Work Text:
Shang Qinghua had no idea how this had happened.
He stared at the tall demon standing in front of him, towering over him like some predator looking down on his next meal. The deep dark blue demons mask with the scary horns he wore over his face had an open mouthed grin showing of a row of long sharp fangs.
The poor human cultivator shuddered and curled slightly into himself, making him look even more like a scared little hamster ready to faint any second.
"Mo- Mobei-Jun?"
He squeaked when a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed the front of his robes, an icy blue gleam emitting from the eye sockets of the mask. Shang Qinghua trembled like a leaf in the wind when the future demon lord pulled him closer and closer to the terrifying sharp toothed mask.
"Aaah! Please don't eat me!" The cultivator screamed throwing his arms over his head, tears collecting in his tightly closed eyes.
The demon gave a disgusting huff, letting go of Shang Qinghua.
In a try to get away fast the An Ding Peak Lord waved his arms like a maniac. He felt more than saw when he hit the demon prince's mask, effectively pulling it from his face.
There was a cracking sound when the mask hit the stone path they were standing on, breaking cleanly into two pieces.
There was a long silence.
After what felt like days Shang Qinghua finally dared to raise his head, shyly looking up to the demon.
His eyes widened. This… wasn't what he had expected.
Horns? Yes. Scales? Of course. Some disfiguration the mask was hiding? Certainly. But not the icy beauty in front of him that he couldn’t look away from. A sharp jawline, smooth pale skin, dark long hair falling open over broad shoulders and gleaming ice blue eyes glaring at him.
Shang Qinghua could feel himself drooling.
Mobei-Jun frowned disapprovingly.
Shang Qinghua swallowed heavily and gave a sheepish laugh rubbing nervously over his robe to straighten it up.
"H-hello. My name is Shang Qinghua and I-" He ended in a new squeakish scream as Mobei-Jun suddenly was only a hands width away from his face. Panic rose in his chest when faced with the demon’s beauty up and close.
He was just about to say something, anything, probably something dumb because how could he even think straight with a face like this right before his eyes, when he suddenly heard a low deep growl.
"... சூடான…"
And with that the fearful future demon lord of the Northern Desert fell forward right into Shang Qinghua's arms. The cultivator wasn't the weakest physically because of all the labor work he had to do, but the weight of a full grown man nearly twice his size was too much even for him to bear.
With a grunted huff and a pained noise Shang Qinghua was buried under cold flesh and warm pelt.
Really, he thought almost crying, how did he end up like this?
To make it short: It was Shen Qingqiu's fault.
Who else!
Everything was because of this man! Everything started with him and his stupid disciple!
After finding out about Luo Binghe's halfbreed status, the man tried everything in his power to better the relation between the human and demon realms. That way his beloved disciple wouldn't have to get hunted down by the other sects or even his own sect.
After a lot of talking and political nonsense Shang Qinghua didn't understand even one word of, the leaders of the different sects and lords of the demon realm grudgingly accepted a first tentative peace treaty. It was decided that there would be an exchange between the two realms to strengthen the new relationship and get to know each other. Immortal masters and demon lords would go to the opposite realm for a few months to learn about the others culture. And to more or less count as a hostage for that time, in case something was to happen to the other sent envoy.
When it was decided who from their sect would go to the demon realm and who would take care of the "guest" Shang Qinghua wasn't really present. Well, he was physically but he worked overtime the whole week to finish all of the logistic nightmares that came with this somewhat hasty exchange.
So while Shang Qinghua was half asleep sitting in on the meeting of the twelve Peak Lords of Cang Qiong Sect, Shen Qingqiu immediately volunteered to go into the demon realm under the condition that he was allowed to take his disciple with him. "He needs to learn about his demonic heritage," he said not taking a no as an answer, sending a glare at Yue Qingyuan when the sect leader wanted to speak up with a mildly panicked expression on his face.
Liu Qingge took the opportunity to decide he would go with Shen Qingqiu. He didn't outright say it was to protect the other man, but when Shen Qingqiu's frosty eyes settled on him, the War God was quick to explain to him it was just so he could test out the strength of the demons in sparring matches.
When Mu Qingfang, too, expressed his interest to go with them to study the different herbs and medicine home only to the desolate wastes of the demon realm, Qi Qingqi had had enough.
"Stop this nonsense!" Her voice wasn't loud but it still made the other Peak Lords feel a shiver running down their backs. "We can't send half of the peaks! Shen-shixiong will go since this whole ordeal was his idea. And Liu-shidi will go with him as protection." Her words were final even though Mu Qingfang looked ready to argue.
"Don't worry, Mu-shidi, I will find some medicine books and send them to Cang Qiong Sect for you to study," Shen Qingqiu tried to reassure him.
The healer was somewhat pacified since he could understand the need for protection but he still was sad about the lost chance to be able to study the plants first hand. But then, if this whole project was going to improve human and demon relationships he would have enough chance to study them anyway.
Yue Qingyuan gave a sigh of relief yet his eyes still lingered worriedly on Shen Qingqiu. "Very well. Shen-shidi and Liu-shidi will be our representatives for the demon realm." After a sharp glance from Shen Qingqiu he quickly added, "and Luo Binghe will accompany them. Shen-shidi, tell him to visit Shang-shidi later to go over the travel expenses and route."
Shen Qingqiu nodded, his face relaxing now that he knew his disciple would come with them.
"Let's get this over with." Qi Qingqi tapped her long nails on the table in a show of annoyance. "Who will play babysitter for that spoiled demon prince who will torment us here? I don't have the time and patience for that."
Silence reigned for a long time before all eyes zeroed in on the half asleep blurry eyed form of Shang Qinghua who hadn't said a single word during all of the discussion.
"All in favor for Shang-shidi taking care of our guest?" Yue Qingyuan asked without preamble, eyes not leaving the sleeping man.
A chorus of "yes" answered him and thus it was decided that Shang Qinghua was to be the host or better said the slave for the arriving future demon lord.
And that was how Shang Qinghua got into all this mess. They took advantage of him! Advantage! First they made him work himself nearly to death with all the previous arrangements, then he had to help Luo Binghe with everything from route planning to the preparations for the upcoming travel, and now he also had to look after this future demon lord too.
He wanted to cry! And to hide under his blanket and only come back out after a hundred years gone by. There was only one problem…
Tears gathered in his eyes as he stared at the unconscious form of Mobei-Jun laying in his bed. In his bed! You heard right! Because “Shang-shidi, isn’t it better to keep him close to keep a better eye on him?” and “Shang-shixiong is surely willing to share his bed. Are you even using it?” and “Think of all the money saved if he would just stay with Shang-shidi instead of having to maintain another accommodation! Or would you rather have him live with your disciples in the Leisure House?”
“I hate you all,” Shang Qinghua muttered under his breath as he watched the demon with wary eyes. He didn’t know what had happened that the demon fainted so shortly after arriving in the human realm. It couldn’t be the air, could it? No, if the human realm’s air was poisonous to demons that would have been discovered far sooner.
Shang Qinghua pulled his hair desperately, effectively ruining his usual ponytail but he didn’t care. He wasn’t from Qing Jing Peak to care about appearances and grace. He had by far worse problems now.
He couldn’t even understand what Mobei-Jun had said to him before he fell over! Was the demon able to speak the human language at all? Shang Qinghua was sure that the previous demon sovereign had made sure the whole demon realm had to learn the human language since he loved it so much. Even the beastly demons of the south could somewhat communicate in that tongue because of the general Zhuzhi-lang’s influence.
Please, don’t tell him the Northern Desert, a notorious dangerous and unlivable place ruled by strength alone, didn’t heed the order of the demon sovereign because of their steadfast belief that humans were inferior to them.
Shang Qinghua put his head in his hands giving out a wailing noise sounding more like one of the beast demons of the south rather than an actual human being. Why, oh why was he so unlucky? Who bullied the northern demons into sending a representative?! Oh god, Mobei-Jun would kill him as soon as possible, right? He was just a little cultivator, he wasn’t even the strongest or most powerful of the Peak Lords! His poor An Ding Peak wouldn’t sustain a single attack from Mobei-Jun. Not to speak of Shang Qinghua himself.
He was broken out of his more and more desperate sounding thoughts by a low snarl and heavy breathing.
His head shot up and he stared again at the demon prince in his bed who was now throwing his head from left to right trying to crawl out from under the blanket Shang Qinghua had thrown over him earlier. His whole face and neck were red and covered in sweat.
The demon wasn’t dying on him, was he? Oh, please no, that would be even worse than having An Ding Peak ground into ashes and ruins! If Mobei-Jun died under his care then there would be war with the demon realm for sure! The Mobei Clan was one of the most powerful and feared demon clans out there, only second to the demon sovereign!
In panic Shang Qinghua jumped up from the chair he was sitting on next to the occupied bed. “What to do? What to do?! By the heavens, I am so dead.”
All of a sudden a thought struck him and he frantically made a dive to his desk. With a swift move of his arm he pushed the scrolls and wood plates away until he found what he was looking for.
Tears of relief and joy were streaming down his cheeks as he held up a little worn booklet as if it was a present given by the gods themselves. Unfortunately, said little booklet wasn’t from the gods but was thrown at him by Luo Binghe when they talked about the upcoming travel.
“Shizun told me to give this to you,” the young man had said but hadn’t explained further, instead focusing back on the task to make the whole journey as comfortable as possible for his Shizun, and grudgingly Liu Qingge too.
This would help him! He was sure it would help him. Please, be helpful, little booklet, this father’s live depends on you!
Opening it like it was the most precious thing in the world, Shang Qinghua was greeted by a little note written by Qing Jing’s Peak Lord.
The demons of the Northern Desert haven’t learned the human language yet. Please teach Mobei-Jun everything he needs to know! May this book be of assistance. Shen Qingqiu
Shang Qinghua let out a string of curses.
This booklet as it seemed was a kind of dictionary hastily thrown together. It only had a few of the most common words and phrase including some obscure medical terms the An Ding Peak Lord couldn’t even hope to understand in the human language.
Shang Qinghua was dead. He was dead meat! He was a shit teacher, ask any of his disciples!
Teary eyed and already planning his funeral in his mind he turned over page after page after page until he found something that looked like it could sound like the word the demon muttered before he fainted.
“Hot?” Shang Qinghua was confused. Was it really the right word? It wasn’t even summer yet only early to mid spring, how could Mobei-Jun be- It hit him like lightning! He was dumb! So dumb, dumb, dumb!
As if chased by demons (which he definitely would be if the demon lord heir would die on him!) he dived the two steps from his desk to his bed and tore the blanket away from the overheating ice demon.
How could Shang Qinghua forget about this?! Mobei-Jun was from the demon clan of the Northern Desert. The Northern Arctic Desert. He was an ice demon! Used to sub-zero temperatures! Had he ever even left the icy north? Probably not.
Shang Qinghua hastily pulled open the thick and heavy fur coat exposing the unblemished white skin of Mobei-Jun’s heaving chest and rippled abs. It took him a long time and the reminder that Mobei-Jun would definitely kill him later when he’d know that Shang Qinghua shamelessly undressed him like this, before the An Ding Peak Lord could look away from the marvelous sight in front of him. He threw the fur coat away in some dark and probably dirty corner of his room.
Mobei-Jun, now only clad in his pants and nothing more, was a picture Shang Qinghua burned into his memory forever while thinking of something to cool down the ice demon. At least it seemed to help that the blanket and coat were gone. The trashing had stopped to a simple heavy breathing and some more sweaty pearls streaming down the demon’s temples.
After a short moment Shang Qinghua turned on his heels and opened the door to yell for his head disciple, who reluctantly shuffled over trying to hide the playing cards in his hand.
“Yes, Shizun?” He asked with the least amount of respect in his voice that he could get away with.
“Run over to Qing Jing Peak and bring me a few of Peak Lord Shen’s fans,” Shang Qinghua ordered waving his hand to indicate for his head disciple to hurry. It was Shen Qingqiu’s fault he was in this mess, the man could pay with some of his precious fans for all Shang Qinghua cared.
The disciple looked baffled but didn’t say anything, only bowed and hurried away to get the fans. Hopefully with Shen Qingqiu not on the peak there shouldn’t be any problems. And if there were any, then the disciple always could blame everything on Shang Qinghua.
While waiting for the fans to be delivered, Shang Qinghua had gone to the nearby river, still cool from the spring weather, and filled a whole bucket with the precious cold water. Dragging it back home he put it next to the bed and chair and took out a linen cloth from somewhere inside his closet.
Now… he sat on the chair, water bucket in front of him, cloth in his hand, and he stared down on Mobei-Jun’s face and chest. He swallowed hard before taking one, two deep breaths and dunking the cloth into the cold water. With a trembling hand and a mantra of “Please don’t wake up! Please don’t wake up!” in his head he began to stroke over the pale chest, cleaning it from the sweat and cooling down the heated skin.
He couldn’t help but admire the hard muscles of the chest and abdomen, even daring to stroke over them with his finger tips. A sudden growl resounded from the demon in front of him, which made Shang Qinghua nearly throw the wet linen cloth into the man’s face.
With wide terrified eyes the peak lord stared at the fearful ice demon who slept on as if nothing was wrong. Shang Qinghua was sure he would be dead by the end of this exchange. If Mobei-Jun wouldn’t kill him directly he would die from a heart attack.
Tears in his eyes, Shang Qinghua proceeded to wipe the sweat off from the admirable ripped body. Although he still stared at the demon like he was the best food ever presented to him, he didn’t dare touch him again without the protective layer of wet cloth between them.
The time it took him to wash Mobei-Jun was also enough for his head disciple to come back. In his arms were a handful of green and blue fans and his left eye was adorned with a big black ring. He stared murder at his teacher when he almost threw the fans at him. “Here you go, Shizun,” he hissed before turning on his heel and shuffling back into the Leisure House. Probably to badmouth his Shizun with the other disciples.
Shang Qinghua didn’t care. He had other things to care about. Namely the demon sleeping in his bed still overheating.
The rest of his evening and night Shang Qinghua busied himself with fanning Mobei-Jun with a fan in each hand and every shichen wiping him down with new cold water from the river.
It didn’t need to be said that he didn’t get even a single wink of sleep that night.
The early morning hours already had passed when Mobei-Jun began slowly to regain consciousness.
Shang Qinghua still sat on the chair next to the bed, his eyes closed while his arms lethargically went up and down each hand lazily holding a fan. It didn’t really stir up any wind with the snail speed at which the arms moved but he was so used to this motion by now that he didn’t even stop it now while he was slightly dozing off.
He didn’t notice sharp blue eyes opening and staring at him. Mobei-Jun didn’t say anything. He was just lying silently on the bed without making a single move and watched the human cultivator in front of him.
When Shang Qinghua jolted out of his little half-nap, his tired eyes widened the moment he saw the ice demon fully awake. He jumped out of the chair, totally forgetting that he sat there unmoving for the whole night and his legs were as asleep as his whole body wished it could be.
With a small yelp he fell forwards. He wanted to support himself against the bed but after fanning the night away his arms didn’t have any strength left in them and he unceremoniously landed face down on Mobei-Jun’s arguably well built chest.
He was dead.
He was so dead.
He was too young to die. He swore he would come back after his death and haunt that despicable Shen Qingqiu who was totally to blame for everything that happened to Shang Qinghua right now.
Inwardly still cursing and swearing upon his shixiong, Shang Qinghua only felt when he was grabbed by the neck collar of his robe and shoved away from the bed.
He landed with a small “uff” and when he tried to get up again his arms were shaking and not obeying him. He probably over exaggerated himself so much that he had lost all control over his limbs.
He couldn’t even run away!
Not wanting to die and without anything else he could do, he fell head first on the ground in a mocking image of a kowtow due to his lack of movability and nearly screamed. “Please have mercy, my king! I didn’t want to disrespect you! I wouldn’t dare with someone as strong as my king!”
There, that should do it, shouldn’t it? A bit of groveling and appealing to the strength of the demon just like he heard the northern demons liked it.
Mobei-Jun simply stared at him, slowly sitting up in an upright position. Then he looked down to his own bare chest which made the by now dried linen cloth fall from his forehead down on the bed. His eyes wandered to the fans lying on the ground where they had fallen earlier when the cultivator tried to secure himself before his fall.
Then his icy gaze zeroed back on Shang Qinghua.
“... நீ என்ன செய்தாய்?”
Shang Qinghua: “...”
Tears began to stream down his face. How did he forget already?!? Northern demons don’t speak human tongue. Shen Qingqiu explicitly mentioned it in his little note.
He really was going to die.
Shang Qinghua tried again to get up on his wobbly legs without the help of his still useless arms. But he could only let out a painful moan before falling back to the ground. He couldn’t. Everything hurt. His arms, his legs, even his head from the long sleepless night.
He looked up at Mobei-Jun. How would this proud, strong demon even see him as? Lying on the ground not even being able to stand up. He felt like prey in front of a hungry wolf. Any moment now he could be killed.
Would anyone even care if he died? His disciples surely not. Maybe they were glad about his death, Shang Qinghua thought, the memory of his head disciple’s black eye still fresh in his mind. His sect brothers and sister? Who else did he have? No one.
When Mobei-Jun raised his arm and blue light began to gather at the tips of his fingers, Shang Qinghua really thought this would be the end.
The ice magic hit him and he pressed his eyes tightly shut. A small hiss escaped his lips. But the expected pain piercing his heart didn’t come. Instead he could feel how a layer of ice coated over his arms and legs numbing the pulsing pain.
His head shot up staring wide eyed at the ice demon who sat on the bed like nothing had happened.
“Tha-thank you? Mo-mobei-Jun?” he stuttered, not really believing that the ice demon not only didn’t kill him but instead helped him with his pain.
The demon prince’s glare got even frostier and an unpleasant expression appeared on his face. He turned his head away not deigning to look at the cultivator kneeling on the ground. Instead he watched the scenery outside of the window. The first spring flowers had made their way to the surface and birds sang in the crowns of the trees. Everywhere was a lush green and you could faintly hear the splashing of the nearby river.
An awkward and tense silence reigned for a long time, only broken by a knocking on the door and the sweet voice of a young girl.
“Shizun? I brought you some breakfast.”
Shang Qinghua sighed in relief, thanking the gods for his lovely disciple. She often cared for the peak lord when he overworked himself because of some destruction Bai Zhan Peak disciples made again. Also, she was his only female disciple. Really, which young girl would want to be in logistics where you did labor work all day long, getting dirty with your only reward being exhaustion?
Thanks to Mobei-Jun’s ice magic Shang Qinghua was able to somewhat move his tired limbs again, at least insofar that he could climb back into the chair next to Mobei-Jun who’s cold gaze was now fixed on the closed wooden door.
“Come in!” Shang Qinghua called after making himself as comfortable as possible on the hard chair.
The door opened and a girl in plain brown training robes and a tray with hot tea and a bowl of congee stepped into the room. Her features weren't as beautiful as the likes of Qi Qingqi and her disciples but she couldn't be called ugly either.
"Shizun, here is some tea and…" Her voice ran out as she stared open mouthed at the still bare chested Mobei-Jun. The tray in her hand shook slightly.
Uh-oh, he might have forgotten that the demon was still without his coat.
"Thank you!" He quickly said, trying to get her attention back on himself and not on Mobei-Jun who looked ready to freeze her if she so much dared as to stare at him any longer. "Put it on the desk. And ah!" He looked at the demon next to him. "Uhm, what do you want to eat?" What do ice demons even eat?!?
Mobei-Jun looked at him as if he was stupid, his eyes getting more annoyed as the time passed.
"எனக்கு புரியவில்லை," the demon prince growled irritated.
Oh, yeah, right. The language barrier.
The young female disciple jolted at the deep low growl and hurried to set down the tea and congee as ordered on the desk.
Shang Qinghua thanked her. "And can you please bring something, I don't know? Cold? Maybe?" He glanced nervously at Mobei-Jun. "Maybe we have some dried meat or something else one can eat without heating it?"
The girl nodded quickly with a bright red face and practically ran out of the door, smashing it shut behind her.
Shang Qinghua sighed. He really hoped he hadn't scared his only female disciple away now.
While they waited for his disciple to come back with some breakfast for their demonic guest, Shang Qinghua tried again to get Mobei-Jun to understand him. He raised his hand and pointed at himself. "Shang Qinghua. I am Shang Qinghua." He spoke slowly and as clearly as he could.
The ice demon looked unimpressed.
Shang Qinghua sighed. This would be a few very very long months.
The next several days were the worst in Shang Qinghua's life.
Mobei-Jun proceeded to occupy his bed every night and wouldn't let Shang Qinghua come close.
The cultivator had to sleep on the ground with only a few blankets he stole from his disciple’s room. He really didn't know what the sect leader had planned would happen. A human and a demon peacefully sharing one bed? Forget about money! He knew Cang Qiong sect was rich! He did the finances!
Yue Qingyuan came by on the second day to greet Mobei-Jun but the demon wasn't willing to spare him any of his attention. The sect leader explained to Shang Qinghua how the Northern Desert didn't want to send someone at first. They were much too proud and undiplomatic to even consider working with humans. It was only because of Linguang-Jun, Mobei-Jun's uncle who did everything in his power to persuade his brother to send the only heir of the Northern Desert to the human realm, that Shang Qinghua was stuck with the demon prince.
Shang Qinghua was really curious about this whole situation. While it should be an equal exchange between the human and demon realm, he never would have thought the proud and distrustful ice demons of the north would risk their one and only heir in this way. While Shang Qinghua himself knew Cang Qiong wouldn’t break the agreement, the demons had no reason to trust the humans. Especially with Mobei-jun being send to the arguably strongest sect out there, Cang Qiong sect with its twelve peak lords. Every lord a strong opponent in their own way, with their very own unique abilities and skills.
Suddenly Shang Qinghua feared for Shen Qingqiu, Liu Qingge, and even Luo Binghe, who all were now in the northern lands trying to stabilize the unstable peace treaty there.
Since he couldn’t help them he had to trust in their diplomatic ability. Thinking about Liu Qingge…
No, no, no. He had his own problems. Namely getting Mobei-Jun to accept the human language.
For days now he had sat with the ice demon on his little desk going over the words in Shen Qingqiu’s little booklet. But Mobei-Jun just didn’t want to speak or write anything, just staring at the paper and seemingly biding his time to go back home again.
But Shang Qinghua wasn’t above groveling. “Please, my king. Just this once: “My name is Mobei-Jun.” It’s a very easy sentence! With my king’s brilliant mind it shouldn’t be a problem!”
An icy glare was sent his way as always when Shang Qinghua dared to take Mobei-Jun’s name in his mouth. The cultivator never quite understood why but he feared the ice demon would snap at him and hit him regardless of the flimsy peace deal the realms had. He could practically see Mobei-Jun’s hands tightening to fists and slowly relaxing again.
That was also the reason why Shang Qinghua’s first action was to start calling Mobei-Jun “my king” instead of speaking directly to him, to hug the proud demon’s thighs and keep him from doing worse than just breaking the deal. It also was the first word he taught him.
Mobei-Jun gave an annoyed huff and abruptly stood up from his chair. With quick steps he went for the door, the deep blue silk robe he wore now instead of his heavy fur coat billowing behind him.
“Wa-wa-wait! My king! Where are you going? No! Stop! My king! You can’t just-” Bang!
The door was literally thrown into Shang Qinghua’s face when the demon left the room. Tears streamed down his face mixing with the blood running from his nose. Why was it so difficult to get this demon to cooperate?
After a quick wash of his face to clean up the blood, Shang Qinghua was ready to just throw himself of the peak.
Mobei-Jun was gone.
Of course he was!
Why would he stay in the house after hitting Shang Qinghua with the door!
Cursing, he walked very quickly (not running, he was a Peak Lord after all! He had dignity! Okay, no he ran like the endless abyss itself was opening right behind him) to the next disciple he could find and, practically shaking the poor boy, asked him if he had seen the missing ice demon. He was sure that there wasn’t any desperation in his voice, really, he tried, but the horrified eyes turning big and round at the words “Where is the demon?! Where did he go?!” told him otherwise.
The terrified disciple stuttered some answers before he was shoved to the side and Shang Qinghua sprinted to the rainbow bridge, where the demon supposedly had been seen going to.
And really, when he reached bridge he could see Mobei-Jun’s tall form standing near where the rainbow was connected to the earth of An Ding Peak.
The sigh of relief, however, got stuck in his throat as he saw the clearly annoyed look on the face of the ice demon.
An expression? Mobei-Jun? The stoic ice demon? In all the days they knew each other Shang Qinghua hadn’t seen the man make any expression at all, except maybe anger. His face was like the ice he controlled.
The reason for the annoyance was pretty obvious. Mobei-Jun was surrounded by a gaggle of small disciples. Female disciples, who were trying to talk to the demon with red blushes on their cheeks and admiration in their eyes. They even tried to give him some presents in form of pastries and flowers! On the forefront was Shang Qinghua’s very own single female disciple.
Tears sprang to his eyes watching this scene. How unfair! How unfair!
Why did Mobei-Jun get all the attention from the girls and not Shang Qinghua himself! He was a Peak Lord! He should be admired too!
Not that he couldn’t understand them, though. The way Mobei-Jun looked and the half open robe showing his firm chest, the way the muscles of his arm worked under the silk... Shang Qinghua could even see it from afar, as the demon raised his arm to…
Wait! Stop! Nooo!
“Mobei-Jun!”
Shang Qinghua yelled as he raced over to the group and barreled his way through the bunch of girls, directly running into Mobei-Jun!
“Ahahaha! Here you are, Mobei-Jun!” He laughed out loud trying to cover his nervosity. But the deadly glare from the demon prince let him shut up. Instead he absent mindedly swatted the other man on his upper arm like he was an old harmless friend, laughing and trying to show the girls that the big bad demon isn’t scary and out for their blood.
But looking at the glares being thrown in his direction by said girls, his brotherly slap became more of a gentle pat.
Why did he suddenly feel like some tiny mouse in front of a flock of hungry murderous hawks?
Unknowingly, he clutched the silk between his fingers and took a step back, half hiding behind the much bigger form of the ice demon. When he looked up, Mobei-Jun was staring down at him.
The face of the demon was… complicated. If Shang Qinghua could call it that. At least it wasn’t anything the cultivator had seen on the other’s face before. He couldn’t quite say what Mobei-Jun was thinking, he never could, but the scrunched up eyebrows and the tightly clenched jaw weren’t any good signs if you asked him.
When Mobei-Jun’s hand raised again, this time towards Shang Qinghua, the cultivator couldn’t help the small flinch. Even though Mobei-Jun hadn’t let him sleep in the bed but on the floor instead and slammed the door in his face, he never had hit him directly or hurt him in any way. But still, Mobei-Jun was a demon from a race known for their ice cold aggressiveness who beat down anyone who opposed them and hated humans with a passion. Did he make him angry with his friendly behavior?
Mobei-Jun’s hand found Shang Qinghua’s face, but not as the cultivator thought. Instead of a fist punch, he received a not quite gentle rub with the thumb over the part between his nose and upper lip.
“Ah-ah-ah?” Shang Qinghua didn’t know what to say when the demon removed his hand again and stared down at the little flecks of blood that had made their way out of Shang Qinghua’s door-flattened nose.
Mobei-Jun didn’t say anything and Shang Qinghua himself stared silently up at the ice demon until a cough broke the awkward tension that had built up and one of the girls took a step forward, bowing respectfully to both men.
“Please, excuse the behaviour of my sisters and I, Shang-shibo.”
Tearing his eyes of Mobei-Jun, Shang Qinghua turned around and saw all of the girls grudgingly bowing to him, some more and some less respectful.
“Sorry, Shang-shibo,” they said in unison.
The one who had been the first to step forward, Liu-shidi’s little sister as Shang Qinghua noticed now, shot a sharp glance at the other girls who immediately lowered their heads, bowed again and went away mumbling between themselves, giving the Peak Lord an evil eye.
Shang Qinghua felt a cold shiver running down his back. While he would love being stared at by this many girls at the same time it was all for the wrong reason!
Girls! I just want to save you! He’s a demon after all! Don’t annoy him!
Shang Qinghua screamed in his mind, imaginary tears running down his cheeks as he looked after the retreating disciples.
“Shang-shibo?” A sweet young voice asked shyly. “Yingying is sorry for troubling shibo!” Behind Liu Mingyan Ning Yingying emerged and Shang Qinghua nearly felt his soul leaving his body right then and there. He didn’t want to imagine what Shen Qingqiu would do to him if something was to happen to his beloved disciple.
“We just wanted to greet the honorable guest! Tang-shijie told us about him! She said he is so good looking!”
Damn his disciple! Since when did she go gossiping around with others peak’s disciples?
The naive girl smiled brightly and waved at the demon.
Mobei-Jun just frowned, his eyes switching between the girls and Shang Qinghua.
“That’s very kind of you,” the peak lord sighed running his fingers through his hair, loosing up some strands of hair from his ponytail. He didn’t want to know what he looked like. Blood on his nose, disheveled clothes and destroyed hair. “But Mobei-Jun can’t understand the human language yet. So please try to behave or else he will take it as provocation.”
The two girls nodded in unison. Liu Mingyan had a serious look in her uncovered eyes, while Ning Yingying emulated her like some kind of puppy.
“We understand, shibo,” Liu Mingyan said and bowed down again, her silken veil fluttering in the movement, but Shang Qinghua still wasn’t able to catch a look at her face. What a shame. “We will take our leave now.”
And with this the older girl took Ning Yingying’s hand and pulled her gently up on the rainbow bridge and away from An Ding Peak.
Shang Qinghua sighed in relief, whipping away the sweat that collected on his forehead. He turned around to Mobei-Jun and put a carefree smile on his face.
“Let’s go back, my king! We still have a lot to go through today!”
“Hn.” Mobei-Jun glanced at Shang Qinghua again before heading back to the small cottage the cultivator lived in.
Shang Qinghua nodded absentmindedly and it took him a few seconds before processing what just happened.
“Eeeh?!” His eyes blew wide as the moon as he stared at the broad back of the retreating ice demon. “Wai-wai-wait! Did you just answer me? Do you understand me??”
The ice demon didn’t answer even as Shang Qinghua dashed after him and clutched onto his robe staring up at him as if he’d just seen the demon sovereign himself.
“My king?”
Mobei-Jun stayed silent but his eyes turned towards the small human. And then with a quick movement like an attacking snake Shang Qinghua was graped at the neck collar of his robe and literally thrown over the shoulder of the ice demon.
A loud squeak escaped Shang Qinghua’s throat and his fingers dug into the cloth and underlying skin of Mobei-Jun’s back as the ice demon languidly carried him like a sack of rice back to the cottage. The human could trash about as much as he wanted, even going as far as to start (weakly) hitting the other man with his fists. (He didn’t have a death wish after all) but Mobei-Jun ignored all his struggles and just tightened his grip on his waist.
Standing on the rainbow bridge, Liu Mingyan and Ning Yinging could see how the An Ding Peak Lord and the demon prince of the Northern Desert disappeared into the peak lord’s house. When they heard the slam of the door up to where they were standing, Ning Yingying couldn’t help the worried look towards Liu Mingyan.
“Do you think Shang-shibo will be fine? Shouldn’t we notify Sect Leader?”
Liu Mingyan gave a long “Hmmm” before smiling behind her silken veil, her eyes glittering at the scene happening right in front of her. “Don’t worry, A-Ying. He will be fine. But maybe we should inform Mu-shibo that it would be a good idea to stock up on bruise fading salve.”
Ning Yingying just blinked cluelessly.
After that Shang Qinghua’s life became a living hell.
Mobei-Jun who had been distant and icy before now acknowledged the cultivator and even listened to what Shang Qinghua said to him. But at the same time he also became more violent. Not so much that the human got broken ribs or bones but there were bruises here and there on his arms from when Mobei-Jun grabbed him to pull him somewhere or threw him around.
Throwing Shang Qinghua around seemed to be Mobei-Jun’s latest favourite hobby.
Every time they had their language lessons the ice demon was the most obedient disciple you could wish for but as soon as they left the cottage his whole demeanor changed. He was even colder to the other disciples, glaring at them when they were talking to Shang Qinghua. And everytime the demon had had enough of being under people he just would grab the peak lord by his collar and throw him over his shoulder, walking away without a word.
It was… weird.
Shang Qinghua didn't understand why Mobei-Jun acted like this. Ever since he indicated that he could understand the human language, Shang Qinghua was confused every single day, confused and bruised.
But at least he got his bed back!
Heaven knows why but ever since the first night after the incident, Mobei-Jun wouldn't let him sleep on the ground anymore. Instead, the ice demon would play his favorite game of Qinghua-throwing and throw him onto the bed before lying down next to the scared human himself. More often than not he even would put one of his muscled arms around the small form, holding him tightly so he couldn't escape in the night.
The first night he wasn't able to sleep even a second, too terrified about what was going on.
So Shang Qinghua's life as a sack of rice began.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Mu-shidi! He just won't stop! I know he can understand me but he won't listen to me<\em>! He doesn't even speak!" The long wail that left his mouth sounded like that of a dying animal.
Mu Qingfang's eyebrows twitched.
The healer was currently putting some healing paste on Shang Qinghua's latest bruises, as he did every other day for the last few weeks. And every time, again and again, he had to listen to the complains of his shixiong. Even the patience of the tranquil healer was running thin.
After some more endless whining Mu Qingfang had had enough. “Shang-shixiong. Did you try talking to him?” The healer asked with a more annoyed tone than Shang Qinghua had ever heard from him before.
The An Ding Peak Lord stared at him, eyes round. “Of course I did! He won’t listen! I know he understands me but he just ignores what I say!” He did, after all, talk to Mobei-Jun every single day since the ice demon came here.
“Did you talk to him or did you talk at him?” Mu Qingfang slowly asked while pasting more of the salve on Shang Qinghua’s exposed chest, across the bright purple spot right over his left chest where Mobei-Jun pushed him down yesterday.
The Qian Cao Peak Lord just stared at his sect brother as the other one sat there opening and closing his mouth for quite a minute before startling out of his shock.
“Of course I-”
“No, you don’t.” The sharp tone of Mu Qingfang’s voice let Shang Qinghua flinch back, which earned him an icy glare from the healer. Rougher than he would usually treat his patients, the healer put the last of the salve on the wound before picking up one of the bandages lying on the table next to him.
“Do you talk to him like you talked to me just now? Constantly complaining? Keeping on talking and talking without a pause?” Mu Qingfang glanced at him and started to put the bandage around Shang Qinghua’s chest.
The other man sat there silently staring at the healer. “I…”
“Have you ever really tried to talk to him? Asking him things? Or simply listening to him?”
“But he doesn’t talk to me! That’s the problem!” Shang Qinghua huffed with annoyance, flinching again when the dark bruise on his chest ached with the sudden movement and a painful moan escaped his lips. Maybe this was the reason why Mobei-Jun was annoyed with him and why he started hitting him? He wanted him to finally shut up?
Mu Qingfang opened his mouth and was just about to reply when with a loud bang the wooden door to their room was nearly unhinged by the force with which it was thrown open. Mobei-Jun strode into the room like he was about to go to war. He first looked at Shang Qinghua, who was still hunched over from the pain. The next moment his cold eyes fixed on Mu Qingfang who had removed his hands from the other man as soon as the ice demon stormed into the room. The bandages, not tied up yet, were loosely hanging down from Shang Qinghua’s upper body.
The ice demon’s face hardened. With a furious expression he took a step forward towards the healer clearly about to attack him, but Shang Qinghua jumped up from his chair and hurried over to hold onto Mobei-Jun’s arm.
“Wait-wait, my king, stop! Please!” He hastily said. His grip tightening so much his knuckles became white.
The ice demon stopped with a low growl rolling out of his throat, his eyes fixed on the healer who by now held up both of his hands in a defensive position. In the next second, Shang Qinghua was rudely pushed behind the demon.
A few tense moments went by before Mu Qingfang relaxed his stance and bowed down despite the raging demon prince in front of him.
“தயவுசெய்து, அமைதியாக இருங்கள்.”
Both Mobei-Jun and Shang Qinghua froze. While Mobei-Jun was only slightly surprised by the words spoken in the demonic language, Shang Qinghua’s jaw just hit the ground in clear shock.
“நி பேசு?” Mobei-Jun seemed to inquire, scrutinizing Mu Qingfang from top to bottom.
While both men started to talk in the guttural demonic language, Shang Qinghua’s wide eyed gaze switched from one to the other and back. He still couldn’t believe his ears. Since when did Mu Qingfang speak the language of demons? There weren’t many humans who could! If any! The demonic language needed to be taught by a demon after all. When did Mu Qingfang have enough contact with a demon to learn a whole language? And why?
It didn’t take long before the healer bowed down again to the now visibly calmed down ice demon and turned towards Shang Qinghua. “Talk to him,” he said and then proceeded to exit the room, leaving his fellow peak lord and the demon prince alone in the room.
Scared, Shang Qinghua raised his head to look into Mobei-Jun’s ice blue eyes. He swallowed hard before laughing nervously and averted his gaze again staring down on the wooden floored ground beneath their feet.
“Hahaha, I didn’t know Mu-shidi could speak your language, my king. I’m sorry, “ he began to ramble anxiously, falling over his own words in between. “If I had known before, maybe it would have been better if Mu-shidi would have taken over your lessons. It would have been much easier. I totally understand if you want to have him as your teacher now. Totally understand, hahaha! I mean, why wouldn’t-”
“Shang… Qing...hua…”
Shang Qinghua froze. His eyes widened so much he feared they were to fall out at any moment. His head shot up with such a force he could hear the bones in his neck crack and groan because of the quick action.
“M-m-my king?”
Did he hear wrong? Did Mobei-Jun just say his name? Did he speak to him? Was he hallucinating?
“Shang Qinghua.” This time the name sounded more sure and Mobei-jun’s eyes were fixed on the human, towering over the smaller form of the peak lord.
Usually Shang Qinghua would be scared and feel threatened by the behaviour of the ice demon but now… Hearing Mobei-Jun saying his name, he couldn’t help the redness that spread over his face and the warm feeling in his still hurting chest.
“Mobei-Jun…?” He tried to say expecting the murderous glare he used to get when he called the ice demon by his name.
But surprisingly Mobei-Jun only gave a short humming sound, continuing to be as calm and relaxed as he was after Mu Qingfang left the room.
Suddenly he bend over to grab Shang Qinghua’s hands and the cultivator already saw himself being thrown over the demon’s shoulder again, but instead Mobei-Jun only cupped the back of his hands in his own bigger ones and brought them up to his chest level. With his eyes half closed Mobei-Jun breathed icy cold air over the human’s palms.
A shudder ran down Shang Qinghua’s back and his fingers twitched slightly which made Mobei-Jun grip them only tighter.
With a look of utter confusion on his face, Shang Qinghua watched the other man getting back up again and straightening his back before he let go of his hands.
“Go home.” Mobei-Jun looked at the human as if waiting for an answer and it took Shang Qinghua a moment to understand what the ice demon meant.
“Home? The cottage?” Did Mobei-Jun see this as his home? Or did he just not know how to say it otherwise? Shang Qinghua liked to think that the demon really did see his small dingy cottage as his home in the human realm. It made the nearly empty house more lively and cosy in Shang Qinghua’s eyes.
The cultivator therefore nodded as a response and happily agreed. “Yeah, let’s go home together!”
And with that Shang Qinghua felt how he was grabbed at his waist and hauled over the ice demon’s shoulder just like he was used to by now.
“Hey-hey! My king! Mobei-Jun! Let me down! I can walk myself!”
The demon ignored his cries and pleads and instead just kicked the door of the room open with his foot since his hands were busy holding a struggling Shang Qinghua. He shot a last glare at Mu Qingfang who sat in the adjacent room reading some book, but the healer just gave a small wave with a smile on his lips. Curled around his shoulders and neck laid his pet snake that he got a couple months earlier, dozing of lazingly.
“Ouch! Ow! My king! My chest still hurts! Please at least walk a bit slower!”
While Mobei-Jun seemed to enjoy Shang Qinghua’s predicament, he still slowed down his pace and leisurely walked back to their cottage on An Ding Peak.
Even the disciples they passed didn’t bat an eye seeing the An Ding Peak Lord being carried by the tall ice demon, so used to this sight.
Shang Qinghua just sighed and relaxed on the shoulder. No need to struggle since Mobei-Jun wouldn’t let him down anyway. At least it didn’t hurt as much anymore after the demon worked some of his ice magic and numbed the bruised area of his chest.
Suddenly, he remembered that he still only wore his trousers and some loose linen bandages instead of his robes. Blood shot in his face and he could only hide it in his hands, letting out a long whimpering sound. Shameful! How shameful! His disciples would never again show him any kind of respect. … Not that they had ever done before. But still!
Really, ever since Mobei-Jun fell into his life there was only chaos and hell.
But Shang Qinghua couldn’t help liking the presence of the ice demon. He didn’t feel as lonely as before. And it was a nice change to have someone show him attention for another reason other than to get money or repairs.
While his life became hell, it also was the happiest he ever was. He really would miss the demon when he would leave them in two months to return to the demon realm.
Sleeping next to Mobei-Jun became a constant experience for Shang Qinghua. One he especially cherished for the approaching summer season.
The heat already was so sweltering that most of An Ding Peak's disciples were doing their labor work and training bare chested, only clad in thin linen trousers. Even A-Tang only had some linen cloth bandaged around her chest to keep some decency but otherwise she didn't look much different from her peak brothers.
Only Shang Qinghua himself as the Peak Lord had to dress completely in his 3 layers of clothes. It wasn't as much as the 5 or 6 layers Shen Qingqiu had to wear but that man could fan himself all day long while Shang Qinghua had to overlook transportations and if needed had to tackle the labor task himself.
Usually it was almost not endurable with the sun shining down and cooking him alive. And even during the nights one couldn't sleep because of the smoldering heat. But now with Mobei-Jun next to him Shang Qinghua never felt better.
The ice demon emitted a permanent cool chill around his body all the time and Shang Qinghua made a habit out of standing as close as possible to him without angering him. Surprisingly he got closer than he thought he would, nearly pressed against the length of Mobei-Jun's body. As long as the demon prince wouldn't complain Shang Qinghua was all for shamelessly taking advantage of this.
Especially in the mornings, Shang Qinghua would wake up pressed against the cold body next to him clinging to the coolness like some overgrown monkey.
In Shang Qinghua's very own and very objective opinion the other reason why he suddenly liked the summer months really wasn't because the hotter it got the less Mobei-Jun would wear to sleep.
It wouldn't take long for the ice demon to drop his last piece of clothing, his much too tight trousers, Shang Qinghua thought to himself half giddy and half anxious for what he would be able to see then.
Another amazing thing to battle the hotness were those little "palm breaths" Mobei-Jun often gave him now instead of throwing him around. Shang Qinghua didn't know the reason behind this action but as long as it was cooling him down he was all for it.
It was during one of these palm breath sessions that Liu Mingyan and Ning Yingying came over from their respective peaks. Both girls respectfully bowed down to Shang Qinghua who currently enjoyed the cool breeze over his palms with a blissed expression on his face.
“Greetings, Shang-shibo,” the two said in unison. Ning Yingying smiling confused upon the scene in front of her while Liu Mingyan only lifted one fine eyebrow, her expression unreadable due to her ever present veil.
“Hello, girls!” Shang Qinghua replied cheerfully. But his good mood diminished somewhat when Mobei-Jun let go of his hands and he instantly felt like in a hot oven again. Instinctively he shuffled closer to the cooling aura next to him. “Please don’t tell me Bai Zhan Peak disciples destroyed the trainings ground again. I swear to you, these guys have gotten even rowdier since Liu-shidi left. When he’s back there won’t be anything left on Bai Zhan Peak!”
Ning Yingying hurriedly shook her head. “No, no. It’s not like this, Shang-shibo! We just want to visit A-Tang!” The sweet girl answered waving her hands while smiling brightly. “Yanyan wanted to give her some of her favorite books!”
Shang Qinghua arched his eyebrows in surprise. He didn’t know his A-Tang was someone who liked to read. He thought she was more like the boys, enjoying running around and training all day long, not sitting still somewhere and patiently reading a book.
As if to answer Liu Mingyan lifted the small pile of four or five books she was holding in her arms, all with the same type of cover.
"Romance???"
The peak lord raised both of his eyebrows even higher. Books he could get behind but romance of all things? A-Tang was the most unromantic person he knew, after Liu Qingge maybe. No one trumped the war god in obliviousness and stupidity in all things romance.
Ning Yingying nodded cheerily. "Yes! Our favorite author Lang Tiantian! They are writing the best romances! The special thing is that all the stories are set in the human and demon realms! Mostly between a human and demon pair. They are so so good!" The girl rambled on and on about her favorite author, getting attention from even Mobei-Jun.
The ice demon first watched the girl talking before his eyes went down towards the books in Liu Mingyan's arms.
Ning Yingying noticing the gaze smiled brightly at the demon prince, took one of the books and held it out to the man.
"Here! That's one set in the Northern Desert! It even has illustrations! You can use it to study!"
Before Mobei-Jun could react the girl pushed the book in his hand. She waved at them with a small happy laugh before linking her arm with Liu Mingyan's and pulling her towards the disciple quarters.
Mobei-Jun looked down at the book, his face puzzled. The little book's cover was some standard romance novel stuff. A big buffed up demon man, not unlike Mobei-Jun himself, held a slender beauty in his arms. Around them a snow storm was raging but the couple could only stare into each other's eyes, forgetting about the world around them.
Shang Qinghua scrunched his nose upon seeing it. Too cliché! Really too cliché!
"My king?" The cultivator asked looking up at Mobei-Jun who still held the book in his hands and even began skipping through it. Shang Qinghua wasn't sure how much he could understand or if he was just looking at the pictures. "Do you want to try to read it?" His voice wasn't convinced if the ice demon even wanted to read something like romance and not some adventure book.
But Mobei-Jun didn't seem to listen to him, instead his eyes were fixed on one of the colorful pictures. Curious Shang Qinghua took a look at it too and was surprised to find it to be the picture of the two main characters sitting in what seemed to be a hot spring, soaked through and through with their clothing clinging to their bodies. The man hugged the woman tightly while kissing her deeply. The picture was nearly so obscene it counted half as porn.
Shang Qinghua’s eyes switched between the bulking muscles of the demon and the clearly visible perky breasts of the human woman.
“What are they doing?”
Mobei-Jun’s deep growling voice yanked the cultivator out of his scrutinizing of the picture of the demon, inwardly complaining about how Mobei-Jun clearly was better build and better looking than this romance fantasy.
“Huh?” Confused Shang Qinghua tore his eyes away from the picture and raised his head to look at Mobei-Jun whose expression was a mix of mild curiosity and ever present cold anger.
At least to Shang Qinghua it was. After all these weeks he finally began to understand most of Mobei-Jun’s expressions, even though most people would simply see his cold and unyielding face and would think that the ice demon maybe didn’t even have something like “emotions”.
“Ah!” Shang Qinghua looked back down to the illustration. “Do you mean the kiss?”
“Kiss?” The way Mobei-Jun said the word was as if he was testing out the foreign word on his tongue.
Shang Qinghua nodded. “Yeah, you know. Kissing! What people do when they like each other very much and are courting each other!”
At that Mobei-Jun perked up and he gave a long deep humm, nodding once, twice… before grabbing the cultivator around the waist and throwing him over his shoulder again!
“Hey-hey, my-my king! What-what are you doing??” He gave up any attempt of struggle when the demon’s arm tightened around his poor squished middle. What was Mobei-jun doing?! He hadn’t thrown him around since Mu Qingfang talked to him. Why start again now?! Was he angry about the book? Didn’t demons like showing affection towards their beloved like the demon in the book? Of course they didn’t! They were demons! Who knew what demons would do with their beloved!
Mobei-Jun didn’t answer him. Of course he didn’t. Instead he carried him all the way over to the river near his cottage on An Ding Peak. And without further ado threw him into the cold water!
“What-” Shang Qinghua wanted to say more, wanted to yell and ask the ice demon what the hell he was doing throwing him into the river of all things! He could be glad that the river wasn’t deep only going up to his hips! But the words stayed stuck in his throat when the demon suddenly jumped in after him.
Shang Qinghua’s world became dizzy when Mobei-Jun abruptly grabbed him by his shoulders and pressed his lips clumsily on the human’s.
While the cultivator screamed inwardly, his whole body was frozen by the sudden action. He wasn’t even able free himself or kiss back. Both very tempting options.
Mobei-Jun clearly didn’t know what he was doing or supposed to do with this “kiss”. He kept his lips simply pressed against the other’s. Even his eyes stayed wide open, staring into Shang Qinghua’s.
After half an eternity had gone by Mobei-Jun released him again, frowning.
Shang Qinghua couldn’t help the disbelieving laugh escaping his lips which only deepened the frown.
“That was the worst kiss ever!” He laughed, ignoring the ice cold air that started blowing around him rapidly cooling the water and making him shudder, as well as the pain from the grip the demon still had on his shoulders.
Just when Mobei-Jun’s wrath almost exploded upon the helpless human in front of him, Shang Qinghua then raised his own dripping wet hands and gently put them on Mobei-Jun’s cheeks, encompassing the demon’s face, guiding him to a slightly better position.
“I will show you how it is done, my king,” he whispered before he closed his eyes and kissed the demon softly, moving his lips gently against the other’s.
Mobei-Jun, at first confused by the action and still furious, quickly calmed down when Shang Qinghua pressed his body against his chest to get closer to the demon. He tried to imitate the movements Shang Qinghua made which emited a light giggle from the human’s throat and a low growl from Mobei-Jun.
When the ice demon finally relaxed the fierce grip on his shoulders, Shang Qinghua took both the demon’s hands in his own and guided them downwards around his waist to indicate Mobei-Jun to put them around him.
The ice demon swiftly complied and with more force than necessary hugged the small human against his bigger body.
Shang Qinghua gasped. While his mouth was open, Shang Qinghua’s tongue quickly found its way out and fluttered lightly against the Mobei-Jun’s still closed lips.
The unexpected movement startled Mobei-Jun and he would have nearly pulled away if it weren’t for Shang Qinghua’s hands which made their way up into the ice demon’s long hair, keeping him where he was. After some more pushing from the human, Mobei-Jun’s lips finally parted and the cultivator’s tongue could slip into the cold wet cave.
The first thing Shang Qinghua noticed was how much better the cooling effect was compared to the palm breath or just cuddling against the demon’s strong body. A shudder ran down the whole of his back. It may be the kiss or the cold water surrounding him or the rapid change of his body temperature between too hot and too cold. But it didn’t keep him away from exploring everything in Mobei-Jun’s mouth and teasing the other’s tongue to play with him.
The demon let him do as he wanted for all of one minute before deeply growling and attacking back, taking over the fight and pushing Shang Qinghua back into his own mouth. The human tried to defend himself, to fight back but the demon just overwhelmed him and he couldn’t help the moan that escaped his lips. Yes, Shang Qinghua decided, this was perfect as well.
They tried to defeat the other for a few long minutes. Mobei-Jun’s arms still tightly around Shang Qinghua’s waist while the cultivator’s hands were buried in the taller man’s hair, occasionally pulling the long strands.
After they parted Shang Qinghua was panting for air and even Mobei-Jun’s chest heaved in a rapid fashion.
The cultivator laughed again and pressed himself closer to the demon. “Well, that was a kiss!” he exclaimed cheerfully his red kissed lips showing a bright smile.
Mobei-Jun just hummed with satisfaction, not taking his eyes away from the human’s face.
“But, my king,” Shang Qinghua suddenly asked, his voice full of confusion, “why did you throw me into the river? If you wanted to kiss me we could have done it dry too!”
Mobei-Jun frowned again and then began to search the area around them before picking the completely soaked through book out of the water. The ink was run and of the once beautiful illustrations only a colorful spot of wet paint was left.
“The picture. They “kiss” in the water, too,” the demon replied, pointing at the blurry scene.
Shang Qinghua’s face paled due to the destruction of one of Liu Mingyan’s favorite books. He didn’t want to think about what Liu Qingge would do with him if he heard about this. No, what Liu Mingyan would do. This girl could be scarier than her older brother if she wanted to be.
But more importantly, “You thought we had to sit in the water to kiss?”
The demon glared at him and Shang Qinghua flinched back but not as much as before, which could also be due to the arms still encircling his waist.
“You-you don’t have to do it in the water. You can do it everywhere!”
“Everywhere?” A small spark appeared in the eyes of the demon as he stared at the human hungrily.
Shang Qinghua swallowed hard. Why did it feel like he just signed his own death?
For the next few days, Mobei-Jun did nothing else but to kiss Shang Qinghua where ever and when ever he liked. In privacy but also in public which resulted not only in a crashed cart as his head disciple drove it into a ditch after seeing the ice demon pressing his teacher against the wall of the Leisure House, but also in Qi Qingqi’s bloody nose when she ran into a wall seeing both men in deep kiss and clothes halfway down. Only the little squeal Liu Mingyan made, who accompanied the female peak lord, pulled them out of their own little world.
It wasn’t hard to say that Mu Qingfang had a lot of work to do over the last few days.
After a stern reprimanding from the healer, both men decided to stay in the cottage for a while to not endanger more of Shang Qinghua’s sect family.
So they went back to reading and teaching the human language, even though Mobei-Jun was nearly fluent by now. The ice demon was a quick learner. A very quick learner indeed, Shang Qinghua thought, his tongue unconsciously licking over his kiss-swollen lips.
Propping his face up with his hand, elbow on the table, he watched as Mobei-Jun wrote down some words and phrases he recently heard about. Mostly about human culture and how humans interacted with each other. The ice demon was his usual cold self, showing no expression at all aside from the graceful movement of the brush.
Shang Qinghua had wondered before, when Mobei-Jun didn’t know about kissing and even cuddling (a thing Shang Qinghua was all too happy to show the ice demon) what were the equivalents in the demonic culture? How did demons show affection? If they won’t kiss and cuddle what did they do?
“Beat them up.” The answer Mobei-Jun gave him was as cold as ever but it held an undertone Shang Qinghua couldn’t quite place.
“Beat them up?!” Shang Qinghua’s eyes widened in disbelief. How brutal! How was this showing affection?!
Mobei-Jun nodded, not putting down the brush, instead carrying on with his writing exercise.
“Why??”
The ice demon shot him a glare as his grip on the brush tightened.
“Because. It always has been like this,” he replied with a huff and his expression somehow became darker. “Why shouldn’t it be?”
When Shang Qinghua shook his head and when he replied with “Because it’s way too unreasonable!” a loud cracking sound could be heard throughout the room. Startled, the cultivator looked at Mobei-Jun and his eyes went big with terror, his body frozen in fear. “My… my king?”
He could almost see the dark icy aura surrounding the demon prince. Fury painted his face and flared up in his eyes. Shang Qinghua flinched back. He hadn’t felt this much fear of the demon since the day he first met him and stayed up all night to cool the overheating body down.
“My king, I-”
“Unreasonable?”
Shang Qinghua swallowed hard.
“If it is unreasonable,” the demon took a deep breath. The broken brush was still clenched in his hand and small droplets of blood fell down on the table from where the splinters dug into the flesh. “If it is unreasonable, why did you start it?”
“Start it?” The human blinked once, twice, confused.
The murderous glare Mobei-Jun bestowed upon him as a result made him squeak. He jumped up from his chair and ran around it to put some safe distance between himself and the furious demon.
But suddenly Mobei-Jun seemed to lose all of his wrath and the leftover pieces of the broken brush fell down to the ground. More blood gushed out of the wound, but the ice demon didn’t seem to notice, or to care.
“You don’t know,” he said in the most defeated voice Shang Qinghua had ever heard from him during all of his stay. After all, Mobei-Jun was a demon from the northern Desert where showing weakness was frowned upon and where defeat was the worst shame.
As sudden as Mobei-Jun lost his anger, it was back. The ice demon abruptly stood up, the chair he was sitting on was thrown against the next wall where it broke into tiny pieces.
Shang Qinghua didn’t have the time to bemoan his furniture and writing utensils, as he was busy hiding behind his own chair. But at the same time he didn’t want to let Mobei-Jun go like this, didn’t want to fight with him at all, especially not about some obvious misunderstanding. He liked the grumpy proud ice demon too much by now to just let him go.
Just as Mobei-Jun turned to rush out of the room, Shang Qinghua took all his courage and made a dive towards the taller man, clutching onto his arm for dear life.
“Wait! My king! Please, wait! This is all a misunderstanding!” He screamed. Tears welled up in his eyes at the glare he received and the snarl rolling out of Mobei-Jun’s mouth.
“I know,” The demon growled trying to free his arm but Shang Qinghua’s grip was surprisingly strong. “Let go of me.”
“Nonono! My king! You don’t understand! Please, listen to me!” With tears streaming down his cheeks, he looked up pleadingly.
Unexpectedly Mobei-Jun stopped his efforts, staring at the pitiful human form in front of him. With much restraint he took two, three deep breaths, little icy clouds leaving his nose.
“I know I don’t understand. You didn’t understand as well. You hit me and you laughed. You started. But I understand now, so I will leave.” The words were hard to understand, Mobei-Jun’s pronunciation all over the place because of his anger.
Shang Qinghua’s grip tightened even more and he shook his head furiously. His hair held up in a ponytail whirling widely around him, whipping the side of his face.
“No, my king, Mobei-Jun, please don’t misunderstand! Yes, I didn’t know what I did there. I should have informed myself about demonic customs beforehand. But! But that doesn’t mean I don’t like you. That I don’t want to be with you!” The human cried, more tears running down his face. “Would I have kissed you otherwise?! Please, don’t go, my king!” Please, don’t leave him alone again. He didn’t want to be alone anymore.
Mobei-Jun didn’t say anything. He only looked down at Shang Qinghua in silence.
Taking this as some sort of rejection Shang Qinghua couldn’t help little sobs escaping his throat. He let go of Mobei-Jun’s arm only to tackle his middle and hugged the demon’s waist as if it was the last thing that kept him from dying. His face was pressed against the open silk robe, wetting the bare chest with salty tears.
Mobei-Jun’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“My king! I beg you not to go. You can hit me as much as you want!”
“I don’t want to hit you anymore.”
Shang Qinghua froze as if someone had dosed him in cold water. The sobs suddenly quieted down and he only could stare at the blurry smooth skin in front of him. After what seemed like an eternity his body began to shake uncontrollably. He was sure Mobei-Jun would push him away at any moment, so he tightened his grip on the demon’s waist.
“The healer said humans only hit each other when they fight. To push someone away.” Mobei-Jun frowned upon this realization and shook his head in slight disbelief about the weird human customs. “So I don’t do it anymore.” I don’t want to push you away. He didn’t say it but Shang Qinghua was sure he would have, would it not have been a show of some kind of weakness.
A watery smile appeared on Shang Qinghua’s face. “My king, would it be better if I would hit you?” He tried to joke still a small hiccup in his voice from the crying. “To show my affection for you?” He couldn’t help the small blush showing up on his cheeks upon those words.
Mobei-Jun glared at him. He huffed, “You don’t have to force yourself to adapt to my culture.”
The cultivator shook his head.
“I want to. You took on mine for me. You kissed me and we cuddled just like humans do. There has to be something similar in demonic culture? It can’t all be beating each other up?” he asked still holding tightly to the demon even though his grip relaxed a bit. The tears had stopped as well and he just laid his head against the strong chest, listening to Mobei-Jun’s heart beat.
“Hnn.” The demon gave a pensive humm before he took Shang Qinghua’s arms and detached them from his waist.
Curious, the human watched as Mobei-Jun placed his hands palms up into his own. The by now familiar movement giving him a fluttering feeling in his chest. As always Mobei-Jun slightly bend down and blew a cold breath of air against his open hands. A shudder ran down Shang Qinghua’s back and his eyes widened slightly.
“That-”
Mobei-Jun straightened his back again and looked down at the human.
“The breath is the soul. To give your beloved a part of your soul to keep safe in their hands. To accept, the other one has to bring his hands together and breath in the given air and soul. To show they are willing to take hold of the soul and keep it safe in their own body. The two souls will depart together when the beloveds’ last breaths are taken and they will find each other again becoming one. Only then being complete together.”
This was the most Shang Qinghua had ever heard Mobei-Jun speak. And that the demons had such a sweet and romantic way to show their love after all the previous beating... Especially since the cultivator knew how important souls were to the demon race of the north. Souls held their power and magic after all.
A jolt went through his body, remembering all the times Mobei-Jun took his hands and breathed against them. And never had Shang Qinghua done anything in return, just took it as some nice way of cooling down. He was an idiot!
He really screwed up there. He really should have studied more about the demonic culture. But since he wasn’t the one going into the demon realm he hadn’t taken the time to do so. And now he regretted it so much.
Hastily, he more or less ripped his hands away from Mobei-Jun and brought them to his mouth and nose, inhaling deeply a few times. Only then did he lower his hands again and taking Mobei-Jun’s bigger ones in his own, turning his palms up.
The ice demon let him do, his eyes widened slightly, which made such a funny sight Shang Qinghua couldn’t help the little laugh that escaped his mouth. But then he brought the hands up to his chest, bend down slightly and blew into Mobei-Jun’s open hands just like the ice demon did to him just now. He even infused his breath with a bit of his Qi to show his determination.
Before dissolving, the small golden cloud puffed against Mobei-Jun’s hand making his fingers twitch. When Shang Qinghua straightened up again, the ice demon pulled, more gentle than Shang Qinghua had ever known, his hands up towards his nose. In a more graceful and deep fashion than Shang Qinghua’s quick gasps, the ice demon slowly took in the air he held in his palms.
With a bright smile and still red teary eyes Shang Qinghua watched him. When Mobei-Jun met his eyes, they gleamed with an unknown fire.
Of one thing Shang Qinghua was sure. When Mobei-Jun returned to the demon realm in about a month, he would go along with him. To further the relationship between demon and human realm of course. By then, Shen Qingqiu and the others should be on their way back too. And An Ding Peak would survive a few weeks without him.
After everything, Shang Qinghua really wanted to know more about the demon realm. To know more about demonic culture. And to know more about Mobei-jun himself.
“My king,” he said. “I will stay with you as long as you want to have me by your side. Please, bring me with you to the demon realm.”
Mobei-jun’s eyes widened even more before they suddenly narrowed and a small glowing blue light emitted from them. Shang Qinghua didn’t have any time to examine it further because with a deep growl Mobei-jun tackled him against the next wall, right next to the broken chair, and began to ravish him so deeply Shang Qinghua felt like his whole soul was sucked out of his body.
But maybe this wasn’t a bad thing. After all it would be with Mobei-Jun forever and Shang Qinghua couldn’t think of a safer place for his soul than with this grumpy ice demon.