Chapter Text
The dragon of Qing Jing Peak was beginning to venture beyond the borders of its territory. This was a problem that Liu Qingge intended to solve.
Up until now, the creature had been largely content to remain on its mountain. Anyone foolish enough to trespass tended to meet with a grisly fate, but the dragon seemed to not concern itself with the settlements that were over time established beyond the foothills of the peak. That was the reason the creature had largely been left to its own devices; there was an unstated understanding that both parties would keep to their own territory and the truce would be maintained.
Apparently another reason why the dragon had been left alone in an increasingly populated area was because the thing had somehow magically melded itself with the mountain. The peak and the dragon were essentially one and the same, or so the stories went. If the creature tried to spend more than a day or two away from the mountain, it would weaken and wither, but within the bounds of the peak, it was effectively omnipotent. No part of the mountain was beyond its influence. Trying to fight the creature within its domain was suicide, some claimed.
Liu Qingge doubted those claims, though. He had fought and killed things that claimed to be invincible before. Monsters that possessed intelligence, like the dragon of Qing Jing Peak, knew how effective a bluff could be. A fearsome reputation could be just as good as actually being fearsome, if people were convinced by it. Legends and stories were just that, stories. Liu Qingge didn't trust anything he couldn't confirm for himself with his own eyes, anything that he didn't test with his own blade. He would not cower and allow evil to run rampant just because it claimed to be stronger than he was.
A good bluff usually contained a mix of truth and lies, however, and Liu Qingge soon confirmed that Qing Jing Peak did cut off a cultivator's connection to their spiritual sword. It felt odd, being able to lay his hand on Cheng Luan’s hilt, to curl his fingers around the grip, and to not feel any answering resonance from the blade that had been his closest companion for years. His sword felt as dull and lifeless as any random chunk of metal, and did not respond to his spiritual qi. He would not be able to call it to him, to fly upon it or unleash any sword glares. Liu Qingge frowned and backed up a few steps, crossing over the invisible boundary. Cheng Luan responded to him once more, like it had never been silenced in the first place.
Liu Qingge snorted. A decently impressive trick, he had to admit. There would be no one who could maneuver through the air on Qing Jing Peak, which would give the dragon, capable of flight, an overwhelming advantage. And the loss of his connection to his spiritual sword was unsettling enough as it was; it was easy to imagine that this effect alone would be enough to dissuade many human cultivators from pursuing the dragon onto the mountain.
But Liu Qingge was no coward, and he didn't rely on cheap sword tricks for the entirety of his battle prowess. Liu Qingge had trained extensively in a wide variety of martial arts and swordplay; he was inconvenienced by being unable to channel qi into his weapon, but he was hardly crippled. The dragon had another thing coming if it thought this would be enough to scare him away.
The most daunting part of this, he thought wryly, might be needing to walk up the mountain to get to the dragon in the first place. It was bound to take a while.
In the end, it took Liu Qingge more than a full day to hike to the clearing where the dragon was lurking. The creature must have heard him coming, because he felt the pressure of its gaze the moment he came within sight of the clearing.
The dragon stared at him, and Liu Qingge met its gaze unflinchingly. It must have been surprised that anyone would come after it, no doubt expecting the wards and the distance to have dissuaded any would-be dragon slayers. Liu Qingge was happy to disappoint.
Hello , the creature said, apprehensive.
The thing had been so confident that no one would call its bluff. Liu Qingge leveled his blade at the dragon, showing that he was not about to let the mountain's trick stop him from using Cheng Luan in the way it was made to be used: killing things that threatened the safety of others. “Dragon. You have ventured beyond the bounds of your territory and threatened the safety and wellbeing of innocent people seeking only to live their lives. I have been hired to eliminate the threat that you pose.”
What, all on your own? The dragon asked, tilting its head. Still trying to convince him that this course of action was foolish, despite not actually making any move to eliminate Liu Qingge. It was all talk, after all.
“I am more than enough to deal with a vicious beast such as yourself,” Liu Qingge retorted, before lunging forwards. The thing was too big for him to easily reach its throat, so Liu Qingge went for a foreleg first, aiming to disable the limb. He'd stop it from being able to support the dragon or attack. First one leg, then the other, then the dragon's vitals ought to be brought low enough to target…
He managed to cut into the pale green scales and draw blood, but his sense of triumph was cut short by the dragon letting out a dangerous hiss and an enormous impact striking Liu Qingge, sending him hurtling across the clearing.
He didn't have enough time to recover before he slammed into a solid, unyielding tree trunk, his sword arm taking the brunt of the impact and giving way with a sickening crack. Pain seared through Liu Qingge, robbing him of breath for a moment, crumpled at the base of the tree.
Oh, shit! Are you all right? The dragon’s presence approached him rapidly, and Liu Qingge forced himself to get up, to meet the next attack from the beast.
Cheng Luan dropped uselessly to the ground, the hand of his broken arm not having the strength to hold it. The pain and the lack of his usual connection to the sword had made him sloppy; he should have prioritized his weapon above everything else. He swore under his breath and reached for Cheng Luan with his left hand instead, but the dragon was too fast, flicking the sword away. Liu Qingge grit his teeth bitterly; he'd underestimated his opponent. His right arm throbbed; it would likely take at least half a sichen of dedicated qi application to give him full use of the limb again, which was time he didn't have. The creature was looming over him, practically on top of him, and its strength and speed were clearly no exaggeration.
Uh, look, I’m really sorry about that. I really didn’t mean to hurt you. Or anyone else, the dragon said, acting innocent despite having efficiently disabled and disarmed Liu Qingge in the span of a few seconds. It seemed as though it liked to play with its prey, and wanted to see Liu Qingge entertain false hope.
Liu Qingge barked out a laugh. His career had always consisted of him gambling with his own life, he knew this day would come sooner or later. But he still had his pride. “Then what do you want from me, dragon? Do you want to hear me beg for my life? I won’t give you the satisfaction!”
I don’t want anything from you. I’m not going to kill you, either , the sadistic thing replied, tilting its head.
“Some fate worse than death, then? Is that supposed to scare me?” Liu Qingge snapped, meeting the monster's eyes, unwilling to show any fear.
The dragon closed its eyes and sighed. I’m not trying to scare you. I didn’t want to scare anyone. I just wanted to hire some help, that’s all I wanted. Obviously I didn’t make myself clear enough. Just… go home, all right? I’ll even let you take your sword back with you, if you promise not to try to cut me with it again. Here, it said, and Liu Qingge tensed as the thing raised one huge forelimb. It didn't even touch him, though, only waved a paw in the air over Liu Qingge. In response, the pain in Liu Qingge's arm vanished.
Liu Qingge snapped his attention to his arm and saw a green glow shimmering over his forearm before fading away. He frowned and flexed his fingers. The break was healed, undone like it had never existed in the first place. The limb responded to him without any indications of further trickery. “What are you playing at?” he asked.
Nothing. I’m just living my life, same as the people who hired you. You can’t kill me, so you should leave. Give everyone a refund, or something.
So that was it, it wanted to humiliate him? Liu Qingge, fleeing unharmed from the mountain, too cowardly to actually fight the monster. He spat in derision. “Not a very smart dragon, are you? If I go back, I’ll be a laughingstock, and you’ll just end up needing to contend with more people being sent up this mountain to eliminate you.”
Hmn. I don’t suppose you can do laundry, can you? the dragon asked, and Liu Qingge did not like what that implied at all. The creature picked up on his displeasure and let out a little sigh. Well, worth a shot. Fine. Give me a moment.
The dragon backed off and vanished into the trees. Liu Qingge stared in the direction where it had run off, baffled. What the hell was the thing planning?
Well, if it was arrogant enough to leave Liu Qingge alone and fully healthy, he needed to take full advantage of the opportunity. He glanced around for Cheng Luan and spotted it embedded in another tree, high up enough that getting proper leverage to remove it would be challenging. Liu Qingge grumbled to himself and walked to the tree, reaching for the hilt of his sword. More than three quarters of the blade was sunk into the trunk, stuck there just above the height of his head. If he had his connection, he could have just called Cheng Luan out of the tree, but that wasn't possible. He gave the hilt a hard yank, but the blade didn't budge. He'd probably need to clamber partway up the tree and brace his feet against it–
“Take this back with you, then,” a voice remarked from beside Liu Qingge, and he snapped his head around to see a stunningly elegant man standing next to him, holding out a large and intricately carved slab of jade.
Liu Qingge was taken aback for a split second, before he met the man's eyes and recognized the exact same unnaturally vibrant shade of green. The dragon. He glanced down at the jade with a frown. “Is this supposed to be a bribe?”
“No. Give it to the town, tell them that this is a physical token of my promise to leave them in peace. You can claim that you beat the promise out of me or whatever, I don’t really care,” it said with a shrug. “Will this serve well enough to convince them I’m not a threat?”
What kind of insane nonsense was this? “Are you planning on abiding by that promise?” Liu Qingge asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Sure. I never planned on causing any issues in the first place. They’re perfectly safe,” the dragon replied casually.
Liu Qingge had no idea what was going through the dragon's head. None of its behaviour seemed to make any sense. It didn't seem to be particularly bloodthirsty, though. Maybe it was telling the truth? Liu Qingge reached out to take the slab of jade, needing to abruptly shift his stance to support the weight of the thing when it was handed over. He really should have known that a chunk of rock that size would be heavy, but the dragon had been holding it like it was made of paper. Liu Qingge shifted his grip to support the jade with one hand and looked up at his sword, still in the tree. The dragon had said he could take his sword back. “I… promise to not try to cut you with my blade again. That means you’ll permit me to leave with it as well, correct?” he said, grudgingly.
“Yeah,” the dragon agreed, stepping forward and pulling Cheng Luan out of the tree effortlessly before offering it to Liu Qingge hilt-first. “Off you go.”
Liu Qingge slid Cheng Luan into its sheath once more and gave the dragon a hard, searching look before he finally turned and began to make his way back down the mountain.
“Liu-daozhang! You've returned!” one of the townsfolk exclaimed as Liu Qingge arrived at the outskirts. “I knew that you'd be able to win against the monster! Let me get the local official, he'll want to hear all about it!”
Liu Qingge said nothing but trotted after the woman as she bustled down the street. He didn't see the point of waiting for someone to come to him when it would just be faster to show up at the official's office.
Several other townspeople called out greetings and questions, to which Liu Qingge responded with a curt nod. “I'm back,” he agreed.
He didn't elaborate on his encounter with the dragon. He didn't understand what had happened, how was he supposed to be able to explain it to someone else? He supposed that he would probably need to say something to the town official. That was annoying.
The local official burst out of his office as Liu Qingge and his guide arrived at the square. Apparently word traveled faster than Liu Qingge did.
The man (Liu Qingge had been introduced at one point, but couldn't remember the name) looked him up and down, his eyes snagging on the jade carving still in Liu Qingge's hands. “Welcome back, Liu-daozhang! You defeated the dragon, then?”
“No,” Liu Qingge replied.
The official faltered. “No? Then, ah, may I ask what happened?”
He'd love to know that, too. Liu Qingge just held out the slab of jade, then thought better of it and leaned it against the side of the building instead. The official didn't seem strong; he'd probably crush his toes with the carving. Liu Qingge pointed at the bas-relief. “That's from the dragon, for the town. It says it won't bother you any more, that this is a symbol of its promise.”
The official inspected the carving. “The dragon parted with one of its treasures? Oh! I see, neither of you were able to best the other, then! Fantastic job, Liu-daozhang, battling the dragon to a point where it had to propose a truce! You more than live up to your reputation!” the man gushed, bowing his head before rooting around in his sleeves and withdrawing a purse. He pressed it into Liu Qingge's hands. “Here is your payment, honoured cultivator! Our town will never forget this service you did for us!”
Liu Qingge stood there awkwardly for a moment, looking down at the purse in his hand. He hadn't earned this. “That isn't–” he started, but the excitable official had already whirled around and hurried off, calling for some carpenters.
Liu Qingge let out a long sigh and put the money away. He'd been hired to protect the town, so he would do that. The dragon of Qing Jing Peak was bizarre and inexplicable, and Liu Qingge didn't trust its promise to leave the town alone. He would remain here for a while, and keep an eye out. If the dragon showed up to attack the town, Liu Qingge would be able to make full use of Cheng Luan here. It might make a difference.
…He had promised not to, though.
Well, the dragon had promised to leave the town in peace. If it broke its oath, then it only seemed fair that Liu Qingge should also be able to do the same.
Liu Qingge ignored his niggling sense of discomfort that came along with that thought and went to find somewhere he could stay for a few weeks.
It was uncomfortable, staying in the town. The display posts for the jade carving had been constructed within the day, and soon there were all manner of people coming by to pester him for details. He would have expected that his answers would have been passed around like all of the nonsense rumours he kept hearing being repeated, but apparently not, because a truly unpleasant number of people seemed to wish for nothing more than to corner Liu Qingge and get him to repeat that, no, he did not defeat the dragon, yes, he had been the one that the jade carving was originally given to. No, he wasn’t being very brave or heroic, this was just his job. No, he definitely did not need to receive any additional payment or appreciation for his services.
It was when Liu Qingge started to contemplate if it would be easier to just write the answers down and hand them out that he determined he really needed to avoid other people as much as possible, and dedicated himself full-time to being a guardian of the town instead of its idol.
Liu Qingge spent most of his time on the roofs of the tallest buildings in town. Primarily so he could keep an eye on Qing Jing Peak, but he would be lying if he said that the roof being inaccessible to non-cultivators hadn't been a benefit as well.
Liu Qingge spent his time meditating, practicing his sword forms, and mulling over the brief exchange he'd had with the dragon. He had managed to draw blood, so the creature wasn't invulnerable. But with the healing capabilities the dragon had at its disposal, simple flesh wounds would pose no hindrance. The longer any fight went on with the dragon, the more favored it would be to win a war of attrition.
The best option to defeat the creature would be to deliver a fatal blow to its vitals, as quickly as possible. Ideally, by taking the dragon by surprise before it could retaliate.
The other option, assuming the tale about the dragon's connection to its peak was accurate, would be to somehow trap it when it ventured outside of the peak.
Liu Qingge grimaced as he drew out his polishing cloth to clean Cheng Luan, settling into the familiar and meditative motions.
His best options were to try to arrange for some intensely cruel trap, or to use the blade he had sworn not to raise against the dragon in a cowardly ambush, to strike preemptively without giving the dragon a chance to speak or explain itself.
Neither of those options sat right with him.
Liu Qingge looked in the direction of Qing Jing Peak and found himself hoping that the dragon had told the truth, that it really wouldn't be targeting this town any longer.
Liu Qingge was immediately on high alert when he spotted the column of mist that had formed on an otherwise warm and mildly overcast morning. He hadn't spotted the dragon, but the mist was centered over a grove of trees between the town and Qing Jing Peak.
Regardless of if it was the dragon or something else, it was clearly something unnatural and that meant it was likely Liu Qingge's problem. He swiftly leapt down from his lookout and hurried to the edge of town that was closest to the suspicious weather phenomenon.
It didn't take long before his suspicions proved true. The dragon was approaching, assuming the same human disguise it had adopted the last time Liu Qingge had encountered it. At the dragon's side, trotting cheerfully along beside it, was a teenage boy. Or at least, that's what the stranger looked like for now.
What the hell was this? The pair were wearing matching styles of extremely expensive-looking robes; this had been no chance meeting when they were both on the road. They were clearly allied or affiliated somehow. But all of the stories had painted the dragon of Qing Jing Peak as a solitary creature; just who or what was the dragon's new companion? And would he be as dangerous as the dragon?
Liu Qingge set his jaw and watched from his hiding spot as the dragon handed the boy some small object, before smiling warmly and turning around, heading back the way it came.
At least Liu Qingge wouldn't need to deal with the dragon as well as this new and unknown complication. As the boy made his way into the town, Liu Qingge silently began to shadow the stranger.
Immediately confronting whatever the thing was an option, but Liu Qingge decided against it. He didn't want to cause a panic, or potentially provoke the unknown creature into attacking. Better to wait until he could isolate it.
The opportunity presented itself soon enough, the stranger heading into the quieter parts of town. To complete whatever tasks it had been assigned unobserved by the townsfolk? It would be disappointed.
Liu Qingge acted quickly and yanked the stranger into an alleyway, holding it against a wall. First things first, narrow down the possibilities. “What are you?”
The stranger peered up at him, brow furrowed. “What? What's that supposed to mean?”
Playing dumb. The thing didn’t think very highly of him. Liu Qingge set his hand on the hilt of Cheng Luan. “It means, what are you?”
The stranger’s gaze flicked downwards for just a moment, before its gaze fixed back onto Liu Qingge’s face with a venomous glare. “ You. You’re the one who was on the mountain, weren’t you? Liu Qingge,” it spat.
If it had expected him to leave the town unguarded, it had another thing coming. Liu Qingge didn’t bother responding, it should be obvious enough who he was. “I asked you a question,” he reminded the creature, unsheathing Cheng Luan slightly. He hadn’t promised anything about not using his blade on the dragon’s minions.
“I'm human,” the boy spat, still glaring and now clenching his fists. “If I was a dragon, then you'd already be dead.”
Why would the dragon have a human servant? It was supposed to hate humans, wasn’t it?
It was also supposed to kill everyone who set foot on its mountain, though, and it hadn’t done that. More unreliable rumours, then. Considering the hostility rolling off of the boy, if he had any confidence in being able to fight Liu Qingge, he would have done that already. This was manageable. Liu Qingge allowed himself to relax marginally, shifting back out of the kid’s personal space a bit and fully sheathing his blade. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“That isn't any of your business,” the boy replied coldly, knocking Liu Qingge's hand off of his shoulder.
“The dragon promised that it would leave this town in peace,” Liu Qingge pointed out, narrowing his eyes.
The teenager sneered at him. “So, what, you think that Lord Shen is dishonourable enough to destroy this dump without technically violating his promise by sending someone else to do it in his place?”
“Why else would you be sent here?”
“You really think so lowly of Lord Shen. He is powerful beyond compare, and you expect that he would send a child to do his dirty work? What threat exactly do you expect me to pose?” the teenager asked, spreading his hands out demonstratively.
Liu Qingge had to admit that the kid had a point; he would hardly be a match for someone his own age, let alone a martial cultivator. Sending a child to accomplish some nefarious business, when Liu Qingge knew full well how powerful the dragon was, was inefficient and foolish.
Then the boy grinned nastily and pulled a pendant out from under his collar, letting the light from the flickering green flame contained within spill into the shadowed alleyway. “Unless, of course, he gave me something magical and powerful.”
Dammit, a sacrifice! The kid didn’t need to be dangerous himself if all he had to do was walk into town and activate some kind of wide-range destructive effect. Liu Qingge grit his teeth and immediately drew Cheng Luan, trying to think of the best way to limit the effects that might occur.
The teenager didn’t display any fear, which confirmed that he didn’t plan on surviving this. The dragon was sick, using children like this.
“Ah ah ah,” the teenager chided, shaking his head. “You don't know what this does, do you? Or what sort of conditions might set it off? You had better not do anything hasty now, we wouldn't want an accident .”
He didn’t have enough information, which was exactly the problem. He didn’t know if cutting the chain and grabbing the device would be enough to neutralize the problem, or if that would set it off. “What does it do?” he demanded.
“Now, why should I tell you that?” the brat asked with a smirk, and used his free hand to pull the neckline of his robes out a bit, allowing him to smoothly drop the amulet back under his clothes. That was bad, it would be significantly more difficult to seize the pendant without harming the kid. He needed to try to reason with him.
“If you don't–” he started, but the teen clearly had no intentions of listening.
“You'll, what, kill me? Did you think the promise that Lord Shen made you was unconditional? That it would allow you to be as disrespectful and barbaric as you like towards him with absolutely no consequences?” the teenager asked coldly. “What do you think that Lord Shen might decide to do if he finds out you harmed one of his servants, hmm?”
Liu Qingge didn’t want to kill some teenager who was clearly being used as some pawn in a sadistic dragon’s games, that was the issue! And the kid was trying to goad him, so that might be the trigger for the entire thing. Liu Qingge needed to de-escalate, which wasn’t his forte. This was supposed to be a straightforward job, he thought, frustrated.
“...Would the honourable young master be kind enough to enlighten this one about the function of that item?” he managed to ask politely, lowering his sword and attempting to channel all the stupid etiquette lessons he had long since forgotten.
“Oh, so you do have some manners after all,” the kid sneered. “Kneel down and say ‘please’ and I will consider it. Or you can just run off right now and leave this town to its fate like the money-grubbing mercenary you are. They've already paid you, haven't they?”
The teenager had clearly also been playing dumb when he had pretended to only recognize Liu Qingge a moment ago. The dragon and this kid knew that Liu Qingge had taken payment despite not earning it, and were purposefully taunting him about it. Liu Qingge wrestled down his anger and shame. That wasn’t what was important. He had a way to learn what he needed, he only needed to follow through. Liu Qingge sheathed his sword and lowered himself to one knee, bowing his head. “Please,” he grit out, intensely resentful that this wasn’t a problem he could just solve by fighting it.
“Hm. Well, all right. You can relax. It’s only a contingency measure. It’s protective, it lets Lord Shen find me if I run into trouble. I can't use it to reduce this town to ash or anything like that,” the brat replied breezily. Liu Qingge lifted his eyes to meet the teen’s gaze, the boy having crouched down to be at eye level with him. “If I could, I would have done that already. Everyone here, especially you, earned that fate and worse for daring to attack Lord Shen. You should thank all the gods that Lord Shen is far more merciful than I am.”
A fanatic, then. Well, he would only be dangerous if the dragon gave him something destructive, and that wasn’t currently the case, by the boy’s own admission. That was good.
The brat straightened up and flashed a bright smile. “As for what I'm doing here, I'm on vacation. Lord Shen takes good care of his people. And now you've gotten two more answers than you deserved, so stop bothering me,” he sneered, before striding back out into the main street.
Liu Qingge let out a breath and got to his feet as well, brushing off the dirt on his knee. Not a direct threat. Good news for the town, but a headache for him, because it probably meant there was some hidden scheme that Liu Qingge would need to suss out.
It wasn’t impossible that the teenager was some kind of diversion. Liu Qingge would like to shadow the teenager and watch for suspicious behaviour, but first he should probably actually talk to people and endure their questions and commentary before he could confirm if anyone had seen the dragon enter town after the teenager.
…He unfortunately was being paid enough for this, but he really wished that this job had instead consisted of fighting monsters rather than chasing shadows.
In the end, the brat didn’t do much of note aside from hang around in irritatingly populated areas where people were liable to notice Liu Qingge and talk to him. It was a relief when the kid finally gathered up all his possessions and headed for the far edge of town, where the dragon had dropped him off. With any luck, he would leave the town for good and Liu Qingge could go back to his much more peaceful surveillance efforts.
The dragon showed up to collect the boy, which, considering how obsessed the teen proved himself to be, was only to be expected. It acted like it was afraid of Liu Qingge when it spotted him, though. Maybe it really was much weaker, away from its mountain.
Well, so long as it didn’t cause any problems, or allow its deranged minion to cause problems, that wasn’t any of Liu Qingge’s concern. The pair of weirdos left without any fanfare and Liu Qingge let himself relax a little more. Hopefully this would be the last he would see of either of them.
It was not the last he saw of either of them. The dragon showed back up within two sichens, interrupting Liu Qingge’s sword practice. He'd been running through drills on ground level for a change, because it seemed likely that any troubles caused by the dragon or the brat would be more subtle in nature, and Liu Qingge wanted to be somewhere where the townsfolk could report warnings or suspicions. He hadn't anticipated that the dragon itself would be the one to come hassle him. “You. What do you want?” he asked the thing pretending to be human.
“Oh. Um. Hello. Sorry to disturb you. Is this a bad time?” the dragon asked.
“What do you want?” Liu Qingge repeated, since the thing didn’t answer.
“I was hoping that I might be able to hire you?”
Hire…? Oh, no, not this nonsense again. “I am not doing your laundry,” he retorted.
“Ah, that's not what– shit! I forgot to tell Binghe where the laundry room was!” the dragon rambled, nonsensically.
“Why are you here?” Liu Qingge demanded again.
“Oh. Right. Right, sorry, I should explain. Okay, so. You know that kid who I was with earlier? Binghe? I'm worried about him. Oh, and thanks for not… making a scene, back then, when you spotted us. I appreciate it.”
Why would he have purposefully sparked a panic amongst the town, that would have been a nightmare. “You were leaving, ” Liu Qingge emphasized. Maybe the dragon was smart enough to catch the implied suggestion that it should leave now, too.
“Ah,” the dragon sighed, shoulders slumping. “I'm not here to cause any issues. I did promise.”
Liu Qingge raised an eyebrow, and lifted his sword so that it caught the torchlight. “And I promised not to use this against you again. You were still concerned about my actions, apparently.”
“... Fair point,” the dragon admitted. “In any case, I'm here because I need someone to teach Binghe some basic self defence. I can take care of myself, but he's just a kid, and he might end up being exposed to hostility because of me.”
The kid that purposefully antagonised a cultivator with a drawn sword and expressed a desire to set the entire town ablaze, that kid? “You'd be better off teaching him not to pick fights.”
The dragon scoffed. “Binghe wouldn't pick fights, he's a good kid.”
…Okay, the dragon clearly understood nothing about humans. “You would be… upset, if the child came to harm?” he asked.
“Of course I would be! Binghe is invaluable, and he's already been through enough! His safety is paramount,” the dragon replied, and Liu Qingge could already feel a new headache brewing in his skull.
Sooner or later, the brat would mouth off to someone who had a worse temper than Liu Qingge did, someone who didn’t have a priority of keeping an entire town safe. He’d be beaten up or worse, and the dragon would lash out with its overwhelming power in retaliation for someone daring to harm its spoiled brat of an adopted child. Liu Qingge heaved a sigh. None of the options leading from here were good. He needed to try to mitigate the collateral damage. “I see. In that case, it would be best if he had some education.”
“Exactly! So, can I count on you? I can pay you well,” the dragon stepped forward and held out a jingling pouch of coins. “Or if you can refer me to someone else, that would be fine too.”
“I wouldn't be able to explain this to someone else even if I wanted to,” Liu Qingge muttered.
“Ah? Is private tutoring that weird?” the dragon asked, obliviously.
Liu Qingge just sighed and took the coin pouch. “I'll be on the mountain two days from now.”
“Great, thanks!” the dragon replied cheerily. He glanced off in the direction of Qing Jing Peak. “Is it that far away? Can't you fly on your sword?”
Liu Qingge was starting to worry that the dragon wasn’t merely clueless about humans, but truly had something wrong with its brain. “I can do that part of the way, but the wards on the mountain would make me fall out of the sky before I cleared the foothills,” he explained to the dragon who had set the wards up in the first place.
“Eh? The… oh, right, yes, the wards! Of course, sorry, I forgot about those,” the dragon replied, and Liu Qingge supposed that might be possible. It wasn’t like the dragon had a spiritual sword to notice the effect on it. “Nevermind. I'll see you in two days then, unless you want a ride…?”
Liu Qingge scowled at the dragon, unwilling to verbally respond to such a stupid question.
“All right, fair enough. Sorry about interrupting your practice, see you later,” the dragon replied, and finally took its leave.
Liu Qingge grumbled under his breath and went to go fetch some practice dummies. He vented his frustration by hacking the wood and straw and padding to bits, wishing that he could have just had a normal extermination job instead of this disaster.
He felt better standing in the wreckage of his rampage, letting out a long, deep breath and sheathing Cheng Luan before heading off to his rented room. He’d spend one last night in this damn town, and in the morning he’d head out to the even more damnable mountain. Hopefully the headache wouldn’t follow him into his sleep.
The second hike up the mountain was simultaneously better and worse than the first one.
Better, because he was now somewhat used to the weird phantom limb-esque sensation of not being able to feel his spiritual weapon, and he didn’t have any concerns about being ambushed by the dragon. The creature was clearly deranged, but Liu Qingge couldn’t conceive of any reason why the thing would go through the trouble to concoct some elaborate ruse to lure Liu Qingge back onto Qing Jing Peak when it had already had him at its mercy with no effort at all. If the dragon wanted him dead, he would already be dead, that was a simple truth.
Worse, because he was climbing up Qing Jing Peak with the purpose of trying to convince some feral brat to not do something stupid enough to get himself and countless other people killed, and he had no idea how long that particular task might take, if it was even possible. It was sure to be deeply unpleasant, considering how much the kid already hated him. Liu Qingge wasn’t good at connecting to other people at the best of times; he was no skilled negotiator.
But he had sworn an oath to protect people, and this was a real and pressing threat. He couldn’t just ignore his duty, either, so he would need to endure. Somehow.
The dragon showed up from the woods in front of him with absolutely no warning, which was disquieting. It smiled broadly and waved. “Oh! Liu Qingge!”
“Dragon,” Liu Qingge responded, closing the distance between them.
“Ah, my name is actually Shen Yuan. Sorry, I should have introduced myself before. You're here earlier than expected! That's great, you can have dinner with us. Come on, let me show you to the palace,” the creature babbled, turning around and heading back the way it came.
Palace? Liu Qingge hadn’t spotted any significant buildings or other structures on the mountain from a distance. He fell in behind the dragon.
“Was the journey here difficult?” Shen Yuan asked.
“No.”
“That's good to hear! I didn't interfere with any of your other contracts, did I?”
“No.”
“You're not very much for small talk, are you?”
“No.” It was weird, having the dragon babble at him like a local gossipmonger. Shen Yuan finally gave up on talking to him and led the way in blessed silence. When the intricate and intensely magical archway housing a portal of some kind came into view, Liu Qingge paused, wary of this new phenomenon. The dragon strolled casually up to it and gestured for Liu Qingge to go through. “It's just through here.”
“You first,” Liu Qingge retorted. He didn't believe that the dragon wanted him dead, but he wasn't about to trust an unknown portal either.
Shen Yuan just shrugged and vanished through the opalescent gateway. After a heartbeat passed with no further effects, Liu Qingge grit his teeth and walked through the portal as well.
“—can come out now!” Shen Yuan's voice cut in as Liu Qingge stepped into the palace. Probably calling for the brat.
Liu Qingge observed his surroundings with narrowed eyes.
Palace really was the right word for it; every inch of the place reeked of ostentatious wealth. This was no haphazard dragon's hoard but a carefully arranged and maintained exhibit of riches, with absolutely no expense spared, from the luxurious carpeting to the paintings and statues and tapestries, to the intricate carvings reaching all the way up to the high, arched ceiling of the entrance hall. “Hmn,” Liu Qingge muttered, feeling his lip curl a little.
This was the environment the brat had been raised in, never wanting for anything and certainly never having been denied anything by this doting idiot of a dragon. Liu Qingge had interacted with far too many rich spoiled princelings in his time, both in his line of work and during his own adolescence, and they were awful. Never experiencing hardship or struggle, insulated from any kind of consequence, and utterly unwilling to see other people as anything other than servants who exist purely to fulfill their every desire. Entitled monsters who expected subservience from all around them, and they would lash out furiously if any of their whims were denied. This brat already expressed a desire to obliterate an entire town for wanting to defend themselves.
If Liu Qingge did teach the brat how to fight, then it was likely that the horrible child would only use that to bully and abuse others, instead of defending himself. But if he didn’t teach the brat, then the kid would either get himself killed and cause the dragon to rampage, or the kid might be able to pester the dragon into giving him a genuinely destructive artifact next time. There was no correct choice to make here, every path seemed guaranteed to lead to disaster. Liu Qingge hated this.
…At least fistfights were limited in scale.
The brat showed up after a handful of moments had passed, and immediately proceeded to throw a tantrum about Liu Qingge’s presence, because of course he would. Liu Qingge employed his usual technique when rich idiots began ranting about things that couldn’t be changed, and ignored it, instead mentally running through combat scenarios in his head.
When it seemed like the stupidity had finally run its course and the brat had run out of steam, Liu Qingge took the opportunity to interject. “So now what?”
“Ah, right. Um, it's about time for dinner. Binghe, can I ask you to make some food for the three of us?” Shen Yuan asked, which made Liu Qingge raise an eyebrow slightly.
There was no way that this pampered little princeling actually did any cooking or any kind of significant chores. Probably he ‘oversaw’ the kitchen staff and took credit from the people who actually did the work. In any case, that request set off another tantrum, and Liu Qingge was running extremely low on patience at the moment.
“It’s fine,” he said, interrupting the latest round of tiresome nonsense. “I'll hunt my own food on the mountain. It's probably less likely to be poisoned.”
“Binghe would never poison anyone! He's just a kid, I'm the only monster on the mountain. Don't assume that we’re the same!” The dragon was shocked and appalled that anyone could think poorly of its little darling, just like all the other horribly wealthy and stupid parents who enabled their awful children. Liu Qingge would like to know who the hell had let this monster adopt a human child, because this was even worse than some emperors; at least he could expect some baseline of understandable human behaviors from those.
It was clearly pointless to try to communicate with the dragon; it was both an idiot and a lunatic. Liu Qingge glanced over at the brat. Hopefully there might be some hope of reasoning with the kid? Liu Qingge wasn’t holding his breath, though. “Hmn. You do seem very different. I'm used to fending for myself. Call me when you need me to teach.”
With that, Liu Qingge was finally and thankfully able to escape the oppressive and ostentatious palace and get back out onto the mountain, which at least had fresh air and vegetation and simple, understandable things like rocks and rivers and animals. He felt a little bit of tension loosen and strode off to go find a good location for a long-term campsite, because he severely doubted that he would be lucky enough to resolve this headache any time soon. At least for a little while he could focus on nice, achievable tasks like setting up a small tent, hanging up some drying lines, and digging a proper latrine.