Fan Fiction Thread for Lost You Forever

 liddi:

We are truly spoiled! Another fic! Thank you so much for sharing. Aww... Mao Qiu has finally cultivated into human form. And a jewellery merchant trained by a Jiuli master no less, after almost having been trafficked. Love the reminiscences of how he met Xiang Liu, and how he continued to search for Xiao Yao, without any luck. The mysterious Fang Feng Wuming is intriguing even if we have not met the character yet... is it Xiao Yao's most recent disguise? Can't wait to find out. 

Just a question. Mao Qiu is afraid of water. As such, how would he be able to fish? And does he get a new name? I can't imagine him going all over Dahuang calling himself "feather ball" (literally).

I have decided that even though Maoqiu hates water, he would hunt similarly like any raptor species, by eyeing the waters and swooping in with his claws to grab the fish, which means he actually doesn't go into the water like Xiang Liu.

 HeadInTheClouds:

@ZYHLJ

I just finished reading the story with baby snake XL. He's already super adorable, as expected. Can't wait for the next instalment :-)

Your story reminds me of this fan art 

Baby Xiang Liu is just adorable. hehe.

Summary: 1,000 years after the passing of Nine-Headed Xiang Liu, Maoqiu roams around DaHuang as a jewelry merchant. His encounter with Fang Feng Wuming sets off a chain of events that will disrupt the peace of DaHuang. Who is Fang Feng Wuming? Things aren't always what they seem, and Maoqiu finds himself at a crossroads. Should he follow his heart, or should he act with reason?

Chapter 2: Meetings and partings

Two hundred years ago, Maoqiu encountered Huayu in the gambling den of the Li Rong clan, a dark crevasse in the corner of Qingqiu Town. He remembers walking through a maze of brick and mortar walls, slithering between tight alleyways. As soon as he entered the gambling den, the roars of the men and women, disguised as dogs, reverberated like thunder from the fighting cages, reminding him of the time he was caged. 

During his captivity, he was unable to articulate human words, but he could understand perfectly—the fate that lay ahead of him. The traffickers who caught him off guard beat him mercilessly, never hiding or pretending whom they worked for. No matter how much they would beat and starve him, torture him by waving meat in front of him, humiliating him, he never showed weakness. When he passed out from exhaustion, he would dream of Master Xiang Liu, his pristine silhouette, coldly reminding him of his worth, his dignity, and his resilience.

The faint smell of lust lingered between the clang of gold coins that jolted Maoqiu back from his memories. Maoqiu disliked the gambling dens and detested the fighting cages. A root of such evil should not exist, but men are tainted by greed and gods are corrupted by boredom; even in quiet times, there's always ill suffering for demons. At least as a demon, Maoqiu’s disposition is inherently settled within the reaches of animalistic instincts, and he holds no excuses for his actions.

Maoqiu had heard of a deity who claimed to have encountered Xiling XiaoYao not too long ago and had obtained an elixir that prolonged his mother’s life. Maoqiu wanted to ignore such news, but his curiosity always won out and tempted him. He then paid good money for this lead and entered the gambling hall to gather more information. Meandering through the crowds, he noticed a loud man at a table, his winnings forming a hefty pile next to him. Maoqiu could tell that the table dealers were not happy.

“Big or small!” the dealer demanded of the man. Even with the dog mask, Maoqiu could sense the arrogance emanating from him. The crowd started to shout simultaneously, “Big” and “Small.” He moved all his earnings to bet, except for a few gold coins, with a swift sleight of hand, hiding them between his fingers. “I will bet big!” A moment of silence ensued as the dealer revealed the winning hand. “Small!” The crowd roared in anger and victory.

Disguised as a young master of a prominent family, Huayu was winning too quickly and accumulating far too many gold coins; other players started to accuse him of cheating. Many years of cultivating under wartime had given Maoqiu the ability to sense spiritual powers, a skill that many had lost during peacetime. He could feel that this young man was more than he seemed. Despite his youth, his abilities surpassed those of all the men around him. It wasn't because this young man was cheating; he was simply smarter, more intelligent, and quicker. Yet, he deliberately lost!

“How can this be?!” The young man scrunched his sleeves and started to quarrel with the dealer. “They say the house always wins! Such abomination!” Just when a fight was about to ensue, two Li Rong guards came by the table and pulled the young man away. He seemed to be fighting tooth and nail as he was dragged away. Instantly, he glanced at Maoqiu, his smirk almost evident beneath the dog mask, and the dogface winked at him. As soon as Maoqiu noticed, the young man was at it again with the guards.

Maoqiu followed the fiasco, walking past the fighting cages, glancing quickly to witness two wolf demons clawing at each other. Despite their dog masks, Maoqiu imagined the twisted faces of the crowds, sensing their hunger for bloodshed. With a roll of his eyes, he felt both disgust and astonishment at the hypocrisy pervading the air. “If the wilderness ever fell into chaos again,' Maoqiu thought to himself, “the Li Rong clan would be the first I eliminate, followed by the Tu Shan clan for financing such a lowly and oppressive enterprise.”

With his attention disturbed, Maoqiu realized he had lost sight of the young man and the guards. “Did they throw him out?” Maoqiu continued to look around when he saw the two guards come back to their posts empty-handed. With a sense of relief, he quickly made his way out of the gambling den.

Outside the den, Maoqiu's eyes darted around the dark alley, and he sighed deeply as if he had just been crossed. As a slight anger began to rise, a proud voice emanated from behind him. Maoqiu turned around to see a pair of fireflies.

"Lord Maoqiu, I presume?" It had been years since he heard his true name called out. He had been in disguise for so long that he had almost forgotten the sound of it coming from another person.

Maoqiu scoffed. “I am here for what I have paid for.”

“Sure. I will meet you at your old master’s home.”

To be continued...

@liddi

You read it so carefully, the comment touched the author's heart! I translated your comment into Mandarin to show off to my mother, haha~ She was very happy, and so was I. The next chapter is on the way~!

 AH :

Thank you for clarifying liddi.

You're welcome!

 AH :

When the text uses "玄鸟圆圆" do you read it as "the black bird Yuan Yuan" or do you read "玄鸟" more like a surname, like "Blackbird Yuan Yuan"?

It is just a description of what species Yuan Yuan is, so "the xuan bird Yuan Yuan". This species is a commonly used winged mount - A Nian rode one to ride to the island where she met Xiang Liu and worked with him to teach Xiao Yao a lesson (Vol 1 Ch17). Cang Xuan mounted a xuan bird when he went to drag Xiao Yao back from the Ying Province island after thirteen years (Vol 2 Ch13 /Chapter 30). 

Xuan birds could also be used to deliver messages so it would appear that like Furball, they could shrink themselves to be small enough to land on Shan Hu's shoulder:

When the cloud carriage was in the sky, a xuan bird flew over and landed on Shan Hu's shoulder, who then asked, "Your Highness, did you say you have a letter for His Majesty? The carrier bird has arrived."

-- Vol 3 Ch2 (Chapter 35)

 ZYHLJ:

@plor20

Maoqiu... I read something written by a fan before, saying that Xiang Liu didn't even leave any remains after his death, so Maoqiu plucked out all the feathers from the area on his back where Xiang Liu usually sat, buried them and made a grave for him. Later, he also had a human form, so he built a small house next to the grave and lived there, always accompanying his master... In my imagination, after Maoqiu turned into a human form, he should be as tall and handsome as you wrote, and probably as stubborn as his master, haha~ 

Super beautifully written! It looks like a long and independent story? I’m really looking forward to the following chapters, especially the more detailed settings about Jiuli!

awe...if you remember the link of that particular fanfic I would love to read it.  I'd imagine Maoqiu loyal and it would break my heart of he didn't move on.  Thank you. 

I really like how you are able to bring XY playfulness into your fanfic....I don't think I could wrote her like that unfortunately. So it was fun to read her be playful tona baby XL. hehe.

 ZYHLJ:

@liddi

You read it so carefully, the comment touched the author's heart! I translated your comment into Mandarin to show off to my mother, haha~ She was very happy, and so was I. The next chapter is on the way~!

That's so sweet - thank you so much for sharing you and your mother's reactions. Ultimately the credit goes to you for such an immersive introduction and I am waiting eagerly for the next installment! Thank you!