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Wuxian was not prepared for the change in people's behavior once Wangji returned him to the inn they were staying in at Nightless City. If he thought he was attracting attention before, now he's like a light beacon with a loud siren. People flocked to touch the Divine Oracle and ask for his blessing. He didn't even know what that meant. How can touching him make any difference to people's lives? After wrestling his way into the room, he stood breathless holding his long hair and panting. He looks at an equally breathless Cheng and a calm Wangji and asks: "Have people gone mad? What is happening?"
Jingyi, Sizhui and Wen Ning burst through the door after squeezing through the mass of bodies blocking the way. Jingyi lays on the ground: "I'm not built for this kind of crowd."
Sizhui kneeling to catch his breath: "No one is. That was brutal."
Wen Ning goes next to Wuxian to stare at him in wonder, then touches his hair: "You look so beautiful."
Wuxian smacks his hand away: "Still not a girl!"
Cheng huffs: "Have you seen what you look like now in the mirror?"
Wuxian glares at him then turns to look at the snake when it caresses his cheek: "What?"
He doesn't hear a clear voice in his head but feels it reply. The snake wants him to rest.
Wen Ning looks in wonder at the snake: "Can I touch it."
The snake feels Wuxian's trust and willingly moves to twine around Wen Ning who looks like the luckiest kid in the world.
Wuxian laughs at how happy Wen Ning looks then says: "It's name is Da Ziran. It shares my energy and feels what I feel. So if I trust you, you have nothing to worry about."
The kids rushed in to touch and play with the snake while Zewu Jun appeared via transportation talisman. He looked worried: "How are we supposed to leave tomorrow? This place is about to be run over."
Wuxian sits down on his bed and yawns: "I'm tired, can we figure it out tomorrow?"
Wen Ning returns the snake to him. Ziran settles in his lap and closes its eyes while he pets it.
Wangji looks at Cheng: "We will be heading towards Cloud Recesses tomorrow. Will you assist us in returning Wei Ying before heading back to your sect."
Cheng nods: "Gladly."
Wuxian lays down and tunes them out. The snake slithers on top of him and sleeps as well.
The kids and Wen Ning pick a corner to huddle down and sleep while Zewu Jun joins his brother and Cheng: "Do we know what's the new power the Earth Deity claims to have awakened in him?"
Wangji: "He didn't say. He seems as confused as the rest of us."
Cheng: "Why did his look and weapons change colors?"
Wangji shakes his head.
Zewu Jung: "Uncle sent a letter before I arrived. He's visiting the last healer on his list as we speak. We should travel as soon as possible back to Cloud Recesses before more people show up. We cannot protect him here as well as we can back home."
Both men nodded and they hatched a plan before they retired.
Wangji approached the bed he shared with Wuxian. His sleeping mate looks so peaceful and ethereal with his long golden hair and pale complexion. The snake seems to sense his presence and moves to make space for him near Wuxian. He smiles and lays behind his soul-bond, pulling him close to take a deep breath from his comforting smell. He thanks the heavens for the blessed day and falls asleep with a smile on his face.
Wuxian was tired. The kind of 'tired' that you feel after fighting a war. The kind that settles into your bones and makes you feel drained and lifeless. He can't tell if he's actually sleeping or just too exhausted to do anything else but lay there and ignore the world. He feels a warm hand touching his cheek: "Wei Ying?"
Wuxian hums.
Wangji: "Wei Ying, breakfast is served."
Wuxian: "Just a few more minutes."
Wangji: "We need to leave soon."
He hears Cheng yelling: "Stop spoiling him! Wuxian, move it!"
Wuxian opens his heavy eyes and sighs. Wangji takes his hand and when he sways getting up, grabs his shoulders to steady him: "Are you ill again?"
Wuxian shakes his head to clear it then smiled reassuringly at his soul-bond: "No. Just tired."
The snake uses their connection to settle on Wangji's shoulders while he guides his soul-bond to joining the breakfast table. Once he's settled he asks: "Do we have an exit plan?"
Zewu Jun: "We're planning a decoy. Yu Yuxio will wear your robes and divert people's attention while we escape. We will ride the swords towards our young disciples who are waiting with horses outside the city."
Wuxian looks around in confusion and says: "Where is Yuxio?"
Cheng: "I sent her on an assignment. She will be back shortly."
Wuxian pushes his long hair back in annoyance: "Can we cut this before we leave? It's too long for comfort. I cannot possibly ride a horse like this!"
Wangji looks like he was going to protest before Wuxian throws him a warning look. Cheng takes out a dagger and passes it along to Wen Ning who stepped behind Wuxian. Ning cuts a few inches from his hair. The moment it was cut, it turned black in Wen Ning's hand and the missing part from Wuxian's hair grew back instantly.
Wen Ning looks confused: "Um.. This is odd."
Wuxian sighs loudly: "What now?"
Wen Ning shows them the black hair in his hand and says: "It grew back the moment I cut it."
Zewu Jun took the dagger from him and tried again with the same result: "Brother, I don't think we can shorten your hair."
Wuxian turns to see a small happy smile on Wangji's face and smacks his arm: "Don't look so pleased! How am I supposed to function with all this hair?"
Cheng unsheathes his sword and steps closer to his brother with an evil look: "Let me try."
Wuxian puts his hands up and steps back: "No no no."
Cheng gets closer: "But you said you don't like it."
Wuxian hides behind an amused Zewu Jun: "I'll learn to like it!"
Yuxio jumps through the window and straightens up. She looks around and sees her clan leader pointing his sword at Wuxian who's hiding behind a smiling Zewu Jun: "Did I miss something?"
Wen Ning: "Jiang Clan Leader wants to cut Master Wei's hair."
Yuxio moves to block Cheng: "Don't you dare! It's the most magical thing I've ever seen!"
Cheng glares at her and sheaths his sword: "Report."
Yuxio looks seriously at her leader and when he nods she addresses the room: "Yesterday during the event, we saw a large group of people wearing the same color robes as the bandits that blocked our way here. Our Clan Leader asked me to keep an eye on them. We followed them after the event. They all belong to the same clan: Shenhua Clan. They don't speak much so eavesdropping didn't yield useful information. I assigned a couple of disciples to follow them and ask around about their sect."
Zewu Jun rubs his chin: "Shenhua Clan?"
Cheng: "Have you heard of them before?"
Zewu Jun: "I remember they sent us a letter a while back asking to examine the White Jade Zither. My uncle respectfully declined."
Wangji: "Did they give a reason?"
Zewu Jun: "I don't remember the letter clearly but we can read it again when we return."
Cheng turns to his brother: "Hand me your robes."
Wangji coughs loudly and Wuxian sighs loudly: "What? They're all my brothers! How can you be jealous?"
Wangji glares at Yuxio who's looking at Wuxian with sparkly eyes.
Wuxian crosses his arms to cover his body and looks disgustingly at her: "I forgot about the pervert."
Cheng rolls his eyes and smacks Yuxio's head: "Turn around! Stop creeping everyone out."
After exchanging his white robes for the dark blue one, he hands it over to Yuxio.
Wangji looks at the snake around his shoulder and asks Wuxian: "Will Da Ziran accompany Yuxio?"
Wuxian nods and takes the snake to place it around Yuxio's neck: "It won't bite or harm you. It won't die either as long as I'm alive so focus on protecting yourself."
Yuxio nods while petting the snake that's coiling around her body.
Wangji kisses his soul-bond's hand: "Wen Ning and I must accompany Yuxio as part of the cover. Stay with Xichen until we meet outside the city."
Wuxian smiled reassuringly at him: "Good luck."
Yuxio placed the hood on top of Wuxian's robes to cover her head. Wangji and Wen Ning opened the door and they started to move the people to the side to make way for Yuxio while the rest waited for the halls to clear so they could leave without being noticed.
When people followed the first group out, Zewu Jun grabbed Wuxian's hand and dragged him hurriedly to the door, followed by Cheng. A few minutes later, they landed outside the city border to find Gusu Lan and Yunmeng Jiang disciples waiting with horses.
A few hours later, Wangji showed up looking disheveled, Yuxio had claw marks and half of Wuxian's robes were torn and stained with mud while Wen Ning looked perfectly fine.
Yuxio drops dramatically on the ground and whines: "I feel molested! They almost executed me when they figured out I wasn't you!"
Wuxian laughs at them and goes close to fix his soul-bond's clothes and headband: "I've never seen you so.. out of sorts before."
Wangji closes his eyes to recompose himself and allows Wuxian to fix his appearance. The snake senses Wuxian's presence, moves to his feet and climbs up to wrap around his neck.
Once everyone was ready to go, Wuxian looked down at the snake around his body and smiled: 'I missed you.' The snake glows with golden energy and transforms into something big. Wuxian was shocked and moved back, blocking his eyes from the bright light. When the energy settles, they see a large strong white horse with light brown and gold mane.
Wuxian: "Woah.."
Jingyi: "What just happened?"
Sizhui: "The snake turned into a horse."
Jingyi: "I can see that.. but how?"
They all turned to look at a stunned Wuxian. He shrugged laughing awkwardly: "I just thought to myself: I wish you were a horse so you can carry me instead of me carrying you.. then that happened!"
Bhao goes to pet the horse: "It's magnificent!"
Kaoji touches its mane: "It's just like Treasure Wei's hair."
Cheng: "Enough chit chatting! We need to move before people catch up to us."
Yuxio shivers at the memory of the crowd she just barely cleared and rode ahead of everyone.
One of the disciples saddles the white horse and helps Wuxian on it. This has got to be the most exciting change that has ever happened in his life. He just hopes that the price he must pay for these blessings is worth it.
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