Backlash Part 1

Chapter 143: After Battle Routine - part 2

Wei Wuxian awoke to a dark tent. A pale sliver of light passed through the loose flap of the tent. Wei Wuxian already knew where he would be. He had been sharing a tent with Lan Wangji for the entirety of the war and the familiar interior of their shared space was illuminated into rough silhouettes. Wei Wuxian guessed it was probably very late at night. Late enough that most of the late night drinkers were already passed out, but not quite hitting the early hours of the morning when everything became deathly quiet.

If they had not had such an intense battle yesterday, or earlier today, Wei Wuxian would have just buried his face in the crook of Lan Wangji's neck and let himself sink back into sleep. He was exhausted. He didn't remember eating when they came back to the tent. Wei Wuxian vaguely recalled helping Lan Wangji clean the blood and grime from his body. He probably fell asleep sometime during the blissfully relaxing sensation of having his stiff limbs massaged and warmed.

Wei Wuxian forced himself to draw a bit further from sleep and took a moment to focus on his body. His whole body was still tender and aching, like he was covered in invisible bruises. It didn't exactly hurt, but every touch of pressure caused a vague achy sensation to radiate from the affected area. Wei Wuxian yawned so wide that he felt his jaw pop.

It was fiercely tempting to curl beneath the blanket and go back to sleep. Wei Wuxian's mind and body would both appreciate the rest. By the time morning rolled around his body would no longer be hurting. Lan Wangji was so warm, and Wei Wuxian still had a bit of a chill in his bones. The night air seemed to steal the warmth Wei Wuxian had likely leached from Lan Wangji while cuddled under the blankets.

Wei Wuxian toyed with the idea as he blindly sought out Lan Wangji's wrist. It was after a battle. He had to check. Maybe Lan Wangji was more reasonable this time. Then Wei Wuxian could cuddle back into the warmth and go back to sleep. Wei Wuxian's searching fingers found the back of Lan Wangji's hand first. He followed it blindly to Lan Wangji's wrist, wrapping his fingers around the wrist to rest against Lan Wangji's pulse point. A gentle probing with his own spiritual energy was all it took for Wei Wuxian to check Lan Wangji's spiritual energy.

Wei Wuxian frowned. He checked again, gently prodding Lan Wangji's golden core as Wei Wuxian pulled himself to a sitting position. Lan Wangji's spiritual energy was incredibly low. Wei Wuxian exhaled an unhappy puff of air. Lan Wangji overdid it again. It shouldn't really be a surprise anymore.

Wei Wuxian adjusted himself closer to a proper sitting position. His hopes of immediately going back to sleep were now thoroughly shattered and he did need to be awake to do this properly. The glow of spiritual energy lit the walls of their tent as Wei Wuxian directed a steady stream into his unconscious betrothed.

A familiar mixture of emotions bubbled up in Wei Wuxian's stomach. A feeling that wanted to come out of his mouth in a long stream of unhappy grumbles, but was entirely too warm and soft to be even close to anger. Suddenly there was too much emotion and too much energy for Wei Wuxian to contain in his body. His feet began to wiggle in small fidgety movements, using it to give the excess energy somewhere to go.

Wei Wuxian was not happy, but he also sort of was. It was a frustrating combination. He understood Lan Wangji's motivations. Wei Wuxian even sort of adored the lengths Lan Wangji would go to to dote on him. Wei Wuxian did not like that Lan Wangji would expend his spiritual energy to this extent. However, when Wei Wuxian complained, Lan Wangji had many very rational arguments to support his behavior. Lan Wangji was also... really stubborn.

Wei Wuxian has had to rely almost exclusively on resentful energy during battles. Wei Wuxian had some concerns about how having a golden core would impact his use of resentful energy. Surprisingly the answer has been that it mostly doesn't. The only thing is that the two energies require a little gentle handling if you want them to play nicely together.