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The Windmaster sighed, brimming with genuine smiles. She leaned over on her elbows to watch the “Earthmaster” stuff his face. It was hardly the first time, but tonight was special.
“Ming Yi” hadn’t seemed to consider anything tonight unusual, or if he had, it still hadn’t given him pause. Shi Qingxuan was a little bit thrilled by that, and she was going to drink in as much of the feeling as she could. She had taken him to a remote country “restaurant” to see how much she could get away with.
A “restaurant” in a one-room cottage high in a treacherous mountain range.
A “restaurant” with only one staff member to seat them, take their orders, bring the food, and clear the dishes.
A “restaurant” that had one table with two seats.
A “restaurant” that had been bringing them tables and tables full of exotic, expensive food for six hours now without stopping. Despite having no sign of a kitchen.
A “restaurant” they had been seated at before sunset that had grown completely dark now. Perfectly dark. Not a lamp. Not a candle.
The Windmaster hadn’t touched the food. Instead, they had been shifting their appearance the whole time. Just between the usual male and female forms at first, but then began to throw in new things. Different eye shapes and colors, skin tone variances, Reshaping and sizing fingernails and lashes, different lips and teeth, the broad frame of their male form with the ample chest and hips of their female form.
All the while, “Ming Yi” said nothing about any of it, though he did watch.
Shi Qingxuan was really having fun. The conversation she had made so far was all ordinary chatter. One steady rock in a hurricane, about to be blown to pieces.
“Hahaha! It has been such a wonderful night together, best friend, hasn’t it? Truly, if someone died on such an occasion, they could die happy, couldn’t they? Alas…”
The windmaster, swift as lightning, had moved to the other side of the table next to “Ming Yi”. They placed an arm around the “Earthmaster’s” shoulders. A hand with blackened, razor sharp claws casually stroked the arm of the one who was still sitting with a bowl tilted toward his lips. A head with ice-cold silky curtains of black hair leaned down over “Ming Yi” and a pointed, snow white chin rested atop his head. “They say all banquets come to an end, don’t they? How cruel. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but I do love watching you eat. The unquenchable desire in your eyes. The way you lose yourself in your hunger. The way the things you swallow roll down your pretty throat. Mmm… “
Shi Qingxuan closed their eyes with a serene expression. The back of their knuckles moved to caress the other’s Adam's apple. Shi Qingxuan could tell that the “Earthmaster” had finally frozen. It took a lot to get him to a point of resistance, but it seemed he was there now.
“Ming Yi’s” curt voice spoke up for the first time, “This is going too far, even for you. Drop it.”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!” Shi Qingxuan laughed wildly, giving the Black Water Demon a gentle squeeze. “Who says I shouldn’t go here? It couldn’t be you. You enjoy it as much as I do. There’s no reason to lie to yourself, and when you lie to me, it’s silly! Because I already know everything, He Xuan! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Black Water Sinking Ships kicked the table away, rolling nimbly out of Shi Qingxuan’s grasp.
The Windmaster gave him a look of endearment before unfolding their fan.
In an instant, the cottage was blown to bits, and the Windmaster and Black Water Demon were sent high into the thin mountain air under the dazzling stars.
Amid howling gales, Shi Qingxuan approached He Xuan as naturally as if they were walking on solid ground. The Black Water Demon needed a moment to orient his body in the right direction, but he withstood the lashing currents and readied himself for an attack. The sight that greeted Black Water’s eyes was an unfamiliar one, but it wore familiar clothes, and the scent of its familiar perfume wafted gently across the razor winds as if they were nothing more than a spring breeze carrying the fragrance of a flowering tree.
The windmaster that stepped lightly toward him was androgynous, pallid, and tall, with no color upon their skin or face. Their hair hung in dancing black curtains long enough to reach their ankles. Their arms faded from stark white at the elbows down the forearm in a sootlike gradient to completely black fingertips and glossy black claws each 2 cun long. Their jade eyes were reflecting the lights that hung in the night heavens like a nocturnal predator. Their lips were black and thin, and a set of long fangs glistened as they laughed wildly into the wind. This form was nothing like how Shi Qingxuan normally looked. Certainly it was like no Heavenly Official should look, but somehow it was even more striking than Shi Qingxuan usually was; like pearls had bloomed from a sparkling icicle-covered tree.
He Xuan had gathered a vast amount of spiritual power in his hands. It crackled like thunder in the windstorm, but he was shaking. He had not fully steeled himself for this moment. This was all wrong. His grudge, Shi Wu Du, was nowhere to be seen. The strange Windmaster that stood before him may have whipped up sharp winds, but he sensed no killing intent behind them. It was almost… such a ridiculous notion… something playful; a kitten testing its claws on the arm of its master.
Shi Qingxuan held out a hand to He Xuan, “Best friend-ah, why are you behaving like this? Heheheh. A scary ghost king, acting as if you’re threatened by this sweet little one? Well… I’d like to say I would never harm so much as a hair on your exquisite head. The sentiment is nice, isn’t it? But we’ve had enough lies I think, haven’t we, best friend? I’m a bit peckish. Who knows?”
He Xuan had never seen a look like this from the Windmaster before. Like they wanted nothing more than to unhinge their jaw and swallow He Xuan whole. A familiar desire, but out of place on that bubbly person he had spent years at the side of.
Shi Qingxuan had really planned things perfectly. He Xuan knew there was no way to flee. His only possible means of escape was to attack. One after the other, he hurled the balls of black lightning at Shi Qingxuan, then cleaved a shadowy kick through the wall of razor wind that surrounded them. Shi Qingxuan made no attack to stop him. Would the Windmaster actually let him escape just like that? After secrets like THIS were out? Not likely! And yet, that’s what it felt like was happening.
“Am I such poor company,” the Windmaster’s voice boomed across the sky, “That you want to leave me already? After everything I’ve done to put together the things you’ll enjoy the most? I’m truly, truly hurt. But I cannot allow you to leave without first accepting the gift I prepared for you. It was a lot of trouble, but there can be nothing less than the peak for my best friend on our shared birthday.”
He Xuan had pushed his way out of the storm and fell gracefully to the ground, landing in the rubble of the destroyed cottage. Since they were atop a narrow mountain peak, there wasn’t really much of anywhere else to land. He unraveled a prepared talisman with an emergency distance shortening array in it. Before he could break the seal he was stopped by a howling scream that was filled with rage and pain. The voice was unmistakable to his ears - Shi Wu Du.
Black Water Sinking Ships turned like the crack of a whip, eyes locking onto his prey. Shi Wu Du was now suspended in the windstorm above, roughly tumbling over himself in an endless stomach-churning flip. He Xuan could just make out the glint of immortal binding coils wrapped around the Water Tyrant’s wrists and ankles. The Windmaster clapped with satisfaction, landing lightly next to the Black Water Demon whose eyes were flooding with the rage of his grudge. He Xuan didn’t understand. He didn’t understand any of this, but he knew what he wanted, beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Shi Qingxuan’s voice softened, regarding their best friend with great fondness, watching He Xuan grow more monstrous heartbeat by heartbeat, “He’s for you.”
He Xuan didn’t need to hear more. In a moment, he was up in the windstorm tearing and slashing at the Water Tyrant’s tumbling body. Shi Wu Du wailed in agony, “Madness! Sheer madness!” and vomited blood in a brilliant crimson shower that seemed to dance across the winds. He Xuan’s movements in the gales were easy and met no resistance now. The winds responded to his maneuvers, acquiescing to every movement he expressed. His heart soared. With a surgeon’s precision he slashed away bit by bit at the back of Shi Wu Du’s knees, letting the screams of his enemy ring like the clear peal of a crystal bell in his ears. The Water Tyrant’s lower legs hung down from his thighs limply, back tendons and ligaments severed, held together with the rest of his body only by a few strands of searing muscle at the kneecaps. From the palms of his hands, He Xuan sent black leeches to burrow into Shi Wu Du’s fingertips and the soles of his feet. When the cuts started becoming too much, he struck with his bare palms at the tender areas of the elbows. He dug his nails into the skin of Shi Wu Du’s forehead and ripped off the flesh of his face from his scalp to his eyebrows.
He had been dreading the choice between staying with Shi Qingxuan and enacting his revenge. For the first time in a very long time, it felt like every one of his worries had melted away into the swift and decisive movements of his attacks. He was light as a feather. More! More like this! He couldn’t help but let waves of ugly laughter out himself, now. He wanted to take everything Shi Wu Du had before taking his life. His screams, his blood, his hope, his…
His beloved brother.
A cruel smile played on He Xuan’s lips. He kicked the battered water god to the ground and stomped hard on his back, letting him gasp for breath as he rasped and coughed as if his lungs would be coughed forth from his body. He Xuan left Shi Wu Du lying there face down in the rubble to join by Shi Qingxuan’s side. The Windmaster took his hand. He Xuan leaned in to whisper something in his best friend’s ear. Shi Qingxuan transformed back into his accustomed male form, The fan in his hand shook as he trembled, “For you, it would be my joy and great pleasure.” The whirlwind quieted and dispersed.
The moment Shi Wu Du struggled to raise his head, spitting a curse at the Black Water Demon through his broken teeth, He Xuan pressed his lips into a passionate kiss with Shi Qingxuan. They cupped eachother’s faces tenderly letting their tongues explore each other’s mouths with relish and abandon until they were both as breathless as Shi Wu Du. Their first kiss, in front of Shi Qingxuan’s dying brother? Truly a level of twistedness that made the Windmaster’s heart ache with desire. “How lucky this little brother is!” Shi Qingxuan beamed, “He Xuan is certainly the most incredible man in the three realms.”
A single silver butterfly that had come to check up on a certain Black Water Demon fluttered away, back down the mountain peak to give them some privacy.
“Traitor!” Shi Wu Du spat, dragging himself up on one arm, “I have no brother!”
“What’s wrong, ge? I thought you’d understand,” Shi Qingxuan turned to the Water Tyrant, blinking at him with every bit of the wide-eyed innocence of the white lotus he performed for the heavens, “How easy it is to destroy someone who doesn’t matter to you at all for the sake of your loved one.”
Shi Wu Du’s face darkened as the last sliver of hope died in his chest.
He Xuan boiled over with a flood of disjointed, spine-wrenching laughter. The ease of a soul savoring just desserts. All this–no, Shi Qingxuan–really was better than anything he could possibly dream of. He pressed the Windmaster’s body close to his own. Shi Qingxuan leaned warmly against his chest, inhaling the scent of his sweat, preening the splatters of blood on Black Water’s robe clean with his lips. Shi Wu Du’s haggard body burst with rage, steaming at levels that threatened to cook him alive, and still somehow that wasn’t the best part.
He Xuan pulled a long black iron chain from his sleeve. Along the chain were several rusted old butcher’s hooks. He handed it gracefully to Shi Qingxuan, “Would my…” he grunted. Shi Qingxuan’s eyes glittered with anticipation, “Say it. Please!” He begged, running his tongue up the center of He Xuan’s neck and over his chin. The Black Calamity shivered, pressing his lips purposefully against Shi Qingxuan’s ear, “Would my best friend round up this loathsome vermin for me?”
The Windmaster swept in a fluid motion toward Shi Wu Du, chains rattling with the sudden movement. He buried his knee in Shi Wu Du’s back, not sparing his brother a glance. Instead, he was still looking back at He Xuan, “He-Xiong, there’s no need for such harsh words,” He smiled sweetly, his face the perfect picture of innocence whilst examining the body he was crushing. Shi Wu Du’s pooling blood soaked into the bottom hem of Shi Qingxuan’s pale green robe. Though much had already been destroyed, there was still plenty of meat above his brother’s shoulder blades. He slid the rusty butcher hooks one after another into the madly raving Shi Wu Du’s back, sliding them through as quickly and neatly as if they had been actually sharp. “We’re all having a nice evening together, after all. And we’ll have more fun together. And more! AND MORE AND MORE ANDMOREANDMOREANDMORE AHAHAHA!!” He threw back his head to laugh. Shi Wu Du struggled beneath him, sending out a wave of blood from his collapsed form. The scent of blood was too overwhelming now to hold back his desire any longer.
Shi Qingxuan leaned down to his brother’s neck and lapped the blood that flowed from the deep gashes above the Water Tyrant’s clavicles. His tongue traced the wounds it found and parted them, admiring He Xuan’s handiwork. His attacks had been a flawless dance of agony and restraint. It was enough to make the Windmaster’s bloodlust become ravenous. Shi Qingxuan’s fangs flared. He sank them deep into his brother’s softened flesh. He drank the Water Master's godly blood greedily, until no more sound could escape from the Tyrant, and he could do no more than shake. Shi Qingxuan lifted his bloody mouth, allowing himself a muffled moan that made He Xuan surge with jealousy. The Black Calamity circled the scene like its shadow before taking Shi Qingxuan’s chin and pulling the Windmaster’s mouth from his brother’s neck and turning the Windmaster’s face into his kiss. Shi Qingxuan indulged He Xuan’s tongue with the taste of Shi Wu Du’s blood before beginning to nip at the Black Calamity’s face, grazing his lips, his chin, each mark pooling with a tiny drop of black blood. Finally, he pierced his neck. Black Water convulsed with pleasure.
They held one another for a long time, finding a comfortable position with Shi Qingxuan sitting atop He Xuan’s lap and their foreheads resting together, gazing into eachothers eyes, forgetting for a while about their plaything Shi Wu Du until the first rays of sun turned the distant horizon red.
“I have things to show you.” He Xuan murmured, taking a hold of Shi Wu Du’s chain.
“I await breathlessly, best friend.” Shi Qingxuan bowed her head, transforming again into her typical female form and banishing the blood from her clothes, “We’ll take care of this,” she gestured to her brother, “but shouldn’t be long. Ming-Xiong and I should report to the heavens.” She spoke so lightly, as if she were simply pulling some mischievous prank.
“Back there?” He Xuan furrowed his brow. “We don’t have to. I have an island.”
Shi Qingxuan soothed his forehead with her thumb, tilting her chin up in triumph as the Black Ghost King shamelessly admired her cleavage. “Yes. I’m afraid I must go back there.” she pouted a little, “As much as I might enjoy being locked up in your castle to be your princess, the allure of gods’ blood is too strong for me to resist. And of course the font overflows in a certain place I’d like to maintain access to very much. I won’t demand that you go back with me, but I will say it is my earnest wish that you do.”
Shi Qingxuan noticed that her brother had stopped breathing, and transferred a little spiritual energy into his mangled hand, muttering, “Wouldn’t want your revenge finished too soon. This selfish sister hopes your soul won’t pass on and leave me to play all alone.”
He Xuan gave her a reassuring squeeze and helped her up. “... fine.”