Look, he's generally familiar with portals existing, rifts to the Endless Abyss and the like, but he was not prepared to trip through one and land on what looks like an entirely different setting. He saw cell phones! He hasn't seen a cell phone since he died! But everything is still kinda xianxia and there are fox people? Like, a lot of them, enough that they're probably not animals cultivated to human form. And some people with pointy ears and real weird qi.
He's trying not to be obviously suspicious, difficult as that is for him, wandering around observing and trying to work out in his head what he has in a qiankun pouch that he could sell without raising any eyebrows so he could have some of the local currency and maybe like, get a room. And food. He could practice inedia, but the food looks good, and also there are fucking vending machines? He wants to get a drink out of a vending machine! It's been so long!
"Ah, have they restocked the soda flavours?" A rich voice comes from behind Shang Qinghua while he is stopped in front of the vending machine. Jing Yuan steps around him to take a look at the options inside the machine and sighs. "Still nothing but mung bean and spring water..."
He looks over to Shang Qinghua. "I apologize, am I in your way? Please, go ahead." He has to consider whether he will suffer through a mung bean soda or try a stop at the Sleepless Earl and risk being late for his return to the Seat of Divine Foresight. Actually attending a meeting at the Sky-Faring Commission in person is rare for him, but he is enjoying the chance to get some fresh air.
"What flavor were you hoping for?" Spring water is definitely a boring option, even if using a vending machine would be novel.
"Ah, no, I... don't have any money on me? I was just... looking to see what I might like when I do have money?" That's definitely not a normal thing to do, good job Airplane.
He turns to look at who he's talking to and holy shit that guy has the spiritual presence of a fucking mountain. He could probably go toe to toe with Zhangmen-shixiong. "Ah, this one apologizes for taking the space unnecessarily, honorable master?"
"Berrypheasant or green tea would have been nice..." But alas, the Sky-Faring Commission is still on its health initiative that it started fifty years ago to encourage people to make better choices. Jing Yuan has a suspicion the only thing it's encouraged is additional business for Sleepless Earl.
Jing Yuan laughs sheepishly and waves a hand at Shang Qinghua when he turns around to see him. People becoming overwhelmed with respect when they realize they're casually chatting with the Divine Foresight isn't uncommon (Diviner Fu says it's undignified to sneak up on civilians but he enjoys the chance to have a conversation that isn't about work) but this young man is taking it a little over the top. He's suddenly speaking like a classic novel! "There's no need to be so formal! Please, just call me Jing Yuan, or General if you really feel the need to be polite. Don't let me interrupt your browsing."
There's the sudden sound of a jade abacus ring and Jing Yuan reaches into his robe to pull his out and hold it to his ear. "Ah, Diviner Fu - I was just thinking about you... Starskiff Haven? Yes, I'm still there." The slightest furrow of concern appears in his brow as she tells him there was a space-time disturbance in the area a few minutes ago. He holds his tongue, of course - no need to cause a panic prematurely.
"No, I haven't seen anything strange..." He looks around curiously, then pauses as a thought strikes him - his new conversational partner is oddly old-fashioned, both in dress and manner of speech. Perhaps he has something to do with this disturbance the Diviner is speaking of? "I'll be sure to keep an eye out. I may be late to our meeting if you want me to go scouting, though. We'll talk soon, goodbye."
He hangs up and looks to Shang Qinghua, his smile cheerful again. "Well, it seems as though I have an excuse to go to the Sleepless Earl instead of being virtuous and sticking to spring water. Would you allow me to buy you some tea to celebrate my good fortune?" After all, the young man said he had no money. It would be a kind thing to do, and allow him to discover more about him.
Berrypheasant? Bird tea??? What the fuck. Or is it just a berry that's... shaped like a bird or something? Too suspiciously clueless to ask about.
General? Okay he's like able to fight mountains in an official capacity. "This one is honored to make your acquaintance, General? Ah, this one is called Shang Qinghua."
Seen anything strange... shit. Someone just asked the general if he'd seen anything strange in the area that Shang Qinghua just appeared in. They must have detected the portal somehow. Aiyah, General, please be kind to this pathetic one, he's not a spy or an invader!
...it would be both rude and suspicious to decline, even though this is definitely going to end up with being interrogated. Maybe he should just confess. ...Maybe he'll wait a little longer to decide. "Ah, the General is too kind! This one could not be so rude as to decline a gift?" The general is talking so casually but Shang Qinghua is not comfortable speaking familiarly to important people he just met.
"Excellent." He'll head off at a casual stroll.. he's not in a hurry, now that he has a reason to be dawdling. The usual Starskiff Haven crowd does separate around him despite his pace, meaning they don't have to push through the walkways to the tea shop. "So, Shang Qinghua, are you a fan of Immortal's Delight, or do you prefer more traditional tea? On a day like today, a cup of Immortal's Delight really hits the spot, I find." He chuckles. "Though the Healer Lady would give me a scolding if she heard that."
Despite being fairly sure he has the source of the disturbance in hand, he does keep an eye out for any signs of anything else strange. It's possible that this young man is just an innocent bystander with a taste for the classics, after all.
Edited (kept reading that sentence and wasn't satisfied lmao ) 2024-10-22 03:45 (UTC)
"Ah, this one enjoys most teas? This one has not had a chance to sample... Immortal's Delight." Is that suspicious? Oh well.
He can't decide whether he should talk more casually or not. The General is, but that could just be perks of position. Junshang can certainly talk to people in ways they can't talk back to him. He's going to err on the side of not offending a man who could fucking flatten him.
And judging by the way everyone gets out of his way as he walks, General Jing Yuan is a big deal and absolutely everyone in wherever the hell this is knows his face. So he would be a very useful friend or a very inconvenient enemy.
He really should just come out with it and beg for assistance.
It's a little suspicious that Shang Qinghua has never had the chance to sample Immortal's Delight, but on the whole it doesn't raise Jing Yuan's suspicions of him that much. After all, he can't get that much more suspicious. He just smiles and nods. "Well then, let today be the day you do."
It's a very short walk to the Sleepless Earl, just across a bridge and down a flight of stairs. Jing Yuan waves cheerily to the small foxian girl in front of the shop. "Mengming, two cups of Immortal's Delight for me and my friend here - we'll be at one of your upstairs tables."
He leads the way up to the quieter upper tables. With the lovely weather today the second floor is almost deserted, as he suspected it would be. He takes a seat and waves for Shang Qinghua to take the other. "Please, make yourself comfortable. Our tea shouldn't be long."
Indeed, one of the servers follows them up almost directly with two plastic cups of the sweet bubble tea, as well as a tray of light snacks, which she informs them are on the house.
this is the happiest icon of him I have help. he's looking at the boba like he looks at mbj I guess
This is a very nice tea shop, though the tech level and aesthetic continue to be sort of jarringly off. He follows the General, because what the fuck else is he going to do at this point, and appreciates that the upstairs tables are quiet and there aren't a lot of people. Since there's likely going to be some kind of something about who he is. Which is, he's sure, why the man asked for one.
Holy shit, boba? Boba!!! He hasn't had boba tea in fucking decades! Not since he died! His entire face lights up in open glee as he stabs the straw into the cup and sucks in a mouthful of tapioca, at which point he remembers what's happening and tries to school his expression. He chews the boba pearls and swallows.
...Okay, Airplane, just fucking do it, he's definitely noticed you're insanely suspicious by now. "So. Ah. This one... has no idea where he is?" ...well, that's a start.
Shang Qinghua's enjoyment of the boba makes an answering smile appear on Jing Yuan's face. It's adorable, if he's being honest - like seeing someone united with an old, beloved friend.
Clearly he should interrogate all suspicious figures with Immortal's Delight if it's this easy. He nods understandingly but without surprise, taking a sip of his own drink with a pleased noise. "You are on the Xianzhou Luofu, one of the world ships of the Xianzhou people. How did you happen to come here, if you didn't know your destination?"
Boba tea is absolutely an old and beloved friend. He cradles the cup protectively. So good...
World ships? Is this a fucking sci-fi xianxia setting? "That... did not actually..." He sighs. "This one fell through a portal and found himself here. He has never heard of a world ship outside of fiction, or of the Xianzhou at all."
"A... portal? How strange." They can be just as confused as each other, it's okay. Jing Yuan can't imagine the kind of power it would take to open a portal to the Luofu from some isolated world, and the thought of it happening unintentionally is vanishingly unlikely, but he doesn't read anything but honesty in Shang Qinghua's face or voice. "I will do my best to explain. Long ago, an ancient emperor, eager to secure his legacy, sent a fleet of starships out into the galaxy to search for the secrets of immortality. After many trials, the surviving ships found the Aeon of Abundance, Yaoshi, who 'blessed' them with marks of THEIR favour that gave them what they sought, but by then they had lost their way home and could no longer return." Please note the heavy irony on 'blessed'. "The six ships continued to travel the galaxy and enjoyed their newfound blessings, but before long they realized the hidden poison in the gift - overpopulation, lack of resources, and the curse of mara all began to blight the Xianzhou people."
He frowns, stirring the boba in his tea. "Ah, mara is a curse unique to the Xianzhou, a result of our long lives - a transformation that removes our humanity and replaces it with boundless madness and aggression. It usually strikes after three or four centuries, depending on the person, but all Xianzhou natives and others who try to achieve immortality the same way will eventually fall into it." He wants to be specific and detailed about this just in case Shang Qinghua starts getting some ideas about trying to find the Xianzhou secret, as so many have. "Anyway, in the greatest moment of our need, the Reignbow Arbiter, Lan the Hunt, arose and struck the Ambrosial Arbor of the Luofu, the source of our immortality and greatest emblem of our foolishness, and the Xianzhou swore to serve THEM and to hunt the other Abominations of Abundance, to render the cosmos free of Yaoshi's 'gifts'. Our ships have sailed the cosmos ever since, wiping out abominations as we find them."
Jing Yuan chuckles a bit sheepishly before taking a sip. "Well, you probably didn't need to know all that, but most visitors to the Luofu hear the story in one way or another. Best to get it out of the way, hm?"
He blinks. Worldbuilding loredump, handy. "I have never heard of an Aeon, are they gods? Ascended? I... this one is an-- a cultivator." Sounds like let's not use the word 'immortal' there maybe. "Of Cang Qiong Shan sect, lord of An Ding peak," he adds, which will convey as much nothing to the General as he has conveyed to him. "There is no space travel there, and the gods are ascended humans--and demons and spiritual beasts, I suppose--and they mostly... do bureaucracy and ignore the mortal realm? This one... thanks the General for his extensive explanation? It is appreciated." Has he fucking transmigrated somewhere goddamn else? Belatedly, he prods at his system. A screen flashes up with a low battery icon and the text [STANDBY MODE - POWER SOURCE NOT DETECTED]. Okay he is hell of not in PIDW anymore.
Jing Yuan can't help but be a little amused by Shang Qinghua's confusion, though it is totally justified. He dropped quite a bit of information on his head, after all. "An Aeon is something like a god, yes, and some say they were all mortal once. They embody a philosophy and walk the path of that philosophy no matter what. The Plagues Author - Yaoshi - cannot do anything but give out THEIR poisoned gifts, and the Reignbow Arbiter must hunt evil. Their followers attempt to follow their chosen Aeon's philosophy and if they tread that path closely enough they gain power from it."
He listens attentively to Shang Qinghua's description of his own world and gods, allowing his confusion to show on his face so Shang Qinghua doesn't feel quite so alone. "I'm familiar with the concept of cultivation - there are those who practice it here as part of their Pathstriding, including myself - but the rest of what you say is completely new. I've never heard of those locations... I'm happy to do a search in our archives to see if we can get you home, but I don't know what our chances of success will be."
"That sounds like... a terrible thing to ascend to, to have nothing else left of you." And here he thought PIDW Ascension was sort of shitty.
"I, there is-- an indicator, of sorts? Last time it displayed anything like what it does now, the person to whom it is connected was in another plane from me. I do not think where I came from would be... findable by conventional methods."
He pauses. Should he just go whole hog here? The system can't punish him for it if it's offline. "...Have you ever heard of 'transmigration' or 'isekai'?"
"Isekai... isn't that one of the immersia genres the kids like these days?" Oh, he's asking the wrong person. "Sorry, but I think I've only heard it in passing. I've never actually watched one." He'd ask Yanqing, but he doesn't think his ward would know either. He takes life so seriously Jing Yuan had a hard time getting him to relax enough to see his friends, let alone watch a great deal of immersia.
He is going to reserve his comments on Shang Qinghua's thoughts about Aeons for now. It's... pretty blasphemous, but sometimes Jing Yuan has had similar ideas. The Ten Lords Commission wouldn't like to hear that, so he keeps them to himself.
Hm. Well. At least it exists, he guesses. He's started this train, so he might as well keep going. "Isekai was a popular fictional trope in stories in my original world as well. Fictional. Stories where a person dies, and wakes up born anew into a world of fantasy." He pauses, frowns. "There was no cultivation, no magic, no gods, nothing supernatural, not in that world, it was all purely a thing of fiction. And then I died. And I woke up in the world of a book I had-- read." Good save, Airplane. "It's in that book where I was reborn into the role of Peak Lord of An Ding. I strongly suspect that this, your Xianzhou Luofu, is a different world entirely from either of those."
It all sounds impossible to Jing Yuan, but he also doesn't see any signs of deception in the tale that Shang Qinghua is telling. Well, almost none. He hesitates before saying he'd read the book, which seems like such a tiny thing to lie about as to be almost pointless. Interesting.
"Just so I'm understanding the order of events - you are originally from a world there is nothing supernatural, but when you died - I am sorry to hear that - you reincarnated into the world where you became Peak Lord of An Ding. And then you came here by falling into a portal - you did not have to die again?" He hopes not. Dying more than once seems like it would be terribly unfair.
"I, er, literally tripped and fell through a portal, yeah." Because that's not embarrassing. Though it's not as bad as how he died, so... could be worse. "But portals to other worlds aren't unheard of, in the book; m-- the ice demon king can create shadow portals, and the demon emperor has a sword that can cut portals through space that he's gone to other realities through before, and there are naturally occurring rifts to the Endless Abyss. But, um, no, I didn't die again. And I didn't wake up in the body of one of your citizens, I'm still... being Shang Qinghua. I've got all my stuff with me and everything. And my cultivation still works."
"So that sounds like an entirely different mechanism than your first, what did you call it, transmigration?" Jing Yuan muses. "I'll have the Divination Commission go through the records to see if there are previous anomalies like this, if they're not doing that already. Perhaps we've had previous visitors from your world." It's a strange idea, like something out of, well, a book or immersia, but he seems to have the walking, talking, boba-drinking proof of it in front of him. "And in the mean time, what to tell them..."
It's his opinion that Shang Qinghua is as close to harmless as it's possible for a cultivator to be, but he doubts Fu Xuan will be so sanguine, let alone the Ten Lords Commission. No, they definitely don't need to know about this - there's no sin being committed, just a strange event and to him that's more in line with the Divination Commission's purview. He can't imagine Shang Qinghua, who was made so nervous by him, of all people, handling the methods of the Ten Lords well.
And... ah. Generals are generally held to some kind of command structure, aren't they? Has he just made a horrible mistake? Should he definitely have not said that part about his cultivation working? At least he didn't say he was immortal. He sips his tea, anxiously. Maybe he should try the seal to summon his king? He was just so caught up in exploring... but a man with a spiritual presence like that would almost certainly be able to sense it, and then there would be questions that he really does not want to answer.
Jing Yuan sips his boba, deep in thought - the solemn expression on his face at odds with the rather silly looking straw he's sucking on. Eventually he puts the cup down with a nod. "We're going to need to tell someone that you're here or I'll be accused of concealing important information if it comes to light. My choice would be Chief Diviner Fu Xuan - I have her loyalty, and she has my trust, not to mention she's the one who told me about the incident in the first place. Her Commission will also be the best one to explore the prospect of returning you to your home." He isn't sure whether that's a priority for Shang Qinghua or not, but they should at least try. "While we work on that, you'll be my guest on the Luofu and we can tell the Chief Diviner you're under my supervision, which will hopefully satisfy any qualms she has about danger you might pose."
It isn't a foolproof plan, but it is at least the basics of a plan. It depends on Fu Xuan cooperating, of course, which is the weak point, but... he's sure he can convince her.
"...Thank you?" That seems like the only thing he can possibly say. The man is definitely putting himself out for him. Like he finds Shang Qinghua's inherent sleaze somehow trustworthy. "I, ah, this one will trust the honorable General's judgment in this matter, and thanks him for his forbearance?"
"I'm glad to hear it, but there's no need to thank me. At least until we see how this all works out." Honestly, he finds Shang Qinghua... adorable? Adorably old-fashioned, at least. "By the way, I haven't heard people speaking like that to each other in real life since I was a child. It really is all right to speak less formally, no one's going to think you're being discourteous. If you keep it up, they'll think you're even older than me."
Right. Okay. He can be casual. “You’re still putting yourself out on my behalf,” he points out. “You just met me.” Feels weird to talk normally to someone other than Cucumber-bro. “Man, I haven’t habitually talked informally in decades.” He’s curious how long ago ‘since I was a child’ is, but asking someone’s age is rude. And the man did say his people are immortal, so like any cultivator, he could be very old indeed. “Um. Thank you for the boba tea, too. Haven’t had one since I died.”
"You're a guest of the Xianzhou Luofu, no matter how involuntarily. It's our duty to ensure you're taken care of. Under the circumstances it seems I'm best suited to carry that out, so really, thanks are unneeded." This is a very polite conversation despite Jing Yuan insisting there's no need to be formal. It's fine, he's old and allowed to be a hypocrite occasionally.
"But you are very welcome for the boba tea. There's also a startaro variety, which... well, I can't recommend it but Diviner Fu is quite fond of it. I'll have to bring her a cup to sweeten her mood when we head over there." After all he's going to be very late for their meeting and bringing her a problem, he can imagine she's going to be a little irritable.
Jing Yuan sometimes has the thought that he's not as young as he used to be. That thought does not usually come when he's circled by wolves after a sudden and unsettling arrival in the depths of a strange vessel, which is probably fortunate. Having experienced his current situation more than once in his life would be at least two times too many.
The wolves have tried both frontal and rear assaults and he's handled them both swiftly, but his own attempts to break the circle aren't doing much better. He's made some forward progress toward the door, but the numbers of the wolves seem endless - their bodies may fall but he suspects that their nature gives their spirits the ability to reform their bodies from the supply of vines and foliage in the room. Worse, the Lightning Lord is not responding to his summoning.
He's beginning to be somewhat concerned that he's in a bad situation. He can feel exhaustion tugging at him and a dull ache in his abdomen as he's reminded of his relatively recent injury at Phantylia's hands. Another wolf leaps and falls as his hands move on automatic, but - is he moving slower? How much longer can he hold out?
It's strange; Dan Heng's memories may be a little off when it comes to what Dan Feng's faced, but this is a bit much. He remembers Borisin, he remembers them being flesh and blood, not made up of strange plant-like sinew and metal debris. Has the Abundance advanced in such a way? But he'd thought them normal in the shackling prisons just now- where is he right now anyway???
He'd lost his cloaking device somewhere along the way...his dragon horns and scales are on full display, which unfortunately only seem to paint a bright target on the young man.
He's running through a strange forested area to avoid a very large beast. Dark plant pelt, its eyes a somewhat blood-red sheen. Hoolay had just escaped the Shackling Prisons, and now this happens. He would like the malicious flora/fauna here to not remind him eerily of the monster called Blade, thank you.
Speaking of familiarity though...is that...?
....It'd be leading this monster straight to him, but Dan Heng could use the backup. And apparently so can-
"General Jing Yuan! On your left!" the young Vidyadhara shouts, launching from his place in the foliage with a boost of cloudhymn to come down on a wolf attempting to snap at the General's arm. Cloud Piercer cuts clean through the beast's "skull", reducing it to a pile of plants. Dan Heng shakes his head, a dragon's growl rumbling in his chest as he backs up to guard Jing Yuan's back, eyes sharp and on the lookout for the larger creature. Bright blue eyes flick to the General.
"Dan Heng-!" With a burst of speed, the young Vidyadhara is at his side and the wolf he was about to slice in half is gone. He takes the chance to catch his breath, feeling heartened by his presence. He tosses him the brightest smile he can summon, though it's still touched with fatigue. "I'm all right, don't worry - these new friends and I have simply been enjoying a dance. An... extended dance."
He brings his glaive down in a sweeping motion to prune two wolves preparing to leap for Dan Heng's right. "The door to this chamber is ahead of me. With two of us, we should be able to kill enough break out of the circle and reach it before they all re-form to chase us, which should improve our present circumstances. On my signal?" The longer they wait, the more tired he'll be when they have to run. He doesn't want to hold Dan Heng back, so they'll have to move soon.
Despite the situation, Dan Heng meets that reply with a dry look of his own. "A dance...perhaps you should save the war dances for the ceremony," he quips, raising Cloud Piercer to run straight through the throat of a wolf lunging for the general's shoulder. He spins his spear so the remains go crashing into another.
Dan Heng looks to where Jing Yuan is indicating, then nods. "Of course," he replies, with a sense of trust that spans lifetimes.
There's a loud screech and the rumble of something massive tromping toward them. Dan Heng winces when the wolf, about triple the size of these surrounding them, breaks through the canopy. "Perhaps before that reaches us..."
"Well, that just seems excessive," Jing Yuan says dryly, eyeing the huge beast. He's fought bigger, but he doesn't think this thing will stay down any more than its smaller counterparts, which makes the exercise pointless. A waste of time and energy that they could spend getting out of here. "All right. Three... two... one!"
He leaps forward to release a burst of lightning that strikes every wolf in the half-circle in front of them, staggering them enough that they should be easy pickings for glaive and spear. All they need is a gap, and then they can run.
Lunging for the door once the wolves are dead, Jing Yuan quickly realizes he's not going to be able to keep up with Dan Heng. He's more winded than he thought, and the pain hitting him like hot wires in his belly isn't helping. "I'll... guard the rear," he gasps. "Keep moving!" He keeps moving himself. He's not giving up, just accepting reality.
"I apologize; I'd hoped it would give up chase, but it seems I led it right to you, General." He would like to go one place and not worry about being hounded by a monster. Is that so difficult? It spots them and snarls- a harsh rustling of leaves over glass and metal-- when the General gives his signal.
Dan Heng throws his hand forward with Jing Yuan's attack, conjuring a concentrated stream of imaginary waters to spread the lightning's range, increasing the conductivity of their targets.
Together, they cut through what's left in the immediate area, and Dan Heng sprints forward with the wind and an old friend ally at his back. He doesn't think too much about Jing Yuan's spoken role, thinking the man would be right behind him. The vidyadhara wrenches the door open, and looks to see-
"General?!" He's fallen very behind. No. What-
There are three wolves reforming at the General's feet, and the massive beast is lunging straight for him. No. No. Not like this-
Dan Heng is running back towards him before everything even registers. He throws Cloud Piercer, a water dragon following close behind but it's not enough- it has to be enough--
Jing Yuan has only rarely allowed himself to contemplate his own death, usually when deep in his cups and mourning the loss of another friend (after all, so many have fallen into mara or perished on the battlefield over the course of his life) and the conclusion he has always come to in those dark moments is that he would rather die in the teeth of an Abomination than suffer the inevitable creeping corruption of mara. Now, it seems he is about to get his wish. He spares a glance over his shoulder and sees that Dan Heng has nearly reached the door and he feels relief. At least in his last moments he will, at long last, have saved one of his friends. As if this could in some way make up for all his failures.
Not that this means he will go gently - he throws his power into a low sweep with his glaive, slicing through the reforming wolves before they become mobile and smoothly bringing it up to parry the larger beast's first strike, lightning crackling along the blade and sparking on its metal teeth as it howls like cracking wood.
And then a spear slams into the side of its head, followed swiftly by the impact of a water dragon that throws it off its feet, and he turns to see Dan Heng racing toward him. "No! Get out of here!" Dan Heng said the beast was chasing him - Jing Yuan was hoping to distract it long enough for his friend to put a door and more distance between them. But now he's hurling himself back into the fray, of course. He doesn't know why he expected anything else, he thinks with grim fondness.
But of course in that moment of distraction the wolf regained its footing and struck again and this time his instinctive parry is not enough to completely turn its teeth aside - he feels a tearing pain in his arm as it catches him, picking him up off the ground entirely to shake its head back and forth like he's a caught rabbit. He grits his teeth on the pain, trying to think of a way out - perhaps it will dig too deep and he'll lose the arm, that would free him. If only he was using a shorter weapon - he could do it himself. But the wolf is too strong for him to break its grip any other way.
Local dragon guy yells DROP IT at a giant monster ouppy
There is- a moment where Dan Heng thinks, despite everything, it would be okay. His weapon strikes true, and the cloudhymn shoves the monster off balance. Jing Yuan is still fighting, and that means he's alright, he's okay-
But then he looks back. Orders him to leave. No. No.
Jing Yuan's been left behind too much already. "I will not! You were guarding the rear, and that means being behind me, not-"
SNAP. Crunch. Dan Heng cries out as if he'd been punched in the gut, watching in horror as the General gets shaken around like a chew toy. Lan preserve, all that blood-
"RELEASE HIM this instant!!" he snarls with all the fury of a dragon scorned. He re summons Cloud Piercer and surrounds himself with Cloudhymn energy, launching himself to land on the monster's back, sharp teeth bared as if ready to bite down himself. Thankfully he doesn't, instead locating the main knot of vines and plant matter in the creature's neck, his slitted pupils widening with a target.
Then with an enraged shout, he plunges the spear down with all his strength, channeling water from the blade to cut outward, working to sever the beast's head from its body.
If it works, Dan Heng will throw a dragon down to curl near the floor, to slow Jing Yuan's fall, weighed down as he'd be by the beast's still locked jaws.
Being shaken rapidly becomes disorienting and the only thing Jing Yuan can concentrate on is his oldest lesson, his master's voice ringing in his ears - a Cloud Knight must never let slip their weapon. He doesn't, his knuckles turning white as he holds on despite being whipped through the air.
He hears shouting, Dan Feng - no, Dan Heng, he must remember that - yelling something in anger, and the shaking slows as the wolf reacts to something the Vidyadhara is doing. He grunts in pain as gravity takes hold and the teeth dig more deeply into his arm, but he manages to shift his grip on his glaive to slam the pommel into the beast's jaws, trying to force it to release him.
And suddenly he's falling, the teeth becoming nothing but shards of metal - several of them still embedded in his arm - and the head a rain of leaves and vines that is pushed aside as a coil of water wraps around him, slowing his fall. Thanks to that, he manages to land on his feet, though leaning heavily on his polearm as he watches the rest of the wolf crumble into ruin. He refuses to allow his knees to buckle, hoping that one slight scrap of dignity might remain to him. They must still reach the door, after all, and he doesn't want to force Dan Heng to carry him.
Kills the dog, but only temporarily. It's fine. Everything is totally fine!!
Dan Heng drops with the beast, rolling to absorb impact and taking off in a small trot towards Jing Yuan.
"General!" His own voice cracks a little seeing the amount of blood soaking the man's white clothing, the arm hanging limp at his side. But he's standing. Jing Yuan is standing. Good.
"Come on. We're going together. Come on." Dan Heng takes the general's good arm, upsetting his balance on his glaive, and taking his weight against himself. A vidyadhara, even a young one, is stronger than an average human, but it's still...Jing Yuan is much taller than himself. Still, it's fine. He can take it.
They need to go. The fallen foliage is forming into massive paws, a torso...is it absorbing the smaller ones even?? Stars above. No. They are leaving. His powers are a bit...strained here, but he tries to keep a water dragon circling them for stray attacks.
"Walk with me, I've got you." And if the general cannot...Dan Heng will pick him up. He's hesitant to because it'll hurt the man more, but desperate times...
"Ah, Dan Heng... " He leans heavily on the younger man, grateful for his strength. With his help, he even manages quite a few steps before his knees start to buckle. He can hear the rustle of leaves behind them, and after so many wolves had re-formed in front of him it's quite easy to identify even without looking around. "We... need to go faster, don't we?"
He doesn't want to hold them back. If the choice is between feeling a little foolish and Dan Heng dying for his dignity... well, at this point he will take being a sack of flour. He chuckles weakly."I think you may... have to carry me." He knows how strong Vidyadhara are - the disparity in their heights may cause some problems, but Dan Heng should be able to manage it.
"Perhaps. Just a bit." Dan Heng clenches his teeth when the rustling grows, and Jing Yuan's weight increases. It's like...before, with Phantyllia. The General took too much damage...
"Right. Okay. I'm sorry, General. This is going to hurt," Dan Heng breathes. With that as his only warning, the Vidyadhara leans down and scoops Jing Yuan's leg up to heft the man's full weight onto his back, tugging the general's good arm more securely around his neck.
From the outside this may look rediculous. Especially with the surreal thoughts in Dan Heng's mind insisting this should be easier, it used to be so easy, when did Xiao Yuan get so big- all not him. Still disorienting, making his heart ache. It's fine. They'll be fine.
"If I need to attack more, you're going to have to just...hang on, Sir," he grunts, moving forward with a burst of cloudhymn. It's not very fast but still better than it was. Jing Yuan's legs are likely just short of dragging on the ground. It is what it is. There's rustling and growling behind them. They're almost there. Almost.
Jing Yuan does his best to move with Dan Heng, to be slightly less troublesome than a sack of potatoes, still holding his glaive but trying to keep it out of the way. The movement does earn a couple of grunts of pain that he represses as best he can - he knows there's no other choice and no more comfortable way to do this. No need to make this worse for either of them.
He tucks his bad arm into his armour as best he can, wincing as the metal teeth dig in again. They'll have to wait to take them out, but he knows that with each movement they're tearing through more muscle, causing damage even without being embedded in that monster's skull.
"Do what you have to do. I'll manage." He says it as confidently as he can, considering the situation - he'll hold on as long as he can. Then he chuckles, breathless and tight, but genuine. "Under the circumstances, perhaps I can finally persuade you to call me Jing Yuan?" He is literally carrying him, after all. It's no time to stand on formality.
Can't carry your pain General but I can carry YOU-wdym you want to be called by name...
If Dan Heng was told he was going to give the Arbitor General of Divine Foresight a trotter-back ride today, he would have given that person the most baffled look. And maybe suggest they get checked out for a concussion. And yet...here they are. It was either this or a fireman carry, which would have likely been too much top heavy weight for the shorter man.
"Alright. That's all I ask- stars-" Dan Heng whips around for a moment to swipe at some mostly formed creatures gaining on them, doing his best to ignore the giant creature's regenerating, unsettling gaze. He leans into the movement to keep going towards the door, and to not send themselve's both toppling over.
"Gen- you- is now the time??" Dan Heng asks, harried and...rather surprised, actually. The fact that he didn't outright insist on the titles there probably means he's thinking on it. Or he's a bit...distracted at the moment. Still...almost there. And...
"I...are you sure it wouldn't...upset you?" Yes, Dan Heng insists on his own name being used, and he's grateful to the general for doing his best to respect it. It would be good to extend the same courtesy (especially in a place where such titles would have no meaning...) but...but for Jing Yuan, whose memories of Dan Feng are likely stronger, of a version of him that likely called the man by name...
It's alot to think through with a pack of plant wolves chasing them down.
((You can have them reach the door if you want, or if you don't, they will get there on my next reply! <3))
Jing Yuan closes his eyes against the pain that accompanies Dan Heng's rapid movements, keeping his breathing as steady as he can, trying to stay stable so he doesn't push the smaller man off-balance - it would be very easy to do when he's such a bulky load. It's hard to see Dan Heng fighting when all he can do is try not to over-burden him, but hopefully they won't have to do this very much longer.
"Ah, my apologies. I didn't mean to distract you." It just occurred to him at that moment that being called 'General' while being toted about on someone else's back - someone not even in his chain of command - was a little ridiculous. "As for it upsetting me -"
Jing Yuan opens his eyes to see a wolf creeping around to flank Dan Heng from the left and gathering itself to leap - he has no choice but to straighten his bad arm and make a downward sweeping gesture, a blast of lightning cracking down onto it and scattering into pieces. He lurches forward against Dan Heng with a grunt of pain. "Hn. P-perhaps we can finish this discussion another time."
The door is almost within reach. They'll have time to talk. This won't be their end.
And it's hard for Dan Heng to fight when he knows it's hurting Jing Yuan. He just keeps his eyes on their destination...
"It's alright. You're alright, we can later," he breathes, both an answer and a reassurance. Jing Yuan has a point, but the request tugs at...a thread that happens to be tangled with many others. Names and their significance-
Dan Heng yelps when a crack of thunder sounds nearby, and there's a scorching pile of plant debris where he wasn't looking. The weight on his back shifts and he uses that momentum to go faster still, holding steady against Jing Yuan's pain. Almost...almost...there!
With a shout, Dan Heng bursts through the door, whirling around to jam it shut against a wolf's snapping jaws. The dragon snarls back, lurching forward with his and Jing Yuan's combined weight. It squishes him a bit but it works, the door closing with a final clang. There's a lever that he wrenches to the side, and a lock seems to snap in place.
He wheezes, leaning his head on the metal for a moment, horns knocking against the surface. He can hear the grating sound of metal scraping against metal, the rustling growls and yelps but...the door seemed sturdy. It should hold.
"I'm...setting you down now. We...we should be safe." It probably hurts Jing Yuan alot, but...it's what he can do. He crouches down to let the man slide off his back and lean against a wall. He tried to find a place with little to no plants...somewhat cleaner. Dan Heng collapses soon after in front of him, plopping down to sit with a groan. He leans his elbows on his knees, looking up to eye the general through sweat-damp bangs. "That was. Too close."
"Much too close." Although the tone is fervent, Jing Yuan's voice is a thread of its usual richness as he carefully lowers himself down the wall until he can sit and rest, cradling his arm against his chest and... ahh, he's just not going to look down at that yet. Give it a few minutes before he has to see what kind of damage he's done to himself. "You're all right? Not injured?"
It would be very like Dan Heng not to let on that he got hurt until the crisis had passed, though Jing Yuan's fairly certain none of the wolves got close enough to touch him. From what he can see there's no signs of injuries, so he relaxes a little.
"...your assistance was incredibly timely, and much appreciated. Can I assume you found yourself there just as suddenly as I did?" He still has no idea how he got here, or where 'here' is. It's certainly nowhere on the Xianzhou Luofu, not with these metal bulkheads, tight corridors, or the abundance of plant growth everywhere. He supposes that's their next course of business, once they're both able to actually move again.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
does this work idk lemme know if you need more/something else
He's trying not to be obviously suspicious, difficult as that is for him, wandering around observing and trying to work out in his head what he has in a qiankun pouch that he could sell without raising any eyebrows so he could have some of the local currency and maybe like, get a room. And food. He could practice inedia, but the food looks good, and also there are fucking vending machines? He wants to get a drink out of a vending machine! It's been so long!
At least his robes don't look out of place.
looks great!
He looks over to Shang Qinghua. "I apologize, am I in your way? Please, go ahead." He has to consider whether he will suffer through a mung bean soda or try a stop at the Sleepless Earl and risk being late for his return to the Seat of Divine Foresight. Actually attending a meeting at the Sky-Faring Commission in person is rare for him, but he is enjoying the chance to get some fresh air.
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"Ah, no, I... don't have any money on me? I was just... looking to see what I might like when I do have money?" That's definitely not a normal thing to do, good job Airplane.
He turns to look at who he's talking to and holy shit that guy has the spiritual presence of a fucking mountain. He could probably go toe to toe with Zhangmen-shixiong. "Ah, this one apologizes for taking the space unnecessarily, honorable master?"
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Jing Yuan laughs sheepishly and waves a hand at Shang Qinghua when he turns around to see him. People becoming overwhelmed with respect when they realize they're casually chatting with the Divine Foresight isn't uncommon (Diviner Fu says it's undignified to sneak up on civilians but he enjoys the chance to have a conversation that isn't about work) but this young man is taking it a little over the top. He's suddenly speaking like a classic novel! "There's no need to be so formal! Please, just call me Jing Yuan, or General if you really feel the need to be polite. Don't let me interrupt your browsing."
There's the sudden sound of a jade abacus ring and Jing Yuan reaches into his robe to pull his out and hold it to his ear. "Ah, Diviner Fu - I was just thinking about you... Starskiff Haven? Yes, I'm still there." The slightest furrow of concern appears in his brow as she tells him there was a space-time disturbance in the area a few minutes ago. He holds his tongue, of course - no need to cause a panic prematurely.
"No, I haven't seen anything strange..." He looks around curiously, then pauses as a thought strikes him - his new conversational partner is oddly old-fashioned, both in dress and manner of speech. Perhaps he has something to do with this disturbance the Diviner is speaking of? "I'll be sure to keep an eye out. I may be late to our meeting if you want me to go scouting, though. We'll talk soon, goodbye."
He hangs up and looks to Shang Qinghua, his smile cheerful again. "Well, it seems as though I have an excuse to go to the Sleepless Earl instead of being virtuous and sticking to spring water. Would you allow me to buy you some tea to celebrate my good fortune?" After all, the young man said he had no money. It would be a kind thing to do, and allow him to discover more about him.
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General? Okay he's like able to fight mountains in an official capacity. "This one is honored to make your acquaintance, General? Ah, this one is called Shang Qinghua."
Seen anything strange... shit. Someone just asked the general if he'd seen anything strange in the area that Shang Qinghua just appeared in. They must have detected the portal somehow. Aiyah, General, please be kind to this pathetic one, he's not a spy or an invader!
...it would be both rude and suspicious to decline, even though this is definitely going to end up with being interrogated. Maybe he should just confess. ...Maybe he'll wait a little longer to decide. "Ah, the General is too kind! This one could not be so rude as to decline a gift?" The general is talking so casually but Shang Qinghua is not comfortable speaking familiarly to important people he just met.
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Despite being fairly sure he has the source of the disturbance in hand, he does keep an eye out for any signs of anything else strange. It's possible that this young man is just an innocent bystander with a taste for the classics, after all.
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He can't decide whether he should talk more casually or not. The General is, but that could just be perks of position. Junshang can certainly talk to people in ways they can't talk back to him. He's going to err on the side of not offending a man who could fucking flatten him.
And judging by the way everyone gets out of his way as he walks, General Jing Yuan is a big deal and absolutely everyone in wherever the hell this is knows his face. So he would be a very useful friend or a very inconvenient enemy.
He really should just come out with it and beg for assistance.
Maybe when they get to the Sleepless Earl.
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It's a very short walk to the Sleepless Earl, just across a bridge and down a flight of stairs. Jing Yuan waves cheerily to the small foxian girl in front of the shop. "Mengming, two cups of Immortal's Delight for me and my friend here - we'll be at one of your upstairs tables."
He leads the way up to the quieter upper tables. With the lovely weather today the second floor is almost deserted, as he suspected it would be. He takes a seat and waves for Shang Qinghua to take the other. "Please, make yourself comfortable. Our tea shouldn't be long."
Indeed, one of the servers follows them up almost directly with two plastic cups of the sweet bubble tea, as well as a tray of light snacks, which she informs them are on the house.
this is the happiest icon of him I have help. he's looking at the boba like he looks at mbj I guess
Holy shit, boba? Boba!!! He hasn't had boba tea in fucking decades! Not since he died! His entire face lights up in open glee as he stabs the straw into the cup and sucks in a mouthful of tapioca, at which point he remembers what's happening and tries to school his expression. He chews the boba pearls and swallows.
...Okay, Airplane, just fucking do it, he's definitely noticed you're insanely suspicious by now. "So. Ah. This one... has no idea where he is?" ...well, that's a start.
lmao amazing glad to bring a smile to his face
Clearly he should interrogate all suspicious figures with Immortal's Delight if it's this easy. He nods understandingly but without surprise, taking a sip of his own drink with a pleased noise. "You are on the Xianzhou Luofu, one of the world ships of the Xianzhou people. How did you happen to come here, if you didn't know your destination?"
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World ships? Is this a fucking sci-fi xianxia setting? "That... did not actually..." He sighs. "This one fell through a portal and found himself here. He has never heard of a world ship outside of fiction, or of the Xianzhou at all."
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He frowns, stirring the boba in his tea. "Ah, mara is a curse unique to the Xianzhou, a result of our long lives - a transformation that removes our humanity and replaces it with boundless madness and aggression. It usually strikes after three or four centuries, depending on the person, but all Xianzhou natives and others who try to achieve immortality the same way will eventually fall into it." He wants to be specific and detailed about this just in case Shang Qinghua starts getting some ideas about trying to find the Xianzhou secret, as so many have. "Anyway, in the greatest moment of our need, the Reignbow Arbiter, Lan the Hunt, arose and struck the Ambrosial Arbor of the Luofu, the source of our immortality and greatest emblem of our foolishness, and the Xianzhou swore to serve THEM and to hunt the other Abominations of Abundance, to render the cosmos free of Yaoshi's 'gifts'. Our ships have sailed the cosmos ever since, wiping out abominations as we find them."
Jing Yuan chuckles a bit sheepishly before taking a sip. "Well, you probably didn't need to know all that, but most visitors to the Luofu hear the story in one way or another. Best to get it out of the way, hm?"
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He listens attentively to Shang Qinghua's description of his own world and gods, allowing his confusion to show on his face so Shang Qinghua doesn't feel quite so alone. "I'm familiar with the concept of cultivation - there are those who practice it here as part of their Pathstriding, including myself - but the rest of what you say is completely new. I've never heard of those locations... I'm happy to do a search in our archives to see if we can get you home, but I don't know what our chances of success will be."
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"I, there is-- an indicator, of sorts? Last time it displayed anything like what it does now, the person to whom it is connected was in another plane from me. I do not think where I came from would be... findable by conventional methods."
He pauses. Should he just go whole hog here? The system can't punish him for it if it's offline. "...Have you ever heard of 'transmigration' or 'isekai'?"
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He is going to reserve his comments on Shang Qinghua's thoughts about Aeons for now. It's... pretty blasphemous, but sometimes Jing Yuan has had similar ideas. The Ten Lords Commission wouldn't like to hear that, so he keeps them to himself.
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"Just so I'm understanding the order of events - you are originally from a world there is nothing supernatural, but when you died - I am sorry to hear that - you reincarnated into the world where you became Peak Lord of An Ding. And then you came here by falling into a portal - you did not have to die again?" He hopes not. Dying more than once seems like it would be terribly unfair.
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It's his opinion that Shang Qinghua is as close to harmless as it's possible for a cultivator to be, but he doubts Fu Xuan will be so sanguine, let alone the Ten Lords Commission. No, they definitely don't need to know about this - there's no sin being committed, just a strange event and to him that's more in line with the Divination Commission's purview. He can't imagine Shang Qinghua, who was made so nervous by him, of all people, handling the methods of the Ten Lords well.
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And... ah. Generals are generally held to some kind of command structure, aren't they? Has he just made a horrible mistake? Should he definitely have not said that part about his cultivation working? At least he didn't say he was immortal. He sips his tea, anxiously. Maybe he should try the seal to summon his king? He was just so caught up in exploring... but a man with a spiritual presence like that would almost certainly be able to sense it, and then there would be questions that he really does not want to answer.
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It isn't a foolproof plan, but it is at least the basics of a plan. It depends on Fu Xuan cooperating, of course, which is the weak point, but... he's sure he can convince her.
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"But you are very welcome for the boba tea. There's also a startaro variety, which... well, I can't recommend it but Diviner Fu is quite fond of it. I'll have to bring her a cup to sweeten her mood when we head over there." After all he's going to be very late for their meeting and bringing her a problem, he can imagine she's going to be a little irritable.
for dan heng - we're on a boat
The wolves have tried both frontal and rear assaults and he's handled them both swiftly, but his own attempts to break the circle aren't doing much better. He's made some forward progress toward the door, but the numbers of the wolves seem endless - their bodies may fall but he suspects that their nature gives their spirits the ability to reform their bodies from the supply of vines and foliage in the room. Worse, the Lightning Lord is not responding to his summoning.
He's beginning to be somewhat concerned that he's in a bad situation. He can feel exhaustion tugging at him and a dull ache in his abdomen as he's reminded of his relatively recent injury at Phantylia's hands. Another wolf leaps and falls as his hands move on automatic, but - is he moving slower? How much longer can he hold out?
WE'RE ON A BOAT- Sir there are Borisin (no)
He'd lost his cloaking device somewhere along the way...his dragon horns and scales are on full display, which unfortunately only seem to paint a bright target on the young man.
He's running through a strange forested area to avoid a very large beast. Dark plant pelt, its eyes a somewhat blood-red sheen. Hoolay had just escaped the Shackling Prisons, and now this happens. He would like the malicious flora/fauna here to not remind him eerily of the monster called Blade, thank you.
Speaking of familiarity though...is that...?
....It'd be leading this monster straight to him, but Dan Heng could use the backup. And apparently so can-
"General Jing Yuan! On your left!" the young Vidyadhara shouts, launching from his place in the foliage with a boost of cloudhymn to come down on a wolf attempting to snap at the General's arm. Cloud Piercer cuts clean through the beast's "skull", reducing it to a pile of plants. Dan Heng shakes his head, a dragon's growl rumbling in his chest as he backs up to guard Jing Yuan's back, eyes sharp and on the lookout for the larger creature. Bright blue eyes flick to the General.
"Are you alright?"
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He brings his glaive down in a sweeping motion to prune two wolves preparing to leap for Dan Heng's right. "The door to this chamber is ahead of me. With two of us, we should be able to kill enough break out of the circle and reach it before they all re-form to chase us, which should improve our present circumstances. On my signal?" The longer they wait, the more tired he'll be when they have to run. He doesn't want to hold Dan Heng back, so they'll have to move soon.
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Dan Heng looks to where Jing Yuan is indicating, then nods. "Of course," he replies, with a sense of trust that spans lifetimes.
There's a loud screech and the rumble of something massive tromping toward them. Dan Heng winces when the wolf, about triple the size of these surrounding them, breaks through the canopy. "Perhaps before that reaches us..."
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He leaps forward to release a burst of lightning that strikes every wolf in the half-circle in front of them, staggering them enough that they should be easy pickings for glaive and spear. All they need is a gap, and then they can run.
Lunging for the door once the wolves are dead, Jing Yuan quickly realizes he's not going to be able to keep up with Dan Heng. He's more winded than he thought, and the pain hitting him like hot wires in his belly isn't helping. "I'll... guard the rear," he gasps. "Keep moving!" He keeps moving himself. He's not giving up, just accepting reality.
fight scenes may be hard but ✨drama✨ is not
Dan Heng throws his hand forward with Jing Yuan's attack, conjuring a concentrated stream of imaginary waters to spread the lightning's range, increasing the conductivity of their targets.
Together, they cut through what's left in the immediate area, and Dan Heng sprints forward with the wind and an
old friendally at his back. He doesn't think too much about Jing Yuan's spoken role, thinking the man would be right behind him. The vidyadhara wrenches the door open, and looks to see-"General?!" He's fallen very behind. No. What-
There are three wolves reforming at the General's feet, and the massive beast is lunging straight for him. No. No. Not like this-
Dan Heng is running back towards him before everything even registers. He throws Cloud Piercer, a water dragon following close behind but it's not enough- it has to be enough--
bring on the angst!
Not that this means he will go gently - he throws his power into a low sweep with his glaive, slicing through the reforming wolves before they become mobile and smoothly bringing it up to parry the larger beast's first strike, lightning crackling along the blade and sparking on its metal teeth as it howls like cracking wood.
And then a spear slams into the side of its head, followed swiftly by the impact of a water dragon that throws it off its feet, and he turns to see Dan Heng racing toward him. "No! Get out of here!" Dan Heng said the beast was chasing him - Jing Yuan was hoping to distract it long enough for his friend to put a door and more distance between them. But now he's hurling himself back into the fray, of course. He doesn't know why he expected anything else, he thinks with grim fondness.
But of course in that moment of distraction the wolf regained its footing and struck again and this time his instinctive parry is not enough to completely turn its teeth aside - he feels a tearing pain in his arm as it catches him, picking him up off the ground entirely to shake its head back and forth like he's a caught rabbit. He grits his teeth on the pain, trying to think of a way out - perhaps it will dig too deep and he'll lose the arm, that would free him. If only he was using a shorter weapon - he could do it himself. But the wolf is too strong for him to break its grip any other way.
Local dragon guy yells DROP IT at a giant monster ouppy
But then he looks back. Orders him to leave. No. No.
Jing Yuan's been left behind too much already. "I will not! You were guarding the rear, and that means being behind me, not-"
SNAP. Crunch. Dan Heng cries out as if he'd been punched in the gut, watching in horror as the General gets shaken around like a chew toy. Lan preserve, all that blood-
"RELEASE HIM this instant!!" he snarls with all the fury of a dragon scorned. He re summons Cloud Piercer and surrounds himself with Cloudhymn energy, launching himself to land on the monster's back, sharp teeth bared as if ready to bite down himself. Thankfully he doesn't, instead locating the main knot of vines and plant matter in the creature's neck, his slitted pupils widening with a target.
Then with an enraged shout, he plunges the spear down with all his strength, channeling water from the blade to cut outward, working to sever the beast's head from its body.
If it works, Dan Heng will throw a dragon down to curl near the floor, to slow Jing Yuan's fall, weighed down as he'd be by the beast's still locked jaws.
BAD DOG NO TREAT
He hears shouting, Dan Feng - no, Dan Heng, he must remember that - yelling something in anger, and the shaking slows as the wolf reacts to something the Vidyadhara is doing. He grunts in pain as gravity takes hold and the teeth dig more deeply into his arm, but he manages to shift his grip on his glaive to slam the pommel into the beast's jaws, trying to force it to release him.
And suddenly he's falling, the teeth becoming nothing but shards of metal - several of them still embedded in his arm - and the head a rain of leaves and vines that is pushed aside as a coil of water wraps around him, slowing his fall. Thanks to that, he manages to land on his feet, though leaning heavily on his polearm as he watches the rest of the wolf crumble into ruin. He refuses to allow his knees to buckle, hoping that one slight scrap of dignity might remain to him. They must still reach the door, after all, and he doesn't want to force Dan Heng to carry him.
Kills the dog, but only temporarily. It's fine. Everything is totally fine!!
"General!" His own voice cracks a little seeing the amount of blood soaking the man's white clothing, the arm hanging limp at his side. But he's standing. Jing Yuan is standing. Good.
"Come on. We're going together. Come on." Dan Heng takes the general's good arm, upsetting his balance on his glaive, and taking his weight against himself. A vidyadhara, even a young one, is stronger than an average human, but it's still...Jing Yuan is much taller than himself. Still, it's fine. He can take it.
They need to go. The fallen foliage is forming into massive paws, a torso...is it absorbing the smaller ones even?? Stars above. No. They are leaving. His powers are a bit...strained here, but he tries to keep a water dragon circling them for stray attacks.
"Walk with me, I've got you." And if the general cannot...Dan Heng will pick him up. He's hesitant to because it'll hurt the man more, but desperate times...
absolutely totally really fine!
He doesn't want to hold them back. If the choice is between feeling a little foolish and Dan Heng dying for his dignity... well, at this point he will take being a sack of flour. He chuckles weakly."I think you may... have to carry me." He knows how strong Vidyadhara are - the disparity in their heights may cause some problems, but Dan Heng should be able to manage it.
OH no....gravity is increasing on him
"Right. Okay. I'm sorry, General. This is going to hurt," Dan Heng breathes. With that as his only warning, the Vidyadhara leans down and scoops Jing Yuan's leg up to heft the man's full weight onto his back, tugging the general's good arm more securely around his neck.
From the outside this may look rediculous. Especially with the surreal thoughts in Dan Heng's mind insisting this should be easier, it used to be so easy, when did Xiao Yuan get so big- all not him. Still disorienting, making his heart ache. It's fine. They'll be fine.
"If I need to attack more, you're going to have to just...hang on, Sir," he grunts, moving forward with a burst of cloudhymn. It's not very fast but still better than it was. Jing Yuan's legs are likely just short of dragging on the ground. It is what it is. There's rustling and growling behind them. They're almost there. Almost.
"Just hang on."
he ain't heavy he's my general?
He tucks his bad arm into his armour as best he can, wincing as the metal teeth dig in again. They'll have to wait to take them out, but he knows that with each movement they're tearing through more muscle, causing damage even without being embedded in that monster's skull.
"Do what you have to do. I'll manage." He says it as confidently as he can, considering the situation - he'll hold on as long as he can. Then he chuckles, breathless and tight, but genuine. "Under the circumstances, perhaps I can finally persuade you to call me Jing Yuan?" He is literally carrying him, after all. It's no time to stand on formality.
Can't carry your pain General but I can carry YOU-wdym you want to be called by name...
"Alright. That's all I ask- stars-" Dan Heng whips around for a moment to swipe at some mostly formed creatures gaining on them, doing his best to ignore the giant creature's regenerating, unsettling gaze. He leans into the movement to keep going towards the door, and to not send themselve's both toppling over.
"Gen- you- is now the time??" Dan Heng asks, harried and...rather surprised, actually. The fact that he didn't outright insist on the titles there probably means he's thinking on it. Or he's a bit...distracted at the moment. Still...almost there. And...
"I...are you sure it wouldn't...upset you?" Yes, Dan Heng insists on his own name being used, and he's grateful to the general for doing his best to respect it. It would be good to extend the same courtesy (especially in a place where such titles would have no meaning...) but...but for Jing Yuan, whose memories of Dan Feng are likely stronger, of a version of him that likely called the man by name...
It's alot to think through with a pack of plant wolves chasing them down.
((You can have them reach the door if you want, or if you don't, they will get there on my next reply! <3))
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"Ah, my apologies. I didn't mean to distract you." It just occurred to him at that moment that being called 'General' while being toted about on someone else's back - someone not even in his chain of command - was a little ridiculous. "As for it upsetting me -"
Jing Yuan opens his eyes to see a wolf creeping around to flank Dan Heng from the left and gathering itself to leap - he has no choice but to straighten his bad arm and make a downward sweeping gesture, a blast of lightning cracking down onto it and scattering into pieces. He lurches forward against Dan Heng with a grunt of pain. "Hn. P-perhaps we can finish this discussion another time."
The door is almost within reach. They'll have time to talk. This won't be their end.
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"It's alright. You're alright, we can later," he breathes, both an answer and a reassurance. Jing Yuan has a point, but the request tugs at...a thread that happens to be tangled with many others. Names and their significance-
Dan Heng yelps when a crack of thunder sounds nearby, and there's a scorching pile of plant debris where he wasn't looking. The weight on his back shifts and he uses that momentum to go faster still, holding steady against Jing Yuan's pain. Almost...almost...there!
With a shout, Dan Heng bursts through the door, whirling around to jam it shut against a wolf's snapping jaws. The dragon snarls back, lurching forward with his and Jing Yuan's combined weight. It squishes him a bit but it works, the door closing with a final clang. There's a lever that he wrenches to the side, and a lock seems to snap in place.
He wheezes, leaning his head on the metal for a moment, horns knocking against the surface. He can hear the grating sound of metal scraping against metal, the rustling growls and yelps but...the door seemed sturdy. It should hold.
"I'm...setting you down now. We...we should be safe." It probably hurts Jing Yuan alot, but...it's what he can do. He crouches down to let the man slide off his back and lean against a wall. He tried to find a place with little to no plants...somewhat cleaner. Dan Heng collapses soon after in front of him, plopping down to sit with a groan. He leans his elbows on his knees, looking up to eye the general through sweat-damp bangs. "That was. Too close."
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It would be very like Dan Heng not to let on that he got hurt until the crisis had passed, though Jing Yuan's fairly certain none of the wolves got close enough to touch him. From what he can see there's no signs of injuries, so he relaxes a little.
"...your assistance was incredibly timely, and much appreciated. Can I assume you found yourself there just as suddenly as I did?" He still has no idea how he got here, or where 'here' is. It's certainly nowhere on the Xianzhou Luofu, not with these metal bulkheads, tight corridors, or the abundance of plant growth everywhere. He supposes that's their next course of business, once they're both able to actually move again.