36 The Nine-tailed Fox meets another fox

The look of betrayal in Lan Tian's eyes douses any heat Wu Yun might still be feeling from the dream.

"How do you know that name?" he asks, trying not to look as guilty as he feels.

He knows he shouldn't have hidden the dreams from Lan Tian, but how could he tell him that some nights he dreams that he is in someone else's body, and that sometimes those dreams involve having sex with a god named Shu Luan. Just thinking about it is mortifying enough.

Lan Tian can see right through Wu Yun's paltry attempt at evasion. "You were saying it in your sleep."

That makes Wu Yun turn as white as the silk sheets he's still wrapped in. What else did he say in his sleep? What did he look like as he experienced Shu Luan fucking Ling Yan through the mattress? He can't bear the thought of Lan Tian seeing him like that.

"I...it was nothing, it doesn't matter." He doesn't look into Lan Tian's eyes as he speaks, and Lan Tian takes notice.

"You're lying again." His voice is ragged with disappointment and it makes Wu Yun's chest seize. "Why do you keep lying to me?"

Wu Yun doesn't have a good enough answer for him. The dreams leave him confused and heartbroken sometimes, he doesn't understand what any of it means, and admitting it feels like exposing a vulnerability.

But if he can't trust Lan Tian, who can he trust? He has been having the dreams for weeks and he's no closer to understanding what they mean.

He takes in shuddering breath and steals himself for laying it all bare, for laying himself bare. "I've been dreaming that I'm someone else, someone named Ling Yan."

He holds a tiny sliver of hope that the name will spark some recognition in Lan Tian, but his amber eyes reveal nothing.

"I don't know who he is, but in every dream I'm in his body, and I watch scenes from his life. He's a god, and he has a lover called Shu Luan."

Lan Tian sits down on the bed, next to Wu Yun. "Why couldn't you tell me that?"

"It's hard to explain, but the dreams...it's like they mean something to me, or at least they should, but I don't understand what."

"Do you know where Ling Yan is now?" Lan Tian asks, sticking to the reasonable questions as he always does when a situation threatens to slip out of his control.

"I have no idea. I asked Wan Mi if she knew him, but she didn't."

Lan Tian nods. "You should ask Bai Xiaoli, she's a goddess too. She probably knows more than Wan Mi."

Wu Yun has thought about that, but between learning about Bai Xiaoli's real identity and now, he didn't have much time in private with her to ask that question.

"I still don't understand why you felt like you had to hide the dreams from me." Lan Tian gets up from the bed with a sigh. "But I'm glad you told me."

Wu Yun doesn't understand it either, but it has always felt to him like the right thing to do. He still isn't sure if he made the right decision by telling Lan Tian, but he couldn't stand the hurt look in his eyes.

"There's something else, Ling Yan became a god against his will. One of the Jade Emperor's sons took him to the Heavens. Ling Yan called him Xue Jin but I still don't know his real name, Shu Luan is his brother."

"And you want to kill the Jade Emperor, their father? Do you think there's some connection?" Lan Tian asks.

Wu Yun shrugs. "Maybe, but I still don't understand it."

When he thinks about the Jade Emperor his chest fills with an overwhelming surge of rage. He knows that he needs to kill him, he doesn't know how he's going to do it, but it needs to happen. It feels to him like an unquestionable truth.

He also has the odd impression that everything that has happened since he gained sentience has been pulling him in that direction. An inevitable thread dragging him along an invisible path.

"Are you still mad at me?" Wu Yun asks, trying to understand the depth of emotions behind Lan Tian's amber eyes.

"No...It's just, what happens in the dreams?"

Wu Yun was hoping he wouldn't ask that question. He looks longingly at the blue expanse of sky he can see between the stairs leading to the lower level. It's still isn't too late to end his misery.

"Ling Yan, and Shu Luan...they like to have sex." The words rush out of him, and he fights the urge to hide his face in his hands.

Lan Tian blinks twice, struck dumb by Wu Yun's admission. That is, until his shoulders start shaking with barely restrained mirth that eventually bursts out of him in a bubble of laughter.

"Why are you laughing? It's not funny!"

Wu Yun would like to see him experience that turmoil of sensations and feelings and see if he still finds it funny.

That thought makes him remember that brief second when he saw Lan Tian's face instead of Shu Luan's, straining with effort while he fucked into him.

He doesn't know why that thought popped into his head, but he doesn't want to have to think about it in front of Lan Tian.

He averts his eyes and hopes Lan Tian mistakes his blush for embarrassment at the current topic.

"Is that why you didn't want to tell me about the dreams? Were you embarrassed?" Lan Tian asks, his tone teasing.

"It wasn't only because of that." It wasn't. So Lan Tian can't even accuse him of lying.

Lan Tian chuckles fondly. "We should get going, whoever is going to take us to the cultivation sect is probably already waiting."

Wu Yun gets up from the bed, and feels a familiar unpleasant wetness between his legs.

He blanches and starts pushing Lan Tian out of the door. "You go ahead, I'm going to take a bath."

Lan Tian tries to tell him something, but Wu Yun just keeps pushing him until he's on the other side of the door. Once he's finally alone he slides down to the floor with this back against the door.

He wonders if the cultivation sect has any pill he can take that will erase the last fifteen minutes of conversation out of his mind.

---

When Wu Yun finally leaves the room, freshly bathed, and with the fur collar cape wrapped snugly around his neck, Lan Tian is still waiting for him outside.

He's not alone, Bai Xiaoli is with him too, grinning from ear to ear.

"I've heard all about your upcoming trip to the Underworld, so exciting! I wish I could come with you, but Lu Jiao needs my help with something."

She looks tremendously pleased that Lu Jiao needs her help. Wu Yun remembers her asking Bai Xiaoli to stay behind so she could ask her something, it must be that request that's making Bai Xiaoli feel so proud of herself.

"I'm amazed she remembered your name, let alone asked you for something," Wu Yun says.

"Speaking of which, Wu Yun needs your help with something," Lan Tian cuts in, shooting Wu Yun a pointed look.

Wu Yun sighs, and addresses Bai Xiaoli's smug face. "Have you ever heard of two gods called Shu Luan and Ling Yan?"

Bai Xiaoli frowns. "Is the 'Shu' character the same as in 'dawn'?"

Wu Yun shrugs, it's not like he's ever seen Shu Luan's name written down.

"If it is, that person can only be related to the current Heavenly dynasty, but, I've never heard of him."

Wu Yun rolls his eyes, he already knows Shu Luan is one of the Jade Emperor's sons, that's not news to him.

"And Ling Yan, have you heard of him?" Lan Tian asks.

Bai Xiaoli shakes her head. "I'm sorry, I have no idea who they are. Are you sure they're gods?"

"I'm sure of it. How is it possible for you not to know them?" Wu Yun asks.

"Well, I've only been a goddess for a few centuries. They can be dead already, gods don't die of natural causes but they can be killed. If they died in infamy, no other gods would continue to talk about them today."

Wu Yun is shaken by her words. He hasn't considered that. He has mulled over the hypothesis of both Ling Yan and Shu Luan being long gone, but having died in infamy? To the point younger gods don't even know who they are?

"I'm going to have a run through of our records once I get back to the Heavens, and see what I can find."

"Thanks for helping us," Lan Tian says, he takes one look at Wu Yun's dazed expression and adds. "Wu Yun is grateful too."

Bai Xiaoli snorts. "I'll take your word for it. Let's go, your ride is waiting for you, and I know how much she wants to show off."

---

Bai Xiaoli takes them to the landing where the ascended the stairs to Kunlun. Lu Meng is already waiting for them there, next to Wan Mi, Lu Jiao and a man with red fox ears protruding out of his black hair that neither of them recognizes.

When they get closer Wu Yun notices that Wan Mi looks different. She has blue and red feathers protruding out of her temples, like Lu Jiao, albeit shorter than her master's smooth, long ones. Her eyes are a brilliant green that stands out against the healthy glow of her warm skin.

She smiles, despite herself, when she sees them and does a little twirl. "I have my powers back."

Lu Jiao watches her enthusiasm with what could be called fondness on a less stoic face. "Wan Mi will be taking you to the nearest cultivation sect, and Zou Qiao will be accompanying you, as he is on good terms with the cultivators."

Zou Qiao turns to greet them, and Wu Yun notices the red nine tails behind his back, their white tips almost reach Zou Qiao's head. He has dark eyes like Wu Yun, and pointed feature's that make him look like he's in on a joke everyone else is missing. His full lips seem perpetually twisted in a charming smirk, and his sharp eyes are upturned at the corners giving him the look of someone who is always trying seduce whoever looks at him.

He notices Wu Yun looking at his tails and fans them around his body like a peacock's tail so Wu Yun can have a better look. "I'm very happy to be meeting a younger brother."

He winks at Wu Yun's delighted look, and adds, "Little brother can touch them if he wants."

Wu Yun reaches forward, about to do just that, but Lan Tian holds him back by the sash of his robes. "We should get going."

Lan Tian smiles politely at Zou Qiao's greeting, but it never reaches his eyes.

Wan Mi steps to the side, away from her master, and gets a look of concentration of her face. An inner light starts shinning through her middle until it envelops all of her in a blinding flash.

Once the light recedes, and Wu Yun can look again, in Wan Mi's place sits a majestic red phoenix several zhang high, and with wings as wide as a small house.

She spreads her wings proudly and flaps them, throwing her long neck back in a graceful arch. She turns her back towards them and lowers her body to the ground so they can climb.

Wu Yun goes first, sliding on the slippery feathers until he finally manages to wrap himself safely around Wan Mi's neck.

Zou Qiao moves to follow him, but Lan Tian intercedes, nodding to Lu Meng.

"Please go next."

Lu Meng smirks at Lan Tian's serious expression and climbs up behind Wu Yun, wrapping his arms around his waist.

Zou Qiao turns to Lan Tian with a pleasant smile. "Brother Dragon should go next. I'm sure he wishes he could have his powers and fly on his own instead."

Lan Tian doesn't dignify him with an answer.

Once they are all seated on Wan Mi's torso, she swivels her head around and fixes a huge emerald eye on them. "Hold on tightly, I'll only stop when we reach the Immortal Mountain sect grounds."

Wu Yun opens his mouth in a gasp but before he can say a single word Wan Mi stretches her wings and plunges down into the vast blue beneath the platform.

---

A.N.: I should have said this before but the Lu in Lu Meng and Lu Jiao is not the same, they are in no way related. I choose character names based on the chinese characters and meanings I like, and that apply to them, the problem is that there are thousands of hanzi, so a lot of words look the same spelled down in pinyin, especially without the tone marks, which I omit because some of them don't exist on my keyboard.