The meaning of protecting you with my life

Spoils of war

"It is finally finished, we have won, the evil Wen dogs were put to jail."

"But there are too many of them, it is not a sustainable solution, we need to figure something out."

"It was Jin Guangyao who had won the war, he had killed Wen Ruohan, he should decide."

"No! It was not his victory, he just waited in the shadows until he could seize his opportunity, he is such a snake... It was the Qinghe Nie clan who led the war and fought the bravest in the battles, it should be up to them to decide."

"But even Sect Leader Nie had never seen it coming, how the puppets stopped mid movement and never came back to life. What happened there?"

"Nonsense, it must have been just a coincidence. I heard that the puppets fell just as the Yin iron had been collected by Young Master Jin – did you hear that as soon as he had killed Wen Ruohan, Jin Guangshan had accepted him as his son and even bestowed a new name upon him?"

"Yes, yes... But what about the Yin iron? It is too powerful to be held by anyone; and apparently, it cannot be destroyed either. Whoever gets the hold of it could become the next Wen Ruohan."

"Well, that is certainly worrisome, but I am sure that the great sects will take care of this. We should not stick our nose into their business, our sects are too small. Even though having the Yin iron in our possession could reverse the balance, I do not know about you, but I am not ready to oppose one of them right now. Better leave things to them, as always."

"Yeah, you are right. They should sort it out. Perhaps they would agree to have one piece each, then the power balance would still stay the same and we would not have to fear another tyrant ascending to power."

"Hmm, good thinking. But there are only three pieces of the Yin iron and four great sects... How would they do it?"

"True, a fight is bound to happen one way or another, we should move closer to the door, just in case anyone loses their temper..."

Jiang Fengmian had just made it to the tent where the meeting would be held. It was already full of minor sect leaders, some of them he recognized, some not. They did not seem to have noticed him and that was probably why they had no reservation while discussing between themselves. The sect leaders of the other three great sects had yet to make their entrance.

Jiang Fengmian sighed a little bit in relief when he realized that it had not yet started. He would not mind too much, the Yunmeng Jiang sect did not need any spoils of war, much less from the Qishan Wen sect, they could just make do with what they had, they had just finished rebuilding after all. They would be fine as long as the family and the sect were strong. However, it worried him greatly that if he did not take part in this, he could very well find himself in an uncomfortable position. He knew about the rumours circulating about Wei Wuxian and he was afraid that someone might bring him up during this meeting.

Finally, after another several minutes, Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangshan came inside followed by another small and unassuming figure clad in the Lanling Jin sect colours. The atmosphere immediately became tenser when the people inside the tent went silent in the middle of their conversation and all heads turned towards the newcomers.

Jiang Fengmian frowned a bit, something was not right here. It was true that the war had changed them all but still, he could barely recognize the others. Nie Mingjue was frowning so fiercely that some of the smaller sects' leaders took a step back, horror and fear mixed in their eyes. It was clear that something had greatly displeased the Qinghe Nie sect leader. Lan Xichen's expression, although controlled, was cracking as well, and there was grief and exhaustion etched into his features. He looked suddenly a lot older than his actual age.

And then there was Jin Guangshan. Since Jiang Fengmian did not get to really take part in the war, he had not seen it himself, but he had heard enough to know that the Lanling Jin sect leader had only came to join the Sunshot campaign after the final siege had already been won. During the whole war, there had only been Jin Zixuan as his deputy; and even that was a questionable credit to the Lanling Jin sect leader since his son had to beg him to be allowed to come and in the end, he had only been given a handful of disciples to accompany him.

It seemed like Jin Guangshan had only been waiting this whole time, observing the war so he would be able to join the winning side and get the most out of it. There was a self-confident and almost bored smirk on his lips and his eyes were shining madly in satisfaction. Jiang Fengmian could not see Jin Zixuan anywhere, so he concluded that the Lanling Jin sect heir had been left out from the matter of dividing the spoils of the war. And Jiang Fengmian had a pretty good idea about whether this was accidental or a deliberate decision.

The four figures had made it to the front of the tent, walking through a small corridor which had opened up for them with everyone else letting them pass. They stood there for a minute, overlooking the crowd before Nie Mingjue finally spoke:

"Thank you for gathering here on such a short notice. The war is finally finished and we all took bigger or smaller part in the victory." Jiang Fengmian saw Nie Mingjue's eyes dart in the direction of Jin Guangshan when he said the last part but the Qinghe Nie sect leader quickly recovered and faced the gathered sect leaders once again. "We called you here to announce the division of the treasures found in the former Qishan Wen sect's treasure rooms and in the Nightless City palace. I believe you will all be satisfied with the decision." He pointed towards the Lanling Jin sect disciple who stood between him and Jin Guangshan.

"Meng..." he started but frowned even more and quickly corrected himself, spitting the new name of the person as if it was poisonous, "Jin Guangyao, if you please."

"Of course, Sect Leader Nie, it would be my pleasure. The Yao clan will be given 1000 gold nuggets as well as..."

Jiang Fengmian stopped listening at that point, his head was in too much of a turmoil to be properly able to understand the words. It was only now, with Nie Mingjue's slip of a tongue that he recognized the man standing next to him. It was Meng Yao, his former advisor and a bastard son of Jin Guangshan – well, not anymore it seemed because he had just been accepted to the family if the change of name and the conversation he had overheard earlier had anything to say about that –, the man who had killed Wen Ruohan. The world really was small.

Jiang Fengmian's attention turned back to Jin Guangyao when he heard the words 'Yin iron'. And sure enough, the man had gone through all the sects and their share of spoils, now it was time for the grand finale that everyone had been waiting for.

"We have agreed that the Yin iron is too dangerous to be kept by just anyone. The pieces will be separated and given to the great sects for safekeeping, we cannot chance anyone getting hold of them in the future. The Lanling Jin sect, the Gusu Lan sect and the Qinghe Nie sect will get a piece each. As for the Yunmeng Jiang sect, Wei Wuxian will stay under their supervision as he is the only one who can control the Yin iron."

Jiang Fengmian felt all the eyes in the room on himself and he had a hard time to not squirm under their weight. While it was good that Wei Wuxian would get to stay with them – and should he not? He was part of their family and the Yunmeng Jiang sect after all – he was angry and just a little bit scared that it had been only discussed between the three other sect leaders and no one actually asked him or Jiang Cheng, or anyone else for that matter, about their opinion. This could be bad.

Before he could even finish that last thought, it was already proving to be bad as there was of course a condition: "Young Master Wei will be allowed to remain part of the Yunmeng Jiang sect. His behaviour will however be closely monitored and if he will ever show signs of succumbing to his demonic cultivation and wanting to control the Yin iron or perhaps becoming the next Wen Ruohan, he will be swiftly dealt with."

Jin Guangyao smiled sweetly and it was so fake that Jiang Fengmian had a strong urge to throw up. Lan Xichen squirmed a bit and looked at the new son of Jin Guangshan but he remained quiet.

It was Nie Mingjue who closed the meeting: "As for the remaining Wen sect people, the Qinghe Nie sect will take in all the Dafan Wen clan, one of their disciples had been helping in providing intel to us and they are a medical branch, they did not participate in the war. The rest of the Qishan Wen sect soldiers and disciples including Wen Chao and Wen Xu will be imprisoned under the Lanling Jin sect's supervision.

That is all, we will see you at the banquet."