Burden

*Multiple POVs*

***

(MC POV)

The girl on the ground was somehow already bounded. It was professionally done just like how she did so back in that stronghold. Even though barely any time had passed between when I saw Yao Ya and Qiao An take her down to where we are now. Qiao An went toward Chen Huang and her sect member, while Yao Ya came towards me dragging that Zhen Huo girl behind her.

Seeing her glare at me like this made me feel like I had done something wrong. In reality there was no way I could of known about Liao Mu, and as I thought about that it made me feel a little better. For some reason though she didn't say a word as dragged closer to me even though she wasn't gagged.

Apparently, seeing me distraught Yao Ya shook the girl in her hands before dropping her leg. There was a minor grimace on her face when she fell, but that facial expression was soon replaced. As she continued to stare at me her eyes went wide and shock shone within them.

Yao Ya as soon as she dropped the leg of the girl bounced over to me and gave me a big hug. She squeezed and squeezed until it started to hurt my sides. I was just about to say something before she let go.

She brought her hands up clasping both of my cheeks as she gazed into my eyes. I was forced to look into her deep green eyes as she spoke to me in a soft and soothing voice.

"Are you hurt Big Brother Cheng? Did that girl do anything to you? It's okay, you can tell me." Once again I was reminded of her charm, but I was getting used to it so it didn't stun me... for too long.

After a moment of respite I reached up and grabbed one of her hands while calmly responding.

"No, it's ok. She didn't do anything to me." Pulling one of her hands away from my cheek I continued looking into her green eyes– they were just too mesmerizing to pull away from.

"Y-You really did have a girlfriend?! How cruel of you to do this right in front of me! You're even still wearing his clothes!" Hearing the outburst I looked toward the girl on the ground. She seemed to be holding back tears as she look back and forth between Yao Ya and I, eventually setting her sights on me.

"Y-You're a c-cruel man for d-doing this!" She choked on her words throughout the sentence. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and started crying.

As she did so my guilt skyrocketed, I even stopped paying attention to Yao Ya. Although she did try to kill me I saw the human side of her earlier as she professed her love for "me."

'How are soldiers able to kill people so readily? Maybe it's because they don't think of the other side as human or one of them. As soon as you humanize them everything becomes different for me. It's just like video games for me, the less I know about my enemy the more willing I am to kill them, but as I start to learn more about them(and they're not assholes) I begin to hesitant.'

But then I had another thought,

'What if she's just pretending though? And as soon as our guard is down she'll escape? What if she's doing this to make me feel terrible on purpose?'

As I thought on it parts of an old altruistic side of me came out. Walking over to her I crouched down to look at her. I didn't know why I walked over or even what to do next, but something came to mind. I took off the robe she used to identify me as Liao Mu and draped it over her.

After another moment of staring at me her anger seems to of subsided a bit and her glare dispersed. She closed her eyelids laying her head on the ground to silently weep.

When I turned around, Yao Ya was already standing next to me. I jumped a bit from her sudden appearance, but she then brought down her hand to pull me up. Taking her hand she helped me up with a bright smile before I turned towards Zhen Huo.

"Here, I'll take her over to the others. You don't need to worry about it." Returning a smile to Yao Ya I crouched down to pick her up.

"Are you sure you want to do it? I don't mind doing it." She asked with a slightly worried voice

"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"How about we both pick her up? I'll get her head, so could you get her feet?" This time although she asked me a question she had already started as if I said yes.

'I guess I can't stop her. Man I'm so lucky to have gotten her. She's so kind and caring about me. She would even help me with this minor matter.'

Grabbing both her legs I waited a moment for Yao Ya to get her end before we continued toward the others. Chen Huang, Qiao An, Rao Nuan, and that other Spirited Sun disciple stood around a man who sat against a tree.

***

(Yao Ya POV)

After I convinced my darling to share his burden of this woman with me, a number of thoughts ran through my head.

'This is it, the petty creature who committed those horrendous crimes against my darling. It dared to confess her love to him in front of everyone over there! While it did so I could merely watch as my darling was embraced by you. With the exception of Li Lian and I no one else can simply touch him like that!

If that was all then your crime might not be so severe, but you had the gall to even try and attack him! Helplessly, I could only watch from a distance as one of your repulsive arrows nearly lodged itself in him. Such a crime is worse than death! If only others, especially darling, wasn't around I would make you regret even thinking about such things.'

When darling picked up her legs she opened her eye only to meet my own. I knew how I looked at this moment and it was exactly what I want her to see. The pair of eyes that were full of vibrant life that I showed to my darling was replaced by a set of cold-dead eyes.

Her pupils dilated a bit and her mouth was ajar as I picked her up. I placed both of my arms under her armpits which pulled the rest of the body a bit towards me. Darling seemed to notice the tug and turned his head around.

Quickly regaining the life in my eyes I met his gaze.

"Are you ready Big Sister Ya?" He said sweetly

Forming a gentle smile I slightly nodded as I responded, "En"

The distance between where we were to the others wasn't far, but it was enough for what I wanted to do.

Whispering into the creature's right ear I made sure it was low enough for just us two to hear. "𝘕𝘰𝘸. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦."

She turned her head to look at me. Her gaze held slight terror within it when she looked into my eyes. Her lips shivered and she was about to respond when I covered her mouth.

"Mn" A low muffled sound exited her mouth as I did so. I had already anticipated her to try and respond, but it doesn't make a difference if she comments or not. Either way, it was safer for me if she didn't talk at all in case she might alert darling.

If she alerted darling and it might change how he looks at me, he might even start hating me. In the end her answer to what I was about to say was all that mattered. Using my free hand I pointed toward my darling who carried her legs.

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘚𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.. 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥."

She quickly nodded which was to be expected.

"𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮! 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘮!

𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘉𝘜𝘛 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘦? 𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥?"

From her frightful eyes her pupils dilated once more as she nodded.

"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 "𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬" 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶!"

She quickly nodded once more as I removed the hand which I used to cover her mouth. Her lips were quivering as she continued to stare at me.

She looked at me like I was some sort of monster. I'm only getting a little payback at this bully for what she did to my darling. I'm sure Li Lian would agree with me, maybe I miss her if only a little. I can't wait to show off what I've done!

'I wonder how darling's pet slime is doing. What is it's name again? That's right it's Zheng Da, I wonder why he would take such a creature as a pet. Though it is quite unique.'

That thing is still staring at me for some reason.

"Is something the matter?" I asked it

"H-Huh n-no i-it's n-nothing!!" After my simple question she snapped her head back away from me.

"Zhen Huo, are you okay?" Darling asked the creature as we closed in onto the others.

The creature flicked her eyes to look at me and after a moment I nodded.

"I'm fine, it was nothing I-I swear!" She attempted saying in a non frantic way.

"Uh um, okay then."

We made it to the group, but before we could talk to them we had to set down our burden somewhere. Darling went towards a large tree to set her down beside. As we left I turned to give her a final lifeless glare, before quickly catching up to my darling.