Follow up for this idea, once LBH is out of the Abyss and he and SQQ have worked out the important stuff- like how much they missed each other and how they should totally kiss and hold hands and all- LBH asks about the System, which has gone back to hiding.
LBH is super frustrated because SQQ is clearly deliberately misinterpreting or avoiding his questions but when he turns to storm off SQQ grabs his arm and really deliberately puts his other hand over his mouth while avoiding eye contact.
LBH: ...you can't tell me can you? You said something about that at the time...
SQQ: ...
LBH: *thinks up the silliest possible thing to say* Clearly this is all Liu Qingge's fault.
SQQ: Pfff... No!
LBH: So you can only tell me when I'm wrong.
SQQ: ...
LBH: Ok I got it.
Once he's got the rules down LBH is gonna find out so much stuff about the System. It's days are numbered.
RIP Airplane when LBH asks about him though.
LBH: Clearly this is all SQH's fault.
SQQ: ... ...
LBH: Wait really??
SQQ: ...That's not... A fair assessment.
LBH: ?????????
SQQ: Don't kill him.
Miles away, minding his own business SQH shudders.
SQH: ... something bad just happened.
i made Ezreal a friend! His name is Coral
“MUMBO!”
Liu Er Mihou was the first to notice something happened.
It’s been some years since his fight against Wukong, in which the Great Sage explained the best he could why he had to go through this pilgrimage and protect this monk. Mihou decided to give him one last chance and Wukong promised he will get home as soon as this Journey ended. Now Macaque is back on Flower Fruit Mountain hoping the King will keep his promise.
Macaque listens now and then in direction to the west, to know if the travel with the monk and the other pilgrims was almost done. The last time he listen what Wukong was up to, he was on his way to get his circlet removed by Guanyin after sealing the brotherhood in a scroll.
Finally! Wukong did kept his promise of getting back home after all of this was done! And about the brotherhood, well, Macaque wasn’t that sad about them. Sure they were friends, but not anymore, not after the fight against heaven and how they completely abandoned Wukong after it. Macaque still did try to find him and talked to him, even if the result was a smashed peach on the ground.
Mihou was still very conflicted about how to feel toward Wukong, they needed to have serious talk as soon as the King will be back on the mountain. But something wasn’t right, something was missing. Macaque couldn’t shake off this feeling of something missing, something big. Then he notice.
Wukong’s magic. He couldn’t feel it anymore.
Minutes ago he could feel it getting closer, feeling Wukong getting closer to Flower Fruit Mountain. But now, nothing. It vanished into thin air. And then he noticed the lack of sounds.
He could no longer hear Wukong's breath, or his heartbeat. Normally Macaque is able to hear it even if he is far away thanks to his six ears.
But now, there was only a deafening silence. He couldn’t understand, what just happened?
Not wanting to alarm the other demon monkeys on FFM, he continues to listen, to find any hints, anything to ease his mind and to tell him that all of this is a cruel joke.
His mind went blank. There was no way Wukong just disappeared like that. Yes, he still hasn't forgiven him for going with the pilgrims and how he abandoned him, but he never expected all of this.
_________
No more than an hour later, Nezha was at the foot of Flower Fruit Mountain,asking to see Macaque or any monkey in charge of Wukong's kingdom.
Macaque was pulled back from his spiraling of thought when he noticed Nezha's presence.
Using his shadow to teleport to him, he told him he better have a good reason why he's there.
Nezha told him about all the things the Jade Emperor said; how Wukong died from a powerful curse he got during his journey, that apparently one of the many demons he fought had a cursed weapon capable of slowly killing an immortal being . And now his staff became cursed and is protected by a powerful barrier.
“ …where is he?” Macaque ask. “I- I don’t know. They didn’t answer when I asked, only saying he got disposed of.” “What do you mean disposed of?! You’re telling me it’s only been an hour since he supposedly died and he’s already disposed of??!” Nezha sighed: “Look I know this sounds very bad, and I agree something is awry. That’s why I came here as soon as I could to tell you this. Apparently his body was emanating a cursed energy after dying so that’s why they acted quickly” “... this doesn’t make any sense.." macaque paused "and what do you mean by something is awry? I was sure you would agree to whatever Heaven decided to do”. “I am not completely blind to what they do. Not long before they announced this, I saw that a part of the celestial army left the palace in secret and they got back when the news was spread. Perhaps it is connected, perhaps it is not. But my intuition tells me something is just wrong.”
“...”
“I know we are not on good terms but I thought it would be correct to tell you all this. I need to go now , my condolence for your loss.”
Nezha left the mountain as quickly as he got there to go back to the celestial palace.
Macaque stayed in the same spot,paralysed, still processing all the informations. ________
The news spread like wildfire. And everyone was too scared to go near the mountain with the "cursed magic staff".
Time passed, and Mihou was still looking for Wukong whenever he could, while protecting and taking care of the kingdom left behind after the sudden departure of the King.
Au Masterpost
Guns literally hatch from eggs
hurray for… whatever their name will be…. i’m not good with names TvT
how does being punched in the face feel like
"I'm happy for his highness."
"Yes, they make a good couple, but"
"I just can't watch them!" say both generals in unison.
"Every time I feel like I'm interrupting something" Mu Qing cringes.
Feng Xin feels good and floaty. The inn where he and Mu Qing stopped to continue their mission after visiting His Highness has really great food . He's glad he talked Mu Qing into taking a couple jars of wine for dinner - it's truly unique in this region. The evening is nice and alcohol put general Nan Yang into a playful mood.
"Gege" Feng Xin speaks in a luscious voice making a face.
"San Lang!" Mu Qing picks up on joke quickly squeaking in an unnatural high-pitched voice.
"Gege.... I have something for you"
"Ah San Lang what is it? my three thousandth portrait? how not creepy of you!"
Feng Xin snickers. "Gege!"
"San Lang!" Mu Qing rises slightly unsteadily from his seat. He is a rare sight: general is giggling, his cheeks scarletred , eyes squinted slightly giving off his drunkenness.
"Gege!" Feng Xin reaches out his hands to the god.
"San Lang!" Mu Qing dramatically falls on his lap and as Feng Xin starts making kissy noises at him he bends in two from laughter . Feng Xin's arm wraps around his waist and instinctively pulls him closer.
Mu Qing is heavy and warm, smelling of some herbs and the wine they have drunk. He is in simple robes and his hair is gathered into a low ponytail today.
Feng Xin stares at him mesmerized, absorbing, memorizing. He's holding himself from doing something gentle, something stupid, run his hand through his hair, stroke his side -
"How are you making this face?" the question takes the god by surprise.
"He looks at him with the exact same expression, hahaha!" Mu Qing continues, starting to get up from the general's lap.
And then Feng Xin snaps.
Au where Shen Yuan is a dragon with a giant cavern full of books and plays. It's enchanted and stuff so the cavern moves and shifts so it brings you to a section of the library with what you need/want. He occasionally lets people enter to read his books, but you aren't allowed to take them out no matter what. You are sometimes allowed to copy the information on your own scroll or book, but you need permission first.
He gets visited by Wu Yanzi and a young Shen Jiu. Wu Yanzi is looking for demonic cultivation manuals because Shen Yuan has almost one of each manual, encyclopedia, etc ever written.
He pays no mind since he doesn't really care if malicious people come in or not. He does passively keep an ear out just in case.
Wu Yanzi finds a cultivation manual that has everything he needed and could be sold for a lot of money since it was extremely rare and in pristine condition. He tries to sneak it into his bag, and the dragon just eats him. No warning. No heads up. No trumpets or fanfare. No foreboding messages to return the book. Just chomp.
Shen Jiu is taken aback because did his teacher just get eaten? JUST LIKE THAT?!
The dragon nudges the stolen book back into the shelf and looks at Shen Jiu. Shen Jiu is convinced he's going to die there. Except he doesn't get eaten or harmed. He gets gingerly picked up by the back of his robes and taken to the spiritual cultivation section of the library.
Shen Jiu gets plopped onto the floor and the dragon nudges a few beginner and cleansing cultivation manual to fall from the shelf for him and then promptly crawls back to its den.
Shen Jiu, who is instilled with the undescribable urge to scream "what the FUCK?!", instead sits down and starts reading and practicing because honest to god are you going to disobey a dragon that absolutely towers over you?
So when he's satisfied with his cultivation progress, he finally gets ready to leave. The dragon comes back only to put the books away from the shelves that were too far up for Shen Jiu to reach.
Shen Jiu thanks the dragon, which only gets him a huff in response, and because he hates to be in someone's debt (even if that someone is a dragon hundred of years his senior) he says he'll return with books to fill more shelves. He leaves soon after.
He manages to get the Qing Jing Peak Lord's attention during the Immortal Alliance Conference, which was his intention. He gets in a little late but his cultivation is practically caught up. He easily ranks up to head disciple.
During his time in Cang Qiong Shen Jiu jots down everything he learns. He writes down music he composes, discoveries he makes, talisman and array designs he creates, even poems he has written. His Shizun insists that he adds them to the Qing Jing library, and he does but he leaves polished copies of his work and excludes the very important parts.
Eventually when he's peak lord, he goes on an expedition by himself with the scrolls and books he's filled through the years. He finds the dragon's cavern and finally meets it after so long. He presents his life's work to the dragon, practically bearing his heart to it.
The dragon looks at him curiously and transforms into a human form. Shen Jiu watches as the dragon takes the bag from his hands and pulls out the first book, which had all the songs he made for the jiejies in the Warm Red Pavilion to preform.
The dragon say down and invited Shen Jiu to join him. He does and the dragon continues to go through everything while asking him questions about something he wrote or created. Sometimes they get off task and start talking about something else and both appreciate being able to talk to someone that understands classics or is good at debating.
By the time Shen Yuan finally finishes with everything Shen Jiu gave him, they have surprisingly clicked very well. Shen Yuan tells him he's going to make a section in his library for all his works, so he can bring more if he wished because Shen Yuan thought he was a genius that was just starting to shine.
Shen Jiu agrees to continue giving Shen Yuan his work if only to have an excuse to return. And that's how it became tradition that every once in a while the Qing Jing Peak Lord will go off the mountain with a stack of books for days on end and return to none of them.
Sometimes he would even have a strange man come to his peak. If the man visited, that meant Shen Qingqiu was going to be in a good mood, so obviously the kids always told him to stay or come back soon.
And also just as obviously, this is incredibly suspicious to the other peak lords. Cue Liu Qingge and Qi Qingqi pestering Shen Qingqiu and demanding to know what is the meaning of this. Also cue Shen Yuan misunderstanding and getting jealous and then realizing he has feelings for Shen Jiu (after a solid month(s) of denial).
So the next course of action is to keep Shen Jiu from Liu Qingge and Qi Qingqi because they're threats to Shen Yuan's time alone with Shen Jiu. Also he doesn't trust how Shen Jiu covers his face with his fan when they talk to him. Shen Jiu also covers his face when they both talk, so obviously that must mean something and he doesn't like it.
Isn't dragon jealousy great?
Eventually the peak lords find out about Shen Yuan and it was definitely a whole ordeal. Shen Yuan maybe threatened to burn Cang Qiong to the ground at some point, but the threat didn't go through so did it really happen?
Shen Jiu definitely knows about Shen Yuan's feelings for him and is absolutely fucking smug about it. Like who wouldn't want a highly intelligent dragon with a library that is any scholar's wet dream that INSTANTLY becomes a begging puppy when he wants your attention.
As far as Shen Jiu is concerned, he's winning at life.