“This disciple greets his Shizun-“ Luo Binghe began, surrounded by a gaggle of Huan Hua Palace disciples, all glaring, before trailing off in confusion. “…there’s two of you.”
“What an observation.” Shen Qingqiu said with a scowl. He looked Luo Binghe over, before looking away with a huff. “Still the same, I see.”
“Don’t talk about Luo-Shixiong that way-“ One of the disciples behind Luo Binghe snapped, only to be cut off.
“Now now!” Shen Yuan cut in, stepping between Shen Qingqiu and everyone else. He had spent this long trying to fix Shen Qingqiu’s reputation, and it was like dragging a feral cat, kicking and screaming.
Having made up with Yue Qingyuan helped. A little.
“There is no need for this hostility.” He continued, lightly waving his fan. “We’re all here to fix the plague that has descended here, are we not?”
“…there’s two of you.” Luo Binghe said again, eyes wide as he looked back and forth. Shen Yuan paused, confused, before continuing.
“Yes. I’m Shen Yuan, his brother. …And the one that has been acting as Shen Qingqiu for the past few years, while my brother was in seclusion.”
“There’s two of you.” Luo Binghe said a third time, eyes starting to shine. Shen Qingqiu blinked, before making a face and turning away.
“I am not dealing with this.” He snapped as he walked, robes flowing. “You deal with your disciple.”
“Oh, well, uh,” Shen Yuan stammered, losing his ‘Peak Lord Composure’ for a moment, without Shen Qingqiu’s natural bitch face. “Of course this Shizun greets his disciple-“
“I can still be your disciple?” Luo Binghe asked, excitedly. Shen Yuan could almost see his tail wagging. A disciple behind him started to argue, only to be shushed as Luo Binghe held up a hand. “Be quiet for a moment. Shizun is speaking.”
“Binghe!” Shen Yuan snapped, without thinking about it. “Don’t be rude!”
“I’m sorry Shizun!” Binghe said, not sorry at all. A different disciple scowled.
“Shen Qingqiu did something to Luo-Shixiong-“
“Nothing has been done to Binghe-“
“I told you to stop talking-“
“Don’t speak to Master Shen that way!” Gongyi Xiao spoke up at last, scolding his fellow disciples. “Show him some respect!”
Shen Yuan sighed as he saw the dark aura starting to form over Binghe. Well, on one hand, he was afraid of dying violently, but one the other, there was only one thing he could do here.
—————-
“What did you do.” Mu Qingfang asked, deadpan, as he finally looked up from his workstation. Shen Yuan laughed nervously, holding up a marked hand.
“I might have gotten infected?”
“Shen-Shixiong.” He said, exhausted. “I’ll get to that. I was referring to the man behind you.”
“Oh.” Shen Yuan glanced behind him. Binghe was sitting at a table, staring down Shen Qingqiu, who was glaring at him darkly. “It’s my old disciple. He’s not dead after all.”
“That’s a demon.” Liu Qingge said, eyes narrowed.
“No, that’s my disciple. Jeez, Liu-Shidi, I know children can be heathens but to call them demons? No wonder you don’t have any-“
“He has a mark on his forehead!” Liu Qingge snapped.
Ming Fan woke up to the sound of loud voices followed by a terrible screeching sound. He rubbed his eyes and clicked his tongue, annoyed that his rest was interrupted by a bunch of idiots who couldn’t keep it down after curfew.
“Shizun, we need to find an open area! The qi is hurting everyone!”
Hearing the familiar voice, Ming Fan instantly woke up, jumped out of bed, and ran to the door barefooted. He opened it, only to be washed over with an overwhelming unstable spiritual energy that made him weak in the knees. A group of people had stopped in front of his room, discussing urgently in loud voices to cover the terrible screeching coming from who knows where.
“Shen shixiong!”
One of the figures froze and turned to him with a pair of round eyes. It was Shen Yuan shixiong. He was finally back!
Shen Yuan was about to open his mouth to answer when their shizun, who was accompanying him along with a varied group of people, cut right in.
“Ming Fan, stay here and make sure that nobody follows us. A-Yuan, follow me.”
Ming Fan, sensing like the situation truly was urgent, acknowledged the order with a nod and went to grab his boots by the bed in a hurry. As soon as he stepped outside, the group left immediately, leaving the space in front of the dormitory empty except for one person.
“Shimei?”
Ning Yingying smiled weakly as she watched the group disappear in the bamboo forest. Ming Fan noticed how paled she looked and went to offer his help. His shimei didn’t refuse, grabbing his arm with what little strength she had left. Some younger disciples came out of their rooms, confused and curious about what had happened. Ming Fan barked a few orders, sending them back inside, before sitting Ning Yingying on a stone bench by the moon gate at the entrance of the dormitories.
“Shixiong, don’t worry about me. I just need to catch my breath.”
Ming Fan squatted in front of her, studying her face with worry.
“What happened? What were you doing with shixiong’s group? And why are you…? Yingying, did you exchange patrol nights with someone again?”
Ning Yingying pressed a few of her chest acupoints with a frown. She gestured to give her a minute to recover before opening her mouth to explain.
“I’m sorry, shixiong. I did. I just… I missed Shen shixiong and Luo shidi so much. I wanted to be the first to greet them at the gate. And I couldn’t sleep anyway when I learned they were on their way back.”
“Yingying, that’s a whole week of patrol you just imposed on your body. How many hours did you sleep this week?”
“…Not as much as I should’ve.”
Ming Fan sighed, rubbing his eyes in exasperation.
“Shixiong, this shimei is sorry. But I promise I was fine! I was starting to feel a little tired, but nothing serious. It’s… this unstable qi. It was so strong. Even shizun didn’t look too good when he got closer to Noodle.”
Ming Fan blinked.
“Noodle?”
“Mn. Remember the last letter shixiong and A-Luo sent me? Noodle didn’t just get hurt.”
“Then, what’s happening?”
Ning Yingying looked in the direction the group had disappear.
“He’s about to become a dragon.”
--
“Over here!”
Shen Qingqiu had brought them to a big clearing deep in the bamboo forest, away from any form of human life. Shen Yuan ran to the middle, cradling the dusu snake that kept twisting in pain in his arms.
“Shh- It’s ok, you’re ok, you’re fine.”
Truthfully, Shen Yuan was trying to convince himself more than the poor dusu snake. He reached the middle of the soft grass field in a few long strides and knelt there. Luo Binghe followed closely, settling himself in front of him before using his spiritual energy to soothe the creature as much as he could.
The situation didn’t look promising. Shen Yuan’s sleeves were covered in small iridescent scales… and blood. He had studied dusu snakes for years without coming across any cases like this one. Very few among their species became dragons to begin with and it was near impossible to obtain a specimen about to transform. Shen Yuan felt powerless. He thought back on their trip and something finally clicked in his mind.
Noodle had cultivated too fast. They had fought so much and went to so many places full of spiritual energy…
Shen Yuan’s vision turned blurry. He wanted to apologize, but Noodle probably couldn’t hear him now. He pulled the dusu snake closer, hugging him to his chest. The latter’s current body wasn’t strong enough to undergo a dragon transformation and… he might…
Noodle suddenly went completely still. Shen Yuan looked down in panic, only to see a pair of now colorful eyes staring right back at him with complete trust. A small pitiful cry came from the creature, rooting his master to the place he had knelt.
Shen Yuan lifted his gaze to Luo Binghe who simply smiled at him calmly.
Standing at the edge of the open space, Shen Qingqiu’s patience was wearing thin. Why didn’t those two leave the snake? He himself couldn’t get close, the unstable qi made him nauseous and feel like he was going to faint. How strong did his disciples become to bear such a powerful unstable qi without flinching? Or was A-Yuan simply being unreasonable, forcing himself to stay with his pet?
“A-Yuan, you can’t stay there! A-Yuan!”
But Shen Qingqiu’s voice didn’t reach his prized disciple. The ground had started to shake, and wind enveloped the trio, creating a strong spiritual barrier in the middle of the forest glade. From it, Luo Binghe locked eyes with his shizun. Shen Qingqiu felt familiar and powerful emotions assaulting his senses, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. He hated this. Why couldn’t he get close? Why was he still so weak after all those years? Leaving him weaker than this- this Luo Binghe… Why?!
Noodle’s cries suddenly turned even more heartbreaking. Shen Yuan kept him close, tears streaming down his face as he repeated words of comfort to the dusu snake. It… wasn’t going well. He could feel Noodle’s life essence rapidly going out, slipping between his fingers. But if it was to be his old and first friend last moments, he wanted to accompany him to the end.
He suddenly felt a pair of strong, youthful arms encircling him. Shen Yuan smiled despite the tears. His shidi didn’t have to accompany him to this extent. But he did. And he was immensely grateful for it. A gentle warmth spread from his heart, gently soothing his mind.
“A-YUAN!”
Still sitting in the middle of the forest glade, both disciples closed their eyes in unison as a harsh white light enveloped them. The gigantic amount of unstable qi was completely washed away in an instant, leaving only a strange electric atmosphere as the light blinded everyone at the scene.
A short moment passed before the light slowly receded, absorbed by something unknown. Soon after, the palpable charged energy followed.
Shen Yuan felt the weight in his arms disappear, ripping a whimper of desperation from his throat. He opened his eyes, intending to search for Noodle. As he did so, his retina was instantly drowned in an ocean of soft iridescent colors. For a moment, everything seemed to sit completely still, and only the gentle reflections of light dancing in the air like charming little pieces of crystal created an ocean of moving colors. Amidst the different waves, a pair of large reptilian eyes greeted his own calmly, the corner lifting in fondness when Shen Yuan stared back in surprise.
“…Noodle?”
The system’s voice, which he hadn’t heard for a long time, suddenly resonated in his head.
“Carapace ability : 50% damage reduction successful! Applied to user and their companions!”
“Qing Jing Peak’s favor +50pts!”
“Noodle’s favor +500pts!”
“Noodle’s favor [ BONUS ] +???points to •••••••”
“Protagonist’s halo compatibility with [*Noodle*] successful. +1000 ally points +0 shielding points!”
“Completion of master-level quest +1500pts!”
“New skills now available on the user skill tree!”
“Congratulations! Please continue to work hard!”
But Shen Yuan wasn’t listening. His body refused to move, remaining frozen in face of the unfamiliar creature.
A dragon.
Noodle released a short and sharp breath, ruffling his master’s hair from a distance. Shen Yuan jumped, not expecting the playful attitude from Noodle right after successfully cheating death. He swallowed with difficulty, his emotions still bouncing wildly around in his exhausted mind, and raised a trembling hand, reaching for Noodle’s new fluffy tail hovering above his head.
“You’re… so big now.”
Shen Yuan’s voice broke on the last syllable. Fat tears quickly filled his eyes, escaping in two seemingly never-ending streams which quickly drenched the collar of his clothes.
“Y-You’re- You’re alive…!”
He quickly let go of the tail to stand on his knees, throwing himself at Noodle who welcomed him in his embrace. The latter leaned on his master’s sobbing form with a soothing noise, something close to both purring and a low growl. Shen Yuan hid his face on the dragon’s body, both relieved that Noodle somehow survived the painful experience of turning into a dragon and embarrassed at how little he was able to restrain his emotions.
Unbeknownst to him, Noddle met another pair of eyes. Luo Binghe silently stared back. Noodle then closed his eyes, bending his neck in a graceful arch as if he was bowing to the young man. Luo Binghe’s eyebrows shot up in shock when he heard two clear words echoing in his mind.
“Thank you.”
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 8.5 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 -Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22 - Part 23
a piece inspired by liushen AU fic by @neonghostcat (cultivate) which you should go check out,,, ohhh you want the context, you want the context sooo bad go read it pretty please
anyway, not rly a specific scene redraw per se but like I said its inspired because I care them very much
also.........i was already half-way done with colouring when i remembered that SY was wearing his jrpg fit instead of the new plain ones in the scene that I took inspo from......... oh well- o(-( ( Ｔ▽Ｔ)
so heres a bonus blu version + lines as usual haha
btw if anyones out there like "hey isnt this-" then yes you are right, hi from main, here have some bonus doodles
↓
Rox of iu followers get more bonus doodles free of charge also
also these ones, theyre not from the latest chapters (its from 7th actually I think) but ever since then I couldn't stop thinking about the concept of arctic bees they are so dear to me I want them to be real so bad
*Xianle Trio entering the Ju Yang temple in the first book*
Mu Qing, extremely excited to see dianxia again and catch up to what's been happening to them these past 7 centuries (and trying to hide it): So, you're probably wondering about why the temple is named after Nan Yang's huge dick—
Aand this comic is finally complete! Thank you all who read this and left feedback. Wish I could answer you all but I'm too mentally drained for this, still I appreciate every single comment I receive :>
Title: "The Ghost King isn't dressed"
Based on the extra of the same name.
Contains potential spoilers for the book.
Please don't reupload it anywhere.
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