Bring him home

It's my life

Wei Ying lived? 

The murmur ran thought the crowd.

Then emerged Wei Ying.

His robes were pitch black with blood-red trim. Chenqing laid flat against his hip bone. His long dark hair was done up in his usual red tie. He had not aged a day. 

Until you looked into his eyes, there was a whole world of hurt and pain burning in them. Not anger or resentment. Just pure pain. No one his age had any right to look this pained. No one of any age had a right to look so haunted.

His face was pale, and his lips stood out in pure contrast of the color. The figure at his side somewhat dwarfed his slight frame.

Standing next to him, clad in all white was Huangan-Jun. His face was set like it usually was. He looked disinterested, detached almost. The sacred forehead ribbon sat straight across his forehead.

His eyes were filled with pain too. This was different than Wei Ying's, though. Lan Zhan's pain was of pure loss. Wei Ying's was something more, less like loss, and more like something was taken. Which in any right was the truth.

Wei Ying had once said they were like fire and ice.

He was right. They were each other's perfect balance. Anyone that saw the two could see that. 

" The Yiling Patriarch lives," a random man calls out. 

Wei Ying turns his head to make eye contact with the man. 

The face was new. The man was not old enough to have been around through the first siege of the burial grounds, yet not young enough to be considered a junior.

No one spoke. 

The silence was almost deafening. Wen Ning silently entered after the two.

Nobody noticed. 

" Why have you brought back the evil we were finally rid of," a new person calls. 

" Who told you he was evil," Lan Xichen says, his tone it biting. Dangerously calm.

The calm before the storm.

The man stutters at this. 

" He is the Yiling Patriarch you mean to tell me he is not evil," someone else says. They were from the Jiang Clan.

" What is to tell me you are not evil," Lan Qiren retorts. 

This evoked an outrage within the clan. Jiang Cheng raised his hand and turned to look at the man who had spoken with a cold stare. The man knew he was defeated. 

" You will see," the voice of Baoshan Sanren floats through the crowd.

She stands to her full height. Waist long hair billowing out in the wind her robes doing the same. She looked mythical. 

A gasp from the crowd rippled like waves. Whispers of her identity were spread like wildfire.

" What do you mean," the man from the Jiang Clan asked. He sunk back into the depths of people after Jiang Cheng fixed him with an intimidating glare. One look that promised pain. Wei Ying almost laughed at the pure irony of it. 

" This," Lan Xichen said, and with those words, he lifted Liebing to his lips and began a soft melody that had started all of this.

Almost as if it was happening at that moment, a moving image of Lan Wangji and Wei Ying fighting showed. 

Lan Sizhui gasped and grabbed on tightly to Jingyi's shoulder. They fought? And he is using a sword? Was it not love at first sight? He didn't think they meant love at first fight.

He is just as good as Haungan-Jun! Jingyi thought as he watched the two fight.

The whole crowd was alight with rumors. 

Jiang Cheng watches almost fondly as his brother fights. 

New scenes play.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan appear to hate each other. They look far from the couple they are today.

A young boy in the crowd catches Wei Ying's attention. He is a little younger than Sizhui. His hair is long. He holds a sword in his hand, a white one with teal engravings. He stands next to Yanli. He has the face of his mother and his father. 

Jin Ling. 

Wei Ying had been staring for so long he was started by a scream. 

An all to familiar scream.

His own. 

The image was of him, Wen Qing, Wen Ning, and Jiang Cheng. Sweat dripped from Wei Ying's pale face. His golden core was being removed. 

He winced. He hadn't thought they would show this.

Lan Zhan's grip on him tightened. His jaw was clenched. Wei Ying braved a glance at Jiang Cheng. He looked just as pale as Wei YIng. Tears were shining in his eyes. At least he was not angry.

He found Wen Ning's eys in the crowd. The two seemed to have a silent conversation. 

" How do we know it is not fake," a voice cried out. 

Lan Zhan looked annoyed. Jiang Cheng looked like he was ready to kill someone with his bare hands. 

But it was Wen Ning who spoke.

" I was there. I assure you this is real," he said. The tone he used was a no-nonsense one. Wei Ying's eyebrows rose as people turned to look at Wen Ning. 

" It is the ghost general," someone from the Nie clan stuttered out. 

At this, the whole crowd takes a step backward.

Wei Ying does laugh at this.