14. Pet Adoption (3)
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There was a village sitting directly on the road on their way back.

The settlements so far were small clusters of people spread out over the shore, loosely connected as a community, just a small distance from their road, but this was a proper village. It had houses clustered together and what looked to be actual businesses.

The demons had been here before, and thus the people were wary, but not actively frightened. A lot of them seemed curious about Xu Jian, who had decided riding on Ying Long's shoulder made his ass sore, and thus resorted to straddling his neck like a toddler.

“They are poor, and would do anything for a little money,” Ying Long declared smugly.

Motherfucker, Xu Jian thought.

“I think it would be nice if they had plenty of money,” Xu Jian said.

The eel flock bounced around, talking about how to clean fish to anyone who didn't flee. It scared many from coming closer. Xu Jian wished he could avoid them too.

Ying Long noticed his discomfort. “They are easily occupied. In the river, you don't need as many things as you do on land. Scavenging is also in their nature. It breeds curiosity.”

Xu Jian was aware. Lai Mingliao had earned the loyalty of countless River demons by showing off his ability to use their skills and some superficial bits of human culture.

“They are as fluid as the river. They like being urged in new directions. I could ask for no better companions.”

Xu Jian, to his own credit, did not click his tongue at that. “This place got somewhere to drink?”

Ying Long paused, his steps slowing to a halt. Xu Jian thought he was going to be chastised. But he started walking again, to a smaller building that was open to the street. It looked to be a teahouse. He kneeled to let Xu Jian slide off, and gave him a pouch.

“Buy anything you like,” Ying Long said with a soft, seductive smile.

Xu Jian snatched the purse without acknowledging him and shuffled into the teahouse.

He ordered a pot of tea, waited for it inside, and brought the pot and cups out when he was served. Ying Long looked down at him to give him a patient smile, but it settled awkwardly on his face when he saw the pot.

“When you said something to drink-”

“I can't have alcohol. I have issues with addiction.”

Xu Jian poured two servings and gave Ying Long a cup. It was tiny in the Mountain demon's enormous fingers.

Sipping it, Xu Jian found it didn't have a good taste. Still, the main issue was only that it was bland, and it was  certainly better than river water, so he drunk it up greedily. Compared to burnt coffee with no cream or sugar, this was fine. Ying Long drank all of his in one gulp, like it was a competition. There was a good four sips in that cup. He was so annoying.

The eel flock found them and demanded servings as well. Xu Jian moved to fetch more cups, but Ying Long took the entire pot and poured it into the open air.

To Xu Jian’s wonderment, the stream was immediately sucked into the mouth of one of the River demons, before being ripped from their mouth and pulled into the mouth of another. He was bewildered, but quickly realized that he had seen them control water before; they had triggered that violent current in the Pier.

...The fact they swept him up while he was asleep on the riverbed may have had something to do with their assumptions that they could dress him underwater, actually.

They all, as expected, fell over themselves to praise Ying Long for giving them tea, and the taste of tea, and how fascinating humans were for sticking herbs in water for the purpose of consumption. Like clockwork.

Ying Long stood and stretched with a satisfied grunt, which silenced the group. He held out his hand to Xu Jian.

“It’s not far, now.”

 


 

It was not far.

Almost all of the remaining walking time was up the mountain overlooking the village. The Celestial Mirror river slanted up at first, but soon it was a line of sky painted on the earth below.

“The water that gives the river so much of its energy is just north of Yufeng,” Ying Long noted.

Xu Jian made a non-committal hum. He was occupied by the gates of Yufeng coming into view. Or rather, what was left of them.

Traces of the demon’s siege were everywhere. Boulders embedded in the walls, scorch marks, arrows peppered everywhere, water reducing the road to a muddy smear and forming puddles in the deep gouges in the ground…

“It’ll be challenging to get wagons and carriages through these roads, my lord,” Xu Jian noted.

Ying Long waved it away. “It’s being repaired.”

The inside of the town was in a similar level of disarray, but it immediately set itself apart from Heaven's Crossing Pier. While they both had impressively neat and beautiful homes, the cultivation sect on the pier was a compound level with the rest of the town, only slightly bigger than a school, purely due to the housing it offered disciples.

Yufeng’s sect was a palace. 

Its walls were dwarfed by the many floors of the main building, towering over everything around it. It looked so fit to house an emperor that Xu Jian was awed at the mere thought of what the palaces of more important figures must look like.

Ying Long chuckled when Xu Jian leaned forward. “Hyacinth Palace. One of the four great sects. Well, it was, before I got to it.”

The four great sects.

Xu Jian forgot what they were. But they were pretty important.

His memory of these sects began and ended at Ying Long overtaking this one, and the biggest one hosting the big tournament arc. Something something conference? It was the one where Xu Jinyue and Lai Mingliao met for the first time in years, and Lai Mingliao publicly humiliated Ying Long. Very eventful arc.

However...they were pretty important, weren't they?

“They...seemed to have went down a little easily for one of the big four?”

“Are you not familiar with this sect? Hyacinth Palace sect is comprised of scholars. They’re masters of creating arrays and talismans, but once you break through, they don’t have enough martial skill to be worth killing. I’m surprised no one had taken them before.”

Xu Jian...was also surprised no one had tried it before.

The palace was also a wreck, carved out more severely than the town below and peppered with small craters. There had to be half a dozen uprooted trees scattered around the yard. How many repairs did they have to do, if they hadn't cleaned it up yet?

A small army of demons in blue robes poured from the main hall to welcome Ying Long with a salute. Xu Jian stiffened.

“Master Ying!”

“Welcome back, Master Ying!”

“The Palace is ready for you, Master Ying!”

Almost all of them were River demons, but there were a handful of Earth demons in the mix, coated in a thick layer of fur.

Ying Long passed them without acknowledgement, and the eel flock scattered to the four winds. Xu Jian could feel the gazes of the remaining servants hot on his back. They weren’t present to see how much of a wreck he was, and would want to confirm it themselves, but there was nothing he could think to do to convince them, so he simply ignored them.

From the moment they came in through the door, it was immediately obvious that the bulk of the repairs were to the inside of the palace. The walls were covered with plaster and paint, and countless shattered tiles had been filled in. In some places, it appeared they just carved up some rock to fill it. Ying Long pushed open a lavish-looking door that stood so high Xu Jian’s head didn’t even graze the frame from his position on Ying Long’s shoulders.

Inside was a feast. The one unbroken table was laden with enormous dishes of food, puddings and meat and soups and all sorts of delicacies. He barely noticed being plucked from his seat to be placed on the ground.

Ying Long sat at the head of the table, and gestured to Xu Jian to sit in his lap. Xu Jian eyed the feast hungrily and wasted no time in obeying. Xu Jian was served anything Ying Long was eating himself, and he didn’t wait for Ying Long to eat, tearing into his meal with fervor.

Certain spices were harder to access, and there hadn’t been centuries of selective fruit breeding, so some tastes were mild or different than expected, but the ancient world made due with what it had. The natural juices from the meat flooded his mouth, and the thick rice noodles felt like ten thousand days of fine dining experienced at once.

“Hungry, were you?”

Xu Jian made a noise in the affirmative. It wasn't only that, though; he had never eaten like this before. The one opportunity for him to do so was the feast held in Xu Jinyue’s name, and he had confessed to his crimes before he could eat anything.

“Master Ying,” said a new voice.

They both looked up.

A River demon of notable height and poise stood in the doorway. She wore her hair in a voluminous bun, fixed in place with a dangling hairpin, and rather than the black robes of the eel swarm or the blue robes of the servants, she wore robes of deep violet that complimented the soft blue hues of her skin. Her inner robe frayed out in long petal-like shapes, which was unusual enough that Xu Jian judged her to be important.

She inspected him carefully. Xu Jian slurped his noodles.

“Weng Yu! Come see what I’ve found,” Ying Long greeted.

Weng Yu approached rigidly, and stopped next to the table. “This is...Xu Jinyue?”

“They claim he has Qi Deviation. Isn’t that funny?” Ying Long pet Xu Jian’s hair like he was a dog. Xu Jian swatted his hand away.

Weng Yu drew closer, brow furrowed. “Qi Deviation? Xu Jinyue is notorious for his temper and talent with cultivation. Humans like that would normally experience rages, yes?”

“My name is Xu Jian,” said Xu Jian.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“It seems to be guilt. From some sort of meltdown? Well, it doesn’t matter. Xu Jian, try this.” Ying Long held a bowl to Xu Jian’s lips. Xu Jian gulped greedily without checking what it was, and was pleasantly surprised by the salty flavour. He missed sodium.

“And you’re keeping him as a...pet?”

“Well he isn’t much use otherwise, is he? Besides, he’s cursed himself to only tell the truth. It’s great fun.”

She watched as Ying Long tried serving spring rolls to Xu Jian, who snatched them right out of his chopsticks and stuffed them in his mouth.

“Do you really think it’s wise to keep him by your side? My lord, he-”

“He’s quite docile. Is that all you came to say?” Ying Long’s face was still casual and smug, but had an air of danger to it.

Xu Jian tried taking a drink to help wash down his mouthful, but had a coughing fit as he tasted alcohol. It spoiled the food for him. He stuck out his tongue, and half-chewed food spilled out onto his plate.

Both of them looked down at him.

“I can’t have alcohol,” he said hoarsely, and then went right back to stuffing his face.

Weng Yu cleared her throat, but the lull in conversation persisted. The only sound was of Xu Jian’s noisy chewing. When the silence became unbearable, she simply left the two to their meal.

Peking duck was truly an excellent dish.

2 images because I drew the 2nd one first and then realized it'd be cheapened by the reader anticipating it.

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