Something cool brushed Wei Wuxian's forehead. He didn't want to open his eyes. His head still felt like it was going to split open and he feared that the faint red light that he could see through his eyelids would be the final nail in the coffin.
His damp hair was swept back from his face. Was that humming that he heard?
"Lan Zhan?" he mumbled.
"I'm here, Wei Ying," came that calming voice that he loved so much.
His fingers traced along his forehead again and Wei Wuxian reached up to grab them, clamping them down against his skin so that Lan Zhan couldn't lift them away.
"Is everyone else all right?" Wei Wuxian asked.
"Are you?" Lan Zhan replied.
That non-answer put him on edge.
His eyes snapped open and were instantly assaulted by the sunlight that streamed in from a round window opposite where he lay.
"Ah!" he cried, moving Lan Zhan's hand down to cover his eyes.
Shielded from the afternoon sun, his pain abated minutely.
"I'm all right," he groaned. "Tell me what happened to Huaisang and Jiang Cheng."
"They're both well," Lan Zhan said, a slight bitterness in his voice. "Huaisang brought us to you both. Jiang Wanyin had mostly recovered by the time we got there."
"I see."
"What happened?"
Wei Wuxian frowned and peeked at Lan Zhan from under his eyelashes. "Neither of them have told you?" he asked.
Lan Zhan shook his head, irritation evident in the slight flare of his nostrils.
"We asked Jiang Wanyin first," he said. "He refused to say anything more than that you were attacked by some kind of creature. Nie Huaisang followed his lead and wouldn't divulge anything more to us either."
"What?" Wei Wuxian groaned. His head hurt too much for all of this. "Why wouldn't they tell you anything?"
"They wouldn't say."
"But it was so exciting! A huli…"
Jiang Cheng's white skin and rigid posture came to the forefront of his mind then. Wei Wuxian had remembered only that he'd worried about him before losing consciousness. He hadn't remembered why until that moment.
"A huli jing?" Lan Zhan finished for him. "A demon?"
"Yes!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed, sitting upright and regretting it immediately. "Such a rare chance to learn about one," he continued, grabbing Lan Zhan's hand to press it against his forehead again. He tried to maintain his enthusiasm so as not to worry him. "And it promised to return another time!"
"Mn."
Lan Zhan was the only thing Wei Wuxian could see with much clarity aside from the white sheets that covered him and the bedframe that poked out from beneath them.
So, he could clearly see the corner of Lan Zhan's lip twitch when Wei Wuxian returned his hand to his face. Wei Wuxian rewarded his tiny smile with a kiss on his palm.
Lan Zhan was apparently disappointed with this and leaned forward to kiss him properly, which would have been a funny sight to see since he had not removed his hand from Wei Wuxian's forehead to do so.
"The huli jing threatened to come back?" Lan Zhan asked when they'd parted.
"Yes," Wei Wuxian answered. "Seems strange to me, though. I need to ask Jiang Cheng about it."
"Why?" he asked stiffly.
Lan Zhan hated to talk about Jiang Cheng, but in this case, he couldn't avoid it. His annoyance was palpable.
"Because he's met it before."
"What? When?"
"When he followed Jin Ling to Qinghe," Wei Wuxian said. "He doesn't seem to know a lot about it. And the huli jing only said that it continues to enjoy its meetings with him."
Lan Zhan's nostrils flared again. "I don't think Jiang Wanyin will give you the answers you want."
"Possibly…" Wei Wuxian said slowly. "But I have to wonder why."
"Hm."
A single noise that meant 'why bother wondering'.
There was a knock at the door and Lan Xichen called quietly from outside, "I finished mixing what you asked for, Wangji. May I come in?"
Lan Zhan leaned back and told his brother that he could indeed enter.
Lan Xichen came in carrying something. That much Wei Wuxian could tell. But the details were fuzzy. He wasn't sure his head had ever hurt this badly before.
"This should help with the pain," Lan Xichen said sweetly.
Lan Zhan reached over to take the cup from him. Wei Wuxian wrinkled his nose at the pungeant odor that emanated from it. He was not looking forward to drinking that.
"Thank you, Zewu-jun," Wei Wuxian said.
"It was no trouble at all."
Lan Xichen then exchanged farewells with his brother, excusing himself from the room quickly… but not quickly enough.
"Zewu-jun?" Wei Wuxian called to him.
Lan Xichen paused, hand outstretched toward the door. He turned around. "Yes?"
Wei Wuxian sat forward and asked, "Has Jiang Cheng confided anything to you about what happened after the wall separated us?"
He didn't smile in response to the question like Wei Wuxian would have expected. His eyes flicked to his brother as if to ask whether he'd had anything to do with it.
When Lan Zhan turned to look quizzically at Wei Wuxian himself, Lan Xichen finally granted them a polite smile.
"That is a strange question, Wei Wuxian," Lan Xichen said.
"Is that so?"
Something flickered behind Lan Xichen's eyes, but it was there so briefly that Wei Wuxian wasn't quite sure what it was. He suspected, though, that Lan Xichen was putting forth a valiant effort to find a good answer to Wei Wuxian's rather rude question.
"It's strange that you would think Sect Leader Jiang would have confided in me," Lan Xichen said, "and it's equally strange to think I would divulge that information to you if he had."
Wei Wuxian grinned. "You would keep his secrets then?"
Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen furrowed their brows, nearly the mirror image of one another except that Lan Zhan's gaze was sterner.
"I don't understand what you're trying to do here," Lan Xichen said.
"Nothing," Wei Wuxian said. "I only thought that since the two of you had been talking so much, perhaps he'd told you more of what he knows about the creature that attacked us. That's all."
The crease in Lan Zhan's forehead deepened. Lan Xichen's did the opposite.
"I see," Lan Xichen said. "I think perhaps we aren't as close as you think we are."
"What a shame."
The look that Lan Zhan gave him – somewhere between horror and bewilderment – was almost too much. Wei Wuxian had to bite his tongue to hold back the laughter that bubbled up inside him.
"Yes, I suppose it is," Lan Xichen said.
Wei Wuxian's jaw slackened. He quickly caught himself before his mouth could fall open.
He hadn't really thought that Lan Xichen would have any more insight than the rest of them. He'd only wanted to tease him a little bit because, well, raising hell was simply in Wei Wuxian's nature.
He could not have prepared himself for Zewu-jun to basically admit that he did want to be Jiang Cheng's friend.
Lan Zhan whipped his head around to look at Lan Xichen. Wei Wuxian imagined that his expression was much the same as it had been, but he wished he could see it anyway. It was funny to watch Lan Zhan try so hard not to be rude in front of his brother.
"Was there something more that you needed from me?" Lan Xichen asked.
"No, Zewu-jun," Wei Wuxian said brightly. "Thank you again."
"Of course."
With that, Lan Xichen excused himself from the room.
Lan Zhan rounded on Wei Wuxian. But instead of asking him anything, he held out the drink that Lan Xichen had brought.
"Drink," he said.
Wei Wuxian braced himself for the scolding he expected would soon come.
He took the porcelain cup from Lan Zhan, wrinkling his nose again at the smell. The taste, unfortunately, was even worse.
"Ugh do we have something to wash that down?"
"No," Lan Zhan said. "Do you feel any better?"
"How would I feel better alrea-?"
Wei Wuxian cut off as the pulsing waves of pain in his temple began to subside incrementally. His vision was coming into focus and he was able to make out more of the details of the plain inn room that he was in.
"How did Lan Xichen do this?" Wei Wuxian asked incredulously. "I can't think of any herb that works that fast. What else did he use?"
"I'm not sure."
He sounded profoundly sad. Wei Wuxian frowned at him and nudged his hip with his foot.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," Lan Zhan said.
Wei Wuxian nudged him again. Lan Zhan scowled.
"Stop that."
"Only when you tell me why you look like that," Wei Wuxian said.
"I don't look like anything."
"Liar. Your broody face may have fooled me when we were young, but I can read you like a book now! Maybe even better than Zewu-jun can!"
Lan Zhan shook his head and looked out the window. In all likelihood, he was trying to steady himself and keep from becoming noticeably agitated, but he should have known better. Wei Wuxian would continue to bother him.
When he nudged him again, Lan Zhan stood from the bed. That wouldn't stop Wei Wuxian, though. He followed suit.
"Lie down," Lan Zhan ordered, putting his hands on Wei Wuxian's shoulders and trying to steer him back toward the bed. "You need to rest."
"I feel great," Wei Wuxian said honestly.
The pain in his head was pretty much gone. Lan Xichen had some sort of miracle magic up his sleeve, he was convinced.
"Rest anyway," Lan Zhan said. "Just because you feel well doesn't mean that you're healed."
"Don't be ridiculous. You're just trying to get out of telling me what's wrong."
"Nothing is wrong."
"Tell me!"
Lan Zhan started to walk away, but Wei Wuxian reached up and, like he'd done many years ago, he yanked the white headband off of Lan Zhan's head.
Lan Zhan turned around, irritated.
"Can't leave without this, can you?" Wei Wuxian teased.
"Give it back, Wei Ying."
"Nope!"
Instead of asking for it again, Lan Zhan tried to snatch the headband from Wei Wuxian's hands. But he should have known better. Wei Wuxian danced out of the way with ease.
"Going to call me 'pathetic' yet, Hanguang-jun?"
There it was: the tiniest smile. Wei Wuxian had almost missed it.
"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan said, his tone still chastising in nature.
He grabbed at the headband again and again Wei Wuxian moved it away at the last moment. However, it turned out that he hadn't been going for the headband at all.
Lan Zhan flattened his palm against Wei Wuxian's chest and easily knocked him backward. Wei Wuxian landed hard on the bed.
"Hey!" he cried as Lan Zhan bent over him and took the headband from him.
"I said rest," Lan Zhan murmured, sweeping a stray lock of hair from Wei Wuxian's face.
"You could have hurt me, you know," Wei Wuxian said, pouting.
"Did I hurt you?" Lan Zhan asked.
"No."
Lan Zhan smirked. "Why do you sound as if you wish I had?"
"Because then maybe you'd regret pushing me around!"
"Mn."
Lan Zhan continued to lean over him, his long hair tickling Wei Wuxian's neck.
"I want the headband, Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian whined. "Why do you deny me?"
"Mn."
He reached up and grabbed Wei Wuxian's wrists, holding them in one hand while the other wrapped the headband around them.
"That's not what I meant!"
Lan Zhan didn't respond except to tie a neat little knot, securing the band such that it held his arms firmly together but not so tightly as to hurt. Wei Wuxian tried to wiggle out to no avail.
"It's yours now," Lan Zhan murmured.
Wei Wuxian gave him an exasperated look. "This wasn't what I meant," he said. "Will you untie me?"
"No."
Wei Wuxian was getting fed up. He had only wanted to know why Lan Zhan had looked so sorrowful earlier. Was that really too much to ask?
But at the same time, he felt his heartbeat quicken and he found himself hoping that Lan Zhan would lean forward the extra few centimeters to kiss him.
Wei Wuxian was better known for being flirtaceous than angry anyway. Who was he to pretend to be someone other than himself? Especially with someone who was so good-looking and smelled so nice…
"No, no, no," Wei Wuxian grumbled, wiggling more even though he knew it would do no good. "Damn you and your sandalwood fragrance! Tell me why you were upset! I wasn't trying to upset you!"
"Mn. What were you trying to make me feel?"
The bass hum of Lan Zhan's voice resonated deep in Wei Wuxian's bones. He pressed his thigh against Lan Zhan's without any conscious thought and was rewarded with the kiss that he'd wanted.
"I was antagonizing you," Wei Wuxian whispered after they'd pulled apart again. "I like when you get worked up."
"Mn."
Lan Zhan kissed him again, harder this time. He held Wei Wuxian's wrists above his head and trailed his free hand down the side of his face and chest, sending a shiver down his spine.
By the time they separated, Wei Wuxian was panting and finding it very hard to concentrate.
"Uh…"
"Hm?"
"You… uh…"
Lan Zhan's free hand meandered further down his torso. He needed to talk to him quickly, before it was too late.
"Tell me what was wrong," Wei Wuxian finally managed to say.
Lan Zhan's breath was hot on Wei Wuxian's face, his fingertips lightly pressed against his skin a little bit below his navel.
Lan Zhan let out a long disappointed sigh. Wei Wuxian, however, let out a sigh of relief. He would have completely lost his train of thought if that hand had travelled any lower.
Lan Zhan kept his wrists pinned down, but shifted so that he could sit next to him rather than lying on top of him.
"I'm worried about you," Lan Zhan said simply.
He was still staring at him as intensely as he had before, but the look was very different, like a wildfire to a monsoon.
"Why?"
"I'm always worried about you."
Wei Wuxian's chest tightened. Feeling guilty or not, though, he wasn't going to let him off that easily.
"Yes, you're always worried about me," he said, "but you don't always look like that."
Lan Zhan turned away from him and was quiet for a while. Wei Wuxian waited, knowing enough to keep his mouth shut to give Lan Zhan the space to talk when he was ready.
Perhaps, though, it would have been better to have filled that space…
"Why do you still talk about him?" Lan Zhan asked.
Wei Wuxian was perplexed. "Jiang Cheng?"
"Mn."
Wei Wuxian frowned. "He's travelling with us now," he said flatly. "He's helping to track down Xue Yang. It's going to be difficult not to mention him from time to time."
"You asked about him as soon as you woke up," Lan Zhan said. "I'm concerned that…"
He trailed off.
"Concerned about what?" Wei Wuxian asked. This was all feeling very silly. "I believe I spoke your name first and then inquired about the others generally. What is there to be worried about? Are you getting jealous?"
"No," Lan Zhan said firmly. "I don't want you to bring Jiang Wanyin back into your life."
Wei Wuxian opened his mouth to say something before he realized that he had no idea what to say. He sat there staring at Lan Zhan, a strange mixture of confusion and indignation swirling around in his head.
"Have you forgiven him?" Lan Zhan asked.
He hadn't sounded accusatory when he'd said it, but it felt like an accusation anyhow.
"We have to work together," Wei Wuxian said. "That has nothing to do with-"
"But have you forgiven him?"
Wei Wuxian could no longer keep his agitation under control. He felt his brow draw further downward.
"Untie me," he said.
Lan Zhan ignored him.
"Untie me now," he repeated more forcefully.
Lan Zhan then did as he'd ordered. As soon as the headband fell away from his wrists, Wei Wuxian sat up, his back to Lan Zhan.
"You've always hated him," Wei Wuxian said to the wall. "Even when we were still family, you hated him. I think you need to be careful not to let that get in the way of things here."
"He was never your family," Lan Zhan said, his voice too cool and too even to have said something with such weight.
"You don't decide that," Wei Wuxian snapped, not really sure why he was arguing. "I love you, but this is something that you don't understand."
He heard Lan Zhan shift behind him on the bed. "I understand that my brother would never do to me what Jiang Wanyin did to you," Lan Zhan said. "He betrayed you."
Wei Wuxian's jaw was beginning to ache from clenching it so tightly. "I don't think we should talk about this anymore."
"I agree," Lan Zhan said.
When he reached over to take his hand, Wei Wuxian pulled away.
"Wei Ying?"
Wei Wuxian got to his feet and made his way to the door. He heard Lan Zhan follow him.
"I'm going to get something to eat," Wei Wuxian said. "You should stay here for a little while."
"Wei Ying, I-"
"Stay here for a little while."
He let himself out into the hallway and closed the door behind him, half-expecting Lan Zhan to try to open it again. But he didn't.
He closed his eyes and rested his head against the door. Why had he gotten so upset? It wasn't as if he disagreed with what Lan Zhan had said.
He and Jiang Cheng weren't family anymore. To say that they had never been family wasn't necessarily wrong either. They weren't related by blood. Madam Yu had been sure to remind them of that at every opportunity.
Wei Wuxian didn't, however, feel as if there was much to forgive Jiang Cheng for. The things he'd accused him of were things that Wei Wuxian indeed felt responsible for.
Lan Zhan didn't like Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian knew that. Wei Wuxian was no longer close with Jiang Cheng either. So why had all of that bothered him?
He opened his eyes again and looked around at the hallway. From the materials used to build the place, the type of wood and the dye used to color the ragged carpets, it seemed that they'd brought him to an inn somewhere very close to the region of Qishan.
The floorboards creaked under his bare feet as he made his way to a narrow staircase ahead. The muffled sounds of conversation drifted up to him when he reached the top landing. Already, Wei Wuxian was wondering if this establishment would have any good liquor available.
He had just made it downstairs when someone shouting his name caught his attention.
"Did Wei Wuxian put you up to this?!"
He was hesitant to go over there. He knew Jiang Cheng's voice and wasn't sure that he wanted to be around him at that moment (or ever, for that matter).
But when it was Lan Xichen's voice that answered, Wei Wuxian's curiosity got the better of him and he shooed Huaisang away when he approached him so that he could go listen outside of the side room where Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen were speaking.
The door was ajar, so Wei Wuxian had to be careful not to be seen. Thankfully, there was enough noise outside the room that the pair was unlikely to hear him sneaking around.
"No, I assure you he didn't," Lan Xichen answered calmly. "He did seem to think, though, that you would have told me more about the attack than you'd told the others."
Wei Wuxian chanced a peek into the room just in time to see a couple of violet sparks fall from Jiang Cheng's ring.
He smirked to himself and hid behind the wall again.
"Of course he did," Jiang Cheng growled.
"What do you mean?" Lan Xichen asked.
"He thinks he's being funny."
"About what?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Oh come on!" Wei Wuxian hissed under his breath. "Why don't you tell him and see his reaction? It'd be funny! Don't you remember how to be funny?"
A tap on his shoulder almost sent Wei Wuxian flying across the room.
"Why are you eavesdropping?" asked Huaisang, the hint of a smile playing at his lips. "Is it something interesting? Who's in there?"
"Get out of here," Wei Wuxian said, pushing the Nie Sect leader away from him. "Why don't you find another conversation to listen to? This one's mine."
There was an awkward silence between Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng that made Wei Wuxian nervous that they would bring their talk to an end and leave the room to find two idiots arguing outside.
Or perhaps their silence indicated that they'd already heard them.
"I was trying to see if you wanted to have a drink with me," Huaisang said huffily. "For old times' sake."
"No! Yes! Whatever!" Wei Wuxian said, still pushing him away. "Go order something for both of us and I'll be right over!"
"Sure," Huaisang said, sounding a little disappointed.
Wei Wuxian didn't care that he was upset. He was absorbed in the conversation between a person he barely knew and a person he didn't like.
They needed to find Xue Yang quickly so Wei Wuxian would have better entertainment.
Or the boys needed to come back. They'd be fun too…
"Regardless," Lan Xichen said at last, "I did want to ask you more about yesterday… privately."
"Here we are," Jiang Cheng said.
Wei Wuxian caught the defensiveness in his voice. Lan Xichen was unlikely to get him to answer anything.
"I wanted to know what made you so… sick," Lan Xichen said.
Wei Wuxian had to refrain from smacking his own forehead.
What had possessed him to ask that?! Oh, he wasn't going to get anywhere with that!
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jiang Cheng answered crossly.
"You seemed sick, but you recovered abruptly," Lan Xichen said. "I'm wondering if the creature did something to you or-?"
"It didn't do anything," Jiang Cheng said. "It's fine now."
"What happened?" Lan Xichen asked. "I want to be able to help if it happens aga-"
"It's none of your business," Jiang Cheng said. "I don't understand why you're being so… Wei Wuxian did put you up to this, didn't he?!"
"No!" Lan Xichen insisted. "I wanted to repay – where are you going?"
Footsteps thudded across the floor. Wei Wuxian dove behind the nearest table moments before Jiang Cheng threw open the door and stepped out into the main room.
"Hm," he said, crossing his arms and staring around.
Wei Wuxian didn't even dare to breathe as Jiang Cheng's gray eyes scanned the room.
"I know he's out here somewhere," Jiang Cheng said. "When I find him, I'll make him sorry for putting you up to this."
"I swear Wei Wuxian had nothing to do with this," Lan Xichen said. "I apologize for making you uncomfortable. That was never my intention. If you're going to be angry with anyone, it should be me."
Though he was in a more dangerous location now, Wei Wuxian did like the fact that he could see them clearly. Lan Xichen looked more upset than he sounded as he stared at the back of Jiang Cheng's head. And it was interesting to watch how the tension in Jiang Cheng's shoulders eased a little when Lan Xichen had suggested that he was the one he should be angry with.
"In that case-" Jiang Cheng said stiffly, turning around to face Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen reverted to a calm, pleasant façade. "-I ask that you mind your own business a little more and mine a little less."
"I'm sorry."
Once Jiang Cheng had stalked off across the dining room, causing the patrons nearest him to scurry away in fright, Lan Xichen's posture became almost imperceptibly slumped.
"Why is it so hard to believe that I would want to help?" he muttered to himself.
Wei Wuxian had to read his lips to catch most of it, but he was sure of what he'd said.
"Wei Ying?"
Lan Zhan's voice carried across the busy dining room easily even though he hadn't shouted.
"Shit!" Wei Wuxian hissed.
Both Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen straightened when they heard Lan Zhan call his name. Even Huaisang, seated at the bar and previously engaged in conversation with the host, swiveled around to look.
"The worst time!" Wei Wuxian muttered angrily, crawling on his hands and knees under the table to avoid Jiang Cheng's hawk-like gaze. "Why is it always at the worst time?!"
He knocked his head on the underside of the table and froze in place. Surely one of them would have seen that. Oh he was in trouble now!
"Hanguang-jun!" came Huaisang's voice from the other side of the dining area.
Great! Wei Wuxian thought to himself, not daring to move. He'll tell him where I am, thinking he's being helpful. Why did I have to stick my nose where it didn't belong?! Jiang Cheng's not even that interesting!
"Hanguang-jun!" Huaisang called again. "I think I saw him go that way."
Think? He knew where he'd gone? Was he covering for him?
As carefully as he could, Wei Wuxian twisted around to see where Huaisang was pointing. Sure enough, the Nie Sect leader's arm was outstretched and very clearly gesturing in the opposite direction of where Wei Wuxian actually was.
Lan Zhan meandered off that way, his movements as fluid as gliding. Jiang Cheng was still rooted in place but seemingly a little more at ease and hopefully convinced that Wei Wuxian couldn't have been listening to the conversation in the side room. And Lan Xichen…
"Wei Wuxian," came a soft but slightly cross voice from above him.
Wei Wuxian jumped, nearly hitting his head on the underside of the table again. "Oh no," he whispered.
The embroidered hem of Lan Xichen's white robes was so close to him that he could have reached out and grabbed it.
"I presume you were eavesdropping earlier?" Lan Xichen asked.
There was no point lying now.
"I'm sorry, Zewu-jun," Wei Wuxian said quietly to Lan Xichen's feet.
"You haven't aged a day, have you?"
It wasn't criticism. Wei Wuxian could hear the smile in his voice.
"Well, this won't look very good for either of us," he went on, serious again. "There is a discreet exit one table over, to the right of the room where Sect Leader Jiang and I were speaking. I will distract the others while you go."
"Oh? How will you distract them?" Wei Wuxian asked, his interest piqued.
"Don't worry about that. Go when no one is paying attention."
"Fine."
He waited, knuckles white as he gripped the leg of the table. He kept looking back and forth between Lan Xichen, who was making his way toward Huaisang, and the unassuming door that Wei Wuxian had previously thought to be a closet.
What was he going to do? Surely not anything improper like swearing loudly or starting a bar fight.
Wei Wuxian laughed to himself picturing Lan Xichen, the most mild-mannered gentleman, trying to bring himself to insult an innocent patron. Although Zewu-jun would almost certainly win the physical fight, the emotional damage he would sustain from being so rude would ruin him, or so Wei Wuxian imagined.
He watched Lan Xichen bend down to speak into Huaisang's ear just as Jiang Cheng was starting to get fed up.
"You said you saw him head this way, but he's nowhere to be found," Jiang Cheng said loudly enough that Wei Wuxian could hear him. "Where is he, Huaisang?!"
"Well he said he was interested in procuring some of my… art," Huaisang answered, also speaking loudly. "I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"Oh! You brought some with you?" Lan Xichen asked him. "May I see it?"
He started to reach toward the book that Huaisang had on the table in front of him. Knowing Huaisang, his weird emphasis on the word 'art' meant that this book was undoubtedly erotic in nature… and Lan Xichen was going to look at it!
A huge grin spread across Wei Wuxian's face as he watched. Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan, however, both leapt forward to stop Lan Xichen from touching the forbidden tome.
Wait. Was this the distraction?
Jiang Cheng was yelling at Huaisang while Lan Zhan was busy searching the floor around him for any more scandalous materials.
Even if it wasn't meant to be the distraction, no one was paying attention to him. Now was as good a time as any.
Staying low to the ground, Wei Wuxian bolted out from under the table, threw open the lock on the side door, and slipped outside into the sun.
Alone and safe, he burst into laughter.
That had to have been the distraction! Which meant that Lan Xichen had asked Huaisang to offer erotic art to him… which meant that he was fully aware of the type of art that Huaisang often carried with him… which also meant that Lan Zhan was unaware that Lan Xichen knew about it…
Had Lan Xichen actually procured Huaisang's work on his own in the past? There was no way that was permitted in the Cloud Recesses!
Maybe he'd been wrong to think Lan Xichen was boring.
And thinking of people who weren't boring made him wonder again how Sizhui and the others were faring in Lanling. Sometime today they planned on checking in on them.
Jiang Cheng had wanted to do it first thing in the morning, but Lan Xichen had talked him out of it, suggesting evening instead as they were less likely to interrupt them. Wei Wuxian suspected Lan Xichen was really just trying to give Jin Ling a chance to prove himself, but he never voiced his suspicion to anyone.
Through the open window of the inn, Wei Wuxian saw Jiang Cheng heading toward the exit. He glanced around to make sure there were enough other people milling around on the street to deter Jiang Cheng from making a scene.
Satisfied that there were, Wei Wuxian braced himself for whatever may come.
Jiang Cheng stalked over to him, coming to a halt just outside of punching distance but still within stabbing distance.
"What are you-?" he began with a snarl. But something in him quieted a little as they regarded one another. He continued in a tone that was still heated, but significantly milder than before. "Everyone is looking for you inside."
"Goodness, really?!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed. "I just came out to get some air!"
Jiang Cheng pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew he was lying.
"Why are you hiding from Lan Wangji?" he asked.
"Who says I'm hiding from him?"
Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes. "Fine then," he said flatly. "Don't tell me. But I do expect you to confess whatever it was that you said to Lan Xichen."
Wei Wuxian put his hands on his hips. This was undoubtedly what he'd come to talk to him about.
"Confess? Careful there, Sect Leader. You'll need evidence to convict me."
"Stop playing games. I know you spoke with him today."
"Not even going to ask how I'm doing after you hit me?" Wei Wuxian asked flippantly.
Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue and folded his arms. "You're obviously fine," he said. "Stop avoiding the question."
Wei Wuxian was toeing a dangerous line and he knew it. From Jiang Cheng's neutral response at the mention that he'd been partially responsible for Wei Wuxian's injuries yesterday, it was likely the only reason he was speaking with him civilly at all was because he harbored some amount of remorse for his actions, which was odd to say the least.
However, that remorse wouldn't protect Wei Wuxian forever, especially since it didn't change the fact that Jiang Cheng still hated his guts. If he pushed him too much, he would destroy that tiny buffer of protection that he currently had.
"I asked him if you'd told him anything more about the huli jing," Wei Wuxian said. "You've run into it before, haven't you?"
Jiang Cheng's face hardened, but he surprisingly didn't fly into a rage.
"You didn't encourage him to do anything?" he asked. His gray eyes were focused and unyielding. He was searching for even the faintest hint of a lie.
"I didn't," Wei Wuxian said honestly. "Did he do something?" he asked, less honestly.
Jiang Cheng continued to stare him down. Wei Wuxian kept as calm as he could, but the scrutiny was getting to him.
He took the only recourse he had left to him.
"Perhaps you should be the one hiding from Lan Zhan," he said, flicking his hair over his shoulder. "I don't think he'd take kindly to you looking at me like this."
"Ergh," Jiang Cheng said, wrinkling his nose and finally looking away. "Disgusting."
Wei Wuxian feigned shock. "You mean to say I'm not your type?! Why did you fight so hard for me on Dafan Mountain?"
Jiang Cheng clenched his fist. Wei Wuxian took a half step back.
"I'm going back inside," Jiang Cheng huffed. "Do whatever you want out here."
When his back was to him and the immediate threat of being punched was relieved, Wei Wuxian was possessed by the incessant need to annoy Jiang Cheng once more.
"What about Lan Xichen?" he called after him in a sing-song voice.
Jiang Cheng halted and looked back. "What?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused.
Your type. What about Lan Xichen? Wei Wuxian wanted to say. But now that he was looking at him again and there wasn't yet a safe distance between them, he didn't feel that he could get away.
So instead he said, "Come back. I have questions for you."
Jiang Cheng's eyes were narrowed, but against all odds, he did turn around and walk back to him.
Wei Wuxian's palms were sweaty. Was there a chance he could get answers from him today? If so, he needed to be very careful. This might be his one opportunity. Come tomorrow, Jiang Cheng wouldn't still feel guilty for hitting him.
"What?" Jiang Cheng demanded, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.
"Would you tell me what happened before?" Wei Wuxian asked.
The air was suddenly charged with electricity. The hairs on the back of Wei Wuxian's arms stood on end.
"What do you mean?" Jiang Cheng growled.
"You've met the demon before," Wei Wuxian said. "I need to know what you know. We all need to know what you know."
"Seems like you have everything you need. You already know it's a demon. What more could you learn from me?"
He started to turn around again. Wei Wuxian reached out to stop him, but remembered what had happened last time he'd grabbed Jiang Cheng, and paused with his fingertips hovering over his shoulder.
He did still succeed in stopping him from leaving.
"Whatever specifics of what happened," Wei Wuxian said slowly, thinking hard about each word before he said it, "that's not what I need. I only need to know how you got away the first time. Does it have any weaknesses? Why do you think it is that you've run into it twice?"
"If you already know what it is, wouldn't you know its weaknesses?" Jiang Cheng asked. His voice was less harsh than before. "Besides, I already told you."
"Hm," Wei Wuxian said, hand on his chin. A new idea had popped into his mind. "How about an exchange? I'll tell you things and you tell me things."
"I'm not playing games with you."
"Not a game," Wei Wuxian said with a smirk. "Think of it as a challenge."
"How so?"
Oh he had him now. Jiang Cheng couldn't back out of a challenge, no matter what it was.
"Well," Wei Wuxian continued, "one of us knows more than the other one about the demon. Let's play and see who's more knowledgeable."
Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes again, but it was a front and they both knew it. He was going to agree. Such was his nature.
"Let's go then," he said. "You first."
"I've already gone," Wei Wuxian said with a grin. "I told you it's a demon. Your turn!"
Jiang Cheng scowled, but the spark of engagement in his eyes was burning brighter than ever.
"It doesn't care about spiritual swords," he said. "Which is what I told you before."
"I remember that," Wei Wuxian said, "but I didn't understand what you meant."
"I don't think they affect it, or maybe it's more confident it can dodge them, I don't know."
"Interesting!"
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, though he stood up a little straighter with the praise. Some things about him would never change.
"They're usually very docile creatures," Wei Wuxian said.
Jiang Cheng furrowed his brow. "All evidence I have says otherwise."
"I know," Wei Wuxian said. "That's why this was strange to me. I've seen these creatures twice before and they always avoid human interaction."
"If you say so."
"I think that counts as two facts from me," Wei Wuxian said. "Docile and avoidant. Let's have two from you… if you have two to offer."
"Don't think you'll win so easily," Jiang Cheng replied testily. "The demon is afraid of high class spiritual weapons like Zidian, like I also told you before. And…" he thought for a moment, "it seems to be able to maintain illusions in more than one place at one time."
"So it could make, for example, one Jin Ling and then another one right next to him?"
"Maybe," Jiang Cheng said. "All I know is that it was pretending to be one thing in front of me while influencing Fairy elsewhere."
Wei Wuxian cocked his head to one side. "How do you know it doesn't have an accomplice?"
Jiang Cheng furrowed his brow in deep concentration. "There was something that made me sure of it…" he said quietly, seemingly more to himself than to Wei Wuxian. Then he snapped his fingers, "The flags! It made fake flags appear in the trees. And Fairy didn't find any other creature. If each creature could make only one illusion, there would have needed to be a ton of demons out there."
"What flags?"
"You said you didn't need details."
"Hm."
He must have sounded unconvinced because Jiang Cheng wasted no time snapping at him. "Don't act as if mine don't count! I accepted yours!"
"All right, all right!" Wei Wuxian said.
When he noticed that he'd shrunk away from Jiang Cheng on instinct, he cleared his throat and drew himself back up to full height.
"Your turn," Jiang Cheng said, appearing not to notice, "… if you have anything left."
Wei Wuxian smiled. He knew Jiang Cheng had to be running out of answers for him by now. They would either tie or Wei Wuxian was going to win.
"The specific demon we're dealing with is called a huli jing."
A look of recognition flashed across Jiang Cheng's face. They'd learned about the huli jing in passing during their time in the Cloud Recesses, but demons had never been a subject they'd focused much time on. It wasn't considered pertinent information.
A scowl then replaced his recognition, and Jiang Cheng started to tap his foot again.
"No, you said only that it was a demon before," he said hotly. "You can't use both 'demon' and 'huli jing' as two separate facts!"
"Why not?"
"Because that's ridiculous!"
Wei Wuxian laughed. "You only say that because you have nothing else to say. Admit that I know more than you do."
Jiang Cheng's face turned very red. "If you're going to play like that, then I'll say that the huli jing and all other demons are created via ritual."
Wei Wuxian laughed again. "Obviously you can't give me information that I already know!"
"Why not?! You said 'demon' and then you said 'huli jing' as if they aren't the same thing!"
"Did you know the specific type of demon before I told you?"
Jiang Cheng said nothing, but his eyes flicked away briefly.
"Exactly," Wei Wuxian said. "Now produce one more fact to tie with me or produce two to win."
"You have nothing else?"
Wei Wuxian spread his arms out wide in defeat. "What can I say? Even I can't know everything. But I do know more than you."
Rather than start screaming at him, the corners of Jiang Cheng's lips turned upward in a dark unpleasant grin.
"It can strike without moving," he said, holding up one finger as if he needed to keep count.
"It moves very quickly," Wei Wuxian said. "How do you know it didn't move when it hit you?"
"All right, it moves faster than I can see, then."
Wei Wuxian squinted at him. Jiang Cheng glared back.
"Fine," Wei Wuxian said. "I know I said I wouldn't ask for unnecessary details, but I take it that you didn't look away from it? Even for a moment?"
"Not a single moment."
"Fine. Have you got another?"
Jiang Cheng's smirk slipped by a degree. It was weird. Wei Wuxian was fairly certain that he did indeed have another fact that could win the competition for him. There was no reason he would have been so ecstatic to tie with him.
There had to be some other reason why he seemed less than thrilled now.
"It…knows things," Jiang Cheng said, his voice very quiet. "It knows things about me that it shouldn't – no – that it couldn't know."
"But how do you-?"
"You said that you couldn't ask details," Jiang Cheng said firmly.
"Yes, but there are lots of things that are generally known," Wei Wuxian said. "The huli jing would only have to hang around a town for so long to know that you're the leader of the Jiang Sect or that Jin Ling is your nephew. If it dug around enough, it could learn about the Sunshot Campaign and what Wen Chao looked like in order to take his form. What makes you so sure?"
"It knows about things that no one else knows."
Wei Wuxian still wasn't really convinced. After all, what was ever really a secret?
"If there's anyone else who knows… whatever this is," Wei Wuxian said, careful not to sound like he was prying, "then we can't be sure that the huli jing didn't just learn it from them."
"No one else knows," Jiang Cheng stated again, more forcefully. "Not a single other living soul."
There was no quick downward glance or flick of the eyebrow that often gave away Jiang Cheng's lies. There was a touch of a challenge in his gaze but not a lie.
Besides, he was, in general, an honest person. And he was adamant that no one else knew whatever it was that the huli jing had shared with him…
…which naturally made Wei Wuxian curious.
What could be so bad, so secret, that no one except he knew of it? Everyone knew that Jiang Cheng had led the first siege of the Burial Mound and everyone knew that he'd tortured demonic cultivators in Lotus Pier. What could be worse than those things?
Wei Wuxian wanted so badly to ask what it was, but he knew it would be pointless. He didn't know how old this secret was, but if he hadn't been privy to it in their youth, he certainly wasn't going to be now.
"If anyone else ever knew about it, they could have passed this information along, though, even if they're gone now," Wei Wuxian insisted, hoping that somehow this would get Jiang Cheng to give him some sort of hint.
Jiang Cheng shook his head, looking aggravated. "No," he said. "If they'd told anyone else, everyone would know."
Now Wei Wuxian was dying to know.
"Seems like I win?" Jiang Cheng said. He then narrowed his eyes at him, "Unless you can prove that you know what I'm talking about. Then there would be another living soul who knows, right?"
He'd sounded so accusatory with his question that Wei Wuxian actually physically balked a little. "How can I prove that I know what you're talking about?"
Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue and continued to glare at him.
"What?!" Wei Wuxian cried, bewildered.
The intensity of his glare diminished by a few degrees.
"So I win?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"Seems that way," Wei Wuxian said, feigning a little extra disappointment. It couldn't hurt to try to put himself further into Jiang Cheng's good graces.
"Admit it then," Jiang Cheng said.
"Admit what?"
"Admit that I know more about the huli jing than you do."
As annoying as ever. Jiang Cheng stood in front of him expectantly. If Wei Wuxian made him wait much longer, he'd probably start tapping his foot again.
"You," Wei Wuxian paused. It was going to be harder to say this than he thought. After all, he hadn't intended to lose. "You know more about this particular huli jing than I do," he finally managed to choke out.
"Good enough," Jiang Cheng said with a satisfied smirk.
Without another word, he turned on his heel and headed back toward the inn like he'd said he was going to do. Wei Wuxian watched him go, feeling a little disappointed but also not sure what else he'd expected.
He should have counted himself fortunate to have gathered even that much information from Jiang Cheng. He had, after all, received enough information to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. He now had a very good idea as to why this huli jing was different from the others he'd seen.
But still… he really wanted to know that secret.
"Where is Jiang Cheng?" Wei Wuxian asked.
The rest of the group – Lan Zhan, Lan Xichen, and Huaisang – were all gathered out on the edge of the forest with Wei Wuxian. At first, it had just been Wei Wuxian out there alone, lost in thought. But as time had gone on, more and more of their group had come to join him until only one was missing.
"He mentioned something about the shop next door," Huaisang said. "He wanted to find books on demons, I think? I could have misheard him."
Wei Wuxian smirked. Was Jiang Cheng going to read up on the huli jing and then challenge him to another match?
It was unlikely that he'd find much, if anything. This was a small town with small buildings and a limited variety of wares. He would have had better luck in the library pavilion of the Cloud Recesses.
"What did you need him for?" Lan Zhan asked.
Wei Wuxian bristled a little at the question. He and Lan Zhan had not fully settled things between the two of them. The inquiry felt more judgmental than perhaps it really was.
Lan Zhan seemed to notice this and added, "Were you wanting to leave soon? I can start preparing us for departure."
Wei Wuxian shook his head. "No," he said. "I have a theory that I wanted to run by all of you."
Everyone perked up at this.
"Did Sect Leader Jiang tell you what you had wanted to know?" Lan Xichen asked, incredulity in his voice.
Wei Wuxian was getting tired of answering this same question. Already Lan Zhan and Huaisang had asked him this. Since Lan Xichen was the latest to join their little party, he hadn't yet.
This was one of the reasons why Wei Wuxian didn't want to share his theory until they were all present. In addition to the fact that Jiang Cheng would be beside himself with rage if he was the last to know what Wei Wuxian had concocted, with the information that he had helped to provide, no less!
It would be a disaster.
"Jiang Cheng told me what I needed to know," Wei Wuxian said. "He didn't offer any more than that."
"So tell us what you know!" Huaisang whined. "Jiang Cheng doesn't need to be here for you to catch us up on things!"
"He does," Wei Wuxian insisted. "He walked away before I'd organized my thoughts. He doesn't know what I've come up with either."
Huaisang let out a long groan the way he used to when Wei Wuxian wouldn't tell him whatever gossip he'd heard in the Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian had spent so much time kicked out of Lan Qiren's classroom that he often came back to Huaisang and Jiang Cheng with other interesting things he'd learned while goofing off outside.
"I can…" Lan Zhan trailed off momentarily, "…bring Jiang Wanyin here, if you would like?"
Lan Zhan sure was serious about trying to make up for the fight they'd had that morning!
"No," Wei Wuxian said. "He'll rejoin us when he's ready. And besides, maybe he'll find something that will make me rethink my theory."
Lan Zhan looked skeptical but softened instantly when Wei Wuxian wrapped both of his arms around one of his.
"Well I'm going to get him," Huaisang said, rising from the large stone on which he'd been seated and snapping open his fan to cool himself. "I can't wait forever for this reveal."
Wei Wuxian smirked. "You only want to investigate that painter's works, don't you? The one across the street?"
"Mind your business, Wei Wuxian."
Huaisang brushed off his fancy clothing and wandered away from them at a leisurely pace.
Crack!
A concussive force split the air right in front of Wei Wuxian. The portal's appearance was so sudden and so close that Wei Wuxian nearly dropped dead from fright.
"Oh no!"
This was the only other sound he heard before Sizhui, Jin Ling, and Jingyi walked straight into him.
The four of them toppled over and Wei Wuxian was lost under a sea of yellow and white, but not before he'd seen Lan Zhan's face light up.
"Careful, A-Yuan," he heard him say, apparently trying not to show how excited he was to see him again.
"You too, Jingyi," Lan Xichen said, his voice closer than expected.
Two weights were lifted from Wei Wuxian's chest as Lan Zhan helped Sizhui up and Lan Xichen did the same for Jingyi.
This time when presented the opportunity to embrace Lan Zhan, Sizhui didn't hesitate. He threw his arms around his middle and hugged him so tightly that Wei Wuxian worried he would tire himself out (Lan Zhan was too durable to be taken out by simple arm strength).
He could see the worry that flashed behind Lan Zhan's amber eyes. He, too, wondered why Sizhui had been so desperate to hug him.
However, Lan Zhan said nothing. He simply held his son close and murmured something to him that Wei Wuxian couldn't quite hear.
"Why did you have us drop right on top of him?!" Jin Ling yelled in Sizhui's direction as he scrambled off of Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian got to his feet, shaking dirt out of his hair.
Sizhui didn't answer him. He kept his face buried in the front of Lan Zhan's robes.
Was he… crying?
His shoulders weren't moving like that and Wei Wuxian couldn't hear any sniffling, but he couldn't be sure. Lan Zhan continued to hold him stoically.
He then noticed that both Jingyi and Jin Ling were watching them like Wei Wuxian was. He expected one of them to crack a joke and make fun of Sizhui for being a sissy or something in that vein, but they never did. They just stood there, looking awkward and perhaps a bit forlorn.
"Jingyi?" Lan Xichen said softly, placing a hand on Jingyi's shoulder. "Are you-?"
He didn't get the chance to finish his question. Jingyi whipped around and hugged Lan Xichen nearly as tightly as A-Yuan had done with Lan Zhan.
Wei Wuxian furrowed his brow in consternation. What had happened in Jinlintai?
When Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen had returned, they'd broadly said that everything was fine. Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen had spoken privately later. Lan Zhan had told Wei Wuxian that there was a close call in the foyer, but that everyone recovered from their injuries without issue.
The way the boys were acting made it seem like their mission had failed. That couldn't be the case, though, could it? He was so sure it would have been an easy victory – that it was just a decoy to buy Xue Yang more time.
No, they definitely would have used the portals to get their help if they needed it. Or Huaisang would have updated them with information from his spies.
Jin Ling continued to stand in the same place he had been, now looking even more awkward.
Then it occurred to him: Jiang Cheng wasn't there.
"Psst, Jin Ling," Wei Wuxian called to him with what he hoped was an encouraging smile.
Jin Ling glanced back at him. "What?"
Wei Wuxian beckoned him closer. When he took a few tentative steps, Wei Wuxian held his arms out for him.
"No!" Jin Ling exclaimed, backing up quickly. "I don't need that. I'm not hugging you."
Wei Wuxian tilted his head. Jin Ling had the same melancholic air about him as his friends did. Did he really not want the same attention? Or did he just not want it from Wei Wuxian?
"Maybe I need you to hug me," Wei Wuxian tried.
Jin Ling rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, the spitting image of his uncle.
"Hey!" Wei Wuxian cried. "Respect your elders, young man!"
Jin Ling rolled his eyes again. "Ask Sizhui," he said sullenly. "I'm sure he'd humor you."
"I didn't offer as a joke…" Wei Wuxian mumbled as Jin Ling turned his back on him.
Just then, a new idea occurred to him.
"Hey, Jin Ling," Wei Wuxian called to him again.
Jin Ling reluctantly spun to face him.
Since Lan Zhan was no longer holding Sizhui, Wei Wuxian was free to stick his arms up his sleeves to pull out paper, a brush, and ink. He smacked them down on the ground and grinned up at Jin Ling, praying desperately that he could make it work this time.
"This again?" Jin Ling said skeptically. "You're embarrassing yourself."
"Not this time," Wei Wuxian replied.
They didn't have to be family. Wei Wuxian cared about him and Lan Zhan had convinced him that Jin Ling felt similarly. He wouldn't have been so upset if he didn't.
They cared about each other. That was enough.
He traced a circle. Then another one. He connected them with meandering lines and swirls. And then…
Crack!
"OKAY, OKAY! STOP IT, WEI WUXIAN!" Jin Ling screamed as two gates opened right next to one another.
Wei Wuxian cackled and released the link. As the portals closed with a quiet whoosh, he was surprised to see that no one looked particularly vexed by his antics.
There was only one person, though, whose opinion he cared about at that moment.
Jin Ling had crossed his arms yet again, but the upward curl of his lips was unmistakable.
Wei Wuxian smiled at him. Jin Ling turned away again.
Wen Ning greeted them all briefly and assured them that everything had gone well in Lanling. For now, it seemed the unrest was under control.
Jingyi spoke animatedly to Lan Xichen, who listened with rapt attention and a warm expression. Wei Wuxian had never known that Lan Xichen was close with any of his juniors, but seeing the pair talk like that, it seemed so natural.
"Ahem."
The sound of a new voice startled Wei Wuxian, and he spun around to see Huaisang standing meekly beside two beautiful women.
One had her hair drawn back in an elaborate set of loops that were held precisely in place by glossy hair pins. She wore a stylized rosy hanfu with a hem that flirted with her ankles and less billowy sleeves than were typical for the dress. More practical for travel perhaps.
Beside her stood a woman in simpler clothing, not too different from the robes Wei Wuxian himself wore. Her hair was pulled back in a neat bun with none of the additional flair or intricacies of her partner's.
This woman was the one that Wei Wuxian knew.
"Mianmian!" he cried. He bowed deeply to her and then asked, "How did you get here?!"
"Why does everyone call her that?" came Jin Ling's voice from behind him. "Her name is Luo Qingyang."
"Not necessarily his fault," Luo Qingyang said, her tone cross but her eyes bright. "If I recall, I never told him my real name."
"Ah! So you know it's me!" Wei Wuxian said. He did a quick spin and asked, "What do you think of my new form?"
She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. Her gaze slid down the length of his body and then back up before she flashed him a lopsided smile.
"You're smaller than I recall," she said.
"Hey!" he shouted. Behind him, he heard Jin Ling and Jingyi burst out laughing. "I'm younger too! Why does everyone point out my size rather than my eternal youth?!"
Luo Qingyang's smile evaporated. The woman beside her dropped her gaze to the ground.
"Not younger," Luo Qingyang said quietly. "The Wei Wuxian I last saw was just about as old as you seem to be now. I think you've just picked up where you left off."
Wei Wuxian chuckled nervously. He hadn't meant to make everything so serious all of a sudden. Neither Huaisang nor the mystery woman would look at him.
He turned his attention to the new woman, hoping to change the subject.
"Who's your friend?" he asked.
Luo Qingyang and the mystery woman snorted. He'd sought to change the atmosphere and change it he had.
"What's so funny?" Wei Wuxian asked them, but the two merely shook their heads, unwilling to dignify his question with an answer.
Jin Ling stepped up beside him, arms crossed and a look of utter exasperation on his face. "She's her wife," he explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"How was I supposed to-?!" Wei Wuxian started to yell. Then the words that Jin Ling had uttered finally sank in. He turned to them in excitement, "Wait, really?"
Luo Qingyang nodded, looking a little exasperated. Her wife giggled quietly as she clung to her arm.
A grin spread across his face. Wei Wuxian bowed deeply to both of them.
"It's a pleasure to see you again Luo Qingyang and a pleasure to meet you… uh…" he straightened, "…may I have your name?" he asked. "I'd rather not use whatever nickname Luo Qingyang might have thought up for you."
The woman beamed at him and intertwined her fingers with Luo Qingyang's.
"My name is Yu Qingqi," she said.
Wei Wuxian frowned. "Yu?" he repeated. "Like the Yu Clan of Meishan?"
"The very same," Yu Qingqi said. "I'm a very distant relation of Yu Ziyuan's. I didn't know her well."
Wei Wuxian listened to her talk while he scrutinized her face.
Her features were so soft and kind that he could draw almost no parallels between her appearance and Madam Yu's. Her eyes had perhaps a slight gray tint, but other than that, there was nothing.
He supposed that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
They spent almost half an incense time introducing everyone to one another. They learned – or rather, Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian learned – that Luo Qingyang had been in charge in Jinlintai whilst Jin Ling was away. They also learned that Luo Qingyang and Yu Qingqi had a daughter together whom they had named Mianmian, which was very funny to Wei Wuxian and not so amusing to everyone else. Jin Ling smacked him for laughing.
It was a surprisingly long conversation to impart basic information. Wei Wuxian found that he very much liked Yu Qingqi and that Luo Qingyang hadn't changed much since he'd met her. He, of course, still liked her too.
He was relieved to learn that Jin Ling had left Fairy in Jinlintai for the dog's safety. When he tried to feign remorse for Jin Ling's sake, however, Jin Ling hit him again and told him to stop mocking him.
"I wasn't mocking you!" Wei Wuxian said, covertly signaling Lan Zhan to take no retribution against Jin Ling for his rudeness. "I was empathizing!"
"You hate my dog," Jin Ling said.
"I don't hate it. I just don't want it near me."
Luo Qingyang leaned forward in the grass. "You don't like dogs?"
"How did things go in Lanling?" Wei Wuxian asked the juniors, pretending like he hadn't heard Luo Qingyang's question.
"Fine," Jin Ling said, looking distinctly not-fine as he did. "We have news about Xue Yang that we-"
"No, no, no!" Wei Wuxian interrupted, waving his arms frantically. "You are not going to beat me to the reveal!"
Jin Ling, Jingyi, and Sizhui exchanged looks.
"Have you already found him or something?" Sizhui asked.
"Sort of. Not exactly. Did you?" Wei Wuxian asked incredulously.
"Well, no, but we-"
"Ah, ah, none of that!" Wei Wuxian interrupted again.
"Why don't you tell us then if you're so eager to share?" Jin Ling suggested.
He hadn't rolled his eyes this time but he sounded like he had. This boy was getting on his nerves already, and he'd essentially only been back long enough to say hello.
"Wei Wuxian would like everyone to be present before we discuss this topic," Lan Xichen said lightly.
"In that case," Huaisang spoke up, getting to his feet again, "I'll be off to collect Jiang Cheng."
"Don't dawdle by the art vendor!" Wei Wuxian called after him.
Huaisang made some sort of gesture at him as he walked away. Wei Wuxian couldn't quite make it out, but he was sure it was something rude.
He chuckled. Beside him, Lan Zhan scowled.
"What's he doing anyway?" Jin Ling asked Wei Wuxian. "Everyone else is here."
"Oh you know your uncle," Wei Wuxian said airily. "He's probably trying to show me up."
Jin Ling scoffed. "Why you? Why wouldn't he try for someone better than you… like Zewu-jun?"
Lan Xichen, who had been quietly cleaning Liebing, suddenly stopped.
He gave his typical good-natured smile and said, "I'm no better than anyone else here."
Luo Qingyang raised an eyebrow. Wen Ning tilted his head to one side. Even Lan Zhan reacted a little, closing his eyes to withdraw into himself.
It seemed everyone in their group had the same opinion of Lan Xichen: he was one of the best cultivators among them.
Wei Wuxian didn't know if Lan Xichen disagreed with that or if he was simply being modest.
"It's all right to let Jin Ling know that you're better than him," Wei Wuxian said, garnering a dirty look from him. "He has to learn sometime. I can start us off. Jin Ling," he turned to look Jin Ling dead in the eye while keeping a straight face, "I'm better than you."
Jin Ling's skin turned bright red and Jingyi howled with laughter.
"I'm better than you too, Jingyi," Wei Wuxian added, hoping it would settle him down a little and perhaps amuse Jin Ling.
He was unsuccessful on both counts.
Huaisang returned with Jiang Cheng after everyone had settled down again. Jin Ling glowered at Wei Wuxian every now and then, but that was the end of it.
Noticeably, Jiang Cheng had returned to them empty-handed. It seemed he had been unable to find literature on the huli jing.
No matter. Wei Wuxian had a plan for that as well.
"I could have flown back here if you hadn't sent him to collect me," Jiang Cheng said to no one in particular, jabbing his finger in Huaisang's direction. He then addressed Jin Ling. "I take it that things went well in Lanling?"
"They did," Jin Ling answered.
He shifted as if he was going to stand to greet his uncle, but he never did. Jin Ling simply adjusted his legs beneath him.
"Are you hurt?" Jiang Cheng asked. "You're not moving naturally."
"No, I'm fine," Jin Ling said without looking at him.
Jiang Cheng's mouth flattened into a hard line, but he didn't press the matter.
He gave a brief greeting and bow to both Luo Qingyang and Yu Qingqi, who stood to return the gesture. Wei Wuxian thought he detected an iciness in their exchange, but he couldn't be sure.
At last, he turned to Wei Wuxian. There was definitely an iciness now.
"Huaisang tells me that you have something very important to share and required a full audience for it," he said. "Let's hear it."
Lan Zhan shifted nearer to Wei Wuxian.
"I do," Wei Wuxian said. "I hope you're all ready to be surprised!"
A few eyerolls and shaking heads – exactly the disgruntled response he strove for.
"Since I've built up the suspense for most of you already, I won't make you wait any longer. The huli jing we ran into yesterday is Xue Yang."
Wei Wuxian scanned the crowd to read their reactions, but it was largely disappointing. Lan Zhan had closed his eyes again and nodded serenely. Lan Xichen only looked mildly interested. And the boys were all looking at him with expressions ranging from politely unsurprised to downright irritated.
The only one who seemed engaged was Huaisang.
"Yes, we knew this," Jin Ling said. "That's what we wanted to tell you. There is a demon pretending to be Xue Yang."
"No, no, no," Wei Wuxian said, wagging his finger. "Xue Yang is the demon."
"What?"
"Don't you remember?" Wei Wuxian asked. "What do they teach you in the Cloud Recesses nowadays?"
"Get to the point," Jiang Cheng said.
"A demon is made from a living human, so-"
"A huli jing is classified as a demon formed from a non-human living thing," Jiang Cheng cut in. "They come from foxes. Hence the name."
He either remembered that tiny fact from years ago, or he had actually managed to find some information in the book shop. Wei Wuxian didn't know which was more believable.
"They have a confusing categorization," Wei Wuxian said. "Most texts label them as what you described but there are some that say huli jing can be hijacked, in a way, by a demonic cultivator."
"Yes," Lan Xichen said slowly, "but that would take an enormous amount of energy to do, specifically yang energy. You would have to-"
"You would have to attract many of them to yourself," Wei Wuxian said excitedly.
"Why?" Sizhui asked.
"Because," Wei Wuxian explained, "you have to find the proper huli jing that can fit your skull on its head."
"What?!" the three boys said in unison.
"If the fox is taking the cultivator's head," Huaisang said slowly, "wouldn't this be a non-living part-human, part-animal monstrosity? Taking someone's head tends to kill them, if I recall correctly."
Wei Wuxian grinned. "Essentially," he said. "If you can figure out which huli jing will match you before the demon tries on your head on like a hat, you can catch the correct one and control the transfer of power."
"That would leave the cultivator in command of the huli jing's form?" Huaisang asked.
"In theory!" Wei Wuxian said. "I'm not sure there's record of it having been done before and I never found any complete description of the practice, not that I was going to do it myself."
"But… it would still have to rip off your head," Jiang Cheng said, an ill look on his face. "While you're alive…"
"Exactly why I wasn't keen on doing it myself."
"He had the Yin Tiger Tally," Lan Zhan said. "Xue Yang had it with him, didn't he?"
"Mhm!" Wei Wuxian said. "My theory is that in the moment he lost the Yin Tiger Tally, a vacuum was created and enough yang energy filled it to attract multiple huli jing."
"It doesn't sound strong enough," Lan Zhan said slowly.
"I do have some doubts," he admitted. "We knew Xue Yang was dead or dying, but Su She transported him away before we could confirm anything. I'm not sure when he would have even had a chance to let demons take turns with his skull. But a lot can happen in the moments before death."
Everyone was quiet for a time. Wei Wuxian worried he'd created another somber moment, but Lan Xichen thankfully spoke up.
"It's still a stretch," he said. "And what difference does it make if this is a demon pretending to be Xue Yang or a demon that is actually Xue Yang?"
"Ah! Good question!" Wei Wuxian said. "Assumption one: a huli jing cannot read your mind."
"How do you-?" Jin Ling started to say but Jiang Cheng cut him off.
"You said you've seen them before," Jiang Cheng said, "but they would run away from you."
"Yes!"
"Were you planning to kill, injure, or trap them?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"Not at all! I didn't even want to touch them!"
"So they shouldn't have felt the need to run away," Jiang Cheng concluded.
"Yes," Wei Wuxian said. "The other possibility is that they don't like to be watched or watching them interferes with their activities in some way. So they might have known that I intended no harm, but they needed to leave anyhow."
"Why does this matter?" Huaisang asked. "Why try to figure out if they can read minds at all?"
Wei Wuxian resisted the urge to frown at him. He suspected that Huaisang had pieced a lot of this together already and was only asking questions to keep up appearances. He didn't appreciate the dishonesty, but he couldn't expect anything else.
"Because," Wei Wuxian stated, "our huli jing knows more than a simple fox should. For example, it knows which forms will affect – affect us the most."
His correction didn't go entirely unnoticed. Jiang Cheng seemed irked, and perhaps rightfully so since Wei Wuxian had been very close to saying his name specifically. But no one else seemed to know what he had been about to say.
"They are known to lure men to their deaths," Sizhui said. "Wouldn't they need to have some way of sensing what would attract a person?"
Wei Wuxian smirked. "I'm sure some – uh – basic forms would typically suit them well for this. I don't think they'd have to get very creative."
Sizhui turned red.
"Which builds onto assumption number two that the huli jing can't talk."
"But you don't know that," Jin Ling said.
"Hence 'assumption'," said Wei Wuxian. "But when was the last time you heard a fox speak? I don't think my assumption is much of a reach."
When Jin Ling didn't argue, he went on. "Assumption number three: a huli jing shouldn't be able to do more than shapeshift and create illusions. And assumption number four: they default to docile when not controlled by a demonic cultivator.
"So to answer your question, Lan Xichen," Wei Wuxian said, "it matters that this huli jing is a demonic cultivator because it potentially makes it more difficult to deal with."
"We should hunt it then," Luo Qingyang piped up. She and Yu Qingqi had been very quiet through the rest of the conversation. Wei Wuxian was surprised by the sudden input. "What is it weak against?"
"High class spiritual weapons," said Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng in unison. They grimaced briefly.
"It seems like the best thing to do," Luo Qingyang said, "would be to gather together those of you with strong enough weapons and form a team to capture or kill the demon."
"That's the trouble, though," Huaisang said then, holding his fan in front of him. "This isn't a simple fox. This is the murderer, Xue Yang. He'll see a trap coming… if he isn't listening to us right now."
They all looked around as if Xue Yang was going to jump out at them at any moment. Taking the hint, Lan Xichen drew up a few silencing talismans and stuck them on the ground at the perimeter of their huddled group.
"We could try to trap it," Huaisang went on more quietly even though no one outside the perimeter would be able to hear him. Everyone leaned in to listen. "But it can't look like a trap. We can't simply group all of our high class weapon holders together."
"What are you suggesting?" Luo Qingyang asked.
Huaisang sat forward even more and spoke even quieter. "The huli jing attacked when it was just me and two high class wielders," he said. "Assuming the huli jing is Xue Yang, he probably has an interest in Wei Wuxian and possibly Hanguang-jun as well. But if we send both of them together, there's a chance he'll balk at that since that combination has gotten him in trouble before."
"Do you have a specific combination in mind?" Wei Wuxian asked, dreading the answer.
"Yes," Huaisang said. "It's simple. Since we didn't best it when we met it before, we use the same combination that attracted it last time."
He knew it. Wei Wuxian knew that was what Huaisang was going to suggest.
Those who'd returned from Jinlintai had no idea what this meant, but everyone else was displeased. Lan Xichen's reaction was the mildest – a gentle sigh and inclination of his head – but Jiang Cheng was outraged, so much so that he couldn't speak properly.
"After what happened?!" he bellowed. "You expect me to-?! Are you-?! Why would you-?! We can't work together!"
Wei Wuxian couldn't see Lan Zhan's expression as he'd bowed his head in a similar fashion to his brother. But he was sure there was a sour look on his face. Any time now, he was going to concur with Jiang Cheng that this was a bad idea.
"It worked to lure it out before," Huaisang whispered. "It has no reason to believe that it wouldn't work again. But this time, we'll keep it from forming a wall. It has to think that the rest of you are far enough away that it doesn't need to resort to that."
"Huaisang, I don't know about that," Wei Wuxian said slowly.
The more he considered it, the less he liked it. He wasn't certain they could lure it out like that. From the way it had bid the three of them farewell the last time, it sounded like it wasn't ready for any of them yet.
So, why should Wei Wuxian put himself at the mercy of Jiang Cheng again on a whim? It felt like Huaisang was up to something, but he just couldn't figure out what.
Perhaps, then, it wasn't such a bad idea to go along with him. Wei Wuxian might have a chance to figure out what secret games Huaisang might be playing. After all, it was exceedingly odd for Huaisang to volunteer to put himself in harm's way. He must have been very confident in his plan.
But goodness! Working with Jiang Cheng was such a bad idea…
"I'm the least threatening person in our group," Huaisang insisted, "and we can assume that Xue Yang is after you. He seems – um – comfortable in his abilities against Jiang Cheng. So this is the best-"
" Comfortable?" Jiang Cheng repeated. "Why don't all of you let me hunt the demon myself? I have Zidian and the demon has approached me while I was alone before. Let me handle it."
"Hunting it alone would be even more dangerous," Lan Xichen said. "The huli jing may show itself to anyone traveling alone, but that doesn't mean we should meet it like that."
Anyone traveling alone? Wei Wuxian didn't see how Lan Xichen had come to that conclusion. Unless…
"Have you seen it, Zewu-jun?" he asked.
"I'm not sure what I saw," Lan Xichen said. "But the more I think about it, the more likely I think it was the demon."
"When did this happen?" Lan Zhan asked incredulously.
"Sometime before we'd heard of Xue Yang's survival," Lan Xichen said. "I was walking outside the boundary of the Cloud Recesses and I saw… something that wasn't possible."
A master of illusion with core tampering and mind reading abilities to boot. Lan Xichen either saw a fox with too many tails or someone who could not have been there. If Wei Wuxian had to guess, it was the latter. But, there was no need to lay bare in front of everyone whatever it was that Lan Xichen was trying to avoid telling them.
"The point is," Lan Xichen went on, "it's not safe for us to split up at all, but to send one person out alone could be akin to a sacrifice."
"It plays games," Jiang Cheng said. "That seems to be all it does. I think we're overestimating its abilities."
"Wei Wuxian could have easily been more seriously injured last time. All of you could have been," Lan Xichen said. "Better to overestimate than underestimate."
"Not when it means we're not going to do anything about it!" Jiang Cheng yelled.
Wei Wuxian realized then that Jiang Cheng's biggest issue with Huaisang's suggestion wasn't who he had wanted to partner him with.
Xue Yang knew a secret that Jiang Cheng didn't want anyone else to know. Jiang Cheng would have refused even if Huaisang had recommended Jin Ling instead of Wei Wuxian. He didn't want to run the risk that Xue Yang would tell someone next time.
"No one is going alone," Lan Xichen said. "Maybe Huaisang's plan would work."
Huaisang brightened. Wei Wuxian felt Lan Zhan looking at him.
"Yes," Huaisang said, "let's-"
"Perhaps, though, we should rethink who we send together," Lan Xichen said.
"I'm fine with it, Zewu-jun," Wei Wuxian said, much to Jiang Cheng's dismay. "I think his choices make the most sense."
"I don't think-" Lan Xichen started to say.
"I'M NOT-!" Jiang Cheng started to shout.
But a quiet, assertive statement cut through both of them.
"I agree that those three make the most sense."
Wei Wuxian couldn't believe his ears. It couldn't have been Lan Zhan who'd spoken. And yet, he would know that voice anywhere.
Wei Wuxian looked over at him. Lan Zhan met his gaze, but there was no meaning to be discerned in those amber irises. Wei Wuxian didn't understand.
"Wangji?" Lan Xichen said, almost sounding worried.
"Three people has been the maximum that the huli jing would allow," Lan Zhan explained. "If we put either you or me in the place of any of them, we might be successful, but it adds an element of uncertainty, just as it would if we asked any of the others here to go."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Luo Qingyang said, "but if I've understood what you five are talking about, you're saying that we should send Sect Leader Nie, Sect Leader Jiang, and Wei Wuxian out as bait for this thing?"
"You are correct," Huaisang said.
"Then please allow me to add a fifth assumption to what we know about the huli jing."
Everyone turned their full attention to Jin Ling's advisor.
"The demon can kill people spontaneously from a distance of several li."
"What?!" Wei Wuxian shouted.
"That's what I was trying to tell you about when we got here," Jin Ling said. "But you wanted me to wait until everyone could hear what you had to say."
"Tch."
Wei Wuxian ignored Jiang Cheng's judgmental noise and focused only on Jin Ling.
"Everyone's here now," he told him. "Let's hear it."
Jin Ling and Luo Qingyang together filled them in on the details of how they'd questioned one of the gang members. She had confirmed Wei Wuxian's suspicion that Xue Yang wanted to use the gang as a distraction, but there were parts of her story that didn't fit quite right. And it honestly didn't sound like any trap had been laid for Wei Wuxian at all. Unfortunately, the woman keeled over dead before she could clarify anything.
Wei Wuxian exhaled. "That's no worry," he said, receiving an odd mix of looks again. He really needed to work on his phrasing.
"That would have required a contract or some kind of ritual," Lan Zhan explained in his stead. "It was probably set in place during one of that woman's meetings with Xue Yang. He should not be able to instantly kill any of us in the same manner."
"Great!" Huaisang said. "Are we decided?"
It turned out that they were not yet decided, but it didn't take much more coaxing from the group to get Jiang Cheng on board.
He was desperate to kill the demon as quickly as possible. Jiang Cheng's demeanor had changed ever since Jin Ling had described the interrogation in Lanling. More than likely, he wanted Xue Yang gone for his nephew's sake as much as his own.
He eventually agreed to being accompanied as long as they were all in agreement not to let the thing get a single word in before they killed it.
And so, they agreed that the three of them would set out tomorrow as long as Wei Wuxian's condition didn't deteriorate once the pain relief of Lan Xichen's herbal remedy wore off.
Over dinner, they got the details of what happened in Lanling and gave the details of the mysterious wall of smoke and the huli jing attack. Jiang Cheng stayed long enough to hear what Jin Ling had to say, and then he retired for the night.
After seeing the look on his face when he'd left, Wei Wuxian's nagging curiosity about Jiang Cheng's secret fractured into conflicting feelings.
On one hand, he found himself hoping more fervently to learn what was going on. Jiang Cheng had done a number of unsavory things. What could make him react this way – somber and sickened and exceedingly paranoid?
On the other hand, he wasn't sure he wanted to know it at all. Could it be possible that it was actually better not to know?
Tomorrow was simultaneously approaching too quickly and far too slowly. No matter when it arrived, Wei Wuxian was sure it would be a catastrophe.