Mu Qing cringed and Feng Xin looked disgusted.
The two had the 'honor' of dealing with such flower yao before, and the trauma was engraved deeply in Feng Xin's mind. Sure, this was 800 years ago, but he remembered it like it was yesterday. Feng Xin cursed under his breath and squinted his eyes. It was like suffering from trauma, as he already had a fear of women in general and was practically scared of women's baths. Typical.
Mu Qing, on the other hand, witnessed first-hand how Feng Xin reacted to the flower yao. Screaming while slashing with his sword and haphazardly releasing arrows at the Yao, cussing like he would die. Naturally, the flower yao was alluring and lustful, never really caring to cover themselves. Which made it all the worse for Feng Xin back then.
"My lords, should we work together to destroy all of them?" Banyue asked. She could easily control scorpion snakes and manipulate them to do what she wanted them to do.
"Yeah. We could charge in now, just remember to cover your noses and mouths so that you don't breathe in their flowery scent. The smell will... ruin you," Mu Qing explained. Of course, Pei Xiu and Feng Xin were already familiar with these instructions, but Mu Qing explained it for the sake of Banyue not getting... lustful, was that the word? Banyue internally took notes and nodded when Mu Qing was finished. She smiled.
"All right. Do my lords have any cloth that Pei Xiu-gege and I could cover our faces with?" Banyue asked, flapping her long sleeves to see if she could cover her face without putting too much strain on trying to eliminate the yao. Feng Xin nodded.
"Yeah. Hold on a minute," Feng Xin replied, walking over to the drawers. Mu Qing and Feng Xin had split their cabinets in half, so naturally, Feng Xin's side was messy. Feng Xin tore through all of his clothes, finally finding two small red cloths that were thick, yet thin enough to breathe freely. Feng Xin grabbed another two for himself and Mu Qing and made his way back to the table. He handed two of the cloths to Banyue and Pei Xiu and gestured for them to tie them on. They proceeded and looked a little like southern barbarians. Feng Xin tossed one to Mu Qing and he put it on.
"Hold on a second, should you be fighting in this state?" Feng Xin asked. Mu Qing, with his cloth already around his face, peered back at him.
"I can fight better than you in this state. Considering your reaction towards women, I'll do much better than you," Mu Qing dissed with a muffled voice. Banyue blinked a few times, confused, and remained standing where she was. Mu Qing stood up and grabbed his sword from the corner that it was resting in. "Sword or bow?" Mu Qing asked Feng Xin.
"Bow. I don't want to get too close," Feng Xin replied. Mu Qing tossed him his bow and quiver.
"What about you two? Need weapons to borrow?" Mu Qing asked Banyue and Pei Xiu. Banyue shook her head.
"I have my scorpion snakes. Likely, the yao haven't come across such things before.. so they'll be caught off guard," Banyue said, pulling a red scorpion snake from her robes. "As for Pei Xiu-gege..." Banyue trailed off.
"It'd be nice to borrow a dagger of some sort. I hope my lords will make an exception to me borrowing a weapon," Pei Xiu said. Feng Xin nodded.
"Here," Feng Xin said, tossing a long dagger to Pei Xiu. Pei Xiu inclined his head in gratefulness.
"Thank you, General Nan Yang," Pei Xiu said.
"Well, what more time is there to lose? Shouldn't we go already?" Mu Qing pressed. Under that red cloth of his, he was hiding a smug smile to see how his husband would react to the flower yao.
"Fine. Let's go, then," Feng Xin said, slinging his bow and quiver over his shoulder. He tied his red cloth around his face and made his way out of the door. Following close behind were Banyue and Pei Xiu, then Mu Qing who closed the door. Just a few li away from their house, the group found the first clump of suspicious trees. Feng Xin narrowed his eyes. Pei Xiu knew what to do. He unsheathed his dagger and recklessly (yet with purpose) slashed at one of the trees. As expected, the tree leaped away, fanning its branches. It propped one of its branches on its "hip" and waved the other branch at the gods+exiled god+ghost? group.
"Ah! So feisty! Oh, these young men look so cute, I might just be blooming!" The little tree said. Feng Xin slowly started to back away, and all of the trees surrounding them turned into their female forms. None had their bodies covered.
"Hey, where are you going?" One of the Yao asked, turning its gaze towards Feng Xin. He had the look of disgust and terror on his face. Banyue stuck close behind Pei Xiu, yet didn't let down her guard. She held a hissing scorpion snake in one of her hands and her other hand was held up in defense.
"Hmm, a young girl? I haven't done anything to a young girl yet, how bout we try her?" Another one of the Yao commented, reaching out its hand to touch Banyue. Pei Xiu's face darkened, but Banyue acted quickly. She snapped the Yao's wrist and threw the scorpion snake in her hand at it. The yao shrieked and when it got bit by the scorpion snake, it dissolved with a puff of smoke. The scorpion snake slithered back to Banyue and wrapped itself around her wrist once again. Mu Qing scoffed and raised his swords.
"What are you waiting for? Attack them," Mu Qing said nonchalantly. Feng Xin narrowed his eyes and released his arrows in a quick succession. Each arrow hit its mark, yet more Yao just kept on coming and coming. Mu Qing slashed and parried, yet the endless waves came one after another. Banyue hurled many of her scorpion snakes from who-knows-where, and they slithered off to bite and sting. Pei Xiu skillfully stabbed with his borrowed dagger, but was soon getting exhausted because he was currently mortal. Sweat dripped down his forehead, yet he pushed on. Banyue stuck close to him, hurling a scorpion snake at a Yao when it got too close to him.
As the group fought, the shrieks and alluring moans of the Yao resounded all over them. They attempted over and over to seduce the group, but why have sex with a plant when you're with your partner right now? The group pushed on, and in a last-ditch effort for a small Yao group, they threw themselves on Feng Xin. Feng Xin's voice became 8 octaves louder and he screamed. In a fit, he dropped his bow.
"AAH- GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME-" Feng Xin screamed. On impulse, he smacked every Yao that jumped him in the face. They shrieked but didn't back down. Feng Xin screamed louder and recklessly channeled some qi into his hand and smacked them again. This truly was... a heavenly smack.
The Yao dissolved, leaving a large-eyed, sweating Feng Xin on the verge of screaming once again on the ground. Pausing between a strike of his sword, Mu Qing nearly snorted at him and Banyue rushed over.
"General Nan Yang, are you alright?" Banyue asked, offering her hand to pull him up. Feng Xin accepted the hand with a nod. His eyes were still wide and he was still a little sweaty.
"I'm fine. Just... focus. We don't know how many more will come," Feng Xin started, but just as he said that Pei Xiu and Mu Qing killed the last of them. Banyue cocked her head to the side. Remembering that she had a face covering and no longer had use for it, she untied hers and neatly folded it. Pei Xiu and Mu Qing came over. Mu Qing was holding in his laughter, and now he burst with laughter. He laughed until tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.
"I- you- your face-" Mu Qing stuttered through snorts. Feng Xin scrunched his face up and flicked Mu Qing.
"Man, shut up. Hey toss me my bow and quiver," Feng Xin said. Mu Qing happily obliged and indeed tossed over the bow and quiver. Feng Xin slung his bow and quiver over his shoulder and huffed a breath. Banyue and Pei Xiu silently stood at one another and of the clearing staring at them. Banyue called back all of her scorpions snaked in the Banyue tongue and they slithered up and disappeared in her robes. She patted her robes down and let a baby scorpion snake coil itself around her neck. Pei Xiu lightly patted the baby scorpion snake's head with his finger. Mu Qing gestured towards them.
"Time to head back. Come back with us, my soup is still simmering on the stove. You guys can eat and rest up at our place before going back to wherever you guys need to go," Mu Qing said. Banyue nodded and said her thanks, and Pei Xiu inclined his head.
"Thanks, my lords," Pei Xiu commented. Feng Xin pursed his lips and nodded.
The group traversed back to the little house, and Mu Qing pulled open the door. He had previously removed some burning logs before they had left to only let the soup gently boil and simmer, and steam still rose from the pot. A savory aroma wafted around the room, making everyone but Mu Qing's mouth water. Feng Xin pulled out some bowls and a ladle. He gently stirred the pot.
"Look at you, only knowing to eat and not to cook," Mu Qing said to Feng Xin.
"Well, you never cared to teach me," Feng Xin said, lightly bumping Mu Qing.
"It's because you never asked," Mu Qing said, taking a bowl. He ladled some soup into it and passed it to Pei Xiu who passed it to Banyue. Banyue smiled and thanked him. Mu Qing ladled another bowl and passed it to Pei Xiu. Pei Xiu also thanked him and placed his bowl down at the table, sitting down. He gestured to Banyue to sit down too. Mu Qing served Feng Xin then himself, closed the wooden lid, and sat down with Feng Xin in front of Banyue and Pei Xiu.
"Go ahead, eat your soup," Mu Qing said. Banyue and Pei Xiu lightly sipped at their soup, and their eyes widened in amazement. They thought that martial gods only knew how to eat from other people's cooking, and just kill and fight. Mu Qing was oddly acceptable at cooking, and he got better due to spending some alone time in seclusion with Feng Xin. Of course, Feng Xin didn't contribute, but Mu Qing experimented with some random foods that came up in his mind as ideas. Some would leave Feng Xin begging for more, some would leave Feng Xin bedridden with a terrible stomach ache and crying unstoppable tears. This soup was [of course] one that made Feng Xin beg for more the first time he tasted it, and why not randomly make it again? The group was sitting, chilling, and eating. They chatted for a little bit about what Pei Xiu and Banyue experienced while Pei Xiu was in exile. The two gods gave some advice on how to quickly get admitted back into the Heavenly Court without really having to wait out every single day of the two hundred or so years that Pei Xiu was sitting in. Soon after, they began to talk about relationships that they thought were strange. Banyue sat with a curious look on her face, but then the door burst open.
"GENERALS! I HAVE COME- wait Little Pei?" A booming voice exclaimed.
...
The man who broke the door was Pei Ming.