Three days after the wedding, they returned to the Green Jade Peaks, and although Jiao Ziyu had a lot more important matters to think about, he couldn’t help but draw parallels with the way that bride and groom returned to the bride’s family for a visit, where the bride – no longer considered a member of the family – was still welcomed as a guest.
It felt admittedly strange though, returning to the Green Jade Peaks. The first few days were definitely the worst though – in a lot of ways.
“It’s only temporary,” Yue said, as if to reassure himself. “Jun says Wú Jiǔ City is crawling with the Lotus Leaf, so we can’t go back there for now.”
And indeed, the Demon Prince’s assessment was right on the mark, because Jiao Ziyu’s own informants had told him the place was practically overrun. Word also had it that the locals, though immensely grateful at first, had grown increasingly tired of their new protectors since the latter didn’t look too kindly upon the vast amounts of alcohol and the tendency of locals and visitors alike to drink it out in broad daylight.
However, even then Jiao Ziyu knew that there was no real guarantee that the pair would ever be able to return – or that they would be welcomed back, at least.
Yue could hardly be oblivious to it either, even though he had yet to accept staying at the Green Jade Peaks as something other than a temporary solution.
There were obviously other options as well though, even if Mingyue would likely end up vetoing them all.
That said however, Jiao Ziyu was still somewhat surprised that the young couple hadn’t run off yet, because Little Yue aside, Little Jun obviously didn’t seem like the sort to just tolerate this kind of arrangement. And yet, they’d both remained, exchanging limited communications with the Demon Realm – communications which involved messages from someone who was probably Hua Hongzhu.
As for what the latter wanted, Youming Jun had muttered something about her wanting him to return to take his rightful place and deal with paperwork and whatnot.
Yue in turn had alluded to a certain message that the Demon Prince had apparently intercepted and then promptly burnt to a crisp to prevent him from reading it.
And, speaking of messages getting intercepted⸺
“You mean you didn’t get the message I asked Huilu to deliver?”
Sect Leader Yeguang shakes his head, then looks very pointedly at Mingyue, who averts his eyes, telling Jiao Ziyu everything he really needs to know.
Ah, honestly⸺ “Why?”
“There wasn’t time,” Mingyue says.
“And yet, there was time to burn the note,” Yi Yeguang sighs. “At least that’s what I assume you did.”
Huh. “Why would you assume that?”
The Sect Leader sends him a decidedly tired look, and then looks towards Mingyue as well, but only briefly before he just shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“It doesn’t matter,” he finally decides. “What’s done is done.”
“What’s done is done,” he then reiterates, sending Mingyue a decidedly pointed look. “But don’t do it again.”
And with those words, he promptly dismisses them, leaving Jiao Ziyu with some questions answered and new ones in their place.
That wasn’t all however, obviously. Additional explanations and clarifications had obviously been necessary, especially in regards to Mingyue’s new disciple and the latter’s demon prince of a spouse.
Of course, they hadn’t quite explained everything, opting to leave out and alter a few choice details – and although the Sect Leader had been told far more than most, there were certain things that they hadn’t told him.
And, as was often the case with such secrets, it would eventually come back to bite them.
And obviously, as with most chaotic events recently permeating Jiao Ziyu’s life, this one also heavily involved a certain Demon Prince.
“Honestly,” the Sect Leader says, looking every bit as exasperated as he sounds.
And Jiao Ziyu can honestly relate. Because yes, on one hand, Jiao Ziyu is incredibly aware that he should’ve probably foreseen this – not prevented it perhaps, but likely foreseen or at the very least anticipated it enough to minimise the impact.
And yet, he hadn’t, and Mingyue hadn’t, and Yue also hadn’t, although the latter two had obviously been quite busy elsewhere, making up for lost time to study and hone medical skills and all that.
Then again, this also counts as a reason for the Demon Prince going stir-crazy in the first place, as Mingyue kicking him out of these sessions effectively made a bored Youming Jun the rest of the Windward Sect’s problem.
Thus, Youming Jun had gone to stir up trouble – and stir up trouble, he had. The Demon Prince seemed to have it in for Peak Lord Cheng in particular though.
And now, it had all led up to this confrontation, taking place within the regular meeting chamber of the Great Pagoda.
“Honestly,” the Sect Leader says once again. “I honestly don’t know and I honestly don’t care if this sort of conduct is acceptable over in the Demon Realm. Because this is the Human Realm, and this is the Green Jade Peaks...”
He takes a moment, then pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Prince Youming Jun,” the Sect Leader says at last. “While my fellow sect members ought to have known better than to retaliate, the fact that you are the aggressor does not change. Peak Lord Cheng’s poetry collection is private, and not to be recited to the masses.”
The Sect Leader conveniently leaves out the fact that much of this poetry had been love poetry, and that a fair number of these poems had been dedicated to him – which shouldn’t be as much of a surprise as it is, right at that moment.
Peak Lord Cheng is quite red in the face though – moments away from lapsing into qi deviation, actually. And Jiao Ziyu probably shouldn’t think that it serves him right, but... yeah, no.
Damn, he thinks. The pettiness of the Bai lineage is contagious.
And scarcely has Jiao Ziyu thought that before Youming Jun deals the next blow, finally taking off his damned mask in order to properly show off his smugness, only for the Sect Leader to do a double take and then immediately snap his head around, demanding to know who of them had allowed former Peak Lord Jiao to breed.
And Jiao Ziyu in turn, well, he just smiles and shrugs and makes an effort not look towards Mingyue, which in turn just makes the Sect Leader focus on Mingyue all the more intently.
And Mingyue in turn looks thoroughly unimpressed as he snaps open his fan – formerly Bai Jixue’s fan – and then promptly hides a smile behind it.
Going by the absolutely exasperated look this earns him, the Sect Leader isn’t fooled though. He’s not the only witness either, because the Elders are also in attendance, and judging by the hushed whispers and looks, they obviously recognise the item.
Odds are that the Sect Leader does as well, and he heaves a heavy sigh, looking as though he wants to hide his face in his hands. Instead, he just looks back towards Mingyue and says: “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
And Mingyue in turn lowers the fan, displaying his now completely unsmiling countenance. “No.”
And with that said, Sect Leader Yeguang promptly dismisses the rest of them, effectively kicking them all out, even the Elders. And naturally, this additional secrecy only adds to the already furiously spinning rumour mill.
And since then, the rumour mill had only kept on spinning.
Granted, things had slowed down significantly since then, now that the novelty of the situation had gradually worn off.
The main story – according to popular opinion – was basically that Yue had missed out on the usual Selection and instead been secretly taught by Mingyue whenever the latter had ventured down into the mundane world – something that Jiao Ziyu obviously hadn’t denied, even if he hadn’t been very forthcoming about why.
Others meanwhile hadn’t allowed this to stop them from speculating, and Jiao Ziyu was fairly certain that it had been Xiyu who’d spread the rumours that Peak Lord Bai had done it out of fear that the other disciples might treat his new disciple poorly, given that the latter was so young and brilliant compared to the rest of them.
And then⸺
“Then Peak Lord Bai’s disciple ended up finding an injured stranger and nursed him back to health. And that injured stranger turned out to be Prince Youming Jun, and the demon prince was absolutely smitten by the young cultivator! And the feelings were mutual!”
“⸺But alas, the disciple knew that his master – as the embodiment of a righteous cultivator – would never approve of such a relationship. As such, he tried to resist his feelings for the longest time. But in the end, he couldn’t, and so they eloped!”
“⸺And this was why Peak Lord Bai was so enraged a while back, readily dismissing all his other disciples! His own disciple – raised with such care – eloping with a prince of the Demon Realm! No wonder he suffered such a major qi deviation, and had to be taken care of by the Sect Leader, since Master Jiao was out looking for them already.”
“⸺But then Master Jiao found them, and Master Bai just about caused a diplomatic incident when he attacked the demon who’d stolen away his intended successor! But then⸺”
Then some supposedly epic showdown had allegedly taken place in-between Peak Lord Bai and Demon Prince Youming Jun, with Peak Lord Jiao and the secret disciple on the side-lines, trying to make them stop.
But since first two wouldn’t listen to reason, Peak Lord Jiao had devised a clever plan to stop them both in their tracks. And this plan had allegedly consisted of him holding his blade to the young disciple's throat, issuing the demand that the fighters would agree to confront the issue with their words rather than with their swords.
And then, it had apparently come to light that the young pair had already consummated their marriage, and that the Demon King himself had already given them his blessings, something that Peak Lord Bai had adamantly refused.
And so, Peak Lord Jiao had gone to speak with him − to plead for clemency on behalf of the young couple.
And then, then one thing had led to another – to dual cultivation, to be specific. And then⸺
Things obviously hadn’t gone down that way. But somehow, even such an outrageous story managed to sound way more plausible than what had actually taken place, so Jiao Ziyu – and other involved parties – had obviously left it at that.
Youming Jun had laughed though, and Yue had obviously found some degree of amusement in it as well.
Mingyue meanwhile obviously disliked it, and as for Jiao Ziyu, well, while he wasn’t particularly keen on such rumours, it was still an improvement compared to the ones that had been circulating before that.
Of course, that wasn’t to say that Jiao Ziyu had forgiven earlier transgressions, because he had neither forgiven nor forgotten about them.
As such, he’d since then dispatched both of his head disciples off to get additional experience, appointing Huilu to supervise – news that the other had greeted with no insignificant amount of shock and dismay.
According to recent reports however, it seemed as though things were now running smoothly. Huilu had even let it slip that she was looking forward to the day when Jiao Ziyu would finally retire – though that might’ve just been sarcasm on her part.
Things had been calm in recent months – perhaps a bit too calm, all things considered. Because indeed, although the Demon King had allegedly dropped in at some point, things had been awfully quiet on that front lately, which proved both a relief and incredibly unnerving.
Things had been awfully peaceful as of late – too peaceful, clearly; the calm before the storm that arrived when the Demon King suddenly reappeared with an infant on each arm and the grin of one anticipating a fair bit of chaos.
