Guardian: The Broken World

-Yunlan-

As the bell announcing the tribes keep ringing, the monks of the temple went into panic. No one knew that they would be hosting such an important event and the gathering of the tribes took them all by surprise. Of course, none of them blamed their Ghost Slayer, because he as well had been taken unprepared.

Zhao was silently watching as Shen Wei greeted the many leaders, discretely distracting those who would start to bicker about old times and kindly guiding them around the temple. He was very proud of his Ghost Slayer, as everyone followed him like lost puppies and showing him their deepest respect. For once, he wished to regain the memories of when he was a god, all those leaders also came to give him their respect and even bowed to him, when he was nothing more than a human.

Lady Yue had explain to him that long ago, the fairies were used to be among gods, become back then, most of them walked the earth as they pleased. It was after the creation of the humans that the gods concentrate in the celestial matters, most likely because the Jade Emperor, supreme ruler of the heavens, wanted for the humans to live freely, without the influence of the gods to do as they wished.

Right now, he was trying to get all the guest right. The dragons, were two, a male and a female. Their names were Renshu for the man and Meizhen for the woman. Surprisingly enough, both of them were exceptionally good looking. Lin had been staring at Meizhen since her arrival. He was a sucker for pretty faces, but for him, none of them were more of a beauty than his Professor.

After the dragons came the lions, also two of them, but both males. They were average looking, but even in their human forms, you could feel their strength. Those were imperial guardians, so it wasn't exactly too surprising of their strong auras. Their names, Tao and Tengfei. Apparently, the lions and the dragons were not the best friends, for which Shen introduced the dragons to Ming Yue, while he keep the lions busy. He was such smart man, he only wished he could openly kiss him.

Then, there was floras, two beautiful women, as delicate and fragrant as flowers. Lin was currently taking care of them. Her names were Lanfen and Ju. After their arrival he notice Shen Wei keep himself always close to him. Da Qing said it was because the floras were full of pheromones. They enchanted men with their perfume and it was said that their tribe have many offspring of the later gods. This make Zhao smile, because it was obvious that Shen Wei was making sure the women did not affect his senses. The last thing he wanted was for a pair of unknown women to charm his beloved when he had waited for him for centuries.

At some point, when he was close enough, he whisper to his Xiao Wei, 'don't worry, no pheromone will enchant me more than you did with a simple smile babe' and although his Shen Wei looked pleased with that statement, he couldn't help himself but blush and of course, he enjoyed watching him go with a deep red face.

The Nuwa tribe came represented with the expected Uncle Four, for which they all were glad to see him again and Zhu Hong was beyond happy to finally have a talk with her uncle. His companion was another Uncle called Deming and he was as welcome as his brother.

The next one to arrive were the cat fairies. Da Qing had been nervous all morning waiting for his tribe. He was fearing none of them would remember him, after so many centuries of absence, so when the bell sounded, he had follow Shen Wei to greet them, although he had stayed at the entrance.

"Look, two as well. Do you recognize them?" Zhao asked the cat, who was nostalgically looking down.

"Just one, the female dark gray one. Her name is Da Chun and she is my little sister." The cat said, managing to surprise Zhao.

"You have a sister? Why didn't you tell me this before?" Zhao asked.

"It was not like I could go and visit her. She lives too far away from Dragon City. They only manage to come because of the teleportation magic the foxed used to bring them all here in time."

"Seriously, Da Qing, if you had told me before you still had your family around, I would have brought you to them, even if it was to the end of the world. Stupid cat, we may fight, but you are like family to me. I owe you way to much fatty, so next time, be frank with me and I will bring you to whatever place you fancy. Got it?" Zhao asked and Da Qing felt moved by his word.

"Stupid Chief, just make sure to buy me a lot of dried fish and premium tuna." Zhao smiled.

"We have a deal, old cat." Zhao said, before the two cat transformed into human-like forms.

"Ah, she can transform. Just how much older are you?"

"We born in the same day."

"Then why can't you transform anymore? You said it was because you were too old, but if she can, then that's just an excuse."

"I didn't finish my cultivation, as I was too busy being your chosen companion. Long before Shen Wei was even born, you ask me to guide you around the world."

"Really?" Zhao asked a bit sad.

"Yes, but don't look at me like that, you shameless pervert, because being chosen by Lord Kunlun was quite the honor and many envy me for centuries."

"Well, I guess I was that awesome…"

"You said so yourself, you were. A shame those times are long gone now…"

"Why you…" But Shen Wei had come to introduce the cats to him. At the end, Da Qing sister proved not to be any different than Lady Yue, because as soon as she saw him, she took him in her arms and hug him tightly.

"Ah, my darling brother… I missed you so much…" She said while squeezing him even tighter, making both Shen and him laugh. Soon after, the foxes came, although as they had already be invited, the bell didn't sound for them.

Half an hour later, as everyone expected had come, all the members of the tribes sat around a big celestial fire, which represented the gods. Although it was unlikely they will show during the gathering, the fire was the medium between them. If the gods wanted to send a message, they would use it to convey it. Zhao felt a little restless while watching at that particular fire. The foxes had summon it and even if it was as white as his fire, it felt different and in a way it was making him feel a bit dizzy.

"Zhao, don't stare at it, you are still unbalance, remember?" Shen whisper, discretely holding his hand.

"I can't help it, when is right in front of me, but it helps if you keep holding hands with me." Zhao added, making Shen sigh, yet he didn't remove his hand from over his. As they whisper to each other, the gathering begin, with Lord Húa telling the other tribes of the coming of the demons close to Mount Kunlun and the involvement of the crow tribe.

"Damn those traitors, how dare them to work for demons? I did warn Lord Kunlun that they were not to be trusted." The dragon named Renshu said angrily.

"Lord Renshu, what's done is done. Let's not invoke the past." Lord Húa advised.

"I think that you are too focus in the crow tribe. They had always being eager practitioners of the dark magic, but I wonder, have they grown powerful enough to summon a big number of demons from Hell? It takes quite lot of energy to even open the gate of Hell and only my little ghost can perform such deed…"

"Ming Yue! Don't call the Ghost Slayer like that!" Her older brother scold her.

"Please, Lord Húa, I don't mind her calling me like that, she had taken care of me since young, I actually owe her."

"Ah, you are still too kind, Your Honor." Uncle Four said.

"Never mind that, Lady Yue is actually right. The crows can help weaker ghosts to cross Nuwa's seal, but that many demons should be impossible, even with their strongest magic." A lion stated.

"Well, if you ask me, someone quite powerful most be involved if they plan to revive GongGong." Zhao said.

"Yunlan…" Shen protested, it was too soon to talk about GongGong.

"GongGong, you said? That would be troublesome. Care to explain, dear Guardian Zhao Yunlan…" Lanfen, the flora said with a charming smile that make Shen Wei, held his hand even tighter.

"Apparently the goal of the demons is to revive or awaken the former god. For that, just like us, to re-make the seal of Hell, they need the Holy artifacts. That's why they are sending so many demons after us, in order to either stop us from gathering them to re-make the seal or steal them from us. That's the reason they came looking for us in here. To be honest, we had fight a lot of demons in the last few days, but for some reason, this is the first time the crows had being involved and they even dare to use dark magic to hurt the Ghost Slayer." Zhao calmly explained.

"Dear gods, were you hurt, Your Honor?" Meizhen asked.

"Just a scratch, nothing to worry." Shen dismissed.

"Still, this is bothersome. The Holy artifacts involvement is no joke. Have you manage to find them?" Lord Húa asked.

"Just one so far. We were about to collect the second one in Nuwa's hidden temple today, but…" Zhao stopped as Shen Wei once again glare at him. He resisted the urge to laugh, because an angry ghost was even more handsome than the calm one.

"We came unannounced. Ah, my apologies for that, Lord Zhao." The old fox said.

"There is no need for apologies. This gathering could work on our favor. We all want this world safe and when it comes to deal with hundreds of demons, some help will be appreciated." Zhao added, making Shen relax a bit.

"Well of course. I offer you my assistance if you deem it necessary." Tao the lion offer and soon all member of the tribes offered the same.

"Finding the artifacts is important, so if any of you know the location of the other two, it will be a great help." Shen added.

"I think there is one deep within the Rainbow Mountain. One of the pillars, guarded by a celestial beast was said to be somewhere inside the odd mountains and as we live near, we know there is a strong seal there." The Da Chun said.

"Well, that's one less to find…" Zhao added, mentally engraving the information.

"Anyone else knows were the last one is hidden?" Shen Wei asked and all the present looked at each other in wonder of who could know the location. However, none of them knew more than what the cat tribe said.

"It was supposed to be hidden in Leshan, but I believe is lost right now." Ming Yue said, making restless most of those present. A missing artifact really meant deep troubles for them.

At that moment, in which the leaders of the tribes speculate about the lost artifact, the flame they were circling begin to stir. As Zhao's attention was once again focus in those white flames, he felt as if someone was calling him. Shen Wei was about to ask him if he was feeling sick, when the flames changed color to deep, crimson red and a man dressed in black robes, with long flaming hair emerged from it, turning to stare at the Chief Guardian.

"Zhao Yunlan, you come with me." And a second later both of them were gone.

"Yunlan!" Shen yelled in disbelief, as once again his lover had been taking away from him by a god.

"Was that…?" Lord Renshu begin to ask.

"Yes, the flame god, Zhu Rong in the flesh." Da Qing said.

AN: I honestly don't know how did I manage to create this story, but somehow it writes itself. I have spent a while reading about Chinese mythology, to give this story some realistic facts, then twisting them a bit to fit them in.