"For now, the most important thing is to help our most injured companions heal," Wu Ling said as he looked over the group. "To do that, Brother Yu needs a place to tend to them and plenty of clean water. We're not far from the shore of the lake where Sister Xiang and I observed the eclipse. I remember several stands of bamboo near the lake the last time we were here so I'm going to go look for one with Sister Xiang and Hou," he explained.
"Once we find a good place to establish a temporary camp, I'll start clearing a site while Sister Xiang comes back to fetch everyone else. We can build a quick litter to transport Brother Fang while we're at it. Once everyone gets there, Brother Zhang, I'll be looking to you and Brother Xiong for help building a hut where Brother Yu can tend to the injured."
"Of course," Zhang Buyan said, thumping his chest lightly with a fist. "I'll help however I can."
"I'll start dressing our kill as soon as Brother Yu is done with me," Xiong Dahuo said, wincing as the young alchemist peeled his blood-soaked robes away from a deep wound. "If we're going to stay at this lake for a few days, I can likely skin them all and improve our harvest."
"I'd like that," Wu Ling said. "But Brother Fang's health is more important than any gains. At a minimum, we should have gained several beast cores from this in addition to Brother Yu and Brother Zhang's breakthroughs. That's already harvest enough for the start of our journey," he said firmly. "Anything else is a luxurious bonus we can forfeit to care for our companions."
"I agree with Brother Ling," Su Xiang said quickly. "But Brother Xiong, if you can teach me, I'm happy to help. I know Brother Ling and I wear our trophies with pride. I wouldn't want to deprive you of your own."
"Thank you for understanding, Sister Su," Xiong Dahuo said. Never in his life had he faced a foe like the Blood Moon Mist Wolf King. He was certain that bringing home a trophy from such a kill would earn praise from his Master. He might even be able to gift the Young Miss something made from a fang or claw of the great beast. If they needed to give up their trophies to save Fang Lin, he would, without hesitation, but he wouldn't deny that he would resent the man for it afterward.
Once arrangements had been made, Wu Ling and Su Xiang set off for the lakeshore. Wu Ling crafted a talisman bearing the word 'Quick' in an attempt to keep up with Su Xiang's pace through the forest but rapidly discovered that without the benefit of her keen eyesight, the only benefit of moving faster was that his feet found objects to trip over at a remarkable speed. Since the two couldn't dash through the forest together, they kept a more reasonable but still brisk pace through the woods as they sought a place to establish a camp.
"Brother Ling," Su Xiang said as they walked. "There's a creek not far from where we fought that would give Brother Yu plenty of clean water and we could string together several tents to give him a space to tend Brother Fang for a day or two. Why take the extra step to go to the lakeshore? I know your mind by now, you're already several moves ahead of tending to Brother Fang," she said. "Share your thoughts with me."
"Haha, Elder Sister knows me best," Wu Ling said with a smile. "You're right that I'm thinking a bit further ahead. This battle was too intense, despite everything, there was no way we could plan for things like the phantom wolf soul attack… thing that the leader of the pack did. Fang Lin's barrier failing so quickly and his fleeing was also out of our estimations."
"We can't anticipate everything," Su Xiang said. "Perhaps, one day, my cousin could foresee such things, but that wolf… it grew much larger and more capable in the month since I last encountered it. I would never have expected things to turn out like this."
"I know," Wu Ling said. "But overcoming the unexpected also gave us greater gains than I expected. Brother Yu's breakthrough is significant but he'll need time to translate that breakthrough into concrete abilities and resources. I'm even more confident now that he's broken through that, given time, he'll be able to refine beast cores for Brother Xiong. I also think that Sister Jin may need some time, not only to heal her hand but to recover her confidence after that battle. She feels very shaken by what happened. I don't think it's dire," he clarified. "She floundered against one opponent but it's an absolute truth that she saved Brother Fang's life when she burned one of the wolves to nothing more than ash and bone. Compared to her, I'm far more worried about Brother Fang."
"So you want to take time for everyone to process what we've been through?" Su Xiang asked. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"
"I do have a few other considerations," Wu Ling admitted. "The time everyone needs to heal gives you and I a different opportunity to progress our own cultivations. I'm sure if it had been a week ago and we'd had this battle, you'd have become a Soldier tonight, wouldn't you? But you couldn't because you're changing your manual and your method to match my father's. You need more than a few hours after we stop hiking for the day to practice if you're going to find your opportunity on this expedition," he said.
It was hard not to feel guilty for costing her an opportunity. If he'd waited until she broke through to give her the manual, things might have been better for her… or maybe it would be worse. The further along you were in your cultivation, the harder it was to make a change. People like his mother, who found a more ideal manual after reaching the third stage and managed to successfully transition to it were fairly rare.
"What about you?" Su Xiang asked. "Wasn't Brother Buyan talking to you about making sure you looked for your own opportunities as well?"
"He did," Wu Ling admitted. "And actually, that's another part of why I want to take more time. I've been poking at learning how to carve for a while but I've had the wrong goal in mind. I wanted to learn carving to blend it with calligraphy and learn inscriptions," he explained.
"But that's held me back in actually learning how to carve things for their own sake," Wu Ling continued while they walked. "Warden Mu told me that an Understudy needs to immerse themselves in someone else's art and understand it so they can learn it and then build upon it. Now, after fighting so many wolves, I want to try my hand at Bone Carving," he said, drawing a mildly surprised look from Su Xiang.
"My manual contains a section on producing empowered totems with carvings," he explained. "I think, if I can dedicate some time to immersing myself in the learning of something new, I can find my own breakthrough opportunity there."
"I see. So Brother Ling isn't just looking for a place to spend a few days to recover, you're looking to find a place we can spend several weeks to reflect and cultivate," Su Xiang said, nodding in approval. "Brother Ling, I think you're right, that's exactly what we need," she added, leaning over to wrap an arm around his shoulders and give him a brief hug as they walked.
"Let's look for a good place then," she said. "A little extra work at the start to find the right place will make it easier to convince the others to stay for a while."