Ch 42 – Playing a waiting game
For the next few days all the Lan disciples avoided the central area of the cloud recess, after all the ward that had been put in place was so strange no one really knew what the effects would be if anyone actually tried to approach it. Only Wei Ying and Lan Zhan seemed to feel comfortable walking around the ward, even walking in and out the protected area to collect things if required. Neither of them ever said the ward was safe to approach, but neither did they say it wasn't, so everyone just stayed a safe distance away. Following the formation of the ward both men had disappeared for a few hours, no one had bothered them assuming that such a major usage of power had simply tired the two out and they needed rest. The day after, Lan ZiXchen had instructed the two to create another ward surrounding the outside of cloud recess. The two had disappeared and a small while later a second ward had appeared. Although this was a normal ward it served to tire the two out even more and they retreated back into their home to rest once again.
The relatively normal shield on the outskirts still allowed normal travel to anyone who wore a Lan headband, so life could go on as normal. Well as normal as it could do knowing that war could descend on the Sect at any moment. Lan XiChen and Lan QiRen stayed based in the sect leaders office, issuing orders to various people about how to set up defences; attack positions or even where to hide in the event of necessity. The rest of the children under 6 years old had also been sent away to the various other high Sects. The Lan were taking the threat so seriously that they were even breaking one of their long held rules of keeping men and women living and training separate. Now the women of the Sect where placed in rooms as far away from the men as possible while still remaining in the same sections, providing the least amount to area to be protected and shielded.
Apart from dealing with their own sect the two older Lan's were also dealing with the constant flow of messages from the other Sects. Communication flowed back and forth between all the Sect leaders, making sure that any messages where restricted to their eyes only. The only exception to this rule would have been Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, however the two had hardly emerged from their room while they recovered their strength. The two older Lan's were partially on edge, waiting for the next attack, but also partially pleased that whoever was going to do the attacking was giving them time to prepare and heal. Within a few days the once open and peaceful cloud recess resembled a prison.
While the Lan's had been preparing everyone else had been keeping a look out for the wayward Jin GuanYao. In Yunmeng Jiang Cheng was having problems of his own. He had ordered some men of his own to go out searching for Jin GuanYao, however some of the older members still remembered what had happened when the man was last out of control. This knowledge was causing a divide in the Sect. The elder members where almost obsessed with the idea of destroying Jin GuanYao for good before he could do any more damage, whole the younger members didn't understand the urgency. It didn't help that the LanLing Sect was also having similar problems, along with some if its elder members no longer trusting the loyalty of Jin Ling because of his relationship to the rogue cultivator in the past. In short the unity of the Sects was becoming a problem when he couldn't even keep his own, and his nephews, Sects unified.
He couldn't allow such a thing to continue. If all he had at his disposal was two failing Sects then he could be no help to his brother or the Lan's, and if they failed he had no hesitation in thinking that his own home would become the next target. In the end, having reached his wits end, he called a meeting of the top members of both Sects and stood along side Jin Ling as both men spoke of what had happened that evening in the temple years ago. Jiang Cheng had had to battle with himself about how much to share of the emotional fight he had had with his brother that evening, finding out about the golden core, about all Wei Ying had done to protect him only to receive a literal stab in the back for his efforts. Most people already knew a cliff notes version of what had gone on between the two brothers, but when Jiang Cheng had shared the full version it had earned him more than a few strong glares. It had been time though, it was needed to straighten out the problems and confusions that had been haunting them for some time. The process was actually much simpler than he thought and he almost kicked himself for not doing it sooner, although he had to admit he had had a few problems to deal with lately.
Even without the generational confusions Jiang Cheng still had to deal with the Lan children. SiZhui was taking good care of them but at the end of the day he had promised his brother and brother-in-law that he would take care of his nephew. He hadn't really had much time to spend with his second nephew but he could already see both men's influence on the youth. He also needed to make sure that both Sects he protected where setting wards if required. It was sometimes hard to make decisions for two Sects without seeming to undermine the power of his nephew but the current circumstances meant he didn't really have time to worry about such things. Food and water also where being collected and stored in case of a siege. Clothing and weapons where being fetched and spread amongst the warriors, with new warriors being trained by both himself and his senior commanders everyday. Any news he got about Jin GuanYao he made sure to pass to all the other high sects as the worked hard to find any kind of pattern to the man's madness. Often it would be long past night fall before he found his own bed and fell into a fitful sleep, before waking a few hours later to begin again.
Lan SiZhui was settling into his new quarters at YunMeng quite well. He had been given in a room in the family wing which he was informed has once been his fathers. Upon looking round the room for the first time he had been amazed at the pure homeliness of the room. It was decorated in light colours, no sign of his fathers later obsession with black and red. The bed looked small compared to the large one he was used to seeing both his fathers sharing in the JingShi. But the most surprising things in the room where the pictures and scribbles on both the bed and walls. SiZhui assumed his father had done them as a teenager before everything went downhill. Jiang Cheng, his Uncle Cheng he had to remind himself, had told him the room was kept exactly as Wei Ying had decorated it. No matter how much he had detested his brother in the past he hadn't been able to bring himself to alter his private bedchamber.
So SiZhui stood and looked around at the childish drawings. Most of them were of three children who SiZhui assumed where his father, uncle and their beloved sister. The scenes where happy ones, of the three laughing, playing and running around. Obviously a way of growing up that had had a huge impact on how Wei Ying had raised him. He had found himself smiling gently, until he started unpacking his belongings and noticed the crude carving on the bed frame. Two figures embracing, faces pressed together as if sharing a kiss. He couldn't help but blush at the idea that even before his parents had gotten together they had both had strong feelings for each other, even to the point of drawing on their beds. Part of SiZhui couldn't help but giggle while another part was confused about how a boy his age who drew silly stick figures on his bed had suddenly become public enemy number one back then. It had been explained to him numerous times over the years but yet looking at this room he just didn't see anything dangerous about his baba.
He hadn't known quite how he was going to sleep knowing this was his fathers old room, old home, old bed. Especially considering what had happened to him in this place. Neither of his fathers had hidden the fact that it was his own brother who had stripped Wei Ying of his place in the YunMeng sect before trying to kill him at Nevernight. However both of his fathers had sent him here with instructions to teach the youngsters and keep the Sect going if the worst came to the worst, so thats exactly what he intended to do. Actually it hadn't been as hard as he thought to sleep in the bed, it was soft and warm. He had felt slightly like a child again, back in YiLing, being protected in his fathers arms. Sleep had taken him quite quickly.
SiZhui had gotten used to the daily routine at YunMeng. Jiang Cheng had originally wanted to eat meals with him, in order for the two to get to know each other better and to create some kind of bond. Both his fathers were gradually fixing their relationships with his Uncle, and he himself had created a great relationship with Jin Ling. However the two of them hadn't really had much to do with each other over the years. The idea didn't last long though as both of the men found themselves extremely busy everyday. SiZhui was taking the responsibility given to him by the Sect, by his parents, very seriously. He was making sure the Lan children where following the strict routines of the cloud recess. He was determined that they wouldn't forget were they came from and would stick to the manners, rules and even sleeping arrangements of the Lan.
This was harder than he thought at the beginning as the children where seeing the children from YunMeng playing around and having fun. They where beginning to want to play as well, and if he was honest to himself SiZhui wanted to let them. His own baba had grown up in this atmosphere, with this lack of routine and rules, and his baba was one of the strongest and fiercest men alive. Yet he had given his word to protect his Sect and he would do so. Those children under his care didn't know the real reason why they had been sent away, that they could soon be the last vestiges of their Sect. But he did!
While barley organised chaos reigned among most in the cultivation world Wei Ying and Lan Zhan where spending most of their time alone in their Jingshi, not to refresh their power as people thought and not for intimate reasons as they would have hoped. In fact what they were actually doing was more simple but at the same time a lot more effective. The two where sat at either side of the small table, legs and arms crossed and both Bichen and Chenqing laid on the flat surface. They had been in the same position for they last few hours, almost like statues, not speaking and hardly talking. The wards were around the Jingshi and to anyone looking through the door would have looked they had simply fallen asleep with the almost identical pairs of closed eyes.
What they were really doing however was a potentially game of power balancing. Wei Ying would call Bichen, the two would wait until the sword responded, sometimes even waited until the sword was all the way out of its sheath and on its way to his hand. When his fingers came into contact with Bichen Lan Zhan would call his weapon back with a thought or silent gesture. Slowly Bichen was getting slower and slower at responding to its master as Wei Ying's control over the weapon was growing. The dangerous part of the experiment though was not with Bichen it was with ChenQing. Lan Zhan had already figured out the flute no longer automatically fought back against him when Wei Ying was focused on something else, however the difficulty came when Wei Ying's attention was on the ghost flute.
Unlike Bichen, Chenqing was a weapon that didn't obey a Master that claimed it, it didn't link with an owner that chose it. No! Chenqing chose its own owner, claimed its own owner. Bichen may be a top level spiritual weapon but Chenqing was something no one had ever seen before. The flute had chosen Wei Ying as its Master so getting it to allow Lan Zhan to command it was a process, even with the bond. Currently Chenqing hovered between the two men, Lan Zhan calling the flute while Wei Ying refused to let it move. The first few times they had tried this the flute had not moved, the second few times the flute had hovered before giving out a flash of power aimed at both men. It was obvious that if the flute couldn't tell one man apart from the other it would simply attack them both. Almost imperceptibly the flute edged towards Wei Ying, Lan Zhan no longer able to keep his control of the weapon. The two men gave out a loud sigh in unison as the flute dropped to the table as both released the power at once.
This work was draining their power slowly. They just hoped the edge it would give them on the battlefield would be worth it.