The day after the engagement party, Zhen Yue and Santiago had to split apart... physically...for the next few months.
Weddings, regardless of the time and place and universe, always took a lot of time to prepare for.
Venues had to be prepared, feasts had to be ordered, guests had to be invited and dresses had to be comissioned. This was especially true when it comes to Roaring Tide style weddings... affairs that take about a week to do.
Either way, no major plans or events were in motion for the foreseeable future, meaning that Zhen Liu, for the first time in a while, was free to do whatever he wanted.
"Finally! I can go back to the Library!"
Although, this time he wouldnât be going back alone.
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Zhen Liu waited a few days before asking to borrow Tiny and Mini to go on a training/hunting trip of sorts. He was quickly given the go ahead, since immediately after the engagement, the patriarch decided now would be a good time to help promote Zhen Hai to the Aether Master level. Due to it being a conditional formula, advancement in them required certain procedures to be respected. That being said, Zhen Liuâs mother did assign Jin Fang to go with him in order to make sure he didnât get assassinated...again.
With the okay given, Zhen Liu, Tiny, Mini and Jin Fang made the return trip to the Jade Lake.
The latter member of the party however was proving to be a bit of a handful...
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"Jin Fang, youâre...still mad, arenât you?" {Bro, sheâs asking for it.}
"Mad? Why would I be mad?"
"Well..." {Itâs pretty obvious sheâs trying to mark her territory, oblige her!}
As of this exact moment, Jin Fang was essentially sitting in Zhen Liuâs lap as the two of them were riding Tinyâs back. Let it be known, riding hippos tend to get a bit bouncy.
To explain why, on the night that Bellona kissed him out of nowhere, Jin Fang had unexpectedly witnessed this event occuring in real time. She had a bit of free time from her duties and had went over to where Zhen Liu and Bellona were chilling.
However, despite catching Zhen Liu in a moment of infidelity, she didnât get angry at him or Bellona, at least not in an obvious manner.
Instead, she very calmy and quickly, walked over to Zhen Liu, subtly nudged Bellona to the side, grabbed Zhen Liuâs face and kissed him in such a manner that the French would go, "Sacre Bleu". It even made Bellona blush.
Zhen Liu couldnât really register what had happened since his mind was already shocked from Bellonaâs kiss, so Jin Fangâs sudden and passionate made his brain non-existent at this point.
He could barely register the exclaims of shock from his kaijin at that point, but he did manage to hear Jin Fang say the words: "me first".
Not "mine".
Not "back off".
Just "me first".
Zhen Liu wasnât sure what to do with the implications of that sentence, but his brain wasnât active enough to figure out the deeper meaning at the time.
He was illuminated on these words later on, when on the day that he was set to leave for the library, she showed up in an adventurer outfit that was equipped with booty shorts, ala, Final F@ntasy, T0mb R@ider, etc. Making matters worst, she insisted on sitting in his lap the whole ride there, insisting that she was only doing so to keep Mini safe and snuggled.
That this also meant that she was essentially pressing the full weight of her ass upon his lap was completely coincidental and not at all indicative of ulterior motives. The fact that she also had Zhen Liu wrap his arms around her waist to keep her safe might have been a bit more indicative.
The [Voice of Lust] screaming in Zhen Liuâs mindscape didnât help either.
âKeep control, keep control, keep control,{stop the hippo, find some place quiet, return the kiss with interest and then punish this bratty bottom!}â
Honestly, Zhen Liu was looking forward to get back to the Library just get this stupid voice out of his head.
But after three-ish days of the most vigorous mental training Zhen Liu had been subjected to in his current life, the group finally returned to the Jade Lake.
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"So this is where it all began? I thought itâd be more majestic looking," Hurricroak commented while looking over the Jade Lake.
Since there was no one else in the area except for him, Jin Fang and the hippos, Zhen Liu decided to let out all of his current kaijin in order to give them time to stretch...and in possible anticipation of things going sideways once they get into the library proper.
"Itâs...big...," Frosttusk rumbled.
"Lots of things to cut, though," Razor Maiden observed.
Nepherage for her part didnât say anything, she just quietly looked over the area,while Tiny and Mini used this opportunity to take a bath in their home lake. As for Zhen Liu and Jin Fang, the former was explaining to the latter about why they were here.
"You mean to tell me that underneath this lake is some giant library of arts and knowledge that the world hadnât seen in years, and thatâs why youâre now able to...do all of this?," Jin Fang asked while gesturing to Zhen Liuâs entire being. The answer to which was a simple nod and a small exposition."
"Yup, the only issue now is that weâll have to hold our breaths for a while as we-"
=There will be no need for that, Kaijin Lord. Conditions for Library raising has been met, deactivating camouflage and first layer of defense,= a semi-robotic, serious sounding voice suddenly called out.
"Thatâs a new voice."
"Who was that?!"
"Wait, you could hear that one?!"
*RUMBLE!*
The ground began to shake and the lake began to churn as something massive arose from itâs depths and exposed itself to the sunlight above.
First came towering obelisks that seemed to pierce the heavens themselves, then came a massive dome that was decorated with murals of monsters, heroes and everything in-between and finally, a giant gate that was flanked by a pair of demon guard statues wielding equally large halberds.
The appearance of the massive building rendered everyone speechless, with the kaijin in particular staring at the building with rapt attention.
<Quite the entrance, right guys?>
Once the building had fully surfaced from the lake the gate opened up and a pathway made of cobbled rune stones formed out of nowhere.
=Welcome one and all to the Demonâs Archive, the worldâs greatest depository of forbidden knowledge in this life or the next.=
<Oh lay off it, and we changed the name, remember?>
=Oh...right.=
<Ahem, welcome everyone to the Library of Nowhere. Please enter in an orderly fashion, and be sure to wipe your shoes, feet, hooves and claws before entering the building.>
A shock of static sound occured before the exact message the group just heard repeated again, but in Spanish.
Zhen Liu promptly facepalmed at the words, while Jin Fang commented, "Wait...is that Salamander Tongue?"