His Excellency: The Untamed

13. The Mastermind.

Lan Zhan knew that Wei Ying's cultivation build-up beyond his body's physical limits would hinder his healing. Right now, each part was keeping the other in check which meant neither of them was fully working to heal him. The golden core was sealed by the resentment while the resentment was meant to keep him together, not exactly heal him.

But, his current cultivation state was natural, each qi balanced with the other. He could operate on both as easy as breathing. If he were to heal faster, he would have to exert extra efforts for it which his body still could not take. Wei Ying would have to unseal his golden core so that his body could use that qi for healing but the condition of the body couldn't take it.

Lan Zhan did not see any solution to this and Wei Ying told him that they shouldn't be looking for one either. Wei Ying told him that his qi was beyond what has ever existed before which is why their theories might not be true. Wei Ying insisted that he would eventually have to learn to do this on his own but Lan Zhan did not listen. Every morning as Wei Ying slept, he transferred internal energy to Wei Ying's head.

Wei Ying still looked the same as when he first came in. The skin was cracked, dry, and flaky. Many parts of his body still looked twisted and broken. The grim was thick and sticky and Wei Ying always protested when Lan Zhan tried to touch him more than a helping hand. But it didn't bother him and neither did he listen. 

"How does cleaning matter in the face of Wei Ying's condition?" He told Wei Ying stubbornly as he transferred internal energy one day. They needed at least some part of Wei Ying to heal for them to even touch him enough to clean. At first, Lan Zhan thought Wei Ying was resisting just him but Wei Ying was resisting anybody that tried to clean him. He wanted to do it himself.

Wei Ying himself was working hard. All day every day, he meditated, ate, and slept. That's all he did. Lan Zhan had never seen Wei Ying so dedicated.

He had always known Wei Ying to be easygoing and knew his mastery of the 6 arts. As a young man, he had never understood how Wei Ying had achieved that without practice and dedication. Over time as they night hunted together, he saw Wei Ying's intelligence and genius. No matter how much he denied his heart he couldn't help but acknowledge that Wei Ying was equivalent to him. He thought Wei Ying was born that way, a genius, which helped him surpass others.

He had lived with Wei Ying when they were night hunting but the true meaning of living together, he only understood now. Only now did he see the dedication that others did not, that even he had failed to see for so long.

He woke up every morning to the love of his life and went to sleep seeing him meditate into the night. He bought back, breakfast, lunch, herbal healing tea, and dinner for Wei Ying himself. Each food was nothing but watered-down soups he knew Wei Ying hated but he still drank them despite his continuous flow of ranting. He couldn't trust anybody but a few disciples with the task. 

He still did it himself because he wouldn't let anybody else feed Wei Ying. To Shizhui he left other things like changing sheets and bringing in water. He took care of the sects, their doubts, treason, and consequences during this time. Lady Lan, he knew, he couldn't deal with unbiasedly until Wei Ying recovered. 

Finally, after many many days of working through the mess created by Lady Lan, GuangZhi Jia was quiet again. The sects had left, and only Sect Leader Jin left a few disciples behind seeing Guang Zhi Jia's low manpower, even though Lan Wangji declined help.

"I want to sit Lan Zhan," Wei Ying called and Lan Zhan closed his book. He had stopped reading some time back, lost in thought, mulling over the past fortnight.

He placed a hand behind Wei Ying's head and another behind his waist before propping him in a sitting position. The last time when he picked Wei Ying up to carry him back to Jingshi, he had simply wanted Wei Ying close to his body. Wei Ying's laugh had been brighter than the moonlight that night. Now when Wei Ying smiled, there were winches of pain like needle stabs in his chest.