Red Rose [Never Let You Go, Again Book 3]

32: Fire Raging Within

"A-Ling?" Jiang Cheng looked up from the training swordsmen on the ground to see Suihua shooting towards him.

"JIUJIU!" Jin Ling clattered as he crashed to the ground and ran to him. "Jiujiu, Lan Shushu's in danger!"

"WHAT! Baozhai–"

"I'll take care of the disciples, you go, fast!" Baozhai pushed him.

Jiang Cheng nodded gratefully and shot off with Jin Ling to catch up with his brothers already zooming towards Hangzhou. 

**********

"What's going on?" Nie Huaisang looked around at them.

"Nie-xiong, you being here is too conspicuous..."

"I'll stay for a short while to listen to what happened and leave, don't worry. But I'm sending Xuanji. She said she wants to take my place. She'll come with you guys since I can't," Huaisang nodded.

"Thank you," Wei Wuxian nodded.

"So? Jiang-xiong, how was the day's search?" Nie Huaisang walked around the pile of wood they had made for a bonfire to light up the night and sat beside Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng... didn't seem to be in the mood to talk. He stared at the wood, silent, lips pursed, eyes... unreadable.

"O...kay..." Huaisang shuffled towards Wei Wuxian beside him. "Wei-xiong?"

"Hm, so we flew all the way here to Hangzhou. We stopped on the way at different places to see if gege was around but we ended up here in Hangzhou. And we literally swept the place. Not a sign of any Liu. Tsk, this cursed thing isn't working!" Wei Wuxian flung the two sticks he'd held in his hand at the pile of wood.

"Wei-xiong, just use a fire talisman."

"Can't, we've spent a lot of energy flying all the way here, got to save up if we're to keep walking next morning. This should work, I used to do this back then–"

"It rained an hour ago, the wood is drenched," Lan Wangji shook his head.

"Then I'll just make a talis–"

Zip! A lavender whip shot out onto the grass. Crash! It brought down its wrath on the innocent pile of wood. Once the wood was smashed by the Purple Lightning, the whip retreated back into Zidian. Jiang Cheng tossed his bangs back, huffing.

"Er... A-Cheng, you just cut all the wood in half..." Wei Wuxian narrowed his eyes wondering if his brother was beginning to go crazy.

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers.

Flash! Hiss! Sparks spat out of the wood until all of a sudden... Whoosh! Aubergine flames shot up into the air, setting the wood alight in purple flames.

"Woah! Jiang-xiong, since when can you do this?" Nie Huaisang gawked.

"Zidian. Lightning. Sparks cause fire," Jiang Cheng barked before returning to silently gazing into the violet flames.

"Definitely not in the mood for any talking," Wei Wuxian shook his head. "So yes, that's about it. We're here in Hangzhou, just finished searching the area, no gain. Nothing found. Gege never said anything about anywhere beyond here so we're going to look for traces of them having gone in any specific direction."

"What if they're still here?"

"How could we not have seen them?"

"Who knows, some secret place, once again well-guarded? Any valleys here?"