~~~五~~~

~~~五氏家族会议~~~

That afternoon the pair of young adults walked into Jīngshén Hall together before separating to join their respective clans.

The Five Clan Conference was something the Second Princess had never attended before, so she just planned to sit off to the side and listen in without saying anything.

Unfortunately that plan was thrown out the window when the representatives from the Pàn Clan kept asking her opinions on topics with obvious intent of somehow ruining her reputation.

'Fuck off, if I were not representing my clan right now these fucks would not have usable jaw bones,' the ravenette thought as she clenched her fist from under her table while keeping a straight face.

In fact, everyone in the room was aware of the targeting and honestly tried to change the topic, but the clan in red just wouldn't give up.

By the time the conference ended the first thing Mei Lián did was wander into the woods behind Guǐ Palace and hurl her fist at a tree, the force being enough to leave a large dent but luckily not topple the thing.

After a few moments, the female took a deep breath and rested her forehead on the bark, muttering out a soft apology to the being of nature as her furry companion let out a soft whine.

"This is why I never stay for things like this," she sighed while sitting down and leaning her back against the tree, allowing the fox to crawl into her lap, "the politics are way too delicate for someone with my temper to handle."

"I'd say you were handling that pretty well," mused a familiar voice as the princess turned to see the form of Pàn Zhang approaching her.

"I mean you no offence, but if I had met your older brother and father when I was traveling I would have gutted them," the woman stated with a deadpan expression, "or at least cut out their tongues so they couldn't spout bullshit anymore."

"I can't say I would blame you for that if you did, but being in a major clan is pretty restricting, isn't it?" replied the slightly older male as he messed with a few strands of his own hair.

"I'm glad at least you didn't turn out to be a fucking flea," Mei Lián chuckled as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the tree, relishing in the chilly breeze of late winter.

"You know," she started with a satisfied sigh, gently running her hands through her companions fur as the male gazed at her, "A-Sé and I would often just sleep out in the forest like this when we couldn't reach a town by nightfall. It's pretty nice."

"Is that so? You wouldn't set up a tent or anything?" Zhang asked, the female shaking her head from side to side in response.

"It would be too much to carry when we already had our bedding, food, water, and other tools," the ravenette responded, "Plus it's easier to make a quick getaway if we were being pursued by anything."

"That's still pretty dangerous though," the male commented with a small sigh, "Just sleeping out in the open like that."

"That's why I have A-Sé with me," the ravenette chuckled as she opened her eyes to look down at the ball of fluff in her lap, "We have each other's backs whenever we encounter trouble."

As steel-blue irises gazed down at the animal, Zhang inquired, "I've been meaning to ask, but what kind of animal is Wūsé?"

Before the woman could look up at him like he was stupid the male continued, "He looks like a fox but he doesn't act like any I've ever seen before. Is he your spiritual pet?"

"Maybe so," the ravenette mused in return, giving her classic vague answer that didn't really serve as an answer at all.

As the two eased into the calming nighttime atmosphere, foreign words slipped through the female's lips to form an enchanting melody.

"Ili-ili tulog anay, wala diri imong nanay," she sang without even opening her eyes, "Kadto tienda bakal papay."

"Ili-ili tulog anay."

Zhang's eyes widened as she continued in the unknown tongue, her words embedding themselves into his head.

"Mata kana tabangan mo ikarga ang nakompra ko," the female mused, slowly rocking her fox, "Kay bug-at man sing putos ko tabangan mo ako anay."

The wind seemed to pick up around the three as the song went on, whispers fluttering around their forms of unspoken ghosts.

"Ili-ili tulog anay, wala diri imong nanay," she continued, getting quieter as she reached the end, "kadto tienda bakal papay. Ili-ili tulog anay."

"What language is that?" questioned the male in red as he looked to the princess who had a soft smile on her face.

"I don't know," she replied in a soft sigh, shifting so that she fully laid down on the ground, "I just heard it while traveling and thought it sounded nice."

The Pàn male had a feeling she wasn't being completely honest but didn't comment on it as he was more concerned about how comfortable the female had made herself.

"Hey, A-Lián," he called quietly, placing a hand on the female's shoulder, only for it to be slapped away, "You aren't going to sleep out here, are you?"

"If you're that concerned about it, then just stay here and watch over me," she huffed in reply, "But I'm comfortable now and I refuse to move."

"Aish, A-Lián, people will start to panic if you're not in the palace," Zhang tried to reason, reaching out to her once more only for the female to turn her back to the male.

"That's their problem, now if you're just going to keep nagging then I'm going to ignore you," the ravenette retorted as her fox snuggled closer in her arms.

"You can't be serious, it's winter right now!" the older male huffed, "If you sleep out here tonight then you're bound to get sick."

With that statement, Mei Lián turned over to give a half lidded glare as she asked, "Who do you take me for? Miho?"

"I'm not as delicate as that fucking piece of talc, I can handle the cold as long as I'm not being rained or snowed on," she continued before closing her eyes again, "If I couldn't handle the cold then I would have never come home alive."

The nineteen-year-old let out a sigh as he stayed by her side, allowing the female to do as she wished so long as they weren't in any immediate danger.

"Hey, A-Lián?" he asked after a few moments, earning a small hum of acknowledgement from his friend, "What is it like just traveling the continent?"

"Well, that depends," she started, flipping over so she was facing him even though her eyes were closed, "do you want to hear the good or the bad?"

"Just whatever you feel like sharing is fine," Zhang said as he laid down on his back next to her, looking up at the sky through the tree branches, "It doesn't matter."

"Alright, well I'll give you a mix of both then," the ravenette chuckled, shifting so that she was flat on her back as well while Wūsé laid on her chest and stomach.

"In general it's refreshing to those who would be trapped in one spot all the time, but also perilous if you don't know what you're doing," she explained, "There are so many times in just the first year of my explorations where I could have died if I weren't lucky."

"You started exploring when you were eight, right?" the noiret asked as he looked over at her, "That must have been rough on a kid that young."

"Yes, I asked to leave right after the mourning period for my mother," the woman confirmed with a nod before a small yawn left her lips, "I refused to take anyone with me except for A-Sé and I even chased away any spies my father sent to look after me."

"I was almost killed by bandits my first month away from Guangzhou, but in the end I was the one who ended up taking their goods and selling them in the next town," she continued with a small smile.

The rest of the night was spent with the two sharing stories of their own adventures whether they be out in the world or in their own lands where they wreaked havoc.

Neither of them remember falling asleep, but they definitely remember waking up as the male let out a loud yelp upon being flung into the air by something that wrapped around his ankle.

"Pàn Zhang!" exclaimed the First Princess of the Long Clan pure anger blazing in her brown irises as she aimed the handle of her whip at the figure who landed on the ground with a thud.

"What have you done to my sister?!" she continued, gesturing to the ravenette who had jolted awake upon feeling the sudden movement next to her.

"Ugh, I didn't do anything, Your Highness," the male groaned as he sat up and wrapped his arm around his midsection, the younger female immediately standing in front of him with wide eyes.

"Jiějiě, you know I would sleep outside all the time, this has nothing to do with Zhang!" she tried to reason only for the older female's whip to wrap around her wrist and pull her to her side.

"Nothing to do with him! You're engaged, Mei-Mei!" the twenty-year-old exclaimed as she glared down at the younger male, "He's trying to ruin your reputation!"

"What reputation?!" the younger female retorted as she stood directly in front of her sibling again, "You mean the one where I'm just a wild card that's only good for serving as an intimidation tactic?! That one?!"

"You should know by now that I couldn't give two shits about what the others think of me at this point, you need to be thinking of your own image here, so calm down before you do something regrettable," she continued while walking over to help the male up, "I'm seen as the only 'bad' child amongst all of us and it better stay that way."

"Tch, whatever," the older female scoffed as she placed her weapon back on her hip, crossing her arms over her chest to glare at the man in red, "The conference starts in half an hour so both of you get ready."

The Second Princess just began walking back to the palace without another glance while the male gave a polite bow to the intimidating woman.

As he began making his way back she followed him, dark brown eyes boring a hole in his back and he could feel exactly where she would stab him if she was able to.

"First Princess, am I that good looking that you just can't take your eyes off of me?" Zhang mused, as he looked over his right shoulder to be met with the hardened glare each of the Long Clan siblings were known for.

"You're on thin fucking ice, Zhang," she growled in a low tone, "I don't know what your clan is planning for our Mei-Mei but we won't let you go through with it."

"Your Highness, I know that my family has done some heinous things and I might be a bit of a troublemaker, but I swear that I have nothing evil planned for Mei Lián," the male explained as he turned to fully face the older woman with a genuine expression.

Unfortunately for him, her expression didn't change as she said, "If I even catch wind of you looking at Mei-Mei after this conference is over, then I will personally come to rip you limb from limb."

With the threat lingering in the air, the woman turned around and stalked off in the direction of her own palace.

'Fucking hell,' Mei Lián groaned in her head as she sat at her appropriate seat in Jīngshén Hall, 'This shit is so boring! I can't even read any of my books!'

She would have continued her internal whining if not for the fact a small folded piece of red paper appeared on her table from out of no where.

With a raised brow, the ravenette subtly took it off of her table unfolded it in her lap to read the message sent to her in black ink.

'This is pretty boring isn't it?' the paper read, honey-colored irises flicking up to meet the younger Pàn's to her right, 'I'm sure you'd much rather be hunting down some demons right now.'

With a small smirk, the female slipped a western-styled pen from her robe and wrote her response right in purple before sending it back unnoticed by anyone else.

'You have no idea. I would rather be slamming my head into a wall than listen to political debates that could just be solved if they set aside their pride.'

'Why don't you just say something then? I can tell you have comments on at least some of these topics.'

'My opinions might be a little too extreme for the elders. They're very traditional so my solutions might be too different from what they're used to. I mean my siblings are holding back as well and you haven't said anything either.'

Looking down at the female's last message with a smirk, Zhang briefly made eye contact with her before noticing four sets of narrowed eyes on his form; three from the elder Long Siblings and the other from straight across from him seated in the Kang Clan.

The remaining days of the conference passed like that, with the two young adults passing notes and ignoring the looks from the female's siblings and fiancé.

To her, there was nothing wrong with interacting with a friend but her siblings were honestly worried about anything developing.

Ever since the death of their mother, they had noticed that the youngest developed some issues with the way she felt things in that it was difficult for her to identify some emotions and how she even tried to combat them sometimes.

That paired with her true caring nature underneath her wild character made her an interesting figure that would naturally draw attention.

On the final day of the Five Clan Conference the final topic of discussion had just been resolved when the Pàn Clan Leader held up a hand and said, "I have one more issue I would like your input on."

"And what would that be, Clan Leader Pàn?" the King of the Long Clan questioned as many others looked to the clan leader in red with annoyance.

"Now, now, let's not look at me with such distaste I would just like your opinions on something," the man spoke with a smile which did not reach his eyes.

"I would just like to know your opinions on the Second Princess Mei Lián," he stated, earning immediate responses in the older members of her family, the princess just looking at the male in confusion.

"The girl has never been at the palace for longer than two weeks at a time and surely you all must have heard the stories surrounding her," Wangzhou added with a smirk from the woman who hung off of his right shoulder.

"The stories surrounding Her Highness are indeed varied, but after meeting her in person it's easy to tell which of them are true and which ones are false," the leader of the Jin Clan spoke with a straight face earning muses of agreement from others in the room.

"Second Princess Mei Lián," addressed the clan leader in red, earning a hum from the female, "Is it true that you once stripped a man in public before cutting of his hand?"

"Yes, I did," the ravenette replied with a sly smile on her face, "because I had found out that the man was sexually abusing his daughter and even selling her off to his friends."

"I stripped him in public so he could feel the same humiliation that his daughter had gone through and the humiliation of his crimes in general, then I cut off his right hand so he would dare not to commit the same sin again," she explained with a straight face.

"And did you deliberately tie a man to a tree in the middle of nowhere for three days?" the First Young Master of the Pàn Clan interrogated upon seeing the others still aligned with her view.

"See, I live by the rule 'Do unto others as you want done unto you' so when I saw that he had done that very thing to an innocent dog, I just paid him back," the Princess responded before standing.

"My actions are brutal but they are done with reason, unlike someone who burns down an entire town full of people for no apparent reason," she continued while cracking her neck.

"I had no other choice," Wangzhou responded as all eyes were now on him, "The town was infested with demons and needed to be taken care of."

"You scoundrel!" called Clan Leader Kang as everyone from the clan of the sky stood and grabbed their swords, quickly catching onto the male's pitiful lie.

"Even if that was the truth, you could have evacuated the villagers before pulling off such a stunt," the ravenette scolded while shaking her head.

"And people say I'm the most deranged of the main cultivating clans," she scoffed while walking towards the exit, "At least I give my opponents a chance to fight back and live."

"And where do you think you're going?" Miho asked in her usual shrill tone of voice, halting the younger female as she calmly turned around.

"The conference is officially over, isn't it?" she replied tapping her chin lightly with her folding fan, "I need to go and prepare for my travels since I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Oh, and where are you going this time?" the wife asked with a sneer as she folded her hands in her lap, "to ruin the peace of some run down village in the middle of no where again?"

"Miho, you know chaos follows any cultivator no matter how clean they may seem," the ravenette chuckled in response, "But actually I'm going to the Shèng Islands this time around."

The Long Bai's eyes widened and he stood up from his throne, declaring, "You are not to go anywhere near those islands!"

Everyone looked to the man in surprise at his sudden outburst, his youngest daughter blinking as she tilted her head to the right.

"And why shouldn't I, Father?" she questioned, eyes locked onto his form, "You've allowed me to explore the world since I was eight years of age and I've developed my skills extremely well compared to others, so why are you opposed to me going to these islands?"

Although, the young woman didn't continue the unspoken questioned rang out amongst the family members who all looked up to their father.

'What are you hiding?'

"You do not need to know my reasoning," the man replied as he sat back down, not once breaking eye contact with his daughter, "You are not going near those islands and that is final."

"Father," the female started shifting backwards towards the door, "You should know me well enough by now to know my response to that."

"Guards!" the man called upon recognizing the familiar spark of mischief in his daughter's eyes and the way her posture changed ever so slightly.

"Not fast enough, Father!" she chirped while turning around and jumping over the blades of her fellow disciples before booking it towards her palace with the black fox following close behind.

"Your Majesty-" "Follow her! Mei Lián is not to leave Guǐ Palace!" the king ordered to the disciples who immediately followed after the ravenette.

"Father, why cause such a commotion over this?" the First Prince questioned as those from other clans began whispering amongst themselves, "Mei-Mei is quite capable of taking care of herself."

"There is a deep seated evil within those islands and if she comes across it, then it would be too difficult to send assistance since it is outside of the main continent," the male explained as he stood up with the intention to follow the guards, "And knowing how that girl is, she will definitely come across it if she were to go."

Meanwhile, the Second Princess was currently in Yuèliàng Hall, changing as quickly as she could into her altered traveling robes after ordering her maids to keep everyone out.

"Long Bai has always been bad at keeping secrets from his family, hasn't he?" Wūsé chuckled as he packed somethings into a bag of holding that the female carried when they traveled.

"That and his children are just too good at seeing through bullshit," the ravenette replied as she slipped on her shoes and fastened the bag of holding to the sash around her waist.

At that moment the pair caught onto shouts at the entrance of the princess' palace and they both made their way out of the back window to find that the other disciples had not yet made their way around.

Sending some of her energy through the weapon, the ravenette tossed her open fan in the air for it to hover parallel to the ground, about 10 times it's original size.

"Come on," she chirped, the fox immortal jumping into her arms in his smaller form before she leapt onto the spiritual weapon, just starting to ascend as other disciples made their way around.

"Jiějiě!" called Fei Ming as he looked up at the woman who countered the grappling chains of her clan with her inner force.

Before he could try to reason with the female, a white and blue blur flew past him and up towards the large fan.

"Don't hold this against me, A-Yuan, but my curiosity is at an all time high right now and it needs to be satiated," the female called as she prevented the male from touching down on her weapon with an open palm strike to his abdomen.

It wasn't hard enough to do him any damage, just push him back as the female brought her palms together in front of her chest and push them back with some of her energy, multiple copies of the fan and female appearing at either side of her before flying off in different directions.

From the ground, King Long Bai could only mutter curses under his breath before ordering the disciples to make their way to surrounding towns to wait for the real fan to touch down as Kang Yuan landed next to Fei Ming and Pàn Zhang.

"Yuan, are you alright?" the male in red questioned earning a silent nod from him as the youngest male could only watch the multiple fans fly off with a pout.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" the male in grey asked, his lips forming a pout before Zhang placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know, you tell us," he said with a small smile, "You are the only one out of all of us who's actually seen her in action."

"She is really scary in a fight, but if King Long is so concerned about her going I'm wondering if she can actually handle this on her own," the boy muttered.

After four hours of flying, Mei Lián and Wūsé finally landed outside of a small town just as the sun began to set behind them.

"You didn't have to keep the copies up for this entire time, A-Lián," the male commented as he held the woman by her elbows, "You haven't had much practice with it yet."

"Yes, I had to, A-Sé," she muttered as a response pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to ignore the pounding in her head, "I wouldn't be surprised if Huǒ already knows where we are. It's a risk to even be taking a break here."

"Whatever, let's just find an inn for the night," the fox immortal sighed as he guided the ravenette down the still active streets to find the said establishment.

Luckily, the only inn of the town had vacant rooms so they rented one for the night and the female was quick to plop face down on the bed while Wūsé left to get more supplies they didn't have time to grab in the palace.

By the time Mei Lián woke up from her nap, the sun was long gone; however, her travel companion had not yet returned.

"Where is he?" she muttered, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she looked around the room to see that no changes had been made since she slept.

After standing up and stretching out her back, the female decided to check for the male on the first floor of the inn, in the restaurant area that all similar establishments had.

"A-Sé, did you finish getting the stuff yet?" she mindlessly called into the mostly empty tavern; however, in her still hazy mind she failed to notice two familiar faces that sat in the back corner.

"You sent your fox to get supplies for you?" mused a male who immediately sent the female into full defense mode as she snapped open her fan to face the source.

Casually sitting at a table across from each other were Kang Yuan and Pàn Zhang, just looking at the female as if she weren't running away from anyone related to the main clans.

"I'm not even going to ask how you found me so quickly, because there's tons of ways, but what now?" the ravenette sighed as she relaxed and began to lightly fan herself, "You're going to take me back to Guangzhou, right?"

"We never said that we were going to do that," the male in red replied with a shrug as he brought his bowl of wine up to his lips.

"You're not?" she questioned with a raised brow and narrowed eyes as she scanned him for any traces of a lie, "Then why are the both of you here?"

"We're coming with you," answered the male in white causing the female to start choking on her breath at his straightforward reply.

"Are you now?" she asked voice going up in pitch and smile becoming more strained as she thought of all the ways this addition to her travel party could go wrong, "I knew you were probably serious about joining me but when did Zhang become a part of this?"

"When your father said that there was something sealed in the islands," he replied while looking over at the princess, "It seemed interesting."

"And what about your families?" the ravenette sighed as she joined them at their table, the younger of the two males pouring her some of the wine, "What are they going to say about this?"

"My family doesn't care what I do as long as I don't get in their way," Zhang replied with a shrug, "I'm free to do as I please."

When she turned to the taller of the two males he said, "I told my father and brother that I would partake in the search for you."

"I guess you wouldn't be lying if you said that," the woman sighed as she took a sip from the bowl that was placed in front of her before closing her eyes to think.

"Alright, if the both of you are seriously going to follow me to the Shèng Islands, then you're going to need to know some things" she said after a few moments, "But you have to promise not to attempt to kill me or anyone else involved."

"I'm sure it couldn't be that bad," chuckled the male in red just before the doors to the inn opened to reveal a man dressed in all black.

"Huh, that was quick," he commented while walking over to the group to stand behind the female's chair, "You found us pretty quick."

"A-Lián, who's this?" Zhang asked as both he and the male in white reached for their swords that sat on the table.

"You bastards know me," the fox immortal chuckled as he placed his hands on the ravenette's shoulders, "I'm the one who's spent more time with A-Lián than the both of you combined."

The eighteen-year-old was quick to grab her friends' wrists, not even giving them a chance to draw their blades before she looked over at her travel partner and asked, "Why are you like this?"

"I told them the truth," he shrugged with a smirk upon meeting the glares of the two human men, "I almost never leave your side, how could they not know me?"

Zhang gasped as his steel blue irises met the familiar cognac toned eyes of the mysterious male before saying, "You... you're Wūsé!"

"Mei Lián, you've been traveling with a demon?" Kang Yuan practically growled before the female released him and cracked her neck.

"A-Sé isn't a demon," she responded while crossing her arms over her chest before making sure the server wasn't in earshot, "He's from Qing Qiu."

"Qing Qiu?" the older male asked with furrowed brows, relaxing his posture slightly before the other looked at Wūsé with wide eyes.

"Are you trying to tell me that he's an immortal from the Heavenly Realm?" he questioned while pointing at the shorter male.

"Is that so hard to believe?" Wūsé mused as he leaned forward and draped his arms over Mei Liáns shoulders from behind her chair, "You said it yourself, that I wasn't a normal fox, and you were right."

"Mei Lián, what is your relationship with him?" Yuan asked, clenching the fist that held his weapon as he kept his gaze on the male in black.

"We're lovers-" "He's my traveling partner," the princes spoke, cutting off the fox as she raised a hand over his face, "Has been since my first trip out of Guǐ Palace 'on my own'."

"Don't listen to him when he says things like that," she continued before gesturing for Wūsé to take the seat across from her, "He loves to tease."

"A-Lián, is there anything else you'd like to share before we start heading out tomorrow?" Pàn Zhang asked as he warily eyed the man that sat to his right.

"There's more you'll find out along the way as it comes up, but the biggest thing would be don't get used to staying at inns," the ravenette said as the server came out with a whole roasted chicken and four bowls of rice, "If the sun sets and we're in the middle of nowhere then we're sleeping out in the middle of nowhere."

"What about you two?" Wūsé asked, the smirk never leaving his face as his eyes flicked between the two nineteen-year-olds on either side of him, "Do you have anything to tell us?"

"A-Sé, shut up, you know you and me are the most suspicious people out of all of us here," Mei Lián spoke as she began eating some of her rice, "They don't need to tell us anything they don't want to right now."

"It's fine, A-Lián," the male in red said with a small smile as he turned to the female, "I'm just trying to wrap my head around this is all."

"That's understandable," she replied with a nod before turning to her official fiancé that sat in the seat directly to her left.

"What about you, A-Yuan?" the ravenette questioned, the male in white slowly panning his head over to her, "Are you okay?"

He didn't say anything, but gave a low hum and a nod before turning to his own food, briefly making eye contact with the immortal before starting to eat.

~~~Fin. Chapter 5~~~