When Lan WangJi arose from his meditation, he found his husband's head lying over his crossed legs. "This can't be comfortable," he observed.
"It's not," Wei WuXian agreed. "But it's the next best thing to sitting in your lap." He rolled over and kissed Lan WangJi's hand where it rested on a knee. "Did you ever play 'what if' during those years I was gone?"
"What if I stayed with you in the Burial Mounds? What if I pulled you up the cliff?"
"Yeah…."
"Of course. Why?"
Wei WuXian shrugged in the darkness. "I was just thinking… What if your uncle was right? Would it be better if Uncle Jiang had left me on the streets? All the trouble I've caused…. The lives I've destroyed. Even you… you're a cut sleeve because of me." Wei Ying yelped as two hands shoved their way under his armpits and hauled his body up until he was sitting on Lan Zhan's lap.
"What lives have you destroyed?" Lan WangJi asked, wrapping his arms around his husband's waist. "When have you ever struck first? Defending yourself and the people you care about is not destroying lives…. The Wen murdering your family is all on them. Shu She murdering Jin ZiXuan is on him. Your Shijie saving you from being stabbed in the back is on her. Not you. You didn't cause any of that. You were just a convenient excuse.
"As for me being a cut sleeve…. I don't think of myself like that. I don't love you because you're a man. Or even in spite of you being a man. Lan Zhan loves Wei Ying. It's as simple as that. You are my soulmate. I think that if Jiang FengMian had not found you, there would have come a day when I was walking to or from a night hunt in YunMeng, and I would have seen you there…. And just like when we were teenagers, I would have fallen in love with you. And you with me. We are fated to be together.
"Playing 'what if' is pointless. What if I told you I loved you in XuanWu's cave when you teased me about liking MianMian? What if I told you I loved you the night you killed Wen Chao? What if I told you I loved you when I followed you back to the Burial Mounds? What if I told you I loved you on the rooftop at the Nightless City the night you died? What if I told you I loved you when we went to Cloud Recesses after I found you on Dafan mountain?"
Wei Ying reached out in the dark to pull Lan Zhan's head over and silenced his 'what ifs' with a kiss. Hearing those love words made him so hard! They had time, barely, for another round. He nudged Lan Zhan's lips open with his own and deepened the kiss, increasing his desire. He could feel the proof against his hip that he wasn't the only one aroused. But Lan Zhan had other ideas, and gentled the kiss so that it was soothing rather than arousing, loving and tender rather than fierce and wild.
Long minutes later, they pulled back from the kiss. Wei WuXian lit a fire talisman, stood up and straightened his robes. "It's time. How do I look?"
Lan WangJi noted that Suibian still lay on the floor of the box, while Chenqing was held loosely in the other's hand. He looked up to see his beautiful spouse's eyes already rimmed with red and swirls of resentful energy surrounding his body. "Wei Ying…" he warned.
The Yiling Patriarch smiled back, coldly. "You already own me, body and soul. How can resentful energy harm something that is yours?" He climbed out of the box and lifted Chenqing to his lips.
Lan SiZhui limped to a stop and almost fell as the boy supporting him, Jin Ling, decided to sit down. Neither of them were in any condition to walk on their own. He, too, should have fallen, but OuYang XiaoDan stepped in to hold him up. He shook off her help, and stared at the inferno; his father's room was surrounded by more of the men in black. And obviously, the building was under some sort of spell. While the buildings next to it had already collapsed, this one was different. The walls were gone and part of the roof had caved in, but the main supports of the structure were still standing.… How can anyone survive in that….
Lan SiZhui looked at Headmaster Hua as he directed the Wei disciples to surround the men in black. None of the people trying to hurt Wei WuXian would be allowed to escape. He still wasn't sure exactly how the headmaster knew to come to Koi Tower; the older man had simply smiled that empty smile of his and said he was given orders by Master Wei and he would follow them to the best of his ability. The headmaster seemed unconcerned about the inferno that was his fathers' room, so Lan SiZhui turned his attention back to the flames. And noticed something human looking standing there.
There was a semi-strong breeze whipping the flames and that breeze also moved the robes and hair of the figure. The figure's arms lifted to the side and the sounds of a flute could be heard over the noise of the fire. "It's Chenqing!" cried some of the men in black. "The Yiling Patriarch!" cried others. All with fear in their voices. Thick, black smoke swirled around the figure; was it smoke from the fire or resentful energy?
"Master Wei has become a fierce corpse!" Lan JingYi yelled.
Headmaster Hua snorted. "What corpse can play a flute?" Lan JingYi and the other boys blinked their eyes at the headmaster and the smoke. "Corpses can't breathe so most of them can only make the most basic of sounds as they physically force air in and out of their lungs; your Ghost General only talks because of the magic used to create him. And none of them have the ability to do such fine muscle control that is necessary to play the flute. Your Master Wei is perfectly fine."
Lan SiZhui felt much better at hearing this and more than slightly sheepish. His teachers and fathers were always going on about being able to think logically under pressure and yet he had had the same exact thoughts as JingYi….
The hundred or so men in black surrounding the building, suddenly took up their bows and arrows and started launching volley after volley at the Yiling Patriarch. The first round of arrows burned up as soon as they crossed the threshold of the building. The next few rounds veered up as they approached the flames, feathers alight, shooting into the sky like mini fireworks. After a few minutes of this, though, it appeared that the Yiling Patriarch was done playing games with his attackers; Chenqing's song changed to a more strident tune, and the next volley of arrows suddenly reversed course in midair to fly back at the men who fired them.
As almost a quarter of the attackers fell, pierced by their own arrows, Lan SiZhui felt shivers of fear spreading up and down his back. It was one thing to hear stories of the Yiling Patriarch. Since they all occurred over a decade before, it was easy to dismiss much of them as exaggeration. It was another thing entirely to see the Yiling Patriarch in action and realize that the stories, if anything, understated the reality of his abilities. Only hours earlier, Baba had boasted that he was the most powerful cultivator, and Lan SiZhui had thought it a slight embellishment. But this…. This was proof that Baba hadn't been boasting at all….
The Yiling Patriarch, able to control both spiritual energy and resentful energy, stood alone in a raging fire against a hundred attackers with bows. He seemed unconcerned that the numbers were not in his favor. Rather it was his enemy who seemed to think they did not have sufficient numbers to take him down!
Lan SiZhui was trying to calm himself down when he noticed something odd about the flames. They seemed to form a shape…. "That looks like a wing," he murmured. Yes, that's it! The flames were converging, coalescing into the shape of a bird. There was the head, the eyes, the wings spreading out, the talons gripping a fallen roof beam, the long body and the even longer tail feathers. The firebird was resplendent in reds, golds, and oranges of the flames. With a loud trill, the bird bowed its head to the Patriarch, and then with a powerful thrust and a scream, launched its body into the sky.
Illustrations in books of a phoenix in flight paled in comparison to seeing the actual beast hovering over the burning building. With every beat of its wings, embers fell down, leaving behind the metallic sheen of its newly grown feathers.
Next to him, OuYang XiaoDan was reciting a zoology lesson. "The phoenix is one of the few rare creatures of magic that appears to be truly undying. It lives anywhere from ninety to one hundred years before it 'dies'. Upon 'death', it will burst into flames and be reborn from its own ashes. We're witnessing the birth of a brand new phoenix!"
The phoenix landed on the roof of the burning building and began casually preening itself. It must have been at least five meters in length with over a third of that just in the tail. A few of the attackers shot arrows at the creature. Annoyed, the bird blasted out fire and incinerated the arrows before they could hit, and then turned its beady black eyes to stare down at the men in black. With an inquiring trill, the bird cocked its head at the Yiling Patriarch below. Chenqing answered, and the bird launched itself into the sky again only to turn and dive at the men in black. The men below drew their swords to defend themselves. A few even tried to use spiritual energy to send their swords away from them in defense. But swords, even spiritual swords, had no impact on this magical creature. The ones in the air were knocked to the ground by its powerful talons and wings. Then it opened its mouth, and just like its cousin the fire dragon, breathed out fire burning every man in its path. After the first twenty or so men fell to the ground engulfed in magical flames, the rest of the attackers tried to run. Only to encounter the YilingWei disciples surrounding them.
The short fight was a bloodbath. Those that the phoenix didn't burn were maimed or killed by Hua's men and women.
Lan SiZhui's injured leg finally gave out and he collapsed to the ground, stomach trying to rebel. The stench of burned flesh and the sight and smell of blood and entrails and brains had him dry heaving over and over. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he and his friends had already puked everything that was in their stomachs back at Jin Ling's room.
When he was finally in control, he lifted his head to see another figure standing beside Baba. The two figures strolled out of the burning building with no sense of urgency. When they were a few meters away, the Yiling Patriarch bent down and put something on the ground, then stood up again and made a set of motions with his hands. Immediately, the flames died down. He then picked up what he had put down, set it on his hip, and the two men walked over the dead and the dying to greet Hua.
Hua saluted. "Patriarch, your brother was attended to by our healers. He was shot by many arrows, but seems to be on the mend. ZeWu-Jun and Madame Li are potentially in danger. Both have lost a significant amount of blood; Sect leader Lan has suffered severe burns in addition to being stabbed. Our healers are currently working with them." Lan Wangi's face tightened with pain and fear. His arms unconsciously tightened around the little girl sleeping in his arms. "Your young disciples," Hua continued, "Unfortunately, two of them were killed in the attack. The rest of them… their bodies are cleared of the poison, and the few who were further injured have been tended to and would be fine by the evening if they had listened to instructions and rested instead of coming here." This last bit was said with a glare at Lan SiZuhi and his friends. "Instead, they will need several days of bed rest." Hua turned his attention back to his Patriarch. "Madame Wen appears to be alive, but she is inside a golden net and is not responding to us at the moment. We have been unable to locate her brother, Wen Ning, but I have several disciples tasked with that."
Wei WuXian smiled at his son to let him know he wasn't in too much trouble. To Hua he asked, "And the rest of the disciples? The GusuLan? The YunMengJiang? Why didn't they come to help?"
"The use of the poison was widespread. It was in the wine, water and tea drank by almost everyone tonight. I've had reports of over three hundred deaths from almost every sect. It appears that only the enemy, some Sect leaders, and you had unaltered drinks tonight."
Wei WuXian sighed and rubbed at his nose. "Any of my opponents who are still alive…. Talk with Sect Leader Jin. I'm sure Koi Tower has a prison or dungeon or something where we can lock them up. Have the guards be only YilingWei disciples that you personally choose and trust. I'll go get Madame Wen and find Wen Ning."
"Shall we begin interrogations?" Hua asked.
"No…" Wei WuXian pondered. "I think their crimes need to be exposed before all of the Sect leaders." He looked down at the little boy still sleeping on his hip. "Do you have someone who can watch over Liu and XiaoShu for us?"
The young children were transferred over to a group of disciples to be cared for and protected. Then Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi and the others followed Hua to where Lan XiChen and Li MeiLi were. Seeing his brother's broken body lying on a bamboo mat on the ground made Lan WangJi's hand clench tighter on Bichen's sheath and his posture to stiffen. Wei WuXian slipped his hand into his husband's, ignoring that they were in public, and squeezed it tight. He wanted to do more, but they were in public. Lan WangJi's eyes were suspiciously glassy as he looked down at their joined hands. "Wei Ying…." He swallowed audibly.
Wei WuXian shoved Chenqing into his belt. "I'm here, Lan Zhan," he affirmed. "Anything you need…."
Lan WangJi dropped Bichen and wrapped both of his arms around Wei WuXian's waist. His head dropped to rest on his husband's shoulder. "I need you," he whispered, voice laced in pain. "Brother…."
Wei WuXian ran his hands up and down Lan WangJi's back, attempting to soothe the other. "Lan XiChen will be all right," he promised. "It's just a few stab wounds and some burns. By the time his hair grows out, you'll never know he was injured…." As Lan WangJi's head shook 'no', Wei WuXian smiled. "He's a cultivator! A really strong one! We can get our stomachs slashed open, stuff our guts back in, and continue to fight!"
Lan WangJi lifted his head enough so that he could look in his beloved's eyes. "You like to say that, but there are plenty of cultivators back there with their guts lying on the ground who will never again be able to stuff them back in."
The smile turned into a grin. "I did say 'strong cultivator'."
Lan WangJi's head dropped back down; he sighed heavily into his lover's neck. "Would you say that if it were Jiang Cheng lying there?"
Wei WuXian giggled. "If it were Jiang Cheng, I'd,"
"You'd what?" Jiang Cheng demanded appearing suddenly.
"I'd wonder why you insisted upon being so slow to mend!" Wei WuXian debated on whether he should stick his tongue out at his Shidi; he decided against it as there were young impressionable people watching him. And his new disciples. And the pain-filled eyes of his brother-in-law.
"You!" Jiang Cheng lunged at his brother, forgetting that his torso was still full of holes. The sudden pain from the movement made his face pale, and he staggered a bit.
Lan XiChen sighed heavily. "You two haven't changed one bit in twenty years, have you."
"Brother!" Lan WangJi fell to his knees at his brother's side. "How are you feeling?"
Lan XiChen closed his eyes wearily. "Everything hurts…. Except my legs. I can't feel my legs."
A young man in the red and black of a YilingWei disciple saluted. "Sect leader Lan, one of the cuts is in your lower back at your spine. My master says the meridians that go down the spine to the legs were damaged, and that is why the sect leader cannot move them. My master said he would do a further examination once you woke up to see how to heal them. Please wait for a few more minutes as my master is tending to your lady wife."
Lan XiChen's pale face blanched even further. "Li MeiLi? How is she?"
The young healer bowed. "Your lady wife is in much better condition than you. She has only a few stab wounds, none of which are serious any more."
Lan XiChen tried to push himself up in his haste to see his wife. Overwhelming pain that had him seeing spots made him fall back to the ground. "What do you mean by 'any more'?"
"Madame Li lost a lot of blood during the attack. It appears that she was able to bind her upper body enough to slow down further bleeding, and you transferred spiritual energy to her which helped her to heal a bit. My master was able to fully close her stab wounds, so with minimal movement over the next week, and plenty of beef broth to increase her blood supply, she should heal with no complications. He is tending to a burn on her hand at the moment." As Lan XiChen's face frowned in concern, the young healer trainee spoke quickly in ressurance. "The burn is the most minor of her problems. I would guess that something fell onto her hand and she flicked it off before it could do any great damage." He tried to smile in reassurance. "At the worst, she may want to wear gloves or long sleeves to cover that scar. But he is working to minimize its appearance."
Lan XiChen smiled in relief. "Good." His eyes slid closed.
"Brother!" Lan WangJi wanted to scream, but it only came out as a harsh whisper.
"Second Master Lan, please don't worry. Your brother is sleeping. Right now, this is the best thing he can do."
Wei WuXian crouched down and turned his husband's face so he could place an almost discrete kiss on the other's forehead. "Let's go get Wen Qing out of that net. Once she's up, she can look at ZeWu-Jun and see what needs to be done to fix his meridians or whatever." Lan WangJi nodded.
The two men and an ever increasing retinue made the short journey to the smouldering ruin that had been Jiang Cheng's room. "Shixiong," the younger man hedged when Wei WuXian came to a stop. "Aren't you going to undo the net?"
Wei WuXian smiled at his Shidi. "It's not time, yet."
"Time?" Jiang Cheng hissed. "What exactly are you waiting for?"
Everyone in the courtyard looked up as the phoenix screamed as it flew over the crowd. "Well, that for starters," Wei WuXian replied absently. He removed Chenqing from his belt and played at short tune. With another screech, the bird flew off.
"Where did you find a phoenix?" Jiang Cheng asked.
Wei WuXian looked down at his younger brother. "You don't find phoenixes; you hope they don't find you. But in this case, I made it."
"Don't be ridiculous!" the younger man scoffed.
Wei WuXian grinned as the phoenix flew back over the courtyard, something human-shaped gripped in its talons. "While the phoenix is technically a bird, they don't lay eggs and they don't mate. So no young ones. Hence, they have to be created. So I did." The firebird settled gently onto the ground and stepped away from what it had carried. Wen Ning, eyes completely black, stood up and raised his fists at the bird. Wei WuXian played another tune on Chenqing forcing Wen Ning to become still. He quickly felt around the back of the Ghost General's head and pulled out two nails. "These again? How many of these things did XueYang make?" Wei WuXian looked disgusted as he dumped the nails into a pocket in his sleeve.
"It's all a spectacle to you, isn't it," Jiang Cheng grumbled.
"They," Wei WuXian waved a lazy hand in the general direction of their spectators: sect leaders, disciples, guardsmen. "They want the spectacle. They need the spectacle. What's so wrong with giving it to them?"
Jiang Cheng looked at the phoenix preening itself. At Wen Ning slowly coming to his senses. At the golden net protecting his wife. At the men and women clustered in the courtyard. And finally he gazed up at the sky which was just turning from a deep purple to a light pink. "You're waiting for dawn," he accused.
Wei WuXian hopped up onto what remained of the building's floor, approaching the shining net. "Of course!" he called out. He knelt down next to Wen Qing only to see that she was asleep or unconscious. He began the complicated process to undo the net; it would have been quite simple for Wen Qing to undo it had she been awake…. He transferred spiritual energy to her even as he slowly shrank the arrows protruding from her chest. It was a delicate balance: shrink them enough to be able to pull them out without further damage, but move slowly enough that her body could start to heal and not bleed out. By the time he realized that she had already stopped the blood flow hours before, the arrows were already out and the holes they left behind closing.
Wen Qing blearily blinked her eyes open. "Wei Ying," she sighed. "Is it over?"
Wei WuXian helped her to sit up. "Just about, QingJie. How are you feeling?"
"I'll be fine," she stated and struggled to her feet just as the sun's first rays lit up Koi Tower.
In the courtyard below, Nie HuaiSang shivered at the sight of the Phoenix steadying the Sun, remembering his thoughts from a few days earlier. A phoenix rising from the ashes… the sun always rises in the morning. The small fire he had lit had burned out of his control exposing hatreds previously hidden in the darkness.
