QiongQi Path

When Jin ZiXuan had run into his half-brother Jin GuangYao, he had felt that something was off. Looking at his face, he soon realised. It was like he had caught him off guard, and had managed to catch a glimpse of real emotions that were soon hidden behind MengYao's notorious smile.

"Xuan-Ge"

"A-Yao, is everything all right?"

Jin GuangYao lowered his gaze to the ground in a seemingly helpless way. "I swear I tried to stop him, but he just..."

"Who? What is going on?"

"It is Jin JiXun. He called up a group of disciples and went to the Burial Mounds"

Jin GuangYao had added a certain urgency to his tone which ZiXuan had never heard before.

"He said he was going to avenge himself"

Avenge himself... "Wei WuXian"

Jin GuangYao nodded and swallowed anxiously. A sense of horror started building up in ZiXuan's mind. It was not actually worried for Wei WuXian as much as he was for his bride, YanLi. He knew she would have never forgiven him if something had happened to her half-brother. "When"

"Less than half an hour ago... Xian-Ge, you are not thinking about chasing after him, are you?"

Jin ZiXuan nodded and looked into the distance, taking a hold of his sword. It was his duty, after all. He did not even let his half-brother add anything. As he started running down the flights of stairs, he thought he had seen half a smirk on Jin GuangYao's face... But sure it was just a trick of his mind, he mounted his sword and hurried to Yunmeng.

He had thought he could have directly gone to the Burial Mounds, but the truth was that he did not want to face either his cousin or his brother-in-law alone. It was not out of fear: were the moment to be different, he would have just gone by himself. What changed is that he had just issued an invitation for Wei WuXian to come to his son's first month celebration. It had been a long time since he had seen YanLi being that happy. ZiXuan, he told himself, was simply carrying out his basic husband duties. By going alone, he knew that sparring with Wei WuXian was simply unavoidable. And how could he then stand his brother-in-law during all the ceremony? He had decided on calling up his other brother-in-law, Jiang WanYin. He knew YanLi would have been happy when he told her he had worked with her brother to save Wei WuXian; bonus points if he had managed to make them get along again. To ZiXuan, that was not a double-win but a triple-win, and the more, the merrier, he managed to think before Lotus Pier came into sight.

Jiang WanYin was on his clan leader chair, polishing his sword. His jaw was clenched, his muscles tense; on his wrist, ZiDian was beaming purple rays and slightly trembling. He knew many doctors had told him to make his anger flow through all his bearings but where ZiDian was. Easier said than done. He was on edge. His rage, he thought, it was like waves in a pond, and could be felt by the people around him. That was why there actually was nobody around him. He was a good sect leader, mind it. He cared for his people and his servants, who were respectful and loyal. Everybody knew that the one thing Jiang-ZhongZhu could not stand was treason. Break a promise and you would have had to face his rage, and it was fair to say that nobody wanted that, thank you. He exhaled stroking SanDu and smiled in delight when he saw his reflection staring back at him. Smile that soon turned into a frown when a much scared disciple entered the room.

"SandDu ShengShou"

Jiang Cheng lifted his eyes from his sword in silence.

"Somebody just arrived and asked for you"

Jiang Cheng rose and sheathed SanDu. The disciple led him to one of the guest rooms.

"Bring some tea"