Guardian: The Broken World

-Yunlan-

After a few long heated kisses, Zhao finally let go of Shen Wei to look at him. Maybe it was because the curse wasn't there anymore, but Wei's energy looked and felt different. Before, when he used his third eye to see him, he was surrounded by a black and gold mist, with the dark particles overwhelming the gold ones. Now, as he stared at Shen using his third eye, he was glad to see the golden particles were equally surrounding him at the same time his aura became stronger.

"What? Do I look different to you?" Shen asked.

"At the matter of fact, yes. Your two natures are more balanced now. How do you feel without the curse? You are not going to get sick, right?" Shen smiled.

"No, I'm a bit tired, but otherwise, I feel better than never before. What about you, Yunlan? The last time I saw you, only your eyes looked different. Now the color of your eyes had gone back to normal, but your hair had grown so long..." Shen whisper, passing one of his hands between the long silky treads of his hair. It felt good to Zhao, as Shen Wei keep combing his hair with such delicacy as if bewitched by it. Zhao couldn't help but smile.

"You love it right?" Shen looked up, as Zhao was still half covering him.

"It brings old memories... you have it this long, when your name was Kunlun..." Shen said a bit nostalgic.

"Ah, yes... so did you..." Zhao's gaze over Shen was penetrating.

"You remember?" Shen asked surprised and stop playing with his lover hair.

"A few things, yes..."

"Just what happen Yunlan? What reckless thing you did this time? How did you get to the center?" Shen asked curiously.

"Long story short, I became even more awesome and defeat hundreds of beast on my own, thanks to a certain ghost that insisted in being left behind. By the way, never ask me that again, you know I will never leave you. I love you way too much for that..." He kissed him.

"Hum... so... you awaked more... powers?" Shen asked between kisses.

"Yes. Now I can create barriers, summon water and ice... and use portals... too." Zhao whisper against his lips. "I wish you could had seen me... the rest of the group were all shocked. The tribes called me Kunlun and the old man even said that my rage was legendary..."

"Indeed... last time you were enraged was..." Shen stopped as he realize he was going to touch a delicate nerve in Zhao, recalling the time when he was stabbed and Kunlun almost killed his brother.

"About Ye Zun... Shen Wei, I was going to tell you about him going missing in hell..."

"It's okay. Many things happen in such a short amount of time and I will get my brother out..." Zhao interrupt him with another heated kiss.

"We, Shen Wei... we will find him together and restore the seal." Shen smiled.

"So... you don't hate him anymore?"

"I do resent him for hurting you, but I'm aware he wasn't expecting you to interfere. To be honest I can't blame him for hating me. If you were to follow the fire god, for example, I will definitely want to hurt him in a very painful way."

"Then, if he goes out after everything is over..."

"As long as he don't try to kill me again, I will behave... His my brother in law, after all..."

"Well, as long as you don't call me wife in front of him, I guess he can behave as well."

"Ahhh, but you are my wife... my very lovely wife." Zhao kissed his neck.

"Sorry, but right now, I'm the husband. You are the one with the long hair and beautiful chocolate eyes..." Shen teased.

"That's it! Cut it for me Wei..." Shen smiled.

"If you wish, then we should be looking for the guardian lantern wick."

"You should have some rest first. The temples had changed to hold the tools. Something similar to the fairies hell, should be coming next."

"I'm fine, we can go now."

"No. Sleep for a few more hours, we have plenty of time before nightfall."

"I'm not sleepy..."

"You will now babe. Have a good dream." Zhao said, kissing him in his forehead and making his lover go back to sleep. That was a power he had used unconsciously before and although it was useful in times like those, he dint liked force his man to sleep.

"I'm sorry, but you need it, because our next quest is not going to be any easier." Zhao whisper before going out of their room to meet with the others. After they fully prepare to move on to the next challenge, he will come and wake him up, if Lady Yue didn't kill him right away.

-Shen Wei-

Five hours later, Zhao had come to wake him up, once again with his hair cut out, although it was a bit longer than before. He had asked Yunlan who cut it for him, which make most present laugh and Zhao avoided the topic, trying to distracting him with something else. Later, he found out that Lady Yue had done it, after sniffing at him. She had accused Zhao of permanently marking her little ghost with the scent of a god's lover, so she suddenly cut his long hair with her sharp claws saying that if he took something from her, she also will took something from him in return and run off.

Then, Zhu had offer herself to cut his hair properly, although it was quite obvious she had also make fun of what the enraged Lady fox had done to punish him for stealing her beloved boy from her. Nevertheless, as he had been fully healed, Lady Yue had insisted in going to the next temple with them, now that she was no longer bound to the Ghost Slayer temple, which make Zhao nervous. The Lady was quite scary when mad and she already had her eyes put on him.

When they were ready to go, Shen Wei transported them as close as he could to the temple in the Rainbow Mountains in Danxia. The place was quite magnificent on its own, because the landscape scenery was naturally multicolored painted as far as the eye could see. It goes without saying, the place have a certain magical air all around. It was a place touched by the winds of a god, leaving his mark on the earth wide and deep.

"Wow, this is beautiful." Zhu said, admiring the unreal view. The place have nothing but rows after rows of mounds of earth naturally painted in different colors, but it was still breath taking.

"Yeah, quite mystic..." Lin agree. "I wonder which god is guarding this place. Do you know Chief Zhao?" Lin asked looking at his boss.

"It used to be Fēi Lián's, the wind god, but right now, I don't sense the presence of the win god in there anymore, because if I'm not mistaken, another one had replace him, but I can't tell who. My memory is still a bit foggy about old times." Zhao said without thinking and Shen wonder just how much had Zhao remember or awaken. He could also feel the presence of other gods, which was something he could never do, but Zhao had been a god before and maybe he already knew how the presence of certain gods felt.

"So, where is the temple?" The lion asked, not seen anything but colored earth.

"Underground." Both Zhao and Lady Yue reply at the same time. This make a few members of the team tense, because they knew Lady Yue was a bit angry with Zhao, but Shen only smiled.

"Yes, it is indeed underground and heavily guarded too. Can you portal us inside Yunlan? If another god is involved, your presence should be more welcoming than mine. My interaction with gods is a bit limited." Shen suggested.

"Sure, if there are no objections, of course." Zhao said, looking at the lady fox.

"Go ahead, I'm here to help and protect my little ghost." She said.

"Right... then, let's get in." Zhao said, as he concentrate in the image he had of the temple underground, although it looked more like an abandon ancient tomb than a temple. The place was in ruins, dark and huge. He chose a deserted big open part of the ruins and transport them there.

Giving the darkness of the ruins, Lady Yue summon dozens of blue birds made of fire, to illuminate their path, which was hard to follow, because the ground was full of holes of all sizes. They walked for a few minutes in outer silence, hearing the occasional drop of water falling somewhere. The ceiling, which was nothing more than a cave, was cover with strange vines of different colors, just like the earth above.

"I have a bad feeling about this place. Is this truly a temple? It feels more like tomb.., it's creepy." Zhu whisper, rubbing herself as the place gave her goosebumps and it was quite cold down there.

"Certainly, it doesn't look lively…" Lin added, looking up. For some reason, he keep imagining that something was moving high above.

"Let's just be careful. We know the temples are no longer safe. Shen Wei, can you sense the exact location of the wick?" Zhao asked and after a second of trying finding the so needed flame, he shook his head in negative.

"No… there is a kind of pagoda in the middle, but I don't know if the flame it's inside or is hidden somewhere else." Shen said.

"This place holds no wick." Lady Yue said, sniffing the heavy air and Shen turned to look at her.

"What do you mean?" The dragon asked.

"This is a place for testing those who can become the…" But before she could finish the sentence, something fell from the ceiling and in a blink of an eye, a red vine engulfed Guo and pull him up faster than they could realize he was gone.

"Guuuoooo!!!" Chu yelled, sending some of his treads up, in hope to free him, but he was gone faster than it should be possible.

"Guooo! Damn, what the hell…" But then, the whole place became a zone of chaos, as perhaps hundreds of black crows, emerged from up, down and pretty much from everywhere, coming at them with their sharp claws and ominous cries.

"Damn traitors! Using dark magic to revive a monster!" Lady Yue yelled, transforming fully into a huge white fox eagerly eating anything that came close enough, while the rest of the tribesmen and team, fight to keep themselves from being cut by the crows. They all knew what the crows used black magic and with just a scratch you could be cursed.

"Don't let them cut you!" Zhao yelled, using thunder to repell most of the crows and Shen Wei created a long range barrier with his own dark energy, expelling all crows instantly away from them.

"Your Honor, I need to go after Guo…" Chu said almost desperately.

"We all go, old Chu. I know Guo's energy better than anyone else, as he had share it with me before. Let me locate him first…" Shen said, closing his eyes. He internally focus on Guo's huge virtue and soon enough, he found him, just above the pagoda.

"I got him. Lady Yue! We are going to the center…" Shen yelled to the enraged fox, which was incinerating crows right and left, as she pleased.

"Go, my little one. I will keep this traitors out of your way…"

"Please, be careful!" Shen yelled again and was about to portal them to Guo's location, when he felt a force restraining him from opening portals any further.

"Shen Wei?" Zhao asked, noticing the same thing. The strange force that felt even heavy.

"Do you feel it too?" Shen asked back.

"Aahhhh! Damn you Zillah!" Zhao shouted looking up, as his eyes became amber once again. He didn't knew how, but he recognize the strong energy that covered the entire cave and it belonged to god way stronger than Zhu Rong himself. His name was Zillah, better known as the god of time.

"This is a test, pass it and you will have what you are looking for and more. You have two hours to reach the pagoda." A deep voice resonated all over the place, making Zhu shiver down her spine.

"You were suppose to be in our side!" Zhao yelled.

"I am, if you rescue your friend before the time is up. I suggest you to hurry because the clock is counting down."

"Your Honor, Lord Kunlun, I can transform and take you all to the pagoda by air." The dragon offer.

"Alright then…"

"Wait, Yunlan, it's not going to be that easy. The vines above will block our way, not to mention there are more than crows up there. I know the path through the city now, let's just make haste…" Shen said, already extending their barrier, so not to be interrupted by the crows. Lady Yue, hearing the warning transformed back and was ready to face wathever challenge the god throw their way.

"Then, lead the way babe and we will follow you to the end of earth if necessary." Zhao said, making Shen slightly smile, before Shen Wei started to run forward with his hand extended, to keep his barrier moving along with the group. The rest follow the Ghost Slayer lead, already prepared for whatever could come next to keep them from reaching their goal and so their test begin.

AN: Thanks for reading.