NOVEL SIMPLE Give Him an Inch…
After saying he wanted to get to know Zhou Lieren better, it took less than a day for Huo Huli to realize that he opened a tiger’s cage and couldn’t lock it back up. For the past few days, everywhere he turned there was Zhou Lieren. In the morning, he was there. When he was at the clinic? Right there. Having a walk by the river? He was following. In his dreams? Zhou Lieren dominated each and every one of them!
It wasn’t as if Zhou Lieren was aggressive or overbearing. It was nothing like that, but he would just be nearby. Sometimes he looked straight at him, watching him with that mindful gaze of his, or other times just casually reading a book that Bai Luo or the other Heavenly Lake disciples let him borrow. His essence and general energy was just always there, and Huo Huli was keenly aware of it.
He did establish a few rules very quickly. No one was to know what they were doing, because he did not want his brother to find out. If Huo Ningjing knew, he wouldn’t hear the end of it. He also didn’t want to appear to be playing some sort of favoritism. He also made Zhou Lieren agree to not interrupt or disturb him when he was working at the clinic. As usual, Zhou Lieren was kind and did what he asked, but now he felt stupid now for somehow feeling a little off without having the alpha near.
“Li’er, that’s too much ginseng in that mix.” Huo Ningjing nudged him with his elbow, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“Huh?” He looked down at the herbal mixtures he was putting together for omegas. He and his brother were at a table in a sort of assembly line to pre-package things like suppressant teas, tonics, and the sort.
In his long mortar had the remains of ginseng that he worked over rather sloppily and in the small bowl that he used to combine the herbs together had a giant mound of ginseng plopped right in the center.
He groaned in frustration and slumped down, putting his elbows on the table and resting his face in his hands. He rubbed his fingertips against his forehead and hoped it would help clear his mental fog.
“Li’er…”
His brother’s voice sounded concerned and he turned his head to reflexively say he was okay, but he stopped when he saw Huo Ningjing’s stern glare. He eerily looked like their mother in that moment.
“I am going to say this as your physician first, then your brother.” Huo Ningjing set down the small sachets made of oiled paper that they filled the individual servings in to distribute. He turned in his seat and leaned forward, his expression still hard.
“You are still congested, and it’s affecting you more and more. You say you want to be at your best in case there is something wrong, but I think you need to use the toy surrogate and work off some of that yang energy, at least.”
His whole body heated at the mention of that toy. It was a tool used by the noble omegas to help with their heat, and it was one he often avoided using if he could get away with it. His actual heat was due soon, since the Full Moon was two nights away and he typically got it the day after. Wait, then that means…
“Xiao Huo, aren’t you in your heat?” He frowned and looked his brother up and down. They were close together in their cycle, and he couldn’t believe that he forgot, but Huo Ningjing looked perfectly fine.
Huo Ningjing shrugged, “I have been microdosing my suppressants for the past week and have been using the toy regularly. It passed without an issue.”
“Then why not let me microdose? Show me how.”
“No! You can’t do that because your Governing Vessel is, well…” Huo Ningjing made a sharp up and down chopping motion with his hand. “Messed up! If you take too much or too little of the suppressant, it might throw you off balance so much you might have a deviation.”
That’s what I’m worried about…So far no amount of him meditating by or trying to work with water had helped ease his tension and energy. There were times where his qi felt stuck or sputtered, and if he would try to do something with more than two arrows, it would backfire. Thankfully it was not catastrophic - yet.
He sighed heavily, rubbing the spot between his eyes. “Do you really think I should take the toy surrogate?”
“Yes! Or, well…” Huo Ningjing’s voice trailed off, his tone odd.
“What?”
“Weeeellll….” Huo Ningjing drawled and examined the nails on their right hand and buffed them against his chest. “You could dual cultivate with someone.”
“Xiao Huo!” His mouth dried up like the desert and he shuddered. “How can you say such a thing?!”
“What? You said it yourself - you aren’t interested in marriage.” Huo Ningjing picked his work back up and folded the oil paper, his fingers nimbly working to make little squares for the herbs. “If you aren’t interested in marriage, why bind yourself to the rules that I must follow?”
“Like father and mother would allow that,” he huffed. Huo Huli could hear his father’s lecture clear as day. I have been cursed with the most unfilial son!
“How would they know? I certainly wouldn’t tell.” There was a hint of something in Huo Ningjing’s voice at what he suggested next. “I am sure there are plenty of available alphas who would help you dual cultivate.”
“What about alphas and dual cultivating?” Huo Cheng strode in holding a sack of rice on one shoulder and a bucket of water on the other. He dropped both of them down by the door and wiped his hands together with a clap.
Huo Cheng approached the table and took the seat across from Huo Ningjing. Huo Huli turned back towards his mortar and picked up the pestle wheel and started furiously grinding the ginseng. He ignored his cousin’s chuckling and Huo Ningjing gestured towards him while talking to Huo Cheng..
“I was telling him that he needs to open his sea of yang and maybe open his legs too.”
“Xiao Huo!” Both he and Huo Cheng scolded his brother, but Huo Cheng went a bit further in the wrong direction.
“Don’t be so rude to suggest your brother open his legs for just anyone.” Huo Cheng nodded over to him. “He should be more discerning who he opens them to.”
“Not helping!” Frustrated that his cousin also seemed to be on Huo Ningjing’s side, he sawed at the herbs a bit harder until Huo Ningjing slapped at his hands.
“Aiya, don’t take it out on the ginseng!” Huo Ningjing reached across and grabbed the mortar and dragged it across the table out of Huo Huli’s reach.
“I take it you both have been talking about this with one another if you are being so bold about it.” He folded his arms on top of the table and glared at his relatives.
“If you think I’m going to tell my brother that you broke your chastity, I’m sorry to disappoint you, Li’er. We earned our courtesy names the day we were chosen for the trial.” Huo Cheng shrugged, his crooked grin hitched the corner of his mouth. “As far as I am concerned, we are adults that can make our own decisions. I only care about what you do to help your situation and health, regardless of the method.”
How do I explain to them that I don’t even have a chastity to break? He wanted to sleep with Zhou Lieren, even outside of doing it for cultivation, but there were a lot more complex things wrapped up in that idea that he wasn’t sure that he could untangle them all. He didn’t think he could try having sex without talking about it, but if he did, he risked getting rejected by Zhou Lieren. He didn’t want to wait until his heat to see if Zhou Lieren was trustworthy in bed.
He sighed out loud and thought to himself. I want to be thinking clearly if it happens…
“Tianshanghuo-jun?”
At the sound of his title, a shiver ran up his spine. He turned his head slowly to the door, but he knew who it was. Like a demon summoned by the mere thought of him, there was Zhou Lieren in the doorway. He wore his uniform as always, but for some reason it looked like it highlighted his muscles a bit more than usual. His face was neutral, but Zhou Lieren’s eyes were looking only at him. He could only stare back at him.
He knows he can’t be here while I’m working. Like a mind reader, Zhou Lieren cleared his throat and responded to his dumb stare.
“I saw how late it was getting and wanted to know if you had time for my lesson.”
“Oh, yes!” Huo Ningjing sat up in his chair straighter and smiled. “It is late!”
He moved his attention to the light just past Zhou Lieren and saw that, yes, the sun dipped low in the sky but was not quite next to the horizon yet. His day really flew by.
“A-ah, yes...yes, I have time for a short lesson.” He did not know why, but Zhou Lieren liked to learn at least one thing from him in the passing days. He didn’t care what it was, even if it was the silliest of things like how to skip rocks. Zhou Lieren had never done it, and that in and of itself seemed offensive, let alone the fact he had very little time to play as a child. Just thinking about it got him upset.
“...Do you not want to give me a lesson today?”
He blinked at Zhou Lieren’s hesitant voice. He felt his face pinched together, realizing that he probably looked angry. He wanted to quickly reassure him, to explain the source of his anger, but his brother and cousin were watching the interaction intently. Well, they pretended they weren’t watching, but he could tell.
He stood up abruptly, almost knocking the chair over but he caught it quickly and set it right. Afterwards he cleared his throat and looked to his sibling and cousin.
“I will be with Zhou Li--Zhou Rong.” He smoothed his hands over the front of his robes and quickly dashed over to Zhou Lieren’s side, not wanting to look back at his relatives’ faces.
Zhou Lieren bowed to Huo Ningjing and Huo Cheng before turning and waiting for him to lead. He started to walk towards the river but a light touch to his arm made him stop and shiver. He turned to Zhou Lieren, his face calm and even.
“If it is alright with you, I have a request, Tianshanghuo-jun.”
His stomach did a little flop whenever Zhou Lieren called him his title. Zhou Lieren spoke very little, even though he spoke the most with him, but when he’d say his title, it made him jittery. He’d heard it countless times, but when Zhou Lieren would say it, it was filled with such an overwhelming amount of respect. His handsome face would take on this tiny smile he’d come to know on Zhou Lieren whenever he looked at him. His eyes would blaze with something that Huo Huli could only describe as possessive, as if it was his only right to say it. When he did, each syllable was laced with intention:
Tian. Shang. Huo. Jun.
He swallowed and stared at Zhou Lieren’s mouth instead of his eyes as he responded. “Of course...what may I teach you?”
Zhou Lieren only tilted his chin to the left, indicating for him to follow, and they were back to using fewer words. He took a deep breath and followed Zhou Lieren, staring at his broad back. His long, coal black hair swayed back and forth as he moved, hanging in front of him like it was taunting him to touch. He was very curious how it would feel - would it be smooth, or tough and thick like his own hair? I wonder if it smells like soap or him…
He’d been too distracted by the memory of what his scent was like that in the next blink, they were in the plum tree grove. Some of the blossoms have fallen, making an imperfect little barrier like it was their personal space separate from the rest of the forest. The brook babbled quietly as they stepped into the middle where a lump of hay lashed together with three thick cords of sat leaning against a tree trunk. At its base were several arrows stuck to the ground, clearly having missed their mark which was the makeshift hay dummy.
He blinked then looked to Zhou Lieren as he picked up a simple, used bow. He turned around to Huo Huli and held it out to him. He blinked again and pointed to the bow to make sure he understood. “You want me to teach you archery?”
At his nod, Huo Huli stepped forward and took the bow and examined it then at the arrows that had already been shot. He slid a curious glance back at Zhou Lieren.
“May I ask why you have been practicing?”
That slight, almost missable curve of his lips was there again. “I wanted to see how you have to work to be as skilled as you are. I could get a sense of how hard you must have trained.”
A tiny, little speck of a thing bloomed in the center of his chest. A warm feeling ebbed out of it, making his cheeks warm. Without realizing it, a little smile was on his own lips. Sometimes Zhou Lieren could just say the best things and he probably was unaware of how profound they were. He set the bow against a different tree and stepped up to Zhou Lieren.
“Would you be willing to show me your sword first?”
Zhou Lieren looked down at his hip where his sword was and slowly took the blade out of its plain sheath. When he’d last seen it used in battle, Huo Huli couldn’t appreciate the fine sword. Zhou Lieren rested the other end flat on his other hand and he presented the sword to him.
The hilt and pommel were very simple and utilitarian, much like Zhou Lieren himself. The black leather and steel base were finely made despite lacking any personalization. The single edged blade stretched across the gap between Zhou Lieren’s large hands and glinted like it had a shimmer embedded in the cold steel. The only markings on it were the characters at the base of the sword, which he tilted his head to read.
“Yuexia,” he traced the letters over with the pad of one of his exposed fingers. Under the moon. “Is that the name of your blade?”
Zhou Lieren nodded once, and Huo Huli asked another question. “And it’s your spirit sword, right? Does it have a sentience?”
Like Zhou Lieren, it was hard to sense an aura from the weapon at all. True to it’s master’s nature, it too held itself back.
Zhou Lieren nodded in answer, but spoke this time, “May you show me yours?”
“Hmm?” He almost forgot that he had his own blade then laughed. “Oh, this. Well…”
Zhou Lieren still kept his out while he pulled out his much shorter blade. In truth it was a few inches longer than a dagger and nothing more. He held it in a similar fashion that Zhou Lieren did with his own.
“This is just an extension of Tian Shang Huo, my bow. The hilt is made from his same wood.” He brushed his thumb over the intricately carved wood. “It doesn’t have it’s own sentience, just shares it with Tian Shang Huo.”
“Your bow is named after you?” Zhou Lieren arched his brow. “Or are you named after your bow?”
He chuckled, put his blade away, and held out a hand to summon his bow. His energy sputtered, a scalding heat in his palm that made him flinch but Tian Shang Huo did materialize. He clasped the grip and held it to Zhou Lieren for him to take. He didn’t put his sword away, but simply swapped weapons with him. He blinked at the gesture of trust and took hold of Yuexia, surprised at its weight for being such a thin blade.
He began with his story to explain his name as he inspected the sword. “When I fought those drought corpses in Anyang, it was by fluke. I had just gained my bow, and it had no name. A person was the first one to say those words, saying that it was like fire brought down from the heavens.”
He smiled when Zhou Lieren tried to pull the string, but it would not budge. He continued with his explanation, “It caught on, and then the Crowned Prince sent the edict to the city naming me that title. Since it really was my bow that helped, I figured it should share it with me. To me, we were named at the same time.”
“Why a bow?” Zhou Lieren managed to pull some of the string back now, but he laid a hand over Zhou Lieren’s to stop him.
“Our sect is the way of the sword too, but it felt more like a tactical advantage to be above. I think it suits my personality more. In my early days as a disciple, I was afraid of being too close to people or things, and shooting from afar felt easier.”
Zhou Lieren just nodded, not questioning his reasoning but just simply accepted it. He appreciated Zhou Lieren’s patience and his calm since it matched his own natural demeanor, but lately he felt restless. Zhou Lieren’s presence made him squirm, but at times like this, he felt steady beside him while on top of uncertain ground.
It was perhaps this calm that made him ask such a question, “What does your blade do? I mean, you’ve seen my fire, but…”
At the mention of it, the blade on Zhou Lieren’s hip peeked up from its sheath. He took a step back in alarm, but a smirk smoothed over Zhou Lieren’s features.
“It likes you,” he said simply by way of explanation. There was an undercurrent of something in that sentence that made him instinctively heat up, but he didn’t say anything. Zhou Lieren handed him back his bow and he took his blade out once again and gave it a quick twirl.
“When it first came, it was much too large for me. This isn’t it’s real form - I had to learn to bring it down to this size.”
He looked almost shy and lowered his gaze down to the ground where he stabbed his sword into. Yuexia changed its shape dramatically. The blade widened to the thickness and shape of a black, curved meat cleaver, and grew almost as tall as Lieren. The end of the hilt ended at Zhou Lieren’s chin, still just as plain, but was almost as thick as Huo Huli’s wrist. What remained the same was that glimmery sheen on Yuexia’s blade, but against the black surface it looked like a twinkling night sky. It really does look like it belongs with the moon...
The sword was large and intimidating. It was thick enough that it could cleave his body in two with just a little swipe, but he couldn’t help but feel drawn to it. He stepped closer and it suddenly vibrated a little. He looked to Zhou Lieren who gave a reassuring nod, which was enough encouragement for Huo Huli to approach it.
With his free hand, his fingers stroked over the blade reverently and he traced the characters of its name which were still in the same spot.
He frowned then looked up at Zhou Lieren, his fingers remaining on the blade. “It’s quite beautiful, but since it’s like this...then why don’t you carry it as is?”
“It is very noticeable, and my Shizun understood that it would make me stand out. It could have been a negative thing for me in the sect.”
His teeth clenched at that, anger swelling in his gut at the fact Zhou Lieren had to dim himself because of people like Mu Yi and the Elder Mu. From what little he could pry out of Zhou Lieren and eventually the Heavenly Sect disciples, Zhou Lieren’s life was not much unlike an omega in the outside world. Beyond the safety of the Anyang Huo Clan, omegas were just dolls and regarded as lowly. Be seen, not heard. Those words stuck with him.
Yuexia returned back into its other form and floated up from the ground with a dark blue light and sheathed itself.
“It is also just convenient to keep it like this,” Zhou Lieren shrugged a shoulder, his eyes never having left Huo Huli as he moved.
Looking down at his bow now, he held it up to Zhou Lieren, “Show me how you stand with it.”
Zhou Lieren took Tian Shang Huo from him, their calloused fingers brushing past as they exchanged hands. He felt a tingle slither it’s way up his arm, but Huo Huli forced himself to ignore it instead of shivering like he wanted to.
While it was obvious Zhou Lieren understood a little of the mechanics of a bow - one holds it up with one arm, the other is holding the string - his posture was unsurprisingly off balance. Even he could probably tip him over like this.
He moved closer into Zhou Lieren’s space and used a foot to lightly push Zieren’s apart. “Widen your stance, and drop your hips. Think like a horse stance but not so firm.”
He was pleased that Zhou Lieren followed his instructions and adjusted perfectly then he inched closer and helped Zhou Lieren’s elbows loosen. He turned his head and dipped his temple towards Zhou Lieren’s chin so he could line up the sight when he got a whiff of that fresh apricot scent.
His eyes fluttered shut and he inhaled deeply, his head turning towards the alluring smell. When Huo Huli’s eyes opened, he craned his head back to look up at the taller man staring straight ahead towards the imaginary target. Being this close he could see the way his jaw clenched, the muscle bulging right below his jawline. His entire posture stiffened out of the alignment he had put him in.
He’s...He’s trying so hard. Huo Huli quietly watched his face, thinking about how much of an effort Zhou Lieren put into everything. He didn’t know if he was reciprocating enough, because he could tell Zhou Lieren was being beyond considerate despite some things. But if I give an inch, will he take a mile? He was certain that would be the case, but he wasn’t sure if he could ever make a move beyond what he wanted to do now.
Am I crazy? Before he could talk himself out of it, he went for it.
Tian Shang Huo faded away and Zhou Lieren’s brows went up in alarm. He whispered softly, “Lieren…”
At the exact moment Zhou Lieren’s head turned to look down at him, Huo Huli lifted up onto his toes and pressed his lips to his.
Author’s Note:
The Governing Vessel (or 督脈 dū mài) is the second extraordinary meridian where qi flows in the body. This is a Traditional Chinese Medicine and Daoist concept that is also (unsurprisingly) in Cultivation danmei. In Cultivation lore, if the top two (Du and Ren; the Conception Vessel) are open at birth/early age, it is said that the cultivator will be particularly talented or succeed quickly.
The Governing Vessel is the chief confluence of yang energy in the body. What Huo Ningjing means is that Huo Huli’s Governing Vessel is congested and not working properly, and for someone with extremely high levels of yang like Huo Huli, this could spell trouble. It increases the likelihood of a qi deviation - a concept where the flow or exercise of qi in order to try and strengthen it is too strained/powerful/goes wrong and can lead to devastating consequences that include the risk of death.