Unrestrained Heart

Chapter 10

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have barely settled into their room at the makeshift camp outside Qishan when a young man runs in happily yelling, "Brother Wei!"

Lan Wangji frowns. "Be nice," Wei Wuxian says in a low tone, "He's my friend."

It's not that Lan Wangji dislikes Nie Huaisang it's that the alpha, the absolutely perfect in everyone's eyes Hanguang-Jun, has a jealous streak. It's something Wei Wuxian has grown used to over the years but can occasionally take outsiders by surprise.

Lan Wangji sighs and goes out leaving the two alone.

Nie Huaisang looks after him in surprise then turns back to Wei Wuxian. "You're really back? Everyone has been searching for you these last few months, especially Jiang Cheng and..." He looks back the way Lan Wangji had gone.

It's no longer a secret that they are in a relationship, not after the way Wei Wuxian had behaved in the Xuanwu of Slaughter's cave and the way Lan Wangji had searched frantically for Wei Wuxian when he went missing.

"So where were you?" Nie Huaisang asks. Wei Wuxian sighs knowing it's a question that will be asked over and over for a long time to come. The tale of how he suddenly reappeared and single handedly took out Wen Chao has rocked the cultivation world to its core.

"It's a long story," Wei Wuxian says, "and can't be told without alcohol." He laughs and waves Nie Huaisang over to the table.

Nie Huaisang's attention is caught by something else, his mouth drops open. "Is that a mating bite?" He asks.

Wei Wuxian's hand goes to his neck. He feels the scar there and it grounds him as usual. "A very long story. Come sit with me and I'll tell you the romantic and heroic tale of how I was captured by the Wens but my love for second lord Lan kept me going."

He tells a very sanitized version of what happened that he, Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli had come up with. It starts with him being captured in Yiling and being taken to the burial mounds and ends with him using his talismans to get close to Wen Chao and take him out.

"And that?" Nie Huaisang waves his folded fan towards the bite.

This Wei Wuxian can be more honest with, "Lan Wangji and I have been betrothed for years, but we didn't dare tell anyone because of the Wens. After I was captured and escaped, we didn't want to wait any longer."

"You really are something, brother Wei. Even the famous light bearing lord can't resist your charms." Nie Huaisang says with a laugh.

"So I heard that your brother was responsible for freeing Lotus Pier." Wei Wuxian says, "And even managed to take out Wen Xu."

Nie Huaisang's eyes shine at this, he and Nie Mingjue are as different as night and day but there is no doubt he loves his brother. Then his face falls slightly. "He wants me to practice more with my saber, he says I waste my time with trifles."

Wei Wuxian thinks of the way Jiang Cheng often yells at him for working on his talismans and devices rather than taking sword practice. "Your talents just lie elsewhere." It's true that Nie Huaisang has a weak spiritual core but when it comes to finding out information and involving himself in intrigue there is no one Wei Wuxian would rather have on his side.

"There's one thing you can do, we just arrived, show me around the camp." Wei Wuxian says.

The camp is fairly extensive. It was once a residence of a prominent Wen Cultivation Clan, but they had fled or been killed when the clan alliance had taken over the area.

The training ground is full of mostly low-level cultivators being drilled in sword techniques by a few of the masters. Many of these have a spiritual core so low they can barely handle their swords at all. Some of them are from poor clans who never had the means to train even their promising members unless they were noticed and taken in by the larger clans or sects. There were also a few people from prominent families that had never developed strong cores. Although the most prominent families usually managed to have their sons and daughters assigned to different tasks that would keep them out of harm's way.