Ahh.
I happily curled up on Zhi’s chest, nice and satisfied.
I think this was my last day of heat.
My hormones have been calming down over the past few days, and Zhi’s been coming down from his rut.
Zhi cut out his purring to press a sweet kiss to my cheek.
“Another wonderful mating season with you.
As mortifying as it occasionally was.
I sincerely think our room neighbor wants to murder us.”
He has complained, loudly and often.
“He’ll survive.
It’s the last day of my heat anyway.
After we finish, we’ll head out to the Green Roots Clan.
Where are they again?”
He brought his hand around to gently pet and scratch my back.
Mmm.
Yeah, that was the spot.
“Uh, further into the continent.
There’s forest called the Green Sea, and it’s run by the Green Roots Clan.
But I think they’re more of a clan slash sect.
They take in outsiders as disciples, even if it’s the core family that runs things.”
Interesting.
A huge forest.
I wonder how big the trees get.
More importantly…
I straightened up and pecked Zhi’s cheek.
“If we’re heading out tomorrow, we should make the most of tonight.”
He grinned, confident and comfortable as he sat up, shifting me down his lap.
“I would love nothing more than to adore my beautiful and soft wife.” One last hurrah.
The bed creaked underneath us.
“Oh, that is it!” A shout of frustration called out from the room next to ours, followed by angry stomping.
Uh oh.
We broke it off as the stomping stopped in front of our door, and equally angry knocking sounded around the room.
We finally made our room neighbor snap.
Zhi groaned and lifted me up, off of him.
“I’ve got this.
You can stay in bed.” He set me aside and pushed up from the bed.
He snagged his ring, disguising himself and flashing his clothes on.
I reached over and grabbed my ring too, I illusioned up, just in case.
Zhi checked to make sure I was decently disguised before opening the door.
“Look, we’re sorry we’ve been disturbing you so much.
We’ll be out of your hair tomorrow so can you—Hey!”
He pushed past Zhi and into the room.
Well, it was a good thing I illusioned up.
But, ah, I didn’t get dressed.
I pulled up the blanket in shock.
He was a young man, probably in his late twenties, although cultivation could make age deceptive.
Tall, with broad shoulders, and his hair was tied back in a bun, and a thin mustache looked like the world’s smallest caterpillar above his lips.
His dark brown eyes, almost black, swept up and down me before scoffing and turning back towards Zhi.
“She isn’t even pretty!
I swear to the gods, you’ve been screwing her like there’s no tomorrow, I expected her to be some great beauty!
Are you seriously that desperate?”
Oh, he has made mistakes.
Zhi’s eyes glinted, going from embarrassed to pissed in less than a second.
He reached up, and the man floundered as he dragged him down by his shirt collar, so he could look at him on eye level.
His voice came out hard, and growly.
“Desperate huh?
Rich coming from a sad, single man who has just insulted my wife.”
The man narrowed his eyes and slapped Zhi’s hand away.
He straightened up, looking down on Zhi.
“Your wife?
Hah!
You are desperate.”
Zhi puffed up, and his voice screeched out into the night air of the inn.
It was like… two am.
“Oh, that is it!
I challenge you to a duel over my wife’s honor!
Grab your weapon and meet me outside.”
Oh shit.
I summoned some clothes and hopped out of bed as the man sneered.
“A duel?
I should warn you, I’m from a powerful cultivator family.
Back down now and find another inn to spend the night in with your lackluster wife.”
Zhi gave him a flat look and summoned Bonecarver.
Let’s take this outside.”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise, before he refocused, and followed Zhi downstairs.
I trailed after them, and it was completely dead outside on the street, which made sense given it was the middle of the night.
They took their positions, about twenty paces away from each other, in the center of the dirt street.
I stayed in front of the inn, off to the side, and hopefully away from the fighting.
Zhi was on the right, and he took his stance with Bonecarver.
He called out to me.
“Ming, this is a duel.
Don’t help me.
Now, do you want to know the name of the guy about to kick your ass oooor…”
The man snorted.
“My name is Yoshida Daichi.
Remember it because I’m going to leave you with a beating you’ll never forget.”
“You can call me Zhi.
Ming, on your mark.” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
When he reopened them, they were calm.
Focused.
I might have to stop him in case things got out of hand.
I didn’t want him to end up killing this guy.
Daichi summoned two… oh my god were those katanas?
They were!
He had katanas!
Oh, that was severely cool.
And he was dual wielding!
“Ming!” Oops.
I looked back over at Zhi who looked annoyed with me for fangirling out.
I cleared my throat.
“Right.
On three!
One… two… three!”
They both burst into action at the same time.
Zhi rushed forward with Tidal Force, and Daichi’s katanas glowed green.
Roots began growing up through the hard dirt-packed road, trying to trip Zhi up.
He used the Tidal Force technique to jump into the air, above the roots, and went for an overhead slash.
Daichi blocked, but his eyes widened as he was forced to use both katanas to block him.
A flash of light emanated from both of them as their blades sparked.
Daichi lost the exchange, was forced to leapt back out of range, and the roots retreated.
“Not bad.
Your water techniques are top notch.
Unfortunately for you, I’m a wood cultivator, so this is a bad matchup for you.”
Zhi raised an eyebrow.
“Is it?” He leapt after Daichi again, but this time his chi glowed red.
He opened his mouth and breathed fire at Daichi, and his clothes caught fire.
“Shit!
Overgrown!” A wall of roots sprang up all around him, giving him some breathing room to pat out the flames.
It took a few precious seconds for Zhi to cut through, and the wall crumbled shortly after.
Daichi rolled his shoulder as the two of them circled each other.
“Alright.
You’re not half bad.
Time to get serious.
Flower Dance!”
He moved into a series of quick strikes, each one erratic yet seamlessly flowing into the next.
I almost shrieked when I saw Zhi get struck, but the katana bounced uselessly off in a shower of sparks.
Daichi’s eyes widened again and Zhi pushed his advantage, doing a tricky bit of manuevering with his sword.
Daichi attempted to keep up, but when Zhi’s sword suddenly clashed against his in an upward strike, he lost his grip.
His right sword was flung out of his hands, and landed about fifty feet behind him, sticking up from the ground and vibrating.
Whoa.
I looked back at Zhi, who was grinning like a maniac and breathing heavy.
That was impressive.
Now Daichi was down to only one sword, and he gripped it with both hands, grave.
He had underestimated Zhi, playing around, and trying to provoke him.
And now he was paying the price.
Zhi finally caught his breath and was gleeful as he goaded Daichi.
“It’s over.
Apologize to my wife for the things you said.”
Daichi chuckled darkly.
“Oh, it’s not over yet.
It’s time to unleash my most powerful technique!
Regeneration!” A green aura surrounded him, and he pressed the attack.
Zhi parried him easily, slicing his arm open, but after a grimace, Daichi kept going, the cut already healing.
Zhi growled and pressed him hard too, parrying, and dodging for all he was worth.
But soon, the green glow began to fade from around him, and he slowed down significantly.
Zhi final got a solid strike on him, on his side, and Daichi cried out, collapsing onto his knees, holding his side as blood slowly dripped down his side.
Zhi leveled Bonecarver under his chin.
“I have won our duel.
Now apologize.
Take back what you said about my wife.”
Daichi spoke through gritted teeth.
“I apologize for saying your wife isn’t pretty.”
“And?”
“And for saying you’re desperate.”
“Aaand?”
“For barging into your room.”
Zhi kept his sword there for a moment longer before withdrawing it.
“Good.
It seems our business is concluded.
Me and my wife will be going back to our room.
And we better not hear any more complaints from you.” Daichi gritted his teeth as he stood up.
Zhi turned away from him, self-satisfied, flashing his sword away as he walked up to me.
“Let’s go Ming.
I believe we were about to have one last hurrah before tomorrow.” Heh.
I let him look cool and put his arm around me as we walked back into the inn.
“I swear, this isn’t the last you’ve seen me!
My family will hear about this!
Your days are numbered!” I rolled my eyes.
Seriously?
So cliché.
Whatever you sore loser.
We walked inside and on the way up the stairs, Zhi nuzzled into my shoulder.
“So, who was cooler?
Me or him?” He grinned up at me, proud of himself, and clearly fishing for compliments.
I just couldn’t resist.
I rubbed my chin and hummed, as if I was deliberating it.
His grin fell and he pulled back, giving me a look of disbelief.
“I won.”
“I mean, you did.
But… he used katanas.
And dual-wielded.”
“Yes, but I won!
I can’t believe you think he’s cooler just because of his weapons and fighting style.” He looked away from me, actually pissed.
Oh, I needed to stop teasing him.
I pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Of course you’re cooler.
The way you made him apologize was amazing.
And did you hear him at the end?
That was some douchebag bullshit.
The kind of thing a third-rate villain would shout.”
“I think I said almost the same thing to Xaoge once.” That did not help.
He was still pissed.
We made it back to our room, him going in first and to the bed while I closed the door.
“Once you did.
But now cheap villains are saying that to you.
You know what that makes you?”
“I don’t know, a second-rate villain?” He took off his illusion ring inside, going back to his handsome furry self.
I took off mine too, and chuckled.
“Of course not.
That makes you a hero!”
He looked over at me, skeptical.
He probably figured I was setting up to tease him again, but not this time.
“A hero?
Really?
You think I’m a hero?”
I smiled and leaned down, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
“Not just any hero.
My hero.
You successfully defended my honor.
Now, you know what people say about heroes?”
He finally smiled.
“No, what do they say?”
I flashed away my clothes.
“They always get the girl.”
“I think I prefer being a hero over being a villain.” He clothes vanished and he wrapped me up in his arms, pulling me down to his lap for a real kiss.