A/N: Hey, Shonpufi here!
Finally made it to THAT place in the story.
This was a crucial location in the main story of the original fanfic, but I didn't take advantage of it.
There were also a lot of plot holes and misused potential lore-wise.
For example, the romance between Jingliu and Meliodas, Dan Feng's random adoption of Meliodas merely because he was a "Dragon," and I also didn't really show any of Yingxing, Baiheng, and Jing Yuan.
This will change, and they will appear more often.
After reading into the High Cloud Quintet lore, I realized why everything went to shit so fast.
It was because of Baiheng's death.
It might sound like such a simple and obvious answer, but I don't think you understand how important she was to the group.
Dan Feng (A.K.A. Dan Heng) was the elder of the vidyadhara, quite literally the leader of a whole race. He was pretty damn old and because of his position, he was a pretty serious and non-challant person.
Jingliu was the sword champion, another person whose personality was pretty serious.
Yingxing was a whole ass old man, pretty serious as well.
Jing Yuan, to what I believe, didn't have his "Ara Ara~" DILF personality yet, and he was pretty young, so I don't expect him to know how to fix shit. And especially not to be smiling all the time with the war going on.
And last but not least, Baiheng.
She was, and I quote myself on this, THE only ray of unseriousness and sunshine in the group.
She was the person who kept smiling and helped the others smile despite the massive war that was going on.
So yes, her death WAS THAT SERIOUS!
Anyways, I'm done with my character analysis rant. Enjoy the chapter!
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-Meliodas POV-
After following Jingliu for about an hour, she descended to the ground, and I followed her.
After walking amongst a small forest of yellow trees, we finally arrived at a random hill that looked completely normal and empty.
But my instincts said otherwise, A.K.A., media knowledge.
If my manhua knowledge is correct, there should be a village hidden by a magical concealment barrier right here.
If that guess is wrong, then Jingliu might have brought me here so that she could kill me off in a concealed and quiet place.
But I highly doubt that was the case, as she could have easily killed me earlier.
"Let me guess, there is some sort of illusion barrier that keeps out intruders?" I said with complete confidence in my Wuxia knowledge.
Jingliu's eyes shot wide open in surprise. "You can tell?"
"Nope, just a wild guess. And, well, also quite literally the only thing I could come up with since there is nothing in front of us except an empty hill."
Looking at me with a slightly impressed gaze for my correct guess, she turned around and faced the empty air.
Raising her hand, her index being the only stretched finger, she began drawing some Chinese-looking characters on the empty air. It's probably "Adeptal Characters" for them or something, but they look Chinese.
"Follow me..." She spoke softly as she stepped forward, disappearing entirely from my sight. I couldn't sense her at all.
Following the empty direction she disappeared. I suddenly felt some sort of membrane lightly stopping my step; I'm guessing it was the barrier.
I gave my step a little force and managed to go through.
And let me tell you, when I did, the scene that unfolded before my eyes took me by surprise.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of animals and humans with animal features walked through the streets of the Chinese-looking city. At the center of it all and far beyond the horizon was a castle that screamed, 'Important person living here!'
Jingliu looked at me with a usually smug smile. So far, I've only seen her angry face and her resting face. "Are you surprised~"
I raised an eyebrow. "The only thing I'm surprised about is that I haven't seen any young masters yet."
This place screams WUXIA! I'm surprised that I haven't heard some young master screaming
"HOW DARE YOU?!"
Or something along the lines of...
"I'm Peng Clan's young master!"
Well, something along those lines.
"Young...Masters?" Jingliu looked baffled and confused.
"Oh well, if it isn't Miss Aria? What a conscience to meet you here," A voice suddenly spoke from our left side. It was a handsome young man with orange hair tied into a ponytail, short cat-looking ears, and in a Manchu-style male dress.
I'm guessing he's some tiger type Adeptus?
And why is he calling her Aria? Is it some fake name she uses? I think she mentioned it earlier when she introduced herself to me.
'Mhmm ~ as if. I bet you're some stalker or something like that. In fact, I bet you were waiting for her to return all this time,' I thought sarcastically.
"Jin Ping, the young master of the Ping Tiger Clan. It is a pleasure to see you as well..." she said in an unusually colder tone. Damn! She didn't even sound this cold when she was trying to kill me earlier.
'Yep, she definitely doesn't like him. And the Tiger Clan? I was right about this kitty cat.'
Ignoring her cold tone, he smiled and seemed completely unbothered by her cold demeanor. "You look tired from the long journey you had. Coincidentally, I was about to pay a visit to a newly opened tea house near the southern district, and I would love to have your company," he invited Jingliu, completely ignoring my existence.
"My apologies, but I have duties to attend to," she rejected him, trying to be as nice as possible. I could already see a vein bulging on her forehead from sheer annoyance.
Hearing her rejection, a frown appeared on his face. Turning his head, he looked at me. "Is it perhaps because of this inferior specimen? Don't worry, we can just put him in the stables along with the horses."
"Hoh?" Did this ninja really say that?
A vein bulged in my forehead, well, that was until I got a great idea.
'Heheheh~ so this is the face of my first victim?' I thought inwardly with evil amusement.
Jingliu, hearing his words, raised an eyebrow and looked at me to see my reaction.
Putting on my best poker face while trying not to laugh, I approached the two slowly. I went behind Jingliu and slithered my arm around her waist, pulling her back into a hug. "Sweetie, who is this boy? A friend of yours?"
"..." *[Jingliu.exe] has stopped working*
"..." *[Jin Ping.exe] has stopped working*
Jin looked at Jingliu blankly, trying to figure out what had just happened.
I spoke up "Hello there~ Is your name Jin Ping? It's nice to meet you kid, I'm Aria's CLOSE friend" I said as I looked at him with a massive grin on my face.
At my words, Jin seemingly managed to snap out of his shocked state. "W-what!? How prosperous! Miss Aria would never get together with a human!" he shouted as he tried to deny reality—well, the fake reality I had made.
Hearing his words, the grin on my face widened. "OHH yes, it is possible!"
"NO! It isn't!"
"Hehehe, YES! It is!" hehe. Looking at his pitiful, lifeless look, an even bigger smile crept up my face.
Is this what NTR villains feel like? Well, it's not like it's NTR from the beginning. Bro never had her to begin with~... or me, but you get the point!
With Jingliu still out of commission, I picked her up princess-style and sprouted my dragon wings. "Anyways, we have important business to attend to. See you around, " I said, giving him one last smug smile. Then, I jumped off the ground and flew to the sky, leaving the kid heartbroken.
Damn that was funny, the defeated expression on his face was priceless!
...Shit, am I getting drawn in by the dark side cookies? At this point, I might as well dye my hair blonde and get a tan.
"Meliodas," hearing Jingliu's voice, a cold drop of sweat slid down my forehead as I stiffly looked at her "Smile," which definitely emanated danger.
"You know, after our fight, I've been ITCHING to have another spar with you. So, after talking with the king, let's have another spar between us~" she said, no, she ORDERED with a not so much of a smile on her face.
"You know, I'm still tired from the fight we had earlier and-" Before I could escape from the situation, Jingliu gripped my head with her hand.
"We're going to spar later, right~?" Hearing her sweet words that were more of a threat, I could only shake my head in compliance.
"Y-yes..."
Wallahi, I'm cooked....
-3rd POV-
Following Jinglu's instructions, they arrived at the west entrance of the massive Chinese-themed castle.
Meliodas landed in front of the gate, Jingliu jumping off from his arms and landing on her feet.
"Identify yourselves!!!" shouted the royal guards who protected the gate that allowed entry to the castle.
Jingliu rolled her eyes at the overly enthusiastic guards. She pulled out a jade talisman and presented it to them.
After a short inspection, making sure that the talisman was authentic, the two guards moved to the side, allowing them to enter. "You may enter, Lady Aria"
Meliodas just kept following her.
"Why do they call you Aria?" Meliodas finally asked.
Jingliu stopped for a second, thinking of what to answer. "It's... my name as a God"
'What?' Meliodas thought in shock. But Meliodas didn't get the chance to ask her more questions as she began to walk again, with more speed in her steps this time.
Finally making it deeper inside, Meliodas could only be amazed by the castle's interior.
Although the palace looked great from the outside, it was even more luxurious from the inside, as it was all red and pure gold. Meliodas felt like taking one of the gold pillars from the palace, but he decided not to.
They both finally made it to an oversized door with a massive carving of a monkey flying on a cloud. "You may enter; the Monkey King awaits you," the guards near the door said as they opened the massive door.
'Did these people just say the Monkey King???'