He never had a plan, he just went with the flow

Chapter Thirteen

Wei Ying knew he had to cleanse that water abyss. But A-Yuan was so excited to introduce him to his friends that he didn't have the heart to turn him down. So, he was currently being guided to the back hills as A-Yuan rambled on about his friends.

"Ao-Ao and Yu-Yu are always in trouble because they keep talking back to the elders. But they are so nice, and the elders were the ones who were mean!" That sounds about right. Wei Ying thought to himself, recalling his memories of the Jiang elders. Not all of them were bad, but a few rotten eggs were mixed in that loved to ruin everything for everyone.

"Your friends sound very brave. Standing up to your elders can take a lot of courage." That's usually how the corrupted get away with doing bad things. Ninety percent of people are too scared of being shunned to speak up, and those brave enough to speak up are usually drowned out. Or they are just assassinated if they are a formidable foe.

"Mh! They are so brave! The other day, they got in trouble with our Shibo because he was being mean. Of course, Shushu released them early after our classmates told them the truth of what transpired." Considering that his father is Lan Zhan, he must be referring to Zewu-jun. "Does he always release them from punishment early?"

A-Yuan shook his head, "No, only when he's certain they learned the lesson he wants to teach them. They have a bit of a fiery temper, so he's been trying to teach them to control it for fear of them blowing up. That's also why he hasn't officially allowed them to debut." Wei Ying smiled at him, "And you've already debuted, correct?"

"It's been almost a year since then. I was forced to play the guqin for them for hours." A-Yuan paused before perking up, "A-Niang, can you help me with something when you're finished with the lake." As much as he wanted to accomplish this independently, he also wanted to work with his A-Niang. Jiujiu said that there's nothing wrong with seeking guidance from others.

"Sure, I'll be sure to drop by when I have the free time." He smiled as they entered a field full of rabbits. He gasped as he froze in shock. "I thought animals weren't allowed in Cloud Recesses?"

"Pets aren't allowed, but these are wild rabbits that we happen to feed. Not to mention that they technically aren't inside Cloud Recesses. While the back hills are a part of the mountain, they aren't considered part of the sect." Wei Ying let out a hum as he sat A-Yuan down. "Like how most don't consider the markets part of Lotus Pier."

A-Yuan pulled him further inside the field to where two children were sitting with a rabbit on their laps. The boy perked up when he saw A-Yuan but paused when he saw him. On the other hand, the girl didn't even give it any thought, "What happened, A-Yuan? You're usually here before any of us."

"I had to bring my A-Niang over." The boy tilted his head, "But I thought your A-Niang was dead?"

Wei Ying then chose to speak up before A-Yuan could get upset, "It's okay, I did, but I came back."

"How? Wait- does that mean you're a ghost now?!" The boy's face paled as he took a few steps back in fear. Wei Ying laughed as the girl rolled her eyes, "How are you supposed to be a cultivator if you're terrified of ghosts?"

"Yu-Yu, give Ao-Ao some slack. He was unfortunate enough to see an exorcism gone wrong in person." A-Yuan pushed her shoulder, causing the girl to frown as the rabbit jumped off. Wei Ying wiped his eyes, "Fear is a normal human emotion, but as long as he doesn't allow it to impact his ability to take them down, it should be fine." One is his shidi's was severely hemophobic; it had caused a few issues during training and caused him to be relentlessly teased by his sect siblings. But he could suppress his fear long enough to get his job done whenever it mattered.