CH 21

Lan Zhan had woken up the morning after with a sore mouth, sticky robes and only a very fuzzy recollection of what had happened. He had remembered his dream and waking up aroused and he had remembered going to get a drink with the idea that somehow that could help him overcome his shyness in touching himself with Wei Ying asleep just a few feet away. The rest was just fuzzy images that made no sense, and when he had tried approaching the subject of what had happened that night with Wei Ying, Wei Ying had simply looked at him coldly and said he had no idea what he was talking about as he was sleeping. Lan Zhan had a feeling that Wei Ying was lying about something but couldn't say what. It didn't really matter anyway; he couldn't remember what had happened and it wasn't the only thing Wei Ying was being cold about at the moment.

That, fuzzy, night had been almost 6 months ago now, and in the meantime things had changed between them. Although the YiLing Lazou side of Wei Ying had been very talkative and almost constantly present, he could not say the same for Wei Ying himself. Lan Zhan had hoped that Wei Ying was beginning to soften up to him, trust him a little even and let him see that good side he knew still existed. However, in the past few months it had been almost as if Wei Ying was the alter ego of the YiLing Lazou rather than the other way around. Even when the ice-cold eyes of the YiLing Lazou had been replaced with Wei Ying's granite ones, there had been no softness in them, no relaxed meals, no sitting and talking, in fact no talking what-so-ever.

Occasionally the quin and flute would spend hours playing, winding round each other, as if it was natural to do so, but mostly Wei Ying ignored him completely. It was only the side of him portrayed by the YiLing Lazou that not only recognised Lan Zhan's presence but seemed to enjoy it. In the past few months those ice-cold eyes seemed to have softened in a way Wei Ying's granite ones once had. However, the personality emerging was very different, if Wei Ying had gotten gentler the YiLing Lazou was getting more…. irascible. Wei Ying had always been shameless but had never had a temper which could shift from cold to hot without any obvious warning, however the YiLing Lazou did. Lan wished he knew what was happening, what had happened to make Wei Ying change so much but he couldn't get any clues about it.

This was not the only thing that had changed in the past few months though. The first was that Wei Ying would leave YiLing for sometimes a few days at a time, and always lock him back in the cell before leaving. Lan Zhan had thought his time locked in that small area was over but obviously this new side of Wei Ying didn't trust him as much as the old one did. Lan Zhan never asked where Wei Ying was going but occasionally the ice-cold eyes of the YiLing Lazou would fall upon him and grin. Lan Zhan always tried not to respond to the taunts but the smirk coming from the other man, as well as well placed words such as,

'That's another one'/

'I wonder when they will come begging'

'That was fun!'

The words where obviously designed to spur Lan Zhan's natural curiosity and he had to admit, along with the fact that he had had no messages from his brother in 6 months, he was quite curious about what was going on outside of the burial mounds. It was that curiosity that had led him to discover the second thing that had changed, only two months ago. Lan Zhan had been eating his dinner one night when Wei Ying had walked up to the small table, no not Wei Ying, the eyes where a giveaway, it was the YiLing Lazou who approached him. As Lan Zhan looked up from his dinner the YiLing Lazou smiled and spoke into the silence.

'Do you want to know something about what's going on out there, it involves the Lan!'

Lan Zhan at first had shook his head automatically and the other man had meandered off. However later on Lan Zhan could not stop thinking about what might have happened to his family to make the other man mention such a thing. In the end he approached the YiLing Lazou who was slouched against the cave wall.

'I want to know about my family' Lan Zhan had insisted.

However, the other had simply smiled, that sharp cold smile, and responded.

'I offered to tell you earlier, but you rejected my kindness. If you want me to tell you now, you need to do something for me first…...don't worry it's nothing you haven't already agreed to.'.

Lan Zhan had known better than to agree, but needed the information, so he simply nodded. Following instructions, he stripped down and knelt in front of the YiLing Lazou as he took himself in hand, working himself up until he erupted. While it was mortifying to put on such a show for someone else, the logical part of his mind was noticing a few things, some of which were helpful and some not. The first, was that he had in fact agreed to this months before when talking Wei Ying out of working with the Wen and part of him was surprised it had taken this long for his promise to be realised, the second was that in the all the time he was naked and making an exhibition of himself the YiLing Lazou's eyes never left his own. In a way Lan Zhan had found this more intrusive and intimate than if there had been hands all over his body. Having the eyes on him didn't give him anywhere to hide, and the look the other gave him at times was the same as that voice from his dream …. you're enjoying being watched, aren't you?'. This led to the third thing he noticed, and the most annoying, part of him did in fact enjoy being ordered around and watched. He noticed just how quickly he became aroused when those cold eyes where fixed on him.

The YiLing Lazou had been as good as his word and told Lan Zhan everything he knew about his family. The odd situation had been repeated only twice over the last few months, and both close to his drinking episode, making Lan Zhan wonder why all a sudden either side of Wei Ying's personality would take an interest in him. That was until he decided to add that to the long list of things he couldn't quite work out or didn't have the answers to at the moment.

In the world outside of the bubble of YiLing, things were a mixture of good and bad depending on which side you belonged to. About five months earlier the Wen had exploded out of Nightless City once again, but this time they had a hidden weapon that could seemingly neither be killed nor hurt. The fighters, nicknamed puppets, by the cultivation community, seemed to feel nothing, not even pain. Of course, this lack of feeling made harming them a problem when it came to battles. Another problem, when it came to battling the puppets, was that they only seemed to obey orders and not be able to think on their own. If either Wen Chao or Wen RoHan instructed them to kill and leave no one alive, they would obey no matter what damage was inflicted on them. The Cultivation Sects had so far, been at the receiving end of wave after wave of Wen attacks. When they had first arrived all of the Sects had either been focused on YiLing or Lotus Pier, and had only had a token number of junior disciples watching the Wen. After all everyone had believed the Wen were defeated and would take a long time to recover, it was the Jiang and Wei WuXian that were the more pressing concern.

Even after the Sects had turned all of their attention to the threat of the Wen, they had been confused when the Jiang didn't join them as expected. While some of them understood that Jiang Cheng was a young Sect Leader and could possibly be led by his emotions, and would probably not be too happy with the other Sects from a personal point of view, none of them could understand why one of the 4 large Sects was not helping. It was not a personal problem anymore, the Wen where a threat to the community as a whole. Their confusion had turned to amazement the first time the Wen had bypassed Lotus Pier completely. There was no battle, no take over, not even any argument over superiority. The Wen bypassed the Sect as if it didn't exist.

Sect Leader Nie had tried to speak to Jiang Cheng and clarify the situation. He had tried to explain that if the Jiang remained neutral in the war, then they would lose any standing they still had in the cultivation world, and if they kept ignoring the Wen presence they may be counted as traitors to the correct path. He had met with a large problem though; the main gate of Lotus Pier had been firmly closed against him and no matter how much he shouted; the servants would not open it.

'We have been given strict instructions not to open the gate to anyone without permission from our Sect Leader!' The gatekeeper had told him for the fifteenth time.

'Well then go and get him!' Sect Leader Nie had roared.

It had been long minutes before someone finally returned and Sect Leader Nie glared at Jiang Cheng who just stared back.

'My servants were obeying my orders' he had said blankly.

'What is the meaning of all this?' Sect Leader Nie had shouted in the voice that he normally only used on the battlefield.

Jiang Cheng though didn't wince, but rather squared his shoulders and stepped closer to the gate, and spoke in a voice that was overly polite.

'As my Sect has been dishonourable of late, I cannot possibly fight alongside the righteous Sects in this war, so I can just keep my Sect locked down and protect my family in my own way. I ask Sect Leader Nie to leave this untrustworthy Sect and go back to his virtuous battle, you will get no help here.'

With that said Jiang Cheng had walked away from the gate, his head still head high and leaving Sect Leader Nie astounded. The other Sects had been determined that at some point the Wen would attack the Jiang and Jiang Cheng would come running to them and begging for help, but that never happened. No matter how close the battle was to Lotus Pier, no matter how many Jiang disciples were caught up in the fighting. The Jiang refused to fight, and the Wen left them alone. At one of the war counsels the Sect Leaders had even spoken about how, after four months of fighting, the Jiang was the only Sect left without damage, and certainly the only major Sect. Yet no one could encourage them to take part in the war. It was as astounding as it was confusing. Jin Guangshan had spoken up about he was glad his eldest son wasn't married to the sister of such a coward, however there was an undertone of lies there. Jin Guangshan was arrogant, but he wasn't a fool, he knew that if he had Jiang YanLi as a daughter in law, he would have access to both the Jiang and the YiLing Lazou. Everyone knew how close both brothers where to their sister, and having her locked inside his house and family would have given him the leverage he needed not only to bring the Jiang into the fighting but also bring Wei WuXian to heel as well. Sadly, though that wasn't the case.

All the confusion surrounding the Jiang was temporarily forgotten however the day, a month ago, when the Wen attacked the Nie. It was also the day the famed Red Blade Master died on the battlefield, the day the first of the four high Sects grew extinct, and it was the day when the figure everyone had been expecting, and no one had been wanting to see, appeared on the roof.