Dust & Gold

52

~*Wei Ying's POV*~

Who would have thought that love would be such a powerful medicine?

Lan Zhan and I only had to have one passionate night together and I was healed. My burns were gone and not a single scar remained. It was as if the fire never happened. He cured me of my curse, and he cured me of the burns I suffered. Though, I do not know if it was actually him, of if it's just how our destiny was.

It's incredible, bizarre, yet interesting. This sort of healing process would only happen if you were with your soulmate. Lan Zhan was mine. We were bonded and he and I would always be able to heal each other no matter the ailment.

That being said, we still had to figure out who was behind the fire. We have some suspects in mind but without more evidence, we are in a stalemate. It was clear, Xichen-Ge had verified the writing himself on those talismans. They were Jin Guangyao's work, but did he do it or was he just a pawn?

I do not remember ever offending him, but he is Jin Guangshan's illegitimate son. Jin Guangshan's first son, Jin Zixuan, is to marry Maiden Jiang Yanli so the Jin Sect and the Jiang sect automatically have an alliance. The Jiang sect had it out for me. I never understood why, all I know is that once Madam Yu found out about the curse, I was abused. I was abused before that but it got worse after she found out.

Now, Madam Yu was crippled and no longer had spiritual energy due to her golden core being destroyed. That alone was punishment but it was also a motive to come back at me again. All this mess started because my father was once a disciple of the Jiang Sect, and there was jealousy involved. Sect leader Jiang couldn't handle my mother's rejection and the fact that she married my father in the end. I'm sure he had motives too. He just hid it more.

I began to understand his true nature when I seceded the sect. It must have been hard for him to hide all that envy for so many years. He took his wife's side even though he knew I was being abused. The gaslighting I endured from that family. I wanted to believe Maiden Jiang Yanli was actually sorry for me, but I now had my doubts. She was the only one who helped me back then but now that I am gone, who is to say she only did it to keep the sect's reputation from plummeting.

It was now public knowledge of what that sect did to me. Jiang Wanyin has it out for me but he always had. He hated that he had to get rid of his dogs for my sake. They weren't gone entirely, they just moved to his mother's birth sect, in Meishan. He can do get those mutts whenever he wanted now. Though, he would probably use them against me.

Now that I was healed, I had plans. Even though we had yet to find the culprits, Lan Zhan and I needed more training. We stayed at Baoshan's for now to do just that.

They even helped me with my fear of dogs. It was hard but Baoshan had a simulation that made it seem like I was with a dog but it couldn't actually harm me. She made different scenarios, kind dogs and vicious dogs. Some that were wild and I had to fight off and to do that, I had to overcome my fear enough to actually fight. Not freeze on the spot. The nice ones actually helped ease the fears.

Eventually she brought in real dogs. The vicious ones were wild wolves, which was perfect for training. I remember back when we were in our home, Lan Zhan and his brother had to fight the wolves off because I was too afraid to. Now I can do so on my own...though there won't ever really be a moment where Lan Zhan and I are separated unless it was dire.

We knew it was best and safer for us to stay in each other's sights. If we were out of sight, one of us would always be in trouble. So we found a solution. Not going alone anymore. Though, there were to always be moments where we may have no choice but to split apart, we will do what we can, to not to.

After dealing with my fear, I was a lot happier. I couldn't be threatened anymore because of it. I turned to Lan Zhan and Baoshan, "thank you," I said, "getting rid of this fear was always something I wanted."

"Where did the fear come from?" Baoshan asked.

"I wandered alone on the streets before Sect Leader Jiang found me. I do not know how long exactly I was alone, but it was a long time. Actually, I remember being able to feel the pain for those wild dogs come after me. They would try to take the food I scavenged for. They'd often win," I explained.

"So, you could feel pain...which means you did not gain the curse while on the streets," Baoshan said, "that actually helps to know."

"Do you think the Jiang's actually are responsible?" I asked.

"You said it was Yu Ziyuan who found out first?" Baoshan questioned.

"Yes, I never told anyone about it. I never understood how she found out," I replied.

"Perhaps she was the one who cursed you, or she was part of the reason you were cursed," Baoshan said, "do you remember when you started to noticed something was wrong? When you couldn't feel pain?"

"Not sure," I answered, "I suppressed a lot of memories of things I endured from them. I think...actually I think I can pinpoint it."

"When?" Baoshan asked.

"It was around the time I developed my golden core. I thought because I had a golden core, I could no longer feel pain. But...." Thinking back, there was something that I drank before my meditation, "Sect Leader Jiang gave me some sort of potion. I think I remember him saying it will help me focus when I meditate. I always struggle with meditation as a child."

"After drinking that, you no longer could feel pain," Baoshan said.

"I...I never thought about it until now," I said and looked at Lan Zhan, "back at Gusu, he told me he never believed what I said. He believed his wife wouldn't harm me...he fed me the potion so he could use it as an excuse."

"A'Ying, may I ask you for a favor?" Baoshan asked.

"What?"

"Allow me to run empathy on you. It will let me see exactly happened," Baoshan said.

I nodded, "I will allow it...but...Lan Zhan, you have to promise me that you won't run off again like last time."

"I will not, I know what to expect," he said, "I will be there with you."

"Good, then let's set everything up," Baoshan said.