"One of the other alphas needs to stop him," Jiang Yan said. It was an obvious fact but it was also a subtle way of telling Xie Ling that interfering, omegas that they were, would be a terrible idea. Xie Ling nodded at those words and looked in the direction of Jiang Ming, the only alpha around who Xie Ling knew was capable of doing something to stop this but the man's expression of comical fascination at what Zhang Wei was doing told Xie Ling he would not offer any help.
As Xie Ling watched the scene in front of him, Zhang Wei inflicting harm on a weak opponent and the other boy trying to free himself from the excruciating pain and failing, Xie Ling felt his opinion of Zhang Wei morphing from deep admiration to an overwhelming annoyance. Why would anybody think this was an okay thing to do to someone else? What kind of prick was he?
"Fuck this," he said.
Xie Ling moved so fast that even Jiang Yan who was known for her speed and agility could not stop him. He took a few steps toward Zhang Wei, pushing past betas and omegas alike without regard for how they might kick his ass but instead focused on stopping this mess of a scene from going on any further.
"Stop this!" Xie Ling exclaimed.
Suddenly, a new type of stillness descended upon the courtyard. No longer were people looking at Zhang Wei wondering why he was hurting that other boy because just like Xie Ling wanted, he had stopped. The only problem now was that everyone was looking at Xie Ling, including Zhang Wei.
For a moment, Zhang Wei moved his body as though he was about to launch another attack, whether toward Xie Ling or his crying opponent, Xie Ling did not know and hoped to never find out, but in the last second, he resigned and took two steps back from the helpless boy. As he did this, he kept his eyes locked on Xie Ling, both of them watching each other with heated intensity.
On Zhang Wei's face was an expression of mockery and suspicious interest. He had obviously been enjoying what he was doing. This audacity and absolute disregard for every other person only made Xie Ling's blood boil hotter. He did not like Zhang Wei and he could not understand how anybody possibly could.
Around them, those who had gathered began to disperse as the scene had now ended. Some of them, mostly betas and omegas, stole glances at Xie Ling as they walked away, wondering who this white-haired omega who was brave enough to stop Zhang Wei was. Jiang Ming who had been silent throughout the entire ordeal huffed as he rose to his feet. He nodded approvingly at Zhang Wei and then he walked away without as much as looking in Xie Ling's direction. Everybody else continued to move but Xie Ling and Zhang Wei kept their eyes on each other.
"You ordered an alpha to stop," Jiang Yan whispered into Xie Ling's right ear as she grabbed his arm and dragged him away, breaking his staring contest with Zhang Wei.
"I guess I did," Xie Ling said, his voice suddenly shaky.
"So many people will not be happy about that," Jiang Yan said.
"Maybe not but at least that boy isn't going to be hurt for no reason," Xie Ling said.
"Yes," Jiang Yan said with a deep sigh. "I'm sure that Han Jianyu is very grateful to you."
*
Xie Ling's bed looked inviting and those silk sheets seemed like they would agree with his tired skin. He desperately wanted a nap and this seemed as good a time as any to take one. From the door, he took a few steps to the bed and crashed into it face-first.
As he lay down, he couldn't help but replay the events that had occurred earlier in the day. Zhang Wei's cruel actions had left a sour taste in his mouth and he couldn't shake the feelings of anger and disgust that had come with witnessing it. It was clear to Xie Ling that Zhang Wei enjoyed it, and that realization made him feel sick to his stomach. He was just glad that he had been able to stop when nobody else could. Perhaps he deserved this nap as a treat to himself for that good deed.
Xie Ling closed his eyes, allowing the thoughts to swirl around in his head, hoping that they would fade away and he would find himself lost in that dreamless kind of sleep that he missed so dearly.
[Not so fast. You have already lost twenty points. You now have thirty points in total.]
Xie Ling leaped off the bed at the sound of that annoying and grating voice of the system.
What? Oh no!
Suddenly, he remembered the rule guiding his encounter with Zhang Wei in the courtyard. He was not allowed to talk to him!
As a reader, Xie Ling had always favored drawn-out tension between MCs and MLs over quick interactions that just build up out of nowhere. It was one of the problems he had had with reading the original Clawfully Yours, and his mission in that courtyard was to fix that. All he had to do was ensure that they shared nothing other than longing stares and prolonged wanting but by confronting Zhang Wei's brutal bullying of Han Jianyu, he had overstepped and done the direct opposite of that. Now, his points had to suffer for it.
This is not fair! I had to do something. Zhang Wei was doing something horrible and somebody had to stop him.
[And that person just had to be you, did it not?]
Well, nobody else was doing anything.
[Because you have hurried that interaction, you lose twenty points. As it stands, you have only one heart crystal. What this means is that any more infraction could bring your points to zero and lead to the eventual loss of your only heart crystal.]
No, you can't do that. I am just starting.
[That is correct. So, you might want to do a little better at following the rules.]
Xie Ling let out a deep sigh of frustration. Fine. Can I take a nap at least?
[The time for napping is over, Xie Ling. Your hero awaits you in all of his messy glory.]
No naps? Xie Ling was already exhausted. This is going to be a long journey, isn't it?
[Only if you keep napping on the job.]
*
For three days after that, Xie Ling worried about his next encounter with Zhang Wei. Mostly, he was worried that there might be some unpalatable consequence to standing up to an alpha but also, he found that despite having some annoyance toward him, Xie Ling could not get the image of Zhang Wei out of his mind.
Truly, there were so many things to like about Zhang Wei - his dark eyes, his shiny hair, his lithe movements. His personality seemed like just a small price to pay but Xie Ling did not want to get ahead of himself. Right now, he was contented with taking in the world around him especially now that the system had also been silent for days, allowing him to explore and see the grounds by himself.
From the stories engraved on the walls, Xie Ling now knew the origin and roles of all these cultivator sects. These people, in all their power and glory, had a role to play in maintaining the balance of the universe and the sheer importance of that attempt to bring Xie Ling to his knees. Their job was to keep this beautiful realm between the demons and mortals safe from being breached. This job was not always so easy.
About one thousand years ago, there had been a great war. The images on the wall did such a fantastic job of capturing the scenes of this war in all of its gore. Looking at it and understanding what had happened sent shivers down Xie Ling's spine and the thought that it could happen again terrified him.
Those demons had broken through the barrier with the aim of going into the human world to feast as they so wished. But as fate would have it, their arrival had coincided with the rise of the three famous immortal sect leaders, Yu Ping, Tao Xia and Ding Huan. Together, these three sect leaders defeated the demons and closed the barrier for good before disappearing. Since then, the human world has remained largely protected from demons.
Till now, Xie Ling could see in the behavior of all the other cultivators, how another potential influx of demons weighed down on them.
"Nobody has seen Han Jianyu in two days now," Jiang Yan said, interrupting Xie Ling's train of thought and bringing him back to the present. They were taking a walk around the beautiful rose garden, breathing in the fresh air and stretching their legs while others practiced lightness and speed around them. Xie Ling watched in amazement as Su Zheng, a beta female of the Moonlight sect balanced herself on the tip of a tree branch and then proceeded to leap in the air and twist twice before landing gracefully.