Backlash Part 1

Chapter 83: Building Yanli's Core

Lan Wangji had never been so eager to travel to Qishan. Come to think of it, he had never been so eager to travel to any discussion conference before. Wei Wuxian's many shidi and shimei were not the problem. While Lan Wangji was not fond of how much they enjoyed touching Wei Wuxian or monopolizing Wei Wuxian's time, the fact that Lan Wangji was allowed to end these interactions at will made them manageable. Especially since Wei Wuxian's shidi and shimei had all seemed to understand Lan Wangji's feelings and had since begun to limit the offending behaviours.

Lan Wangji did not like it when other people touched Wei Wuxian. There were exceptions. Two exceptions to be precise. Namely Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli. Lan Wangji was not bothered by either of them being close to Wei Wuxian or touching Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji was attempting to add Wen Qionglin and Lan Xichen to that list of exceptions, but so far that had not been managed.

Jiang Wanyin was not on that list. Jiang Wanyin was never going to be on that list, and Jiang Fengmian was not on it either. Today Jiang Fengmian had insisted on having a talk with Wei Wuxian to decide which disciples would participate in the upcoming archery competition. Lan Wangji was not happy about not attending this meeting. Even though he did not have anything to add, nor was it exactly appropriate for him to attend. Even the blatant request (order) that specifically just Wei Wuxian attended. Disrespecting a sect leader was a terrible idea. Especially when said sect leader was one of the people responsible for the arrangement of a certain betrothal. This and Wei Wuxian's insistence is what ultimately kept Lan Wangji from forcing his presence.

Lan Wangji found it offensive to request the presence of Wei Wuxian without him. The other way around would be equally offensive to Lan Wangji. As far as Lan Wangji was concerned, he and Wei Wuxian belonged together. Always. It should be assumed that if you wished for the presence of one of them you would receive both. So implying that it would be unusual to have both of them in attendance felt like an insult to Lan Wangji, no matter how insignificant said meeting should be.

Lan Wangji was not happy. He felt anxious and irritable. Nothing Lan Wangji did was going to change these feelings. The longer he was away from Wei Wuxian the more they increased and Lan Wangji did not know how much he could take. Lan Wangji took slow breaths and walked back towards his room. Wei Wuxian had promised to meet him there afterwards, so standing outside the room Wei Wuxian was currently in was technically unnecessary. Further Lan Wangji could play his guqin in his room and at this point it was probably the only thing Lan Wangji could do to control himself.

Lan Wangji's mood was not helped by the fact that the day had even started out rather poorly. Lan Wangji had chosen to allow Wei Wuxian to sleep in longer today. Wei Wuxian had been getting up in the middle of the night to place some of his talismans and wards that he had prepared. He had been doing so at night anywhere that would be too conspicuous to do it during the day and Wei Wuxian had one major thing left to do. He wanted to modify the barrier of Lotus Pier and so far he had not been able to get permission. Wei Wuxian had known he might not get it, so he had a back up plan. However the back up plan would require him to work at night.

In Cloud Recesses there was a strict curfew. Doing something without many people around was therefore a simple matter of waiting until after the curfew, assuming you had permission to be out from someone like Lan Xichen or Lan Wangji. Lotus Pier did not have a curfew and it was quite normal for disciples to be up and about late at night. Therefore doing things under cover of night at Lotus Pier required staying up very very late, or more accurately waking up at an hour of morning so early that Lan Wangji found it unnatural.

So it had become that Wei Wuxian's efforts to protect Lotus Pier had become more detrimental to his sleep than his nightmares. Which was saying something since Lan Wangji had noticed an uptick in Wei Wuxian's nightmares during their stay. Unfortunately Lan Wangji's intention to allow Wei Wuxian to sleep in had been disrupted by someone pounding rudely on the door of the guest room they were sharing.

This offensively loud knock was accompanied by an equally rude voice demanding to know if Wei Wuxian was inside. Wei Wuxian had been asleep and this shouting and knocking had startled him so badly that Wei Wuxian had screamed. Lan Wangji was grateful to the talismans they place nightly, because otherwise Jiang Wanyin would have gotten his answer upon hearing that startled scream.

Lan Wangji had completely ignored the disruptive presence outside the door in favour of calming Wei Wuxian, which was not easy. Once Wei Wuxian was calmed from his initial panic he realized Jiang Wanyin was looking for him in Lan Wangji's room. This started a completely separate panic, because Wei Wuxian had been afraid of someone discovering they were sharing a room. Wei Wuxian was terrified that if anyone beside Jiang Yanli knew, they would prevent Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian from sharing a room.

While Wei Wuxian was still panicking Jiang Yanli had arrived outside. This was a blessing. Jiang Wanyin had apparently gone to wake Wei Wuxian up for some reason and found his room empty. Which led Jiang Wanyin to pound loudly on Lan Wangji's door while cursing loudly about how Lan Wangji best not be doing anything inappropriate to Wei Wuxian. Jiang Yanli had calmly said that she saw the two of them go into town earlier. It was a lie, but Lan Wangji was impressed with how easily Jiang Yanli said it. She even laughed gently when Jiang Wanyin muttered about how much time Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were spending together.

So with Lan Wangji's plans to let Wei Wuxian sleep in ruined, the day had started with them making sure no one noticed them leaving the room. They had met up with Jiang Yanli for Wei Wuxian to train her for almost two hours. Wei Wuxian had been doing his best to find time every day while they were visiting. It was a challenge since they had to find somewhere out of the way.

Jiang Yanli had not wanted to tell anyone else about her efforts in cultivation. Lan Wangji assumed the reason was Yu Ziyuan, but he didn't ask. It was Jiang Yanli's decision and Lan Wangji could not fault her for being cautious about what she shared with her family. Lan Wangji did not exactly have a good opinion of them himself.

A light tap came from the door frame. Lan Wangji looked up, somewhat hopeful even though he knew Wei Wuxian would not knock. Jiang Yanli stood in the doorway with a gentle smile on her face.

"A-Xian is meeting with A-Die?" Jiang Yanli inquired. Lan Wangji nodded in confirmation. She smiled sympathetically as though she could see Lan Wangji's unhappiness.

"It should be a simple meeting. A-Xian has helped make these decisions before and there is nothing to make this conference more stressful than any others." Jiang Yanli spoke in a reassuring tone. Lan Wangji disagreed about this conference being the same as the previous ones, but he could not fault Jiang Yanli for not knowing.

"I'll keep you company until A-Xian returns. Perhaps you can help me with the meditations you taught me?" Jiang Yanli offered.

Lan Wangji could admit that Jiang Yanli had provided him with a much needed distraction. Lan Wangji wanted to respect Wei Wuxian's wishes by not making a fuss. Lan Wangji also did not wish to cause unnecessary problems with the YunmengJiang Sect Leader. With these things in mind, supervising Jiang Yanli in the meditation technique he had taught her was an excellent distraction. After ensuring that she was doing it correctly he had checked her spiritual energy to the best of his ability. Her amount of spiritual energy had increased greatly from when she had first begun practising in Cloud Recesses. Lan Wangji was actually a bit confused how her golden core had not formed yet.

"Wen Qing gave me a medicine to help with core formation. She said that as I get close to forming a core my spiritual power would likely be higher than normal before my core actually forms, but that my core should still be of the appropriate strength for my spiritual power when it does form." Jiang Yanli explained when Lan Wangji voiced his observations.

Since this explanation did fit with what Lan Wangji was observing he accepted it.  It was a bit strange to Lan Wangji, but Wen Qing would not give Jiang Yanli something harmful. Lan Wangji directed Jiang Yanli to practice the meditation while he played for her on his guqin. There were songs that helped with focusing the mind and increasing the effectiveness of meditation. Jiang Yanli was starting late compared to many in terms of forming a golden core, but that did not mean she needed to be behind forever.

Jiang Yanli was after all receiving assistance from the knowledge of three major sects. Medicine of the QishanWen sect, meditation techniques and musical assistance of the GusuLan sect, and of course the practices and training of her own sect. Not many cultivators could say that, and Jiang Yanli was certainly putting in the work to take advantage of the opportunity. Lan Wangji focused his attention on the music he was playing. Doing his best to be present in the moment rather than anxiously waiting for Wei Wuxian to return.