Lilium {Mo Dao Zu Shi}

Lavender [Chapter 13]

Yu ZiYuan stood with calculating eyes. Everyone was tense. 

Wei WuXian had just announced that there was a traitor among the people inside Cloud Recesses.

Wei WuXian spoke with a stern tone, "Jiang Cheng, has there been attacks at Lotus Pier in the last few days?"
"None." Jiang Cheng responded with a neutral tone. He didn’t doubt Wei WuXian, as he knew first hand how intelligent the other person was.

Lan WangJi nodded, "It's definitely something related to that."
"To what, Hanguang-Jun?" Lan JingYi asked anxiously.

Wei WuXian remained still for a few seconds, then he looked at Yu ZiYuan, who had already started to piece things together, Wei WuXian assumed, as her face was twisting into a frown by each passing second.

Sensing the gaze, Yu ZiYuan looked at Wei WuXian. Jiang Cheng saw this interaction, and found it to be strange.

He asked, "I have a question before that."
"Yes?"
"Zidian sparked irrationally when it came near Xiao Guniang. Is the incident related to that?" Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Jin Ling seemed to fall into a deep thought.

The air felt like a bow string stretched to the edge. Lan SiZhui gulped. And suddenly, a very bizarre thought took over his head.

Jiang Cheng brought out Zidian, and just like before, it started to spark, making lightening foundations and sounds.

Yu ZiYuan looked at her old spiritual weapon, and could feel its call. It still recognised her.

Jiang Cheng looked at her with a dangerous gaze. Wei WuXian could feel his palms get wet with sweat. He didn’t know what to do of this situation.

There seemed to be no other choice than to reveal Yu ZiYuan's identity.

Yu ZiYuan looked at Lan Qiren, who was also watching the entire situation cautiously. And then looked at Jiang Cheng, Zidian still sparking.

She didn’t know what to respond.

"I am...not sure as to what you want me to do." She finally said it out in a last ditch attempt to escape, with a rather meek tone.

"Hold it." Jiang Cheng commanded.
"But...I cannot, it’s your weapon. It will repel me with lightening instead." She tried.

"Do it." The Jiang sect leader was persistent.

Yu ZiYuan, with shaky hands, extended her palms as she was made to grip the weapon with everything against her will.

Thunder exploded as Zidian crackled loudly in her hands. Lan XiChen's eyes widened, "How can this be?"
"What is it, Master Lan?" a junior Lan disciple asked.
"This weapon, Zidian, recognises this little girl as its master as well." Lan Qiren said with clarity. Lan XiChen added, "Indeed. It recognises this maiden as its master."

Wei WuXian gripped the compass of evil in his hands tightly. He could see from the corner of his eyes the direction the radar was going towards.

Lan WangJi brought out Bichen slightly, ready to make a move any time.

Someone was plotting something with this interaction.

Jiang Cheng's eyes widened. Then they calmed down again, and then widened again.

He stepped back, "No...wait...am I crazy...am I thinking too much into it...?" The sect leader mumbled to himself. Yu ZiYuan could feel his stomach twisting into several knots of anxiety. If they all figured it out now, the enemy might actually do something atrocious.

Jiang Cheng's first thought reflected as his gaze landed on Wei WuXian. This same thing had happened three months ago as well.

When Wei WuXian pulled out Suibian from its scabbard.

"Are you...a previous owner of Zidian?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"..." Yu ZiYuan couldn’t answer.

Jin Ling said with surprise, "That would explain why she could use a rope as a whip so well earlier." his golden eyes that resembled YanLi were tinged with worry and curiosity.
"Explain." Jiang Cheng turned to her, and at the same time, Yu ZiYuan turned to Wei WuXian with a distraught expression.

'What should we do?' Was written all over her face.

Wei WuXian shook his head, indicating there wasn’t any way to escape except telling the truth.

As Yu ZiYuan gripped Zidian, there was a flash.

"Found you!" Wei WuXian yelled at one particular disciple in the back. The others parted, and the disciple looked at Wei WuXian with panicked eyes.

He was a fairly handsome disciple, wearing the uniform of a not very known sect. Wei WuXian didn’t know of this sect apparently. His eyes were a light shade of orange and his hair was not that long, and styled in a simple ponytail. He wore dark grey robes with black trims.

The boy immediately jumped away, "Damn you, Wei WuXian." His expression was angry. It seemed like he wasn’t as young as the others either. His hand was holding a talisman.

Lan WangJi immediately brought out Bichen, understanding the situation,  but the disciple activated the talisman and disappeared before Bichen could strike him down.

"What the...?" Lan SiZhui was too surprised. Everything happened in the matter of a few seconds.
"Teleportation talisman." Lan XiChen had also brought out ShuoYue, but to no avail was it successful.

"This guy was planning to do something with resentment energy." Wei WuXian snarled darkly, "And surprisingly, it was stored in an object. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but the shape seemed like a cube."

"Shouldn’t he have Qi deviated?" Asked Jin Ling.
"Not necessarily. As I said, it’s stores in a cube. He is not controlling the resentment energy, but releasing it. He can only control the amount he can release, as much as I figured out." Wei WuXian responded as he kept one of his hands under his chin, sinking into a brief deep thought.

"What even is happening?" Lan JingYi was so confused and had a very distraught expression.

"This entire thing, it can't be a coincidence." Jiang Cheng made a solid statement.

"Xiao Guniang, you have some very long explanations to do." a Lan elder challenged, looking at Yu ZiYuan with an accusatory gaze.

This entire situation reminded everyone of another very similar situation, which was, by now, almost a secret to nobody in the cultivation world.

Yu ZiYuan, who was quietly watching the entire thing, hoping that everyone would forget about the events regarding Zidian, stiffened slightly and gulped.

"A-ah...that...I...I do not really know what to say? I am not much aware of the situation either." she said with a worried expression.

"May we talk? Just us." Jiang Cheng seemed to understand that she didn’t talk about this in front of everyone, "Since this is about Zidian, I don’t think it concerns anyone other than me, who is the owner of the weapon."

Everyone fell silent at that. Even though it was forbidden to gossip in Cloud Recesses, they wanted to see the drama.

Lan Qiren nodded, "I agree. We should be more concerned about the whole resentment fiasco."

Jiang Cheng nodded, "Then, let us go to a private room."

Yu ZiYuan looked slightly uncomfortable, and spoke, "May Senior Wei come with us too?"

Jiang Cheng's face twitched into a frown, "Why so?"
"I...It's important." Yu ZiYuan sighed. If she had to reveal everything anyway, might as well let the two former sect brothers talk.

Former. The word really didn’t sit well with Yu ZiYuan. 

She steeled her nerves for a very nerve wracking conversation, and looked up at everyone for the first time as not Xiao MingYu, but Yu ZiYuan, intentionally, that is.

"Very well then. Let us discuss it out."

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Note: Lavender represents distrust.