#phansdraws

One of the figures froze and turned to him with a pair of round eyes. It was Shen Yuan shixiong. He was finally back! Shen Yuan was about to open his mouth to answer when their shizun, who was accompanying him along with a varied group of people, cut right in.

“Ming Fan, stay here and make sure that nobody follows us. A-Yuan, follow me.”

Ming Fan, sensing like the situation truly was urgent, acknowledged the order with a nod and went to grab his boots by the bed in a hurry. As soon as he stepped outside, the group left immediately, leaving the space in front of the dormitory empty except for one person.

“Shimei?”

Ning Yingying smiled weakly as she watched the group disappear in the bamboo forest. Ming Fan noticed how paled she looked and went to offer his help. His shimei didn’t refuse, grabbing his arm with what little strength she had left. Some younger disciples came out of their rooms, confused and curious about what had happened. Ming Fan barked a few orders, sending them back inside, before sitting Ning Yingying on a stone bench by the moon gate at the entrance of the dormitories.

“Shixiong, don’t worry about me. I just need to catch my breath.”

Ming Fan squatted in front of her, studying her face with worry.

“What happened? What were you doing with shixiong’s group? And why are you…? Yingying, did you exchange patrol nights with someone again?”

Ning Yingying pressed a few of her chest acupoints with a frown. She gestured to give her a minute to recover before opening her mouth to explain.

“I’m sorry, shixiong. I did. I just… I missed Shen shixiong and Luo shidi so much. I wanted to be the first to greet them at the gate. And I couldn’t sleep anyway when I learned they were on their way back.”

“Yingying, that’s a whole week of patrol you just imposed on your body. How many hours did you sleep this week?”

“…Not as much as I should’ve.”

Ming Fan sighed, rubbing his eyes in exasperation.

“Shixiong, this shimei is sorry. But I promise I was fine! I was starting to feel a little tired, but nothing serious. It’s… this unstable qi. It was so strong. Even shizun didn’t look too good when he got closer to Noodle.”

Ming Fan blinked.

“Noodle?”

“Mn. Remember the last letter shixiong and A-Luo sent me? Noodle didn’t just get hurt.”

“Then, what’s happening?”

Ning Yingying looked in the direction the group had disappear.

“He’s about to become a dragon.”

--

“Over here!”

Shen Qingqiu had brought them to a big clearing deep in the bamboo forest, away from any form of human life. Shen Yuan ran to the middle, cradling the dusu snake that kept twisting in pain in his arms.

“Shh- It’s ok, you’re ok, you’re fine.”

Truthfully, Shen Yuan was trying to convince himself more than the poor dusu snake. He reached the middle of the soft grass field in a few long strides and knelt there. Luo Binghe followed closely, settling himself in front of him before using his spiritual energy to soothe the creature as much as he could.

The situation didn’t look promising. Shen Yuan’s sleeves were covered in small iridescent scales… and blood. He had studied dusu snakes for years without coming across any cases like this one. Very few among their species became dragons to begin with and it was near impossible to obtain a specimen about to transform. Shen Yuan felt powerless. He thought back on their trip and something finally clicked in his mind.

Noodle had cultivated too fast. They had fought so much and went to so many places full of spiritual energy…

Shen Yuan’s vision turned blurry. He wanted to apologize, but Noodle probably couldn’t hear him now. He pulled the dusu snake closer, hugging him to his chest. The latter’s current body wasn’t strong enough to undergo a dragon transformation and… he might…

Noodle suddenly went completely still. Shen Yuan looked down in panic, only to see a pair of now colorful eyes staring right back at him with complete trust. A small pitiful cry came from the creature, rooting his master to the place he had knelt.

Shen Yuan lifted his gaze to Luo Binghe who simply smiled at him calmly.

Standing at the edge of the open space, Shen Qingqiu’s patience was wearing thin. Why didn’t those two leave the snake? He himself couldn’t get close, the unstable qi made him nauseous and feel like he was going to faint. How strong did his disciples become to bear such a powerful unstable qi without flinching? Or was A-Yuan simply being unreasonable, forcing himself to stay with his pet?

“A-Yuan, you can’t stay there! A-Yuan!”

But Shen Qingqiu’s voice didn’t reach his prized disciple. The ground had started to shake, and wind enveloped the trio, creating a strong spiritual barrier in the middle of the forest glade. From it, Luo Binghe locked eyes with his shizun. Shen Qingqiu felt familiar and powerful emotions assaulting his senses, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. He hated this. Why couldn’t he get close? Why was he still so weak after all those years? Leaving him weaker than this- this Luo Binghe… Why?!

Noodle’s cries suddenly turned even more heartbreaking. Shen Yuan kept him close, tears streaming down his face as he repeated words of comfort to the dusu snake. It… wasn’t going well. He could feel Noodle’s life essence rapidly going out, slipping between his fingers. But if it was to be his old and first friend last moments, he wanted to accompany him to the end. He suddenly felt a pair of strong, youthful arms encircling him. Shen Yuan smiled despite the tears. His shidi didn’t have to accompany him to this extent. But he did. And he was immensely grateful for it. A gentle warmth spread from his heart, gently soothing his mind.

“A-YUAN!”

Still sitting in the middle of the forest glade, both disciples closed their eyes in unison as a harsh white light enveloped them. The gigantic amount of unstable qi was completely washed away in an instant, leaving only a strange electric atmosphere as the light blinded everyone at the scene.

A short moment passed before the light slowly receded, absorbed by something unknown. Soon after, the palpable charged energy followed.

Shen Yuan felt the weight in his arms disappear, ripping a whimper of desperation from his throat. He opened his eyes, intending to search for Noodle. As he did so, his retina was instantly drowned in an ocean of soft iridescent colors. For a moment, everything seemed to sit completely still, and only the gentle reflections of light dancing in the air like charming little pieces of crystal created an ocean of moving colors. Amidst the different waves, a pair of large reptilian eyes greeted his own calmly, the corner lifting in fondness when Shen Yuan stared back in surprise.

“…Noodle?”

The system’s voice, which he hadn’t heard for a long time, suddenly resonated in his head.

“Carapace ability : 50% damage reduction successful! Applied to user and their companions!” “Qing Jing Peak’s favor +50pts!” “Noodle’s favor +500pts!” “Noodle’s favor [ BONUS ] +???points to •••••••” “Protagonist’s halo compatibility with [*Noodle*] successful. +1000 ally points +0 shielding points!” “Completion of master-level quest +1500pts!” “New skills now available on the user skill tree!” “Congratulations! Please continue to work hard!”

But Shen Yuan wasn’t listening. His body refused to move, remaining frozen in face of the unfamiliar creature. A dragon.

Noodle released a short and sharp breath, ruffling his master’s hair from a distance. Shen Yuan jumped, not expecting the playful attitude from Noodle right after successfully cheating death. He swallowed with difficulty, his emotions still bouncing wildly around in his exhausted mind, and raised a trembling hand, reaching for Noodle’s new fluffy tail hovering above his head. “You’re… so big now.” Shen Yuan’s voice broke on the last syllable. Fat tears quickly filled his eyes, escaping in two seemingly never-ending streams which quickly drenched the collar of his clothes. “Y-You’re- You’re alive…!” He quickly let go of the tail to stand on his knees, throwing himself at Noodle who welcomed him in his embrace. The latter leaned on his master’s sobbing form with a soothing noise, something close to both purring and a low growl. Shen Yuan hid his face on the dragon’s body, both relieved that Noodle somehow survived the painful experience of turning into a dragon and embarrassed at how little he was able to restrain his emotions. Unbeknownst to him, Noddle met another pair of eyes. Luo Binghe silently stared back. Noodle then closed his eyes, bending his neck in a graceful arch as if he was bowing to the young man. Luo Binghe’s eyebrows shot up in shock when he heard two clear words echoing in his mind. “Thank you.”

“Dear Ning Shijie,

This shidi greets shijie! The mid-autumn festival is fast approaching and we are currently on our way back home, just like we had promised everyone we would. We've had an amazing time on our travels, but it is time to return before shixiong misses you all too much… or does something stupid. He’s always been a bit reckless but I discovered that he truly is a danger magnet. Just the other day, he nearly fell off two cliffs... just trying to look at plants. I swear I’ve grown white hairs in the last few months.”

Ning Yingying giggled, imagining the scene. Shixiong truly had no regard for danger when he found something that interested him. She moved her eyes to the next lines that took the bottom of the page plus a good portion of the next one. The penmanship was different, this one being livelier while being just as graceful as the previous one. It was Shen shixiong’s. More ink smears could be seen, there were even a few black fingerprints staining the right side of the second page.

“Alright, I’ll admit: Shixiong does miss Yingying and the others. A long time has passed… We’ve been gone for more than a year and Binghe is already taller than I am. I fear everyone will have grown so much that they will not need shixiong anymore when I come back. Such a terrifying thought!

To tell the truth, Binghe and I were going to surprise you all by returning earlier than we originally planned, but we encountered a small “problem” during our last night hunt. In the middle of hunting a particularly annoying yao that was causing trouble in the region, Noodle entered a kind of meditating state. The problem was that it happened right in the middle of fighting the yao and Noodle got hurt. After taking care of the night hunt, we took him to a nearby sect to heal him, hence why we pushed our return back. After a full week, I was finally able to stabilize his condition and I was able to settle him in his qiankun bag before hitting the road once more. I will study his condition further when we get back. At least now, the danger seemed to have passed.

Also, don’t listen to Binghe, I was perfectly fine when I was cataloging and gathering herbs. And his head looks completely fine to me, you don’t need to worry about him.”

Ning Yingying grinned. Those two really grew close while traveling, didn’t they? But Binghe seemed set on never telling their shixiong his feelings for him. How silly. She shook her head with a smile. She would have to sit her shidi down upon his return so he doesn’t take a weird oath on his own.

Ning Yingying was also glad that Noodle wasn’t too hurt. She never felt at ease with the spiritual creature, but she knew just how much that dusu snake meant to her shixiong. The latter would be inconsolable if anything happened to his scaly friend.

The letter continued on in Luo Binghe’s handwriting.

“I am convinced shixiong enjoys seeing me worry and wouldn’t mind my whole head turning white because of it-”

A big smudge nearly masked the entirety of the last characters of the sentence. Ning Yingying could picture the smack Shen shixiong gave Luo Binghe while reading over his shoulder as the latter wrote. The message resumed on a completely different subject.

“This shidi included a perfected version of the martial technique shijie has been practicing in the package. Shixiong and I have taken your notes into consideration and adapted the technique to suit your swordstyle better. Hopefully it will be easier to blend it in now. We will soon be able to give you better pointers as we’ll be back to train all together.

We’ve made good time and are currently more or less a 4 day ride away from the sect. Shixiong and I can’t wait to see you again!”

The correspondence ended with both their signatures squeezed together at the bottom of the third page. Ning Yingying couldn’t help but let out an excited noise. Both of her favorite people were about to be back! She gathered the package they had sent her and ran to announce the good news to the other disciples.