Fly free again

Chapter 1

 "Senior Wei! Senior Wei! We are finally done here, let us go back." Lan Jingyi said, a happy smile on his face.

And who could be angry with him for feeling proud of their achievements during this night hunt? All the juniors did splendidly and Wei Wuxian did not need to do anything at all, he had actually been quite bored but did not want to take the fun away from them so he refrained from interfering, only standing on the side, twirling his flute between his fingers, his old sword in his other hand.

He was also proud of how much progress they had done. They were now becoming independent; they did not really need supervision during night hunts anymore. However, the Gusu Lan sect teachings advised that they only went with a supervisor until they reached the advanced class which would be in a few weeks. Wei Wuxian was already dreading the moment they would tell him he was not needed anymore, he loved to go with them even if only to watch them all grow up.

In a way, he felt like these children, well not really children anymore since they had already become young adults from the first time he had met them, were somehow a part of his family. He now lived in the Cloud Recesses for years and had finally become familiar with the place. And the Gusu Lan sect had become familiar with him, elders even overlooked a few incidents here and there. That however did not mean they never punished him, just not too often.

Everything became better when Wen Ning came up with a way for him to cultivate a new golden core. It was hard work and he lacked patience for serious meditation but nevertheless, he managed this feat and was now a proud owner of a golden core. A weak one, that a normally talented teenager could get, but a golden core all the same. Depending on the occasion, he either used demonic cultivation or his sword.

He could still hardly believe that he had a golden core again, it had been so long. He had already forgotten how warm it could feel. It also helped him to keep the resentful energy inside his body at bay. He would never be able to thank Wen Ning enough for this. He always started feeling emotional when he thought about this.

His thoughts got interrupted when another junior cheered: "Yes, yes, let us go back. We can still make it before the curfew if we hurry up. I wonder what will be for dinner..."

Everyone started laughing at once. There was a reason why this particular disciple was known for breaking the Gusu Lan sect rules about eating in moderation, it seemed like he was always hungry. Wei Wuxian laughed together with the children – he still had a hard time letting go of this notion, he watched them grow up and they still felt like children he had to take care of to him despite the fact that Mo Xuanyu's body was only a few years older –, he laughed so much that tears appeared in the corners of his eyes and he had to wipe them away.

"Alright, let us go back," said Lan Sizhui, still laughing hard. Wei Wuxian was proud of his son as he was the leader of the small group. All other juniors voted unanimously and they respected him. A-Yuan would be a good leader one day.

All the juniors had already cleaned blood from their swords and were now ready to mount them. When Wei Wuxian did not move, they looked back at him with surprise in their eyes.

Until now, he had managed to draw their attention away every time so they were only walking around when he was with them. Truth to be told, Wei Wuxian could not fly his sword. Despite having a golden core now and enough spiritual energy to actually be able to fly safely, he never did. He could not, not after remembering the horrific experience of being thrown into the Burial Mounds.

Although he had survived the fall, relatively unscathed all things considered, it never stopped haunting him in his nightmares. It had gotten worse over time and by now, he was not even able to stand heights in general, not talking about flying on a sword. The thought only terrified him to the marrow of his bones. But there was no way he would come clear in front of the juniors!

Each time, he came up with a different excuse for them. In the beginning, when he still did not have a golden core and later when it was too weak to fly safely, it had been easy. Now however, after he got the all clear on his cultivation from the Chief cultivator himself, he found it somewhat harder to lie to the children. They were already looking at him with suspicion as it was.

He put a strong front for them and waved his hand dismissively: "Ah, it is fine, go ahead. The weather is very nice today, I think I will just take a leisurely stroll back to the Cloud Recesses."

Lan Sizhui got down from his sword and was now looking at him with even biggest suspicion: "Dad, it is a two days' trip on foot. It is not something I would call a leisurely stroll."

Wei Wuxian winced internally, the kid got him there.

"Alright, alright," he laughed, pretending to not care, "I just wanted to check something out on my way back." That was perhaps an even less believable excuse, but well, he got nothing else at the moment. He should have been prepared really, he knew this day was coming. Stupid him.

"What did you want to check?" Now Lan Jingyi also stepped down from his sword and came towards him. Suddenly, Wei Wuxian had a distinct feeling that the junior knew and only wanted him to admit that he could not stand flying on a sword.

"Ayah, Jingyi, it is nothing big, just some troubles along to way to the Cloud Recesses."

Wei Wuxian winced again, he hated lying to the children but he was too embarrassed to admit his weakness. A great Yiling Patriarch would could do anything but flying on a sword! And it was not really a lie anyway, he was sure that if he looked hard enough, he would be able to find someone who needed help on his way to the Cloud Recesses.

Now it was Jin Ling who came to him and watched him with something resembling pity in his eyes: "If you cannot fly, just say it. I can take you on my sword."

If it was in any other situation, Wei Wuxian would have had to coo at how adorable Jin Ling was being and would have tried to hug him. But not now. Actually, he was starting to feel really cornered at the moment with Ouyang Zizhen also teaming up with his friends to stand in front of him, looking at him as if they all were judging him.

Wei Wuxian had had enough, it truly was too embarrassing to admit his fear. So instead, he resolved to pouting: "I just do not want to, alright?"

There was a long silence and then Lan Sizhui, the angel his son was, smiled at him and then the other juniors and proposed: "Let us just go on foot. We can enjoy some leisurely time and go check who else could need our help. We can also delay joining classes again like this and say it was all Senior Wei's fault."

He winked at Wei Wuxian as he said it, turning his back to him and talking to the other juniors. Had Wei Wuxian already mentioned how much he loved his son? He felt relieved. He could deal with the elders scowling at him for delaying the juniors' arrival, although Lan Zhan would probably not let them.

Just for a good measure, Wei Wuxian grasped at his chest and wailed in pretended hurt: "Sizhui!"

The juniors erupted in laughter and all of them now stepped down from their swords and sheathed them. They were ready to walk.

Lan Sizhui turned around and winked at him again, giving him a small warm smile as well. Wei Wuxian returned the gesture and skipped to the front of the group as was his habitude, leading it away and chatting happily about nonsense just to get the juniors' thoughts off of his weak attempt at hiding his secret.