Bidding the Fiends Farewell
“When do you plan to set out?” Qiao Xue asked, leaning onto her hands on the rails in her corridor.
Mu Yu slowly opened his eyes, ending his meditation session, and smiled. “Tomorrow.”
“Can’t you… stay for a few more days?” inquired Qiao Xue, voice softening as her question went on.
“… There’s a lot to do.”
The four fiend kings would not let Qiao Xue leave, citing her cultivation was too low to handle herself if she ran into water demons. If they forced Xuan Ming’s bloodlust energy onto her…
“The Ultimate Immortals Rankings final nine selection should be roughly four months away. Are you going to sign up?” Qiao Xue queried.
“I’d like to if I didn’t suddenly have to go on a pilgrimage for this last immortal. Either way, I’ll find a way to sink Third Heaven Palace’s figurative ship.”
“I’ll do my best to get stronger as fast as I can so that I don’t hold you back.”
Mu Yu patted Qiao Xue’s hand.
“Start training.”
“Nah, there’s no point in rushing it for a couple of extra hours.”
Seeing Mu Yu’s smile set Qiao Xue’s face ablaze.
“You must…”
“Huh?”
“Because I also want to cultivate,” explained Qiao Xue, heading back into her house.
Upon computing what Qiao Xue implied, Mu Yu asked, “Weren’t you against it?”
“I want to cultivate.”
“God forbid I ever figure out girls,” Mu Yu mumbled under his breath.
Archfiend Fengluan and Archfiend Baiyuan spied on Qiao Xue’s blue house with green qi hovering above it, the latter grinning to himself. Archfiend Baiyuan commented, “It sure is nice to be young and energetic. I never had an experience as ethereal as that when I went to Hell on Earth.”
Archfiend Fengluan mercilessly fed Archfiend Baiyuan’s cheek her hand.
“Oi, the hell is your problem?!” cursed Archfiend Baiyuan.
Archfiend Fengluan created a red wall between them and Qiao Xue’s place. “Where do you think you’re looking? You bring shame to fiends.”
“I’m just trying to see if there’s anything I can learn from the young generation. Times have changed since five thousand years ago. It’s called keeping up with the times, or the younger generation will laugh at you.” Archfiend Baiyuan then turned to Xiaoshuai, who was eating drumsticks at the table, and queried, “Why are you here, kid?”
“Qiao Xue dold me you’d gib me food (Qiao Xue told me you’d give me food),” Xiaoshuai answered.
Archfiend Baiyuan rubbed Xiaoshuai’s hair. “Poor boy, Qiao Xue duped you. Oh, well, I’ll go take you out to buy some food. We can go have some fun, too. Let’s go.”
“Ol’ Bai, if you dare to take the boy anywhere not suitable for children, you can kiss your legs goodbye!” warned Archfiend Fengluan.
“You jealous?”
“I’m mad! Now piss off!”
As the sun kissed the heads of the tangerine mountains, Rising Dragon Tournament was hours away from resuming, this time with the usual vibes of the tournament instead of reeking of foul play.
Archfiend Qinglong also took the opportunity to warn everyone not to try what the four dragon leaders did unless they desired harsh punishment. Nobody needed to think hard to figure out he was implementing a reform.
Fiends were hoping to see Mu Yu and Xiaoshuai in action, but the two pulled out. Due to their decision and for the sake of a fair tournament, Archfiend Qinglong decided to restart the tournament from scratch in case the dragons cheated in previous matches.
“I already told you where Hai Dongqing is. What did you follow me here for, Old Furry?” bemoaned Mu Yu, waiting for the bridge to appear with Qiao Xue and the dragon vine.
“I’m here to warn you to keep it in your pants. I know what you two did yesterday. If I find out you spark another relationship, I’ll beat you till you’re silly!”
“Oh, you want to go, do you? Where did you take Xiaoshuai yesterday? You missing brain cells?” Mu Yu fired back.
When Xiaoshuai returned in the morning, he cheerfully told Mu Yu Archfiend Baiyuan took him to a place where lots of female fiends got touchy with the fiend king, just as depicted in “Ximen Buxing and Pan Yinlian”, much to Mu Yu’s chagrin.
Archfiend Baiyuan looked up to the blue dome. “It’s just sad to see the boy kicked to the curb whenever you two want to do it, so I wanted to expand his horizons. He let me down, though. All he cared about was eating. He ate the entire brothel’s food supply. Who eats at brothels?”
“Pffthahaha, Uncle Yuan, Xiaoshuai is still young.”
“When we got up to leave, he told the proprietor their food was nice and would be visiting again. You should’ve seen her face; she thought she was looking at a plague!”
Even Mu Yu couldn’t resist a laugh this time.
“Listen, runt, I can forgive you for forcing yourself on my daughter; I’m just thinking of it as the pig eating the cabbage, but you better find that Xiang Nan, and bring back Hai Dongqing’s heart. Else, I’ll mess him up when I find him!”
“Now I know why Archfiend Luanfeng is always slapping you. You’re comparing Qiao Xue to cabbage? I hope you get slapped again on your way back.”
“Big Earthworm, I’m not going to be around to defend you when you get bullied from now, so keep your wits about you,” said Xiaoshuai, holding onto an apple.
“When have you ever defended me? The next time we meet, I’ll lay you out.”
“Ah, pfft. You couldn’t beat me even if I don’t try,” teased Xiaoshuai, biting into his apple.
Once the bridge appeared, Qiao Xue quietly reminded, “Be careful.”
“I will. Head back.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him, Qiao Xue. I won’t let him cheat on you, hihihi,” assured Xiaoshuai, staying in is human form for the coming quest, as well, because many people knew about the animal accompanying Mu Yu.
“Why do you always have something to say?” Mu Yu chided.
Mu Yu followed the marks he made on his way into the fiend territory to navigate his way out. Meanwhile, the dragon vine listlessly watched his friends vanish into the distance.
“Let’s head back to watch the tournament,” hollered Archfiend Baiyuan.
Qiao Xue waited for Mu Yu to disappear from sight before she followed after Archfiend Baiyuan.
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