QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

tw: explicit sexual content

---

Su Xueyi approaches Huan Xuan with a poisonous glare, the sword raised in front of his chest. "Leave these lands."

Huan Xuan's arm tightens around Xi Ming's waist. "I intend to."

Xi Ming sighs. "Yi-ge, just let us go."

Su Xueyi isn't moved by his plea. 

"Our crops have been dying, Ming-di, are you going to tell me that's not his doing?" he shouts, brandishing his swords as the mob behind him echoes his anger.

Xi Ming steps in front of Huan Xuan, shielding his broader frame with his much slimmer body. "Huan Xuan wouldn't do that."

"Then who did it?" Asks an angry woman carrying what looks like plow.

Huan Xuan gives the crowd a disinterested once over. "Maybe the lot of you are as bad at farming as you are at fishing."

That gets him a renewed wave of cries and insults.

Xi Ming doesn't flinch from his side. "You want him gone, I'll take him away."

Su Xueyi scowls. "I'm not going to let you go anywhere with him!"

Xi Ming shrugs. "It's not your decision to make."

Before he can take another step, Su Xueyi lunges towards Huan Xuan with his sword in hand, letting out a vicious growl.

Xi Zirui knows what's going to happen even before it takes place.

Almost in slow-motion, he watches as Xi Ming's eyes widen in terror and he throws himself over Huan Xuan, shielding him with his body.

Huan Xuan tries to push him away, but not quickly enough to prevent Su Xueyi's sword from slicing the side of his neck.

Blood gushes from the wound in a thick spray, wetting the front of Su Xueyi's blue robes and staining Huan Xuan's white robes a vivid arterial red as he holds Xi Ming's convulsing body in his arms.

His eyes watch the awful scene in front of him in utter disbelief. 

Though he's fading fast, Xi Ming manages one last smile up at Huan Xuan's grief-stricken face.

"Don't cry, A-Xuan," Xi Ming says, wheezing with every breath. He raises a blood-stained hand and places it over Huan Xuan's chest, staining the white silk with a garish red handprint.

"I'm glad, that at least I'll die wearing your colours." He closes his eyes as Huan Xuan's tears fall on his pale face. 

"He killed him! The dragon killed Xi Ming," someone shouts from the back of the crowd.

That's all it takes for the mob to descend on Huan Xuan, their weapons raised over their heads.

Only Su Xueyi remains rooted in place, his gaze vacant as he looks at Xi Ming's lifeless body.

Huan Xuan holds Xi Ming's body to his chest, and doesn't even try to fight off their attack.

His only concern is to shield Xi Ming's body from their fury.

Xi Zirui swallows dryly, his eyes mired with tears. "I can't look at this," he says, turning away from the scene.

Han Yu pulls him into a fierce hug and cradles the back of his head, pulling it into the crook of his neck. "Don't look, Shizun, don't look."

Xi Zirui shuts his eyes tightly, but nothing can prevent him from hearing the sickening sounds of the angry mob attacking Huan Xuan.

He thinks they might really end up killing him until he hears a loud roar, and then a shadow falls over him and Han Yu.

When Xi Zirui next looks up, Huan Xuan is back in his dragon form his jaw open in rows of sharp teeth.

The two horns on top of his head are broken, and thick blue blood oozes from the stems.

He opens his maw as wide as it will go, and pours water in a torrent over the panicking crowd.

A cleansing deluge that doesn't quite manage to wash away all the blood.

---

By the time Huan Xuan runs out of water, several villagers lay dead and drowning.

He overlooks the carnage with his empty red gaze.

Su Xueyi is nowhere to be seen.

Huan Xuan returns to his human form, the two broken horns on his forehead still bleeding profusely, and picks up Xi Ming's body in a bridal carry. 

Slowly, he makes his way towards the river and the two of them disappear under the surface.

Xi Zirui lets out an anguished sigh as the scene freezes in the same way it did before.

Han Yu tugs him by the sleeve. "Let's go, Shizun. There's nothing for us here."

Xi Zirui allows himself to be led into the river, following the same path as Huan Xuan.

---

They wake up on their backs by the same riverbank, this time at dawn.

Xi Zirui sits up with a groan, a few paces ahead he sees Huan Xuan kneeling in front of a stone tablet.

The tablet is well-maintained and there are fresh fruits under it.

"Ming-er, it's been five years since your death," Huan Xuan says, running his fingers over the characters of Xi Ming's name. "Now, you've been gone for longer than I've known you."

His voice is filled with melancholy and with the bitterness of missed opportunities.

Huan Xuan's grief hits Xi Zirui like a punch in the gut, leaving him staggering and disoriented. 

He chances at sideways glance at Han Yu. He has lost him more times than he cares to admit.

Even if Xi Zirui is the one dying, each time he has to leave Han Yu behind takes away a part of him.

Yet, he has always been able to meet him again.

He doesn't know what he's going to do when that stops being true.

Huan Xuan has just risen to his feet when Su Xueyi makes his way over the hill.

While Huan Xuan remains unchanged, the past five years have clearly taken a toll on Su Xueyi. He looks haggered and rumpled, his plain cotton robe patched everywhere.

Huan Xuan doesn't acknowledge his presence.

Su Xueyi falls to his knees in front of him, looking up hopelessly into Huan Xuan's cold sapphire gaze. "I've come to offer my life. Please spare our village, even the children are dying."

Huan Xuan kisses his fingertips and bends forward to presses them to Xi Ming's name on the stone tablet.

"The only human worth anything to me is now dead," his gaze grows chilling as he fixes it on Su Xueyi. "Killed by your own hand."

Su Xueyi groans softly at the reminder, closing his eyes with a wounded noise.

Huan Xuan grips his jaw cruelly between his thumb and index finger and smiles into Su Xueyi's terrified face. "What makes you think you deserve to die?"

Su Xueyi grows paler.

Huan Xuan shakes his head. "No, you and your entire village will suffer for as long as I draw breath, many of you will die in agony, but others won't be able to put an end to their miserable, pathetic lives no matter how often they drink poison or bring a knife to their necks."

His fingers tighten on Su Xueyi's skin. "You are one of them. I want you to live on, remembering that you took Xi Ming's life."

"What happened that day is no one else's fault but my own," Su Xueyi says, tears streaming freely down his face. "I accept responsibility but please don't take out your anger on everyone else."

Huan Xuan lets go of Su Xueyi with a disgusted sneer, and makes his way towards the river, stepping into the cold waters wearing his robes. 

"You should have remembered that actions have consequences. Now they are your burden to bear."

He disappears into the river, and Su Xueyi lets out an almost animal growl, beating his closed fists against the ground.

"Foul beast, if it wasn't for you Xi Ming would still be alive," Su Xueyi says, spiting out the words, and contradicting his earlier tearful admission.

He looks over at the stone tablet and glares with intent. "Don't worry, Ming-di, I'll avenge you. I'll put an end to this Dragon once and for all."

Su Xueyi gets up to his feet and dusts off his robes.

With one last look towards Xi Ming's funeral tablet he makes the way down the hill, disappearing from view.

Bile rises up in Xi Zirui's throat. Su Xueyi always finds new and creative ways to make himself despicable.

Xi Zirui strides towards the stone tablet and falls to his knees in deep prostration. "This one promises to seek justice for Su Xueyi's crimes."

With a soft thud Han Yu drops down to his knees beside Xi Zirui. "This one promises to help Shizun seeking justice for Xi Ming and Huan Xuan."

No sooner is Xi Zirui up on his feet than Han Yu is tackling him to the ground, covering his lips in a hungry kiss.

"What is Han Yu doing?" Xi Zirui asks, after wresting his lips away with a wet smack.

Han Yu's lips are humid, filled with unshed tears. "Shizun, Xi Ming resembles you too much. Seeing him die like that, I couldn't help thinking that I didn't know what I would do if Shizun died."

Xi Zirui wraps his arms around Han Yu's shoulders. "Silly disciple, your Shizun isn't going anywhere."

The words clog up his throat even as Xi Zirui says them. 

He knows he can't promise Han Yu that, but the panic in his eyes makes Xi Zirui want to reassure him in every way he can.

Han Yu has his own ideas about that. 

With one last hungry kiss, he picks up Xi Zirui under the knees and raises to his feet, carrying a startled Xi Zirui towards the shade of a nearby weeping willow.

Xi Zirui's heart thumps in his chest at the sight of the tree, for the stark reminder it is.

He's sure the tree wasn't there before. Huan Xuan must have planted it, or perhaps it sprung up on his own, feeding off the great sorrow of this place.

Xi Zirui lies on his back watching the tiny leaves dance in the wind above his head.

He feels dizzy with the weight of his own emotions, and then Han Yu's hand pulls at his waist sash.

"Shizun, may I?" he asks, voice small and wounded.

Xi Zirui understands the impulse. Han Yu wants to feel alive in the wake of so much death.

Xi Zirui wouldn't deny him that. Least of all because it's what he also wants.

His hands joins Han Yu and together they pull at Xi Zirui's robes until they lay open under him, like a makeshift mattress.

Han Yu descends on him with unspeakable hunger, whining gently as he scents Xi Zirui's neck, one hand fisted in Xi Zirui's long hair and the other freeing himself from the confines of his robes.

Impatient, Xi Zirui wraps his hand around Han Yu's cock and guides him inside himself, his breath hitching at the inexorable stretch, marveling at the lack of pain even without any lube. Likely a consequence of the dream-like realm they find themselves in.

Han Yu is barely out of his robes, fucking into Xi Zirui as if he's afraid he'll vanish from under him if he stops.

Xi Zirui lifts up his knees bracketing in Han Yu's slim hips. On a particularly well-aimed thrust he throws his arms around Han Yu's neck, and holds on as Han Yu fucks into him with abandon, gasping as if he can't believe how good it feels to be inside Xi Zirui.

His needy sounds drive Xi Zirui a little wild. "Does it feel good?" he asks, whispering the words against Han Yu's overheated earshell. "Does it feel good to fuck your Shizun?"

Han Yu growls, driving his big cock viciously into Xi Zirui making him choke on his next breath. "Shizun is so hot and tight around my cock, I can't stand it."

Xi Zirui tightens his inner muscles, vice-like and silky smooth around Han Yu. Han Yu's hips stutter, his eyes wide and overwhelmed. 

Xi Zirui grins and grips the side of Han Yu's head, pulling his face towards him. "Han Yu will stand it, he will stand it for as long as it takes for this master to be satisfied."

Han Yu whines low in his throat, his arms trembling above Xi Zirui's head. "This disciple will follow Shizun's guidance."