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It's been a while since Zewu Jun had a moment of tranquility. He never thought that he would find his peace while sitting down, reading letters and petitions sent to the Divine Oracle. He was by nature a peaceful man. He loathed fighting and chose politics from a young age hoping to solve problems with words and reason.
For a while now, betrayal has turned his days sour and his future opaque. Losing trust has manifested into fear of being used. He never wanted to experience the rug being pulled from underneath him ever again. He thought being busy was a cop out move on his behalf to avoid facing his emotions. Sitting here, at this moment, reading letters and responding to people he considered friends, acquaintances and strangers made him feel strangely connected.
He remembered a moment in time when his mother was still alive. He asked her to join him outside for a stroll. She declined and explained her state of imprisonment. He felt sad for her but she smiled at him and explained: 'I am here because someone loved me enough to save my life. I have two amazing boys, a roof over my head and food on my table. I get to live knowing that when the time comes, there will be people who will mourn my passing.' A young Zewu Jun might have found that confusing. But now he understood. He was not alone. He is needed. That's more than anyone could ever ask for.
He pours a cup of tea and smiles. Healer Shi prescribed this herbal mix for him after seeing the amount of letters he had to go through and claimed that he needs a boost of energy to deal with them all. Her caring nature is comforting.
While staring at the cup on the table, the tea inside it starts to ripple. Zewu Jun frowns and looks closely to check if he was hallucinating. The ground underneath him starts to shake. He sits up in alarm and after one more violent shake, he jumps into action. He grabs his sword and hastily makes his way out the room to see people around Cloud Recesses rushing towards the training grounds. He spotted his Uncle and when their eyes met, worry was the only thing they shared. A man runs right before them and it took them a few seconds to recognize Wangji. Running is prohibited in Cloud Recesses. If his excellency was breaking the rules it's safe to bet that Wuxian is involved. Zewu Jun and Qiren followed him towards the training grounds.
Once they reached the origin of the commotion, they stopped and stared with mouths agape.
Qiren: "What, in the name of all that is holy, is that?"
Zewu Jun: "I have no clue.."
Wuxian was petting what looks like a giant elephant-like animal that's covered in hair, a mammoth. It was white as snow with golden long tusks. The animal created small earthquakes when it moved, a testament of how big and heavy it must be.
Wuxian seems oblivious to the commotion Da Ziran's new shape is creating. He looks at his ragged disciples who are currently supporting lovely claw marks and mud stains after fighting the lion for an hour. Needless to say, he didn't expect them to take this long to finish the first task.
Jingyi: "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?"
Wuxian turns to address the almost-crying Jingyi: "Don't be over dramatic. Look how cute she is!" He smiles and continues to pet the mountain-sized giant's trunk like it's a fluffy bunny.
Da Ziran seems to relish his ministrations and stomps its feet with joy. The earth shakes with her movement.
Wuxian turns to his kids and smirks: "Are you ready?"
Taiho: "Treasure Wei, this is too much. Maybe we should take a break?"
Wuxian frowns at him: "There are no breaks in war and night hunts. Man up!"
Bhao grabs his swords and steals himself while Kaoji moans his frustration.
Wuxian moves to join Wen Ning on the sidelines and the mammoth trumpets loudly to mark the beginning of their training session.
Wangji looks wide eyed at the huge animal before him. Has his soul-bond lost his mind? He knows that Wuxian never does anything without a reason. The leader in him wants to stop this madness and the soul-bond in him wants to stay put and see where this leads. He senses his brother and uncle standing beside him and chooses to just watch for now.
Qiren: "What in the world is Wei Wuxian doing?"
Zewu Jun laughs: "Probably something that makes sense to no one but him."
Qiren: "I don't think the training grounds was built to withstand that.. thing."
Lan Ran spots the three leaders and joins them: "It's a mammoth."
Qiren turns to stare blankly at her, so she retrieves the book and shows him it's description.
Qiren laughs in wonder: "Leave it to my son to conjure an extinct animal just to train his disciples."
Wuxian yells instructions at his students: "Kaoji, stop following Taiho like a lost puppy and think for yourself! Suzhui, you have a sword so use it until you figure out a better solution! Taiho, don't always move to the right.. switch it up or Ziran will figure out your pattern! Bhao, stop being gentle with her. Use all your strength! JINGYI, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT NOT RUN AROUND LIKE A HEADLESS CHICKEN!"
Jingyi yells back in frustration: "EXCUSE ME FOR NOT WANTING TO DIE!"
Wuxian laughs: "You're not going to die, you coward! Fight!"
After half an hour of this, Wuxian raises his hand and on cue the mammoth runs to him and swings it's trunk towards him. He grabs it and uses the momentum to fling himself on top to sit near the head. He pets the mammoth and looks down at his students: "You have a 5 minute water break."
They all collapse, breathing hard and moaning.
Sizhui: "Treasure Wei, how are we supposed to fight this animal? We've never seen it before. How can we learn it's weaknesses on the spot?"
Wuxian: "I never asked you to learn it's weaknesses. I said find what it's looking for, what it needs and react accordingly."
Jingyi groans in frustration: "Can you be more vague? Why are you torturing us?"
Wuxian smirks at Jingyi and points at himself: "What? Didn't you say that this 'mother-in-law' was the worst?" Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Jingyi bites his tongue and drinks his water while glaring at Wuxian.
Wuxian pets Da Ziran lovingly: "You're the cutest thing ever. I cannot believe I lived so many years without you." The mammoth grunts and snorts, relishing under his attention.
Wuxian looks around from the top and sees the crowd around him: "Wow! Where did all these people come from?"
He spots his soul-bond, next to his brother and father, and waves at them enthusiastically: "Lan Zhan! Look how pretty Da Ziran looks!"
Wangji shakes his head at Wuxian's antics and looks up when the animal approaches him. Wuxian looms over them: "Why is everyone here? Don't you have better things to do?"
Zewu Jun: "The mammoth created a small earthquake with its heavy movement. We were curious."
Qiren: "It shook the entire Cloud Recesses. I thought we were being attacked."
Wuxian laughs: "Sorry, I just wanted to create a challenge for the boys."
He looks at Wangji: "Would you like to sit up here with me to watch?"
Wangji glares at him: "This is sapping your life force. Why are you being reckless?"
Wuxian raises his hand and shouts: "WEN NING!"
An apple flies into his palm and he takes a big bite: "I've been eating non stop. I'm following the rules just like the book Healer Shi gave us. Don't worry."
He instructs Da Ziran to turn around and face his disciples: "Five minutes are over. LET'S FIGHT!" Da Ziran rises on it's two rear legs and trumpets loudly, scaring most of the people present into stepping back. Wuxian was enjoying the view from the top. He thinks maybe half an hour more is the limit of what his body can take. Hopefully, one of his kids notices what he's been trying to show them and ends this quickly. Taiho seems to be a good leader. Even though Wuxian never said it was a group activity, he seems to be in control over the other disciples. Kaoji complained a lot and would rather use force than logic. Bhao is too gentle. He's probably too scared of hurting others to actually use his full strength. Sizhui's sword technique is lacking but he's the most calm and calculated between the students. Even though Wuxian thoroughly enjoys tormenting Jingyi, he seems the most experienced between them. He just needs to cut down on the unnecessary commentary.
Sizhui was leaning on his sword trying to take deep breaths to calm his racing heart. This needs to end soon or one of his fellow disciples will collapse from exhaustion if not him. He uses the others as a distraction while he observes the mammoth's movement. It seems to favor it's right side. Sizhui yells: "Taiho, I think there is something wrong with its front left foot."
Taiho stops for a second to confirm and says: "Let's tip it over on it's side. Maybe that's the thing we need to fix?"
They all worked together, summoning strings and heavy winds to bring the big animal to lay down on its side. Da Ziran grabs Wuxian by the waist with her trunk and sets him down before she's pushed down.
Jingyi steps closer with caution: "There is a thorn stuck in its foot!"
Wuxian folds his arms and smiles. They finally saw it.
The task was easy from that point. They used their swords and strings to help pull the thorn out and once it's free, Da Ziran turned back to its snake form and made its way to wrap itself around Wuxian.
He claps his hands in pride: "Good Job boys! That wasn't so hard, was it?"
They all glared back at him. Half of their clothes were ripped. They were bloody and covered with dirt. Jingyi was sure he pulled every muscle in his body trying to avoid death.
Wuxian smiles at them: "Why are you glaring at me? It was fun!"
Taiho sighs: "Treasure Wei, that was too dangerous."
Wuxian pouts at him: "No one died. What are you complaining about?"
Sizhui, the peacemaker, bows: "Thank you for today's lesson. I never thought of this approach while night hunting before. I will make sure to adapt this new way of thinking in future hunts."
The other students bowed and thanked him as well and when he dismissed them, they grunted their way to see the healer.
The crowd disperses after that and he joins the three leaders who are still trying to digest what happened.
Zewu Jun: "That was.. different."
Qiren bursts out laughing, which made the other three stare at him in surprise: "Different? That was down right diabolical! I'm glad I'm too old to be a student of yours."
Wuxian scratches his head and whispers: ".. Did I do something wrong? I know there is nothing in the rules that says I cannot train them this way."
Wangji smiles at him: "I'm impressed."
Wuxian smiles back: "Really? Because it was so much fun! Did you see how beautiful Da Ziran was? I mean she's always pretty but I think the mammoth form is my favorite right now.."
Wuxian kept talking non stop, baffling the men who were following him back. This was his first lesson as a teacher and the earth shook. May heavens have mercy on their souls when his next session begins.
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