Til Death Do Us Part (Yanqing x Yunli)

Chapter 4: Unexpected Reunion

Once Yanqing and General Huaiyan had reached the entrance to the seat of Divine Foresight, the guard that was sent to investigate the figure that jumped off the Zhuming ship came by and notified Yanqing about his findings while whispering in his ear.

Apparently, this figure had managed to parkour all across the roofs of the Luofu's buildings, and made their way into the main palace of the high-ranking generals and whatnot. When the figure stopped moving, they were located at the usual training grounds that Yanqing uses for training.

When Yanqing heard the guard's report, he felt concerned and slightly anxious. Nobody's able to just enter the main palace without alerting the guards, and not many people knows about Yanqing's own training ground either, since it was quite secluded to prevent his extreme training from hurting anybody. 

With that, Yanqing thanked the guard by giving him a small nod, and he turned towards General Huaiyan and gave him a small bow.

"My apologies, General Huaiyan. It appears that we have a situation at hand that concerns the well-being of the high generals. I'll have to see to this matter personally."

Huaiyan let out a surprised face.

"Oh? What impeccable timing. I'll tell Jing Yuan to start without you, then."

Yanqing continued giving a bow as he slowly walked backwards.

"Thank you for your kindness, general."

And with that, Yanqing flew off with his swords, and headed towards his training grounds in the main palace.

In the middle of a forest-like area, a large concrete ground filled with plenty of training items could be found. Yanqing, who was flying around by standing on his sword, flew to the middle of the concrete area and landed. He had some of his swords hovering around him in a circle as he looked all around him.

"I know you're here. Step out and nobody gets hurt."

Silence prevailed for a few seconds, but suddenly, Yanqing could feel danger coming from his back, and once the perpetrator lunged towards Yanqing for the attack, Yanqing used his swords to defend against the attack while turning around. As he did, he could see the perpetrator's face as clear as day, and Yanqing was surprised and widened his eyes.

"Sup', ponytail." Yunli said with a smile as she continues to drive her broadsword towards Yanqing, before jumping backwards in a flip a couple feet away from Yanqing. Yanqing let his guard down and placed his swords towards his back again, making an opening for his front.

"...Yunli? Is that you?" 

Yunli stabbed her broadsword to the ground and leaned on it.

"One and only, dumb-dumb."

"But... I thought-"

Before Yanqing could finish his sentence, Yunli lunged at him for another attack.

"You gonna keep yapping or we gonna keep fighting?"

After hearing that, Yanqing let out a smile, and continued sparring with Yunli until dusk.

Once the sun had almost set, Yunli and Yanqing were on the ground together, panting and catching their breaths again after a long day of sparring. 

" You ... *pant* ... you've gotten soft... *pant* ..." Yunli said.

"Wadyumean... *pant* ... I totally got you... *pant*..."

"You... *pant* ... did not ... *pant* ..."

"Then...*pant* ... why are you bleeding... *pant* ...?"

Yunli was surprised.

"Huh? ... *pant* ... Where?"

"...Here."

Yanqing then gave Yunli a small punch.

"OW!" Yunli screamed.

Yanqing laughed while holding his stomach as Yunli gave him a return punch.

After a few minutes of catching their breaths, Yanqing stood up from the ground.

"Fruit skewers. Let's go."

However, as Yanqing was already heading towards the exit of the training grounds, Yunli was still sat on the ground.

"Hey, can you do me a favor?"

Yanqing turned around as Yunli continued.

"Could you... buy it for me and come back here?"

Yunli was avoiding eye contact as she said that, and of course, Yanqing was confused.

"Hmm? What's the matter?"

Yunli immediately looked towards Yanqing's direction.

"N-Nothing! I think I'm just... more tired than usual, hehe." Yunli said as she made an awkward laugh.

"Hmm... okay then. The usual 10, right?" Yanqing turned away and continued walking towards Aurum Alley.

"Yeah... thanks, ponytail."

As Yanqing continued walking, he's a lot more confused now. Yunli, laughing awkwardly? That has never happened to him before. Yunli has always been a very frank and direct person, but this time Yanqing felt like she was hiding something from him.

"Could it be... her blood moon's rising?"

Yanqing shook his head to clear his thoughts, and went to buy the fruit skewers without much trouble.