WangXian Forever 5

Chapter 37 Improvements

They reached the library fashionably late, and Wei Ying did not bat an eyelid at the scowling purple Lotus. Instead he reached across his desk and nabbed some sunflower seeds.

"Hey, Cheng Cheng, what happened to SniZidian?"

"Don't call me that!" He retorted, the scowl deepening. He held out his wrist. "We're not sure. We went to sleep one night and the next morning, she was back on my wrist."

"Awww. I'm going to miss her." Wei Ying replied wistfully.

"Not more than Huan." Jiang Cheng looked over to where XiChen was preparing his notes. "I swear he liked her more than me."

Wei Ying giggled, his thoughts turning over in his mind.

"Brother Wei, if you could give us an account of what happened in Caiyi town?" XiChen asked, finally taking his place next to Jiang Cheng.

Wei Ying looked around. "Where's Uncle?"

"Er, do you want him here? We will be discussing resentment energy..." XiChen added.

"What do you think? Will he really mind?" Wei Ying looked at everyone else. "I have nothing to hide, and I'd rather he knew everything too."

"Mn. If Wei Ying wants Uncle here, we should send for him." Lan Zhan said, smiling and taking his hand.

Wei Ying jumped up. "Can I go? I'll be faster than anyone else, and we can catch up on our way!" He ran out before anybody could protest.

XiChen smiled fondly after him.

"Didi, is he really alright?"

"Mn. Was tired, but fine now." Lan Zhan also smiled. "Wei Ying is strong."

Not even a few minutes later, Wei Ying walked in, hanging onto Uncle's arm, and talking animatedly without a break.

Jiang Cheng's eyes nearly fell out.

XiChen discreetly handed a piece of silver to Lan Zhan who pocketed it secretly, a smug smile on his face. Jiang Cheng made a mental note to ask his husband about that.

Wei Ying helped Uncle sit down, poured his tea and earned a precious pat on his hand, before returning to sit next to Lan Zhan, who kissed him on his cheek this time.

"So...what happened?" XiChen prompted.

Wei Ying fell out of the Lan Zhan shaped haze as he was currently making dreamy eyes at his husband, and shook himself.

"Oh, yes...that's why we're here. Right, so in the middle of Caiyi town, we were just wandering around with the children, and we heard screaming."

"Wei Ying heard screaming." Lan Zhan corrected him, proudly.

Wei Ying beamed at him.

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.

"If you could just, you know, get on with it!"

"I am, I am..." Wei Ying gave him a cheeky smile. "But XiChen-Ge, all of a sudden, we were attacked by fierce corpses. There were so many, and I...I had to use Chenqing  to suppress them." He glanced at Uncle Qiren but he was just interested in what had happened, no signs of anger.

"I had to overpower whoever was controlling them, and then use suppression to stop them attacking us, and when I managed to, there were five people wearing hoods in front of us. When the one nearest me blinked, I saw she had eyes on top of her eyes." Wei Ying shuddered.

"Children of the Tree? Here in Caiyi? Out in the open?" XiChen exclaimed.

"That is indeed worrying. I shall inform the elders as soon as this meeting is over." Uncle Qiren looked at Wei Ying. "I'm so glad you were unharmed. How do you feel now?"

As Wei Ying went to answer, Jiang Cheng watched his husband pass another silver piece to his brother. It was hastily put away with a touch of smugness.

"I'm fine, Uncle. Just a bit tired. But I'll be fine by tomorrow,  promise!" Wei Ying held up three fingers to his temple.

"Make sure you look after yourself. WangJi!" Uncle said sternly.

Lan Zhan dropped the third piece of silver by mistake, and had to leave it there to answer his uncle.

"Mn?" His ears blushed.

XiChen sniggered.

Uncle frowned at him before turning his attention to the younger Jade, who had pocketed the third piece while Uncle was distracted.

"Make sure you look after him."

"Mn, Uncle, I will." Lan Zhan held his hand out under the table where Uncle couldn't see and jerked his fingers forward.

XiChen gave over another silver piece.

"What's going on?" Wei Ying mouthed to him, puzzled.

"Bet." Lan Zhan offered, but did not elaborate. "I will buy you lots of Emperor's smile now."

"Aww! You're so cute, Lan Zhan." Wei Ying beamed at him.

"Will you please stick to the issue?" Jiang Cheng shouted, exasperated now.

"Alright, alright, keep your hairpiece on." Wei Ying replied with a laugh. "Anyway, Lan Zhan, did you notice they were all women?"

"Mn."

"I thought that was a bit odd. And just before they attacked us with that brown smoke, one of them said in my ear, nice try."

"What?" Lan Zhan turned to him, hand tightening on Bichen. "They got that close?"

"Um, sorry, yes. But I got the feeling again that they were just practicing."

"Mn, I did too." Lan Zhan murmured.

"And what was that thing I picked up?" Wei Ying asked, looking around.

"A poisoned dart. Healer Fei is investigating and looking for a cure. The dart is highly sensitive, a single light touch is enough to trigger it to open and release a deadly toxin." XiChen informed them.

"But we have exciting news." Wei Ying suddenly remembered. "Lan Zhan made a breakthrough if we are to use the resentment energy."

"Wei Ying made improvements." Lan Zhan added.

"Yeah, yeah, both of you are so great..." Jiang Cheng added snarkily.

Lan Zhan glared at him.

"Lan Zhan, do you think they attacked all of us, or were they concentrating on Li XiWang?" Wei Ying wondered out loud.

"Cannot say."

"Hmm. That's the thing. Maybe we should start being more careful now, just until we can determine what they want exactly."

"You are right to be cautious, Brother Wei." XiChen said. "Even better if you don't venture outside of Cloud Recesses without an escort."

"Oh, don't worry, XiChen-Ge, I won't go anywhere without Lan Zhan." Wei Ying held onto his arm, looking up at him.

Lan Zhan kissed his forehead. "Good boy. Am proud of you."

Wei Ying blushed.

"So. What. Did. You. Find?" Jiang Cheng bit out. His patience had fled already.

"Lan Zhan found old books in the forbidden room to do with demonic cultivation and manipulation of resentment energy. He was making notes on how to induce the core to help without getting contaminated by the resentment energy itself. I tweaked his findings, and we both think that will make me better at using it." Wei Ying smiled brightly. "We just have to practice."

"Should do it soon. In case of another attack." Lan Zhan told him.

"And there are no negative effects? Will you be alright?" Uncle Qiren asked Wei Ying.

"We'll find out. So far I don't think so." Wei Ying hid a smile at yet another silver peace leaving its owner. "About the negative effects."

"Then you can investigate it properly. Our first duty is to the innocent civilians living in town. Their lives should not be at risk because of these people."

"We will do our best." Wei Ying promised him.

In the end, that was all they could do.