Ch 9 – Golden core

A hard knock on the door woke Wei Ying the next morning. After waking from such a deep sleep it took him a moment to work out where he was, he had become so accustomed to waking up in the bland Jingshi he shared with a certain handsome and talented, not to mention somewhat annoying cultivator, that when he awoke somewhere else it seemed strange. Looking around he blinked his eyes against the sun coming through the windows and winced slightly at moving his body to fast. I'm exhausted and sore, why does that man never get tired! He grumbled to himself as he rose from the bed and reached for his clothing. The aroma drifting in through the open window had finally made him recall where he was, although he couldn't remember ever opening the window. He just assumed Lan Zhan had done that when he left their room earlier.

Eventually dressed, full and as presentable as he was going to get, he made his way to the what had become the morning meeting place to decide the days battle against the virus. The main meeting hall. He was somewhat surprised to not see Jiang Cheng among the group gathered when he entered. Lan Zhan stood at the centre of the room by the table surrounded by the disciples of both YunMeng and Gusu Sects, as well as both the scholars and healers that had not been sent to aid other Sects. It was unknown if Lan Zhan heard his entrance or just sensed he had appeared but as soon as he entered he turned towards him, his normal blank look fixed on his face. Lan Zhan nodded slightly to the others before approaching him and gesturing to one side. Wei Ying all of a sudden got a bad feeling but followed anyway.

'Jin Ling?' he asked when they were far away from the others not be overheard.

Lan Zhan shook his head slightly before answering.

'Sect Leader Jiang was taken ill sometime in the night. I was told early this morning that the healers have been treating him.' Lan Zhan paused to let his news sink in as Wei Ying just stared blankly at him. 'for some reason though his case is accelerating faster than any case they have seen so far.'

Wei Ying just stared blankly for a moment before raising his head slightly.

'You knew this and you didn't wake me up and tell me my brother was dying!' He realised from Lan Zhan's slight wince that his voice had come out sharper than he intended but for some reason he couldn't reign in his temper. 'How would you feel if I kept such a secret from you about ZeWu-Jun?'

Lan Zhan looked like he wanted to reach out and hug him but he didn't quite dare when he was in this temper, instead he clenched his fists at his side and spoke in the gentle voice he only seemed to use around Wei Ying.

'I wanted to get the whole picture before I worried you.'

Wei Ying took a deep breath and then another, trying to steady himself. It was true himself and Jiang Cheng hadn't been on good terms in the past years. In-fact to say they had been on bad terms would have been putting things mildly. But he had come back to Lotus Pier to try to set some of the past to rest, he couldn't let the mistakes of the past keep plaguing his mind and altering his future. He had also come here because no matter what had happened between himself and Jiang Cheng they still had a link between them that neither of them could break, their sister. Yanli had been the one person, besides Lan Zhan, who had never given up on him. He couldn't fail her when her home needed him.

Taking another deep breath Wei Ying walked over to the table where the others spoke quietly, either because they where in a serious discussion or because they didn't want to get involved in the domestic arguments of two of the two most powerful cultivators currently in Lotus Pier. Upon reaching the table He noticed Lan Zhan had quietly followed behind him, almost putting himself in the subservient position. If Wei Ying had any less annoyed with the situation he would have laughed at the idea of his husband being subservient to anyone!

As if on cue the conversation broke down and all the heads turned to face him. One of the men muttered gently.

'Young Master Wei, I'm sure the Sect Leader would appreciate a visit from you.'

Wei Ying smiled at the older man, he was the same one he had seen at the gate a week before and obviously had known both him and Jiang Cheng from when they were children.

'I will go see him later' He reassured the man 'But for now we need to figure out what is going on'

The conversation in the hall had lasted hours. It didn't matter how many people fell ill or how often they shared ideas, there didn't seem to be any pattern to the illness apart from it somehow affected their golden core and that eventually led to either death or total loss of cultivation ability. Whoever had created this illness was a master at both disguising anything helpful and allowing it to spread. There didn't seem to be a single Sect that wasn't affected any more.

As Wei Ying and Lan Zhan exited the hall it was already afternoon, they had already missed dinner but neither of them where hungry. Lan Zhan had hardly spoken since Wei Ying's earlier outburst, unless it was to give his opinion on the current problem. By the time they had reached the bottom of the steps Wei Ying was fed up with the silence. He was tired and sore from the night before and now he was worried as well, his temper was fraying.

'Lan Zhan' he began 'About earlier…..I lost my temper…...im sorry….i know you were trying not to let me worry'

Lan Zhan nodded and reached up to stroke Wei Ying's forehead ribbon. Wei Ying automatically leaned in to the familiar touch until Lan Zhan moved his hand away.

'Go see Sect leader Jiang' Lan Zhan said gently 'I will deal with the rest.

Wei Ying nodded.

'I will see you later for dinner'

'Yes'

The two parted ways and Wei Ying headed for the family area of Lotus Pier where his brother was being kept.

He had just entered the family area when he heard the familiar growl come from Jiang Cheng's room. For a moment his heartbeat increased thinking maybe he wasn't that ill after all, but a second later when he realised the growl was actually that of pain rather than annoyance, his stomach began doing somersaults. Taking hold of a servants arm that was stood outside the door to the room Wei Ying whispered.

'Go get him some sleeping soup, it will help him with the pain'

Instead of going to obey the order the servant merely whispered back.

'We already did Master Wei, Sect Leader Jiang refused to drink it and instead threw it on the floor.'

Wei Ying only just stopped himself from laughing but instead replied.

'Go get another bowl. I will make sure he drinks it!'

The servant bowed and left. Wei Ying looked at the door, smiled and entered without even knocking. There was one thing he knew he was naturally good at, and that was annoying Jian Cheng.

Jiang Cheng was laid on the bed obviously in pain and trying his hardest not to show it. As Wei Ying entered he looked over.

'Get out!' he grumbled.

Wei Ying let the part of his brain that excelled in annoying people run free as he smiled to his brother.

'No!' he said smiling.

Jiang Cheng grumbled again this time quieter so Wei Ying couldn't quite make out what he was saying. Just as he was about to ask the servant from before knocked on the door with the soup. Wei Ying took the bowl and nodded for the servant to withdraw, he nearly laughed again at how happily and quickly the man removed himself from the room. Turning back to his brother Wei Ying held up the bowl.

'Time to take your medicine. It will make you feel better' He said in an annoyingly cheerful voice.

Jiang Cheng reached out to try and swat the bowl away but Wei Ying was to quick and dodged the attempt.

'I told the others. I'm not drinking that' Jiang Cheng grated out.

'Ohh yes you are little brother' Wei Ying was using the annoyingly cheerful tone on purpose as he lifted a spoonful of the soup. 'say ah'

'Ass' Jiang Cheng replied.

'No one is going to argue with that'…..Wei Ying laughed 'Not even my husband…..although he kinda likes my ass…...likes making it sore anyway…..'

Jiang Cheng reacted as intended and seemed to choke on thin air at the shameless comment. As he was trying to recover himself Wei Ying poured half the bowl of sleeping soup down his throat and held his hand over his brothers mouth. Jiang Cheng wasn't strong enough to do anything but stare daggers as eventually drank the liquid. It must have been made strong, or he was weaker than anyone thought, because almost immediately he began dropping to sleep.

Wei Ying dismissed the remaining disciples' and servants. He could tell some of them didn't want to leave him alone with their Sect leader, whether it was because he had bad blood as his brother or they didn't trust him as the YiLing Patriarch, Wei Ying didn't really care as long as they left. He needed privacy for what he planned to do next. The healers had checked the golden cores of all the ill people without any success, however Wei Ying knew that his knowledge of Jiang Cheng's golden core was unique. After all it had once been his own.

Resting his hand on Jiang Cheng's stomach Wei Ying let his inner self feel for that familiar pulse that was inside every cultivator, that second heartbeat that made them special, able to protect and wield spiritual weapons. As expected he found it easily, the core was very strong but not as strong as it had been. Wei Ying spiritually explored the core and almost immediately noticed something wrong, part of the core looked…...black. A golden core a steady beat, this one didn't, it was almost as if the harder it fought to heal the black part of itself the worse the spread became. Not all cultivators were the same strength, and this relied a lot on the core…..if….

Wei Ying's hand suddenly moved as if burned and he shot up from the bed and out of the room as fast as he could. There was only one person who had a core stronger than Jiang Cheng's and that was Lan Zhan. If what he thought turned out to be true then if Lan Zhan caught this illness he would fall ill even worse and quicker than Jiang Cheng.

He needed to get Lan Zhan out of Lotus Pier!