Recesses of the Heart

15

Lan Zhan had called his father, uncle, and his brother to the Jingshi to talk privately. It was time to share my identity with the other two family members of Lan Zhan's. I was nervous but with Lan Zhan and his father backing me, I knew that I was safe.

"Why the privacy barrier?" Lan Xichen asked.

"Father knows this but you two do not. He can vouch for me when I say, I am not from this timeline. I once lived through a war and Xiao Wuji was part of it. He was under a different name. He keeps his name hidden as he noticed people treat him differently for that," Lan Zhan explained.

"It's why Wangji is so close to Wuji too," Qingheng Jun said, "I am guessing you want to come clean to these two due to what happened in class earlier?"

"Yes, though we wish to still hide his identity for the time being, we felt it was best for Uncle and Brother to know the truth," Lan Zhan said.

"So what is his real identity?" Lan Xichen asked.

"Before I answer, I am not only the head disciple of the Jiang sect but I also have this," I said and pulled out my Jade token Baoshan gave to me, "this is a token Baoshan gives to her disciples. I'm not just a disciple of hers though, I am her grandson. My mother is Cangse Sanren and my father is Wei Changze."

I noticed Lan Qiren's face change color a couple times, "you are their child?"

"I am, my real name is Wei Ying, courtesy name, Wuxian," I answered.

I could see Qingheng Jun glancing at his brother, "Qiren, I hope you know that even under a different name, and you didn't know this, he was still being himself. I hope you don't treat him differently from this."

"I will not," he said, "as much as Cangse annoyed me, I can't take it out on her child."

"You were not like that in the last timeline," I said.

"What did I do?" Lan Qiren asked.

"You judged me right away, thinking I was a troublemaker and you would pick on me during class. Lan Zhan treated me differently back then too but he got to know me and he and I shared a horrible situation. He saw me die and now he and I are found to be soul mates in this life. We were in the last life but so much has happened that we couldn't focus on it," I explained.

"I apologize for my behavior," Lan Qiren said, "are we the only ones who know?"

"Yes," I answered, "due to what happened in class earlier, Lan Zhan and I thought that you should at least know who I really was."

"It explains how you two are so close so suddenly," Lan Xichen said, "but we will keep this secret between us. How long are you planning on hiding your identity from everyone else?"

"For as long as I can," I said, "when I was born in this timeline, I was born without a cultivation base. I gave up my cultivation in my last life and it followed me to this life. To help me, Baoshan made me immortal. When I was attacked a while back, I was stabbed in the heart with a poisoned dagger but I cannot die. Now Lan Zhan is the same way. We were done to visit Baoshan to train."

"You had to hide that," Qingheng Jun said, "I am sorry."

I shook my head, "no need," I said, "but now that we have returned, the war we faced in the past timeline will happen in this one too. Lan Zhan and I already took care of some things while we were away, so now all we have is to defeat the Wen Sect."

"Can you tell us everything from the beginning?" Lan Qiren asked, "and why hide your identity from your current sect?"

"In my past life, Sect Leader Jiang allowed his wife to abuse me with Zidian. It took a while for me to come to terms with everything that happened to me and I suffered a lot under them. Under this new name, they treat me so differently and I am seeing a whole different side of them. I am using it to my advantage. It was Jiang Cheng who I sacrificed my golden core for back then and I cannot do it again this time. I do, however, have the power to make sure he doesn't lose his and to make sure his parents don't die this time. Once this war with the Wen Sect is over, I will leave their sect. I am to follow Lan Zhan as our bond has already started. We need each other to win this time," I explained.

"Despite how they treated you, you still remain under their roof?" Qingheng Jun asked, "why do that to yourself?"

"Not everyone in that sect was harmful to me. The disciples and my Shijie, they are kind and they do not need to die. If now for them, I would not have returned to them," I told them.

"So what would you like from us in the meantime?" Lan Qiren asked.

"Well, the lectured are ending soon and I will have to return to Lotus Pier. The next couple events are the Confrence meeting at Qishan along with the archery competition they hold, and then not long after that, the Nie Sect and the Lan Sect will be ambushed. Lan Zhan and I will help make some wards and other protection for you guys before then. The Nie Sect didn't have much fatalities but you guys, from what Lan Zhan told me, was bad," I said.

"How bad?" Lan Xichen asked.

"Brother took the secret texts and scrolls from the library and ran. He went missing for a while. Uncle was severely injured but he survived, but father, he died," Lan Zhan explained, "we tried to keep them from burning the library and the treasury, but they succeeded."

"We will make sure these things do not happen," Lan Qiren said, "since we know this now, we can move the books ahead of time to the cold caves. There is a spot there that no one but the main blood can access."

"You should know that one of your members betrayed you by giving away your secrets. Telling the Wens how to enter the cave safely," I told them.

"Do you remember who?" Qingheng Jun asked.

"Su Minshan, but he was banished already," Lan Zhan said, "it will be hard to say what will happen now."

"We will be careful," Qingheng Jun said, "we will make sure to have someone look out for Su Minshan."

"Very well," I said.

"Now, even though we won't share with your sect leader who you really are, but this complicates things if you and Wangji want to be together," Qingheng Jun said.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"Well, we can plan for the future as I am sure you two wish to marry eventually," Qingheng Jun said, "we will wait for the war to end before you wed. Unless your identity comes out sooner and we can plan something in the middle of it all."

"We will work something out," I said, "Lan Zhan and I are patient and we are both immortals. We are linked with Baoshan's help. So we can see how things go."

"Can we meet with her and discuss this further?" Qingheng Jun asked.

"I will write to her and let you know," I told him.