Chapter 14: Black Out

Lan Wangji's light golden eyes were definitely enchanting, but the beauty of it did not make those pair of eyes any less fierce looking as he wore such intense gaze. "Demonic cultivation?" He asked sternly.

Xiao Zhan flinched slightly at his sharp scrutiny before he exhaled a heavy breath, "Second Young Master Lan, please do not look at me like you are intending to end my life. I am just stating the facts and have no parts whatsoever in making that happen. I do not intend to walk the same path anyway. For your information, I am a simple human being who prefers to live a simple and long life." He stated. "Besides, it is not really the Demonic cultivation you're thinking. It doesn't deal with actual living human's life. Not at all."

Lan Wangji dropped his gaze. "Understood." He said quietly.

"Good." Xiao Zhan said with a smile. He then made himself busy with one of many scrolls beside his table, it was a scroll related to sword techniques. In the midst of reading the text, a passing thought came in Xiao Zhan's mind.

Wait, this is... I need to try this!

"Lan Zhan, catch!" Xiao Zhan shouted as he lightly threw Suibian to Lan Wangji's direction without warning.

Lan Wangji was taken aback with the sudden unexpected act. Nevertheless, with his swift reflex, the sword ended up in his tight grip. "What are you doing?" He glowered.

"I want to test a theory." Xiao Zhan shrugged nonchalantly. "Now, do me a favor. Pull the sword out."

Lan Wangji looked at him weird for a couple second but did not press further as he humored Xiao Zhan's request. To his surprise, the sword did not budge from the safety of it sheath. Not by a tiny bit.

Xiao Zhan for sure did not anticipate this turn of event and let out soft gasp of realization. He pondered, rubbing his chin in silence for a couple minutes.

In the novel, the sword was said to seal itself after Wei Wuxian's death in burial mound and no one else except his reincarnated body, Mo Xuan Yu and Jiang Cheng who possessed his Golden core, could pull it out from the scabbard. Does this mean that the sword already starts sealing itself even earlier on? It would only acknowledge Wei Wuxian as the sole wielder.

"Did you really try it?" Xiao Zhan asked to confirm.

"I did." Lan Wangji passed the sword back to him in a quick motion. "The sword has sealed itself." He declared.

Xiao Zhan caught it and immediately unsheathed Suibian. He could, as usual.

Wow! It really did seal itself...

"This is a very uncommon occurrence even among those with exceptionally high cultivation level. A sword-sealing really means that no one else can unsheathe it. It is a rare for a sword being in tune with its chosen wielder." Lan Wangji deduced.

Xiao Zhan nodded his head, still astonished by the fact. "Right..." He mumbled thoughtfully.

"It seems like your sword trust you as its owner, Wei Ying." Lan Wangji said. It appeared to him that he was right about the youth in front of him and the 'previous' Wei Wuxian were the same person after all. The sword just proved that.

Seriously, what is happening? I thought anyone can pull it out at the early stage. Is it purely because of the body? But doesn't the soul make the owner of the body? Isn't the body just the vessel? Am I still Xiao Zhan or am I, Wei Wuxian who has amnesia and delusions of future? Okay, that sounded like a whole load of crap! And holy shit, this headache is killing me! Perhaps I used too much of this brain power after all.

Xiao Zhan did not know what to believe anymore. The more he tried to think, the more confused he became. The more confused he was, the more intense the pain in his skull grew. At one point, his head started to throb with unbearable kind of agony that made him groan loudly. His hands went to palm his head in an attempt to alleviate the pain but instead of getting better, he felt intense heat surging from his core. It was like hot lava was flowing in his vein causing him to collapse on the ground, writhing restlessly due to the overwhelming torture. His head felt like it was about to explode.

"Wei Ying?!" Lan Wangji rushed to his side.

Fuck! Is this qi deviation??

Xiao Zhan forced himself to open his eyes for a second and saw Lan Wangji's face painted in worry. That was when another huge wave of unbearable crushing pain almost sent him over and he can only scream in agony. Whispers, screams, shrieks, wails and all sorts of voices floods his hearing, and it gets louder and louder every seconds.

Make it stop! Make it stop!

The last thing he felt was someone's hand on his back, cradling him. His consciousness faded to black.

********

Xiao Zhan woke up somewhere other than the dorm this time with his sword by his side. His eyes darted around as he propped himself up to sit.

Where the hell am I this time?!

He gasped in realization. It was the private bedroom and study of the second Lan young master. The room was minimalistic with no unnecessary furniture. It was clean and neat. A solid representation of a person with high discipline and fastidious nature. He saw Lan Wangji in his lotus position meditating at the other corner of the room.

Isn't this Jingshi? Why am I here?

From the open window not too far from his position, he could see the twilight of dawn breaking, soft illuminating light cut through the misty mountains and exposing the serene dewy landscape of Cloud Recesses. It was utterly a magnificent view of a mystical fantasy world. As he gazed into the picturesque scenery, he recollected his memory of what had happened that landed him in this room with Lan Wangji. He winced at the remembrance of the severe torture he went through before he passed out. His head still had the remnant of dull migraine-like pain.

He then noticed something felt ominous and he felt a faint but strange dark energy clashing with the usual warmth of golden core in his body. He put a hand on the center of his abdomen where the revolving core was residing, feeling the hums and vibrations that usually gave him a sense of power and solace. Right now, he was aware of some sort of strange whirlwind that went against the usual rotation of the spherical reservoir of spiritual energy. He could not help but assumed that this might be the dark cultivation that Wei Wuxian had. Or has.

This is not in the plot in any versions of the story. Am I just imagining things now? This is not supposed to happen.

He shuddered at the thought of accidentally summoning scary looking ghosts or spirits. He had never seen one in real life, and he would probably run away if the thing decided to do a jump-scare and he might even piss himself. Albeit he liked watching horror movies in his free time in the past, but it did not mean that he liked being in it. Although he could say, he was already in one. This entire fiasco fitted the genre of horror flick, and he was an unwilling cast that was forced to act in it.

"Awake?"

Xiao Zhan turned his attention to the voice. Lan Wangji slowly got and approached his direction before stopping a feet away in front of him. Standing like a proper member of Lan clan, the light eyes focused on Xiao Zhan's face as he stated, "You slept for the entire day and night.

"What??" Xiao Zhan rasped with his wide silvery eyes.

"How do you feel?" Lan Wangji asked, a hint of concern tinged his voice.

"Like I had been hit by a truck." Xiao Zhan replied, massaging his temples, trying to get rid of the throbbing dull aches.

"Truck?"

"Ah, it does not exist here. Hahaha..." Xiao Zhan laughed half-heartedly. "Well, I'm fine now. I mean good enough." He quickly added. He had no energy to spare to explain what a truck is to a person could fly on a sword. At least, truck mechanism could be explained by physics and technology. Not that he was well verse in that field of mechanical engineering.

Lan Wangji frowned slightly, "Are you sure you are fine?"

"Lan Zhan." Xiao Zhan gestured to Lan Wangji to sit down next to him, "Why don't you sit comfortably while we have conversation? My head will fall off if I must look up all the time." He requested.

Lan Wangji surprisingly was obedient and took a seat beside him.

"Bringing me to your personal abode, you must have a lot of trust in me now, huh?" Xiao Zhan asked with a wide grin, showing off his dimples.

"You've proved your trustworthiness." Lan Wangji did not mention it but the words of the Master Lan Yi in that dream also played a part in erasing his doubts. They should trust each other like his ancestor had asked him to. Therefore, that was he decided to do. To put all his trust in the person before him.

Xiao Zhan chuckled softly, "Is this situation not, as what you would usually say, ridiculous?" He prompted lightheartedly.

"It is. Ridiculous." Lan Wangji told no lie. It was indeed a ridiculous situation. It was the perfect sum up of this bizarre occurrence. Xiao Zhan's soft chuckles that followed his remark sounded pleasant to him for some reason. He kept quiet for a minute before posing another question, a little hesitantly, "What... should I call you?"

The traces of smile were instantly wiped off from Xiao Zhan's face when he heard the question. At this moment, hearing his own name would remind him of the world he was longing to back to. He would feel even more awful if he heard it from someone who looked and sounded like a person he knew in his previous modern life. Maybe not hearing his own name would help him cling to a hope that one day would soon wake up from a long dream. He decided, "Please call me as you normally would. I won't mind. But, don't ask me why."

"I understand." Lan Wangji said, respecting his decision.

"Hey, does this mean you are actually more than thousand years older than me since I came from thousand years in future?" Xiao Zhan said jokingly in an attempt to lighten up his own mood. "Should I address you as great-great-great-great-grandfather?" He grinned.

"Your definition of time is distorted. It does not count." Lan Wangji retorted.

"Oh, really? So how would you define time? If time is a continuous sequence and following logic, it moves only moves forward. Hence, it is the progression of the past, present, and future. However, did not I essentially a divergent from the normal concept of time? Say, a chick in present time. Past form, an egg. Future, a rooster. Now, if this rooster suddenly turned into an egg again, it would defy the law of the world. Am I right?" Xiao Zhan asked enthusiastically, moving his hands animatedly. That was when he realized something about Wei Wuxian.

Ah, I guess this is why the scripts were thick. 'I' do talk a lot of nonsense.

The reason the teen's talkativeness and his tendency to produce weird perceptions of things was probably stemmed from his high intelligence. He knew this because he too now had wild ideas and imagination constantly popping up now and then and it was hard to brush off. Maybe, that was the cause of why he downed alcohol like water. To drown the seriously noisy babbles in his brain. It was like he had another mini version of Wei Wuxian inside his brain, talking endlessly. That or an entire gang of Minions that went off with 'alcohol!' instead of 'bananas!'.

Lan Wangji casted a look that screamed 'what are you babbling about?' before replying, "It is a paradox. We can discuss it later." He moved closer to Xiao Zhan. "First, let me check on you."

"Hmm?" Xiao Zhan raised his brow quizzically as he let Lan Wangji take his wrist and feel his pulse.

Lan Wangji closed his eyes to concentrate on the task of examine this troublesome person's general wellness.

"Didn't you hate physical touch with others?" Xiao Zhan remarked. He couldn't help it.

Lan Wangji opened his eyes briefly to look at Xiao Zhan. "I don't hate it. I am just uncomfortable with it." He stated firmly.

"Oh, but you are comfortable with me, aren't you?" Xiao Zhan said teasingly while smiling like a Chesire cat.

"Boring." Lan Wangji said as he closed his eyes again, determined not to pay any heed to the teasing. His lips were pressed together in a thin line as he read the flow of energy that coursed inside Xiao Zhan's body at the moment. His brows formed a deep frown as he dropped Xiao Zhan's wrist gently. He stared questioningly at the youth in front of him, "This is... "

"What? What is it?" Xiao Zhan could discern the worry in the golden orbs. He found himself getting anxious too.

"The flow of qi is imbalanced. It a strange rampaging of spiritual energy." Lan Wangji concluded. The golden core of a cultivator usually revolves in one direction in order to circulate Qi through pathways towards each meridian that was in the body. But from what he established from his check-up, the head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang had something else that swirled in the opposite direction, creating a vortex that created a backlog which explained why he collapsed.

Xiao Zhan knitted his eyebrows closed together; he understood every word but at the same time he could not relate those words in any medical terminologies he learned when he acted as a doctor once.

Is there any vaccine for this? What is the available treatment then?

"Why do you think it happened?" Xiao Zhan asked, getting a little anxious.

"Excessive emotions. Mental exhaustion." Lan Wangji answered monotonously. In his mind, there was an unsettling feeling that he did not say aloud.

Xiao Zhan couldn't help but to chuckle at Lan Wangji's almost robotic response. That conclusion chased away his anxiety immediately. The horrible feelings that led him to passing out, probably did not happen due to what he had assumed earlier. He was indeed mentally drained, and he was consumed by some irrational fears and misperception tired before he blacked out. "Are you Siri?" He blurted out.

"Siri?"

"Oh right.... iPhone does not exist here." Xiao Zhan said, shaking his head.

"...." The frown in Lan Wangji's face was obvious. He did not understand whatever nonsense Xiao Zhan was spewing right now but whatever it was, it only made him more certain that the person indeed came from a different world.

"Ah, I miss someone who understands twenty first century's joke." Xiao Zhan complained petulantly. He also missed his cat, his family and friends as well as his home. The one with hot shower and a porcelain throne for a toilet that flushes. There were plenty of things he missed right at the moment.

It would be nice to have a perfect cup of aromatic hot coffee right now. Or spicy food. The view is perfect for a hotpot.

"You can tell me. Your world." Lan Wangji enounced suddenly, breaking his train of thoughts. He might sound rigid, but he was sincere and honest.

"Really?" Xiao Zhan beamed with bright smiles when he heard that offer. "Should I do that? What do you want to know? I can tell you everything." He said excitedly, hanging his hand on Lan Wangji's shoulder lightly in friendly manner which was instantly met with a dissatisfied glare. "Oops. My apology, Second Young Master Lan." He apologized, awkwardly retracting his hand.

"You should go. You already missed a full day of lesson." Lan Wangji stated impassively and with that, he was back up on his feet.

"Ah, right! I should go." Xiao Zhan quickly scrambled out the day bed, folded the blanket he was covered with. He tidied up his appearance and started to make his leave towards the exit. As he opened the door, he turned his back to face Lan Wangji again, "Oh, I forgot. Thank you for er... everything. I will find you again later. Also, please keep it as our secret?"

"Mn." Lan Wangji hummed his agreement.

"What secret?" Another voice came in from a few steps away from the entrance.

Xiao Zhan cursed his luck. He turned around as to meet the owner of the voice who was smiling at him, standing upright with both hands at the back.

Hm? Oh, it's Lan Xichen.

The Lan Xichen before him spot strong resemblance with Lan Wangji but still somewhat resemble the cast member who played him. Maybe it was the same shape of facial structure with sharper mandibular features and both have the same height. It was not difficult to tell apart. The older brother of Lan Wangji has chestnut brown eye and worn a soft gentle smile almost at all times.

Lan Wangji made a rather hasty walk to the door. "Brother." He greeted, looking a little flustered.

"You must be Young Master Wei" Lan Xichen said to Xiao Zhan, his smiling face looked kind and warmth while he scanned the person in front of him from top-to-bottom. His smile grew even wider.

"Ah, where is my manner? Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Wei Wuxian of Yunmeng." Xiao Zhan finally remember to greet the senior cultivator with a respectful bow. "My apology for my insolence but I really must go. Please excuse me, Zewu-jun," Xiao Zhan said while giving another bow to Lan Xichen.

"It's okay." Lan Xichen approved with a shallow nod; his smile never faltered.

Giving Lan Wangji one last glance at Lan Wangji who responded with a slight nod, Xiao Zhan then hurriedly took his leaves out of the awkward atmosphere knowing that there would be a misunderstanding about this situation. He sighed as he strutted out of the premise.

Lan Xichen watched as Xiao Zhan left in a lightning speed before he set his eyes on his brother with a wide smile. "Let's have breakfast together, Wangji"

"Yes, Brother." Lan Wangji nodded. He took his sword and closed the door behind him, feeling a little conflicted. They walked side by side with slow strides.

"Do you want to explain while we walk?" Lan Xichen asked, his smile seemed to be permanent feature on his face now.

"He passed out. I was there." Lan Wangji answered as short and as concise as possible.

"Oh, so you brought him to your place." Lan Xichen did not waste the opportunity to illicit a shy response from his only sibling.

"..." The younger of the twin Jades refused to give Lan Xichen the response he wanted.

Lan Xichen did not give up. "You seem very close to Young Master Wei."

"We are not." Lan Wangji denied, trying to keep his face frigid.

Lan Xichen chuckled softly as he glanced at Lan Wangji whose ears were turning a little pink, "I am glad. The head disciple of Yunmeng seems like a good person."

"He is skillful. His swordsmanship is excellent." Lan Wangji admitted.

"I see. To earn a praise from my brother. How very rare." Lan Xichen said approvingly. He was wholly pleased that someone finally made an impression to his younger brother, enough to make the usually stoic person flustered. He then stopped walking abruptly as realization dawned unto him. "Hold on, brother. Did you fight with him?"

"Mn."

"Without permission?"

"...." Lan Wangji refused to answer this time and immediately hastened his pace leaving his brother slightly behind.

Lan Xichen let out a soft laugh, amused with his brother's reactions. "Oh, Wangji. To think that you broke a rule..." He remarked.

"..."