Guang Poyun
A short story I wrote for my Draconier OC, Guang Poyun.
Draconier is a closed species belonging to Yingrutai on Deviant Art.
Art is by Yingrutai on Deviant Art!
There was Fuxi in Heaven.
There was Yanluo in Hell.
There were the Draconier in the mortal realm.
Guang Poyun (光破云) was your average Earth Clan Draconier with black pansies growing from his horns, hair, and tail, adorned in exquisite dress with long lopped ears. There wasn’t anything unusual about him – no rare traits.
This year was his eight hundredth birthday.
How many human lifetimes had passed in this mortal realm?
Living on Nanping Mountain (南屏山), he’d observed the small village of Linling (霖铃) grow into a bustling hub filled with food and liquor stalls selling peach blossom wine, a famed wine in the lower cultivation realm. Children ran around, chasing each other or begging their parents to buy them a small red lantern to hang in their rooms.
Never backing down from the wind or rain, Guang Poyun would journey down the mountain into Linling, sneaking around to check the crops of villagers. If he noticed any wilting, he’d repair the damage, breathing life back into them so their efforts wouldn’t fall to the quagmire. Then he’d return to the mountain, letting them believe a deity had taken mercy on their situation and spared them from a bad harvest.
He didn’t mind. He didn’t need the recognition, and more importantly, he didn’t want it. He’d rather be the type to cast a barrier for someone in the cold snow, letting them believe it was a passing Elder instead of him. If people knew it was him, surely, many would come knocking, begging for this or that. So, he did his deeds silently, but of course, the nature spirits, plants, and animals would know.
When he repaired the plants, he’d hear them whisper a soft “thank you.”
His lips would turn up into a small smile, displaying his blossom like dimples while the tips of his ears grew warm and pink. He’d nod with a small “Mn” and slink away.
He was a single Draconier, tiny in the vast galaxy. In his youth, he was allowed to be arrogant, greedy to become the darling of the heavens. As he aged, Guang Poyun found that living a humble life of simplicity and prosperity was more enjoyable than living in the higher cultivation realm, surrounded by those that’d shut out the civilians during a calamity to save themselves.
The greed and corruption he witnessed in Kunlun dirtied his eyes, and when his tenure expired, he promptly left, going into seclusion on Nanping Mountain. For the last five hundred years, he watched people pass by, and sometimes they’d get lost. Quietly, he’d help them find their way off the mountain without saying much. The people would believe he was just a silent spirit since Draconier usually didn’t openly reside in the lower cultivation realm.
Hell, the populace didn’t even know they existed. There wasn’t a lot of communication between the upper and lower realms. The lower cultivation realm had only a single sect, and that was all the way in Sichuan. So, the lower cultivation populace didn’t interact with cultivators much. Unbeknownst to them, they interacted with Draconiers more than cultivators, but again, they just believed them to be spirits.
Guang Poyun peeled a loquat, licking some of the juice from his fingers when a little Osmanthus demon ran up to him, flailing its little arms.
“Shenhua-Jun! Shenhua-Jun! (神花君)”
Yes, they addressed him as “Lord Spirit Flower” due to the pansies growing on him.
“Hm?” Guang Poyun looked up to see Osthmanthus demon with black beady eyes and chubby cheeks stomping its tiny feet.
“The tree is sick!” It started crying pitifully, making wuwuwuwu~ sounds.
“Huh?” Guang Poyun blinked a few times, wondering which of one hundred some Osthmanthus trees on Nanping was sick. “Which one?”
It adjusted the leaf on top of its head and continued crying, “Come help us please, Shenhua-Jun!”
Sighing, Guang Poyun set the loquat on the table and brushed the dirt off his clothes. He stood and calmly ordered, “Show me.”
It took half a shichen to reach the sick Osmanthus tree considering that even running, the little Osmanthus demon’s legs didn’t stretch much. So, Guang Poyun walked at a snail’s pace behind the little demon. His sleeves fluttered in the breeze, and he noticed other spirits poking their heads out from behind trees, under rocks, to watch him. He was their revered Shenhua-Jun after all.
The Osmanthus demon was breathing heavily, collapsing face down on the dirt upon reaching the wilting tree. Guang Poyun crouched, picking it up by the armpits, standing it upright again.
“T-Thank you.” It adjusted the leaf on its head again and waved its arms frantically. “Please save it!”
“Mn.”
Flicking his sleeves, Guang Poyun placed his slender fingers on the trunk. This tree had already cultivated a spirit. He could hear the heavy labored breathing in the roots as they struggled to absorb nutrients. The Draconier channeled qi through his meridians into the tree’s, repairing the core at a steady pace.
Gradually, a crowd of benevolent monsters gathered in the vicinity, watching their deity work. The aroma of pansies grew stronger, but it soothed their anxieties. They watched the white flowers regain their color, the leaves becoming green again, the branches being repaired. After ten minutes, Guang Poyun cut off the flow of spiritual energy and nodded to himself in approval.
He turned to the little Osmanthus demon. “The tree will be okay now.”
All the monsters started making various noises of celebration, some squeaking loudly, some making chittering noises, and the Osmanthus demon hopped up and down, its whole body jiggling. It exclaimed, “T-T-Thank you Shenhua-Jun!”
“It’s no problem.” Forming a hand sign, he placed a sigil on the tree. “This should protect it from corruption.”
The chubby demon hugged the tree, petting it like one would a cat. “Shenhua-Jun healed you!”
As Guang Poyun walked away, the various spirits and demons stopped hiding behind shrubs and other trees, watching his back retreat until it blurred in the distance.
