The tale of the fox and the dragon egg

Chapter 9 - Yiling

Wei Ying awoke to a touch to the robe against his skin, being pushed out of the way. His eyes snapped open within one movement, red light glowing within the darkness. Even with the bandages covering his skin, his left hand shot upwards and twisted the hand within its strong grip.

A snarl covered his face, teeth already sharp and ready to tear flesh from bones. Claws covered his fingertips and drilled into the warm flesh underneath, just as a growl shook through the whole cave.

"How can you dare it?"

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Wei Ying slept long on the passing days.

He watched Lan Wangji and his child while the old dragon shared his knowledge.

At first, a tense feeling remained after the nightmare. Something that slithered unsaid between them and bit, clutching to their skin. The more time went on, the more the toxic cleansed itself and on the last day of rain Wei Ying was already back to teasing him.

Again, the fox was almost jealous, but the playtime with A-Yuan and the playful bickering of Lan Wangji afterwards was almost worth every second of it.

The hours and days flew by, with Lan Wangji caring for his wound, him eating absolutely horrible bland food, with cultivation studies even Wei Ying could learn something from and playtimes with his child. The rain poured for six more days and when the cave was almost flooded by the huge puddles gathering outside, it stopped.

The clouds were gone just as fast as they appeared. Everything remained in the fuzzy state after rain, but the forest heated up almost instantly. Outside, the puddles stayed for some time though; the earth couldn't absorb that much in the short time.

It was perfect for A-Yuan and his mother. They ran outside the cave that kept them captive these past weeks, a large grin on Wei Yings face and his arm within a sling Lan Wangji improvised for him. It was almost comical, how both of them jumped right into the puddles crowding the rock formation, while Lan Wangji only watched the situation from farer away where his robes were safe.

Wei Ying had to clean the white robe on his shoulder afterwards.

Both of them decided to visit the town. Wei Yings arm was still hurting, the skin around the wound becoming a bright red within the last days. It was growing warm, a sign for a possible infection, even with the care of Lan Wangji. Not that it lacked in any way.

Wei Ying was almost spoiled now, not talking about the horrible food he needed to ingest and the leaving thick emotion crowding the cave. And that was the reason that the first thing Wei Ying did within his new earned freedom was to hunt.

His arm proved to be a huge difficulty. Last time he was injured, he had been a naïve fox with three tails. Back then he lived within the burial mounds for only a few decades.

Several broken bones had made it hard to move back then. One of the reasons he almost starved until he found those tiny flickers of white between the resentment.

Back then, Wei Ying was alone. Right now, he had his child and Lan Wangji at his side.

His laugh vibrated within the air as he asked the Lan to help him hunt, which brought him one of the deepest scowls on the dragons face he ever witnessed. As the other helped him, although every fiber within the men seemed repelled, his heart made a tiny happy jump.

Finally, the time of horrible bland food ended! Welcome home, sweet meat!

Even though the dragon didn't cast him a glance, the fox was overjoyed regardless. With great enthusiasm he devoured the rabbits in short bites, almost overeating again in a single day.