Dust & Gold

50

~*Lan Wangji's POV*~

It took a few days for Wei Ying's fever to die down. Baoshan gave him some sort of antibiotic and he seemed to be doing better since. I haven't left his side much. Just enough to eat and clean myself up. I also made sure to keep Wei Ying as clean as I could. Honestly, I just want Wei Ying to be well enough to sit up and talk.

I sent him spiritual energy a couple times a day. Being immortal, I had a larger amount of it. It doesn't work as fast to help heal Wei Ying as dual cultivating would, but it still helps. His fever is gone and he is awake more often now. I could feel through our bond that Wei Ying is struggling mentally though. Which I could understand. Someone deliberately burned down our house. We have yet to properly investigate, but I want Wei Ying back on his feet first.

I was with him now, he was awake and more alert. It was a good sign. I asked Baoshan why it takes Wei Ying longer than most cultivators to heal. She said it was a side effect of the curse. He was cursed for so long that his body was so acclimated to hide pain and suffering. His body is now free of the curse and is having to relearn to work properly. So even now that Wei Ying was curse free, he was still dealing with the aftermath of it.

What made me happy though, is that Xiongzhang took some time to stop by. He brought some supplies from our herb garden as we had great medical herbs. Baoshan was thankful for it, and she immediately made a new salve for Wei Ying's burns. Now that Wei Ying was more alert, he can start taking medical baths. The burn was healing slowly, and was good enough for the baths.

"How are you doing?" Xiongzhang asked me during his visit.

"I am doing alright," I replied as I gathered clean robes for Wei Ying. He'd need them for when he was done with his bath, "do you have any news on what happened?"

"We have investigated your home," He pulled out half burned talisman paper, "these were found at the border or your property. These are only partial due to being chard, but maybe A'Ying can determine what they are."

I took them and looked at them. These are not any talismans Wei Ying has made. It is not his handwriting either, "I will be right back," I said to Xiongzhang and went to Wei Ying. He was still in his bath but he was more awake and he was doing a lot better, "Wei Ying?"

"Lan Zhan, I am just about done," he told me with a smile, "I am also feeling a lot better. Thanks to you."

I smiled back and sat on a stool beside the bath, "you know I will always take care of you."

He nodded and saw the talisman in my hand, "What is that?"

"Xiongzhang investigated our home a bit. He found these. He doesn't know what they mean as they are chard, but he thought maybe you can figure it out even though some if it is missing," I said and handed him the talismans.

He looked them over, "by the looks of it, some of them are advanced in breaking barriers...which explains how they got past ours...no matter how strong the barrier, they can still be broken...found that the hard way...the others are basic fire talismans...do you not recognize the penmanship at all? I am not good at that," he handed them back to me.

"As suspected, we were targeted," I said. Before continuing the conversation, I helped him out of the bath and dried him off and dressed him. I then brought him back out to sit on the bed. He didn't lay down, just sat up. He felt well enough to sit up, which was a good sign.

"Xichen-ge, you are here," Wei Ying said happily.

Xiongzhang smiled, "I wanted to see how you have been doing. Wangji and Baoshan seem to be helping you out a lot. You look better," he said.

"I should be good as new soon," Wei Ying said, optimistically.

He nodded, "did Wangji show you the talismans?"

"We were targeted," I told him, "Wei Ying said they were made to break barriers and make fires."

Xiongzhang sighed, "I was afraid of that."

"Xiongzhang, do you recognize any of the penmanship?" I asked.

He examined them carefully, "some of these...A'Yao?" He questioned.

"Jin Guangyao?" I asked, "why would he target us?"

"I am not sure, but I cannot just directly ask. He will deny it. These may be evidence, but we need something better," he said.

Wei Ying sighed, "you make a point, but even if he made them, doesn't mean someone else didn't use them. Is there a way to question him without making him seem targeted?"

"I can try, but I do not know if he will be honest," Xiongzhang said.

"We could have some people watch over him," Wei Ying said.

"Spies?" I asked.

"Yes," Wei Ying said, "Baoshan has many techniques that we could use. We could just use some tracking talismans maybe. They are easy to hide."

"That could perhaps work," Xiongzhang said, "I will talk with Baoshan. Even if it's not A'Yao, maybe we can have spies within the entirety of the Jin sect...maybe the Jiang Sect. They have been working together in a lot of ways lately."

"Might not be a bad idea," Wei Ying said. Unfortunately, even though Wei Ying was doing better, his medicine does make him tired, and he can only handle so much sitting up at a time. I began to feel his discomfort through our bond.

"You doing alright?" I asked him.

"Yes," Wei Ying said. I could tell it was a partial lie. He did seem fine, but I knew he should now push it, so did he.

"I have to head out anyway," Xiongzhang said, "I will speak with Baoshan on my way out, and talk with Shufu. I will let you know what has been decided."

"Thank you," I said.

Xiongzhang left. Once he was gone, I helped Wei Ying get comfortable in bed and he fell asleep within a few minutes. It was nice to see Wei Ying doing better. We were also getting somewhere with our investigation. We will figure this out.