This Crayfish Is Not Edible - Chapter 104

Xia sighed. “This discussion ends now. I want my herb and we are leaving,” he said in a firm tone.

Icarus sighed. “I… I can’t force you to stay here, young master.. But I worry for you. This man is not good for you,” he said, pointing to Long.

Xia stepped forward and glared at him. “Watch what you say. That man is my lover,”

The demon lord stepped back and gazed at the frozen man. “You both…. you are not of the same kind. In the long run, you would get hurt because of him. Take this as an advice from your senior,” he said and patted his shoulders.

Xia shrugged his hands off. He had been tolerant for a long time. But he could not handle this man disrespecting little snake like that.

“Unfreeze him,” He demanded with a glare.

Icarus sighed and snapped his fingers. A small butterfly flew out from Long’s back and flew out the garden.

Long Aotian gasped out loud and gazed up at the two of them. His sight was still hazy and his breathing was not uniform.

Xia ran over to him and cupped his face. “Aotian.. Are you okay?” he whispered.

Long dragged him to his lap and hugged him tight. Slowly, his breathing calmed down. “I… I don’t know what just happened,” he whispered.

He cupped his lover’s face and checked him up and down. “Did he hurt you? Did he touch you inappropriately? Tell me, I will cut his hands of and feed them to these stupid butterflies,” he said.

Xia chuckled and shook his head. “He did something weird to you, Long. Are you sure you are okay?”

The golden dragon nodded. He tucked his lover’s head to his neck and glared at the blue clothed man.

Icarus gazed at him with his eyebrows still twitching. “I hope you don’t show affection in front of me. I feel like ripping you to pieces,” he said with a wide smile.

“He is my lover and I can hug him how much ever I want. Who are you to stop that? Who is he to you?” he said with his eyes narrowed.

“I am his godfather,” the demon lord said with a dazzling smile.

Xia humped out loud. “No, he is not. We are not related in any way possible,” he said.

“You heard him. You are not his godfather.” Long said with a prideful smirk.

The demon lord’s smile faded away, and he held his head. “Xia, I know that this is a lot to process. But please don’t scorn your father. He… he has been through so much,” he said and sighed.

Xia got up from his lap and glared at him. “I don’t care about my so called shitty father. Now give me the herb you promised,” he said. He clenched his trembling hands.

The golden dragon saw their exchange with a shocked look.

From the day they had met, he had never seen his lover get so angry. Usually when he was upset, he would scowl, he would pout, but he would never curse. So seeing his trembling in anger made him feel like he got to see a whole new side of him.

He went to his side and held his trembling hands.

Xia gazed at him with a pout.

“Keep your end of the deal,” Long threatened.

Icarus sighed. “This way,” he said, and led them through the backyard garden.

The two followed behind him.

All the way, Xia silently gazed around at the beautiful garden. He had always dreamed of having a garden like this. But sadly, his house was underwater. Most of the useful herbs can’t be grown in such an environment.

But the garden in this cave was different.

The whole garden was made up of different shaped archways. Each archway had a different herb growing under it. Above them thousands of shimmering corpse butterflies lined along the archways creating beautiful artificial lighting.

Icarus noticed them gazing at his archways. “We don’t need sunlight at all. My corpse butterflies act us the sun down here.”

“What do they eat?” Xia whispered after some hesitation.

Icarus turned back with a wide smirk. “Corpses, of course,” he said as a matter of fact.

Xia blinked rapidly and stayed far away from the archways. Long noticed this and hugged him close.

After walking through the big stretch of herb garden, they finally reached a small moon gate. The demon lord walked through it without looking back.

Xia and Long gazed at each other and followed after him.

Beyond the moon gate was the most stunning garden display of them all. It was a garden full of huge white begonia roses.

They all were in full bloom, saying gently in the draft wind inside the cave.

“Oh my god, how did you cultivate it? This is stunning,” Xia exclaimed and rushed over to them.

Icarus squatted down and beckoned him close.

“I use drip irrigation. Lusiha herb needs the perfect amount of water and nutrition. If not handled properly they wilt,” he said.

Xia gazed at the small water was engraved on the rocky sides. And there was a small hold that dripped water in intervals.

“But this amount of water… it does not provide that much nourishment,” Xia whispered to himself.

Icarus gazed at him with an exited smile. “Wow, you noticed. I have the water way coming from there. It’s the Hulin herb garden. Usually they are very poisonous but when they are soaked in water, they act as perfect fertilizer for this herb,” he said.

Xia’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I never thought about that.” He whispered and watched the huge roses sway around.

Long gazed at all this with his jaws clenched. He really did not like his lover getting close with this man. He went to the nearby rose plant and yanked it from the ground.

“Xia, got the herb, shall we go,” he said, shaking the plant in air.

“um… Long you killed the plant,” Xia said with an awkward smile.

The golden dragon gazed at his hand to find the plant wilted. “What….. but.. but I just uprooted it. How did it die?” he said.

Icarus snickered. “Do you really like this brute?” he whispered softly in xia’s ears.

Xia glared at him and walked over to his lover. “Long, it doesn’t work that way. Lusiha herb is very tricky to find. Firstly, it is very good at cataloguing itself. These huge begonia roses are its favourite camouflage. It might seem like a real rose bush, but it’s not.”

He picked up the wilted plant and shook the sand away from its root. “See,” he pointed to the broken root.

“This plant shares a same root system. If you try to remove one it stars wilting all together,” he finished.

Long nodded. “So where is the herb hiding,” he whispered secretly.

Xia chuckled and pointed to the ground. “Near the roots. We have to search a lot to find it,” he said.

Icarus walked up to him and nodded. “Very good. What you said is in fact the truth. I have only two lusiha herbs growing here. But doesn’t it look like hundreds of roses here,” he said.

So the search began.

Xia and long squatted next to the flowers and picked out each and one of them. After a long ti they found a small hole in one of the stems of the rose bush.

“Long come here, it’s here. We found it,” he cheerfully shouted.

Long ran over to him and blinked. “Where? I don’t see it,”

Xia took a small knife out of his ring and cut open the branch. Inside there was a small grass like plant silently nuzzled in between.

“See, they love to hide,” Xia said and picked it up carefully.

Icarus handed him a small jade box.

Xia stored it and firmly closed it.

“We got it. now we can save them,” Xia said with a huge smile.

Long caressed his small head and nodded.

So both nodded towards Icarus and left for the door.

“Young master… I hope to meet you again. I want to you to stay safe. Don’t get into any trouble. And If you can’t defeat your enemy…. call for me. I will always be at your service,” Icarus bowed low.

Xia nodded at him and walked away.

“Master wait, I almost forgot. Take this,” he said and handed over a small ornate box.

“It rightfully belongs to you. And you alone. Never let anyone else uses this,” he said.

Xia shook his head and gave it back to him. “From what you are saying. It sounds precious. I don’t want it,” he said.

Icarus shook his head vigorously. “Young master, this will save your life. Please take it.” he insisted.

Long gripped his hand slightly. “We don’t need it,” he said. “I have a lot more treasures than this,”

Icarus glared at him and whispered, “Don’t you want an extra protection for your lover. Or do you believe that you are the strongest? Don’t for a second think that. There are forces stronger than you. And looking at your pitiful state, Xia is gonna need all the protection he could get,”

“Stop it. Don’t talk to him that way. I don’t want anything of my fathers. I do not accept him or his gifts..” Xia said and dragged away the little snake.