At thirteen, Wei Ying creates an array he calls 'Time Reversal' which he uses to save Jiang Cheng from drowning. At fifteen, he dies in a tragic accident. Two years after that, Wen Ruohan has overcome the Nie-Lan-Jiang rebellion. The small clans as...
Upon their return to Yunshen Buzhichu, Wei Ying started enthusiastically writing out ideas for a talisman class, deciding to separate talismans and arrays into two distinct courses.
Their days settled into a pattern. They went for an early (Wei Ying complaining each and every time) meditation session in the Cold Pond followed by Wei Ying receiving a massage while he played Healing every other morning. The off mornings, they would sit in the Jingshi or out at the bunny pavilion and meditate. The rest of the days were spent teaching, preparing for teaching, assisting Lan Xichen with managing the sect or the disciples, or practicing martial arts paired with the occasional night hunt or day trip into Caiyi. And the nights were spent in each other's arms.
Fall was limping its way into winter when Lan Qiren stormed into the Jingshi one afternoon, interrupting him marking night hunt reports. "Do you know where your husband is?"
"Yes." Wei Ying was in Caiyi doing research.
"You know?" His uncle's voice was nearly screeching. "You know he's in a pleasure house?"
"Mmm." He carefully marked where he was reading and looked up at his uncle, who had flecks of bubbly spittle at the corners of his mouth from yelling. "Wei Ying has decided to learn how to use a fan."
"A fan? Wei Wuxian is learning how to use a fan? In a brothel?"
He stood and offered a clean handkerchief for his uncle to wipe his face. "Not a brothel. Wei Ying is taking lessons from a courtesan. A highly respected one. She is frequently hired by high ranking city and imperial officials to entertain them during business meetings."
"A prostitute?"
He frowned. "Lanhua is a courtesan," came out more forcefully than intended, or was polite. "She is hired to entertain groups of both men and women, high status and low, by dancing, singing, reciting poetry, keeping conversation flowing and convivial, and the like. If she chooses to entertain someone in her bed, that is her decision; there is no madam forcing her into prostituting herself.
"Wei Ying hired Lanhua to teach him how to use a fan, both as a communication tool and for dancing." While his uncle didn't look convinced, at least he was no longer literally frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal.
"Your husband has hired a... courtesan," the hesitation around the way he said that word implied he was really saying a different word, "to teach him how to use a fan. And you are satisfied with this arrangement."
"If you are trying to insinuate that Wei Ying will betray me with her, you can ease your mind. He has no interest in Lanhua, or any of the other courtesans there, beyond the fan lessons."
"And why is he learning how to use a fan? Is he suddenly emulating Nie Huaisang?" Lan Qiren's eyes were still narrowed with distrust.
He blinked rapidly, surprised that his uncle had come to the correct conclusion so quickly. "Mmm. Wei Ying is studying how to cultivate with a fan instead of a sword." Rising, he walked over to the mess that was his husband's work area and pushed aside a few precariously balanced items until he found what he was looking for. "A prototype." The fan's guards and ribs were constructed from the same steel as spiritual swords. The leaf was made of thick paper. "His original idea was to have knives embedded in the ribs and the user would activate them as necessary. That would cause the ribs to be too large and bulky unless the blades were inserted in a type of qiankun pouch. Lan Ruochen thinks he can instead make the leaf out of spiritual steel hammered extremely thinly. The edge of the leaf will be sharpened."
His uncle carefully picked the prototype fan up. "When opened it will have a knife's edge all around? It will be a spiritual weapon? Lighter than a sword, more versatile in close quarters, but agile enough to be thrown?"
"That is the hope. Lan Ruochen also thinks the leaf can be painted so that it looks like silk or paper. Then if the user dims the spiritual energy glow, it will look innocuous when not being used in battle."
"Remarkable...." his uncle whispered as he flicked the eventual weapon open and closed. "It's so light when I connect to it with my qi."
He nodded, pleased that his uncle seemed to like the fan. "Only a minimal amount of spiritual energy will be needed to use it. So cultivators with weak cores will be able to defend themselves with it."
Lan Qiren looked up at him, eyes now wide open with understanding. "Instead of cultivating the sword, they will cultivate with a fan?"
"Mmm. Through fan dancing instead of martial arts."
"It's not orthodox." His uncle's wrist snapped, sending the fan on a controlled loop around the room. "There are some elders who will not be happy. Then again, there are days when simply breathing too loudly around them makes them unhappy." He grabbed the fan and closed it gently. "Remarkable. Truly remarkable. How did he ever think of it?"
"Nie Huaisang," he confirmed.
His uncle snorted, shoulders shaking slightly. Perhaps from suppressed laughter. "Your cousin, Lan Xueqin.... Once Wei Wuxian and Lan Ruochen have solved the problem with the leaf, may I send her to him? She is already an accomplished fan dancer."
He nodded, pleased to see his uncle embracing this unorthodox cultivation style. "Her cultivation ability is low?" He vaguely recalled hearing about a cousin named Xueqin; they shared a common grandfather five or six generations back. Other than that, he knew absolutely nothing about her. Not her age, even.
"She wasn't even given a spiritual sword. She should be able to cultivate with this."
"I am sure Wei Ying will be happy to test the fan with someone who already has some knowledge of fan dancing and cultivation."
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Dear readers.
When it rains it pours. My home life is officially a soap opera. Did anyone have 'fire outbreak at 3 something AM' on their mental list of events that could go wrong for me? No one? Me neither. We're all fine. Physically. The building is fine. No smoke damage.
I need to scream. Or go on vacation.
I'll get at least the latter for a bit. I'm going to see a musical this weekend at a theater under the stars and the event is far enough away that we have to stay in a hotel.
Thank you for reading my ranting, my story, and for your comforting words. - Aitch.
