POV + bonus #hualian (#wulian) 800 years later
The stomped-over petals of the white flower were scattered across the floor. A miserable beauty thoroughly trampled—It reminded Wuming of his god.
Wuming just stared, a horrified expression hidden behind his mask as his beloved, pierced himself through with the same damned black sword that caused him so much suffering already, jumping down to land flat on the cold Lang'er Bay ground.
He admittedly hated the way His Highness resulted to do this, but he had a hunch why he's still trying so hard.
After all, he said what he said: His Highness will forever be His Highness.
Besides, Wuming understood it like no one else what it meant to feel one person enough.
"A-And this is the newest piece of our collection," The plain-faced tour guy says, nervously correcting his glasses, "What at first appears to be a pair of regular stone statues..."
"... But it has been discovered that if the light falls on them from a different angle… "
He pushes a few buttons on the console that he clutches in his sweaty palms.
A blinding flash of light and a few of the visitors gasp.
Within the glass box, the statue of the Scrap Collecting Immortal shines brilliantly.
There are small and big ones, some with bamboo hats, some without it, some in fighting stances, some draped over divans or altars. Some are playing instruments, dancing, carrying a basket of fruits or doing house chores.
Only one thing do they have in common: they are sculpted with the utmost care, their details exquisite.
Lai Wen knows this and that about art, but when faced with these statues the more he looks at them, the more he starts to feel how an unmistakable air lingers in the room.