The Village of Naje

"Let's stop here." Ren Cai nudged Hong Zhao.

"For the last time, no." Hong Zhao rolled his eyes for the tenth time within the last five minutes.

Ren Cai looked longingly at the village they were approaching. "Why not?" She grumbled. "It's been a week of sleeping outside and eating travel rations. We need a hot bath, you more than me." She waved her hand in front of her nose as if to prove a point.

"We are not stopping." Hong Zhao said simply, yet his eyes looked over the small village. He had to admit, a hot bath would be nice. He was starting to remind himself of the child in panther hide he had been when he first came to this world. "We still have a long way to go."

"And we'll still have a long way to go when we stop an hour from now to make camp." Ren Cai complained like the ten year old she was supposed to be. "Why not make it one hour earlier and have beds tonight?"

"I would do what the young miss tells you, or you might have a harder trip ahead of you." An elderly voice said from behind them.

Hong Zhao turned to see a kindly old man smiling at them while pushing a cart. He had heard the man behind them for a while now, but he thought the cart would have drowned out their quiet talk. "Senior, I apologize, but we need to continue on the road tonight. My father is waiting within Yuan City for me and my cousin here." He waved a hand to Ren Cai.

"Then you will bring your cousin to your father, only for her to tell him how mistreated she felt on the road." The elder's smile broadened. "If you help her, you will be helping yourself, don't you see?"

Ren Cai looked from the elder to Hong Zhao with a pleasant expression. She had just a moment ago been about ready to pummel Hong Zhao for the right to a bath, now it seemed this senior beat her to it. She beamed a smile to him as if to say 'I won.'

Hong Zhao sighed inwardly. He knew he wouldn't win this altercation without disrespecting this senior, so instead he cupped one fist in his hand and bowed to him. "This junior will be grateful for the directions to the nearest inn, if it pleases you, senior." His face had transformed from irritated to respectful in a blink of an eye.

Taken off guard for a moment, the elder cleared his throat. "It is fine, young one. There's no need to fall on formalities, just call me Lang Xinyue." The elder bowed his head in return. "For ones as young and respectful as you, it's a pleasure to meet-" He looked up from his slight bow and waited.

"Gao Long" Hong Zhao smiled as he returned a name. "And this is my cousin Gao Jin."

"As for where the nearest in is, I happen to be the innkeeper within Naje."

"Then we will intrude a while longer then, senior Xinyue." Hong Zhao bowed respectfully as he fell in behind the elder, dragging Ren Cai to join him. He glared daggers at her, yet she only beamed at him.

Before he didn't have a chance, Hong Zhao took out a small pouch of silver he had stored within his ring. It might be suspicious if he had just summoned money from nothing when they got there. He tied the pouch to his belt and continued on.

As they approached the village, Hong Zhao was underwhelmed. In terms of villages, Naje seemed much smaller than Rantori. It looked to be a third of the size of their village, yet Rantori was the first village he had lived in, so he didn't have much to go off of in terms of a respectable size of village. He had only scoured rooftops for fresh gossip in the other villages that lined the forest, yet he didn't get as far as Naje before.

"Who goes there?" A voice broke Hong Zhao out of his revere.

"It is just Lang Xinyue and two other travellers who wish to take up with me for the night." The elder said with a smile.

Hong Zhao looked at the guard as he stared at him. He noted that the cultivation of the man was only fifth star student rank. He looked at Lang Xinyue and noticed that he was only within the eighth star student rank. Grey hair mingled with his natural black. Unbidden, Hong Zhao began to have a bad feeling about this. He looked at Ren Cai, yet she seemed to have no care in the world.

When the guard waved them in, Lang Xinyue led them to a two floor home with a sigh next to it reading 'Inn.'

As they entered, Hong Zhao breathed in a savory stew on the hearth and his mouth began to water. He wiped it, embarrassed that it only took a step in the door to break his resolve.

"A stay in the inn costs a silver per head." Lang Xinyue held out his hand expectantly. It covers beds as well as food. You are welcome to the hearth for food.

Hong Zhao took two silvers from his pouch and handed them to the old man. "Then we thank you for your hospitality." Before the silver touched Lang Xinyue's hand, Ren Cai was already half way to the pot of stew, spoon and bowl in hand. He sighed as he saw her childish nature, then reminded himself that he should be more like her in the future if he didn't want to stand out.

He bowed to the innkeeper and then picked out his own bowl and spoon. His stomach growled as he made his way to the stew, yet before he got there, he looked over his shoulder at the elderly man. He only stood there with a smile on his face.

Hong Zhao hid his hand from the innkeeper and placed his empty bowl within his storage ring and replaced it with his own bowl full of already prepared food. He hoped the old man didn't notice the swap as he went to the pot and pretended to scoop the food into his bowl. His stomach growled in protest as he went to where Ren Cai sat and began to eat. If she ended up with negative effects from the food during the night, he would know why.

They ate in relative silence and when Ren Cai was done enjoying the food, she went and bowed to Lang Xinyue before going up the stairs to their room.

Hong Zhao followed behind her and closed the door behind them. Without delay, he took out the pendant Lan had given him and inserted his qi within. As Ren Cai stared, he placed the pendant under his pillow. He then changed within his qi blocking uniform. Ren Cai's eyes widened as his qi presence disappeared from where he was and appeared again at the pillow of his bed. "Where can I get one of those?" She went to the pillow, but Hong Zhao cut her off.

"This trinket will mask my presence, so you sleep and I'll watch over you." He took out a qi grasping pill and qi stone while walking over to a corner where he would not be noticed. "If you're good, I might find a way to get you one some other day." He sat and put the qi grasping pill under his mask and into his mouth. He then held the qi stone within his folded hands, ending the conversation abruptly.

Ren Cai would have argued, but she was tired. She went into the other room and prepared a bath for herself before dragging her weary body to her bed. She sighed when her clean body hit the bed, and then she was out.

Though it had been an hour since she had been within the other room, Hong Zhao noticed nothing as he cultivated. It seemed like the qi funneled into him in a much faster rate than he would have expected. Within the hour, he had already recovered a third of his natural limit of qi. He smiled to himself as he realized just how easy it would be to improve his qi spiral with such training. Then his thoughts went quiet as he focused only on the pull of energy towards him and the steady breathing of his companion.