WangXian Forever 7

Chapter 104 Control

Early evening was pleasant sitting in the sun. Rumi and Klem were playing by drawing shapes in the dry sandy patches not overgrown with weeds and barely alive grass, while Li XiWang was sitting in between Hui Gai and Wei Ying.

Lan Zhan was right next to Wei Ying, and if they had been alone, probably would have positioned Wei Ying firmly in his lap, but already it wasn't far.

The Flowers of Venus were huddled in their own group and Master Dashi had retired indoors; Dunshi was still asleep deep inside the ruins.

"What are you thinking about, Little Rabbit?" Hui Gai asked her, softly.

She blushed.

"Killing people...more specifically, not killing people!" She corrected herself when his red eyes widened.

"Why are you thinking about that?" He inquired, shifting her so she was seated in his lap now. "And did you come up with a solution?"

"I...I think so. Okay, so first of all, you said father wouldn't like it if we went around killing people just because they shot an arrow at him...and I wondered how we would find these people in the first place."

Hui Gai waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts.

"I know we have to find them first, or at least we could try to avoid them..."

"But if we can't..?"

"But if we can't...then we have to try and talk to them." Li XiWang had been thinking about Xiao Zei leaving them, since he had gone.

What would he find? Who would he find?

"I don't think they're nice. But that doesn't mean we can't try, right?" She looked up at Hui Gai then. "If they attack us, we must defend ourselves. And if we can't hurt them, then it has to be early, whatever we do."

"I like where you're going with this..." Hui Gai smiled at her.

"Alright...they have to have the thought first, to want to hurt us, right? What if we made them forget?"

"Forget?"

"Yeah, if they forgot that they didn't like us, they wouldn't attack us because we've taken away their reason to do that. I think that would work."

"But how would you do that?" Hui Gai grinned at her, marvelling that she was already so smart.

"I'd ask you to do it." She grinned back, folding her skinny arms across her chest.

Wei Ying laughed behind her.

Hui Gai and Li XiWang both turned to Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, who had a small smile on his face.

"But what can you do, say if I wasn't there?" Hui Gai said, turning her attention back to the problem at hand.

"Oh, that's easy. Have you got anything we can play with? I can show you." She nodded enthusiastically.

"Like what?"

"Like little soldiers...just for you though. I won't need any."

Hui Gai liked her confidence.

"Give me a second."

He vanished and truly was back within seconds. His hands were full of small, sliced wooden pieces, all smooth and of the same size.

"Yes! Exactly what I needed!" Li XiWang exclaimed happily.

Hui Gai flung them to the ground using his hidden powers and they all lined up in seconds, like battalions of soldiers.

"Remember, you're not allowed to hurt them." Hui Gai said, watching her.

"Oh, don't worry about that!" She winked at him, beaming, waving a hand as if he had made a joke. "Look!"

Li XiWang closed her eyes and a trench opened up all around the soldiers.

"I can call upon the water that is inherent in the ground, and it will mix with the soil to create a wall." She did exactly as she had described.

"But what if it's dry, no water?" He shot back.

"Then I can call upon fire. It too is a base element." A flicker of orange fire began burning in the trenches. "Similarly, I can call upon the wind, and wreak havoc upon the enemy, or call upon the clouds to rain hail and lightening upon them until they begged for mercy." Another type of fire was burning in her eyes now, a need for vengeance.

"I see you've been practise your cultivation." Hui Gai replied, proudly.

"You know...people can have all sorts of reasons for doing things, Little Rabbit." Wei Ying said, softly.

Li XiWang got up from Hui Gai and went to sit in Wei Ying's lap. Shu hugged him tightly first.

"Do you think it's wrong? What I did?" She whispered, looking at him fearfully.

"No...not wrong." Wei Ying thought deeply about what he wanted to say.

"Then?"

Her big chocolate eyes were full of uncertainty and worry now.

"First, I'm really happy that you can defend yourself properly. I want you to know that even by accident, if you killed someone, we would never hold that against you. You are loved unconditionally, my little Rabbit, and nothing is going to change that." Wei Ying kissed the top of her head.

Li XiWang smiled, and then she felt the long fingers of her other father gently comb through her hair.

"Every situation is different and when there's fighting, anything can happen. But you have a great mindset to begin with, that there should be as less casualties as possible. But...while I understand why you want them to suffer...is that right? I know it's hard not to...but if the reason we are all here is to learn, then it doesn't make sense. And any negative emotions cause more suffering for the person who has them so it's double the pain. Everyone suffers." He sighed softly. "I won't lie to you, both Lan Zhan and I have had to kill people...one of them...one of them was a really bad man. I have no excuse for what I did...because I really made him suffer. He was a mess..."

Lan Zhan squeezed his waist, knowing immediately that he was talking about Wen Chao.

"I was in a bad place. All I wanted was revenge for what he had done to my family...not even what he had done to me. But when it was all over, I just felt worse. He had it coming...if I didn't do it, someone else would have, but that's not the point. Revenge...the clean emotion of it is like a poison. It eats away at you until there's nothing but ash and pain. I would highly recommend that it be avoided."

Li XiWang nodded solemnly.

The mood was sombre now and Wei Ying struggled to find his happy thoughts.

"I guess what I'm trying to say, is that whatever is going to happen will happen, and the most important factor has to be our approach. Clean heart, clean mind...that is the best way. Do what you can, always do your best, and don't hold on to regret."

"Alright, father. I will do as you say." Li XiWang replied.

Wei Ying looked up sharply and suddenly stood up.

"What's wrong?" Lan Zhan stood up too.

"I placed a ward around this temple, just to keep us safe." Wei Ying handed Li XiWang to Hui Gai with an unspoken agreement in his eyes.

Hui Gai nodded silently.

"A ward?"

"Yes. And someone is trying to get in."