Letting go of self-restraint 2 - All that is missing is a little one

Chapter 8

They decided to spend the night in an inn, the journey should have taken them only one day but due to Wei Wing's tiredness and general exhaustion, they had to rest, preferably somewhere indoors so the younger boy could recuperate faster. They got a room and ordered a bath and a meal once they found a village hidden deep in the forest; the region was basically all forest except for a few small hills, the mountains were only around Cloud Recess.

The Yunmeng Jiang disciple was once again grumpy, visibly bothered by his weakness. Lan Zhan wanted to reassure him it was alright, he was barely sleeping for weeks and it certainly took a toll on him after all, he had nothing to be ashamed of. But Wei Ying would simply not listen, during his whole life he learned that he could not show his weaknesses or being unwell, he could have not overcome his experience and the conditioning of Yu Ziyuan's training in such a short time, although the Second Jade strongly wished for it.

The second they entered their room in the inn, the younger boy threw his outer robes on the floor and fell onto the bed head first. He was asleep before the Gusu Lan disciple even got to neatly fold his own robes and undo his hair for the night. Lan Zhan sighed and joined the younger boy on the same bed, bath and meal completely forgotten, snuggling his soulmate into his chest he kissed his forehead gently; they did not even say good night to each other.

Wei Ying slept the whole night without any nightmares, as far as the Second Jade knew. Lan Zhan was glad for this little good fortune, now at the very least the Yunmeng Jiang sect disciple would be able to rest well.

The younger boy was however even more silent and irritable in the morning, his spiritual energy was still not at his full, this way, he would become a burden for his husband when it came to the night hunt. He did not want this but he could not see how he could recover his forces before they reached their destination and had to fight. Of course, he could rest for a few days, a few days during which the inhabitants of the village would be terrorized by the beast. He could not let that happen, no matter his weakness or discomfort, he would prevail, he had to.

He gritted his teeth and mounted his sword. After several imposed stops that Lan Zhan would not hear him to pass on, they finally reached their destination.

The village was fairly big, build on the food of a small mountain and with not many fields just beside the last houses, fields that were painstakingly won from the forest surrounding them. Despite its ordeals, it was bursting with life. There was a market in the central square, colourful stalls were everywhere and sellers were shouting their best offers and praising their merchandise.

Both cultivators set down in an empty alley, Wei Ying slightly out of breath and sweating profoundly, and made their way into the busy area to go look for an inn. They were immediately at the centre of everyone's attention.

An old woman stepped forward and greeted them politely while bowing to them: "Esteemed cultivators, welcome to our humble village. I am the chief here. Did you come to have a rest in our hot springs? They are famous for their positive effects on cultivation and cleansing of spiritual energy. If you would like to, I can show you the way to the best inn we have here."

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan greeted her back, the Second Jade took it upon himself to explain the purpose of their visit: "Business."

When the old woman seemed confused, the younger boy gave her a warm, reassuring smile and elaborated further: "Esteemed Elder, thank you for your warm welcome. We have come to fulfil the request for assistance your village had send to the Gusu Lan sect. We would greatly appreciate if you show us the inn, we would like to spend a few days here as well."

"Thank you very much, Young Masters, we are grateful for your patronage," the village chief beamed with happiness and was already gesturing for them to come with her. On their way, she explained what was happening in the village: "It has been nearly two weeks now. Our livestock started to disappear, only one or two chickens at first but more and more families were affected as days went by. We thought that perhaps a fox or another animal has stolen them and we did nothing at first.

A week ago, we have however found quite a large amount of half eaten carcasses and bones; there was not only our stock but also some wild animals and even a bear! Although a small one. That is when we have understood that something large and quite fierce was lurking around our village and have send a request for assistance. It has yet to take any human lives as far as we know, no one is missing but travelling salesmen started coming less and less, we do not know if they are only afraid or if they were attacked on their way.

At night, we can hear strange noises and howling from the forest. We barricade ourselves inside and do not dare to as much as peek outside even when we hear something sniffing around and sounds of our stock being carried away. In daytime however, everything is as if nothing happened, only the animals are gone. So we try to live on as normal but people are tense and we hide our children just in case. Even today, it is the usual festival, we moved it to daytime and you could hardly see any children participating, other times, this festival was for them...

I can describe you the way to the creatures den we found but I am afraid I cannot accompany you there, my old age does not allow me to freely go outside of the village for an extended period of time or to make a long journey. And no one else would go with you to show you, they are too afraid. Esteemed cultivators, please take care of the beast for us, we have little but we can still afford to pay. You can also stay as long as you want to enjoy our hospitality."

Lan Zhan started shaking his head, the Gusu Lan sect was not accustomed to take payment for their assistance from the poor. Wei Ying smiled fondly, he perfectly understood why his soulmate was unsatisfied. He turned to the old woman who was now bowing to them again: "Esteemed Elder, thank you for explaining, these are valuable information. Please describe the way for us, no need to trouble yourself, I am sure we will be able to find and get rid of the beast quickly so your village may again live in peace."

They were showed into one of the rooms and ordered a meal. It was already late afternoon, so the younger boy was planning to have dinner and then go to find the beast they were supposed to exterminate. After the woman explained briefly what was really going on, he did not want these people to suffer another night in terror.

Lan Zhan was extremely quiet, even more so than normally, he was scowling ever since the door of the room was closed and it was just the two of them. The younger boy's head was full of his own thoughts so he did not comment on the other's behaviour.

They ate their meal in tense silence, hardly looking at each other, thinking about their own worries.

Wei Ying was mentally preparing for the evening and night exercise, he was still tired from their journey and he knew he would most probably need a large amount of spiritual energy to manoeuvre his sword at ease, otherwise the night hunt could prove dangerous for both of them. He was wondering whether he should confide in the Second Jade but he did not want to seem weak or incompetent in his eyes.

Lan Zhan was still adamant on not letting his soulmate participate in the fight with how exhausted he was and how low was his spiritual energy. He however did not want the younger boy to feel offended by his maladroit attempt to express himself, he was not certain he would be able to explain his reasons and worries well. The Yunmeng Jiang sect disciple's self-esteem and self-worth were still very low and if he misunderstood the older boy's words, they could be crushed on the spot.

He finally had no other choice but to intercept the other when Wei Ying took his sword and was getting ready to leave, looking back at him expectantly. "Wei Ying, stay here."