Chapter 8: you have thought about the path?

No No No you dog! You can’t let

Your dick think for you. It’s dual cultivation ...I need to respect her feelings, I need to understand her emotions. ....I need to make her mine entirely , not by forcing myself on her , I should wait..I need to win her soul and body ! Only then can the dual thread deepen.

Outside there were no footsteps this time , but somewhere in the village a young man, with a split lip was already telling a different story . one where Lin Tian had attacked him for no reason , and the girl in the house was the cause of all of it . And he was adding false details too.

By morning that story would be everywhere , and there is two days left for the market day.

Su Qingxue shifted in sleep , her hand finding his sleeve and, Lin Tian thought , if they left tomorrow , they would be walking straight into the rain and the rumors at the same time .

...

They started packing before the sun was fully up .

Su Qingxue folded the spare robes and tied the rice into a cloth bundle with the same careful hands she used for everything else .

Lin Tian’s swollen knuckles had gone down a little overnight . She checked them once without asking , quick glance , then went back to the bag . The house felt smaller already , like the walls had moved in overnight, like it knew they were leaving .

"We can reach the next town by night if we leave early," She looked at Lin , "There’s an inn that doesn’t ask too many questions . After that it’s three more days to the outer edge of Azure Cloud’s selection grounds ."

"So , You’ve thought about the path or the way? ."

"Yes. I’ve had time , actually I used to think about leaving this village even before you got sick . I just never had a reason that was stronger than staying ."

Lin Tian watched the line of her neck while she worked. Every time she passed close the air shifted , warm and then cool , and her shoulders tightened like she felt it too. She kept finding reasons to stand on the other side of the table . Small excuses like moving the pot , checking the bag again .

"Are you really sure?" Its the last time I’m asking , if she choose to leave with me , then it’s settled for my lifetime

"About leaving? Yes ."She said quickly like on instinct.

"Uh , no about coming with me "

She tied the knot on the cloth a little too hard. The rice crunched inside , then she nodded, As a yes. "I already said I was , don’t make me say it again ."

By mid-morning the house was stripped of anything useful. It looked emptier than it should have . Just walls and that old table. Su Qingxue stood in the middle of the outer room and looked at the stove , the low table , the chair she had slept in for weeks before the bed. Her eyes stayed there a little longer .

"I hate that they’re getting the house," she clenched hes fists.

"It’s just wood though"

"It’s where I took care of you , its important to me, but not important enough to let you hurt..." She said it like it was a simple fact , then seemed to hear herself and went quiet. She picked up the bag and adjusted the strap on her shoulder , fiddling with it twice .

Lin Tian stepped closer , close enough that she had to notice. Close enough that he could smell faint lotus.

"I’ll get you a better one , later ."

".....!" Her ears pink . Then she turned toward the door , she didn’t need to .

They left through the back path to avoid the main road . The sky was clear for once . Mud from the rain still clung to the edges of the fields . A few people saw them from a distance no one called out though . That was almost worse than shouting .

At the bend near the old well , the young man with the split lip was waiting with two others. Leaning like he owned the well .

Su Qingxue stopped but Lin Tian did not. He kept walking until he was between her and them .

"Heh heh leaving already?" His lip was dark and swollen...ugly . "Clan will be glad , saves them the trouble of throwing you out ."

"Move," Lin Tian said,

"Tsk...or what bastard ? You’ll hit me again? In front of her?" He looked at Qingxue .

"Heh You know what they’re saying now , right? That you two were already fucking in that house ha ha , like the whore she is , heh ..that the sick boy got his strength back by ravaging her ’domestic cunt ’ every night, hahaha ! "

Lin Tian stepped forward , dual core pulsed once.The two boys behind the speaker shifted their feet a little nervously,

Su Qingxue quickly put her hand on Lin Tian’s arm,

"Don’t do it Tian-ge ," she tightened her grip, "He’s not worth it and you’re still not strong enough for three of them ."

" haha , listen to her bastard , she knows ."

Lin Tian’s jaw was tight . He looked at the hand on his arm then at her face....small fingers holding on .

One day , one day, I’ll make you and your whole Lin clan bleed.

Su Qingxue kept her hand where it was until they were past only then did she let go . Like she was afraid if she let go earlier he would turn back .

Behind them the laughing started again. She did not look back ,as her corner of eyes become moist. he didn’t either but her shoulders were stiff .

They walked until the village was a low shape behind the trees . Just grey roofs now .

Lin Tian’s legs held better than he expected. The dual core fed thin streams of energy into his meridians with every step .

Su Qingxue matched his pace without complaint . When he slowed , she slowed when he needed to rest under a tree , she sat beside him and handed him water without being asked .

The bag on her shoulder looked heavier than it was . He offered to take it once but she shook her head and kept walking . "Stubborn"

The first rest was under a crooked pine . She sat with her back against the trunk and watched the path they had come from , as if she expected the boys to follow . Eyes checking every few seconds .

"I’m thinking about about everything ." She picked at a piece of bark until it came away under her nail.

"About the house , about the road , about how my name is already ruined in a place I’m not even staying in anymore, and about how I still don’t regret coming with this man "

Look , she is looking at the path , not at me . ..Pretending she didn’t say anything important

"Qingxue ."

"Don’t make it a big thing now , I’m just saying it so it’s said ."

yeah yeah sure heh ’He watched her for a moment . The dual core stirred He could have pushed and said more . The way her hands were folded in her lap , the pink still fading from her ears, the stubborn set of her mouth, all of it told him she was already further along this path than she wanted to admit .

He only nodded and stood up when his legs were ready no need to make it heavy now, "We will reach the next town before dark ."

They walked on , the road climbed a little , then dropped . Birds called from the trees and went quiet when they passed .

Once a farmer with a hoe over his shoulder nodded at them and kept going . Su Qingxue nodded back out of habit . Lin Tian watched the way she carried herself on the open road .

The same quiet determination she had used to keep this ’average bastard’ alive when the village had already written him off . That hadn’t changed, I’ll make you happy , you’ll get your Lin I’ll get my cultivation a little...it’s so confusing!

The road was mostly empty. A few farmers with tools over their shoulders, a cart that passed without slowing the driver glancing at them once and then away.

Late in the afternoon the trees thinned and the first roofs of the next town showed in the distance , grey against the lowering light . Su Qingxue adjusted the bag on her shoulder and glanced at him .

"There’s an inn near the south gate. It’s a little cheap but it’s clean enough. We can get one room and--" She stopped , ears turning pink again .

"And what?"

of course .. sleep together? Until your back finds my chest? Say it now if you dare

"And not make it weird," she finished a little too fast , "Two beds if they have them or a floor , I’ve slept on worse ."

"Hmm sure we’ll see what they have ."

She nodded and looked ahead again . The tips of her ears were still pink . She walked a little faster , like walking faster would make the thought go away .

By the time they reached the south gate the light was going . The streets were still wet in the ruts from the earlier rain . The innkeeper was a thin woman with a permanently tired face . She looked at their clothes , their single bag , and the way they stood near each other , then named a price for a single small room with one bed , like she had already decided .

Su Qingxue counted the coins twice before she handed them over .The innkeeper took them without comment and pointed up the stairs .

"Second floor , at the end of the hall . Don’t make trouble for us ."

"Yeah we won’t,"

Lin Tian followed her up , the faint lotus scent that still clung to her hair even after a day on the road , and too close in the stairs.

The room was on the second floor . Small , one window facing the street , one bed that was barely wider than the one they had left behind . A wash basin in the corner with a crack down the side . The smell of old wood and someone else’s cooking oil .

She set the bag down and stared at the bed . Just stared for a few seconds . Like she was thinking same thing he was thinking .

"I’ll take the floor," Lin Tian said before she could, "I can recover on wood too "

"That’s not..." She pressed her lips together ,

"We’ll figure it out after we eat . I’m too tired to fight about it right now ."

They ate downstairs in silence . Simple noodles in thin broth . A few other travelers glanced at them and looked away , no one from the village . That was something ,well relief actually .

Back in the room the lamp was already lit . Su Qingxue washed her face and hands at the basin , then sat on the edge of the bed and untied her hair .

The black silk of it fell down her back , Tian looked once and then made himself look at the window instead.

"Tomorrow we’ll keep going," she declared, " and when we get to the selection grounds... we will do our best, both of us ."

"Both of us "

She nodded , then she lay down on the far side of the bed , facing the wall and left space without being asked , automatic. Then she murmured faintly " You stay on your side, If you want...."

Lin Tian put out the lamp ,

In the dark the dual core turned , her pure Yin was closer again , thin walls and thin robes and the same quiet pull that had followed them out of the village . He lay on his side of the bed and left the gap he didn’t cross it .

For a long time neither of them moved , both Breathing slowly and listening to street below .

Then , the same as every night since the first , she shifted in her sleep . Her back found his warm chest and a small sound in her throat. She probably didn’t know she did it ..

Lin Tian’s eyes stayed open staring at dark ceiling .

haah , how many more nights like this.

Outside on the street below , two men in travel-stained robes stopped under the inn’s sign and looked up at the second-floor windows , the other nodded once...

Those man didn’t go inside..they only watched the window where the lamp had gone out , then moved on into the dark like they already knew where the road was going . Like they were waiting for tomorrow !