The prayer beads were enveloped in blue light, each as large as a chestnut. They formed a circle of blue essence power, keeping Brother Dai's corrupted qi at bay. Brother Feng raised a hand. Without the prayer beads, he felt naked, but not defenseless. He muttered a few sutras and rushed toward the giant black snake.
Despite its size, Yichen was agile and fast. He pulled back his body and attacked the monk from behind. Clear, transparent poison dripped from his huge fangs. One of his teeth was already as big as a tree; he could impale the monk with it and leave a football-sized hole in his body. Brother Feng dodged. With another sutra, he formed a protective circle around himself as he flew through the air. Yichen's massive body crashed into the tree line and knocked down several of them.
"Watch where you land," Pian'er warned him. If he hurt Xinxin, Liu Yan's generosity towards him would quickly come to an end. Yichen pushed himself between Pian'er and the monk, who was just landing on the ground again, shielding them from each other with her body. His head jerked forward, but the protective spell made him bounce off. Brother Feng was sweating. He frantically muttered more sutras and a circle of concentrated sword energy appeared above them. Yichen raised his head as the swords rained down on him.
He hissed as the blue blades pierced his scales. Years of molting by the Gao had made his scales much less hard than they should have been. He hissed and shook himself. Blood ran from countless wounds. He lashed out at the monk with his tail, but the monk dodged and conjured another circle of blue swords. The fog around Liu Yan cleared a little, and he looked back and let some of the corrupted qi flow into Yichen's body. His wounds closed and he felt physical strength and magic flow through him.
He felt stronger, more agile. The monk's movements seemed slower to him. He opened his enormous mouth and crushed the swords with his powerful jaw. Liu Yan smiled, then the black mist covered his form again, and the corrupted qi flowed unhindered into his body and merged with his meridians. Brother Dai, who had been trying to keep the corrupted qi at bay, shot the blue prayer beads into the black shadows. But they only disappeared into them.
With a gasp, he fell to the ground, his fingers still clenched in prayer. As his beads shattered and trickled to the ground, he felt pressure on his chest and a sharp pain. Blood rose in his throat and he spat it onto the ground. Breathing was difficult. As a monk, the corrupted miasma hit him particularly hard. It poisoned his body and felt like icy needle tips flowing through his blood.
"Brother Feng," he looked back and saw, just in time, his companion, enveloped in blue light, landing in the mouth of the giant snake. He heard the magic circle shatter and the sound of breaking bones and bursting flesh. Blood dripped from Yichen's mouth as he spat out the remains of the crushed body and resumed his human form. "Bah, monks taste disgusting," he remarked, wiping the blood from his chin.
"You monster," Brother Dai cried, choking. Yichen looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Me?" he asked, pointing at himself.
"Do you know what humans consume on a regular basis? Packaged as medicine, herbal remedies, fountain of youth, and incense? How disgusting and greedy they are with the parts of demons, and I'm the monster?" He snorted. Above them, there was a rumbling. The black qi gathered around Liu Yan and took the form of an ancient spell circle written in an ancient language.
Circle upon circle overlapped, surrounded by bloody wisps of mist. The black qi spread behind him like the wings of a raven. "My name is Tian Liu Yan, I am the curse-bound born in this generation," he said. Although he neither shouted nor called out, his voice echoed audibly across the Honglou.
"Any demon who will join me is welcome, anyone who does not bow before me will be killed. As a sign of my good will, I have brought you a gift." His gaze shifted to Brother Dai and then to Brother Feng. When he saw Brother Feng's shattered body, his gaze shifted reproachfully to Yichen. He ducked under the gaze and hid behind Pian'er, who glared at him angrily. Xinxin looked up at him. There was warmth in her gaze, and he was happy to interpret a hint of pride in it as well. Sacrificing Brothers Dai and Feng to the demons had been her idea. To appease them.
She had no sympathy for such narrow-minded, simple-minded men. Pian'er had long since ceased to be surprised by this behavior. Only Yichen now kept a respectful distance from her. Liu Yan floated back to the ground. The massive qi he had absorbed rushed and burned in his veins, and it was by no means all that was concentrated and hidden beneath this place. He had merely demonstrated a small part of his power. The gates opened and a man stepped out. He might as well have been carved from white limestone. His gaze was serious and cold. His features were striking and he wore silver armor. In his hand he held a spear.
Although he looked old enough to have come from a history book, he still seemed dangerously sharp and pointed. Behind the man who stepped out of the gate, countless heads peered out curiously. Some looked like humans with beaks on their faces or feathers on their heads. Trunks, fangs, and dog ears. Others, on the other hand, had nothing human about them.
The more powerful a demon was, the more human its form became. For the human form was the closest to the most divine and perfect. Pian'er moved a little further in front of Xinxin, who was curiously looking at the different species. "Don't stare at them," she whispered softly. Xinxin obediently lowered her gaze.
"My name is Tingliu," the man introduced himself as he stood before Liu Yan.
"I have been the guardian of this place for over six hundred years. I was already here when the last curse took human form, but it was neither as powerful nor as ambitious as you," he said.
"What do you want?" Tingliu finally asked.
"To make this place my home," Liu Yan replied, letting his gaze wander over the mighty walls. "To finally be the ruler I should have been from the beginning," Liu Yan replied.
"And what will you do when humans come?" Tingliu continued.
"Kill them." Liu Yan's answer was cold and elicited a joyful cry from the demons.
"And if cultists come?"
"Then I will reserve a place for them in hell."
Again, a joyful cry from the assembled crowd. Tingliu opened his mouth.
"I will destroy anyone who dares to question my place in this world," Liu Yan cut him off. "Do you doubt me, my friend?" Tingliu took a step back. Liu Yan's cold, dark eyes watched him and his every move. Finally, the guardian sank to his knees and showed his inferiority. As soon as the others saw this, they poured out of the gates and bowed as well.
"And your companions?" Liu Yan looked back. "The lotus flower demon Pian'er is my first general. The snake demon Yichen is my second. The human girl Xinxin belongs to me. Anyone who touches her will die, no matter what the reason. Anyone who looks at her will die, no matter what the reason, and anyone who approaches her..."
"Will die, no matter what the reason," Tingliu finished the sentence. Liu Yan smiled slightly.
"Brother Dai is a gift, do with him as you wish," he instructed Tingliu. Then he reached out his hand to Xinxin.
Pian'er made the red, shimmering barrier disappear, and Xinxin took Liu Yan's hand and let him lead her up the countless steps.
"Congratulations, Your Highness. Unfortunately, I don't have a coronation gift," she whispered teasingly. Liu Yan's smile became warmer, more sincere. He felt Xinxin's warmth in his hand.
"No need," he said.
"Phew, the builders really went overboard with the stairs, didn't they?" Xinxin asked when they hadn't even climbed halfway.
"I can carry you," Liu Yan offered.
"I'm a grown woman," Xinxin protested.
"Or fly," he remarked.
"Forget it," Xinxin hissed.
"Then I'd rather carry you," he laughed. He lifted Xinxin into his arms and continued up the stairs. Although Xinxin grumbled, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned against him. Pian'er and Yichen followed them at a respectful distance. Pian'er grinned at her, while Yichen looked rather skeptical.
He probably hadn't quite understood what Xinxin meant to Liu Yan yet. But he would.
"Miss Xinxin," panted a maid with pink skin, a snout nose, and pig ears, out of breath. Xinxin laughed as Qhizi leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.
"Her Highness Tina Liu Yan will kill me if you catch a cold," she scolded bitterly, trying to squeeze Xinxin into the warm coat.
"The great wolf demon and friend of my father's third cousin sent this fur himself." Xinxin grimaced.
"That's very kind, but I don't need a coat inside the palace, Qhizi," Xinxin politely declined. In fact, there was little sign of the harsh, rough winter outside the palace walls here inside. Pian'er's lotus flames lit up the entire palace. In addition, there were torches, fire bowls, and thick curtains on the windows to keep out the cold air and snow.
Qhizi only gave up when Xinxin slipped into the throne room. Liu Yan looked up. In the nearly half a year that they had now been living in Honglou, the former wild lands had become a stronghold of demons. There was a veritable mass migration back from the cities and countries of humans. The demons built their own cities. And Xinxin was amazed at how resourceful they were. An entire city had sprung up in the treetops, connected by a wide network of bridges. The water demons had joined forces and built an impressive city at the bottom of a huge lake. Villages sprouted from the ground, and with them, social classes. Trade flourished, not to mention a steady flow of corrupted qi. With Tinglius' help, Liu Yan had taken over the administration of the new cities and districts.
The demons were a warlike people by nature and could not be left to their own devices. That's why Liu Yan often had to deal with minor disputes. That is why one of his first official acts was to introduce the military. With the help of Pian'er and Yichen, who served as supreme generals, a hierarchy and an impressive troop of disciplined demons quickly emerged, regulating various laws and enforcing rules that were necessary for orderly coexistence. The borders had also been fortified, and before the onset of winter, the first scouts had already been spotted gathering information about what was happening in the wildlands.
Liu Yan had also kept his promise and provided Xinxin with her own palace, where she could indulge in the research and development of her own medicinal herbs, potions, and concoctions.
Indeed, the Wildlands were a lush land for medicinal herbs. And the demons willingly offered their hair, bones, and fur to support her. However, Xinxin tried to refrain from using them for the most part. She sat down next to Liu Yan, who was poring over a report, and stole some pastries from his plate. Liu Yan laughed and put the book aside to wipe a crumb from the corner of her mouth.
"No demon is as thieving as you," he laughed.
"I'm not thieving," Xinxin protested.
"Oh yes, first you stole my heart, now my sweets," he whispered in her ear. Xinxin blushed. Since they had arrived here, Liu Yan had had little time, but he had become all the more shameless in his courtship of her. She cleared her throat and turned her head away when he leaned down toward her. She felt his warm breath on her skin, but he pulled back and devoted himself to the report.
"You should send scouts to gather information on the human side as well," Xinxin suggested. "Otherwise, you could suddenly find yourself facing a gathered army next spring. In the worst case, from both sides," she explained, pointing out on the map that they bordered the Tian and Wu empires like a wedge, with the sea at their backs.
"I've already thought about asking around," Liu Yan admitted, putting the report aside.
"At the moment, the demons are united and full of optimism. But that could change at any time if war actually breaks out and the first deaths occur. The Wu and Tian empires already have experience in fighting. Most demons only have experience in being slaughtered," he said. Then he pulled Xinxin, who had stolen another cake, toward him.
"Let's go check it out," he suggested. "Just you and me, like in the old days."