Blind to You

The Yiling Patriarch

"Thank you," Lan Xichen bowed to the villager and exited her small hut, folding his hands into his sleeves. Outside, Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi were watching an anxious and pacing Jin Ling kick up dust on the road. They all turned to look at Xichen.

"Anything?" Jin Ling fiddled with the hilt of his sword.
"Yes," Lan Xichen breathed out. "Yes, I think so. She said she saw a cultivator in purple fly east above her house." He pointed to a dense forest in that direction. "And then she heard a crash."

"Why didn't she do anything?" Jin Ling demanded. He was so much like Jiang Cheng.
"She's old; the brush is too thick for her to climb through. Besides, she assumed it was an animal."

Jingyi eyed the dense forest with distaste. "Good thing we have swords," he muttered.
"How long ago did she see that?" Sizhui asked, ever the sensible one.
"Nearly three days."

They had only been searching for one day, even with Wei Wuxian's talismans and their fastest messengers, it took two days for them all to arrive at Lotus Pier, and another half day to figure out where Jiang Cheng had been going in the first place. Luckily, he wrote almost everything down, including the contact in Caiyi.

She told them when they arrived that due to a confidentiality agreement, she could not tell them why he came. But since he was missing, she told them where he stayed and when he left, as well as the direction he left in.

It was nearing sunset now, but since they finally had a lead, Lan Xichen expected they would not stop to find an inn. They split some fire talismans and broke into a long line, only close enough to keep each other in sight.

Xichen felt bad for not alerting Wei Wuxian and Wangji, but it would have taken too long.

Lan Xichen tried to avoid cutting anything down, opting to bend under the plants or hop across them. He eventually came upon a small grove of trees, their leaves and needles glowing in the red sunset. A gentle breeze sifted through the tall trunks, shaking the branches and blowing against Xichen's cheeks. It was quite serene.

A flash of purple snapped him out of his observations; there was someone laying on the forest floor.

He yelled to Sizhui and rushed forward, dropping to his knees to support Jiang Cheng's head in his lap. Lan Xichen checked his pulse and was relieved to feel the heart beating fairly steadily.

"Jiang Wanyin."
The other man's eyes cracked open slightly. "I can… see you…"
What an odd thing to say.
"It's Lan Xichen. Jin Ling will be here too, in a moment." The crashing of the brush was every indication of that.

"Lan Xichen… I must be dead, then…"
Wanyin's eyed slipped closed again, and Xichen noticed the skin of his face was hot to the touch. The three juniors arrived, Jin Ling hurrying over to his uncle's side.

"Jiujiu! Is he ok? Is he breathing?"
"Yes, he's breathing," Lan Xichen replied worriedly. To the other two, he said, "Get Wei Wuxian and Hanguang-jun."
They stepped away and set off a white flare.

Jin Ling grabbed his uncle's arm and shook it a little. "Dammit, JiuJiu." Xichen was surprised to see the boy tear up. "Why'd you have to do something stupid like this?"

Lan Xichen rested a hand on his back. "Do not worry, Young Master Jin. We'll get him back to Lotus Pier safely."
"I yelled at him, Zewu-Jun. I told him I didn't need him, and I told him to leave… I didn't mean it, I was just angry."

Ah yes. Jiang Cheng had mentioned an argument with his nephew in a previous letter, but he hasn't gone into details. "Jin Ling… I'm sure your uncle didn't take it to heart. You can tell him you're sorry when he wakes up."