So this was what a Lan family gathering was like. Quiet. Too quiet.
Wei Wuxian had never been more grateful for the Gusu's uncompromising rules. Not-talking gave him the opportunity to contemplate his situation.
He shoved a boiled vegetable in his mouth and chewed unhappily. Even someone higher in the pecking order such as Lan Qiren was fed the same bland food as all the other members of the sect. How predictable.
The Twin Jades of Lan sat on either side of him. Lan Xichen to the right, looking serene and appearing to enjoy the meal. To the left sat Lan Wangji, expressionless as usual. After the initial confusion, he had put on his outer robes and permitted his 'nephews' to enter the room. He managed to wave off their concerns by digging into the breakfast they brought to end their oncoming interrogation, but they still occasionally shot him questioning looks.
What could have caused the switch? Was it a soul switch? The body of Lan Qiren clearly had an intact golden core, and there had been theories that souls were connected to cores. By now, if Lan Qiren's mind was indeed in Wei Wuxian's body, then the old man surely knew that Wei Wuxian was golden-coreless. There was nothing to be done about it. Being an honourable Lan, surely he could get a promise out of the old man to not spill his secret. After all, it was dishonourable to speak of another's weaknesses.
In the last few days, he had been working on an assortment of arrays that dealt with long-distance travel. Could the distance factor have somehow shot his mind into this body, and vice versa? But why Lan Qiren, of all people? Maybe the array's spell was directed to the most rigid person in the lands?
Or was there something on Lan Qiren's side that induced the switch? He glanced at the golden ornament that he had cleared from the table. It was a golden tortoise, small enough to fit into the palm of the hand, and had a few carvings on it that could be spells of some sort. He'd have to inspect the ornament more closely once he got the Twin Jades out of his hair.
So what to do? Continue to act like Lan Qiren? That shouldn't be too hard, he just had to act like he didn't know how to have fun and dish out punishments willy-nilly. Actually, that sounded like fun. Imagine, teaching disciples new 'rules' and making ridiculous demands of Lan Wangji! Unfortunately, there was no time for that. If Lan Qiren had indeed taken over his body, then the only things keeping the Wens safe were the defence arrays he had erected, a few corpses, and Wen Ning. He could not imagine Lan Qiren attempting any demonic cultivation, even in the act of self-defence. So he had to return to the Burial Mounds as quickly as possible. What a lost opportunity!
Now, to tell his 'nephews', or not? If he told them, they could help cover for their uncle so he could return to Yiling to figure out how to set things right. They could even tell him where Lan Qiren kept his spiritual sword, because it was nowhere in sight and would have been the ideal mode of travel. Instead, he'd have to make use of the experimental arrays he had back in the Demon Slaughtering Cave. In order to use them, he'd need to leave Cloud Recesses and its protective arrays.
If he was unlucky, they might attempt to detain him, and then retrieve their uncle, thereby successfully capturing the Yiling Patriarch.
Lan Wangji would be stoked.
If he didn't tell them, then he'd have to shake them somehow. Well, that shouldn't be too hard. The Twin Jades of Lan were known for being perfect, obedient disciples. If he told them to take over his duties for the day, then they would not dare to refuse. He hoped Lan Qiren did not have any important plans for the day.
He started shaking his knee nervously, deep in thought. Yes, that seemed like the best idea. He could lord his seniority over his nephews. The idea of the brief power trip brought a smile to his lips, which he hid behind his bowl of rice.
Finishing his rice, he noticed the brothers staring at each other as though they were in some silent communication. Lucky them, they could circumvent the 'no talking while eating' rule, unlike normal folk who needed actual words to communicate.
The brothers seemed to be taking their time with breakfast, evidently savouring the tasteless feast. He briefly wondered if they'd caught onto him and was doing it on purpose, and couldn't help tapping his fingers on his knees. When everyone finally finished eating, the brothers looked toward him expectantly. Did this family of Lan's even have normal morning conversations? What would they talk about? The weather? The newest rules that made it to the Wall of Discipline?
Wei Wuxian sighed, trying and probably failing not to be overdramatic. Closing his eyes and placing his fingers on his temples, he said, "ah, I am feeling unwell after all. Xichen, Wangji, oversee my duties today." There, that was a reasonable order.
Lan Wangji looked like he wanted to say something, but remained silent when Lan Xichen glanced at him.
"I can call the physician..." Lan Xichen began.
"No need," Wei Wuxian interrupted. "Leave me."
Okay, that was rude, even by Wei Wuxian's standards. He just needed them gone so that he could get out of here.
The brothers demonstrated their famed discipline by bowing respectfully and leaving, Lan Wangji instructing a young Lan disciple to take the cutlery.
That was too easy. It made Wei Wuxian nervous.
He turned to the golden tortoise, picking it up and turning it around in his hands. It was felt heavy, like a solid piece of gold. There were carvings on the tortoise shell, and the patterns were unfamiliar to him. He could not feel any energies from the ornament. The book beside it was a manual about regional talismans and arrays. A quick flick of the book did not reveal any drawings that resembled the carvings. He placed both the book and the ornament into a qiankun bag that he found in Lan Qiren's robes.
Listening at the door and making sure no-one was outside, he slipped out of the room. He was very familiar with the layout of the Cloud Recesses thanks to his frequent adventures in his youth.
There were several items he needed to obtain before leaving the Cloud Recesses. His first stop was the training rooms. He was going to be outside for some time and wanted some form of protection. The practice weapons in the training rooms weren't spiritual, but they were better than nothing.
He then stopped by a study to borrow a brush, inkstone, and a large roll of paper. It was for the purpose of putting things right, surely the Gusu Lan cultivators would forgive this. He would return all the materials... one day... well, maybe not the paper, because he would be using them up and couldn't return them, but he'd replace them one day.
There were a few moments where he thought he saw a flash of white out of the corner of his eyes, but with skills honed by years of sneaking around, Wei Wuxian believed he managed to leave Cloud Recesses without anyone noticing. He descended the mountain with a spring to his steps. As he walked through Caiyi town, returning greetings from the civilians, he bemoaned the fact that he didn't have any money to buy some Emperor's Smile. It would have been wonderful to celebrate with the divine wine after this was all over.
Reaching the outskirts of Caiyi Town, and inordinately pleased with himself for his successful escape, he stroked his beard, an action he'd often seen bearded people do, and laughed out loud. He'd never heard his ex-teacher laughing, and hearing the sound of Lan Qiren's voice laughing made him laugh even louder. If only Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang were there, he'd give them a real fright!
Wiping away his tears after calming down, he left the main road, walking through thick forest, and eventually found a space he could experiment with his array. One of his experiments was a teleportation array. Having most of the cultivation world out against the Wens, he thought it would be prudent to have some means that assisted with a quick escape if the need arose.
The issue with his previous work was that he experimented with resentful energy. He hoped he could repeat the results with spiritual energy.
Wei Wuxian took out the writing tools and prepared the ink. He raised a defence array, the same type of defence array that was used at the Burial Mounds. Then, on two separate pieces of paper, he drew two identical arrays with a steady hand, and placed them a few feet apart. One inside the defence array and the other outside.
He placed a twig in the centre of one of the arrays, then concentrated. It had been so long since he'd had access to a golden core and spiritual powers that he couldn't help feeling a happy warmth flooding him. He imbued the array with some spiritual energy. The twig disappeared with a pop, and reappeared on the other piece of paper, slightly scorched. Hmm, if he attempted the teleport now, at best he'd burn off Lan Qiren's beard.
At worst, he'd be burnt to a crisp.
More work was required.
He tweaked the design on the array by removing and rewriting some of the strokes, then tried the experiment again with another twig. Release the spiritual energy! With a pop, the twig disappeared...
... and reappeared nothing more than a torched twig.
Yes, more work was definitely required.
Lan Qiren managed to see his reflection in the cup of water he had with his morning meal, and confirmed that his mind was presently inside the body of Wei Wuxian. What had the troublemaker done this time? He'd seen what was on all those papers in that cave, had the boy set off some array? Was it intentional?
"Xian-gege, aaaaah!" The toddler beside him, who he ascertained was named 'A-Yuan' moved a spoon of soup towards him, expecting him to open his mouth nice and wide. Surely Wei Wuxian didn't intend to do a bodyswap so that he could get up to mischief in the Cloud Recesses while Lan Qiren remained behind to be fed by a toddler? He had to refrain from silencing the child during breakfast. If they found out that he was not their Wei Wuxian, then they might act out towards him in fear.
"A-Yuan, let the young man feed himself." The older man who called himself Uncle Four laughed.
An older woman who Wen Yuan called 'Granny' smiled fondly, "he's just being kind, like we've always taught him to be."
The young girl huffed, " if he had the strength to continue working in his cave, then he has the strength to feed himself."
He had to refrain from silencing everyone during breakfast.
Wen Yuan did as he was told and pulled back his spoon. There seemed to be some discipline ingrained in the boy after all.
"Young Master Wei," another man turned towards him eagerly, "what have you been working on this time? I thought you finished that compass?"
"... It's a secret." There, that sounded like something Wei Wuxian would say. The others around them just chuckled at his response, and they finally descended into the blissful silence of mealtimes, giving him a chance to recollect himself.
So obviously, he was in Wei Wuxian's body. It was potentially a result of one of those arrays he had woken up surrounded by, and would explain the damaged golden core. It would be logical to think that Wei Wuxian now occupied his body back in Cloud Recesses. Was it a deliberate switch? If so, for what purpose?
It could also have been a result of that spiritual object he was inspecting last night. The golden tortoise was brought to his attention yesterday by a civilian who claimed that it was mystical. However, the purpose of the object was a mystery. Its construction implied some spiritual purpose, but he could find no record of a similar object in the library. His academic curiosity had been piqued, and he had planned to investigate in the forbidden section of the library.
He had no golden core, and he assumed that he had no money. He saw no way going back to Cloud Recesses in quick time. Given that Wei Wuxian had the means, then surely he would be making his way here. The people here were under his protection, and he would come back in haste.
Lan Qiren's spiritual sword was being repaired, but given Wei Wuxian's resourcefulness, he should be able to obtain something and make his way here. In any case, riding a sword here would take a full day. If by tomorrow Wei Wuxian had made no appearance, then he'd have to think of a way to communicate with his sect.
After that girl had dragged him to sit down before a spread of cooked vegetables, he had some time to observe his surroundings. He was in an open area with ten low wooden tables surrounded by little stalls. The fifty Wen escapees sat around the tables, emaciated and dressed in rags.
And was that not a revelation. Back when Wei Wuxian was a student, intelligent though he was, he was also a troublemaker who could not be disciplined. Lan Qiren had been concerned when he heard about the demonic cultivation and fierce corpses. Even more worrisome had been the news of Wei Wuxian breaking out the Wen remnants, a group of cultivators imprisoned by Lanling Jin. Although Lan Qiren was averse to hearing gossip and rumour, even the rumour that Wei Wuxian was amassing an army of Wens and corpses made its way to him.
Either Jin Guangshan was delusional, or lying. If that man truly saw dangerous cultivators in the old and infirm, then he was in serious need of help... Lan Qiren could not help momentarily forgetting to 'not speak ill of others' and 'be respectful'.
He would have to punish himself when he returned to Cloud Recesses.
Sitting among these people, seeing the conditions in which they lived, Lan Qiren now understood that Wei Wuxian did what he believed was the right thing to do. Wei Wuxian could have handled the situation better, but Lan Qiren could not fault his actions.
The famed Ghost General, known for his terrifying strength and striking fear in the hearts of cultivators, entered the area with a plate full of radishes. He approached the young girl and meekly said, "A-Jie, I tried to roast the radishes like you wanted." Ah, so the girl must be the renowned doctor Wen Qing, although he should have guessed it as she was the only young female there. Her knowledge and skills were praised by many. He admired that. Too bad she did not respect personal boundaries.
Wen Yuan perked up excitedly at the new dish, and crawled into Lan Qiren's lap, jumping up and down. 'Do not sit with a disgraceful pose...' Lan Qiren could not scold the child without breaking his own rules, so he kept his silence.
The Ghost General divided the roasted radishes among the Wens. Uncle Four took a bite and sighed, "ah, I don't think roasting it helped much with the taste."
The Wens finished their breakfast with some conversation. Despite the living conditions, they tried to keep light conversation going.
Uncle Four turned to him when he finished eating, "Young Master Wei, I was able to get some new seeds yesterday."
It looked like they expected him to say something, so he said, "let's plant them."
Wen Qing gave him a concerned look, "we will plant them. You have been inactive for several days, so look after A-Yuan today."
Look after the bouncing boy in his lap?
"Ah, I'm fine. I can help..." he cut himself off at Wen Qing's fierce look.
"Look after A-Yuan."
"..." he nodded. The boy in his lap turned around and smiled brightly at him.
"Xian-gege, I missed you so much!" Lan Qiren awkwardly patted Wen Yuan's head.
"Wei Wuxian, don't even think about planting A-Yuan in the field this time!"
Huh?