Blood Cultivation

what we can't afford

"Well, this has been very exciting, but weren't we going to investigate the source of the resentful energy Lin Meili was originally interested in? Come, children, let's get going." Wei Wuxian made shooing motions with his hands and all four of the really-not-children stared back at him with similar expressions along the same gradient from "mildly annoyed" to "complete outrage" on the part of Jin Ling, of course. Wei Wuxian just smiled innocently and marched to the head of the group while his nephew sputtered incomprehensible things. Sizhui pat his shoulder a couple of times in sympathy, maybe, or encouragement and then Wei Wuxian was facing the woods instead of the teens and he focused on the task at hand.

As they walking further through the trees, the resentful energy became more palpable. Instead of a wisp or a whisper too faint to properly sense, it was more like a stench too heavy for a breeze to carry away. Wei Wuxian heard echoing screams to his left, turned and felt the echo seem to go straight through him. He staggered a little, pressing a hand to his temple like he could block them out if he just concentrated.

But then the screams only got louder and he halted, turning back toward the group to see Lin Meili grimacing. "Can you hear them? He asked her.

Lin Meili nodded, peeling Jingyi's hand off of her arm. A moment later a talisman shot past him, breaking into pieces that burned and fizzled at different locations around them. "Their bodies were never properly buried." She pivoted in a slow circle. "We can put the unhappy spirits to rest. The angry ones might be less willing, but we should still try. There's something else, though."

Wei Wuxian followed her eyes to a thicket of brambles some distance away. "There's a concentration of resentful energy, which probably means what, children?"

"A mass grave," Jingyi said promptly.

"A monster," Jin Ling said over top of him.

"It could be either," Wei Wuxian said to both of them. "Who wants to go poke it and who wants to put these spirits to rest?"

Jingyi frowned. "Shouldn't we stick together and do one at a time?"

Sizhui spoke up. "Senior Lin and I can put the spirits to rest, while the rest of you check the source of the resentful energy."

"No." Lin Meili was shaking her head. "I want us to stay together. We'll go and take a look now. If there are more spirits, we can put them to rest all at once. But if there's something else, it will only be aggravated by our dealing with the spirits. If it's a monster, we'd be taking away its source of resentful energy. We'll take care of the spirits last."

Wei Wuxian pouted for a second before straightening. "That's fine. Does that make sense, children?"

"Please, Senior Wei, stop calling us children. We don't mind following you or learning from you, but that's just unnecessary." Jingyi was very cute when he made those kinds of faces. Wei Wuxian wanted to pinch his cheeks. He didn't.

"Yes, alright, are you ready to poke a monster's nest, almost adults?"

Jin Ling groaned. "That's worse. Let's go." He tugged on Sizhui's arm and led the way. "Honestly, how are we supposed to believe that he's any more of an adult than the rest of us? He's terrible, Sizhui, I don't know how you stand him."

Wei Wuxian caught Lin Meili looking at him, a fondness on her face that he understood all too well. "Family," he offered with a sigh. "They're the cruelest."

Lin Meili's face froze and Wei Wuxian could've bitten his tongue off for being so insensitive. But then she just echoed his sigh and the fondness returned. "He looks up to you."

"I doubt it." Wei Wuxian couldn't think why Jin Ling would ever look up to the uncle that had basically caused him to lose a great portion of his family. "I haven't done anything good for him."