Afterdarkfish

Sorry for posting late! I'll be reducing chapter update rate to Mon/Wed/Fri rather than every weekday as well. My time management isn't good enough to post that regularly.

It seemed the reason it had taken so long for the demons to show up was indeed due to them being tourists, because Xu Jian was promised they’d arrive within the span of two days.

The River demons were unusual company. At first they slid forward, competing to be in Ying Long's sight in order to could congratulate him on how easily he swatted those sect members like flies. They praised how they had to divide and conquer (and poison) while he had enough physical prowess to defeat them handily in battle, and how he had reduced the sect leader to such a miserable state.

...Xu Jian suspected that Ying Long's raw power wasn't the cause of the sect leader's misery, but oh well. They were having fun.

Then, after the River demons ran out of things to say, they fell back into their eel cluster and began demanding information on the human world.

“What do you eat?”

“What's a dantian?”

“Is it true you need to process spiritual energy in your body before you can use it? Why?”

“How does your body bruise so easily?”

“Why is your hair so pale?”

“Did you really lose your mind to Qi deviation?”

“How does Qi deviate?”

“No no, I know that. It's those ‘inner demons’. What is it like being attacked by inner demons? Are they much like Dream demons?”

Concepts like 'inner demons’ existed in the demon world - Ying Long met his untimely end in the novel because he was consumed by his - so Xu Jian felt these River demons were just stupid.

He was very exhausted and still freezing, so he refused to answer any of them.

Ying Long took note of this and patted Xu Jian on the thigh. “Don't take their questions too seriously. You don't have to answer them.”

“Don't touch me,” said Xu Jian.

Ying Long made a face, like he was trying to understand the concept of being rejected, but removed his hand all the same.

Xu Jian just wanted to finally examine the demons in detail. He hadn't gotten the chance in the chaos.

River demons were truly unusual. Their skin was a light grey, and mottled with blue or green markings that always covered the upper half of their faces, reminding him of sharks. Their skin, he knew from his encounter in the river and their description in the novel, was like a dolphin's; smooth, rubbery, and unusually thick.

The thing Xu Jian found most striking, though, was their eyes. Their irises were enormous and pure black, filling up most of their wide, round eyes, and shone like polished glass.

Xu Jian noted that the River demons in Ying Long's entourage had their oily-looking hair tied up in very human styles. The novel had said that most River demons wore it loose, so it struck him as odd.

He inspected Ying Long next, because he could. As it was a novel by a straight man about a straight man meant to be read by straight men, the novel refused to describe any attractive men who were not the protagonist in detail, except when women told them they were attractive. He was enjoying a new luxury.

Ying Long had stunning phoenix eyes, and the dramatic curve was exaggerated with what Xu Jian could only call red eyeliner. His thick, dark curls didn't frizz, which was shocking for this kind of volume, and looked like it had been styled for three hours.

Xu Jian’s eyes slid from Ying Long's hair to his broken horn. Mountain demons grew their horns into layers, but Ying Long had only one on his head, with only one layer. Xu Jian touched the ridges poking out from Ying Long's cheekbone. In the coming decades, they would grow out to join into a single wild, branched dragon horn. They were, Xu Jian pondered, not unlike baby teeth.

“Like what you see?” Ying Long asked in that obnoxiously self-assured voice that made Xu Jian want to scalp him.

“What happened to your horn?” He asked instead.

Ying Long lit up.

Because the man loved telling this story so much, Xu Jian knew all the details. He had lost a third of his horn in a mighty battle with another Mountain demon much stronger than him, a battle in which he had prevailed.

Ying Long loved to tell this story because it was proof that even when 'weaker’ or 'disadvantaged’, he would always come out on top. The loss of his horn was, to him, a way to remind everyone of this at every possible opportunity.

He rambled about this encounter in great detail, and Xu Jian could feel himself forget half of what he said in the telling, but it kept Ying Long distracted and filled the time.

They came across humans, mainly fishermen, on their trek. They all shrunk away from the group, which made Ying Long preen. He had never known fear. He didn't know what it felt like to receive the attentions of a person much stronger than him. People being afraid was funny to him.

“I'm hungry, my lord,” Xu Jian said thinly.

Ying Long paused in his exaggerated description of ripping a full layer of one of his enemy's horns off his face and looked up at Xu Jian like one would look at a fussy child.

“What is it that humans eat?”

“Fish, fruits, and vegetables,” said Xu Jian.

“Cooked fish, of course.” Ying Long waved to his entourage. “Fetch him fish!”

The flock of eels ran to the river, while Ying Long approached a tree. With one mighty hand, he snapped off a large branch, then crushed it into pieces with only his grip.

Xu Jian felt a bit of vertigo at the sight. He was suddenly unsure if clinging to Ying Long was a good idea. He decided to not play up his frailty anymore, just in case his true personality angered Ying Long.

Said demon didn't notice Xu Jian's sudden discomfort. He stacked the chunks of wood up and stuffed it with pieces of bark and dry moss, then drew his sword and placed it between two rocks. Xu Jian felt Ying Long's energy roll forward, and his blade shimmered in the afternoon sunlight. It rattled in place, then began giving off sparks.

After a certain point, the moss had begun to burn.

“Do you know how to tend a fire?” Ying Long asked.

Xu Jian nodded hesitantly. He usually used paper, but the river demon who had went to get his things had yet to return, so he didn't have any on hand.

Ying Long sheathed his sword and set him down, and Xu Jian got on his hands and knees and blew slowly on the embers. Unsatisfied, he snapped off a twig from a chunk of wood, and used that to prod the moss a little. It wasn't burning well.

Ying Long chuckled at his troubles. “Too much for you?”

Condescending bastard. Xu Jian grit his teeth and continued blowing until he became lightheaded.

The River demons returned when the wood was only just starting to smoke, each holding a large fish. They stared at him expectantly.

“How is a fish cooked?” Ying Long asked.

Demons. Of course. They had no problem with eating live fish. Xu Jian frowned. He had never gutted and scaled a fish before, but he had seen it done many times in the kitchens.

He nodded hesitantly. “It can't have innards. It will be easy to eat if it's scaled. I need a knife.”

The River demons gave him their fish and a knife and watched in rapt attention as he pulled back his sleeves and rubbed the knife against the scales, pulling them off.

“I need some water to wash it,” he told them.

The River demons fled back to the river, and came back in record time with jugs of water. They smelled a little of alcohol, but it was probably fine.

Xu Jian washed the fish, then sliced open the belly and wriggled his fingers inside to pull the entrails out. He washed the inside out too. The demons watched in rapt attention, as if they were watching the most riveting performance of their lives.

He considered removing the head, but decided it would be easier to stick it on a pike if the head was still on, so he showed off his work.

“Place it on a stick angled towards the fire. You may try.”

He washed his hands off, tucked them back in his sleeves, and returned to the arduous task of making a fire before the fish could spoil.

He could feel Ying Long's eyes on him the entire time.