His Excellency: The Untamed

11. Back For You

Lan Wangji felt the sword pass by his head and turned around to catch the blade before it ran past his shoulder. The sharpness against his palm was nothing but its tip managed to reach Wei Ying, straight into his chest. Wen Ning had collapsed, unable to defend Wei Ying.

A part of him knew it was impossible for him not to notice the movement of a sword so close to him- Concealment. But a larger part of him screamed, "Wei Ying!" 

The sight of Wei Ying's mangled body was enough to rip his soul but the sight of the sword piercing into Wei Ying's body angered him beyond what he had ever been capable of. He looked at Lady Lan, anger fueling his desire to get rid of her, which he had already subdued for so long. He did the next best thing, he destroyed what was concealed from him.

He yanked the sword from her hold. She used a large amount of spiritual strength to pull it back but it was no comparison to his sheer force trained over years. Not only did he pull the sword, but he also slammed it into the ground tip first at such an angel as to break her spiritual tool into many pieces. 

Then, he positioned himself before Wei Ying, shielding him.

The power of her spiritual tool pushed everyone back. He slid back close to Wei Ying behind his back. Now they were concealed close to the controlled Yang energy. The energy that had not restrained his entry at the approach of resentment was here. He could feel it at the back of his neck, stronger than he had felt in the general on the old battlefield. The phoenix's power was still flowing through them all. The people here still didn't understand the strength of the creature.

After his first encounter with the Yang creature, he had spent days in his residence mediating. 

He had come up to the ground and spewed blood, saving his next meridian from blunt yang force. When he went to his residence, Lady Lan had it surrounded, still hacking, he had thrown her off, channeling away as much qi as he could without hurting her.

"Expel the extra qi." he had commanded her, only hoping, she would listen.

"You have come back," she called after him as he stepped in.  The first thing he did was throw up incantations to keep the abode safe. He couldn't let anyone interfere with what he was to do next.

"You are saved, he was right, the yang energy can dispel all curses," he had no idea who she was talking about but finding out will have to wait. A slight tremor in the air made him realize she was trying to step through the door.

If not for that, her words told him so, "What is the meaning of this Hanguang Jun? You are restricting my entry? You have to believe that I was only doing this for your own good. To save you."

He closed the door with a flick of his hand and rushed to settle at the table. The two small booklets were Wei Ying's, seeing how he had thrown them carelessly. His heart clenched and pushed everything into one corner.

With his guqin on the table, he closed his eyes and rested his fingers in the air above the string. The extra qi was raging to be used up and he let it free, guiding it to play inquiry, summoning, inquiry, and summoning and so on he continued.

The first spirit had no answer, the next one had none, no one came when he played summoning and he was thrown back in time all those years ago. No matter how many times he played them over and over again Wei Ying had never answered but he knew Wei Ying would answer now.

Wei Ying, then, had rested and given up, Wei Ying today had not. He pushed away the pain that spilled into tears and fixed an image of a golden aura when Wei Ying's soul smiled at him, a reassuring smile. It was a promise.

He alone knew how powerful Wei Ying was. He had lived through Burial mounds, lived through a golden core transfusion, he had killed armies when he had no golden core. Wei Ying wouldn't die if he didn't want to.