Shortly after Zhen Liu's eting with the curators ca to an end, he decided that the next best course of action was to loop in his allies and family mbers that were probably going to be dragged alongside him.
He had wanted to bring them all together to explain what their plans were going to be all at once, but then he rembered that his cousins Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai weren't in the library at the mont.
They were back ho at the Zhen Clan estate.
"Great… and knowing how much bullshit we've been through the past few days, I get the feeling that they'll be wanting to stay the night there instead of imdiately heading back," Zhen Liu grumbled. "Well, that's what I would do...guess, we'll just have to wait until tomorrow morning to—"
^Wait, your ho and family is right outside of this library?^ Lythero asked once the details of Zhen Liu's grumbling were fully ntally digested.
"Technically? We're like a couple dozen miles away."
^Couldn't we just pop on over by ourselves and inform them in person?^
"I an...huh."
Zhen Liu didn't exactly have any good argunts against having the friends he had made while in Dozing Salamander et with his family in Stone Claw City, other than personal embarrassnt.
"I…fuck it," Zhen Liu relented after a couple monts of thinking it over. "The sooner y'all et, the better. Maybe I can finally stop getting flak about bringing a new romantic partner every ti I go and do sothing cultivation-related…"
"Cool. I'll go tell the girls."
"Huh? What…oh, right."
And so, with this realization in mind and the possibility of soone else being pestered about their love life for once, Zhen Liu made his way back ho to the Zhen Clan estate alongside Lythero, Antonio, Leona, Taurna, Maggie, and so of the kaijin he created while in Dozing Salamander.
Well, first they decided to gather in front of the library's entrance that wasn't connected to an interdinsional key.
^Wow…^
This was the first ti any of Zhen Liu's friends from Dozing Salamander had ever been to another continent in their lives. As such, this was a rather novel experience.
"Alright, y'all feel free to stand around if you like. I'm going to stand over here while waiting for our ride to co pick us up," Zhen Liu stated in an oddly ominous manner.
Figuring that this was just Zhen Liu being nervous about finally being ho, the others respected his wishes and conversed with one another instead.
^So this is Stampeding Bison, huh? It's a lot…drier than I thought it would be,^ Lythero comnted as he took in the miles and miles of hardened dirt and sand in every direction.
^I thought it would be mostly grasslands,^ Antonio added.
As the boys discussed the scenery and the what they expected to see on their small vacation to this neighboring continent, the girls were having a slightly more intimate conversation.
^Wait a minute, I thought you were going to be hanging around the library so you can make up for lost ti with Depth Strider,^ Taurna asked her older blood sister.
^That was the plan, but we thought it'd be more fun to do all that in Stone Claw City,^ Maggie replied. ^This is the first ti either of us had been to another continent, but we figured it would be better for us to settle in with that reality by going where there are plenty of people.^
^Fair enough,^ Taurna capitulated. ^How about you, Leona? Excited about going into the city?^
^Huh? Oh, yeah, I am…^
^Hmm.^
At this mont in ti, Leona was currently staring at Zhen Liu from a distance as the latter was busy standing a bit further from the group for so unknown reason.
Figuring that she wasn't going to get anything more than a couple of short words as an answer to anything she could ask, Taurna decided to make the subject slightly more about Zhen Liu in order to see if Leona could squeeze out slightly more coherent words.
Evidently, now that she didn't have to worry about leading a revolution and now had the freedom to finally relax and pursue a more "normal" life, Leona had finally decided to figure out what made "love" such a big deal. Granted, there were probably better guys out there than one who had three fiancées.
Then again, Taurna wasn't really allowed to judge since she had fallen for soone who was of the exact sa bloodline as the aforentioned philanderer.
^So…do you have any idea on what kind of ride that Master Zhen Liu is going to summon for us to use?^ Taurna asked her lovestruck sister. ^Do you think it's probably going to be a bison kaijin or so exotic aether beast? Ya know, since he's technically from a clan of aether beast handlers?^
^I…actually have an answer for that.^
^Oh?^
^Whenever Nepherage possessed , she would sotis share her experiences about the stuff that happened prior to coming to the mines,^ Leona answered while gesturing to her head. ^One of the things she shared with was the fact that Zhen Liu actually has a mother-daughter pet duo that serves as his main ans of transportation. Well, the mother does anyways.^
^I'm…a little afraid to ask here, but what kind of riding beast is appropriate for soone who can make monsters out of literally anything and everything? Is it a chira?^
^Well…^
"KUUUU!"
"Grunt!"
^Oh, that must be them.^
In the distance, a giant plu of dust and sand began to fill the air as the cause of this unnatural event was steadily getting closer and clioser to the [Library of Nowhere].
Imdiately next to this giant plu of debris was a slightly smaller plu.
^Holy hell.^
^Is that a hippo? Zhen Liu's personal mount is a giant mother hippo?^
^Apparently so, but that smaller one seems to be running with a bit more ferocity than—^
"KUUUUU!"
"Hey there, Tiny! Hey there, Mi—OOF!"
Before Zhen Liu could even finish making his greetings, the man was tackled into the side of the library by a juvenile Raijin Hippo.
It should be noted that the average juvenile Raijin Hippo was about the size of a race horse...Mini the Raijin Hippo was a little bigger than that.
Either way, Zhen Liu's friends from another continent were a little shocked at the sight of a guy who they had seen fight a literal horde of evil just...get easily bodied by a juvenile hippopotamus.
Not that Zhen Liu cared, he was too busy being attacked by a relived Mini.
"Kuuu! Kuu!"
"Ayesh! Okay, okay, I'm happy to see you too, Mini! Sorry for not returning ho sooner," Zhen Liu pleaded as Mini kept playfully attention to bite him.
"Grunt!"
In the midst of all of this play biting, Tiny the mother Raijin Hippo waddled over with that angry look in her eyes that only mothers could muster.
The kind that caused rough housing to end, but made it clear that it was an angry look sourced from love.
"Grunt."
"Kuu..."
At this sound, Mini stopped attempting to eat Zhen Liu's head.
"Hey, Tiny. I'm back."
"..."
The mother Raijin Hippo quietly stared at Zhen Liu for a solid minute or so, before finally making a move that made it clear that she had been worried about Zhen Liu since his accident a couple months back.
She licked him.
Sound of a fleshy tongue sliding across soone's entire being all at once.
"Grunt!"
"Huh. That's...out of character for you," Zhen Liu comnted. "I figured you would've tried to—"
"Xiao Liu!"
"Eh?"
^Whoa, who is that?!^
^I don't know, but her skin is really pale and... damn it, she's pretty!^
^Well, that explains why you and Zhen Liu get along, Lythero. You both have similar taste in won.^
Evidently, the Raijin Hippos weren't the only ones from the clan estate to co and greet.
From atop Tiny's back, an albino Amazonian woman dressed in armor made of insect armor leaped down and landed a couple feet away from Zhen Liu.
"Rianna! You're here!"
Tiny normally never let anyone but Zhen Liu or his grandfather in her back, so seeing Rianna show up alongside her was a pleasant surprise.
"It's been a while! It's good to—"
Zhen Liu made moves to hug the albino Amazonian girl, but was prevented by doing so when Rianna slapped him across the face...much to the confusion of the people from Dozing Salamander.
^Huh?!^
Granted, they were even more confused when, imdiately after slapping Zhen Liu, Rianna grabbed him by the face and forcefully kissed him.
All before Zhen Liu could even squeak out a word.
"Okay, now I understand why big sister Jin Fang needed to do that when you first reunited," Rianna declared with a trembling voice that made it clear she was holding herself back from crying tears of relief. "Stop trying to die on !"
As she made this last declaration, Rianna hugged Zhen Liu to her chest.
The only way Zhen Liu could respond in this situation was with single word.
"...okay."
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