Wei Lan stared at the ceiling, his gentle breaths hitting her neck. She continued to rub the back of his head and back, savoring this warm moment.
'What should I do? This position can not be good for his injuries,' she thought, stumped.
'Actually, why should I care?' she pouted. 'He got annoyed at me for no reason. Such a bad man.' She looked at his side profile.
'Hmph. I should have just pushed him down and taken him. Then how could he dare to be mean to me!' she wondered.
'Uh, I nearly forgot.' She took out a glass bottle. Several white pills inside. She stared at it. These were the contraceptive pills. She did not like them. They prevented her from bearing cute babies for him.
On one hand, they were both too young and had a lot of room for growth. On the other hand, a lot of people had children early on which also seemed attractive to her.
Ultimately, she knew he did not want to have any right now. She also wanted to become a renowned alchemist.
'One day I will not have to prevent it,' she thought, dropping a pill into her mouth, chewing and gulping it down.
Wei Lan pulled a pillow under her head and covered themselves with a blanket. The room was dim and quiet now, except for his breathing noise. Wei Lan found the moment a little surreal. Usually he would be awake to say sweet words and talk to her.
'Why do I feel like crying?' She did not understand it. She hugged him tighter and pressed her face against his, sniffing. Her body twitched every few moments.
Only a few moments passed when Sheng Xuan opened his eyes. Feeling the sporadic twitches, his eyes cleared up instantly. He lifted his head up.
Wei Lan's expression paused. Moonlight dimly illuminated her face. Her face was wet with tears, her lips pursed.
"What happened? Did I do something?" he said, his face tight with guilt.
Wei Lan quickly shook her head. "No, it's not you. I don't know why. I just felt like it."
"Ah."
Sheng Xuan's expression softened. He kissed her forehead, cheek and nose. Even licked away her tears.
"You are probably just a little overwhelmed. Usually, we cuddle but this time I fell asleep, sorry." He sweetly looked into her eyes.
"Don't say that. I liked it," she said.
"Are you feeling better now though?"
"...Mm."
"You are so cute." He kissed her lips.
Having gotten up, how could his greedy self be satisfied with just a kiss? Of course they dual cultivated once again. And again.
Wei Lan helped him lay back down on his back and nestled close to him. At first, she wished he would stay on top of her, but then she feared his injuries would worsen.
Making sure she was okay, he fell back asleep. Wei Lan followed soon after.
The Moon meandered through the dark sky, bringing relief to the villagers without any means to afford cooling artifacts, miners forced to toil away at the toxic mines and animals who were distant from a stream.
In a cave, deep in the forest, six cloaked figures gathered around a fire. No one spoke, albeit one fidgeted more than usual. Their eyes were fixed on a door with a red skull embedded a few inches over the center. It clenched a red metal ring. A door-knocker.
Who knew how long had passed before the door creaked open. A figure cloaked top to bottom walked out. His eyes were black and lacked any pupils.
He took out a white hand-held mirror. The handle was made up of a big bone, and the frame of smaller bones. There was a glass on both sides. He looked through one at the people and nodded.
"Greetings, Senior Sha," the cloaked figures cupped their fists in salute and bowed.
"Cut the formality. Give me your reports," Senior Sha ordered in a cold voice.
First man from the left stood confidently and said, "Senior, it's all going well on my side. I have tamed another Coldswamp Fly." He then handed him a paper record.
Senior Sha nodded flatly, then looked at the man next to him.
The second man quickly said, "All good on my side too. I have bred two new rams."
Looking at the paper, Senior Sha frowned at the crooked letters, ultimately he did not say anything, looking at the third man.
"How nice it is to see you again, Senior Sha. My Mind Ants are thriving again with new blood food. It's just the blood foods still struggle to stay alive, so a lot of brains are wasted. I was able to increase the number by two more."
Senior Sha slowly nodded. "Good job. Keep it up. Pay extra attention to them. If you need more blood food, come to me."
The man's eyebrows lifted in joy. "Thank you, Senior Sha!" He stood straighter, scoffing inwardly at the jealous looks of his comrades.
"Continue," Senior Sha said.
Fourth man gave him a pouch, packed with bones, skins, skulls and more.
Fifth man handed a pouch of beast feed.
Despite Senior Sha's eyes on the sixth, he did not say anything.
"Sixth," he called out coldly.
Sixth man shook, then he dropped to his knees and banged his head against the cold, rocky floor.
"My apologies, Senior Sha," he said. "I lost a Sunhorn Ram."
Senior Sha's gaze grew colder. "Whatever the case. I want to see an increase of two more as soon as possible."
"Yes, Senior!" the man hurriedly said.
Seeing sixth's state, third basked in glee. He had to treat himself to some little brains.
"What about the Sun Marrow Ram? How is it doing?" Senior Sha asked, his voice more eager than usual.
Sixth's throat closed up, his body drenched in cold sweat.
"It's- It's okay. It has been thriving well!" he cheerfully said.
"Mhm. Take good care of it. I will need the Sun Marrow soon," Senior Sha said.
"Yes, Senior!" he said aloud like he wanted to hide the shakiness of his voice.
Third inwardly snorted. Why couldn't he breed a special fellow?
Senior Sha cast a fleeting glance at everyone and waved his hand. "The meeting is over. Pay more attention to your duties. Things will start getting heated soon."
"Yes, Senior!" A chorus of polite voices fell.
...
Sunlight filtered in through the beige curtains, falling on the couple. Wei Lan's right arm was draped over his chest. Her face nestled in his armpit, hair messy.
Her eyelids twitched, opening up. She blinked. She yawned.
Slowly, she sat up, holding onto the blanket. Her eyes darted to his face, mouth slightly open, drooling. She rubbed it clean and pushed his chin up. She leaned in to kiss his forehead. Then she checked the red spotted arm bandages and blue-black abdomen wound.
Compared to yesterday, they had all steadied. This would not have been possible if it was not mainly blunt trauma. A laceration would have been much more serious. If not for the protective armor, his organs would have been severely injured.
'He should recover fully in a few days,' she thought happily. She looked around the bed, not finding her robe and underwear.
'Why does he always throw it on the floor!' she thought, picking them up and putting them on one by one. Then she went to the bathroom to clean up.
The sunlight left a large streak on Sheng Xuan's face, waking him up. He lay in a daze, wondering about yesterday.
"Damn. How is it still painful?" he complained, slowly lifting his arms up. "If I had dodged it in time, would this have happened? Hell no."
The issue was the ram was faster than his footwork and activation of a Swift Talisman. He realized he had to put more work into this.
Gritting his teeth, he rose up and climbed off the bed. Hearing the water noises from the bathroom, he smiled evilly.
"Lan'er, are you inside?" He knocked on the door.
Wei Lan's hands paused. She blushed and dipped lower into the bath tub.
"Yes, I am. Do you need to use the bathroom?" she softly asked.
"Ah, yes," he lied. "Can I come in?"
"Um, I am nearly done but if you can not hold it in, you can come..." she said, chin touching the warm water.
"Yes, it's a bit urgent." He turned the handle and walked into the large bathroom. A decorated foldable screen blocked his view to the bath tub. The smell of flowers lingered in the swirling mists.
"Don't mind me, you keep doing your bath," he gently said, sitting down on the toilet seat, custom made. He did not like the squattable ones they used to have.
"How are you feeling?" she softly asked.
"Pretty good. Much better than yesterday," he said, yawning.
"You should have slept longer. How come the day you are not well you wake up early," she said.
"My side was empty," he said.
"Lies," she said. A sharp streaming noise echoed. Wei Lan instantly knew what it was, her face reddening. She keenly listened to it.
"Am I really just a liar to you?" he sadly asked.
"And a bully," she added.
The streaming noise became sporadic, then fainter and fainter.
"I am a bully?" he said. "I should act like it then."
Footsteps echoed. Wei Lan's heart pounded. The screen was pushed aside.
"Ah!" she yelped, dipping further into the bath tub, wrapping her arms around herself.
"You get scared so easily," he lightly said, getting inside the bath tub.
"Wait, stop. You are going to wet your injuries!" she anxiously said.
"It's fine," he said, then pulled her into his embrace, wrapping his hand around her bare belly.
"Ah!" she cried out. Water spilled out of the tub, splashing onto the tiled floor. He found her nape to kiss again.
"You!" she trembled, feeling his hands rub and fondle her sensitive corners.
"Ah~ Stop it~"
"Eh!"
"No- not there!"
He left her huffing and puffing, her head lying on his chest, her gaze hazy.
"By the way, Lan'er, have you ever fought a Sunhorn Ram?"
"Mhm."
Sheng Xuan had a thoughtful face. A conversation on fighting and beasts began.
...
After bathing and a change of bandages, she left in a rush. He came out some time later. To his surprise, Sheng Bo was still at home, reading a newspaper on his lounge chair.
"I heard you had a fight yesterday?" he calmly asked, looking up.
"Yes, Dad. I fought a Sunhorn Ram. I crushed it," he said.
Sheng Bo scanned him top to bottom, covered in injuries. Crushed it? Is that phenomenon in the room with us right now?
"The Battle Hall has a training division. Man versus Beast. You should have gone there first," he said. "But this is also good. This will only make you stronger."
"Mhm," he nodded. "Dad, I broke my sword. Can you make a custom-made one for me?"
Sheng Bo rubbed his chin. "How much are you paying? I am not cheap."
"Dad, I am your son!" Sheng Xuan earnestly said.
"So, what if you are my son?" Sheng Bo said with some disdain.
"Fine, I will just ask Mom," he said.
Sheng Bo's eyes snapped to his aggrieved face. "Alright now. No need to ask your Mom. I will see what I can do. You come with me to the shop tomorrow."
"Hehe, thank you, Dad."
"Also, put in a few good words for me to your Mom. She is mad at me," Sheng Bo transmitted.
"Eh? Why?"
Sheng Bo shrugged. He rose up and checked his injuries too. Knowing he was okay now, he said some encouraging words and hurriedly left for his shop.
Sheng Xuan stared at his receding back, clueless.
He could not have cheated on her, could he?