Blood Cultivation

only twenty-four

"My uncle is coming."

Lin Meili looked up from where she had a variety of talismans spread out on the desk in front of her, the writing on them a suspicious red. The salty tinge in the air only confirmed what the colored ink implied but Jin Ling decided not to mention it. Many talismans were made with blood. This was nothing unusual. He did wonder if there was anything different about the design since they couldn't be powered by spiritual energy like most could, but he still held his tongue.

Wei Wuxian's voice in his head wanted to know, but his uncle wasn't here right now. Well, not that one anyway.

"The uncle you acknowledge to his face or the one you don't?" Was all Senior Lin said before returning to her task.

Jin Ling huffed and sat opposite her. "Sect Leader Jiang," he answered shortly.

"And you would like me to withdraw from the nighthunt?"

"What?" Jin Ling turned his head sharply. "No, I just wanted to warn you. If you wanted to withdraw I wouldn't blame you, but I'm not asking you to."

Senior Lin finished inking a talisman and blew it dry, the metallic tang crossing the table. Jin Ling wrinkled his nose for a moment.

"Isn't Sect Leader Jiang very opposed to unorthodox cultivation techniques?"

Jin Ling didn't want to huff again and bit back a groan. It was true that for years his uncle had been highly suspect of anyone who was even rumored to practice demonic cultivation in his endless hunt for the Yiling Patriarch long after it was believed that he had definitely died at Nightless City, by his uncle's own hand no less. But now that he and Wei Wuxian were slowly growing their relationship and becoming more on speaking terms, or rather, yelling terms, Jin Ling felt perhaps he was ready to face something new. Or perhaps this was wishful thinking. "He will likely be angry, but I won't let him hurt you."

"Please don't endanger your relationship, either to your uncle or between your two sects for the sake of witnessing my cultivation," Senior Lin responded. "I am content to leave and return another time."

"The new and present danger is more important than my uncle's need to be angry about something," Jin Ling snapped. "He will understand and if he doesn't, I will send him away."

"Really." Senior Lin didn't even look at him, but she didn't have to. That one word conveyed enough disbelief all by itself.

"Senior Lin, my uncle is capable of behaving himself."

"Still, I think I'll let my talismans do most of the work."

This time Jin Ling did sigh. "I want to see your purification at work. I didn't get to last time since you sent us away and then, well, I don't actually know what happened." He tapped on one of the talismans. "Does this work on people, too?"

"That one is only for non-living beings that are acting like they're alive." Senior Lin pulled the talisman in question away and gave him a different one. "This one is for living beings including people."

"Ah." He held it at the edge of the paper so as not to touch the writing. "And what did actually happen? You had an incredibly high fever and lost a lot of blood. I thought you were supposed to be able to control it. Your blood, I mean."

"You replaced my talismans and I lost control. I couldn't regain it in time due to the amount of resentment in my body that I was fighting against instead of with and then the blood was just gone."

Jin Ling nodded in understanding. "We couldn't even replenish your energy because your core can't receive it. You were just extremely weak."

Senior Lin made a sound in her throat, unamused. "Weakened."