The Rise of the Divine Oracle

Chapter 17 - Reunion

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It's been a long month and Wangji is currently enjoying a warm cup of herbal tea with his brother in silence. It's been a while since they met without an emergency or one of them in duress.

Zewu Jun smiles at his brother and says: "Wangji, how have you been?"

Wangji returns his smile: "Happy."

Zewu Jun was shocked to hear a direct response with open emotions and couldn't resist teasing his brother: "Did you just smell brother Wei before you came here?"

Wangji drops his smile and glares: ".. You smell it too?"

Zewu Jun smiles mischievously: "Many do, brother. Many do."

Wangji grabs his sword and gets up: "Who? I want names!"

Zewu Jun just laughs and waves to his brother to sit back down: "Calm down. No one is questioning your loyalty to each other. Let him be comforted by others, he needs it."

Wangji huffs but sits back down.

Zewu Jun looks seriously at his brother: "What about your soul bond ceremony?"

Wangji: "We haven't had the chance to discuss the details yet."

Zewu Jun: "I'm not sure what our uncle has in mind but he seems to be planning something. I'm glad that brother Wei didn't go through this ordeal without an outcome. I've never seen him so protective, even with you."

Wangji smiles: "He melts the coldest of hearts."

Zewu Jun smiles back: "He sure does."

After a few minutes of silence, Zewu Jun takes out a letter he received from Sect Leader Ouyang: "This letter directly requests your presence to settle an internal dispute within the clan. I've tried to hold it off for as long as I can but it seems that time is running out."

Wangji contemplates it for a minute then responds: "I will not leave him. I will take him with me in a week. That should be enough time for him to recover sufficiently and we can ask Wen Ning to help with the journey."

Zewu Jun nods: "I will reply with your wishes and inform them of your arrival time."

With that, Wangji bows to his brother and returns to his soul bond.

A few days passed without change. Wangji returned to his duties as the leader of clans the moment Wuxian was strong enough to go visit his rabbits with the help of Jingyi. While talking to one of the little bunnies, Wuxian suddenly feels like a part of his soul just woke up from a deep slumber and lets out a breathy: "Wen Ning." Jingyi looks around in confusion: "What? Wen Ning?" Without warning, Wuxian gets up and starts walking briskly towards Cloud Recesses's gate. Jingyi follows him screaming: "Wei Wuxian! Do you want Hanguang Jun to kill me when you over do it and collapse! Stop running!"

Wuxian looks back with a laugh: "I'm not running! Look.. Look.. It's called fast walking."

Once they reach the gate, they see Ayuan and Wen Ning walking through the gate. Wuxian doesn't give them a chance to bow with respect and jumps on Wen Ning. With a wistful breath he whispers: "I missed you." Wen Ning smiles warmly and hugs him back: "Young master, you've lost weight."

Sizhui looks fondly at his surrogate father while Jingyi coughs: "Someone will die if Hanguang Jun sees this."

Wuxian lets go of Ning to look at Sizhui, pat his head and says: "Welcome home."

Sizhui ducks his head embarrassingly before he bows deeply: "I'm pleased with your decision to stay."

Wuxian laughs awkwardly and mumbles: "It wasn't a choice. Lan Zhan dragged me back here." A sudden coughing spell is ripped out of Wuxian and he doubles over trying to catch his breath. All three men start to panic; patting his back, asking if he's alright. After catching his breath, he straightens and smiles at them: "Don't over exaggerate. I just walked too quickly trying to catch you guys at the gate. Are you guys hungry? Let's go eat."

All four walk slowly back to the main hall. Wuxian stops a few times to lean on a tree or pretend to pick something from the ground to rest for a few seconds. Wen Ning looks at his pale complexion and asks: "Young master, are you ill?" Wuxian laughs awkwardly: "Do I look that bad?"

Jingyi responds: "You look as white as Hanguang Jun's robes."

Sizhui elbow his friends and grabs Wuxian's arm in support until they reached the Orchid Room. They announced their arrival and Wuxian bounces in and leans over the table to smile at Wangji who puts down the book he's reading to return his soul bond's smile. Seeing how pale Wuxian is, he turns his glare towards Jingyi who ducks behind Sizhui.

Wuxian tried to gain his attention back: "Lan Zhan, look who I found at the gate." He points at the two new arrivals as they both bow deeply. Wangji nods his head to greet them back then returns his glare at Jingyi. Wuxian moves around the table to sit next to Wangji and pulls his hand into his lap: "Lan Zhan, did you eat lunch yet? Do you have time to join us for a meal?"

Wangji turns to face Wuxian and places his other hand on his temple to feel his temperature, then grabs the hand holding his to take his pulse: "Why did you overexert yourself?" Wuxian waves him off: "I'm fine. Stop overreacting. Let's go eat!" He gets up, pulls Wangji with him and on his way out grabs Wen Ning and drags him along. Wangji sighs and lets himself be dragged to the main eating area next to Orchid Room. They enjoyed a quiet meal, and talked afterwards about Wen Ning and Sizhui adventures while rebuilding the Wen Clan shrine. During the conversation, Wuxian fell asleep leaning on Wangji. Wen Ning looks worriedly at Wuxian and asks: "What happened to Young master Wei?"

Jingyi told them about the Soul Empathy and the illness that followed. Wangji picks up an exhausted Wuxian and carries him into the Orchid Room to rest near him while he works. When the two young disciples left, Wen Ning seeked Wangji's audience and heard the full story; the soul bond promise, the mother tree's wish and prediction, Leader Jiang's visit and the upcoming travel arrangement. Wen Ning absorbs all that's happened in his absence: "This all happened in one month? How does one live with such hectic turn of events."

Wangji shakes his head and looks at the sleeping man with worry.

Wen Ning: "I came back because the distance made me weaker. I felt like I was getting closer to death the further I went away from him. I think he used part of his soul to bring my consciousness back and without his presence, I will return to being a lifeless corpse. My fate is tied to him and with your permission, I wish to be his guardian."

Wangji looks at Wen Ning and smiles: "I've known for a while that the relationship you have with Wei Ying has no name and cannot be defined with conventional words. I would forever be in your debt if you would protect him and look after his well being." With a bow from both, the deal is set. Wen Ning picks up Wuxian and carries him to the Quiet Room to rest. His smell reminds him of a happy moment from his past: 'Wen Qing, stroking her brother's hair with a tender smile and all the love one can give.'

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