Backlash Part 2

Chapter 237: Lanling - Wei Qing

The Lans were awake with the first brush of sunrise. The sky was just barely pale enough for the stars to fade from view. Wei Qing was never a late sleeper, even if she had stayed awake into the long hours of the night she would rarely manage to sleep much more than an extra hour. That said, she does not appreciate being woken earlier for anything short of a medical emergency. A-Ying and Nuan-er both remained stable throughout the night, which Wei Qing is grateful for. She would be more grateful if she had been allowed one additional hour to sleep. Unfortunately, Wei Qing can recognise that the situation they are in is urgent, if not currently requiring emergency medical intervention. The day was young, someone would probably require emergency medical intervention before it was over.

Wei Qing was dressed and seated at a table with Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji. Both seemed anxious. Lan Xichen, in that quiet but obviously fretful way of his. Lan Wangji, in the way his eyes continued to slide towards the stairs that would take him back up to the room where A-Ying and Nuan-er currently slept. They were not alone. No one was likely to be going anywhere alone while they were still in Lanling.

There are two disciples in the room guarding and monitoring A-Ying and Nuan-er. There are disciples outside their door, patrolling around the inn, even those sitting at other tables in the dining area where Wei Qing and the Twin Jades were seated. Wei Qing supposed that the group at the other table might actually be waiting for breakfast rather than acting as guards, but she doesn't doubt they would be quick to step in should any trouble arrive. It makes them about as good as guards as far as she is concerned.

They might be the ones that will accompany her and Lan Xichen to Lanling. Wei Qing suspecting at least half of the cultivators present would be staying behind. It might be counter intuitive, given that Wei Qing and Lan Xichen would be the ones accusing the Jin while inside Koi Tower, but Lan Xichen was confident that they could rely on the Nie to defend them should anyone try to attack them or prevent them from leaving.

"Wei Ying would not want you to go without him." Lan Wangji's voice was tinted subtly with disapproval. There was the smallest furrow between his brows which Wei Qing interpreted to mean either displeasure or perhaps an expression of Lan Wangji's own conflicted feelings.

"A-Ying won't want any of us to go without him, but it will be better if he is not there." Wei Qing insisted.

She had talked it over with Lan Xichen. He had been wavering about the importance of first hand testimony versus the danger inherent to asking A-Ying to enter Koi Tower and be surrounded by the people who had held him captive. When he shared his concerns with Wei Qing she did not debate the options. A-Ying would enter Koi tower today over her dead body. Given that she vividly remembered being burned alive inside the glittering walls of the LanlingJin sect this was not how she planned to articulate the sentiment out loud and deeply regretted using the phrase within her own head.

With much less unfortunate phrasing Wei Qing vehemently opposed bringing A-Ying with to confront the LanlingJin sect. Convincing Lan Xichen had not been difficult when he was already uncertain about which course of action would be best, but Wei Qing outlined her reasoning anyway. As much as she appreciated Lan Xichen seaking her advice, she didn't want him just giving way to her opinion instead of ceding to the opinions of every friend, elder, and temperamental person he wanted to soothe.

So Wei Qing was firm, but she was also very clear about her reasons. It was not safe for A-Ying in Koi Tower, and his presence would only create an easy target for the Jin to deflect blame. The Jin had been working hard to tarnish A-Ying's reputation almost before the war was even over. Nothing that they could be accused of directly, but Wei Qing knew how many rumors she had only heard about when they were whispered from Jin Guangyao's lips. She didn't doubt they were behind most of them, nor did she doubt that they were behind the supposed "sightings" that Jin Guangyao had fretted over during his unannounced visit. It would be easy to turn public sentiment against Wei Wuxian, demonic cultivator, and son of a servant. The groundwork had already been put into place.