There was another one of the God of Preservation’s devoted shrines tucked away behind a large nanmu tree that seemed to scrape the heavens with its leaves. Chen Yun had pointed it out in the distance, and Liu Ying had to squint to find it – it was easily missable to someone just passing through. Chen Yun had his hand on the hilt of his sword by his waist when he pushed the creaking door open, allowing the setting sunlight to creep into the hazy and darkened shrine.

Liu Ying peaked over his shoulder and confirmed his own suspicions. It was completely empty save for a tea table with an incense holder and candle on it, chairs and several red charms hung from the walls. There wasn’t a god statue but a wooden slab perched where the offering bench was that read ‘God of Preservation / The thunder roars and the wind crashes / You are safe where you lay your head.’ This was a traveler’s shrine, he supposed, telling by the grateful tone of the poem.

Chen Yun shrugged his shoulders at it when shown, seemingly indifferent. He went back outside to feed his ox some grain in a sack out of his bamboo basket. Meanwhile, Liu Ying opened all of the windows to allow fresh air to circulate and leaned against one of them to overlook the view from the shrine.

If he looked hard enough, he could see the village of Qingshan in the distance, down the slope of the uneven terrain. It was still a few hours away but the expanse of their rice paddy fields reached out for what looked like miles. They were hot on Duan Baozhai’s heels and it was only a matter of time until they caught up to her. While Liu Ying didn’t personally have any stakes in her capture and was ultimately disgruntled at having been wrangled into this mess, he couldn’t deny that embarking on this mission felt similar to the ones he would be assigned to in the Heavenly Realm, and it was comforting.

The Chief Civil Goddess, Chang Xia, would have given him a mission such as this. She was masterful at analyzing a task and assessing the skills required to complete them, despite not having any actual people skills herself to speak of. Anything with a mystery behind it went to the God of Mystery, natural as it was, but beyond that, a case with mangled intricacies and muddied details that needed uncovering was also placed into his hands with full confidence that it would be resolved.

Liu Ying dejectedly looked down at his injured hand. What a sharp fall from grace – to be respected and held in high regard for hundreds of years, only for it all to crumble to dust in his own hands.

“Come outside.”

He was startled from his thoughts when Chen Yun emerged from the doorway, holding a gourd.

Liu Ying followed him outside, dragging a chair out along with him. The basket was settled on the ground beside Chen Yun’s simple longsword, which he used to slice a piece of white cloth into a narrow strip. Eyes focused and intent, with a small frown of concentration on his face, Liu Ying couldn’t help but stare. Every small movement, every twitch of his mouth was familiar in a way that suddenly made him uncomfortable – like looking at someone he should know but didn’t.

The sudden uneasiness that befell him forced Liu Ying up from his chair. “It’s okay, you don’t need to do this. I know how to care for wounds.”

“Three-legged cat, aren’t you?” Chen Yun didn’t spare him a glance but motioned him to sit back down. He took out a small vial of something bitter-looking and set it aside. "You might know how to care for wounds, but the fact that you've just decided to wrap a piece of cloth around it and call it a day doesn't make it seem as though you care for them at all."

Falling back into his chair with a sharp exhale, Liu Ying held his hand out and Chen Yun began to gently unwrap the hastily tied shred of robe cloth from around his palm. His movements were nimble and light, especially when it fell away and the wound was revealed. It was messy and caked with dried blood but already looked better than it did the prior night, the entrance wound already beginning to creep into a smaller shape.

Chen Yun expertly washed it with the water in the gourd, which was notably infused with some herb, from the light scent it emitted. It burned like an acid but Liu Ying was nothing if not excellent at swallowing down his discomfort.

Now that the blood was washed away, he could tell that the center of the injury was healing from the center outwards, and reasonably well, at that. Liu Ying searched Chen Yun’s face for signs of bewilderment or confusion, but there was nothing but concentration and patience. His touch was pleasantly warm. Once again, nervousness was tightened in Liu Ying’s chest like a coil of rope, and he tried to distracted himself with watching the process – applying the bittercress extract that soothed the former burning sensation, then carefully wrapping the clean cloth around his slender hand, tying off the ends and tucking them away.

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“It looks good. The bittercress seems to have an exacerbated effect on you,” Chen Yun said nonchalantly, but with a hint of teasing in his voice, “I’ve never seen it work so efficiently, especially when there’s a cursed dressing on the wound.”

Liu Ying pulled his hand away, heat rising to his face. This was what he was afraid of… But Chen Yun didn’t seem to care. He packed his things away back into the bamboo basket and straightened, looking out into the deep orange sky.

I’m okay with him thinking I’m a cultivator, at least. As long as I can create layers from the truth, we should be able to wrap up this task and be on our separate ways without so much as creating a casual suspicion.

“Thank you for your help,” Liu Ying said, “It feels better already.”

“May I ask you something?”

Taken off guard, Liu Ying gave a half-shrug. “I don’t see why not.”

Chen Yun was still looking out on the horizon, and moved to lean against the immense nanmu tree. “Why did you really decide to come along?”

Liu Ying leaned back into his chair and scratched his cheek with a finger rather sheepishly. “Do you expect me to say something interesting? Like I’m on the run and needed a quick way out of Ludong? I hate to disappoint you, but it really isn’t more complex than the fact that you were paying well.”

“Well, you decided to come even before payment was mentioned. It was merely a condition you stipulated to ensure it was worth your time.”

This man is… infuriating…

“What can I say?” Liu Ying said lightly, “You made a good case and convinced me of the importance of not letting Duan Baozhai wreck more havoc than she already has. You appealed to my sense of justice.”

Chen Yun looked at him halfway over his shoulder, but turned away just as quickly. Liu Ying was still able to catch the somber, disbelieving look in his eyes before he did, and he struggled with what to say. What did he want to hear from him? They were nothing more than acquaintances that temporarily teamed up to complete a task – what did it matter what kind of response Liu Ying gave him?

Still, for some reason, Liu Ying sighed and decided to humor him.

“I abandoned my clan in the south but they’re a… nomadic sect. Big and powerful. I try not to stay in one place for too long or to draw too much attention to myself. You might have, in fact, been my quickest route out of Ludong.”

Chen Yun didn’t say anything right away, but he eventually asked, “What do you fear they’ll do if you’re discovered?”

“I’m not sure.” It’s not fear, it’s shame.

“... Why did you leave them?”

“Why does anyone leave a place? Is it the call of opportunity, the weight of necessity or the sting of discontent? Maybe it isn’t safe anymore, for the individual or for the group left behind. Either way, departure is only half the story.” He was giving him a run-around answer, but Chen Yun seemed to be too pragmatic to fall for it.

“If departure is half the story, what remains is the other half.”

“Not unless you are viewing it from the perspective of the one who was left behind.”

Chen Yun’s shoulders tensed from where he stood, yet he remained silent and motionless.

Liu Ying stood from the chair with a soft sigh and a stretch of his arms before making his way to the shrine door. “I’m going to get some rest now… Hopefully, we’ll see the end of this debacle with Duan Baozhai soon. Good night, Chen Yun.”