Chapter 54- The Blood Red Battlefield

The return to the Courtyard went smoothly. They stopped for the night again, but this time, they were undisturbed. Something had changed in the relationship between Brother Wang and Daoist Mei. It was less boisterous, less giggly, but there was something truer to it. Hands that sought each other as they walked. A head resting on a big shoulder, or kind eyes looking down with soft crinkles in their corners.

Tian suffered in mostly silence. It was all the looks flying around. Not a whole lot of talking, but there was an awful lot of meaningful looks. The romantic duo were merely the most visible.

Tian wasn’t surprised to see Sister Su glaring at Mei. She had made it abundantly clear that she felt Brother Wang was much too good for the theiving cat. He was more surprised to see her squinting at Brother Wang like she was going to sneeze or bite him and hadn’t made up her mind which.

He was even more surprised to see Sister Liren giving Mei a wider range of looks than Sister Su. Liren’s ranged from loathing, to anger, to a still contemplation, and even expressions that Tian simply could not interpret. He found her when they set up camp that night and asked her about it.

Liren gave him a dirty look, that cooled into merely a look, and then a look of resignation. He was getting exhausted by all the looking, and if she didn’t start using her words, he was running off into the jungle with the crane.

“Don’t take this a weird way, but… Hang on, I want to take off my outer robe.”

“Sister Liren?!”

“What part of don’t take this a weird way was unclear?!”

“The part where you took off your outer robe!”

“Oh for- I’m hardly naked here. I’m wearing a whole other robe for one damn thing.”

“Yes, an under-robe.”

“Brother Zihao, you fought an entire battle naked. I can’t believe you have modesty issues.”

“I don’t. I have Senior Brothers bashing propriety into me issues.”

She snorted. “Look, I just want you to see that I’m not wearing any hidden armor or anything, okay? Just the usual sect issue silk robes. Now,” She tapped a spot right in the middle of her belly. “Poke me here. Go ahead. You can put some muscle into it, if you like.”

Tian shrugged. This was weird, but strange things happen to cultivators. He would just have to mark Sister Liren as a natural oddity. He poked her. It was like poking a wall. He poked again, this time with a bit more force. It was like poking a stone wall. He poked a third time, and this time, he just leaned into it. He kept on leaning until he was at a forty-five degree angle, propped up by his finger in Liren’s abs. Her face was twitching, but she wasn’t in pain. She didn’t even lean back.

“I think you get the point.”

“I’m not sure that I do.” Tian spread his hands. Liren rolled her eyes and hauled on her outer robe.

“Brother Zihao, what part of me looks soft to you? Spare me the jokes this once, and answer seriously.”

Tian looked her over. Really looked at her. Slim, but that was normal. The robes covered up any sort of detailed examination of her body past the broadest outlines. “Tall, slim, tan,” was about all he could see.

“Your hair, I suppose, but I know that’s not what you mean. Look, you know I don’t…” He groped for the right words.

“Yeah, I know. You work with people carrying the most hideous kinds of wounds and never flinch. I don’t look weird to you. But I look weird to me. And to everyone else? It’s more than just weird.”

“Then everyone else is an idiot.” He flicked away the world’s population.

“I’m going to be tall, Brother. Taller than pretty much any woman, and honestly, most men. I’m not taking off my under robe to show you, but I have muscle definition that you simply would not believe. Not bulky, just… defined. And I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get much bigger up top, if you follow me.”

“Yes?” Tian was utterly lost.

“And then look at Daoist Mei.” She nodded towards the camp. The spy had Brother Wang resting his head on her soft lap, smiling and feeding him bites of melon. “From that angle, I wonder if Brother Wang can even see her face. Yes, yes, I know he can, shut up.”

Tian shrugged.

“She is pale, curvy, small, soft. Feminine. Lovely. And I’m not any of those things. Leave me alone, Brother. This isn’t a problem you can fix. I just wanted to tell someone.”

Tian sighed and did as he was told. She would go on his list- another wounded friend he would have to find a miracle for.

There was one other contributor to the shared looks- Lin. She had mostly been keeping her nose in a book since they camped for the night. Everyone could feel the changes going on in her, so they gave her space. Tian saw Lin look over at Hong, standing outside the circle of the firelight. Then look back at her book. Then up at the waxing moon. She sighed, her shoulders shrugging dramatically. In the dim light, Tian thought he could see a corner of Lin’s mouth tugging up.

Lin got up from her seat, walked out into the shadows, cupped her fist and bowed towards Liren. Tian didn’t hear what they said, but in the morning, both women walked with lighter steps.

Nobody greeted them when they got back.They had nothing to turn in, and the elders had been more or less on top of them the whole time. There was, therefore, nothing to report. The group collectively shrugged and split up. Some to cultivate, others to torment single dogs, judging by the way Brother Wang and Daoist Mei were walking arm in arm through the gardens.

Tian firmly turned away from the scene. Too much strangeness, too much interest in what a pair of daoists got up to together in their cell flying around for him. A book was calling to him. Many books. How cruel, then, that his escape was cut off by a librarian in a wheelchair. “Brother Tian, I’m afraid matters have reached a deadly crux. I require your assistance. No, I plead for it.”

Sister Su was grave, her hands folded in her lap as she bowed her head towards him.

“Sister Su, please! Of course I will help you. What do you need my help with?” Tian rushed over to her chair and straightened her up. Horribly certain he knew where this was going.

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

“I’m afraid Brother Wang, our Brother Wang, has been seduced by a witch! Stolen from me. Possibly with foul magic, more likely, I regret to say, by sheer feminine wiles. All in the span of a few short days.”

Tian had the strangest feeling that the world was spinning and he was being flung up into the sky. He slowly sat down on the grass. Why him? Why Brother Wang? Why anybody?

“Please… explain. I know about Daoist Mei, but… explain. Please.”