Dust & Gold

47

It was late at night, maybe a bit past midnight, and the air began to smell of smoke. Wangji woke first as he was easily roused by small things such as this. He looked out the window to the backyard and saw that their shed was ablaze.

"Wei Ying!" Wangji said, waking him up.

"Mnn, Lan Zhan, so loud," Wuxian whined.

"I know, but the shed is on fire," Wangji told him.

Wuxian sat up at once, sleep still evident in his eyes, "what?" Suddenly, more smoke began to fill the room, "what's going on?" Wuxian asked.

"I do not know," Wangji replied.

The two got up and dressed quickly. Wangji went out to handle the fire in the shed while Wuxian checked the perimeters of the house. Wuxian suddenly got surrounded by flames and it engulfed the house.

Wangji's eyes widened upon seeing the house being encased in flames. He worried about Wuxian as he was still inside.

Wuxian looked around as he was trying to find a way out. He unsheathed his sword and blasted a wall open to get him outside. Before he could move, a beam fell due to the fire and fell right onto him.

"Ah!" Wuxian growled.

As Wangji handled things outside he suddenly felt a burning sensation on his back and chest. His eyes widened, "Wei Ying!"

He left what he was doing and went to search for him. He found the area Wuxian knocked down and saw Wuxian unconscious, pinned down under a flaming beam. Wangji quickly got Wuxian out from under the beam and outside. Their house, their hard work, up in flames. Wangji tried to save some of the animals, but they were killed. Someone deliberately went out of their way to kill all of their animals. This was not an accident, this was arson, someone tried to kill the two to send a message.

Wangji had to get Wuxian treated immediately but he had to deal with the fire first. He gently set Wuxian down first and using some of his immortal abilities, he summoned water up from the nearby well and used it to douse the flames. Once the flames were extinguished, Wangji gently picked Wuxian up and teleported to Baoshan's residence.

Since it was late at night, Wangji didn't know if Baoshan was up. He brought Wuxian to the medical room first and asked a disciple to summon Baoshan. Baoshan came not long after.

"Wangji, why are you here so late?" Baoshan asked.

"Please help him," Wangji begged as he stepped aside to allow her to see Wuxian's condition.

Her eyes widened, "what on earth happened?"

Wangji was in tears, "we were woken up from the smell of smoke. Someone burned down our home. Wei Ying got stuck under a beam inside while I dealt with the fire outside. Due to our bond I felt him get hurt...I should not have left him."

"Your home was targeted?" Baoshan asked.

"The Jin Sect and the Jiang Sect have been causing problems for a while. Wei Ying and I have been stepping in to stop conflicts anytime we could...they probably got angry and decided to try and take us out," Wangji answered.

Baoshan nodded as she carefully removed Wuxian's robes. She left his trousers on. Wuxian's torso and back was covered in blood, and had a massive burn, "this will heal in time...as you know you two can heal each other but he has to be in a comfortable place to do that. Burns are difficult when it comes to pain. I will do what I can," Baoshan said.

Wangji nodded, "thank you."

"It might be some time before A'Ying wakes up," Baoshan said, "did you want to go talk to your family?"

"Wei Ying is my family," Wangji told her.

Baoshan smiled, "I meant, did you want to talk to your uncle or brother about this? They should know you two were targeted. Cloud Recesses are connected to you and they might be targeted next."

Wangji knew she was right. He didn't want to leave Wuxian's side but knowing that he won't be waking for a little while, he should inform his sect what happened. Wangji nodded, "I will not be gone long."

"Alright," Baoshan said.

Wangji cleaned up before leaving. He also did have to wait until morning before going as it was still late. So when morning finally arrived, he left for Gusu immediately. He didn't want to be away from Wuxian any longer than he had to.

Wangji took out his token upon reaching the gate and just walked right inside the sect. The guards didn't question him as they knew who he was. Wangji went straight to the main hall to see Lan Xichen and his uncle there.

"Xiongzhang, Shufu," Wangji greeted.

"Wangji, we were not expecting you," Xichen said, "where is A'Xian?"

"Wei Ying and I were attacked last night at our Yiling home," Wangji told them.

"What happened?" Lan Qiren questioned.

Wangji explained everything to them as best he could, "they were targeting us because we stood against them. There is a chance they could come here," Wangji said.

"We will hold an emergency meeting," Xichen said, "how is Wuxian?"

"He got hurt pretty badly. He is with Baoshan. Been unconscious since getting hurt," Wangji answered, "had a large burn on his torso and back."

"Will he be alright?" Xichen asked.

"In time," Wangji answered.

"You should get back to him, just know if you need a place, Gusu is still your home," Xichen said.

Wangji nodded before teleporting back to Baoshan's. Once back, he didn't want to leave Wuxian's side even once. He helped tend to his wound, and tried his best to take care of himself while he waited for Wuxian to heal.

Once Wuxian was feeling better, Wangji was going to go after those who dared to harm Wuxian. He knew Wuxian would follow him but he was okay with that. This was the last straw and Wangji was not going to let anyone get away with it.