Stepping Back (ADOPTED - ShonuaSDK)

Second Chance

My second fanfic! Hope you like it.

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Wei Ying felt a stinging pain on his back before he instinctively turned around and had a white robed figure in a headlock. He shielded his eyes momentarily blinded by the sudden light. He was surrounded by more white robed figures. There was people calling his name. He looked back at Lan Zhan, Lan Qiren, Lan Xichen and many more people that he hadn't seen in a long time.

'But how? This is....... this is when we were caught drinking and Lan Zhan turned us all in.... I'm.... I'm in the past!' He suddenly stepped back, releasing the Lan disciple.

He looked at Lan Qiren whose eyes held mistrust in them. He saw Lan Xichen who looked shocked and at everyone else who looked in varying states of surprise and confusion.

'Shit... I was receiving my punishments!' So he did the only thing he could think of. He kneeled and kowtowed.

"I apologize. Please add more strokes to this disciple's punishment for his action." Everyone felt more shocked than ever. Wei Ying did not look the same. Even his voice has changed. It sounded hoarse. Lan Qiren's eyes narrowed, disbelievingly.

"Very well. You will get a 15 lashes more." He paused and Wei Ying allowed himself a small comfort. At least they weren't going to send him away. But then Lan Qiren continued.

"From the discipline whip once your remaining four beatings from the boards are finished." There were gasps all around the courtyard. But Wei Ying didn't mind. He sneaked a look at Lan Zhan, his soulmate, his zhiji, his husband to see confusion and shock and his heart felt like it had been stabbed. Then there was a gap between the hits and then he saw the discipline whip being taken out. He held his breath when the first strike came.

He didn't feel any unknown pain. He has felt this countless times before and in the burial mounds he had felt incomparable pain that he would have traded for this anytime. At any rate, the pain could never match up to the pain inflicted by Zidian. It never will and can. He looked at Lan Xichen who was looking away from him, his face tight and pained. Wei Ying kept his mouth closed and stayed silent.

'If this is my punishment. I will gladly take it and more. I'm now in the past and given a second chance. I will not fail again.' Then he heard the sobs of a woman that he recognized immediately.

Jiang Yanli stood their in the corner of his vision hugging Jiang Cheng whose beatings were finished earlier. Right now only Wei Ying was being beaten and every pair of eyes in the courtyard were trained on him. He tried to focus on the count that on of the disciples were reciting out loud.

"4... 5... 6..." He tried to come out of the inky black pool that his mind was taking him in to. He couldn't stop. Not now. Not when he was given another chance to fix the things that happened. He can't screw this up and risk losing his family again.

He remembered burying his family, Lan Zhan, A'Yuan, Wen Ning, Lan Jingyi, Lan Xichen, Lan Qiren, Ouyang Zizhen his adopted son and his cute little disciples that had just recently formed a core. His heart throbbed painfully when he remembered them showing off their newly formed cores for him. They were so.... small. So precious. He remembered the day the unknown cultivators wearing veils and dressed in pale green came. Wei Ying was teaching the little ones to write talismans. He was so happy looking at those serious little faces, stained with inky spots working on beautiful little talismans when there was a clap of thunder, fire erupted and everything went in to chaos.

"15!" There gasps and sighs of relief all around him and he looked up to see Lan Zhan standing with his brother and uncle, eyes wide and scared. Understanding that he needed to get up he slowly and painfully got up and managed to stand without swaying. His body felt stiff and every little movement hurt. He bowed without stopping even when blood spurted out of his wounds. Lan Xichen made a distressed sound at it and Lan Qiren made a movement as if to stop him. Then unwilling to face any confrontations he turned and left as quickly as he could.