Yue’s only complaint about his room in the temple was that the bed was far too comfortable. The idea of having to sit on the ground next to the pearl to cultivate became more and more displeasing as he spent the next few days reading cultivation manuals and magic books on the bed. Before he even realized it he had already lazed around past the time he had intended to begin cultivating.

Of course, there were many other factors that didn’t help him stay on schedule too. Such as his followers somehow knowing all of his favorite foods and being able to make them. Just in general the people of the temple were amazingly devoted to him and despite never having met him and not knowing anything about his life as ‘Yue’, they were very trusting of him. He had expected it all to be a lot more draining, he had expected to be having to bless children and solve all their problems but somehow that wasn’t the case at all, and as happy as he was, he found it unsettling.

“My lord, I’ve come with your clothes. Do you need anything else?” Jinghua asked from behind the partition that hid Yue’s bathing figure.

“...Not at the moment but I will be calling you later…” Yue said after thinking for a bit. Jinghua was the easiest to talk to out of the people in the temple, she was mature and devoted but she knew that he had no idea what was going on sometimes and helped him out.

“Alright. By the way, a letter came from your letter portal, would you like me to bring it to you?” 

Yue immediately scrambled to put his robe on and get out of the bath.

“Y-Yes please bring it to me!” Yue said and peeked out from the side of the partition. He wasn’t done bathing but he needed to read Viktor’s letter immediately. He knew his cheeks were probably a little red but the water from the bath was hot so hopefully, Jinghua wouldn’t see through him.

Jinghua brought over the letter and handed it to him, before bowing and leaving the room. The second Jinghua left Yue stopped trying to contain himself and quickly opened the letter.

It was obviously a letter from Viktor and Yue was so happy to finally receive it. Viktor apologized a few times for having to leave and for not writing to him sooner.

‘My father cannot seem to leave me to rest for more than 5 minutes so writing this took much longer than necessary.’ 

Something about Viktor’s handwriting made Yue chuckle a bit, he had probably written this while he was supposed to be sleeping or something. His letters weren’t as neat as usual.

‘I hope the days pass by quicker, I miss you dearly.’

Yue didn’t know how he’d muster up the courage to respond to the letter when it ended like that. He was embarrassed just thinking about writing ‘I miss you too’.  He’d have to do it soon though, he’d be cultivating for at least half a month starting soon so he should respond before then.

Yue set the letter down and got back into the bath.

“The longer I cultivate the shorter these months will be…” He murmured and smiled a bit.

“I can’t laze around anymore!”

—

Yue told the elders of the temple that he would be cultivating starting tomorrow and immediately the elders scrambled to make him a feast and ask him Questions. That solidified Yue’s hunch that they were discreetly trying to make him forget about his cultivation on purpose by pampering him. He had told them that he would do this a while ago but they hadn’t prepared much at all.

“My lord, you haven’t tried on the clothes we altered yet!”

“Even the unaltered version was fine. You don’t need me to try it on.” Yue murmured as he blocked another excuse that they tried to give for him to extend the time before he started cultivating. All of the clothes that belong to the previous Azure Dragon’s fit him pretty well and really only needed slight alterations for height so there was really no need for him to try the clothes on again.

He was actually very pleased with the clothes. He had never worn such intricate and Luxurious clothes, especially men’s clothes. It was always a bit embarrassing to look at himself in the mirror when he looked like this, more so than when he looked like a girl.

“When do you think you will come out of seclusion, My lord?” Jinghua asked with a smile, she had been standing beside him and had noticed how Yue seemed tired of all the people trying to convince him not to go into seclusion.

“Early to mid-December,” Yue responded.

“Alright, the children of the temple need to finish their schooling before meeting you anyway so that works out well,” Jinghua said and smiled.

“There are kids here?” Yue had never seen any around so he assumed there weren’t any.

“Mostly the kids of the people of the temple but we also have some orphans that were taken in from neighboring towns. They’re usually in town or in the other temple west of here.”  Jinghua explained.

“There’s another temple?”  

“Yes, My lord! You should go to visit it!” One of the elders said, trying to make Yue take yet another detour.

“I won’t go. Not right now at least, just tell me why there’s another one…” Yue murmured.

“The western temple is the one that I generally accessed by the public, people from the area who come to pray or make offerings go there Instead of this temple. The temple teaches about Azure Dragon and the 4 other auspicious beasts. After a few years, the students usually move into this temple but during the time of your absence most have opted to help run the western temple instead.” One of the elders responded after sighing as she gave up on trying to convince Yue.

‘I keep on forgetting that this is a genuine religion…’ Yue thought and winced, he felt bad for the people who were praying to him while he was running around killing monsters or worse, canoodling with Viktor.

“You don’t have to worry about the prayers, My Lord. The pearl grants them to those who are worthy. The pearl is but an extension of yourself.” Jinghua said and helped set the table.

‘...So It’s better if I don’t swallow the pearl…?’ ¹This is a reference to the story of The Dragon Pearl, I reference it almost every time I mention the pearl but this seems pretty weird if you don't know the story so I just decided to explain it lol.

Yue was glad the meal was light since he knew he’d have to eat so much the next day.

“I doubt I have to remind you all but do not enter my bedroom while I’m cultivating,” Yue said before beginning to eat.

“Yes, my lord.” Everyone in the room responded and bowed their heads.

—

Mai looked at Huy's held out hand for a second before taking it. It felt odd after a long expedition to be treated so softly by the person she loved. She felt a bit jealous of Yue and Viktor in that sense, they got to always be together during school and expeditions. 

Mai looked around them, she was a bit nervous and embarrassed as she imagined where they could be going. She hadn't asked yet, she didn't want to seem impatient if Huy had something planned. They had been walking through a forest quietly for a while when a small red bird appeared and began to fly around them in circles and chirp. It stopped circling them as it saw that it had caught their attention and then started going in the direction it came from.

"We should follow it," Huy said and smiled softly.

"Hm? Really? Is that what it said?" Mai asked, it was meant to be a cheeky answer but Huy actually nodded and Mai was taken aback as Huy led her in the direction of the bird.

"Wait you can understand them? Uwaa, then can White tiger talk to all kinds of cats? And can black tortoise talk to tortoises and snakes?" Mai asked, shocked, and interested.

"I don't know," Huy chuckled, "I've never met them."

"Really? I totally expected you four to be friends already? Like since birth or something..." Mai said and picked up her pace a bit so Huy wouldn't have to drag her along.

"Well, I know Azure Dragon already, and I guess we can be considered friends," Huy murmured, he didn't expose Yue's identity since he was sure Yue would want to tell Mai herself.

“Oh? What are they like?” Mai asked. She was curious about what kind of people the 4 beasts were.

“I don’t know how to describe them but I think they’re someone you’d be friends with,” Huy said after thinking for a bit and realizing he knew practically nothing about Yue as a person. He knew that Yue wasn’t evil and that she wouldn’t do anything to hurt Mai, but other than that and some obvious things like the fact that she’s the daughter of the Xia family, he didn’t really think he knew her that well.

“Are they strong? Like as strong as you? Or is the power of the 4 beasts not equal.” Mai asked somehow even more curious now that she heard that she and Azure Dragon would be friends.

“I’ve never fought them or seen them fight but they’re probably around the same level as me…Their passive ability is a bit crazy though, I might lose if we ever did fight,” Huy said and smiled as more birds started flying over to them.

“Oh? Passive ability? Like your wings?”  

Huy nodded and led Mai through the stone path they had wandered into and through a garden full of birds and colorful flowers. Mai had thought they were alone but there were people with bright red jackets with gold embroidery putting seeds into bird feeders throughout the garden.

“Welcome back, My Lord.” They said and bowed as Huy and Mai walked by them.

“Huh? You’ve been here before?” Mai asked, confused. She thought that Huy was just following the red bird because he was curious. Now she was really confused about what Huy was planning.

The large palace at the back of the gardens only made her more confused.

“This is my temple. I came to visit it for the first time while you were in London because Black Tortoise contacted me about it… And so I wanted to take you here.” Huy said and smiled.

“O-Oh...It’s beautiful...” Mai murmured, she was still confused and a bit shocked but she continued to follow Huy who was eagerly showing her around.

—

Yue sent his response to Viktor off in the morning without double-checking it or anything, he was unsure if it was a ‘good’ response but he couldn't stand to look at it anymore. It made him anxious and it would be hard to cultivate properly if he was anxious.

He ate until he was full but he had to haggle with the elders until they let him stop eating and leave to start his cultivation. All of the servants in the temple bowed to him as they watched him enter his bedroom.

He sighed and stretched as he entered the room, he felt stuffed. It was good that he ate more now since it would be difficult for him to eat after fasting for so many days while cultivating but it was always uncomfortable to eat more than he was used to.

He started getting ready to cultivate. He set up some pillows around the pearl in the center of the room and lit candles all around the room as well. While lighting incense on his desk he looked at his letter portal one last time and sighed.

“I told him that I wouldn’t be able to respond but waking up to a letter from him would be nice…” Yue murmured. 

He finished almost everything he had to do before beginning to cultivate and went to the corner of the room where there was a long full body mirror. He stared at himself for a while. He looked like a rich young master like Guiren did when he was around the same age.  It felt good to dress in men’s clothes but it was also a bit uncomfortable. He found that he couldn’t recognize himself in the mirror when he looked like that.

He stripped off his Hanfu and his accessories and stared at his bare body for some time as well.

“Still not the Yue I remember...but we’re getting there…” Yue mumbled and sighed before walking to the pillows next to the pearl. 

He took a deep breath and his body glowed a blue-green color. His body changed into a long serpent-like body and two horns sprouted from his head. He had fully transformed into his dragon form and was exhausted. He wasn’t as tired as he usually was when he transformed but he was still very tired.

He wrapped his body which was covered in blue-green scales around the pearl as he rested his head against it and began to cultivate. He had to stop for a second as the unwelcome idea of Viktor seeing him in this form weaseled its way into his mind. He huffed and shooed the thought away. He blew out some of the candles as he did so but he lit them with magic before closing his eyes once again and beginning to seriously cultivate.