Chapter Forty Nine.

After a while,Lei Qiang comes back in to the tent and finds Duan Xinyue half naked. He can't help himself but take a glance which turns into a stare without him noticing it. Duan Xinyue looks up and catches him still staring at his beautiful flawless body.

"Lei-xiong, your eyes are misbehaving,"Duan Xinyue says smiling.

"Are they? "Lei Qiang blinks a few times and turns around looking away shyly,"Why are you not dressed up yet?"

"Oh I don't have any extra robes with me or you want me to walk back to my tent like this?"

"Why not? There are only men around here."

"Okay. Then I don't mind showing off my body,"Duan Xinyue says getting up. Lei Qiang blocks his way and offers to bring him the clothes which he does shortly after. As Duan Xinyue dresses up Lei Qiang gets in Hong Yi's bed and covers himself.

"Isn't that Hong Yi's bed?"

"Yeah sleep on mine, it's more comfortable,"Lei Qiang answers expressionlessly.

Duan Xinyue snickers before responding,"What makes you so sure that your bed is more comfortable than his?"

"If you want to sleep on Hong Yi's bed let me lie here for a while to warm the quilt for you,"Lei Qiang speaks up shamelessly.

"Lei-xiong are you trying to flirt with me? Let's see how long you can do that,"Duan Xinyue threatens with a playful smile.

Duan Xinyue immediately gets up and walks towards Hong Yi's bed. Lei Qiang makes a cringe expression on his face as Duan approaches him,"What do you want to do?"

"Warm the quilt with you,"Duan Xinyue replies.

"No need,"Lei Qiang immediately uncovers himself and gets up walking back to his own bed.

"Weren't you acting all flirty a few minutes ago why did you suddenly become so cold ?"

"Sleep early so your wound can heal up properly."

"Hey Lei-xiong,based on the moves I just used earlier,can you guess which sect I'm from?"Duan Xinyue asks eagerly waiting for Lei Qiang's response.

"I can't tell but it must be some unorthodox sect that steals martial arts techniques from other sects and practices all of them together,"Lei Qiang replies coldly.

Duan Xinyue is completely disheartened by Lei Qiang's response.

"Even if we steal from others we put our full concentration to master them,"Duan Xinyue defends himself.

"So you do admit they are stolen techniques,"Lei Qiang's statement brings Duan Xinyue into realization that he had made a complete fool of himself by the choice of words he used earlier.

"So what if they are stolen?"Duan Xinyue questions back boldly. He's one of the few people who can quickly pick themselves up even after embarrassing themselves.

Seeing Duan Xinyue isn't showing any signs of accepting defeat,Lei Qiang ends the conversation by simply saying he feels sleepy. This is one of the longest nights for Duan Xinyue. Compared to sharing the tent with Du Yichen,the situation would have been better. Instead he's stuck with this moody Lei Qiang who seems to be caring for one minute and goes back to being cold the next minute.

The following day is full of wistful moments as General Fei leads the mourning ceremony for the deceased soldiers.Carriages carrying the bodies of the deceased are sent to their different hometowns to be laid to rest . The carriages are escorted by a number of soldiers. Those who don't have families are buried at the Burial Mounds of Moon City. As the others are busy with the mourning ceremony, Duan Xinyue slips out secretly to tour around Moon City for the last time since they are supposed to return to Meanders City the following day. Since the others were occupied the whole day,no one noticed Duan Xinyue's absence till the evening when soldiers come together to have a meal and offer a toast to their deceased brothers. The soldiers offer toasts one after the turn till the grieving atmosphere turns into a celebration.

"Duan Xinyue is nowhere to be found,"Du Yichen who has just come back from searching all the tents reports.

"Could it be that he secretly fell in love with a girl from the Bathhouse so he went to visit her secretly?"Feng Yi asks jokingly after the rest of the soldiers return to their tents and he and the team from Meanders City are left trying to figure out Duan Xinyue's whereabouts.

"He wouldn't sneak out to see a lady. Maybe he found something or something happened to him."

"Recently they have been cases of young ladies kidnapping young handsome men and forcing them to sleep with them with hope of getting attractive offspring,"the ever quiet Gao Yuan finally comments and everyone takes his assumption seriously.

"Say if we begin to look for him,which young lady's house are likely to find him since they are so many young ladies in Moon City?"Du Yichen asks clearly bringing out everyone's concern.

"With his level of martial arts I don't think he can be easily kidnapped,"Lei Qiang makes a sensible point.

"Or we should wait for..."Before Du Yichen finishes his statement,Duan Xinyue shows up still looking elegant as earlier. It looks like he has been having fun all the time. Du Yichen is the first to spring up from his seat to check up on him.

"Duan Duan,where have you been?"

"I was just in Moon City exploring its beauty .I went to Splendor Music House hoping to hear some music from Liushu County but I ended up getting disappointed hearing all the tunes are from Long Gong County and also the music notes have been altered. Some people complain they experience migraines after listening to it. Thanks to my Meditation Skills,the music didn't affect me,"Duan Xinyue who seems to be in a good mood recites his experiences in an excited yet calm manner.

"No wonder there are less people going to Splendor Music House nowadays. Those who are still going haven't figured out the music is affecting them,"Feng Yi deduces.

"I heard the Illusion Lair has its members all over the county and they are highly trained to use sonic weapons so it turns out they are using the guests there as their samples for the newly invented sonic weapons,"Duan Xinyue explains.

"Looks like we won't be returning to Meanders City soon,"Du Yichen comments putting on a serious facial expression .