CH 35: Sect rules
Lan XiChen stood facing a group off the men who had infiltrated the Cloud Reccess that day. They were from a mix of small Sects, whose Sect Masters where not impressed by the actions of their subordinates. XiChen had quite enjoyed sending those particular messages, although the responses he received back contained a mixture of apology and total profanity. Some of the Sect Leaders had made their way to the Cloud Reccess to apologise in person, and upon arriving had alternated between grovelling their own innocence and wanting to see their wayward disciples. Most of the Sect Leaders had simply shouted or lectured those present, with the promise of more strict punishments when they returned them home. Considering what had happened that night XiChen was ready to believe the Sect Leaders actually didn't know what was going on in their own Sects, so their offence was once of stupidity rather than attacking his home. Two however had stood out in the severity of their actions, and XiChen wasn't sure if it was honesty at the betrayal they felt or simply because they were trying to get back into the good graces of one of the most powerful Sects around that provoked the actions. One Sect Leader had allowed the Lan's to punish his member's as they saw fit, the other had simply excommunicated all those that had taken part in the Cloud Reccess debacle.
The Cloud Reccess itself was well underway in the process of being fixed and cleaned after that evening. It had been nearly three days ago and even though a few buildings still needed repair, most had been cleaned and any bodies returned to their Sect of origin. Of course XiChen had been very busy the last few days, especially as his brother had been almost glued to his brother in laws side. They had all been quite concerned when Wei Ying collapsed in Lan Zhan's arms that evening, however this concern had been lessened to a great extent when the physician had visited and proclaimed it was simple exhaustion due to using too much power for a prolonged period of time. All Wei Ying needed was rest and he would be back on his feet, creating chaos, in no time at all.
This had eventually meant that Lan Zhan had ended his vigil by his husbands side and come out to help with the fixing and mending of the Cloud Reccess. However this had created another set of problems to fix, which no one could have seen coming. Lan Zhan was so focused on speaking to the Sect Leader that had lead the gang, that he spent most of his days closeted in a small room with the man. No one really knew what was spoken but obviously nothing much was resolved as he went back for the second day. Even when he was walking round the Cloud Reccess normally his normally placid temper was extremely different, short and sharp, making even the most senior disciples remain out of his way unless they something important to discuss.
In fact a small incident on the evening of the second day which reminded XiChen that although his younger brother looked fine externally, he was still very much in the middle of an emotional storm. One of the visiting Sect Leaders had found Lan Zhan walking back to his JingShi at the end of the day and approached to apologise in person. The man had been mortified that such a thing had happened in the courtyard of the great HanGuang Jun's private home. Lan Zhan however had uncharacteristically stared at the man before speaking with a voice almost dripping in acid.
'You apologise for the attack happening in my home, but not for your people trying to kill my husband and son!'
Before the Sect Leader had had time to pick his jaw up off the floor, Lan Zhan had turned away and walked off with his normal unhurried gate. Since that meeting, no one outside of XiChen had bothered trying to speak to him at all. It once again occurred to him that his younger brother must have exerted an almost inhuman amount of self control to get through those young years when Wei Ying had no idea of his feelings, not to mention the years he spent alone pining for his soulmate who he thought was gone forever. Shaking himself out the reverie XiChen refocused on the paperwork he was doing. He normally had a lot of work to do anyway running such a large and powerful Sect, but this last incident had seemed to double that workload.
Wei Ying opened his eyes, the light that met him made him squint and wince at how bright the sun had seemed to become even in his own bedroom. He lifted his head and groaned loudly, his neck ached, his body ached, and he had a bone deep tiredness that seemed to run all the way through to his core. It took him a second to remember what had happened to make him that way but eventually it all came flooding back. He groaned once again, this time more quietly, before noticing the still shape by the door.
'Lan Zhan!' he whispered quietly, to not disturb him if he was meditating or otherwise preoccupied.
The shape turned and Wei Ying rested his head back on the cushion.
'Master your awake!' Wen Ning said, both his voice and face full of joy.
'How long have I been asleep? And where is Lan Zhan?' Wei Ying asked quietly.
Wen Ning didn't physically turn his body away from the door, but kept facing him.
'You have been asleep three days Master. As for Master Lan he left yesterday to help his brother and then again this morning. He has given me instructions to care for and protect you in his absence. And inform him as soon as you wake up.'
Dumbly Wei Ying just nodded and then closed his eyes once again as Wen Ning disappeared out the door. What seemed like seconds later he felt a hand on one of his upper arms and one on his cheek, forcing himself to find the energy to reopen his eyes. His gaze met the most beautiful sight he knew of, the large blue eyes of Lan Zhan which were filled with emotion. The kind of emotion that Lan Zhan only showed in private, between the two of them. Moving his hand Wei Ying rested his own on Lan Zhan's.
'I'm fine Lan Zhan….just a little tired.'
'You could have killed yourself! Do you have any idea what you were like when I got to you? How much power you had been using?'
Lan Zhan's voice sounded half between like he was scolding and holding back tears. Wei Ying smiled and tried to comfort his obviously upset husband, it was extremely rare Lan Zhan was ever in such an emotional state so he must have been scared.
'My Lan Zhan always gets to me in time when I need him. He has never failed me.' He said with a smile.
Lan Zhan didn't return the smile nor loosen his grip. Wei Ying opened his mouth to speak again only to see Lan Zhan shake his head, the look on his face was obvious that he didn't want to continue the conversation.
'You need to rest…' Lan Zhan spoke with authority. 'Roll over.'
Confused Wei Ying rolled over to his side, then felt movement behind him followed with an arm wrapping round his stomach with a gentle firmness. Lan Zhan had climbed on to the bed behind him and wrapped him in his arms as they normally did when sleeping.
'Sleep!' Lan Zhan ordered quietly.
It wasn't long before Wei Ying was once again fast asleep with Lan Zhan softly stroking the tails of his hair ribbon between his fingers, gaining comfort from that simple touch.
Jiang Cheng had received the message from Lan XiChen the day before. His brother had woken up but was still groggy from overusing his powers that evening. For Wei Ying to overuse his powers made Jiang Cheng shiver, the amount of innate cultivation his brother had even without a golden core was more than most people had with one. For him to have worn himself out from its overuse, how much power must he have used that evening? The answer was as astonishing as it was scary. He had come home as soon as he could, so had the leaders of the other Sects, the ones that were not to injured to travel anyway. After all the Lan's had enough going on with working out how the invaders had got through the wards, fixing and cleaning the Cloud ressess and lending medical aid to those who needed it. As for him personally, as worried as he was about his brother, he had already had one taste of a mentally unhinged Lan Zhan and wasn't exactly eager to repeat the experience.
As Sect leader he had work to do back in YunMeng anyway, he couldn't keep chasing his wayward brother around all the time. At the meeting they had decided to make a list of the most in need of healing among each Sect, the ones that couldn't be healed from within the Sect itself. That way both the Lan's and Wei Ying would know how many he still had to heal before this thing had run its course. But one thing Jiang Cheng also wanted to make sure about! There were obviously spies in some of the sects. What had happened that night had not happened in a matter of hours, or even days. It had taken weeks or even months of planning, which meant the meeting had been a great chance to kill them all off at once. Possibly even linked to this whole plague/poison mess. He had to make sure that he found out any spies hiding in both his own YunMeng Jiang Sect and his nephews LanLing Sect and got rid of them as soon as possible. Any spies around either him or Jin Ling would have access to private information that could hurt him, his nephew, the Lan's and his brother.
They had managed to escape again! Well he guessed that's what he got for giving responsibility for the attack on the Cloud Reccess to that idiot of a Sect Leader. Oh the man was easily controlled and loyal enough that he would not give away anything. Not that he knew anything important anything to give away anyway. But the man was soo foolish. Sitting alone in the dim light he breathed out a deep sigh. Those two must have the luck of the gods. No matter what he did he could not kill them, he had even tried wiping out half the cultivators and Sects to get what he wanted but those two just kept ruining everything. They had ALWAYS ruined everything. Slamming his hand down on the desk with an almost bone crunching force he swore internally to himself. He was going to find a way to get rid of those two and pave a way to his return.