CH26 – Heal the healers
It was Lan XiChen's turn to pace back and forth inside the Jingshi, glancing over his shoulder at the still sleeping pair who would occasionally murmur something incoherent under their breaths. Wen Ning had gone to YiLing about three days ago and Lan XiChen had expected him back before now. Although if he was fair YiLing had been destroyed and probably gotten seriously overgrown in the years since anyone lived there, so it might take a little longer than expected. Wen Ning had only agreed to go to YiLing when Lan XiChen had agreed to guard the Jingshi in his place. Of course XiChen had thought that was completely unnecessary but he had been pacing around the Jingshi for days anyway waiting for Wen Ning to return with his sister's notebook.
He hoped that whatever was written in the notebook could help wake his brother and brother-in-law. It had been decades since he had first me Wei Ying as a teenager. He had blown in like a hurricane onto the quiet life of Gusu. But he had given them so much since then, especially to Lan Zhan. Before meeting Wei Ying his little brother had been such an introvert Lan XiChen had worried he would almost disappear. After Wei Ying appeared things had changed, and once the two became married it had almost become an in-joke that the Jingshi was now anything but quiet. All the injustices the two had faced over the years had covered up just how important they both were in defeating both the Wen's, Jin GuangYao and protecting those innocent who where caught in the battles. It seemed fate was keeping both of them vitally important to the continuation of the cultivation world.
Sighing, and thinking he seemed to do nothing but sigh over the last few days, he continued his pacing.
Wen Ning arrived back in Gusu late that night, bursting in through the door as if chased. Looking around before heading to Lan XiChen, Wen Ning clearly held something in his hands. XiChen wanted to snap that he hadn't let anyone in, and it didn't matter even if he had, when he saw the look on Wen Ning's face. Both men sat down at the table either side of the notebook. Flicking through the notebook though, nothing seemed to jump out at them. They had looked at the pages a few times, seemingly with no result by the time XiChen sighed once again, raising his eyes to the ceiling. Wen Ning looked like he wanted to tear the book up and toss the pieces into the air. Something though wasn't making sense.
Wen Ning reached for the book, probably to tear it to bits in a fit of rage, when he noticed one of the pages was thicker than the others. Getting XiChen's attention the two of them managed to separate the two pages which had been stuck together. Finally there appeared the page they had been looking for, the page that held Wen Qing's notes on two cultivation partners spirit sharing. Excitedly they both poured over its contents, Wen Ning a lot more animated than Lan XiChen who managed to keep some of the Lan reserve despite itching to move.
Hours, and several …...discussions…..later, the two finally thought they had worked out what the scribbles on the page meant. Unfortunately as Wen Qing had never meant her ideas to be used by anyone else but herself, and even then only in theory, her notebook was very disorganised and the various notes written in a shorthand which needed to be deciphered first. It turned out though that the crux of the matter was that their needed to be a power injection into both partners while they were both physically and spiritually connected. It seemed simple enough but the power injection needed to be from a close family member of one of the partners. In other times this would be no problem either, but with both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan being orphaned it left Lan ZiXhen as the only one who could donate the power for the ceremony.
Wen Ning moved over to the bed and placed Wei Ying's hand flat on the sheets with Lan Zhan's palm on top. He made sure to pull both their sleeves up to their elbows to allow as much skin contact as possible to give the power transfer its best chance. Lan XiChen then placed his own hand atop the other two and allowed a sliver of his own energy to surround all three hands like a tendril connecting them all together. He couldn't see anything but he could feel that connection deepening between the other two. Something was definitely shifting, although he didn't know what. All he could do was keep the power transfer in place and hope the spiritual connection the two men shared would do the rest.
Lan Zhan couldn't move his head from the ground, it seemed his body was too heavy. He had tried everything he could think of to save Wei Ying but no matter what he tried nothing changed. Every time Wei Ying appeared in front of him he felt as though either his head or heard would explode….or maybe both. He was both physically and mentally exhausted without any clue how to end his torment. Once again Wei Ying disappeared over the edge of the cliff…..there was a pause before everyone erupted in cheers and shouts, then the world dissolved. Lan Zhan managed to take a breath, knowing what was coming next. Wei Ying would die again, for the hundredth, thousandth, millionth time…...he had long since lost count.
His eyes shot open when the scene came into view once again. He could see the scene at Nightless City, but he could also see something else, almost superimposed over the top of the other. Both scenes seemed to be blending in with each other and he wasn't sure where one ended and the other began. The second scene though seemed strange. In it a naked man laid huddled in an open field, the field was completely bare except for a few trees and flowers. There was nothing there to show why the man was there, why he was naked or why his was shaking with terror. The man on the ground turned his head slightly as he moved his hands, and the edge of a dark blue forehead ribbon came into view. Despite his aching neck Lan Zhan couldn't help but force his resisting body to its knees and look. The man in the second scene was Wei Ying.
The Nightless City scene dissolved once again, however he hardly noticed. His attention was all on the Wei Ying in the second one. He had never seen Wei Ying like that, never imagined Wei Ying like that. It couldn't be a figment of his imagination. It had to be his Wei Ying! Again the Nightless City scene came into view but Lan Zhan used all his years of self control to focus only on the second Wei Ying, forcing it to come into sharper focus. Once again the Nightless City scene ran its course as Wei Ying fell off the cliff but this time it didn't return, the meadow scene came into almost crystal clear focus surrounding him.
The scene may have changed but his body still ached from the various sprains and wounds he had received. Forcing himself forwards he slowly made his way towards Wei Ying, not knowing what had happened but hoping for all he was worth, that this time he wouldn't fail.
Wei Ying felt something touching his skin and indistinctively cringed away. The spirits hadn't touched him before, they had kept a tight ring preventing him from standing up and running, but just because they HADN'T touched him, that didn't mean they COULDN'T. That didn't mean that touching him wasn't the next level of torment in line for him. After all with his skin bare and his hands covering his ears he would be unable to protect himself from whichever of the vengeful spirits decided to hit him, cut him or even drive a dagger into his heart. His breathing was heavy, it felt like he hadn't drunk in days, all he done was shout at the spirits to leave him alone….that he was sorry. He never thought he would shout at his sister but he also never thought she would say such horrible things to him either.
The hands rested more firmly on his wrists, as if trying to pry his hands off his ears. Forcing him to hear the chorus of spirits cursing him for his sins. He gripped onto his ears tighter, he could no longer feel them but it didn't matter, if he could no longer feel them he could no longer hear. Slowly both the hands moved to concentrate on one of his, gently uncurling his resisting fingers. The hands and touch felt as if he knew them, trusted them, but his mind was too foggy to comprehend was his body was telling him. Eventually though his white knuckle was forced off one ear and he tried to scream to drown out what he knew he would soon hear, but his voice had long since gone hoarse. Tensing up even more he heard a slight noise by his ear.
'Wei Ying?…..Wei Ying its me…..Wei Ying look at me!'
The voice wasn't filled with malice or hatred, but rather with concern. He knew that voice, he trusted it just as much as the touch. This time his body responded, while his mind was still blank, and he opened his eyes a sliver. A beautiful man appeared in his view, a blue forehead ribbon floated around his face which held a look of worry. Wei Ying knew he had seen him before but it took him a few seconds to put a name to the face.
'Lan Zhan!' he squeaked out, his voice a mixture of disbelief and terror 'Lan Zhan…..no Lan Zhan you can't be here….you can't be here!'
He tried to wiggle out of Lan Zhan's grasp but it was no use, his hand was firmly caught. All he could do was stare back at the man he loved above all. The man, who if he was here, was dead. He hadn't realised he had spoken out-loud but Lan Zhan's voice came out just as low and soothing as it was before.
'I'm still alive my love…..and so are you' Wei Ying shook his head, before regretting it a moment later when Lan Zhan's face spun in front of him. Lan Zhan had taken advantage of this confusion to remove his other hand and was now holding both in his palms. The voices of the spirits where once again assaulting his ears and he struggled trying to free himself. 'Wei Ying calm down' Lan Zhan looked even more worried at the panic on his husbands face.
Wei Ying though couldn't calm down, he looked past Lan Zhan at the empty space and shouted he was sorry and for people to leave him alone. At least he tried to shout. Lan Zhan could tell Wei Ying's voice had been even more abused than his own. All he could do was grip Wei Ying's hands hard, offering what comfort that gave. Eventually Wei Ying sagged, his body once again giving up. Lan Zhan took the opportunity to ask.
'Wei Ying what are you seeing, what are you hearing?'
Wei Ying looked at him, ceasing his efforts to free himself before speaking in barely above a whisper.
'I see them all. They all hate me, they all blame me for their deaths. The Wen, the people I grew up with in Lotus Pier. My nanny, A-Yuan's aunt, Wen Ning, Wen Qing…...dozens and dozens…..even my sister…..' The last few words had been spoken falteringly through tears.
Lan Zhan furoughed his forehead. This explained why Wei Ying hadn't been able to get out of his nightmare on his own. Lan Zhan's world centred around protecting his husband, but Wei Ying's heart was so much bigger than his own. Wei Ying was so much more selfless than anyone else he had met, it wasn't surprising that he was still hating himself for things he couldn't control. If someone got hurt Wei Ying would blame himself until the end of eternity, loyalty was one of the mans greatest strengths but also one of his biggest weaknesses. If he was seeing all the people who had died for him, especially Wen Qing who had paralysed him in order to keep him safe while she went to her own death, and his sister who he had personally seen die in front of him after taking a sword blow meant for him. He would not be able to turn his back on them a second time, no matter what they put him through.
'Wei Ying listen to me' Lan Zhan began, raising his voice a little to try to counter the voices only Wei Ying could hear. 'There are only you and me here, no one else' Wei Ying just shook his head before nodding over Lan Zhan's shoulder. 'Wei Ying look at me, look into my eyes' Lan Zhan tried again. Wei Ying's breathing calmed a little but he still shook his head. How to get through to him? Lan Zhan thought to himself, for once a little lost as how to help.
Seeing Wei Ying's forehead ribbon crooked Lan Zhan instinctually moved one hand from where it was restraining Wei Ying's own and reached up to straighten the band. Upon touching the ribbon though he felt a small shock run through it into his fingers. Looking down at Wei Ying's equally shocked and confused face he knew he had felt it to. Inspiration suddenly dawned and he spoke quietly but in a voice that left no room for question.
'Wei Ying touch my forehead ribbon'
"Wei Ying looked baffled but obeyed, reaching out and touching the forehead ribbon of Lan Zhan's forehead. The forehead ribbons where a visual and physical symbol of their love a devotion to each other, if anything was going to get through to his panicked husband it would be this. As soon as Wei Ying's hand touched the blue band both of their eyes opened wide. Wei Ying glanced at him as if seeing him for the first time.
'Lan Zhan…..your here…...its really you?'
The total despair and need for reassurance in the voice of his strong husband made Lan Zhan want to cry himself, but he just smiled and nodded, making sure he didn't break contact with the ribbon. He noticed with pride that Wei Ying's grip was tightening on his own ribbon like a drowning man finally finding the shore.
The spirits Wei Ying saw where slowly disappearing, one at a time. Letting Wei Ying breathe easier. The voices where getting less and less, he felt as if he could sit up on his own but dared not break the contact the two had. Eventually only Wen Qing and his sister remained. He didn't want to look at either but forced his eyes up, still gripping Lan Zhan's forehead ribbon. Wen Qing only waved at him before she too disappeared from view…...YanLi gave him the smile only she was capable of before she faded like the others. Soon after they were left alone in the meadow the meadow itself began to fade.
Lan XiChen had seen both men's fingers begin to twitch, then their mouths move. This was the first movement either had made for days. Wen Ning began hovering but soon moved back as he didn't want to influence the process. Instead he made do with holding up the book for XiChen to read. Lan XiChen summoned up all the cultivation energy he had left and imagined three spikes…..one over each man's chest and the last hovering over their joined hands. He watched carefully for their chests beginning to rise and fall more strongly and then released the spikes over each man's heart. Almost instantly the rise and fall of both chests stopped, and he moved his own hand to release the final spike into the joined palms of the two.
All either himself or Wen Ning could do then was wait. This was the part of the process Wen Qing had been least sure about. They had to stop their hearts using power and then start them again using the spiritual connection they both shared. Both Wanji and Wei Ying would be weak, if the connection wasn't strong enough it might break, and either one or both might die. The two men watching could only hope and believe that the connection that held these two together was as strong as they believed.
After what seemed like too long, Wei Ying's chest began to rise, his breathing steady. Lan XiChen held his breath as he looked over to Wanji. The two where breathing at identical rates, as their eyes fluttered open.
'What happened' Wei Ying asked a little slurred.
'My sister' Wen Ning answered with a large, proud, smile on his face.