Trapped in the Cave

Wangji's white clothes were dyed red by smears of blood everywhere. Out of the three, Chun wasn't wounded as badly as the two "Just sit, both of you. If you keep moving it'll only make your injuries worse" she inspect the wounds.

Standing up again, she walked around a few times, gathering whatever they could make use of. She rubbed branches that she could use to support Wangji's leg, she rubbed the grime off the surface using a corner of her clothes.

"You can't just use your ribbon whips to tie that. His your forehead ribbon might do the trick" as Wei Wuxian tries to reach for it Chun stops him "Seriously have you not learned anything? Never tamper with the Lan Sect's ribbon" Wangji silently thanked her.

"But how are we supposed to fin something to tie it with" Chun took off her outer robe and used her dagger to cut a strip "Here. Tie it for me, I need to get us some water"

"It's too dangerous" Wangji stops her "And the water is too dirty for consumption" Wei Wuxian added "Worry over yourself before you worry over me. Here use this" she tossed her perfume sachet that was from Qingyang before walking off.

Wei Wuxian caught the small pouch and he reached into his lapel to pull out his "There's herbs in it that we can us" they looked through the herbs until found a few that could stop blood or remove poison.

Wei Wuxian spoke as he picked them out, "I can't believe that the girl's perfume sachet ended up so useful. I'll have to thank her properly when we go back"

Wangji responded coldly, "Are you sure you do not mean to harass her properly?"

Wei Wuxian, "What are you talking about? It doesn't count as harassing if I'm the one doing it. It only counts if the one doing it looks as horrendous as Wen Chao. Go on, strip"

Wangji frowned slightly, "What?"

Wei Wuxian reached out and tried to pull of Wangji's clothes "What do you think? Strip your clothes!"

"Look I'll strip first then" he stood up and drew away his belt sash. Wangji's blood seemed to boil to the point of having to spit it out and cough the blood out.

Just then a roar could be hear not far from where they were "Chun" they looked at each other as if ready to go after her when her voice echoed "I GOT IT! DON'T WORRY!" they didn't know if they should feel bad -that she had to be the one to do that- or relieved -that she's safe-

Wei Wuxian sighs "How much reckless can she possibly get?" Wangji who felt better after spitting out blood spoke in a relaxed tone "That's rich comming from you"

After a few minutes, Chun pops up from a corner and she saw the pool of blood near Wangji "Oh you good, you got the bad blood out. Don't you feel much better?" She lays down two metal containers fille with the creek water and an empty one "Where did you get these?" Wei Wuxian tilt his head "Well I always carry food for me and Xue so..." she pulled out a medium piece of cloth she cut out from earlier "We can ration these out if we estimate how long we'll be down here"

There was Bakkwa, Rice Crackers, and nuts "You've been carrying these with you all the time?" Wei Wuxian smiles "These are a lot. Why do you- nevermind, it's probably because you don't want Xue to be hungry" she nods.

She started tinkering on the water, rocks, and cloth she had "The water may be dirty but we have no other choice. I'll filter it out as much as I can then we boil it" Wei Wuxian immediately stood up, gathered a pile of dead leaves and branches, and drew the fire talisman on his palm again.

Wei Wuxian ground up the herbs that he had picked out, he pulls off the clothing that covered Wangji's leg and applied it. Suddenly, Wangji raised his arm and stopped him.

Wei Wuxian asked, "What's wrong?"

WangJi took out some of the herbs from his palm and pressed them onto Wei Wuxian's chest "Chun wouldn't like it if you don't treat yourself" Wei Wuxian flinched "Ah!"

"Are you alright?" Chun was quick to ask "Yeah, the medicine just stings" she sighed "The medicine I've packed are with Xue"

"Don't mind me. I get hurt a lot, and I play in Lotus Lake as usual even when I'm hurt. I got used to it a long time ago. How many herbs can there be inside these small perfume sachet? There isn't enough to begin with" Chun frowns "You think I won't remember? Just apply medicine, eat, and rest"

Wei Wuxian shook his head "You did a lot for us, the least we could do is be a lookout while you rest" Wangji put a hand on Wei Wuxian's shoulder "This'll be enough. Go treat her wounds, she's been enduring it"

His head immediately turned to Chun and he does notice the cut on her forearm "Well you're the one to speak. Xue might kick me if I didn't take care of you" he sat next to her "Well you shouldn't have thrown yourself in front of that branding iron" he dramatically gasped "Not even a thank you?" She sigh "I had it under control" he scoffs "And what? Have your back scorched" she shook her head "You saw what I did to Zhuliu, right?" as he recalls that head on encounter of the two, he nods "Is your golden core alright?" she nods "The attack wasn't directly on my core so it did nothing. Oh, hold this for me" she hands her small water filter to him.

She started to take of her inner robe "What are you doing?" Wangji blurts out "How am I supposed to treat myself? Besides I still have clothing underneath so don't worry or turn away" she was left on her camisole and pants. The cut on her forearm was still slightly bleeding and Wei Wuxian hands her the grounded herbs.

It was silent, they were dead tired from fighting and putting up with their injuries.

Wangji spoke in a thin voice, "The thing on your chest right now will not be able to come off for the rest of your life"

Wei Wuxian, "It's not on the face. And I'm a man—what am I scared of? In a man's life, how can he not get a few wounds and earn a few scars?" for a moment Wangji's gaze fell on Chun. Wei Wuxian notices it "She have scars and bruises but that doesn't make her any less of a beauty. It just show how strong she becomes as time passes" Chun threw a branch at him "Enough with your flattery. Even tricking Wangji with your words" she went back on healing her swollen right shoulder.

"Now that Xue and the others escaped, it'd take them one or two days to go down the mountain but since their swords were taken, I don't know how long it'd take for them to find help. We might get stuck here for a while"

Wei Wuxian, "The good thing is that the monster stays in the pool and doesn't chase after us. But the bad thing is also that it doesn't come out. With it guarding the hole under the pool, we won't be able to get out either"

Wangji, "It is perhaps not a monster. What does it look like?"

Wuxian and Chun looked at each other before asnwering, "A tortoise"

Wangji, "There is one divine creature that takes on such a form"

Wei Wuxian, "The divine beast Xuanwu?"

The Nether Xuanwu, was a combination of turtle and snake. It was a water deity that dwelled in the North Sea. Since the Nether was also in the North, the creature was known as the God of the Northern Sky.

Wangji nodded. Chun lies on her back "How can a divine beast look like this? It's got a mouthful of fangs and eats human flesh. It seems a bit too different from the legends I've heard and read"

Wangji, "Of course it is not a the proper Divine Xuanwu. Rather, it is a semi-completed result of failing to rise to divinity and being transformed into a yao. In other words, it is a deformed Divine Xuanwu"

Wei Wuxian, "Deformed?"

Wangji, "I have read of it in an ancient text. Four hundred years ago, a 'fake Xuanwu' appeared and rampaged amid Qishan. It was large in size and consumed live humans. One cultivator named it the 'Xuanwu of Slaughter'."

Chun's brow twitched "The creature that Wen Chao led us to hunt is a four-hundred-years-old beast—the Xuanwu of Slaughter? And he wants us to hunt it without our swords"

Wei Wuxian had a confused expression "Hadn't the Xuanwu of Slaughter been killed back then?"

Wangji, "No. A few cultivators had joined alliance and prepared to kill it, but on one winter day that year, there happened to be heavy snowfall, and the weather was unusually cold. Then, the Xuanwu of Slaughter disappeared and was never seen again"

"It was hibernating" Chun sat up and grabbed the filtered water from Wei Wuxian "And now we're sitting here waiting to either be eaten or saved" she punctured two holes on each metal container and slipped in a stick before placing it over the fire.

They've divided the food they had and it'll last them a week and a few days if they properly portion it "We should eat while we wait for the water to boil" for a moment she had an ominous feeling but given her current situation, she just brush it off.

Once they were done, Chun went to go get water again but this time she went untoced to the beast. She repeated the filtering and boiling of water and sets it to the side.

Wei Wuxian picks up her clothing "Put this on. The least you want to have is a cold" he drapes it on her "Thank you, now let's get some sleep"

They look at the silent Lan "Atleast we know it's past 9, he's already sleeping" Chun giggles "Go and rest, I'll keep an eye out for us" Wei Wuxian nudged her.

She pulls down Wei Wuxian and held his wrist as they lie down "Don't worry about it. The monster is in the water and we're far enough. If it move we'll definitely hear it" he stares at her "I just want to be careful"

"Fine" she sighed and activated her energy circle around them "So that wasn't the trick of light eatlier?! With Wen Zhuliu" he tried to look for the circle of light but it was nowhere.

"It's only visible for a second but after that, only I can see it" she closes her eyes "So this is what shook my core"

"Sorry about that, I was trying to limit the radius and ended up intensifying the energy" Wei Wuxian tucks a hair behind her ear "Just how much spiritual energy can you use"

"Hush, it's better to rest now so we can recover quicker" She starts humming the same tune she hummed at the Cold Spring.

Wei Wuxian was quiet familiar with it since he would hear her at Yunmeng from time to time. His eyelids starts to droop and soon the three were in their headspace as they silently slept