Chapter Text
Lan Wangji didn’t hit his face against the ward for just a bit. He was a few inches from the cave’s entrance when a thunderous strength made him stumble some steps back. He took some moments to orient himself, and when he looked forward again, Wei Wuxian was already trying to break the spiritual wall splitting them apart. Amem Cong was still in the floor. After a few more despaired failed attempts , Wei Wuxian stopped and looked at his husband.
“I can’t break it with talismans, it is pretty strong.” A little bit of worry slid in his tone.
Lan Wangji shook his head.
“Go back to Cloud Recesses and bring Brother. He will know what to do.”
A few disciples were already starting to panic, and Lan Wangji had to take a deep breath not to lose the patience. Lan Sizhui would be of great help to control the younger ones, he had become a great leader. Lan Wangji sighed. Panic would do no good to any of them. Besides, the strange thing they felt about the cave was probably the ward itself, because he couldn’t feel any imminent danger from inside de cave. It didn’t make much sense, tough. Why would a person put a ward in a cave if it wasn’t to do anything beyond that? Just for the sake of seeing people die from starvation?
The awful sensation that was insisting to disturb him the past few days came back suddenly. His skin crawling, his stomach churning. And then realization hit him all at once. The way that Amem Cong’s sword was not in his hand during the ghost attack. How the resentful energy radiated from the place. He had seeing this before, demonic cultivation. How he seemed to know the right thing to say every time; Emperor Smile with Wei Wuxian, politeness with Lan Qiren, talking about ‘break your legs’ even having claimed that he didn’t know Jiang Cheng. The exact time that he knocked at the Jingshi, when Lan Wangji wasn’t there… How he called Wei Ying by Yiling Patriarch, and not by his name.
He would have collapsed to the ground if he wasn’t already leaning to the ward.
They weren’t locked in. They were locked out.
Wei Wuxian seemed to be thinking whether or not to leave them behind and seek for help when the man behind him started to rise up.
“Wei Ying!” Lan Wangji shouted, as if he could express every warn and every feeling that was burning inside his chest with just one name.
Wei Wuxian looked up to meet his eyes again and seemed confused with what he found in them. A single note spread through the night, and then realization appeared to hit him too, his eyes went wide. He turned in time to see a wave of resentful energy coming in his direction, but not in time to dodge. His body was sent flying a few feet and crashed against the ward, his head taking a hard blow. He could feel blood starting to drain out of it. Wei Wuxian went dizzy for some moments but was still able to hear his name being desperately called in the distance. When his vision stopped spinning, he managed to get to his feet again and give a reassurance look to his panicked husband.
He turned back to his attacker and smiled.
“Now I get it! So that’s why I found something familiar about you, it’s the resentful energy!” For someone who had been violently attacked moments ago, Wei Wuxian was surprisingly friendly.
Lan Wangji managed to calm his breaths a little. Wei Ying was fine. Wei Ying was alive, he thought, for now. For one moment, when he saw how still Wei Wuxian got after having his head and body slammed against a wall, the blood soaking his hair, his world stopped. He couldn’t afford anything happening to the other, and not being able to reach to him, touch him, made things even worst. He needed to find a way to break free from the ward, it was not sustainable to watch whatever was going to happen without being able to help. Part of him knew, deep down, that it was exactly this that was going to happen. The man had putted the barrier there with the purpose of not letting anyone interfere and waited until the best moment to activate it.
Amem Cong smiled again, and another string was pulled in Lan Wangji’s mind. Now he knew why he didn’t like the smile, it reminded him of the way Jin Guangyao smiled. The smile of someone who is just waiting the best moment to counterattack.
“You are difficult to be find alone, aren’t you?” The cultivator answered. “Even when I managed to spend an entire day with you, it didn’t pass ten minutes without some child come talk with the infamous Yiling Patriarch.” He talked slowly, cynically, nothing like the way he had been talking the last two days.
Wei Wuxian still laughed.
“What can I say? I’m good with kids.” His hand was above Chenquing, but he didn’t have grabbed it yet, as if enjoying the conversation. “So, what is this about?” He asked.
Lan Wangji didn’t know resentful energy like Wei Wuxian did, obviously, but he could feel how dense the atmosphere was around them both even from behind the ward. It felt like all the resentful energy in the surroundings had been attracted to there, waiting to know who would be the first one to give a command.
“Do I need a reason? The Yiling Patriarch killed thousands of mans with his dark tools, even one death wasn’t enough to stop him. We could try a second one.”
Wei Wuxian seemed slightly surprised by the answer.
“Then you learned the same dark path that the person you hate? It looks a little controversial, doesn’t it?”
And then the same smile again.
“Kill the snake with his own poison.” He moved his hands faster than the light, and pulled a flute out of his robes, probably the same one that had made the first blow of resentful energy's note.
“Lan Zhaan!” Wei Wuxian groaned annoyed. “This isn’t fair, why people can’t have his own ideas? Seriously, a flute?! Couldn’t you be at least a little bit more original?”
Lan Wangji would have indulged his husband in any other time, but right now his heart was beating loud in his ears. He knew that in terms of demonic cultivation, no one could beat Wei Wuxian. He was the founder, after all. But the blood draining off his head was still dripping and soaking his hair, he had probably had a concussion. The other one was fast and clearly strong, and the fact that he himself couldn’t do anything beyond watching the scene before him wasn’t helping either. He was glued to the ward, unconsciously trying to be as close to Wei Ying as possible.
The disciples behind him didn’t seem much better, the majority of them had passed few time with Wei Wuxian, but it was enough for them to like the man a lot.
Amem Cong didn’t seem to have liked Wei Wuxian’s speech either, he looked angrily to the man.
“The other reason why I will like this, is because I will finally get to shut you up.” He put the flute in his lips and started to play, the resentful energy around him condensing.
Wei Wuxian quickly put Chenquing in his lips and started to play a similar song. Lan Wangji’s heart was beating frantically in his chest while the two started to be surrounded by clouds of dark energy. It was clear to everyone that they were having a control fight, the resentful going from a side to another, almost as if confused. Wei Wuxian stopped for time enough to speak.
“You are really good at this, it’s a shame that you want to fight, I would love to talk about demonic cultivation with you.” He said half teasingly, half sincerely.
The other one paused for a moment too.
“I spent thirteen years studying this, knowing that a dark soul like yours wouldn’t be dead for much time. You would come back possessing someone sooner or later.”
Wei Wuxian pointed his flute to the other man, accusingly.
“Ha! You are wrong, my friend! I didn’t want to come back, and more important I didn’t posses anyone. You need to do your research better.”
The furious man didn’t seem to mind if his details were right or wrong, he was still trying to gain total control over the energy.
Lan Wangji could see that Wei Wuxian was holding back, not using all of his powers. It could be that he still had sympathy for the man? But then he thought about how Wei Wuxian was glancing to the cave from time to time and he understood. The ward had been made by Amem Cong, only he could know how to break it, and it wasn’t certain that killing him, the ward would vanish by itself. Wei Wuxian didn’t want to take the risk. He probably was planning on taking the information out of the man before doing anything.
But he wouldn’t be able to hold much longer, because in his next second of hesitation, when he tried to make eye contact with Lan Wangji, another blow of resentful energy hit him.
He was throwed back once more, this time prepared enough not to slam his head again. However, his body still got the harder impact. Lan Wangji tried to reach to him again, only to be barred a second time. He had never felt so helpless in life.
“Wei Ying…” His voice cracked two times. He was a few inches from his husband now, who was still half seated in the floor, trying to catch his breath.
“Fuck.” Wei Wuxian breathed out.
“Wei Ying.” He said a little more firmly, but worry still clear in his voice. “Do what you need to do. You can not afford another attack.” Wei Wuxian looked at him in doubt, his face slightly contorted in pain, beside his bests efforts to hide it. “We will be okay.” And then, “Please.”
In the next second a third ball of energy was coming in his direction. Lan Wangji’s heart stopped, he thought he might had screamed Wei Ying’s name, but Wei Wuxian was fast in grabbing Chenquing again, and with a piercing note, stopping the resentful energy.
He got to his feet, eyes glowing red while he played. Amem Cong seemed to be momentarily shocked with the total lost of control. He tried to play some more times, apparently to zero effects, while all the energy was being attracted to Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji watched in relief and slightly shock when his husband started to rise from the floor, raised by the clouds spiraling around all his limbs. It wasn’t a sight he liked. To be fair, it was a sight that had hunted him for thirteen years of mourning. But right in the moment, it was what was making Wei Wuxian alive.
Wei Wuxian’s eyes were glowing totally red now, with an intensity that he hasn’t seen in a long time. After some moments more, all the resentful energy that was surrounding him went abruptly and sharply through Amem Cong’s body. He didn’t even have time to scream before his body vanished in a cloud of resentful energy too, without any proof that he had been there one moment before.
The ward broke around two seconds later, and Lan Wangji rushed forward as if his life depended on that, the disciples following behind him more hesitantly. Wei Wuxian stumbled and swayed sometimes when he reached the floor, and Lan Wangji caught him, putting both hands in his waist.
“Wei Ying…” He paused, not knowing how to express how relieved and worried he was at the same time. Wei Wuxian looked up to his husband’s face. “Your eyes. They are still…” Wei Wuxian red eyes would be a sight that he would probably never get used to.
“Oh!” Wei Wuxian frowned and blinked a few times, his eyes returning to the warmth they always had. “I’m sorry.”
Lan Wangji shook his head.
“Do not apologize.” Lan Wangji wanted to hold the other close to his chest and never let it go again, but he composed himself enough, starting to look after injuries in Wei Wuxian’s body, remembering the places where he had been hit against the wall. He had probably broken some ribs, and the dried blood on the back of his head made Lan Wangji’s browns knitted in worry. It wasn’t heavy injuries for a cultivator, but Wei Wuxian didn’t have a strong golden core anymore, so broken ribs and an almost certain concussion wasn’t something they could joke with. The demonic cultivator swayed within his arms. Lan Wangji looked up to his beloved again.
“Wei Ying, how are you feeling?”
Wei Wuxians was clearly trying to hide it, but his expression was pinched with pain.
“Lan Zhan… my head hurts a little.” The thing about Wei Wuxian was that when he had some minor discomfort, he would dramatically complain about it, seeking for attention. But when he tried to hide something was because it was serious. He was probably in a lot of pain right now.
Lan Wangji quickly sustained Wei Wuxian with one arm around his waist and turned the other’s head gently to the side, trying to check how bad was the wound. He brushed his fingers through the bloody hair carefully. And then the weight against his body became a little heavier, Wei Wuxian’s hand that had been holding his collar fell limply by his side. He caught his husband firmly before his knees could hit the ground.
“Wei Ying?!”
Wei Wuxian had passed out.
Lan Wangji carried his husband's limply body until Cloud Recesse’s gates, almost too worried to care if the juniors had followed him or not. Luckily, they had, it would be an even worst problem if he had managed to lose Wei Ying and a bunch of panicked kids. He barely contained himself from running to the infirmary.
The healer, already used to having Wei Wuxian as her patient, said that he really had a concussion, but that rest and sleep alone could make it better. Still, it would be good if he stayed in observation for the next day. About the broken bones, she gave him medicinal herbs and said that with a few healing songs it should be okay.
Then Lan Wangji played, waited and observed. An hour later, he approached the bed in which Wei Wuxian was laying and took his hand. He watched every feature of the man sleeping in front of him. It wasn’t the same body than before, but every expression, tone, gestures, were so familiar it made his heart ache with extremely love. He brushed some hair away from the others face, leaned closer and kissed his forehead.
A few moment later, Wei Wuxian stirred and his eyelids fluttered.
“… Lan Zhan?” He said still groggy with sleep.
“Mn. I am here.” Lan Wangji said softly.
Wei Wuxian opened his eyes. He took some moments to orient himself again and smiled when their eyes met.
“Lan Zhaaan. What will my poor heart do with you looking at me like this?” He teased.
Lan Wangji’s ears became slightly red, how was it possible that even after all this time living together, Wei Ying still could make his heart race with only some few words?
“Wei Ying, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, Er-Gege. Guess Jiang Cheng was right when he called me hardhead.” The other joked.
“Wei Ying.” But Lan Wangji couldn’t find in himself to truly reproach the smaller.
The infirmary's door slid open with a noisily ‘Senior Wei!’, and two adorable white figures rushed to the bed, remembering to bow in the middle of the way, Jingyi almost stumbling to the ground.
“Hanguang-Jun.” Sizhui greeted. “We are sorry, we just learned that Senior Wei had arrived in Cloud Recesses unconscious. We were worried.”
Lan Wangji nodded softly, indicating that he wasn’t angry with the informal arrived.
“Oh great, apparently all the Sect knows by now. For a sect with so much rules, you Lans are pretty good in gossiping.” Wei Wuxian complained.
Lan Jingyi tried to appear offended but couldn’t hold for much time.
“We heard that you fought another demonic cultivator! And that you used all resentful energy of the place to kill him! It must have been so cool! Damn it, we needed to have been there Sizhui!” Jingyi stopped when he saw the cold stare that Hanguang-Jun was giving him, trying to figure if he had made a mistake with the swearing part or the encouragement to Senior Wei’s reckless part. He apologized the same way.
Wei Wuxian laughed.
“Yeah, but you weren’t, because you were paying punishment! Congratulations children, I have raised you well.”
Lan Sizhui blushed in embarrassment, while Lan Jingyi muttered a ‘who are you calling a child?’
“Well”, Sizhui started awkwardly, “we kind of need to go back copying the rules. But I’m relieved that you are all right, Senior Wei.” He said sincerely.
Wei Wuxian smiled widely and petted his child head.
“Who let you be that good, Sizhui?”
The junior blushed again, but couldn’t hide his content smile. The duo left the room and then they were alone again. A few moments passed with Hanguang-Jun staring at Wei Wuxian, who chuckled.
“What are you doing, Lan Zhan?”
“The healer said that you need to be under observation.” He had that concentrated look that he used with everything in his life. Wei Wuxian started to laugh.
“So what?! Aren’t you going to look away until she says that I’m fine?!”
Lan Wangji stood serious.
“Never.”
Wei Wuxian paused, confused.
“What?”
“I am not going to look away never.” He said simply. Lan Wangji hasn’t teared his eyes apart from Wei Wuxian since a long time ago, but after what happened, he was even more convinced that he wouldn’t be capable of looking away never again.
Wei Wuxian didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, warmth spreading through all his chest. He threw himself in his husband’s arms.
“Lan Zhan, oh, Lan Zhan. What do I do with you?” He shook his head fondly and sighed. And a few moments later, “Well, after today, I will definitely not make new friends anymore, this I can say.”
Lan Wangji smiled. He certainly would. It was in Wei Wuxian’s nature to socialize. But Lan Wangji promised to himself that the next time he would be less jealous and more alert. The world was dangerous, but within that hug, everything seemed to be all right.