Beware Of Chicken-Novel

Su Yuanlin’s journey to the Azure Hills hadn’t been what she had been expecting.

Everybody had harped on about the Qi void—and yeah, it had been bad for the first leg of the journey, down the mountains and into the hills. The sucking feeling had lessened the closer she had gotten to her destination, though, to the point where she couldn't feel it at all.

Yuanlin licked her lips, carefully not moving too much lest the man cut her with his eyes and intent. “Might you be a servant of Master Jin? This Su Yuanlin has been instructed by Fa Bi De and Master Shen Yu to convey this letter to him.”

Yuanlin took a breath, relieved that the pressure was gone.

“That letter is indeed in order, and I feel your intentions to be pure. I am Lu Ri; guardian of this place.” The man bowed formally to her. Then he straightened up and gave her a small smile, looking slightly sympathetic. “I see you have been burdened with a task I know well.”

Yuanlin blushed slightly—his smile was somehow more dangerous than his Qi.

Yuanlin’s heart beat slightly faster in her chest.

“It wasn’t too bad. A bit of difficulty in the beginning with so little ambient Qi around, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” She smiled and leaned over slightly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Her nape was her best part!

“Indeed? I am glad to hear that,” the man continued, completely ignoring her light flirtations.

Su Yuanlin stared awkwardly at the mortal human before her, her finger outstretched and her mouth slightly open.

The mortal woman was her mirror image, save for the fact that her hair was black instead of blonde… and age had lined the woman’s face.

It was one thing to see those features on somebody accompanying Honoured Elder Nezan. It was another to see them on a person here. Not that she had doubted the Young Master, but still.

“Good evening, My Lady,” Yuanlan said, going for respect. “Su Yuanlin pays her respects to the Young Master’s honoured mother.”

“… ’course, Auntie,” Yuanlin replied in her own thick mountain-tribe accent.

The mortal woman beamed even as the man beside her, a man who looked a bit like a monkey, raised an eyebrow at her. Then the man shrugged.

“Ten, get us some dumplings, wouldja? Me and my cousin here gotta have a chat, yeah?” Hu Li asked. Her husband nodded agreeably, and Hu Li turned to Yuanlin again. “First! Everyone! Welcome my cousin here to Hong Yaowu! The best village in the Azure Hills!”

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“Welcome to Hong Yaowu, Big Sis!” one young boy in particular said, smiling brightly up at her. He was a cute kid, with a band of freckles across his nose.

“Thanks for the welcome,” she said, slightly awkwardly; and several people laughed, but even they smiled and nodded encouragingly.

“… you’ve had a rough go of it, haven’t you, cousin?” Hu Li asked quietly.

Yuanlin looked into the woman’s amber eyes and let out a little breath, knowing that her emotions were in plain view. “We have, yeah. But I think things may be starting to get a bit better now.”

Hu Li extended her hand across the table, and Yuanlin took it.

“Now, why you’re callin’ my boy Young Master?” Hu Li asked.

Yuanlin smiled at the tone in her voice. A mother, wondering just what sort of mischief her children had gotten up to.

Yuanlin was only too happy to gossip.

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The three of us sat in Pop’s house. It was just me, Mei, and Gou Ren for now. I would read the letter again to everybody else later, but for now… for now it was just us three. Chunky and Peppa were off in the forest somewhere, Washy was in a food coma, and Babe was asleep alongside him.

I unrolled the scroll with a steady hand, and was immediately greeted by elegant calligraphy. The part of me that had been taught to write by Gramps admired his brushwork. He had gotten even better, and had completely eliminated all the little imperfections that had come with writing with his beak.

I paused at that statement, and a small frown found its way onto my face. While Tigu got to see people at their best, coming together and abandoning past grudges… it seemed Big D got to see the worst sort of cultivators.

It was not an experience I would wish on anyone, and my heart went out for my disciple—my first friend in this world.

I felt a hand press into my back, and another one on my shoulder. I glanced over into Mei’s eyes first and then looked over to Gou Ren, who simply had a stoic expression on his face.

I took a breath and forced the feelings away. No. Instead of pity, instead of regret… there would be pride. Pride and compassion. Big D wanted to defend his friends and home. He was brave—and he would return to a place that valued him and everything he had done for us.

I returned my attention to the characters.

I smiled at the wood block print of all three of our friends meditating. The beginning part didn’t really have too much detail; they trained for a while, then set off for the Howling Fang Mountains with Nezan; they went through the Stone Gate, the same way I had come into the province.

Of course, things didn’t stay simple for long.

“He's got your eyes,” Meimei whispered as she traced a finger along Big D’s image.

He really did.

“… man, Tigu is going to be so upset that Rizzo has freckles,” I said after a second.

We chuckled.

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Tigu sneezed, then shivered.

She frowned at her office’s open window. The air was getting kind of cold…

With great reluctance she closed it, but she still felt oddly cold.

She would have to see if they could repair that sooner rather than later. If she felt cold, the poor mortals had to be freezing!

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But as we got deeper into the story, things became more uncomfortable. Meiling and Gou Ren looked slightly incredulous as Big D described the Inner Sect and the way everybody acted, pushing others down as hard as they could to try and get ahead.

I knew the truth of that all too well.

But at least they had made some friends. Old Ling the housekeeper, Fat Han, Yushang, and Shao Heng sounded like good people… and hells, I wouldn’t have even minded meeting Master Lishu, if Rizzo had such good things to say about him.

I barked out a laugh at that one.

But the rest? Well, there wasn’t much to laugh about at all, really.

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An hour later, I was sitting on the roof of Pop's house.

I had the letter in my hand, and I had just finished reading over the ending for the second time.

The truth of the foxes and the Shrouded Mountain Sect Civil War.

…no wonder Big D didn’t really know what to think of all that. I didn’t either.

If I was entirely honest? I… I mostly didn’t particularly care what had happened to the sect either. I’d never claimed to be a paragon of justice or the pinnacle of morality. The Shrouded Mountain Sect had apparently fucked around enough to find out—and honestly? That was the extent of my thoughts, really.

Or it could have been, but I was forcing myself to consider it more deeply. Big D valued my opinion. He trusted me, and… he was kind of a kid, still, asking his father if what he had done had been the right thing.

He didn’t have it easy, my boy. But… he came through in all the ways that mattered.

I glanced down at the final part of the letter.

I smiled and looked up at the night sky. There was no doubt in my mind that he would succeed in whatever he set his mind to.

“You tell ’em, Big D,” I whispered, the wind carrying my voice away.