It had been quite some time since Qinghe first journeyed to the Heavenly Realm and many things have happened in the interim. His core had been healed, the misunderstandings of the past had been tangled out, and his family was whole once again, he even had been told the truth about his soul by the Heavens. But most important of all, his Xiang started cultivating again without holding back and ascended just to be able to reunite with him. This knowledge gave Qinghe a happy, bubbly feeling in his stomach, like small butterflies were playing around inside it excitedly.
He would have been very content with his existence if not for the current thorns in his side, trying to drive a wedge into his happiness...
Those damn old lizards were trying to force his Xiang to breed a new line of dragons under their thumb. What's more, they generously offered to give him his mother's inheritance for services rendered. Like it shouldn't belong to him in the first place! Damn, purist bastards! Thinking themselves so different from the Heavenly Wyverns, bah!
But they didn't know with whom did they pick a fight with just yet, and so, Qinghe kept listening to the dragon elders' nonsense with an unreadable face while he waited patiently for the opportunity to turn the tables on them.
***
It wasn’t only Feng Qinghe who payed close attention to every word of the exchange between them and the draconic elders. Inside the hidden pocket of the Heavenly Realm, Cheng Lian had also been following the discussion with rapt attention.
Sensing that things would be becoming interesting, the first thing he did that morning was to take a look into one of his spiritual mirror pools, then he became so engrossed in the events unfolding that his present, seductive appearance completely failed to register with him.
Cheng Lian was currently sitting atop his bed with the covers pooling at his front and just barely covering his nether region. The skin of his whole body was full of markings that hinted at the previous night’s delightful activities. His lips were puffy - and even redder than usual – from being kissed raw, while tousled hair cascaded down his back like a waterfall with a few mischievous locks falling into his eyes.
Meanwhile, the Cang Hai who had been sleeping peacefully on his side of the bed just woke up with a small moan. Not feeling his beloved beside him, he started calling out for him groggily: “Tia…”
He didn’t have a chance to finish because Cheng Lian – without taking his glance away even for a second from the pool – silenced him with a finger to his lips.
“Didn’t we agree to never call each other by those names again? Even choosing proper names for the other?” the Heavenly Spirit challenged him.
Just realizing the faux pas he committed, Cang Hai immediately became awake after hearing those words.
“Forgive me, Lian,” he said while he took hold of the hand pressing against his lips with its fingers, and laid a kiss – even lighter than a butterfly – on those beautiful fingers in apology.
Then, in just a few moves, he was sitting behind Cheng Lian. He pulled that inky black hair to the other side and started peppering the right side of Lian’s neck with slow, seductive kisses.
“What are you doing?” he asked between nips.
Cheng Lian, who just started to enjoy his lover’s skillful ministrations, answered: “Taking a look at the situation in the Dragon’s Realm.”
Since he wasn’t aware of a big problem there, Cang Hai decided to take a look as well, but his lovers’s next words pulled all of his focus back onto him immediately.
“Those damn lizards thinking themselves above the Heavens had been a thorn in my side for a few thousand years now…” Lian couldn’t keep a slight bit of anger out of his voice, causing the Heavenly Hand to worry.
“If it was something you felt so strongly about, why didn’t you send me there?” he questioned.
Feeling his companion’s concern, Cheng Lian’s ruffled feathers smoothened out immediately, even his usual playfulness returned. “It’s been quite a few thousand years now. I wished to keep you to myself for a while longer.” Yes, thousands of years. While it was true that it’s only been a couple of decades since they’ve last seen each other, quite a few thousands of years have passed since his beloved had been able to spend some quality time by Lian’s side.
“And those fossils” – that was very amusing coming from the mouth of a being older than the world itself – “are not that important. Besides, with Feng Qinghe there, I trust things will be taken care of to my satisfaction.”
Despite conversing with Cang Hai, half of his attention still remained on the things happening inside the pool, so the words barely left his lips when a positively predatory smile settled onto his beautiful face.
“Oh, did you hear something good?” asked Cang Hai seeing his beloved Lotus’ reaction.
“Yes, but you’ll have to wait and see it for yourself,” Lian told him cheekily.
If he was so inclined, Cang Hai could have found it out easily; after all they shared a consciousness. But some things were just more fun this way.
Think about fun things…
He started back up with his ministrations to entice Cheng Lian into another bout of love making. If he could have another day in Heaven to spend with his favorite Lotus, he wasn’t about to waste it by worrying about unimportant things.
Sensing that his counterpart’s switch had been flipped, Cheng Lian closed the mirror of spiritual energy with a flick of his wrist and let himself be manhandled.
***
It’s been a while since that morning, in the Heavenly Realm it was just about time for Qinghe’s plans against the elders of the dragon race to come to fruition.
But inside the pocket dimension this morning passed in a quite similar fashion to the previous time. Although Cang Hai didn’t commit the same mistake as he accidentally did the last time because he was still half asleep. Instead, he had been woken up by Cheng Lian in a passionate manner and then, the two opted for some healthy morning workout to kick off the day.
Now Cheng Lian sat in an almost identical position when compared to that day, while Cang Hai lay across the bed with his head resting in Cheng Lian’s lap.
They conversed in a leisurely manner while also paying close attention to the events happening on the other side of the mirror.
The sight of his lovely Lotus tinkling with satisfied laughter when the dragon elders realized they were caught inside Feng Qinghe’s trap laid out oh so beautifully was something Cang Hai would have loved to enjoy for a good while more, but the moment was broken when it looked like Qinghe was looking straight at them – although he couldn’t really see them – from the other end of the mirror pool.
“Do you think he noticed us?” he asked.
“Un. I don’t doubt he was aware of us spying on him. He seems to have very acute senses when it comes to my plans,” Cheng Lian responded calmly.
That was something very good. They had been waiting for a long time for Lian to finally have a Heavenly Emperor who was actually capable of sharing his burdens and didn’t need to be instructed down to the smallest details when it came to matters of utmost importance.
Then again, Qinghe never really liked becoming a puppet dancing on someone else’s strings. But being the puppeteer…
That could prove troublesome later on.
“With Feng Qinghe being involved, don’t you think your plans might not go so smoothly in the future?” Cang Hai raised his concerns.
The Heavenly Spirit’s only response was his lips forming a devilish grin while his eyes took on an anticipatory gleam.
Although from his vantage from below Cang Hai couldn’t really see his lover’s eyes, his grin and the excitement radiating off from his entire body was enough for him to finally understand a few things.
Finally having all the clues, it was nothing unusual for Cang Hai to figure out his beloved’s intentions quickly, because shared consciousness aside, - and they have long since decided to respect each other’s own identities as their own persons – he still knew him the best.
Both of them were long lived creatures that would continue to exist for a very long time still. And while he could traverse the different planes, his lovely lotus would mostly stay behind in their hidden pocket of the Heavenly Realm for governing the other realms more easily. His cleverness remaining uncontested. So it’s no wonder he would start feeling bored. But if someone who could rival his shrewdness came along…
“Oh, so that’s what you have been planning all along,” he smiled fondly.
With that said, the couple chose to spend the remainder of their day a lot more pleasurably.
Also, there was this vague notion inside Cang Hai’s head about sending Feng Qinghe a nice gift. After all, it was also thanks to the man that this one too, was turned into just another day in Heaven for him that he could spend in his beloved’s arms.
