.
Wuxian looks at the gate and feels a shiver makes its way through his body: "I'm supposed to go through all these people?"
Jingyi, standing next to him, says: "Your carriage is on the other side. It's too big to fit through the door."
Wuxian whips his head around to glare indignantly at his brother and soul-bond: "CARRIAGE? Why? I can ride a horse!"
Wangji tightens his grasp on Wuxian's hand: "Bear with it."
Wuxian yanks his hand away: "You bear with it! I'm riding a horse this time!"
Cheng sighs: "I told you he won't go peacefully."
Wuxian turns to push his brother: "Don't talk about me behind my back!"
Sizhui steps near Wuxian and speaks with a calm voice: "Father, they didn't mean to be forceful. People know about your blessings and it's just a security precaution."
Wuxian crosses his arms in defiance: "I will not hide in a box out of fear!"
Cheng raises his voice: "When you get mobbed by desperate people, don't come crying to us!"
Wuxian glares at him until Wangji touches his shoulders and turns him around to look him in the eyes: "Wei Ying, do it for me? Just until we clear the city borders."
Wuxian thinks about it for a few seconds then smirks: "What do I get in return?"
Cheng: "It's for your benefit, idiot! We should be the ones asking for something in return!"
Wuxian sticks his tongue out to his brother then turns back to smile sweetly at Wangji. Wangji sighs: "Name it."
Wuxian rubs his nose thinking then says: "Brother has to praise me every time he raises his voice until we reach Nightless City!"
Cheng: "ON MY DEAD BODY!"
Wangji side-glares Cheng then says: "He shall comply."
Wuxian winks at his brother then turns to walk towards the gate: "Let's go!"
After squeezing their way through the mass of people and barely making it into the carriage, Wuxian was out of breath laying down rubbing his forehead: "I almost died."
Jingyi laughs at him while fixing his robes: "You don't get to complain. They almost undressed me from all the yanking!"
Wuxian: "Yuxio almost killed half of them. I didn't know she had a temper."
Jingyi looks mischievously at him: "Don't you think she would make a perfect match to Clan Leader Jiang Cheng?"
Wuxian looks excitedly: "I was thinking the same thing!"
They both jump when someone bangs the side of the carriage and yells: "STOP GOSSIPING LIKE TEENAGE GIRLS!"
Wuxian peeks his head out to look at his brother: "You yelled.. Now praise me!"
Cheng sighs and then smirks saying: "You look beautiful today. Just like a fair maiden."
Wuxian gasps: "That's not a praise!"
Jingyi pokes his head next to Wuxian smiling: "Yes it is."
Wuxian huffs and pushes his head back in: "No one asked for your input!"
Cheng, still smirking, says: "You asked for it."
Wuxian glares at his brother then settles back in.
It took them an hour to clear through the city. People refused to cooperate and Wuxian was worried that a fight might break out over him. Thankfully, his companions were able to settle everyone down and ease their way out. Wuxian got off the carriage a few miles outside of the city and rode next to his soul-bond.
He turned to stare at Wangji's stoic face and said: "I'm bored."
Wangji ignores him so he sighs loudly. After a few minutes of failed attempts to get Wangji's attention, Wuxian moved back to ride near his brother: "Brother, I'm bored."
Cheng glares at him: "I'm not here to amuse you!"
Wuxian pokes him with his flute and whines: "But I'm really bored."
Cheng smacks his flute and huffs: "What am I supposed to do about it?"
Before Wuxian can answer, a loud odd sound is heard coming between the trees and a group of masked men appear wearing dark green robes and holding spears to surround them. The original plan was for them to travel in small groups. Since a large number of cultivators were planning to reply to the Earth Diety's summon, Wangji and Cheng agreed to break down the travelers into small groups. The ones traveling with Wuxian were: Wangji, Cheng, Wen Ning, Sizhui, Jingyi and Yuxio. The rest joined other groups to minimize attention and speed up travel time. They even left the carriage at the edge of town.
Wen Ning jumps from his horse and charges towards the men around them. Wangji and Cheng came close to Wuxian while Jingyi, Suzhui and Yuxio joined Wen Ning in fending what seemed to be bandits. Wuxian frowns and whispers to Wangji: "Something is not right. They don't seem to be fighting back much."
Wangji suddenly pulls Wuxian from his horse into his and before Wuxian could protest, he sees his house stagger and fall down. He looks closely and notices an arrow protruding from its flank. Someone just shot his horse dead.
Wangji's hand around his waist tightens and he looks between the trees trying to find the shooter when he hears Wuxian whispering: "Let me down so you can go find them."
Wangji looks worriedly at his soul-bond so he smiles at him: "Don't worry. I'll be fine."
Wangji helps Wuxian down and shoots Cheng a warming look before he gallops away to catch the shooter. Wuxian feels something heading his way and using his flute to dodge it. He picks it up and sees that it's a tranquilizer dart, not an arrow. He moves to join his brother when he dismounts: "I don't think they're bandits."
Cheng: "What makes you say that?"
Wuxian: "They're using darts not arrows and we clearly have nothing with us to steal other than the ornaments we're wearing. It's not a worthy loot."
Another odd sound is heard around them and the masked men start to retreat. They disappeared before they could be captured for questioning which left a very confused Wuxian. A few minutes later, Wangji returns shaking his head. He couldn't catch the shooter. Wuxian looks at his dead horse and sighs: "Well.. that was a waste of time and a good horse."
Sizhui joins them: "They seem to be targeting Treasure Wei."
Jingyi: "They weren't fighting us too hard. I think they're supposed to be a distraction."
Wuxian looks worriedly at Wangji: "I think we're being targeted."
Wen Ning: "Not we. You."
Yuxio: "They incapacitated your horse and shot darts at only you. Clearly they wanted to grab you."
Wuxian looks confused: "Why?"
Yuxio winks at him: "Why not?"
Wuxian glares at her: "Not everyone is a pervert like you! I have nothing to offer these people. Why would they want to grab me?"
The group around him look at him in shock and Jingyi replied sarcastically: "It's not like you can heal all ailments, speak to the dead, soul-bond to the leader of all cultivator clans and the Treasure of Gusu Lan Clan.. nope.. nothing special about you."
Wuxian laughs awkwardly: "huh.. I forgot about that."
He looks around then sighs: "My horse is dead. What am I supposed to ride now?"
Wangji extends his arm to him but he shakes his head: "Your horse cannot handle the weight of two people for too long."
Jingyi chuckles: "You barely count as a half person."
Wuxian grabs a stone from the ground and chucks it at Jingyi who ducks to avoid it.
Yuxio smiles: "You can ride with me! I'm the lightest between them so my horse should be fine."
Wuxian steps away from her: "I'd rather die."
Yuxio complains: "Come on! I won't touch you inappropriately.." and with a low voice ".. much."
Wuxian hastily makes his way to Sizhui and with his help rides behind him then glares at his brother: "Why is she even in our group? Am I the only one who's creeped out by her?"
Cheng closes his eyes in frustration as they start to resume their journey: "It's not my choice. She won a bet."
Wuxian looks suspiciously between Cheng and Yuxio: "What bet?"
Yuxio beams proudly at him: "We bet on who can drink more and the winner gets to join this group. Jin Ling, Bhao, Taiho and Kaoji lost!"
Wuxian: "You got my nephew and disciples drunk.. willingly?"
Yuxio smirks: "I charmed them with my feminine ways."
Jingyi scoffs: "She threatened to snitch about them visiting a brothel last week."
Wuxian gasps: "THEY WENT TO A BROTHEL WITHOUT ME?"
Wangji glares at him. He coughs awkwardly and tries again: "How dare they sully our clan name! They should be punished!"
He laughs awkwardly at a pissed off Wangji and swears in a low voice: "Ungrateful kids.. doing fun stuff without me.."
They reached a village on the way after sundown. They stopped at the closest inn and sat down to enjoy dinner. Wangji stepped out to secure a new horse for Wuxian while they enjoyed an after meal tea. Wuxian suddenly feels woozy and blinks his eyes slowly: "I don't.. Something is.. wrong." He looks around to see his brother and the disciples all passed out. Wen Ning is instantly by his side and catches him when he passes out.
Wangji returns to find a commotion. Apparently, someone drugged the food served in the inn and all the people present were all passed out except for Wen Ning and the innkeepers. Wen Ning was sitting on the side with a sleeping Wuxian in his lap watching the keepers freak out and looking ready to fight anyone who dares touch what's his. Wangji asks him calmly: "What happened?"
Wen Ning: "Someone drugged our food."
He looks at the table where all the others are passed out and sighs. He went to check their pulse and when he made sure that all of them were just sleeping, returned to sit next to Wen Ning: "Did anyone attempt to attack you?"
Wen Ning shakes his head.
Wangji looks around, trying to figure out why anyone would do this without making a move to grab Wuxian. It made no sense.
Cheng groans: "Urg.. who did this?" Then sits up looking around in panic: "WUXIAN!"
He sees his brother, sleeping peacefully in Wen Ning's lap and lets out a sigh of relief.
The rest of the groups started to regain consciousness after hearing Cheng scream. Wen Ning looks at the sleeping man in his arms and strokes his cheeks: "Master Wei.. Wake up."
He didn't get any response so he grabs his wrist to take his pulse and then looks up worriedly at Wangji: "His pulse is slow as usual but he won't wake up."
Wangji looks at all the people around who're regaining consciousness and then back to Wuxian: "Let's move him before this escalates."
Wen Ning gets up and starts heading toward the rooms Wangji secured for them and the groggy disciples and Cheng follow.
Cheng sits at the table and watches Wen Ning lay down Wuxian on the bed: "I don't understand why would anyone do this?"
Yuxio joins him: "Check your belongings. Are we missing anything?"
They all looked into their pockets and bags but nothing was missing.
Sizhui: "Why drug everyone in the inn? Not just us?"
Jingyi rubs his aching head: "Whoever did this is dumb. They probably didn't know that Master Wen cannot be drugged."
Wangji sees the confused look on his travel companions and says: "Get some rest. We will discuss this in the morning."
Cheng turns to stare at his brother: "What about Wuxian?"
Wangji: "I will look after him for now."
Sizhui looks worriedly at his father: "Why hasn't he woken up yet?"
Cheng sighs: "He's lightweight and lacks a golden core to burn off the drugs as fast as we can. It's normal for it to affect him longer than it normally should."
They all retreat to their own rooms, leaving Wen Ning guarding the door and Wangji sitting by his soul-bond's bed. Wangji notices that Wuxian is a little colder than usual so he lays down next to him and pulls the blankets tightly around him. Deep sleep will be impossible until he's sure the threat is gone and Wuxian wakes up. He settles for a light slumber while he waits.
.