Disclosed Regrets

Cloud Recess I - The Present (7)

Revised 02/06/23

I am really so sorry for the atrocious update! My asthma has been horrible recently (probably due to hay fever smh) so I've been feeling a bit under the weather.

But hey, at least I updated. I'm going to a polo match this weekend and I have lots of revision to do for exams, so I did this chapter knowing it's the last day I'll have the time! Thank you for taking the time to read this story! :)

***

As Wei Wuxian stepped back, the corpse only followed. This pattern continued as they drew further and further into the forest, until Wei Wuxian abruptly fell into a hard surface. His wrist was grasped.

He slowly hesitantly turned his head, only to lock eyes with brilliant gold. 'Lan Wangji!'

The girls were unusually silent.

"Hey, Hanguang-Jun," said Lan Jingyi good-naturedly. "You said this was where you recognised Senior Wei... I still don't understand. Is the back of his head so recognisable? Is his abysmal flute playing really how atrocious Wei Wuxian was behind closed doors?"

"Don't be silly, Jingyi," said Lan Sizhui. "Though I must confess, I am also curious..."

"It was obviously the fact he's controlling Wen Ning," said Jin Ling, his nose slightly raised. "Who else has heard of someone controlling that?" He suddenly thought of a certain uncle.

"Well..." Wei Wuxian shared a glance with Lan Wangji, who merely flashed him a small upturn of the lips. "I guess you'll have to find out with the rest of us, haha!"

"Senior Wei!"

Wei Wuxian's breath suddenly stuttered. 'Oh no. Back then, Lan Wangji had seen with his own eyes how I use the flute to control corpses.'

"Oh no? Really, Wei Wuxian?" said Jiang Wanyin sarcastically. "You're so afraid of Lan Wangji that you shamelessly hang off his arm, professing your adoration for him right then and there? Oh no? Oh no, what? Oh no, Lan Wangji is just as shameless as you and will protect you, not allowing even a finger to touch you? Or oh no, I can no longer act proper and must embarrass myself to every degree? Oh no, Wei Wuxian, I agree. I really agree!"

"He..." murmured Lan Jingyi unsurely, glancing between Jiang Wanyin and Jin Ling. "Is your Uncle okay?"

Jin Ling huffed and rolled his eyes. "Who's okay when Wei Wuxian's involved? But honestly, Uncle, you're being a bit embarrassing, yourself."

"He has a point, though," said Sizhui softly with a small smile. He gazed at the two cultivators dressed in red and white in front of him with no small amount of love and adoration. "Hanguang-Jun... he'll really protect Xian-gege no matter the cost."

Lan Wangji's gaze shifted until he locked eyes with Wei Wuxian, his piercing gold eyes both intimidating and enrapturing as they peeled through Wei Wuxian's many constructed barriers that separated him from the world and opened the windows to his soul, staring through as a most welcomed intruder.

"Wow," said Lan Jingyi, at a loss for words. "Wow, Hanguang-Jun. I really admire the way you speak without words." Many younger Lan disciples who were huddled behind him enthusiastically nodded in tandem.

"Really admirable..."

"Hanguang-Jun is certainly an esteemed cultivator."

"Hey. Wait. Everyone dissociate from life for a moment," said Ouyang Zizhen smartly, stroking his non-existent goatee like a well-accomplished cultivator. "Do you see the unabridged recognition? The concern seeping from Lan Wangji's very soul as he stares upon Senior Wei? This certainly marks the beginning of a new era–"