Backlash Part 1

Chapter 69: A Wild Mountain Goat Has Appeared

The months Wei Wuxian had been at Cloud Recesses had been hectic. Wei Wuxian had made hundreds of talismans to place on structures throughout the Cloud Recesses. He had developed and completed the array for protecting the library. He had, somewhat illicitly, modified the barrier that prevented people from wandering into the back hills. Technically he didn't change the barrier. It was a pretty solid one to begin with. He had just made a very difficult minor adjustment.

Cloud Recesses was a place abundant in spiritual energy. It was a place where such energy naturally gathered. This is what gave rise to things like the Cold Spring that exhibited such strong healing properties. So much of that energy gathered in the land here that it had supplied Wei Wuxian with an interesting opportunity. The array he wanted to use on the library was complicated. It also required a large amount of spiritual energy. More importantly if the spiritual energy were to falter at the wrong time, it could have devastating consequences.

However, if he could make the array gather spiritual energy from the environment in the same way that the cold spring did, then there would be no concerns of said energy spontaneously giving out. The idea was brilliant, but making it work had been another story. In the end it took seven days during which he had to flood the array with spiritual energy. It was exhausting. Still, it worked. He had made it work and that gave him another very good idea for the barrier that protected the back hills. Rather than replace an already powerful barrier he made a slight modification to it so that the barrier could draw energy from the environment, like the protections he had placed on the library.

Since he was also working on his plans for improving Lotus Pier's defences and training his Shijie, Wei Wuxian had barely had the spare time to breathe. The closer it came to the end of classes at Cloud Recesses the harder he pushed himself. If Lan Wangji wasn't so skilled at pulling him away from his work and distracting him, Wei Wuxian's health would definitely have suffered. As is, his physical health was doing fine.

Wei Wuxian pulled a book out and set it on the table. This was something else that had been consuming his time. Wen Qing had agreed to continue to pass information to Lan Xichen once she returned to Qishan. That meant she needed a safe way to pass said information. This book and its counterpart were the end result.

"Xichen-ge, I have something for you." WeI Wuxian said with a smile.

"What is this for Wuxian?" Lan Xichen asked as he looked down at the book with interest.

"First place your hand on the cover and gently channel your spiritual energy into it." Wei Wuxian said firmly, sliding the book closer to Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen glanced at Wei Wuxian curiously. He then looked at Lan Wangji who nodded his head in agreement. Lan Xichen placed his hand on the cover of the book and gently channeled a small amount of spiritual energy into the book. Lan Xichen was mindful of not using too much, concerned he might break the book.

Much to Lan Xichen's surprise a glow emanated from the book. Something like an array glowed just above the book, surrounding his hand. It lasted only a few seconds before the aquamarine light seemed to be absorbed into the book. Lan Xichen took his hand back instinctually. Wei Wuxian grinned widely.

"Now it is attuned to your spiritual energy." Wei Wuxian announced proudly. "If you open the book without using spiritual energy it will appear blank. The same will be true if anyone other than you opens it, with or without spiritual energy." Wei Wuxian demonstrated by opening the book and showing blank pages inside. He closed the book and pushed it towards Lan Xichen.

"With a small amount of spiritual energy radiating from your hand or fingers, open it." Wei Wuxian instructed. Lan Xichen channelled a tiny amount of spiritual energy into his fingers and opened the cover. The first page, that had before been blank, was half filled with clean slightly slanted characters in shimmering black ink.

Zewu-Jun, please inform A-Ying that he should have thought of a better way to test the features of these books. Having me write a meaningless message for the sake of demonstration is wasteful.

Don't read this next part to A-Ying. I expect he is going to bring up returning to Lotus Pier soon. I understand his desperation to protect the YunmengJiang sect, but that place is not good for him. If possible encourage him to limit his time there, or invite him to return to Cloud Recesses whenever he would like. I obviously can't make such decisions for you, but my impression is that you will not mind keeping him in Cloud Recesses. He absolutely should not go to Lotus Pier without Lan Wangji. Please take this into account if you need Lan Wangji to attend to something.

Wen Qing

Lan Xichen read the words and examined the ink carefully. On closer inspection he realized that the shimmering was spiritual energy. The ink seemed to be infused with it, or possibly made of it was more accurate? Lan Xichen turned to Wei Wuxian, about to inquire, but found Wei Wuxian bouncing excitedly in his seat. Words ready to burst from Wei Wuxian's chest.

"What did she write?" Wei Wuxian asked excitedly. His eyes sparkling, looking so much more lively than five months ago.

"She expressed the desire for you to think of a different way to test the books' features, rather than making her write a message." Lan Xichen said with a small amused smile.

Wei Wuxian began to laugh, loud and boisterous. Lan Xichen saw the soft happy expression on Lan Wangji's face. His didi looked completely enchanted by Wei Wuxian's lively demeanour. Lan Xichen could admit that, after all the time of seeing Wei Wuxian so muted and depressed, seeing Wei Wuxian lively and joyous brought a sense of relief. Lan Xichen felt like he could breathe a little easier. Now assured that the love of his didi's life was no longer one bad dream away from ending his own existence.

"When you want to write a message you only need to channel a small amount of spiritual energy into the brush. Ink is technically optional. It would be odd to see someone writing without ink, but in an emergency ink could be cumbersome. So both methods work. To make it less suspicious you can also write normally in the book. If you open it without using spiritual energy you can write whatever you would like with ordinary ink. When you open the book with spiritual energy those messages will disappear and the ones written in spiritual energy will be visible instead." Wei Wuxian began explaining energetically once he had calmed down from his laughing fit. The information was coming so quickly that Lan Xichen could barely process everything Wei Wuxian was saying.

Lan Xichen stared at the seemingly ordinary book in his hands. This was an incredible invention. The amount of thought and care Wei Wuxian had placed in its design. He made it look ordinary so it wouldn't stand out. He made it so if someone else got their hands on it they would not be able to read the messages that had been sent. He made it so someone else could not use it to send false messages. Wei Wuxian even considered emergency messages versus covert writing, and how suspicious it would be for the book to appear completely blank if people saw you writing in it.

The creation of this was ingenious, but more than that it was so thoughtful. Lan Xichen by now knew from Lan Wangji that Wei Wuxian would throw himself into working on new inventions, talismans, arrays, and completely neglect himself. He had no idea how long this book and its pair took to be created, but it was evident how much focus and attention Wei Wuxian had devoted to it.

"Wuxian, this is quite remarkable." Lan Xichen praised as he assessed the object with something akin to awe.

"Mn." Lan Wangji agreed, gazing at Wei Wuxian with a mix of affection and pride. A beautiful pink painted Wei Wuxian's cheeks as he fidgeted somewhat awkwardly.

"It's... I hope it will be useful." Wei Wuxian said, struggling a bit under the praise. It felt weird. He was used to being insulted. He was used to being cursed and yelled at. Receiving genuine praise for his work made him feel weird. The urge to fidget grew as he tried to distract himself from the feeling and the fact that his face was heating.

There was a light knock on the door that saved Wei Wuxian from having to think of any more coherent responses to the praise. Wei Wuxian secretly said a word of thanks in his head to the person who had saved him from his embarrassment, and then he heard the voice of the person that Lan Xichen had just invited into the room.

"Shufu." Lan Xichen greeted Lan Qiren before inviting him inside.