The meaning of protecting you with my life

Unexpected visitor

Jiang Cheng was sitting in the Yunmeng Jiang sect tent all by himself. He was exhausted and his head was hurting from all what he had to do these last two days. He wanted to go home already and check on his brother, to make sure that Wei Wuxian was not in a life-threatening situation anymore. There had been only one message coming from Lotus Pier and it had been already a whole day old. So much could have changed in that short time frame, and who else would know better than Jiang Cheng who had lived through the fall of Lotus Pier and then a whole war.

He had had already enough of intrigues and navigating the raging waters of sect leadership. He could not stand Jin Guangshan but he still had to try and buy his mother and sister enough time to get Wei Wuxian to safety before any assassin or a hired kidnapper would come after them. He knew for sure that the Lanling Jin sect leader and Jin Guangyao did not believe his excuses about Wei Wuxian being still unwell, Jiang Yanli and Yu Ziyuan taking care of him and all the appointed supervisors keeping an eye on them and that all being the reason that no one ever came out of the Yunmeng Jiang sect tent anymore.

However, this ruse that he and his father had thought of was still somewhat useful, at least he hoped it had been until now. Jin Guangshan was still publically declaring his concern over Wei Wuxian and never asked for the demonic cultivator to be handed over to the care of the Lanling Jin sect anymore. At least he had given up snatching Wei Wuxian away in plain sight.

That only left the hidden attempts which concerned Jiang Cheng way more. He could however not do anything about them as he did not even know where his family was right now. Jiang Cheng could only hope that he still needed his brother alive and would not come after his life now that he could not have his cooperation for himself anymore; he hoped that Jian Guangshan had not come to a decision that Wei Wuxian was better dead so he would not be a threat to him anymore. However, he could not be sure and there was no way for him to confirm this right now.

He sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers. It had been another long and hard day of his learning to navigate the waters between Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen and Jin Guangshan and his new son. All he wanted to do right now was to go to sleep and wake up only several days later. With all the worrying he had done these past few days, it had been a wonder that he had even gotten any rest at all, even if it had been just a few measly hours.

Just as he was about to get up and prepare for bed, he felt more than heard that there was someone walking just outside of the tent. It would not be anything too unusual, there were still many cultivators in the war camp as they refused to live inside Nightless City. What alerted him was the fact that the steps were way quieter than they should be for someone who would just be passing by. It seemed more like the person outside had been trying to sneak around unnoticed.

Well, too bad for them. Jiang Cheng was way more proficient in walking silently, he now used this skill, grabbed his sword and approached the door of the tent. The person was now apparently standing just on the other side of it. It was extremely suspicious.

Jiang Cheng did not wait for them to come inside, just in case it was someone who wanted to check who was in the tent and discover that Wei Wuxian was nowhere to be found. Or even worse, what if it was finally an assassin? Jiang Cheng reached his hand outside like an attacking snake, grabbed his prey over their mouth and dragged them inside, the blade of his sword at their throat.

The person stayed perfectly quiet and did not try to free themselves. Jiang Cheng had a little difficulty to look down at them when he was clutching them close to his chest but he managed it in the end.

He let go of them immediately. It was Nie Huisang who was wearing a dark green cloak. Jiang Cheng's heart was slowly starting to calm down as he scowled at the unwelcomed guest. What was Nie Huisang doing here?

"Brother Jiang," he whispered urgently and Jiang Cheng understood at once that he was afraid of being heard but despite that came to talk to him. What he wanted to say must have been very important then.

Jiang Cheng activated a silencing talisman which he had put up in order to convince everyone that his brother needed to rest in peace. Nie Huisang immediately relaxed and shook off the hood of his cloak. He looked tired and somehow almost twice his age. The last couple of days seemed to have taken a great toll on him for some reason. However, Jiang Cheng did not doubt that he was looking much the same. They were in this together.

"Brother Nie, he greeted back and invited the Qinghe Nie sect heir to sit down at the table with a gesture of his hand. Nie Huisang did not hesitate and all but fell down on the sitting cushion.

"Brother Jiang," started Nie Huisang again and looked all around. "Where is your father? I wanted to talk to both of you about this. I may have come up with a way to finally get to Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao. But I will need your help, I believe you will be interested as it may also help Brother Wei to be cleared of all those rumours. I know who had been spreading them this whole time and I think we can finally catch them in the act."

Jiang Cheng watched his friend with a mix of curiosity and awe. Sure, it had been Nie Huisang who had helped to get Wei Wuxian out of the war camp relatively unnoticed and it had also been him who had orchestrated the whole division of power after the Sunshot campaign had been finished. Still, Jiang Cheng had a hard time believing that Nie Huisang who had used to be a timid and somewhat weak individual during their studies in Cloud Recesses had turned out to be a shameless schemer and a puppet master.

After all, Jiang Cheng would have never believed him capable of going to such great lengths just to uncover Jiang Guangshan's plans.

The Qinghe Nie sect heir had come to him right after the choice of supervisors had been announced to them and had told him everything about his plot. He had already suspected that Jin Guangshan had not been playing a clear game all this time and only wanted power. On that, they both agreed.

What Jing Cheng had not quite seen had been the fact why he would have wanted that. It had however long become clear now, the Lanling Jin sect leader wanted to control the whole cultivation world all on his own. That had been the reason he had not joined the battles and why he had offered Jin Guangyao – Meng Yao at that time – to accept him as his son if he helped him with his plot.

Luckily, Nie Huisang had seen right through him and had acted in time, a true puppet master in the shadows. He had managed to convince Nie Mingjue to play with this for now, to look like he believed Jin Guangyao's lies about Wei Wuxian being dangerous. This way, Jin Guangshan would not feel threatened until it would be too late.

He had also spoken with Lan Xichen, there however, the results were mixed. It had been nearly impossible to sway the Gusu Lan sect leader's opinion of the man since Jin Guangyao had been the one who had helped him to hide on his running away after Cloud Recesses had been burnt. Now at least, Lan Xichen had accepted to be vigilant around the other and provide escort to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji on their travels back to Lotus Pier.

Nie Huisang had really outdone himself in playing right into Jin Guangshan's cards and making him feel in control of everything when the opposite was the truth. The Qinghe Nie sect disciple had been playing with him like a cat with a mouse this whole time. And it seemed like now was the time to finally strike.

All the exhaustion had left Jiang Cheng at once. He was ready for action. Anything would be better than attending banquets and discussions over what course the cultivation world should take from now on which were only a guise of Lanling Jin sect trying to control everything.

"Father should be here shortly," he informed the other with a somewhat devilish grin.