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Wuxian was sitting in bed, looking at the ring on his hand and in deep thought. Today, they're starting their journey towards Lotus Pier. The place he called home for most of his life. He cannot shake the feeling of foreboding every time he thinks of that place.
Wangji walks in to finally escort his soul-bond outside: "Wei Ying, are you ready?"
Wuxian puts on a fake smile and nods: "Dressed in white and ready to charm the unexpected people of Lanling City."
Wangji takes his hand and guides him outside: "Why are you sad?"
Wuxian looks down and whispers: "I'm not sad, I'm just tired."
Wangji didn't want to push his soul-bond so he just led him outside and to the main area of Carp Tower. People from all clans are gathered to bid each other farewell. When Wangji and Wuxian appear, they both get a deep bow from everyone and are crowded by many who want to ask about Wuxian's health and wish them good luck.
Ouyang disciples were the most emotional and it took a few minutes to calm them down and drag them away. After the pleasantries were over, Jiang Cheng approached them: "Your Excellency, brother, are you ready to depart?"
Wuxian looks hesitant, so Cheng goes close to take his hand from Wangji: "Come on! It will be fun. I promise."
While they make their way down the stairs together, Wuxian timidly asks Cheng: "Can I ask you for a favor?"
Cheng squeezes his hand and says: "Anything."
Wuxian looks behind him at Wen Ning then pleadingly looks at his brother: "Can he come in with me this time?"
Cheng looks surprised by the question and nods his approval.
Wuxian smiles at him then stops suddenly when he sees the amount of people crowding the end of the stairs: "What's happening down there?"
Cheng laughs and wraps his arm around his brother's shoulders: "You have admirers."
Wuxian looks at him in disbelief: "Who?"
Cheng smirks and says loudly, so Wangji behind them can hear: "You, Wei Wuxian, have admirers. Men who want to touch your graceful hands.. Women who want to confess their undying love.. Mothers who want you to bless their babies.. Old men who.."
He stops teasing when he hears Wangji unsheathing Bichen behind him.
Wuxian looks down at the crowd in fear: "We're supposed to walk through that to get to the gate?"
Wangji steps beside him on the other side: "The disciples will clear a path. Don't worry."
He nods to the youth behind them and with a bow they rush to make a path as ordered.
Wuxian was able to pass with his soul-bond and brother. People were shouting good things at him like gratitude and admiration. He's never been received with such positive attention before and it was baffling to him. It took a lot of time to reach the gate than they anticipated but for Wuxian, it meant a big deal. It made him happy that for once, he left a place on good terms without being chased or cursed.
The journey took 3 days, which he spent most of it sleeping or having light conversation with each young disciple that was watching him at the time. The only one who hasn't sat with him in his carriage was Jin Ling and it made him sad a little that the young man was avoiding him.
They reached a dock, where they would have to ride boats to reach the pier and Wuxian got out of the carriage to ride with one of the Lan Clan boats. He looked sadly at his brother before he got on and sat next to Wangji, holding his hand. His anxiety was starting to show and Wangji entwined his fingers with his and whispered to him: "All will be well, my soulmate. Calm your heart."
Wuxian takes a shallow breath and whispers back: "I can't. I feel like I'm paralyzed with trepidation."
Wangji looks seriously at him: "Are you that afraid to meet her?"
Wuxian looks shocked for a second then bites his lip, nodding.
Wangji: "You have to face your past to live a better future. I am sure she cannot wait to see you once more."
Wuxian looks away in shame and stays silent the whole way.
Once they reach the dock, Cheng gets out first and walks over to their boat to help Wuxian out. He sees that the man was visibly paler and when he took his hand he can feel it shaking in his.
He wraps his arm around his waist and says: "Welcome back home."
Wuxian looks at him and nods.
The townspeople were welcoming as ever; nodding and bowing in respect. A few handed Wuxian Lotus seeds and herbal teas, expressing how much they missed seeing him around. Cheng was not happy by how subdued his brother was. He was silent the whole way until they reached Lotus Pier's gate. Wuxian stopped and looked pleadingly at Cheng, begging him silently not to force him in.
Cheng sighs: "Why are you so scared?"
Wuxian swallows: "The ring I'm wearing allows me to see spirits. I know I'll see Shijie in there."
Cheng: "Don't you miss our sister?"
Wuxian: "I'm more scared of her disappointment than anything else."
Cheng squeezes his hold on his brother: "Do you not believe that she loved you?"
Wuxian looks sadly at him: "I didn't deserve her love."
Cheng opened the door and pushed Wuxian with him: "Love is freely given. It's not something you earn or deserve."
A big group of disciples were waiting for their leader's arrival. They all bowed and loudly declared: "Welcome back Jiang Cheng Leader! Welcome back Treasure Wei!"
They then turned to Wangji, who was following the brothers and bowed: "Welcome your Excellency!"
Cheng smiled at his disciples, which shocked them since he never smiles, and guided his brother to the Swords Place.
Cheng turns around to welcome Wangji properly while Wuxian wanders to the chair that belonged to Fengmian and touches the arm rest. His ring shines for a few seconds and he hears someone whispering behind him: "You're back."
He smiles sadly and turns to face Jiang Fengmian and nods.
Wangji stops listening to Cheng when he catches the expression on his soul-bond's eyes, which in turn makes Cheng stop talking to see what Wangji's staring at.
Wuxian tightens his grasp on the arm rest and lets out a choked breath: "I'm sorry."
Fengmian frowns and steps closer to the young man: "Why are you apologizing?"
Wuxian: "I promised to keep them safe and I failed."
Fengmian smiles sadly at him: "You sacrificed yourself for them. I cannot ask anything more of you."
Wuxian looks at a confused Cheng: "Turns out he didn't need me to become a great leader."
Cheng steps closer and asks: "Who are you speaking to?"
A few tears escape Wuxian's eyes and he whispers: "Former Clan Leader Fengmian."
Cheng looks shocked: "Father? He's here."
Wuxian nods and looks at Fengmian, who's staring fondly at his son then turns to speak to Wuxian: "He wouldn't be half the man he is now without your guidance."
Wuxian shakes his head: "He was right for kicking me out of the clan."
Fengmian looks angrily at Wuxian: "I would've skinned him alive if he'd done that while I was breathing!"
Wuxian's eyes widened and he stuttered: "W..what?"
Fengmian walks up to him and places his hand on his shoulders: "I raised you as my son. Loved you more than I loved my own flesh and blood. He had no right to rob you of your family, the home that I made for you and the support I worked hard in providing for you all. From the moment you were born, I knew you were destined to be great. When I found you on the streets, I was happy that fate gifted me the pleasure of watching you grow. It pains me that instead of supporting you in doing the right thing, my son chose mainstream and politics."
Wuxian takes a deep breath and smiles sadly: "It's in the past, Clan Leader. We have worked past it." Wuxian turns to look at his brother, extends his hand for him to grasp.
Cheng, still confused with hearing only one side of the conversation, steps close and takes his brother's hand. Slowly, he starts to see his father as clear as day. He bows and says: "Father, we meet again. I hope this time it's not to express any more grievances?"
Fengmian pats his son's shoulder then looks fondly at Wuxian: "Thank you for bringing him home."
Wuxian abruptly lets go of the arm chair and starts coughing. Cheng, still holding his hand, eases him down on the steps and worriedly asks: "Wuxian, what's wrong?"
Wangji sits next to his soul-bond and grabs Wuxian's hand to take his pulse: "Allowing others to communicate with the spirits takes a toll. He needs to rest for now."
Wuxian swayed dizzily after his coughing fit and things turned hazy after that. A few hours later, he was woken up from sleep by a smiling Wangji: "Wei Ying, your brother wants us to join him for dinner. He made your favorite soup."
Wuxian sat up and looked dazedly around: "Is this my old room?"
Wangji nods: "Your brother rebuilt it with extra space for you."
Wuxian smiles happily and whispers: "Sentimental fool."
They joined Cheng for dinner and afterwards, Wangji left to give the brothers some space to talk freely. Wuxian looks at his brother with a smile: "Thank you for rebuilding my rooms."
Cheng scoffs: "I told you this is your home too. If Wangji bullies you, you're always welcome here."
Wuxian chuckles: "Bullying is forbidden in Cloud Recesses."
Cheng laughs: "So is drinking.. but we both know what happened to Nie's hair was not a sober accident."
Wuxian: "True. What do you have planned for tomorrow?"
Cheng: "New disciples are slow and cannot shoot an arrow even if their lives depended on it. I swear they get dumber with each year."
Wuxian: "You're a hardass with high standards. Don't blame them for being average."
Cheng: "We don't train 'average' cultivators."
Wuxian: "Everyone starts average and builds from there."
Cheng huffs and whispers: "Except you."
Wuxian catches it and winks at him: "Yeah. I'm a genius. You cannot compare me to others. Not even you."
Cheng glares at him. After a few more drinks Wuxian asks: "Do you mind if I watch you train the newbies tomorrow?"
Cheng: "We brought you here to rest."
Wuxian pouts: "I'll just watch, I promise."
Cheng chuckles: "If I had a silver coin for every time you said that before hell breaks loose, I'd be a rich man."
Wuxian: "You are a rich man! Come on. Let me watch you yell at people."
Cheng slams his cup down: "I don't yell! I teach!"
Wuxian rolls his eyes: "Fine. Oh great teacher Jiang Cheng! Let me bask in your wisdom!""
Cheng: "If you faint again, I will not carry you back!"
Wuxian scratches his head in embarrassment: "If I pass out in front of the new recruits, just bury me where I land. I don't think my pride can handle anymore blows."
Next day, Wangji went to meditate at the pier while Wuxian took Wen Ning and his young disciples to join the training session with Cheng.
He sat on the side with Wen Ning while his young disciples joined the others in going through drills.
After two hours of sword formation they moved to the back hills to shoot some kites. Wuxian was standing with Jiang, watching the young boys and girls try to aim at the kites and mostly failing.
One of the younger boys goes to Wuxian and tugs his white robes: "Treasure Wei, is it true that you're the best marksman alive?"
Wuxian laughs and pats his head: "I don't know. I haven't met anyone who's better than me.. yet."
Cheng clicks his teeth in annoyance: "You haven't competed with anyone in years. A lot of people have made progress you know."
Wuxian looks amused: "Have you?"
Cheng angrily replies: "Have you?"
Wuxian smirks: "Are you challenging me?"
Cheng: "It's not a challenge if I have more experience."
Wuxian glares at him: "The winner gets to ride on the other's back on the way back."
Cheng laughs: "You can barely walk!"
Wuxian: "Wen Ning will carry you on my behalf."
Cheng smirks: "Let's do it."
Cheng ordered one of his disciples to bring two sets of arrows, one blue and one red.
He hands over the red ones to Wuxian and takes the blue one. Without hesitation, he shoots the arrows one by one at the kites until all of them are falling to the ground and turns to smirk at Wuxian.
His expression fell when he sees that Wuxian hasn't moved but his arrows are missing. He turns to see where his arrows landed when he hears the youth under them murmur in awe.
He yells: "What happened?"
One of the boys rushed to grab some of the kites to bring it to him. Each kite had one blue arrow that was split in the middle by a red arrow.
Cheng's mouth was wide open, he didn't know how to express his shock: "HOW? YOU DIDN'T EVEN MOVE!"
Wuxian turns to smile at him: "I did move. I just had to move faster than you to catch all your arrows before they landed."
The kids started to cheer and express their admiration.
The old Cheng would've been filled with jealousy and stormed out. Not anymore. His brother smiles at him and goes closer to pat his shoulder: "I told you Jiang Clan doesn't train average people!"
Wuxian smiles back and extends his arms, making grabbing gestures at his brother: "My prize?"
Cheng sighs, turns around and kneels while Wuxian happily jumps on his back and wraps his arms around his brother's shoulders: "You got bigger, Cheng."
Cheng stands up and frowns in worry when he feels how light Wuxian was: "Are you calling me fat?"
Wuxian chuckles near his ears and whispers: "Maybe?"
Cheng turns his head to glare at him: "I will drop you!"
Wuxian tightens his hold and whines: "Nooo. You're so warm and this feels so comfortable."
Cheng glares at the young disciples who stopped to stare at them and shouts: "IF YOU HAVE TIME TO STARE THEN YOU HAVE TIME TO RUN LAPS AROUND THE PIER!"
That made everyone jump back into action and return to training. Cheng huffs one last time and starts heading towards the main hall.
He can feel Wuxian beginning to relax then whispers tiredly to him: "Where are we going?"
Cheng: "I'm making sure you eat. You're too light. It feels like I'm carrying a sack of bones."
Wuxian lets out a deep breath and lays his head on Cheng's shoulder.
By the time they reached the main hall, Wuxian was fast asleep. Cheng places him nearby to sleep and sits at his table to finish some pending work. A few hours later, Wangji shows up looking for Wuxian. Cheng nods towards his sleeping brother. Wangji sits with Cheng and they sip tea in silence.
'With a gust of wind, his hair starts to flirt with the breeze. He doesn't remember the last time he let his locks down; unbound and free. He lifts his hand to feel the wind and notices that they were buried under the softest sand he has ever felt. The world was devoid of color. Oddly illuminated with a sky missing a sun and a moon. He hears a familiar voice echoing in his head: "We are searching for you. Why do you hide from us?"
The man sitting on the sand looks around and sees nothing but sand: "I'm hiding?"
He hears them reply: "We cannot see you as clearly as we once did. What has changed?"
The man looks confused: "Who are you?"
He feels something climbing up his back and fear grips his insides. He's too scared to look and shuts his eyes, breathing harshly. The thing moves around, sliding up and around his shoulders to his ear to whisper intimately: "Fear not young Oracle. We're here to awaken your powers and help you save the unsaved. Why do you hide from us?"
The young man opens his eyes slowly to see a familiar white snake staring at him and he swallows hard before saying: "What do you want from me?"
The snake replies: "We will call upon thee in a moon cycle. Answer us or doom will be the fate of all that you hold dear."'
Wuxian woke up with a loud gasp, kicking and thrashing. He feels hands trying to stop his movement and when his heart does a painful flip in his chest, he moans and tiredly stops fighting. A few seconds later he hears Wangji's soothing voice: ".. alm down. It's just a dream."
He opens his eyes to see three worried faces looking down at him: "W..what?"
Cheng frowns at him: "What what? You scared us half to death!"
Wuxian looks tiredly at Wangji who answers him: "You had a bad dream and woke up in fear."
Wuxian sighs and whispers: "Not a dream. I think it's another vision."
Cheng grabs his arm: "You saw the snake again?"
Wuxian nods his head and closes his eyes: "Water?"
Wen Ning jumps to get him a cup while Wangji pulls Wuxian to sit up. He sways a little, so his soul-bond sits behind him to support his weight. Wuxian takes the cup with a shaky hand and drinks it. He then proceeds to tell them the vision he had.
Cheng scratches his head: "A moon cycle? As in 30 days?"
Wuxian nods. Cheng: "Why would a snake want to find you?"
Wangji: "Is it a spirit animal? Or a spirit representation?"
Wuxian shakes his head: "It felt like it was too powerful to be either."
Cheng: "Should we start preparing to fight it?"
Wuxian: "I don't think we can."
Cheng looks angrily at his brother: "So you just want to sit and wait for it to find you?"
Wuxian: "I don't even know what 'it' is or what it wants from me?"
Wangji moves to sit beside Wuxian when he feels like he won't fall over anymore and wonders loudly: "It said that you're hiding from it. This means that you've met before and you either ran away or was taken. Do you not recognize it at all?"
Wuxian closes his eyes to think hard then shakes his head: "This is the second time I meet this thing in my dreams. I don't remember ever feeling this scared before."
They sat in silence for a while contemplating what to do next until Wuxian's stomach made a loud noise. He rubs it and laughs awkwardly: "Can we go eat now?"
Wangji glares at him: "You're supposed to eat 6 meals a day."
Wuxian pouts at him: "I'm not a cow."
Cheng yanks him up and drags him to sit at the table. Servants bring in a large variety of foods and he stares at it: "You want me to eat all of this?"
Cheng glares at him: "Every last bit."
Wuxian looks indignantly at him: "I cannot possibly stomach all this in one sitting."
Cheng yells back: "Well tough! I won't let you leave until it's all gone!"
Wuxian pouts and starts eating grumbling between bites: ".. surrounded by.. big bullies.. feeding me like.. I'm a cow.. wait and see.."
Cheng gets annoyed after a few minutes: "What are you grunting about?"
Wangji cuts him off: "Silence while you eat."
Wuxian sends him an angry glare and slams his cup down and tightens his grip on his chopsticks, finishing his meal with forceful moves.
The next few days pass by in a comforting routine. Wuxian would join his brother while he fulfills his Clan Leader duties during the day and by sunset retires to spend some time with his soul-bond; meditating or laying down and listening to calming music to speed up his recovery. Cheng ordered his clan healer to visit and check up on Wuxian twice a day; in the morning and at night. After watching over his progress for a few days, he reported to Cheng: "Clan Leader, Treasure Wei he's making good progress. If what he claims is true then he should be back to his level of normal within a month."
Cheng frowns at him: "What do you mean by 'his level of normal'?"
The healer ducks his head: "His body seems to be in the process of a strange transformation. His pulse is slower than the average man and his temperature is colder than normal. He also seems to be in a constant pain that cannot be controlled. The only progress that I can report is that his pulse is back to normal rate, aside from emotional and physical peaks and he is gaining more weight."
Cheng glares at him: "This is not comforting to hear, healer. Find a way to fix him!"
The healer bows and sadly says: "It is beyond my knowledge, Clan Leader. I have never seen or heard of such symptoms before."
Cheng clenches his fist, which omits electrical sounds from Zidian. The healer looks worriedly at the Clan Leader and bows deeper in fear.
Cheng takes a deep breath to calm himself. Wangji told him about Grandmaster Qiren's quest to find a cure for Wuxian's ailments. At least he's not the only one trying to help his brother through this ordeal.
A disciple walks in hastily and declares: "Clan Leader, Yuxio is back!"
Cheng smiles: "Where is she?"
The disciple: "She just docked at the pier. Should I go inform her to come meet you first."
Cheng nods and dismisses everyone. He cannot wait to introduce Wuxian to her.
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