Wild Creatures

Chapter 106

Lan Zhan knew the exact moment Wei Ying activated Chenqing and used the HeartStone. Mid-fight, arms up and defending himself from the onslaught of determined, savage creatures, they stopped at the same time that he found he couldn't do anything.

Baoshan Sanren had called it, leading him aside when the opportunity presented itself as Wei Ying drifted over to say something to his uncle, a while back.

"Listen." Her sharp tone alerted Lan Zhan that this wasn't going to be an ordinary conversation. "When the time comes, we are going to protect him." She glances over to where Wei Ying has thrown back his head and laughed out loud.

The action of it, his mirth, flows through his body with rippling waves of pleasure.

"His enemies must know something of his skill, given their deployment of earplugs. In that scenario, I am going to make sure he survives, first and foremost." Her tone is determined, and unapologetic.

Lan Zhan hadn't even thought that far ahead. And he appreciated her forethought. She knew that if Wei Ying found out about this, he would have protested, hence her sneaky conversation.

And just before the battle started, all her prime fighters had already arranged themselves like a circular shield around Wei Ying and himself.

And now?

Frozen in time, he could only watch as the music intensified and the shrill notes rang out into the air all around him, echoing off the walls and striking fear into the opposing army.

Wei Ying...

His beautiful beloved had found a way.

His playing seems to control the space in between them, and time stands still. He watches how the confusion builds in the enemy, and quickly turns into fear, already paralysed beings made to commit a most gruesome crime. Their own swords are lifted by their hands and bidden to sever their own necks.

He feels cocooned somehow and he knows without a doubt that the HeartStone has agreed to Wei Ying's mastery of it, and together, today, they will beat the Wens.

When he is freed from what he could only describe as a bubble of protection, he goes to stand as close to Wei Ying as possible, without disturbing him.

Wei Ying looks amazing as always, but right now? In this moment, wisps of his silky hair float around his face, his eyes closed in a serene concentration. His cream silk shirt clings to his heavenly body, a second skin, above wine coloured trousers. Lan Zhan can feel a little smug about that; he had bought the outfit on the premise that it was going to look great on his boyfriend, and he was so right!

He couldn't wait to go home and show his appreciation for this magnificent sight.

Wei Ying looked supremely confident, in control and powerful, radiant with it.

His gaze flickers first to Wen Zhong, and then Baoshan Sanren. But he has to force himself to keep looking at the former, through all the changes in his expression, from his arrogant belief that he could still survive this, to the sudden fear as he sees what Wei Ying is wearing around his neck. The black whispering tendrils of Resentment energy have completely covered him now, and death is waiting by his side.

Baoshan Sanren lifts up her swords and finishes him.

Lan Zhan is surprised at himself.

He feels nothing.

Not relief, not the dissipation of his anger, nor happiness that the monster is finally dead.

This is the person who spared no second thought before ruthlessly attacking him, changing his life forever. He thought he had made his peace with it, when Wen Chao died, and in many ways, perhaps he had.