CH 46
If Wei Ying thought moving back to YiLing was going to calm everything down and let the Lan's fall back into their old routine, they were all in for a big surprise. Wei Ying's move out of Gusu had caused a sensation. Though most of the people thought the Lan's where well and good with Wei Ying gone from their home, some secretly where glad that such a dangerous cultivator no longer had the safety of such a strong Sect. Of course there were a few who were simply concerned, YanLi and Jiang Cheng had both tried to gain access to YiLing, however Wei Ying had placed fierce wards around his base and refused to speak to anyone, so both had left empty handed. In Gusu both Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen where struggling to keep Lan Zhan focusing on his work and not allowing him to shut himself in his JingShi with the door closed as he wished.
As was to probably be expected within a few days of the move the focus had moved off of Gusu and onto YiLing. Once Wei Ying had moved out of the cloud reccess, the other Sects assumed the moral cancer was no longer there and simply ignored the Sect. At first a few disciples of the main Sects went over to YiLing, supposedly to speak to Wei Ying, who they had now returned to calling the YiLing Patriarch. As with his siblings, Wei Ying never allowed them past the wards, however unlike his siblings the disciples refused just to go home and placed their own powers against the power of his wards. Unsurprisingly the power of the YiLing Patriarch on his home turf was not to be underestimated and none of them got through, instead having to decide whether to continue fighting the ward or return home.
Two of the disciples decided to team up and try to overwhelm the power of the ward. At first the idea seemed to be working, the ward had begun to glimmer a dark red before but now it seemed to fluctuate between dark and light red, obviously some of its power being drained. Two more of the of the gathered disciples joined in the attack, leaving the final person to keep the lookout just in-case the YiLing Patriarch himself appeared. The fluctuations in the ward seemed to get faster and faster.
'It's breaking, more power' One of those gathered screamed.
'Keep going' Another echoed.
The four men poured all of their cultivation into the ward which seemed to be fluctuating at an amazing speed. However the one man not pouring his cultivation into the one sided battle soon saw something that appeared strange to him. The ward was not weakening, it was changing. As he was about to shout out a warning a horizontal burst of flame erupted from the ward, engulfing the four men in-font of it. The fifth man stood there rooted to the ground for a moment, before turning and running in the opposite direction as fast as he could, the death screams of those who had been there seconds before still ringing in his ears.
Word soon got around that not only was the YiLing patriarch not only recognising his own kin, in the shape of his siblings, nor his spouse and child, but he had fallen back off the proper cultivation path. The fear that has once surrounded his name many years ago was firmly back causing people to whisper the names 'Wei WuXian' and 'YiLing Patriarch' in hushed voices when speaking in public. Despite this many who spoke about what had gone on that day in YiLing, it had become so common thatl half whispers and pieces of conversation could be heard in nearly every place someone walked.
'As soon as he left the Lan's he was doomed…..'
'You know someone is wrong when even someone as proper as HanGuang Jun can't turn him to the correct path…..'
'He should have been killed the first time…'
'Poor HanGuang Jun, now he has to kill his husband for a second time…'
'Burn YiLing to the ground again and this time make sure he's in it….'
Everyone seemed to have an opinion and point of view. Some pitied the Lan's, especially Lan Zhan, for trying to help such a monster, others blamed them for being blind. One thing everyone could agree on was that Wei Ying had turned back to his evil cultivation and needed to be killed, this time in a way that left no avenue for escape. Everyone had been looking to the Jin Sect as the leader of the cultivation Sects, and its current leader Jin Zixuan, for a plan at how to take down the unwanted cultivator once and for all. The few meetings that had taken place, mostly between the five high Sects, and some even not including the Lan's at all, had concluded with mixed results. Some had thought the Lan's should lead an attack on YiLing to make up for their earlier mistake in hiding Wei Ying, others had simply thought that a single error of judgment should not wipe away their record of being the most honourable Sect. Outside of the top Sects though people where starting to get impatient as to what to do, so much so that had even sent another group of disciples to try and attack YiLing. This second group had comprised of much more senior and heavily armed men than the first. They had arrived in YiLing knowing all the information the only survivor of the doomed first mission had been able to provide, and determined this time they could bring the overly proud and confident Wei WuXian to his knees.
This time however none of the group had returned.
When more disciples had been sent to find out what had gone wrong, all they had found were the swords of the other members of their Sects. No physical remains of the people could be found so they had all returned home to their respective Sects with the story of, what was now becoming widely known as, 'the YiLing ward of flames'.
Deep inside YiLing, in front of the mountain that had once been the cave he called home. Wei Ying once again felt the slight tremble pass through him that signalled someone was once again trying to get through his wards. He thought these people were smart, didn't they realise they couldn't get through by now? Why keep sending people to bang their heads against the proverbial wall. In-fact Wei Ying had been extremely proud of this particular piece of craft. It covered his whole camp so no one could enter without alerting him, and if someone didn't take the hint that he wanted to be alone and kept attacking it, well there was a surprise for them. In fact the ward was made to allow entry and access to only two people, himself and Lan Zhan.
Wasn't that the reason he had wanted to be alone the past few months? Wasn't that the reason he hadn't even granted access to his beloved sister? He knew he was making her worry, she was probably beside herself by now with fear over what he might do alone in YiLing with only his memories for company. But in the end he had rattled his brain to think of a way to make the ward accept Lan Zhan, knowing fully well that the man he hoped would come, dreamed and prayed would come, would actually never appear. He had absolutely no interest in speaking to those self righteous idiots that called themselves disciples of 'proper' Sects, he certainly had no interest in letting into his home to speak to him. After all this was the same home that had once been so lively and safe, the first home boys like A-Yuan had known, before those 'proper' Sects had come and destroyed everything.
Instead of wallowing in self pity for the way his life had turned out, or contemplating 'ending it' which would give those Sects far to much pleasure, Wei Ying kept himself both physically and mentally busy all day until he collapsed each night from exhaustion. His days were taken up with either physically moving dirt so he could plant enough crops to feed himself, practising martial arts in the huge empty space, fixing his small shelter or practising with his cultivation method on his flute. Without Lan Zhan there to steady him, either with a physical hand or a tune on the zither, the dizziness and pain from fighting the power raging inside his head could often lead nose bleeds and fainting spells, sometimes for days on end. To him it didn't matter how hard he worked, how tired he became, it was better than the dreams he faced each night if he wasn't tired enough to face the total oblivion.
Dreams of being once again in Lan Zhan's arms haunted him at night, feeling safe and protected, feeling loved and wanted. Dreams of feeling his hands in Lan Zhan's as they walked through Gusu, no longer caring who saw, totally unashamed of their love. Erotic dreams of his hands stroking Lan Zhan's bare skin beneath robes, without robes present, of Lan Zhan touching him with his own hands, his tongue and spending all night filling and pleasuring him until he didn't know whether to beg for more or to stop. He would wake up hard and frustrated, angry at the world and completely furious at the people who had forced him into this particular corner.
While all this was going on there was one person who was secretly happy with the world as it was panning out. Wei Ying had reappeared in the world, as a living and breathing human and not a ghost, which was great as a ghost would be worthless to his purpose. The cultivation world, as expected had gone into a frenzy, like wolves surrounding a deer, when they found out and this had forced fractures to appear in the seemingly perfect marriage. He had to admit though that the relationship between Wei Ying and Lan Zhan had fallen apart faster than he thought but he wasn't going to complain, this gave him clear access to the man he needed. Yes Wei Ying was now hidden back in YiLing, which wasn't exactly an easy place to gain entry to, especially with that new ward he had invented. Still Wei Ying seemed to have no one now, not his siblings, not his husband and not even those worthless Wen that had been hanging around him the last time he was there. Wei Ying was truly on his own this time, and an abandoned Wei Ying that would make him easier to control when the time came.