Chapter Eight - Complaints

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"Ah, and you're back! I thought I'd driven you off for good!" The madwoman crowed, laughter in every syllable even as she knocked one of- Was that Lao Xiaojun? Nie Ruyi had to take a moment to stare in awe-struck horror at the calm man she'd met yesterday.

His jaw opened in a soundless roar that released steam, teeth sharp and pointed, his eyes glowing a pure indigo. Energy crackled around him like lightning, as he rained down blows so fast that Nie Ruyi couldn't see his fists. He didn't seem to be using his sword, sheathed at his waist. Instead, somehow, he'd bulked up like the hulk, steroid-level muscles showing beneath his torn up robes and was now hitting so hard that Nie Ruyi could feel the vibrations of the air every time a blow landed against the guarded woman.

Song Fengling seemed to be trying to help, darting in under the woman's guard and scoring hits against her flanks every so often. But it was clear the blows weren't even cutting her clothes, much less her skin. He was breathing heavier too, Nie Ruyi could see it.

It wasn't long before the woman let out a roar of her own and pushed back against the strongman beating at her defenses. Once he was free from her a few inches, she jumped back. A complicated series of flips later, she was on her own sword, waving. "Well, it was still a mission success! You all have a good day! I look forward to fighting you again soon, Lao Xiaojun."

The man in question roared a command, "Get back here!" while rushing forward to strike again. However, the female cultivator just laughed, dodging out of the way. Lao Xiaojun rushed to pull his sword from its sheath as she dove off the cliffside and into the air away from them. The pugilist was about to give chase, only to be stopped by a hand on the shoulder. Cai Bingtian shook his head, and Lao Xiaojun gave a snarl, shrugging off the hand and heading into the woods.

Cai Bingtian shuffled towards Nie Ruyi and Song Fengling, who settled next to Nie Ruyi the way a baby duck does its mother when tired. "Don't worry about him. He's just got to work off the pill, or he'll be touchy and quick-to-strike the entire ride home. Nie-Shimei, Song-Shidi, did you two see any other survivors? Anyone hiding down there with you?"

Nie Ruyi was shaking her head along with Song Fengling. Cai Bingtian nodded, "Alright, that makes sense. Cmon, then. We'll head back to camp, patch up whoever we can, and bury those we can't. Song-Shidi, can you hop back to the Sect and inform the Sect Leader? It's urgent, so make sure you let everyone know. Try to talk Xiang Yun. He'll be able to get you in to see her quickly. Tell him what happened here and let him know I sent you."

"Yes, Cai-Shixiong!" Without another thought, Song Fengling took off and was soon a speck in the wind. Cai Bingtian turned to Nie Ruyi then, and grinned that horrendous grin that turned her heart into knots.

"Ready?"

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Cai Bingtian set Nie Ruyi up in a corner of a clean-ish tent, once he realized that she would be nearly useless in the cleanup. She'd told him that she could only do basic first aid, and that she wouldn't be able to lift a fully grown person, or even a large teenager. He had assured her she would be safe before running off to help, but she still hunkered down on the ground, waiting.

She couldn't close her eyes, the images she'd seen playing on the backs of her eyelids the moment she did. Bodies, torn to pieces, sliced in half. Entrails, still pink, slung across the ground, and body parts feet away from any possible body they could have belonged to. Children. Just... teenagers, scattered across the ground like so many leaves. Piled atop each other.

Nie Ruyi took the book from her sleeve with shaky fingers and opened it up. Her eyes skittered around the page fruitlessly, picking up a word here, a word there. Time must have passed, because the tent-flap flew open and Nie Ruyi thankfully tossed the book in her sleeve, uncaring if she'd saved her place. Standing in the doorway was Lao Xiaojun, looking around angrily. She scrambled to her feet, just as his eyes landed on her and he stormed forward. Snatching her upper arm in a bruising grip, he turned her this way and that.

"O-oi! That hurts!" She cried, trying to yank her arm out of his grip. He was lifting her near off her feet, and she was already achy from the fall and from climbing.

"You need to be seen by a healer." Lao Xiaojun growled out, and Nie Ruyi huffed out a disbelieving laugh.

"You think?! Stop yanking at me, you're making it worse! My head already aches like crazy, I'm bruised everywhere, and you're yanking me around like a kid with their toy doll!" As soon as she'd finished her tirade, he dropped her, causing her to stumble. She caught herself on the upturned chair nearby and turned a fierce glare on him to hide the sting of her tears. "I'm done. I want to go home. I'm tired of being here, I'm tired of it. Take me home!"

She shrieked at him, pointing to the tent flap. He stared at her, face completely blank but for a slight furrowing of his brow. She squared her shoulders, and felt her lip tremble with the force it was taking to hold back her tears. She realized with a sense of betrayal that she wasn't, really. Tears slid cold tracks down her cheeks, and she hastened to rub them off, staring at him defiantly through the haze of them.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"...This Shixiong apologizes. I did not mean to harm Nie-Shimei further or to be unkind. My worry overrode my sense of reason." His voice was soft and low, and he held up a hand towards her, which she smacked away with vitriol she'd never given voice before.

"Fuck your apology! This whole day has been one long conga line of horribleness, and I. Want. To. Go. Home." She stabbed his chest with her finger on each word for emphasis.

The words took him by surprise if his eyebrows shooting sky-high were any sign. She felt a bit of vindictive pride at that. He gave a curt nod, and shifted so that he could indicate the tent flap to her. She took this as a sign and exited the tent. The air still reeked of meat spoiling in the sun, the stench of corpses. Disciples ran about, carrying bodies and supplies here and there, striking down tents and packing things that no longer had owners.

She forced herself to walk through the chaos, and Lao Xiaojun took the initiative to slip in front of her and guide her where they were going. They came into the central clearing, which had housed the food just two days ago. A cry of her name went up, and Nie Ruyi turned to see Song Fengling waving at her as he rushed towards her.

"Nie-Shijie! Are you alright? Come over here, He-Shijie will take care of you!" He chirped away like a little squirrel as he dragged her towards a small cot-filled area that looked like an impromptu field hospital. There, disciples in white were tending to the wounded. Song Fengling sat her down on one of the cots, and a young woman with bright amber eyes stepped forward.

"This one is He Qina, a Senior Disciple in charge of healing and medicine. It is a pleasure to meet you, Nie-Shimei. Song-Shidi has told me much about you." The woman then pulled a stool (a literal wooden stool!) out of her sleeve and sat down. Then, she took Nie Ruyi's wrist in hand, and that strange sensation happened again.

"I'm Nie Ruyi. Nice to meet you too. What are you doing? It's making my head go... dizzy. Like when I stand up too quickly." She asked, even as the sensation died down again.

"I'm sending my spiritual energy into your body, to see if there has been damage done. I've trained my spiritual energy to look for imbalances in qi and in blood and energy flow, as well as damaged tissue and other things. I don't usually use it on Mortals, as it can be damaging, which might be why you're feeling that dizzy feeling. Your body is not used to the flow of spiritual energy through it. In fact, yours is nearly stagnant." She looked disturbed by this. "And yet, your meridians are soaking in my qi so naturally. If I didn't know better... I'd say your spiritual veins had been open for years."

"Well, since I don't know what those are, I can't take any credit for that." Nie Ruyi sighed, her head aching with the knowledge and also with the splitting headache that had been plaguing her since she took that fall in the cave.

"Mn... Well, to explain, spiritual veins are the roads through which spiritual energy travels within your body. It can take multiple reincarnations for a spirit to open the spiritual veins within themselves. Yours appear to have opened just this life, so they are still new to you."

Song Fengling seemed surprised by this, "Wow. Mine only opened two lives ago!" With that explanation, he turned to Nie Ruyi, "That's how I was able to enter the sect so young. My spiritual Veins were strong from a very young age. I have Crystal spiritual veins." He stuck his nose in the air, clearly proud, and Nie Ruyi couldn't help the soft exhale of amusement.

"Does that mean your veins are made of pretty gems for me to carve up?" She teased him, reaching out with her unoccupied hand to chuck his chin, which he deftly avoided with pursed lips.

"No! It means that I can use both Earth and Metal Qi in my cultivation. It's incredibly useful!" He replied, sticking out his tongue.

"It's also incredibly tiresome, as it means he has issues gathering Qi if there are any sources of wood or fire Qi nearby. He has to be careful to find deep caves to cultivate within, or he cultivates slowly." A new voice joined their conversation, and Nie Ruyi looked up to spot Lao Minghui having joined them. She gives Nie Ruyi a small smile and a tilt of her head, although her brows were set in an apologetic slope. "Nie-Shimei, I am sorry. This Sect Leader did not expect there to be such danger to you here."

"...I can't say it's fine, because it's not." Nie Ruyi admitted, "I got hurt. And I nearly died. I've got a concussion that's pretty bad, and what's worse, poor Song-Shidi got sent into battle against the person who slaughtered those poor souls in this camp. I'm very, very upset and very angry, and I'd like to go home, please."

"Ah... do you mean-" Song Fengling's eyes widened, "Not home-home! You mean the sect right?! You're not going anywhere but our home, right?"

Nie Ruyi was taken aback by how quickly the child snapped on that. "...Well... they can't send me home-home. Otherwise, yeah, I'd be going home-home. Song-Shidi, I don't belong here. I nearly died today."

"She isn't wrong, Sect Leader. If it weren't for her Spiritual veins, and how pure the qi was in that cave, she would have died of a cracked skull." He Qina spoke up, her fingers still on Nie Ruyi's wrists. "She has impressive Willow Spiritual Veins. However... Oddly enough, entwined with the Willow veins are Earth veins. I've never seen the like. It's... impossible, almost."

"Willow-?" Nie Ruyi breathed, confusion settling in as her head turned this way and that towards the speakers. Lao Minghui took pity on her, and explained.

"Your Spiritual veins are of the combined Water and Wood essences. However, you appear to also have Earth Essence mixed in as well. Three essences will be difficult to train, for you must keep your spiritual veins in balance, or they will cause a Deviation. Although, what He-Shimei is saying is right, this doesn't make sense. I felt your meridians mere days ago, and you were as mortal as they come... We should perhaps look into this, if it poses no danger of unbalancing her?" The question was turned to He Qina.

"So far, her veins are in perfect balance. If I didn't know better, Lao-Zongzhu, I'd say she was a practicing cultivator already." He Qina said, "She's in no threat of a qi deviation at this time. Exhaustion, infection, and possible death in her sleep, certainly, but not deviation. She'll need to be woken every three hours for the next night, so that she does not fall into a coma and refuse to wake."

"That's going to be fun." Nie Ruyi complained, shaking her head, "Lao-Zongzhu, you said I was part of the sect now, right? Does that mean I can file complaints? And get trained on how to not die?"

"Well, certainly." Lao Minghui blinked, and then seemed to startle away from Nie Ruyi's feral grin.

"I have So. Many. Complaints."

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