After the two had finally eaten, Ai had laid himself back down on the soft bedding of the small lounging chair before slowly falling asleep. Wang himself was off to the side, making sure the bed was set up before going to get the little fox.
He had thought of getting his own 'meal' that night, only to find that Ai had already fallen asleep! Sighing to himself, he moved to gather the smaller male into his arms and carried him to bed, only to be forced to sleep while holding his wife, rather than getting to enjoy some more tofu.
The next few days were rather busy as Wang had to go about getting everything set up. He was supposedly an Emperor, yet he held no wish to really rule this new country. Instead he declared his will of wanting to place someone else up to run things for him as he just sat in the back, hidden in the shadows. He would be the ruler that was hidden, while someone else was forced to deal with all the headaches of running the country.
This person happened to be Shao Ling, Little Sho's sworn brother who had been placed as the country's regent general. Ling wasn't too happy that he'd been pushed to the front after only agreeing to help run the Military command.
Little Sho wasn't all that glad either as he now had to not only keep track of what Wang was doing, but make sure that Shao Ling didn't cause any other issues. Though he was great at commanding the soldiers, Ling wasn't much of a ruler, rather wanting to train his own skills in fighting and cultivation then running a country.
However, regardless of the many grumbles of complaints, Wang remained unmoved as he got everything he and Ai would need for their trip, making sure to also get some things just in case they really did get trapped in the mountain's Hidden Realm.
When the two finally set off, Ai had shifted back into his fox form so that he could snuggle himself into Wang's arm and let the other carry him off. For some reason, after the fact that they'd 'coupled' themselves together, Ai found himself to be unwilling to do much of anything that exerted too much energy. He just felt too lazy to move these days.
Thankfully the Royal doctor stated that there was nothing wrong with him, it was just that his body was trying to adjust to the jump in cultivation. His Kind was slightly different when cultivating and many didn't really reach the higher stages of this lower plane. The Spiritual energy caused some hidden issues, and his body was now trying to rid the impurities within that it drained his energy. After he managed to get these impurities out as well as cultivating into a more stabilized manor, would his energy naturally return.
After arriving at the entrance to the Hidden Realm, Both Ai and Wang looked at each other before they finally nodded and made their way in. Regardless if they did in fact get trapped in the Hidden realm, they needed something to help them get onto the path to realizing Ai's wish. Just talking about it wouldn't help them get anywhere.
Besides, didn't one need to take risks in life to achieve the great things others dreamed of?
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The process of entering the Hidden Realm was quite easy, it was the leaving part that was unknown. When they finally stepped into the invisible force field around the Hidden Realm. Both Ai and Wang felt the fluctuations of Spirit Energy. It took them a while to realize that this Realms spiritual energy was much stronger than their own lands. Not only was it stronger, it also felt pure and made their whole bodies warm up with a natural feeling of pleasure.
It wasn't until this moment passed that they finally realized why no one ever returned. Within the entrance to this Hidden Realm was a spiritual beast that surpassed even the highest level left from their own Realm. The beast was staring at them with a look of hunger, slowly walking to them.
It wasn't known why, but the ease to get in was much different when wanting to back out. It was as if they were standing with their backs against a hard wall instead of empty air.
Ai was the first to react, quickly moving so that he could be seen by the Spirit beast walking to them. "Wait!" he called out, his voice was soft, and held an unknown fear.
The spiritual beast's gaze flashed for a moment, but he did in fact stop, his body shifting as if still wanting to pounce, but held itself back. "You.....are...." the beast slowly began to speak, his words seemed harsh, as if the words were not something it normally spoke. Which might be true, Surly enough, this beast was the one that killed anything that walked into this Realm. It never had the time to care to speak, though it could.
"Come...Yes...Please" he then slowly allowed the blood lust in the air to drop, his mood becoming more peaceful. It was really great that Ai's bloodline really did make other beasts want to keep him safe. Now that the beast had realized what he was, he was less willing to attack. Even if he wanted to eat he male that held the little fox. It would be rude.
"Thank you." Ai then stated, his nerves slowly relaxed, but Wang stayed guarded as he watched the large beast that seemed stronger than even himself. How this was possible, he wasn't sure. He knew that his rank was the highest of his kingdom's region, but that didn't mean he was the strongest, he held some doubts. Now he was sure.
The two slowly followed the large beast that had turned, and began to walk back into the cave that he'd come out of.
When they reached the edge of the other side, they found a large valley that seemed to stretch for miles, what more, it didn't seem like they had entered a mountain rage at all! There were many other mountains that stood off to the distance, and it was clear this Realm was much larger than it appeared on the outside.
Following the beast, they were led to a clearing where a nest was settled under a large willow tree. The beast made himself at home before turning to look at the two who had followed him. "Human...dinner" he then said, looking at Wang with a haunting gaze before it moved to look at Ai with a more peaceful expression. "Eat?" he then asked.
Ai blinked a few times before shaking his head. "No no, this is my partner." He then stated before patting Wang's arm that held him with his paw. "Not food." The whole time, Wang said nothing as he moved to sit down, not even batting an eye as he was called food. If anything, he'd gladly allow Ai to 'eat' him. Though in a different way. His mind wandered to how Ai would look as he lowered down to take in...His thoughts were brought to a halt when the beast let out a grumble growl. Clearly the beast had sensed that his thoughts were not right.
Ai himself moved to glare at the male who held him. "Don't go thinking about such things!" he stated as his fur fluffed up. Clearly Wang hadn't realized his own reaction to his naughty thoughts had caused the scent of valorous to pass over the area around them. Coughing, he turned his gaze away. "Don't mind me" He said as if it didn't matter. Why couldn't he think of such things? Ai was his wife!